[Ladywithafan]

It's bad all over the country. I picked up a second job to pay for my gym membership (mental/physical health) and gas to get to my first job....and I can go to the beach year round....can't do that up North....just miserable cold, jobless people stuck indoors for the winter...I'll take FL any day.

[JSnFla]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

It's bad all over the country. I picked up a second job to pay for my gym membership (mental/physical health) and gas to get to my first job....and I can go to the beach year round....can't do that up North....just miserable cold, jobless people stuck indoors for the winter...I'll take FL any day.

many of those people up north u call "miserable" have great jobs in great careers and will have beautifull retirements in florida by the age of 60 where yourself and most others in florida will be working two jobs til the day they die to support their ability to go to the beach in the winter...hmmmm....

[Ladywithafan]

Originally Posted by JSnFla

many of those people up north u call "miserable" have great jobs in great careers and will have beautifull retirements in florida by the age of 60 where yourself and most others in florida will be working two jobs til the day they die to support their ability to go to the beach in the winter...hmmmm....

....with the aid of their canes

[Shores9]

JimMe
JSnFla

Not looking to take sides here on North South (or east west) --- cold or warm ---beach or snow IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER

What once was limited to the housing markets have become a contagion spreading far beyond the worst of affected areas in housing.

Looking at just 2 of several banks failures this year [WaMu and Indy Mac] WaMu was 3 time larger than the previous largest bank failure [Continental Illinois].

WaMu together with Indy Mac equal about 20% [by capitalization] the entire amount of bank failures in FDIC history.

Add to this the failure of Lehman Brothers, bail out and takeovers due to eminent collapse of Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac, & AIG, of Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, and now Wachovia??? – these are just the headliners.

While the FDIC currently recognizes at least 117 banks with total assets of 78 billion need assistance a private sector report to congress last week showed 1637 banking institutions in need of assistance with assets of over 3 trillion,

This is only one sector of a huge problem, much bigger than just the housing market and it is spreading not just around a few states but around the globe.

The Fed, White House, and Congress are in panic mode - Why?? Because they know a whole lot more than what they are willing to admit publically!

[TANaples]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

....with the aid of their canes

We will be going back north for our retirement. Thanks to the two New Yorkers who own the firm here, my husband makes his NY salary in Florida. He has a 401K. I won't comment on that. We all know what is happening now with that.

I make less than in NY. Education doesn't pay as much in Florida, but I will still be getting a State of Florida pension. If nothing else, I consider that poetic justice for my being Florida's #1 Malcontent.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by bale002

Florida needs to shed population, (check)


downsize government spending, (umm, who will all those unemployed work for then?)

lower property taxes, (with lower home prices, this will come into play, no?)

develop cutting-edge service companies, (what do you mean?)

cutting-edge and traditional agriculture, (Urban farming using hydroponics, I am 100% behind this!)

and diversify into manufacturing where possible. (yeppers!, did you hear about the new bio diesel plant coming to tampa?)

This process, if it happens at all, will take 5-10 years. (ten years, yep!)

Otherwise, as the above poster mentions, probably nothing much will happen and Florida will drift back to where it was ten years ago. (I think some cities this will happen to, the smarter ones will do ok)

For some people that might actually be a blessing.

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[Shores9]

Things look really bad right now and with good reason. The housing deterioration is finally spreading to the overall economy. Jobs reported today another loss of 159K workers a 9th straight loss this year for a total of 605,000 so far this year. So what’s so good?

1. Job losses at this point are mild by recessionary standards but I think they still have a bit further to go

2. Alan Greenspan love em or hate em said yesterday “the economy will recover” ``sooner rather than later'' from the worst turmoil in seven decades.

3. Warren Buffet (a modern day economic hero) has decided it’s time to capitalize on opportunity and has invested 5 billion in Goldman Sachs and 3 billion in GE Capital, and for those not paying attention Wells Fargo who’s biggest shareholder is Mr. Buffet just outbid Citi for the troubled Wachovia. Financials must be undervalued!!!

4. The stock slide from 14000 down to 10325 represents a 26% loss in value with a similar loss of around 28% in the S&P 500. Depending on who is reading the history books since the early 70’s the stock market average loss during recession is 17.5% with the worst reading at 33.88% If history is any indication stocks have almost run their course. I Hope!!!

5. No Matter What comes... on Nov 4th we will have a new president – priceless!!!

Florida preceded the nation [along with a few other states] in the economic downturn – hopefully it will do the same on the upturn. The state has a lot of potential as the economy recovers if only some of our Flori-duh leaders get their act together.

[floridasandy]

regarding post #3, buffet is no hero:
The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffet, once again puts his money at risk while actually taking less risk than it seems in a scenario that he has a history of doing for quite sometime now. If the US financial crisis is stemmed at all, he is pretty much assured of an outsized investment windfall, one the average person can not even think about with so little risk. So why is that?

And will it be mentioned in the testimony tomorrow by Senators who do not want anyone to profit from the government bailout, that Warren already has? He gets paid interest of ten percent, and if Goldman want to pay him off, they have to pay a 10% penalty for that prepayment. Warren also got the right to buy up to 7% of the company common stock at $115 per share on day the price closed trading at $125 per share. Goldman also has to raise another 2.5 Billion from someone else, whose new investment is in front of Warrens investment, as is all of the common stock. Meaning the common shares go to zero in bankruptcy and Warren’s preferred perpetual exposure has preferred rights in the courts when the shareholders get nothing in a worst case scenario. He can buy those shares anytime he wants. Call your broker and see what you can get from Goldman Sachs.

First of all, he has a skill most of us do not have, leading to a well earned reputation for making mostly very astutely negotiated investments, taking advantage of times like these gleefully while successfully minimizing the inevitable poor returns and losses all investors suffer at some point. The stock and importantly the balance sheet of the Berkshire Hathaway company that he manages and owns a big chunk of, is strong and liquid and has an unabashed unlimited profit objective. He invested 5 Billion into Goldman Sachs which even as one of the best players on the old Wall Street, which technically disappeared last week, still needed to seek the shelter of the government by quickly “converting” to a bank holding company. Even they are not bigger than the market and it’s excesses they helped create. BTW, my holding company application is still waiting to be opened at the front desk of the Fed.

Secondly, although he is already perhaps the richest American, he nonetheless insisted on better terms than you or I could ever get. And mind you, it was all for the benefit of his shareholders, not the American taxpayer.

[Wild Style]

Originally Posted by Shores9

Things look really bad right now and with good reason. The housing deterioration is finally spreading to the overall economy. Jobs reported today another loss of 159K workers a 9th straight loss this year for a total of 605,000 so far this year. So what’s so good?

1. Job losses at this point are mild by recessionary standards but I think they still have a bit further to go

2. Alan Greenspan love em or hate em said yesterday “the economy will recover” ``sooner rather than later'' from the worst turmoil in seven decades.

3. Warren Buffet (a modern day economic hero) has decided it’s time to capitalize on opportunity and has invested 5 billion in Goldman Sachs and 3 billion in GE Capital, and for those not paying attention Wells Fargo who’s biggest shareholder is Mr. Buffet just outbid Citi for the troubled Wachovia. Financials must be undervalued!!!

4. The stock slide from 14000 down to 10325 represents a 26% loss in value with a similar loss of around 28% in the S&P 500. Depending on who is reading the history books since the early 70’s the stock market average loss during recession is 17.5% with the worst reading at 33.88% If history is any indication stocks have almost run their course. I Hope!!!

5. No Matter What comes... on Nov 4th we will have a new president – priceless!!!

Florida preceded the nation [along with a few other states] in the economic downturn – hopefully it will do the same on the upturn. The state has a lot of potential as the economy recovers if only some of our Flori-duh leaders get their act together.

You do realize Mr. Greenspan is one of the MAIN reasons we are in this mess we are in now right?

[Alatex]

It's bad all over the country.

Not to rub it in, but retail sales in Alabama through August are actually up over last year, and while unemployment edged up some, it's still under 5%.
The part of Texas where my brother lives (Austin-San Antonio corridor) is doing even better.