Economic Woes

[phillysrt4]

Give me some news of how bad it really is. I get some news via the internet and TV coverage but I've heard some firsthand stories that make me say "dayum... this is ****ed up!"

So IYO, just how bad is the economy right now? Viewpoints from a Pittsburgh perspective appreciated. If you're not in the 'burg area, let me know where you're talking about when you post.

[94svtcobra]

Pittsburgh although has been hit somewhat, compared to other areas in doin ok, not amazing but decent, our foreclosure numbers were much better than the rest of the country, n I heard (not sure if this is correct) that some of the bigger businesses downtown were still doing well compared to some alot of competitors across the country

[94svtcobra]

plus westinghouse moving their head quarters in the north hills is going to bring a ton of money into the area, not to mention a high job demand for engineers, high paying jobs for young people coming out of college is gonna be huge, property values in the surrounding areas is going to go up a good bit, not to mention all the money that will be spent in local businesses

[frankstang]

I think the mood here is more like...when is it going to hit. Not that things are great, but it seems like this area is faring better than other parts of the country.

This observation isn't based on any hard economic numbers, but more what the mood of the city seems to be.
I think if you're in certain professions you're more likely to feel the sting.
A guy I don't know well, more an aquaintance , worked as an account manager for an investment firm. He and 4 other of 6 total employees were laid off a few months ago. He was thinking the place might shut down, but then they asked if he'd work 3 days a week.

[MBH]

Woes?!? Obama will fix it LOL

From my perspective, the stock market is the biggest threat to my financial security. Just waiting for it to settle and hit the floor, then it should be smooth sailing again :)

Not sure how everyone else is doing, it's not always the best subject to bring up. Some people are not doing so well

[MBH]

I think if you're in certain professions you're more likely to feel the sting.

Bingo!

[Mark Aubele]

In my business (auto transport), it's been pretty slow. Still hanging in there though. I really do think things will get better, I just hope we are all still in business when they do!

[Stangman701]

I'm thankful to say that I've survived two rounds of lay-offs at work(knocking on wood). My company is affected by the nationwide economy though because I happen to work at the national headquarters. Our Pittsburgh territory is holding pretty steady as far as sales dollars. My territory with is actually Philly even though I work here is doing ok. We grew 35-40% last year and are staying fairly flat this year which after a year of growth like that is pretty good, but especially in this economy.

Since we've had a couple rounds of lay-offs I obviously have a few friends that are looking for jobs now and they're really having a tough time. I've monitored Monster pretty regularly both before and after the economic downturn and I can tell you there are definitely fewer job postings now. So with fewer job postings and more people applying for said jobs I'm sure it's very competitive out there. I would also imagine companies are taking advantage of this by offering lower salaries than they would have last year at this time. Which I'm sure people are grateful to take since it's much better than not having job.

[Twin01cobra]

If you are in the construction trade it's not very good right now, only a matter of time before it catches up around here with other industries.

[John4cam]

If you are in the construction trade it's not very good right now, only a matter of time before it catches up around here with other industries.

Alot of it depends on what trade you're in, if you're union or non-union. Ive been laid of for 4 months and am just going back today. I just wonder for how long....

[Shadowstealth]

i work in the auto industry on the painting side... my shop is extremly big and is prob has more square foot then bowsers bodyshop... we have 5 buildings and one of those are off of streets run and 51... we have been doin pretty well for a huge body shop. im still painting 7-9 cars a day and with 20+ people at the shop... they seem to be bussy if not steady with doin body work.... but what seems to help is that we are direct repair for every insurance company out there that i know of.... other small shops are doing just as good if not better... and they run maybe 2 to 4 people while i hear that other shops in the middle are not doin so well... soooooo i dunno.

[phillysrt4]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm nowhere near the area right now and it seems that pitt is in the same state as philly- either you're doing ok or you got slammed.

[Troll]

Well, our company was purchased by a German company 18 months ago. It's called Heidelberg cement. We are still called Hanson throughout the world. The purchase price was $14.6 billion. It was/is the biggest deal in history in our industry (Aggregates --- stone, gravel, slag used for concrete, asphalt, road building, building anything).

They put $4 billion down and financed $10 billion. I don't know the way of the world when it comes to these big money deals, but apparently, you get 18 months "same as cash".

The other $10 billion is due April 1. With the worldwide economic downturn over the past two years and the plunging of our stocks and whatnot, we are worth $4 billion right now.

So, they are $6 billion upside down and they haven't even paid one penny.

There is one family in Germany that owns 77% of the company. The patriarch (Adolf Merkle) threw himself under a train in January and killed himself. Yeah, it was on the news... maybe you've seen it.

So, how's our mental state? Money is due in one week, 74th richest man in world kills himself.

I think we're mega-fuct at this point.

Only saving grace is you really can't move a quarry to China.

Hopefully, I can re-apply with future owners.