So there's enough talk about the credit crunch/financial crisis/recession/etc in the media and in other threads but I was curious to know if it's started to impact anyone here and how they are approaching any changes?

I've just been asked to take a pay cut at work as we're starting to really suffer the effects which in any other circumstances would be fine except I moved to Melbourne for it and along with moving came considerable cost so it's going to be a very quiet and cheap Xmas in the Ticcles family this year..

Anyone else have experiences?

that's f***in balls man

what do you do thats getting slammed so hard by it ?

My mortatgate went down and I got a payrise.

Yah I know I can't spell mtorgtage all I remember from monopoly is that is had unneccessarry t's in it. And the word unnecceesaryy has unnecessaary double letters.

I just recently lost my job due to cashflow not being adequate to pay me (systems analyst for a web development company).

I am fortunate that I don't have any debts or expenses but still.. I have no job and will probably find it hard finding a new one.

Not as yet. /touches wood....

I'm glad that the rate went down though, saves a fair hunk of $ even last month.

what do you do thats getting slammed so hard by it ?

Company has a bunch of web sites that help consumers make decisions on financial choices and my job is to make sure all the infrastructure is up and going and doesn't fail .. when the sites are down, the money stops coming in.

Unfortunately at the moment there's been a decline in consumer spending which directly impacts us and the board has stated that costs need to be cut.

I just recently lost my job due to cashflow not being adequate to pay me

That sucks man, hopefully there's some other work out there that can keep you steaming along.

i am praying hard for the financial crisis to worsen. hopefully interest rates go much lower and unemployment rises. should make finding some workers a bit easier, free up the construction industry and take the heat out of wages growth for at least a quarter... maybe.

it's not darkness for everyone. for every loser there is a winner in this game.

the biggest winners out of this "crisis"? the banks (surprise).

edit: some further insights from a business owner's perspective -

income - aged care is largely insulated from economic cycles due to overall growth in demographic demand however i am finding it extremely difficult to borrow money for acquisitions and growth - due to the increase in borrowing spreads for banks. in childcare once the word "crisis" started hitting the front page about 2 months ago occupancy nose dived, and thats even with ABC on the ropes. everyone is nervous. consumers act in a herd-like manner, and their decisions are not rational.

expenses: wages growth and consumable costs were out of control and this was reflected in the 5.1% CPI reading for the March quarter. This could not be sustained and everything has gone bang now. The construction market hac collapsed - subbies are finally asking me for work and layoffs have become an everyday occurence.

The biggest worry at the moment is the amount of layoffs from multi-nationals and resources companies (exporters). You know when they are laying off workers and cancelling acquisitions (i.e. BHP RIO) a rough ride is around the corner. You gotta hang on, cause this has a while to go.


last edited by infi at 17:32:18 04/Dec/08

Lawyers, Bankers and the Taxman never lose.

wtf do you do infi? You just been buying businesses etc for years and paying people to manage them for you?

I am pretty glad I am starting in government next year, plus the wage for my same job in 2010 went down like 4-5k! So i got in at the right time!
Either way, I am an accountant, so there is always work!

accountant eh, you must be an exciting person

and jewish

I am an accountant, so there is always work!

I know what you mean... but tell that to all the people who have lost their jobs at E&Y, KPMG and Pwc.

We've been lucky so far, but I don't know how long they can hold off.

accountant eh, you must be an exciting person

Yeah fully dude, I drive a camry and wear glasses! Just gotta get fat and lose some hair and the sterotype will be set! *rolls eyes*

I know what you mean... but tell that to all the people who have lost their jobs at E&Y, KPMG and Pwc.

Interesting! I don't know how those guys do it though....I work crazy hours, but they work crazier and still have to do the sutdy etc! In those kinda places though, a lot of it is business services which if people can't afford to pay the services then they don't. In smaller firms a lot of it is just compliance each year, which is kinda necessary.

Anyone seen this doco called In Debt We Trust? I just watched it the other night and its pretty interesting.

Americans get raped from each way from dodgy corrupt government/laws etc, and now everyone else is paying for it.

They have a giant digital clock thing, in the doco, which says how much they are in deficate. 8.5trillion in total, rising by 2.5billion a day in interest. They worked it out to be roughly $28,000 that each person owed.

deficit, scoobs.... deficit

haha

nah you're alright

when i met you briefly you were in hammer, in fatties and about to go back into the family. you probably don't even remember

meh

yes, i hear doom and gloom, but appart from my super, im miles in front;

interest rates are down, pay is up and petrol is affordable again;

For an interesting perspective on this whole crisis check out Chris Martenson's crash course. I'd embed the video, but I don't think there's an option to.

You will learn about:

* Intro (on this page, above)
* Chapter 1: Three Beliefs (Time: 1:46)
* Chapter 2: The Three "E"s (Time: 1:38)
* Chapter 3: Exponential Growth UPDATED! - November 3 (Time: 6:20)
* Chapter 4: Compounding is the Problem (Time: 3:06)
* Chapter 5: Growth vs. Prosperity (Time: 3:40)
* Chapter 6: What is Money? (Time: 5:55)
* Chapter 7: Money Creation (Time: 4:19)
* Chapter 8: The Fed - Money Creation (Time: 7:13)
* Chapter 9: A Brief History of US Money (Time: 7:14)
* Chapter 10: Inflation (Time: 11:48)
* Chapter 11: How Much Is A Trillion? (Time: 3:28)
* Chapter 12: Debt (Time: 12:32)
* Chapter 13: A National Failure To Save (Time: 12:06)
* Chapter 14: Assets & Demographics (Time: 13:41)
* Chapter 15: Bubbles (Time: 14:10)
* Chapter 16: Fuzzy Numbers (Time: 15:52)
* Chapter 17: PART A: Peak Oil (Time: 17:52)
* Chapter 17: PART B: Energy Budgeting (Time: 12:15)
* Chapter 17: PART C: Energy And The Economy (Time: 7:05)
* Chapter 18: Environmental Data (Time: 16:22)
* Chapter 19: Future Shock (Time: 8:02)
* Chapter 20: What Should I Do? NEW! - October 22 (Time: 19:48)

I don't agree with everything he says, but it was an interesting insight into how this whole mess came about. His blog is pretty good too.

pay is up

duno about this pay up business...

when i met you briefly you were in hammer, in fatties and about to go back into the family. you probably don't even remember

Ermm don't remember ever going to family in phatties. I think I do vaugely remember meeting you, there were otheres there too yeah? How did we cotton on we were from QGL?
That was a few years ago now!

Also can anyone explain to me why fuel is so freaking cheap?! I am seriously considering getting a big tank at home and filling it up with cheap fuel. It was like $1.35 not too long ago....now it's .85 on a good day! that's like 40% off! $30~ bucks a week is nothing to scoff at!

Should be even cheaper than that considering what the price was a few years ago when oil was this price and the USD/AUD exchange rate was similar. Never mind the poor guys who use diesel.

I work in the Health Care industry, business is good what with all the stockholders having heart attacks and all.

Glad I chose Science over IT.

spend spend spend good folk and this decline (recession?) will balance and reverse and we'll all be back here in 6 months bemoaning high interest rates again.
economics is interesting but economics teachers are weird!!

oh and i'm in the waste industry, no probs here everyone generates waste, recession proof business

oh, i should have mentioned all the free money the government is throwing at me also is good right now

mortgage down, pay up. loving it

mortgage down, pay up. loving it

+permanent govt job for me

Also can anyone explain to me why fuel is so freaking cheap?! I am seriously considering getting a big tank at home and filling it up with cheap fuel. It was like $1.35 not too long ago....now it's .85 on a good day! that's like 40% off! $30~ bucks a week is nothing to scoff at!

Supplies and demands. US economy has grid to a halt, in recession in fact. So they won't need as much fuel for their industries, so less demand. Hence the crude oil price has dropped to 4 years low today (~$45 USD per barrels). Of course it's a lot more complicated than that IRL but that's the basic of it.

mortatgate

mor tat gate?

I've had to make 3 of my team redundant and I'm now looking over my own shoulder.

We've lost about 12 of 40 staff in our office, all made redundant or didn't make probation.

Then again, I work for a Property Developer - so its no surprise!

i will check that out

Well, that depends what you mean by crisis...

Interesting that it's only just now starting to affect Australia, it got real bad in London a few months ago when Lehman Brothers collapsed, then all the other multi-nationals starting laying off tens of thousands of staff.

Most of the national banks in England were on the brink of collapse and have all been nationalised by the government, which now owns majority in all the major banks.

We made redundancies at my companies, but not many, it looks to get much worse as it now starts to affect the SME sector. It’s been absolutely horrific in America for the past 6 months or so, and is getting steadily worse, it’ll get much worse in other countries over the next year or so as we slip into global recession

I don’t think it’ll be over any time soon, at least a few years to go.

last edited by Viper119 at 20:37:11 04/Dec/08

I'm now paying $35 bucks week fuel instead of $50. Thats about it really.

didn't woolworths in the UK get sold for 1 pound not long ago ?

I'm now paying $35 bucks week fuel instead of $50. Thats about it really.

I pay ~$30-$40 every 2 weeks for petrol.

do you ride a vesper scooter?

He rides your mum and when he says petrol what he really means is big macs.

now that makes more sense.

i haven't noticed anything in the way of a slow down. i hear having plenty of ram helps though.

most of marketing is getting axed...

few things makes me happier than seeing people who abuse their natural gift to communicate effectively get pwned.

actually in times of recession the best way to survive is spend on marketing - to steal your opponent's customers.

mortgage down, pay up. loving it
+permanent govt job for me

+1

E&Y, KPMG

KPMG in particular, deserve whats coming to them. Their shady auditing practices have caused several huge busts in the finance industry, that would have been vastly minimised had they been doing their job properly. I believe it's ASIC, is about to tear them a new a******.

Alot of auditing and rating companies have alot to answer for.

+permanent govt job for me

i'm sure those AFP officers thought the same thing.

It's gonna be a very Tight-Arse kinda X'mas.

Socks and Old Spice :(

along with those guys working for Queensland Rail.. man they're in for a shock.

actually in times of recession the best way to survive is spend on marketing - to steal your opponent's customers.

marketing is always about stealing your opponents customers dude.


what's left of our marketing dept is about to augment my IT dept.. and I'm stoked =)

I'm a Permanent Timer so i get a min 20 hours of work a week for the quietest period of the year (22/12/08 til 02/01/09).

Luckily i got shiloads of annual leave so i'll be using that to make up the rest of the hours (excluding xmas, boxing, NYE).

last edited by ZIZ at 00:38:19 05/Dec/08

BHP is below $32 so I am stockingthef***up. Cause qgl told me to BUY BHP if it ever got below $32!!!!!!

everythings cheap. P/Es are crazy low atm.

bought my last bhp at 26.50 offloaded at 30.50. P/Es are low because the profits warnings haen't come in yet.

The three automakers are now asking for up to $34 billion in federal loans, up from their earlier request for $25 billion in assistance. Two of them, GM (GM, Fortune 500) and Chrysler LLC, are warning they could run out of the money they need to operate before the end of the year without immediate help.

This time GM CEO Rick Wagoner, Ford (F, Fortune 500) CEO Alan Mulally and Chrysler CEO Robert Nardelli drove fuel-efficient hybrids to Washington, rather than flying in on corporate jets as they did two weeks ago.

Ford and GM have since announced they would sell their jets. And all three CEOs have agreed to cut their pay to $1 a year if they get the federal help they are seeking.

interesting article on CNNmoney.com about the bailout of america's large auto manufacturer's. Things are pretty bad over there.

The multinational that I work for is laying off 6% of the total workforce by the end of Q1, a few thousand jobs.

I am hoping to get a redundancy, 9 years with these f***ers that should be a nice little payout :D

The next 12 months are going to be f***ed, no payrises, no bonus's, no promotions in 2009

I pay ~$30-$40 every 2 weeks for petrol.

Yeah but I drive a more than 2 cylinder 500mL beast. 3L 6-cyl albeit with an exhaust leak...

Slightly related but looks like Honda are pulling out of Formula 1, and everyone in the team has been advised to look for jobs at other teams - pretty accurate sign of what they think of spending $400m/year on vehicle development in the current climate.

P/Es are low because the profits warnings haen't come in yet.

wait... what?

are you saying that companies' P/Es will rise if they announce lower profits!?

edit: apostropheLOL

last edited by taggs at 09:09:28 05/Dec/08

Alot of auditing and rating companies have alot to answer for.

I'd be saying that CEO's of such companies have a lot to answer for first....it's their accounts, and they are the ones misleading shareholders. Would you rather some assurance? or just rely on management's accounts?

Ermm don't remember ever going to family in phatties. I think I do vaugely remember meeting you, there were otheres there too yeah? How did we cotton on we were from QGL?
That was a few years ago now!

f***ed if i know, can't remember too

pretty sure you had them on and a hat too lol

The operations centre of the company I work for laid off about 80 staff 3 weeks ago, 20 or so from the Brisbane office. Which works out to about 8% of the Brisbane staff working in Buildings and Infrastructure.

Luckily none from my section as we have a pretty steady stream of work in Traffic and Transport.

Have "lost" around 15K of virtual dollars on the stockmarket. Will just wait until it recovers in a decade or so :/

No debt, income solid, merchant navy FTW. This is an island, try to get by without us :)

im just about to buy a house. rates are dropping... oz dollar vs the pound is sliding, so my savings are worth more. and house prices are dopping cause "no one" is buying and people are desparate to sell.

booyaa. im good.

are you saying that companies' P/Es will rise if they announce lower profits!?

yes they will rise, but only marginally. The market has already factored in the lower profits they haven't announced yet you ninny.

edit: for example if BHP forecast earnings of $5 per share and they are presently trading at 5x earnings or $25 which seems stupidly cheap, it's because the market is already anticipating future downgrades to possibly $4 per share which would then make the PE rise to 6-7 times earnings.



last edited by infi at 11:43:24 05/Dec/08

Small business owner.

No strong impact here, still have work booked up for a few months into the new year. We spent the last year shedding personal debt and building the business without taking on debt so we're sitting pretty well to ride out any turbulence.

We're a bit different though, not many people in the far north servicing software development and the locals are averse to ordering work from 'down south'. If our current growth (!) trend continues we may actually be hiring by about midyear..

maybe i worded that badly.

what i was getting at is that P/Es could move either way in repsonse to a profit downgrade - depending on the markets expectations of future earnings, the markets perception of the credibility of the new information, etc. you may have the opinion that P/Es will rise - won't necessarily occur though.

i'm not arguing either way, just pointing that out.

i work at commbank, i reckon in jan i lose my job

gap between mortgage and rent is tightening. if the rates get any lower it's gonna be a good time to lock in some near-neutrally geared investment props.. assuming the banks will lend u the dosh ;D

My Disability Pension is holding up just fine (and with the KRudds little Chrissie gift of a grand, I'm sitting very pretty).

Things should get even better once the pensions goes up in May.

Disability pension is the biggest rort ever.

I know a guy that's been on it for the past 10 years and can stay on it for life, no conditions at all, he's allowed to go work fulltime for up to 2 years and still return to his disability pension unchanged.

Nothing at all wrong with him, just lazy.

$650 a fortnight + f***tonnes of bonuses (like the one coming) and $35 a week for a sweet unit.

Bloody centrelink.

Hah CHUB and think he probably gets a disability parking sticker too!

I know a guy that's been on it for the past 10 years and can stay on it for life

haha I ran into a guy like that not long ago.

the disability sticker on his Silvia had me a bit confused.

he has bunged hips though

hes probably the only person in the world that finds a silvia seat comfortable then

Not everyone on a disability pension is rorting the system, and not everyone eligible for benefits takes them.

650 /fortnight wouldn't dent my mortgage payments.

Pension rorters in today's Courier Mail.

HUNDREDS of Queensland welfare recipients have bet millions of dollars in state casinos under a money laundering scam linked to crime gangs.

The 329 pensioners and Newstart Allowance recipients, who get less than $300 a week, have bought $45 million of gaming chips at the state's four casinos in just 16 months.

Rorters or people spending their money unwisely?

A disabled person (like anyone else) might their money on stuff they probably shouldn't, it doesn't follow that the allowance itself is invalid.

Pensions and allowances are not issued with terms of use infi.

no these particular pensioners are laundering money for crime syndicates.

it's not intended to be a generalisation against pensioners. it's just an interesting article.

Haha serious, as in gray nomad organised crime?

(Sorry haven't read the article yet I'm 'working')

no they are probably ordinary every day people given bags full of cash to take into casinos. they convert it into chips, have a few bets, then turn all the chips back into cash. shazzam! the money is now legitimate. they would then return it to the crime bosses less some sort of fee i guess, to "supplement" their meagre welfare income.

That seems odd. How is a bag of dirty money "legalled" into a bag of clean money cos it spent half a day as casino chips? Wouldn't the mafioso have to explain where this new bag of money came from (much the same as the old bag of money had to be explained).

they won it on the craps table!!

So, in the Mobsters Inc. balance sheet they record spontaneous donations by cash-strapped pensioners generously handing over their big wins?

How bizarre. I guess there are accounting razzle-dazzle steps involved. I will never understand accountants until the day I die.

I will never understand accountants until the day I die.

I bloody will.. though I'll be 90 before I finally get it :P

At the moment I am trying to shed my debt nd then I'll have to see what interest rates and house prices are like. Seems like a great time to be a buyer if you have a stable job.

That seems odd. How is a bag of dirty money "legalled" into a bag of clean money cos it spent half a day as casino chips? Wouldn't the mafioso have to explain where this new bag of money came from (much the same as the old bag of money had to be explained).

money laundering at the casino 101:

1. dirty cash is converted to casino chips
2. chips are played on the floor for a while
3. chips are then converted back into cash and you are given a receipt

the idea being that nobody knows if its the same cash, or if you won it out on the floor. also as far as anyone else knows you converted 1k into chips, but after a few hours play, you cashed out 100k..

u can spice it up a bit from there as well and add multiple ppl, 'loose' money to friends etc etc but that's the general idea.

Yeh I get that bit epic, and I can see it working for your own dirty mony. I'm not sure how the money that is now legally the pensioner's magically makes it into the hands of the mobsters without making auditors and the like suspicious.

Hogfather, I believe what someone was politely trying to hint at was that the Cas in question was potentially involved in the scam...


just as American casinos were back in the... 1900's somtime.


I dunno - I saw it in a black & white flick somewhere

Step 1. Buy run down homes for cheap with clean money.
Step 2. Fix up homes using cash-in-hand with dirty money.
Step 3. Sell house for clean money.
Step 4. Profit.

At some clubs in some areas of sydney (i am told) that when you have a win a nice man comes over and "offers" to buy your machine off you. So he pays you out, then he maybe doubles your feature win a couple of times (not always) and then he goes and cashes it out in his name (or one of his friends do).

Firstly and obviously the reason why petrol is so cheap atm is durr they want you to feel that everything is fine, so spend up this xmas and by early next year you'll see petrol go back to the way it was and then some more and you'll prob QQ that you pissed your money away on presents.

Secondly don't buy a house yet, if things go as predicted in about 2 years housing prices in some areas will drop by about 20-30%.

Oh and those looking to buy a new car, try to wait till jan/feb next year, I've been told car dealers are getting a little bit desperate (hope none are in here) so if you can wait to buy a car in those months and willing to A) haggle and B) pay in cash you can prob get it drop the price to about 30% or so.

Thirdly NEVER EVER LISTEN TO TV. Its a crock of s***, its not designed to help you make smart investment ideas, its for people without a clue follow the sheep game until your lead right into the slaughter house.

Finally, if you have money in Citibank/citigroup take it out now, they should of never been given a gold star by cannex LOL. Also a lot of high end people at Macquarie Bank quit their jobs and got other jobs in other finance institutions, so...ummm yeah some s***s gonna go down, don't know what...just seems sus.

Hope you all enjoy the big ass wave that's coming this way :)

your theories intrigue me, and i wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Thirdly NEVER EVER LISTEN TO TV. Its a crock of s***, its not designed to help you make smart investment ideas, its for people without a clue follow the sheep game until your lead right into the slaughter house.

couldn't agree more, thats why i make all my investment decisions only after i've consulted with the qgl finance team.

My mortatgate went down and I got a payrise.

same! credit crunch ftw!@&^!*

i was up at maloolabah on saturday n there are a lot of car yards closed down up the coast! but i dont think petrol is cheap atm coz THE MAN wants you to think all is well ;) hahah.

i've heard from mates that a lot of the really big international distributers have gone under & honda has pulled outta f1 racing (although that may just be because they were sucking so bad ;)

Secondly don't buy a house yet, if things go as predicted in about 2 years housing prices in some areas will drop by about 20-30%.

You're right, a market undersupplied by as much as 40% with no signs of increases in construction, should result in house prices dropping significantly.

It's a sure thing, everyone sell up and wait for the crash!

It's a sure thing, everyone sell up and wait for the crash!

Prices have already fallen 10% in SE Qld, which is pretty strange if the market is so undersupplied. The real reason prices are falling is that housing prices have far outstripped the growth in real wages since 2001. So we are now on the downward side of a bubble.

Bubbles are inevitable when assets prices escalate beyond what rational buyers want to pay for them. Prices will fall further. Instead of a flood of cashed up people with easy credit moving into SE Qld, we now have a sea of poor renters moving in.

That will do nothing for house prices sorry.

last edited by infi at 12:15:32 08/Dec/08

They may have fallen by 10% by they (still) are waaaaaaay overvalued. House prices are just returning to something resembling what the houses are actually worth.

have average prices declined significantly or just the median? The median will decline significantly due to the upper-end market falling since people in that bracket are probably feeling the pinch (eg. share portfolios tumbling, reduced bonuses/payrises).

Has Ruddles put the brakes on Immigration yet?

No, they are coming in by the boatload.

i see what you did there

sorry infi is right in my haste to post. I should of said as wages rise, the market value for houses won't try to match the wages, i.e. not gain as much value as they used to, so pretty much in a couple of years as this trend goes houses end up 'being' cheaper, so to speak. But the value themselves wont really drop, just go at the pace of a snail.

hope that made sense, im tried and had a long day :)

if not someone please correct my s***ty metapwhores (ha-haa did u c what i did there).

Value will not drop.

Prices relative to wages may improve though.

They may have fallen by 10% by they (still) are waaaaaaay overvalued. House prices are just returning to something resembling what the houses are actually worth.

that statement makes no sense. the 'worth' of a house is the amount the market is willing to pay. you can't "return to what they are actually worth". the market can only correct itself as you force more buyers out of play.

Prices will fall further. Instead of a flood of cashed up people with easy credit moving into SE Qld, we now have a sea of poor renters moving in. That will do nothing for house prices sorry.

And in this situation who do the 'poor renters' rent from genius? Investors. As the price of renting gets closer to the cost of buying more investors will enter the market and push prices up a bit then the media will jump on it as the beginning of a boom and then the masses will jump in and off we go again..

its all part of the cycle...

http://i33.tinypic.com/2my4sh0.png

My $0.02 is that the over-inflated house prices for the last 7yrs has done more harm than good.

I need to find you all a highly banned youtube video of what really the world economy is. Its banned not for inappropriate content just the fact it teaches people that the system we've had for a long time is a crock of s***. Quite an interesting video....errr ill get back to this topic when/if i find it.

have average prices declined significantly or just the median? The median will decline significantly due to the upper-end market falling since people in that bracket are probably feeling the pinch (eg. share portfolios tumbling, reduced bonuses/payrises).

hmm, if my maths are right wouldn't falling upper end keep the median exactly where it is?

My $0.02 is that the over-inflated house prices for the last 7yrs has done more harm than good.

FYI your $0.02 has fallen in value to $0.01, sorry...times are tough you know?

Your math would be correct nF, unless the median value was in the "upper-end" which then suggests "upper-end" is not a good term. But perhaps they meant average ?

And in this situation who do the 'poor renters' rent from genius? Investors. As the price of renting gets closer to the cost of buying more investors will enter the market and push prices up a bit then the media will jump on it as the beginning of a boom and then the masses will jump in and off we go again..

And the prices dictated by the market will revert back to yield and expected capital growth. Whilst there is no confidence in the market, there will be no expectation of capital growth, so then the investors must be able to service their negatively geared houses until such a time as a capital growth is apparent. The last time the housing market went bust this was for about 10 years.

That's a long time to be servicing a renter's home. So THAT means prices must come back to such a point as investors will buy on yield, pushing normal rental yields from 5% up to borrowing rates 7-8%. That means houses prices will have to fall a LONG way for investors to start buying.

last edited by infi at 00:34:31 09/Dec/08

1. Buy heaps of shares in energy companies they are cheap at the moment right?
2. Wait till energy starts to become really expensive. Everyone needs energy, so it's not like people are going to stop using it or needing it.
3. Surely the energy companies will figure out how to make a profit when faced with this. Sell your shares.
4. ?????

4. coke and hookers

I would recommend Woodside and Santos.

this thread is lol

seriously

GOLD Coast house prices have dipped to a more affordable level, according to the latest Real Estate Institute of Queensland sales data.

REIQ figures show the median house price on the Gold Coast fell 4.8 per cent to $466,500 over the September quarter.

Surfers Paradise recorded a fall of 45.1 per cent, while Burleigh Heads (31.1 per cent) and Runaway Bay (30.3 per cent) also recorded significant price declines.

All those investors...tearing up their money. Article.

this was a pretty handy little explanation of the crisis

http://www.crisisofcredit.com/

I just got off the phone with my real estate agent who's selling our house - she said times are tough, they now actually have to work for their money. No s***, her exact words were;

"Now we have to work for our money"

Then a little giggle as if to say "oh f***, what have I said"

most real estate agents are dumb as dog s***.

Swap your house with someone else then you avoid all those little taxes/charges.

Well I guess I can count myself as one of the casualties now. Been out of work for 3 weeks and for the first time in 17 years I had to go into center link which for me was pretty soul destorying.

In the past I have been able to move easily from job to job and even if there was down time of anything upto a couple of months I have been able to look after myself. So to have to go and ask for assistance is a real kick in the guts and pretty damn depressing.

s***, that's terrible news, Taipan. I hope you can hang in there.

it's not darkness for everyone. for every loser there is a winner in this game.

I'd say the winners to loosers ratio is more like a 1:20 rather than a 1:1 infi

If it was a 1:1 ratio we wouldnt even be noticing an issue would we?

last time i was out of work, i got 120 stars in mario world on the n64

What do you do taipan?

I'd say the winners to loosers [sic] ratio is more like a 1:20 rather than a 1:1 infi

that may be the case but every transaction is about a transfer of wealth, so for the person who is having wealth transferred away from them, at some time there has been a converse transfer of wealth sometime else.

unfortunately with asset bubbles what happens is that the person who accumulates the wealth is the person who made the last sale into the bubble at the peak and who exited with the top price.

the person left holding the house mortgaged to their eyeballs now worth half is the current loser, and the last developer or seller is long gone with their cash (the winner).

so while the ratio maybe 1:20 at the moment as you suggest, the fact is that as the boom was racing along winners to losers was more like 20:1 as everyone's asset had risen since the time they purchased it.

you can't win all the time.

this was a pretty handy little explanation of the crisis

Yeh Spook, I saw that and its nice how its simplified for dummies. That was worth watching !!!

TicMan I am a machinery operator, I almost always working in heavy industry places such as Boyne Smelters, Patrick Stevedores (wharfie) and ANI Bradken (foundry crane driver). Also worked in a fair bit of manufacturing with places such as Tyco water and One Steel Reinforcing.

I can turn my hand to pretty much any type of machine driving and laboring work or even TA/ing.

I have
HR Licence
Open Bridge and gantry licence
Skid Steer Loader
Elevated work platfrom 11m
Open Forklift ( I used drive 34 ton forks and little baby ones)

Just the fork ticket or crane ticket would usually be enough to get me a start somewhere. Sadly there just seems to be no one hiring so in that case my tickets are worth pretty much zero. What really hurts is that I have always been able to look after myself no matter what and in the past I have outright refused go on the dole. This time is different and I am pretty much stuck and can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks for the thought infi :)

Do you mind living away from Brisbane a little cause I know where you can get heaps of work along the lines of what you are capable of doing.

I have a mate who owns a crane company and asked me earlier in the week if I knew anyone.

Mate I'd move to the center of the earth if it got me a decent job. Although given my situation I pretty much have to have a net connection no matter where I go. Not saying it would stop me of course though.

If your mate owns a crane company I would take a stab in the dark that it's likely to be mobile cranes. If thats the case I don't have a ticket any mobile cranes I am sad to say. Would I be willing to train and get one ... absolutely given I could earn something at the same time. My open ticket is for bridge and gantry cranes which is what you see unloading containers on the wharf, just to give you some idea of what they are.

Thanks for the thought and I am certainly open to all possibilities.

QGL CHANGING LIVES

Would I be willing to train and get one ... absolutely given I could earn something at the same time

Well you might as well get one now while you aren't earning anything.

Yeah thats all well and good Tol mate but those tickets will set you back a s*** load. The best and imo only real way to get those tickets is if an employer puts you through the training while you are on the job. Which personally I have always believed to be the best way to learn how to operate any piece of machinery. Getting a mobile crane ticket off your own back will cost you around the $2k mark then you should also have to do a riggers course aswell so the costs start to mount.

Check ur PM's Taipan.....

isn't there a government scheme to reimburse people who go out of their way to train themselves up on their own pocket to get a job?

not that i know of. i looked at it when i first got back to oz.

$2k? Fair enough then.

O well, just break out the games and enjoy your extended holiday, there is plenty of stuff to play at the moment at least :D