Anybody watching the Democratic convention?

[Doc]

Speaking of regurgitating--greatest economic downturn since the great depression! LOL, I was alive in the 70's when Jimmy Carter was president. Don't forget that because Carter got ousted and Reagan turned the economy around quickly. They then set the boundaries of economic downturn to exclude his disastrous financial episode.

As for current times, please don't tell me how rosy it is. I got two college graduates living in.my house for the past 2 plus years unable to find decent full time work, and it's not for lack of trying. Without me they would be on the street collecting welfare but because they work 20 hrs bagging groceries at $10 an hour they are "employed" thanks to Obama. The psychology and criminal.justice degrees ain't doing them ****.

[Catonahottinroof]

Pretty big leap you are making there. Having a job, and owning your own business, employing yourself and others is not in any way shape or form the same thing.

If you have a job, we're all out there on the front lines. From my perspective, the economy is moving along very well. Is it for all? Of course not, but that just means there is more work to do.

[badrose]

There's about 100,000,000 people unemployed in this country and the middle class is shrinking with income and wages unable to keep up with the cost of living. Printing more money only makes it worse.

[KeithKSR]

Speaking of regurgitating--greatest economic downturn since the great depression! LOL, I was alive in the 70's when Jimmy Carter was president. Don't forget that because Carter got ousted and Reagan turned the economy around quickly. They then set the boundaries of economic downturn to exclude his disastrous financial episode.

As for current times, please don't tell me how rosy it is. I got two college graduates living in.my house for the past 2 plus years unable to find decent full time work, and it's not for lack of trying. Without me they would be on the street collecting welfare but because they work 20 hrs bagging groceries at $10 an hour they are "employed" thanks to Obama. The psychology and criminal.justice degrees ain't doing them ****.

I know of lots of college grads in the same situation. They work at low wage jobs, part time jobs, etc. and some do not have the parental financial security blanket to fall back on. This administration views their part time employment at McDonalds or Walmart as an economic success story.

[KeithKSR]

There's about 100,000,000 people unemployed in this country and the middle class is shrinking with income and wages unable to keep up with the cost of living. Printing more money only makes it worse.

I hear that. My wages haven't budged much in the last 8 years, what I can purchase with my pay continues to dwindle.

The policies of this administration have continued to hit the middle class and push them down the economic ladder.

[jazyd]

My Wife and I own a small retail store

Since 2008 our pay has been reduced by 12% in order to meet payroll and overhead along with keeping inventories high enough to have what customers want. Our overhead didn't suddenly go down, in fact it went up especially frt charges. A ground shipment on average used to cost us 2.1% and now it's 5.4%. Our % we pay on credit card payments are thru the roof as everyone now puts everything on a card, when we started 23 yrs ago it was about a third on cash, card, checks. Now if we get two checks a week it is surprising and 84% of our business is on a card. The fees, and we are lucky to have a somewhat low fee compared to many retailers our size, cost us in excess of $14,000 a year. Right off the top.

To keep things going we paid ourselves less, don't eat out much, very few movies, don't over spend on clothes, watch for sales at Kroger or Walmart. We also have not been able to save much at all and nothing toward retirement.

I can tell everyone what our sales reps and vendors are telling us. All of them are offering "deals" right now before our big season, BTS, that I have not seen in years. And I can negotiate a better deal than offered. Reps are not happy as their commissions are down, customers are telling them business is bad. And our type is "supposed" to be one of the last hit since it deals with children

[MickintheHam]

Jazy, orders in our company are off 25% this year alone. Our customers say they are not investing in their businesses as they have had significant decrease in demand.

[CitizenBBN]

Pretty big leap you are making there. Having a job, and owning your own business, employing yourself and others is not in any way shape or form the same thing.

I'm not trying to be condescending, but it's daylight and dark.

When I was younger I worked in the family business, and boy I knew how everything should be done and how easy it must be to be in charge and deal with everything all day. My mother would tell me "just wait till it's your business, see how easy and clear it all is", and man was she right.

I love my staff, but they have no idea about the red tape I've gone through with zoning just to get my sign up, or the $10,000 the city wants for just the STUDY to even be able to submit a request for changes in my parking lot.

Now, you don't have to own the company to be exposed to those things so lots and lots of people out there in the business world know the realities, esp. small business people who typically have to deal with a broader range of issues and wear more hats, but no there are TONS of people who have jobs and get paychecks who have no clue the problems faced by a business and how government is really hurting them.

Heck, I had one employee happy that we do things right in our payroll and pay all the taxes b/c their last employer paid people under the table and she felt like that was somehow cheating her. She had no clue that she was avoiding a massive tax on her salary and that her employer could pay her more than someone like me and still come out ahead. I cant' do that, I have too many people and it's too big a company and I don't like the idea of jail, but she had no understanding of how payroll taxes are NOT helping her.

[dan_bgblue]

The economy has not really improved since the housing debacle in the financial markets for the average American making between 40 and 150 K contrary to all the BS, sunshine up the wazoo crap we read and hear coming out of Washington. I also agree that the life of the independent small business person is suffering, actually suffering more than someone like me that works for a paycheck from a large company.

[CitizenBBN]

Speaking of regurgitating--greatest economic downturn since the great depression! LOL, I was alive in the 70's when Jimmy Carter was president. Don't forget that because Carter got ousted and Reagan turned the economy around quickly. They then set the boundaries of economic downturn to exclude his disastrous financial episode.

As for current times, please don't tell me how rosy it is. I got two college graduates living in.my house for the past 2 plus years unable to find decent full time work, and it's not for lack of trying. Without me they would be on the street collecting welfare but because they work 20 hrs bagging groceries at $10 an hour they are "employed" thanks to Obama. The psychology and criminal.justice degrees ain't doing them ****.

Just hired a guy, son of a friend of our business who we trust, it's temporary b/c he's looking for something in his field, but he's had 5 years in the Marines and has a MBA from UK and can't find a job, can't even get an interview. He's doing this to get some money coming in, but he's way overqualified for where he's starting.

[CitizenBBN]

The economy has not really improved since the housing debacle in the financial markets for the average American making between 40 and 150 K contrary to all the BS, sunshine up the wazoo crap we read and hear coming out of Washington. I also agree that the life of the independent small business person is suffering, actually suffering more than someone like me that works for a paycheck from a large company.

It's hard on us all, I don't think I or any small business guy has a special corner on suffering as Leftism overtakes us, but what I see over that 30 years as shown by the charts is the ever increasing burden of just pure crap. A lot of it individually is no big deal, but taken together you can basically spend whole days doing nothing that earns you any money. The only thing I claim to have is the perspective of having been in small business, in management, since Reagan, which gives me a benchmark of how things work now versus how they did then, and why even in the worst part of the 80s there were still SO MANY more new businesses opening versus closing, and now that has completely changed.

That's not all of what's going on, but it is a big part of it. You cant' just hang up your shingle and start doing work.

One HUGE part of it is the payroll tax and record stuff, which discourages expansion. Once you jump into hiring people you have all this crap to deal with from payroll filings to worker's comp insurance and a host of other things.

We of course hire our payroll out to a company, b/c it would take someone days to dot that stuff individually, but there's another effective tax, just paid to that company, but it's still an economic sump.

George Gilder focused on that some, and it's a great point. A very large percentage of Americans who do work are doing work that is only done b/c of government regulations and taxation. They do necessary and good work (my wife is one of them), but in the end that work doesn't grow the economic pie, it just helps address how the pie is divided. IN effect all the billions we spend on government regulation and tax compliance is a tax, a drag on the economy.

[CitizenBBN]

BTW, I have some policies to help address all this, and I have to say it's sad how frankly I think a random throw at a dartboard would come up with better than what either Trump or Hillary have offered.

For Trump it's just that he wont' address it and stick to message. I think he'd for sure be anti-government regulation, it's just that he needs to SELL a Reagan vision of America with less government and more freedom combined with peace through strength, and he just can't get that message and stay on it. I think he'd help small business when faced with the decisions, but he's not pushing it as a feature of making him President.

Hillary's approach is classic Leftist and classic Hillary: government allocating billions of tax dollars to then be doled out by federal bureaucrats to "help small business". I can't even take the time to explain on how many levels that's an idea dumber than drilling a hole in a boat to let the water out. So she's talked about the problem, and her answer is of course to make the problem even worse with government "help".

She can't even envision a world where Americans are left alone to sort things out on their own once in a while without some government overseer telling them what is best for them as dictated by a bunch of Leftist ivory tower thinkers and elites.

[Doc]

Just hired a guy, son of a friend of our business who we trust, it's temporary b/c he's looking for something in his field, but he's had 5 years in the Marines and has a MBA from UK and can't find a job, can't even get an interview. He's doing this to get some money coming in, but he's way overqualified for where he's starting.

And the Obama considers that a success because he got a job

[PedroDaGr8]

It's hard on us all, I don't think I or any small business guy has a special corner on suffering as Leftism overtakes us, but what I see over that 30 years as shown by the charts is the ever increasing burden of just pure crap. A lot of it individually is no big deal, but taken together you can basically spend whole days doing nothing that earns you any money. The only thing I claim to have is the perspective of having been in small business, in management, since Reagan, which gives me a benchmark of how things work now versus how they did then, and why even in the worst part of the 80s there were still SO MANY more new businesses opening versus closing, and now that has completely changed.

That's not all of what's going on, but it is a big part of it. You cant' just hang up your shingle and start doing work.

One HUGE part of it is the payroll tax and record stuff, which discourages expansion. Once you jump into hiring people you have all this crap to deal with from payroll filings to worker's comp insurance and a host of other things.

We of course hire our payroll out to a company, b/c it would take someone days to dot that stuff individually, but there's another effective tax, just paid to that company, but it's still an economic sump.

George Gilder focused on that some, and it's a great point. A very large percentage of Americans who do work are doing work that is only done b/c of government regulations and taxation. They do necessary and good work (my wife is one of them), but in the end that work doesn't grow the economic pie, it just helps address how the pie is divided. IN effect all the billions we spend on government regulation and tax compliance is a tax, a drag on the economy.

One thing I have noticed in the Southeast is the complete lack and absence of ANY sense of entrepreneurialism. One would think, that in the conservative southeastern USA, which is about as business friendly as it gets in the USA, there would be loads of small businesses starting up. It is by far the most favorable environment for it. It really doesn't seem to be the case though, huge commercial districts are just abandoned and many others have maybe one or two tenants. Meanwhile, in California, about as leftist as it can get, entrepreneurialism is through the roof. Not just in the tech sector or science sector but across the board. It is about as business unfavorable as many states can be, but it is hard to find commercial areas that are even 1/4 empty, let alone have only one or two tenants.

Truthfully, I can't figure out exactly why this is. Part of it is population, for sure but that doesn't even explain half of the difference. Is it just a different culture, where people are more aggressive about going into business. Is it an educational thing? I know UCSD, for their MS in Science required their students to take a business course on developing your own start up. Is it a safety-net thing? I had a discussion with one person that said California has a better safety net. His logic was that it is much easier to take a risk when you aren't worried that your kids will starve if your screw up. I really don't know if it is none of the above, a few of the above or all the above. I just think it is an interesting thing to note.

[KeithKSR]

Pedro, how many of the California business locations are filled by some type of government related activity?

[jazyd]

When the liberals/Democrats/perverted Hollywood elites talk about Trump and Putin, they seem to forget that Obama was recorded telling Putins #2 man that as soon as Obama was re-elected it would be easier to work together. And of course all of us that toe the DNC line know that Hillary sold our plutonium production to Russia with a large speaking fee going to her husband and their 'foundation' I don't think I recall Trump doing anything like that.

Also, the hacking of the emails at the DNC started before Trump even announced and certainly before anyone thought he would win so it wasn't in an effort to help him. imo, the leaks occured because of the contempt the leakers have for the leadership of the US plus they are basically mocking the democrats.

[PedroDaGr8]

I should clarify one thing before going any further: I don't have experience much with Nor Cal, so I can't comment on there, but in SoCal there is a VERY strong entrepreneurial spirit. Now to answer your question, it depends on the area. Near the Naval and Marine bases, you will find more companies that engage in support of those bases, as you would expect. As for other types, some companies might have a percentage that is government related but not in ways that would be obvious to any of us. I truly can't say for those. Otherwise, there is a lot of diverse industry: pure commercial, R&D, small scale manfuacturing like machine shops, and even some large scale manufacturing. This spans across a decent variety of fields. Additionally, a lot of industry supporting other industries (machine shops and small engineering consulting firms designing stuff for the larger ones). One interesting facet is there is a lot of churn in companies. I heard an estimate to use biotech as an example, on average in San Diego there are 450-500 biotech firms at any one time, each year around 80-95 go out of business and around 100 new start-ups appear. The ones that failed, failed because their business was not sound. The ones that succeed might go along at a steady but slow pace, might get acquired, might acquire someone else and grow larger or might be able to navigate their research to grow dramatically larger and become a market leader. This aggressive and diverse business culture is one thing that I really miss the most about no longer being on the west coast. The idea that the company might fail but we are trying hard to make "something out of nothing". As an R&D person trying to learn more about the business side of things, it was very vibrant. Rolls in smaller companies seemed a lot more dynamic on the west coast too. I had friends that left R&D for sales, marketing, project management and manufacturing management. In my interactions with R&D people here on the east coast, most indicate that would be impossible or near to it in their company (certainly not R&D to marketing and even R&D to sales would be very hard).

This is just how I experienced things is San Diego, it might be different in other parts of the east coast but for sure in the southeast section that commercial spirit and sense, seems scared at most companies and pretty much dead in the general population.

EDIT: One more thing I will mention. San Diego tended to be more local business oriented as well. For example, there when you went to get your car repaired you to it to "Brandon's Honda and Acura Repair" not JiffyQuickFix Intl. Wal-Mart did OK there but certainly not that great, there were more Costco's than Wal-Marts. There were certainly multi-nationals and they were important but they didn't DOMINATE the way they do in the Southeast.

Getting back to my question, to this day I cant figure out WHY things were so dynamic and vibrant business-wise there when all traditional logic says the businesses there should be struggling and the environment strangled by the government there.

[dan_bgblue]

http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/...king-wind.html

[Doc]

http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/...king-wind.html

Clearly a lie. Hillary and all her henchmen have told me all is going well and that king Obama saved us from financial ruin

[jazyd]

We had been having a good year compared to last year although I knew the 2 things that are way out of the norm that caused it

But this month has been beyond terrible. We are down 13% so far against last year. My SIL who is a fleet salesman for a large ford dealer, and makes a lot of money with big customers, told me tonight this is the worst July he has had. Election year? Conventions bounce, down?

Two reps called today basically begging for orders, they didn't get them

[StuBleedsBlue2]

Pretty big leap you are making there. Having a job, and owning your own business, employing yourself and others is not in any way shape or form the same thing.

Been there, done that.

[StuBleedsBlue2]

Speaking of regurgitating--greatest economic downturn since the great depression! LOL, I was alive in the 70's when Jimmy Carter was president. Don't forget that because Carter got ousted and Reagan turned the economy around quickly. They then set the boundaries of economic downturn to exclude his disastrous financial episode.

As for current times, please don't tell me how rosy it is. I got two college graduates living in.my house for the past 2 plus years unable to find decent full time work, and it's not for lack of trying. Without me they would be on the street collecting welfare but because they work 20 hrs bagging groceries at $10 an hour they are "employed" thanks to Obama. The psychology and criminal.justice degrees ain't doing them ****.

Maybe you should tell them to go where there are jobs, like a big city. Those degrees will get you a good enough living in Chicago, and I'm sure plenty of other big cities. If anybody spends 2 years looking for jobs in the same area and finding nothing, that should be a sign. What is it they call doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?

I graduated college in '95 and didn't have much luck finding anything either, but I moved to Chicago, got a job at the exchange for $200/wk and busted my tail to get where I am today. I could have live in my parents house for years, but instead I felt so much better taking risks, and when I fell down here and there, I didn't feel so bad when I needed to ask for a buck or two along the way.

Recoveries from what we saw in 2008 take a long time, even in big cities. I was a derivatives trader and got laid off a year after the crash, with no desire to go back to the industry(weren't any jobs anyway), and was out of work for 16 months and had to rebuild myself from the bottom in a new industry. I went from making around good 6 figs per year to making $25k/yr at 39 years old. I worked my way back and am making a very good living again now. It's WAY harder to do at that age, then right out of school.

There are plenty of available jobs in this country, but they're not just around the corner. Yet. You have to take some risks. There's no such thing as a free lunch in life. Well, unless you just decide to live in your parents basement and wait for something to come to you.

[Doc]

Well I'd consider voting for Hillary doing the same thing and expecting a different result

Last thing I'd do if I were looking for a job as a police officer is go to Chicago.

As for the rest, while I appreciate the job advice, rest assured my kids have better examples than what you provided. I also find it borderline hysterical that a liberal would offer me the advice "that there is no free lunch". Democrats built their party on the "free lunch" and continue to dole out entitlement like candy from a Pez dispenser.

Of course I'm much more receptive of providing for MY grown kids than I am with providing for a multitude of people I don't know or had nothing to do with their creation. Unfortunately I currently find myself providing for both groups

[Doc]

Also wanted to note the unemployment is UP in Chicago.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...421-story.html

[Catonahottinroof]

And yet "been there, done that" doesn't make your assertion true.

Been there, done that.

[suncat05]

I hear that. My wages haven't budged much in the last 8 years, what I can purchase with my pay continues to dwindle.

The policies of this administration have continued to hit the middle class and push them down the economic ladder.

I am in the very same boat myself. My bills keep going up, but my paycheck hasn't seen an increase since 2008. We are, and have been struggling since just before Obama became President. And we can thank a Democrat controlled Congress and "W" for that too, along with puppet entities like Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae that created the illusion of home ownership for everybody that wasn't true.
I am not a Trump fan by any means, but a vote for that old hag will just be a vote for another 4 years of Obama and his inept stupidity, and oh, yeah, surrendering the SCOTUS to the likes of Communist loving shills like Ginsberg, Kagan, Sotomayor and Kennedy.

[badrose]

Well, here's my situation: We moved to Pinehurst because my wife had a job offer we couldn't refuse and I've ended up back with the men's clothier I worked for before except it was bought out by the company of the "I'll guarantee it" fame. Turns out they paid too much so what did they do/are doing? They've cut out radio and TV advertising but only for us, not them, even though it's all under the same umbrella.

My store (soon to be the manager again, read: headache) is in a terrible location so it's primarily a destination store with very little spontaneous walk-in traffic. Most customers are retired and from the north and seem to think the rest of the world exists to kiss their collective you-know-what. Their closets are full due to the buy one, get 3 free fiasco. (Buy 1 get 2 worked just fine. I suspect that was an effort to drive up the stock price which the current owners bought into and now regret) The store is performing better than some others in the region and my staff is reduced to 4 including me, not including the tailor. We need a better spot but for now it's my job to get the numbers back up and with a small, inexperienced staff.

[Doc]

Well, here's my situation: We moved to Pinehurst because my wife had a job offer we couldn't refuse and I've ended up back with the men's clothier I worked for before except it was bought out by the company of the "I'll guarantee it" fame. Turns out they paid too much so what did they do/are doing? They've cut out radio and TV advertising but only for us, not them, even though it's all under the same umbrella.

My store (soon to be the manager again, read: headache) is in a terrible location so it's primarily a destination store with very little spontaneous walk-in traffic. Most customers are retired and from the north and seem to think the rest of the world exists to kiss their collective you-know-what. Their closets are full due to the buy one, get 3 free fiasco. (Buy 1 get 2 worked just fine. I suspect that was an effort to drive up the stock price which the current owners bought into and now regret) The store is performing better than some others in the region and my staff is reduced to 4 including me, not including the tailor. We need a better spot but for now it's my job to get the numbers back up and with a small, inexperienced staff.

You should have moved to a big city. I hear there are plenty of jobs there. Or be a policeman because there are always openings popping up. I hear Dallas is hiring 6, and is at least one in San Diego

[StuBleedsBlue2]

Also wanted to note the unemployment is UP in Chicago.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...421-story.html

I don't think you actually read the article, by the way is already nearly 4 months old.

Don't want to tell your kids to move to Chicago? That's OK, I never said it was the best option, but definitely a really good one. Try any of these cities where there are plenty of jobs, or these cities that are good for recent grads. One thing about the 2nd article that stuck out,

"But location can play a huge role when these new graduates are ready to launch their careers. In some cases, they’ve got to be willing to move to a place where they have the best chance of snagging their dream job."

I know one location that it's very difficult to find a job, a parent's house.

Here's a fact in today's job market. There are more jobs available than those qualified or willing to fill them. The solution to real and sustainable job growth is getting people motivated and trained to fill those jobs. I've seen absolutely nothing in the Republican platform, or anything from the Republican controlled Congress to do anything to fix this gap. Trump has absolutely no idea how to solve this problem either, as evidenced by economists predicting that a Trump Presidency will actually kill jobs, while Clinton's will add millions. The Democrat platform up and down is filled with plans to not only solve the gap, but create real jobs that solve real problems.

[CitizenBBN]

Here's a fact in today's job market. There are more jobs available than those qualified or willing to fill them. The solution to real and sustainable job growth is getting people motivated and trained to fill those jobs. I've seen absolutely nothing in the Republican platform, or anything from the Republican controlled Congress to do anything to fix this gap. Trump has absolutely no idea how to solve this problem either, as evidenced by economists predicting that a Trump Presidency will actually kill jobs, while Clinton's will add millions. The Democrat platform up and down is filled with plans to not only solve the gap, but create real jobs that solve real problems.

Let me guess. Every one of those plans involves government planning and throwing money at the problem? Yeah, that works so well.

The way to create jobs and get people in them is to get the HELL OUT OF THE WAY. I've seen the DNC proposals, and plans to spend billions and billions to set up more subsidies and control more decisions while taking the money from the people still working is not a plan for success.

The way to create jobs and get people educated is to move in the exact opposite direction you support. Decentralize education and allow competition, and then start doing the same for the business world.

But that won't happen, which is why Wall Street is pouring tens of millions into Clinton's campaign on top of the tens of millions they put in her personal pocket. It's to make sure the government stays very very involved in the markets, b/c that's good for those established companies and investors, and keeps the economy from adapting and changing and maybe letting someone else take their place.

This is the most mobile nation on Earth and we're more mobile than ever, and with technology people can telecommute more than ever as well. That's not the problem.