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The Economy (2020/21)

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,562
24,182
media blackout
You know who they are cause they like to wear Carhartt until it comes time to do Carhartt shit.

Maybe I should open up a Carhartt franchise in Jackson. Pay laborers $30/hr to wear the clothes and beat them up a bit, then sell it with some of that blue collar patina to the rich pretenders for $$$.
carhartt is a religion to maine hillbillys
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,852
9,557
AK
You know who they are cause they like to wear Carhartt until it comes time to do Carhartt shit.

Maybe I should open up a Carhartt franchise in Jackson. Pay laborers $30/hr to wear the clothes and beat them up a bit, then sell it with some of that blue collar patina to the rich pretenders for $$$.
Now you are getting it, except, instead of laborers, use kids.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado

  • CPI jumped 6.2% in October from a year ago in broad advance
  • Core measure of consumer prices increased by most since 1991
If your raise this year isn't at least CPI for your region, you're not getting a raise. Just look at the rolling 12 months from your prior raise. Be willing to look at your other options if your raises are real numbers (6-7% inflation + your earner 2-5% raise).

https://www.bls.gov/ > Regional homepages below > Choose your state > Inflation, Prices, and Spending for your metropolitan area.
 

  • CPI jumped 6.2% in October from a year ago in broad advance
  • Core measure of consumer prices increased by most since 1991
If your raise this year isn't at least CPI for your region, you're not getting a raise. Just look at the rolling 12 months from your prior raise. Be willing to look at your other options if your raises are real numbers (6-7% inflation + your earner 2-5% raise).

https://www.bls.gov/ > Regional homepages below > Choose your state > Inflation, Prices, and Spending for your metropolitan area.
The raise that ain't a raise stuff started well before I retired. Corporations are working on refining wage slavery.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
The raise that ain't a raise stuff started well before I retired. Corporations are working on refining wage slavery.
I think my company started the "but we made one adjustment for inflation" argument already. I just got a 2.?% raise last week because the company is apparently baselining the entire country comp for COLA and based on experience/seniority/etc. I know the really senior people on our team didn't get much for raises and the really jr people (more support related and very easily hireable elsewhere) got relatively large raises (7%+). Our HC costs didn't change, our 401(k) match went up by 1%, and the bonus pool is substantially larger. We're struggling for staffing, so it sounds like they are getting really scared that people are going to start dropping. I know that on my team two of the most senior people are going for our CFP's and once we get them, our market value goes up over $30k/yr.
 

Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,261
8,767
Crawlorado
The raise that ain't a raise stuff started well before I retired. Corporations are working on refining wage slavery.
Throughout my career, my yearly "raises" have been in the 1.5 - 2.5% realm. Basically just compensating for inflation.

Up until my recent promotion, the only meaningful increases have come via job changes. Employers know this, yet continue to bemoan people leaving. It's lunacy, especially when you consider how much it costs to find and hire a replacement FTE.
 

Inclag

Turbo Monkey
Sep 9, 2001
2,750
439
MA
Throughout my career, my yearly "raises" have been in the 1.5 - 2.5% realm. Basically just compensating for inflation.

Up until my recent promotion, the only meaningful increases have come via job changes. Employers know this, yet continue to bemoan people leaving. It's lunacy, especially when you consider how much it costs to find and hire a replacement FTE.

One of the issues I'm having is that investment in innovation and seed funding habits aren't changing. Basically it's the whole Subway ought to charge $40 for a sandwich in Jackson Hole thing, but the rich assholes won't pay that. It's becoming clear to me that my company needs to adjust our billing structure, but the clients are hamstrung with same financial limitations they had pre-pandemic.

@Adventurous where do you currently work and what you doing?
 

Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,261
8,767
Crawlorado
One of the issues I'm having is that investment in innovation and seed funding habits aren't changing. Basically it's the whole Subway ought to charge $40 for a sandwich in Jackson Hole thing, but the rich assholes won't pay that. It's becoming clear to me that my company needs to adjust our billing structure, but the clients are hamstrung with same financial limitations they had pre-pandemic.

@Adventurous where do you currently work and what you doing?
Medical device, cosmetic laser systems. Right now I'm more or less a Manufacturing Engineer. Validations, product improvements, part obsolescence, that sorta thing.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,852
9,557
AK
One of the issues I'm having is that investment in innovation and seed funding habits aren't changing. Basically it's the whole Subway ought to charge $40 for a sandwich in Jackson Hole thing, but the rich assholes won't pay that. It's becoming clear to me that my company needs to adjust our billing structure, but the clients are hamstrung with same financial limitations they had pre-pandemic.

@Adventurous where do you currently work and what you doing?
A lot of businesses are attempting to subsidize their stuff it seems, to keep pricing consistent.

There's a lot of stuff here that is much more expensive than down south...but a lot of the stuff at the local Kroger/Frys/Fred Meyer supermarket is the exact same price as say, Texas, where I go for work and check stuff. Gas is more expensive, but again, some things are not and the only answer I can think of is they subsidize their price, maybe for some sort of brand consistency or something.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
A lot happens in 3 days.

View attachment 167325
This is why I don't watch day to day, week to week, or even month to month. It's about larger economic movement - yields, inflation, employment, etc. All those things determine sales; sales determine earnings; earning determine stock price. I give zero fucks about individual stock price movement.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
This is why I don't watch day to day, week to week, or even month to month. It's about larger economic movement - yields, inflation, employment, etc. All those things determine sales; sales determine earnings; earning determine stock price. I give zero fucks about individual stock price movement.
This is one of your posts that reminds me of this

 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
Savings/Investing reminder from non-advisor, money monkey Stoney:

If you have money sitting in savings accounts, check your rates. High yield savings accounts are currently around .5 to .6% at online banks. If you aren't hitting that range, look online for better rates. www.nerdwallet.com has a really easy aggregator to find good HY accounts. When you're making transfers to get high rates, make sure to see if there are criteria (min or max amts to get higher rates). With inflation a fuck you in the ass rates, you need all the help you can get.

There are also I-Bonds available through www.treasurydirect.com. This is the Treasury website. I-Bonds are a form of savings bonds with a fixed rate that also adjust for inflation semi-annually. They are currently sitting over 7% until April - you will beat that nowhere. These are going to be for your long-term emergency funds - 6m+ - because they need to be held for 1yr initially and then if you sell before 5yrs, you lose the last 3m of interest. You are limited to $10k online purchases and $5k in paper annually. These are a really great option if you want liquidity but have a longer timeline on that money.

And mind your investments, their costs, and performance vs their corresponding index. I just did a quick review on our investments because Wifey's 401k is moving to a new provider and got a punch in the gut. She and I have an almost identical portfolio regarding allocations, but working with the investments we each have available in our retirement plans. I work for a much larger company, so we have more, lower cost selections available. She did not, so I had to work with my options. I have an almost 10% greater annual RoR based solely on her plan fees and limited investment selection.

Your company is required to be a fiduciary regarding your employer retirement plan and the options available within them. If they are shit, expensive, and there are better options available, make it HR aware of it, find out who is choosing those options and how often the retirement plan is addressed. It should be at least every 2-3 years and there should be an outside advisor who is also a fiduciary working with the "retirement board" to do the assessments and help make decisions. Not acting in a fiduciary manner can be monstrously expensive to an employer after the fact, especially if there is a paper trail of people asking for better options. This has more impact at mid- to small-companies.

The change to Wifey's plan was based on my/her complaining about how bad the options were and how not beneficial it was to employees (it's a tiny company and the owner asks me for help on these things, so slightly different scenario).
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
Not sure what to make of this…

Unemployment claims are based on people in the employment market. If 10% of the employable population came officially out of the employment market, then we can still reflect a very low unemployment rate, despite being very understaffed within the economy.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,519
7,068
Colorado
Pay higher wages.
That is the answer right there. You can pull people out of "at-home employment" (parenting) by paying enough that they can justify putting their kids back into daycare. That means you're likely looking at a 30-40% minimum premium over their income after all kid related expenses are paid. If I'm staying at home with my kids and only making $3-4k after shipping my kids off, fuck that noise. You're going to need substantial amounts of money. People have already converted to a single income lifestyle - companies need to pull them back. That process will be costly and slow, if at all.