** Something BIG is coming **
Posted April 6th, 2008 by IamVoting4RonPaul
output
A post from LeMetropoleCafe.com:
One of the members of LeMetropole found this in a chatroom:
"I have worked retail for several years. I am in mid-level store management right now. I don't want to say exactly what company I work for, but it is in the top 3 largest. I work at a store in a major city.
There have been some crazy things going on recently. The changes that we are being asked me make per corporates direction makes me think that the people at the top think something VERY big is going to be happening to the economy soon. I don't think the media or the government is giving us the full details of what is actually going on, but I think the CEO's and others at the top are fully aware and are making plans.
For one thing I check sales every day. At the store level we usually compare what sales are today compared to sales for the same day, week, month, and year last year. Sales at our store, our district, and company wide have taken a HUGE drop compared to the same time last year. When I looked at them today my store and every store in our district was down over 30% for the same time last year. The company as a whole is also in the negative for the same time last year. (but not as much, but it gets lower every day).
Honestly at my store I could say that we have done everything in our power at the store level to increase sales, but it just isn't happening. Departments like electronics are literally almost completely empty the entire day. The only departments that actually are getting sales are consumables, health, and chemicals. Just walking the store these are the only departments I ever even see people in ever since christmas ended.
Sometimes I will cover the service desk so a team member can take a lunch/break. When I do I sometimes process peoples credit card payments which lets me see how much they owe and how much they are paying. There are tons of people with THOUSANDS of dollars on their card only making minimum payments. These balances are usually at interest rates over 20%. Then there are people bringing in checks for the full amount, but they are BALANCE TRANSFER checks.... they are just moving it to other cards.
But that isn't what really worries me. What worries me is the changes corporate is making. I have worked here for years, and in the last 4 months I have seen more changes than all that time combined.
We are getting emails all the time from corporate telling us to reduce costs anyway we can. We recently got one telling us to start pulling fluorescent light bulbs, that we don't need all of them in order to provide illumination.... and those bulbs barely use any power.
Corporate has instructed all stores to lower the AC. It has been lowered enough to the point we get complaints from team members and customers.
Corporate has sent us emails telling us to make sure we fill bags to the absolute possibly maximum. They are not even sending us large bags anymore to some stores.
Corporate has recently eliminated (what I would estimate based on how many positions we lost vs the thousands of stores we have) several thousand management positions at *all levels* of management at stores.
This NEVER APPEARED ON THE NEWS! I suspect because it was not a traditional lay off. What corporate basically told us was "Your position is eliminated, but you are not laid off. Once you quit/get your self fired/whatever your position just won't be filled again" So we are basically slowly losing jobs as people company wide quit, get fired, etc.... but the jobs are never filled again. So basically we are cutting jobs, but the way it is being done is preventing it from getting reported in the media or tracked by the government as job losses.
No non-management positions have been eliminated, instead hours have been cut for them.
Raises this year have also been lowered in amount compared to in previous years. They have been lowered enough that corporate is keeping it a secret until we have to tell team members.
The company is also buying less. Our distribution centers are sending us, for example, 3 of a certain item when normally we would get 50.... and they don't send us more until those sell. I have not been able to keep departments full of product despite contacting corporate and asking for more because we are being sent such small amounts of product.
We have had trucks cancelled all the time now simply because we sold so little that they can't justify sending so few items to a store.
People are simply NOT buying things. They are not buying anything that isn't a consumable basically. I asked our pricing team to do a store mark down and lower the price on almost all of our TVs by 30-50%. We still have not sold a single one in over a week after! Our TVs were not priced very high to begin with.
Our pricing team is also being sent price increase changes from corporate in huge numbers. I am talking entire aisles of product for them to raise the prices on. The other day we got a STACK of pages of product to increase prices on. We thought it HAD to be a mistake because that has simply never happened before. We have emailed corporate asking if it was a mistake... we have not heard back yet, but I suspect it was not.
Many stores are now changing to non-overnight stores. They will be closed overnight and ALL power except in office areas will be cut overnight to save on costs.
There have even been changes to job descriptions recently. Corporate is basically giving job dutys to people at lower levels which used to be reserved for people at higher levels. Even some management tasks are being given to people in non-management positions. Basically they are paying people less to do what people used to get paid more to do.
Things are NOT looking pretty right now. I can tell you from a consumer spending point of view something is definantely going on.... All these changes tell me the people at the top are trying to brace for something big that is going to be happening to the economy."
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Just to mix things up here,
Just to mix things up here, I know that something big's coming. Do you know what it is? It's the REVOLUTION, people. Why do you think that Dr. Paul said "There's something going on in this country and it's big, it's really big!"? =)
"Something BIG is coming"...this summer I see when...
...gas would surely hit $5+ !
Thats when I ride my bike to work (hosp night shift)...
If anyone wants to know
why retail may be busy at this time..as some of the posts on this thread contend...well...
People are spending their tax money...That's right...For whatever purpose this is the time of year that retailers love.
I'm a retailer..so I know....
..My neighbors...who have practically no furniture in their home, their children dress in worn clothes that are too small for their bodies, and the mother just started a second job hosting sex toy parties (eewww)...Just spent their rebate check on a Wii game system and new landscaping...
I don't get it.
But you will see the shift come june when the money is spent...dead stores all over the place.
They sound like people from my old neighborhood
except that they would never landscape. Their yard is overflowing with "toys" (junk). They park their boat in my grandma's driveway because they've run out of room at their place.
___________
Lisa C.
www.women4ronpaul.com
note to all*
This is apparently from a Target employee. Wording and references in it say so. My girl works for them and has the same issues.
___ _____ _____ _____ ______ ______ _____ ___
"The time is near at hand which we must determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves."
George Washington
First President of the USA.
http://digitaldiesel.net/...
also posted here
http://www.democraticunde...
I too get signals from retail, oil and gas as well as
real estate. Oil & Gas seem to still be moving along. Real Estate and retail are having their problems lately. It's not the end of the world; businesses adjust (because they have to) to changing conditions. Governments just get bigger, regardless of what changes. It was not that many years ago that grocery and department stores had definite operating hours during the daytime; 24/7 operation of traditional grocery and department stores is a relatively recent thing in the U.S. consumer market. Distribution systems are being adjusted in order to take into account increased costs as well.
CNN MONEY
I found these two recent articles to be pretty enlightening on the job market and the recession.
http://money.cnn.com/2008...
http://money.cnn.com/2008...
Wow! thanks for the link
Thanks for the link. This sentence says it all. I was stunned. Right now this pace can only continue downward and faster. That number is scary and should be the highlight of the article. These are the same type of surveys they use to conduct polling, so I dont think they could be very far off.
"The household survey shows the number of job losses over the past three months was 654,000 compared to a loss of only 44,000 jobs according to the payroll survey during the same period"
prepare for what will likely
prepare for what will likely be the greatest economic crisis the country and world have ever seen.
I'm actually starting to panic... I'm just a freshman in college and I have no idea what to do to prepare, plus I'm thousands of dollars in debt thanks to student loans which are almost unavoidable for school these days.
Relax
Enjoy school and your youth....you are young, getting an education (the most important thing) and in better shape than the majority of Americans. Student loans are an investment in yourself...that is excellent. I'm sure you don't own a home with a huge mortgage, credit cards maxed out and drive a new SUV. I also believe that if you are a freshman that you have family that you can stay with when you aren't in school and even if you don't you are in very good shape because you are young and have your whole future ahead of you.
My son is 25 and is moving into my lower level for a year or less to cut his expenses and work on his career. This benefits to both of us because he has low cost living and can also help me with projects around the house. I don't believe that you have anything to worry about and you need to relax and enjoy your youth because you are doing the best thing you can possibly do right now...get your degree, have fun and you have time to adjust to whatever may happen and come out ahead.
Get away from these sites for a while
Go outside and look around and ask yourself if you can handle today.
This can be overwhelming no matter how old you are. There are many, many people who are really afraid. But the truth is, we can prepare out the gazoo and still think of something we should have done if something happens. We cannot prepare for every contengency. We are all in this with you. Take it one day at a time and live conservatively if you can. Otherwise, as the other person says, go enjoy being young and quit talking about this. Remember Dr. Paul says, "Have fun." Does he look petrified. NO. If you are Christian, put yourself to sleep giving it up to God. He knows what is going on.
There are some people who make a career of telling others how unprepared they are and what they still need to do. Those are the same people who insist we have to go buy gold. The more people who buy gold help those who have it. It is hard to get away from self interest.
There is much to be said for staying away from stress. So take a deep breath and give it up to your higher power.
Good sound Advice indeed!
Good for you.
Your student loans don't have to be paid back for a while yet
so take a deep breath and enjoy being young. It goes by fast.
___________
Lisa C.
www.women4ronpaul.com
It will get worse
I've owned three small retail businesses in the past so I understand what is happening. Retail is going to get hit and get hit hard. Americans are losing their homes, their credit cards are maxed out and alot of them are just paying the minimum payment and with the cost of oil going up, heating fuel etc then EVERYTHING retail will go up including food and retail goods.
I feel that we are just at the beginning of the demise of the middleclass just as Dr Paul has been saying for 30 years. I'm retired now and working at an outlet mall for aditional income. I have seen 9 (1/3) of the namebrand stores in the outlet mall close in the last 2 months. Retail businesses are downsizing and cutting overhead as tight as possible just to stay alive.
When outlet malls are having problems then I know that retail stores and retail malls must really be hurting. At my store, they is only ONE employee working during the entire day except for maybe 2 hours where the shifts overlap. Heating and cooling temperatures are kept at very borderline degrees to save money. One of the largest retail malls in the county is closing down in a months.
The middleclass can barely afford the necessities (food, gasoline, heating, healthcare etc) much less the luxuries like electronics, nice clothes, travel, restaurants, movies etc. They have to cut back and unfortunately, the service and retail industries are the financial backbone of this country and that is where most people will cut back.
You can't really get upset with the retail store you work for....they have to downsize or close down which leads to even more unemployment. I don't know where this will all end but I do know that it will get worse. The problem is that the Fed is determined to help ONLY the big bankers, big investment companies, the military industrial complex, Wallstreet and large corporations. This is all they care about and it is at the expense of the middleclass which is the backbone of this country.
Dr Paul made a statement that if you look at any third world country there is no middleclass, only the rich and the poor. Does our government care about the very citizens that they are supposed to represent? Absolutely NOT. It almost seems like the "elite" are scrambling to make as much money as they can and acquire as much equity as they can before the poop hits the fan.
Listen to Dr Paul and learn from what he says. I know that he has opened my eyes to the truth of what is really going on with our government and I personally will not be caught offguard IF the economy collapses.
Your comment:
"Dr Paul made a statement that if you look at any third world country there is no middleclass, only the rich and the poor."
The socialists see this differently than we do. They will use this divide against the American people by expanding "social welfare" programs making the situation worse. They will call for you to "sacrifice" for others and order the government to back up their backward philosophy with guns and incarceration.
We, on the other hand, will be fighting hard to end the Fed and reintroduce gold and silver back into the system but the socialists (Keynesians) will fight us every step of the way as we are hated by these fools.
___________
Lisa C.
www.women4ronpaul.com
My husband is in the building industry
and every recession that has happened he knew it long before the people in other trades/businesses, and he has known it since 2 years ago, and it is becoming very hard to find work. He has to travel 600 miles sometimes for work. Recession generally hits the construction trade first, and his part even before the other parts, (masonry), because all homes need plumbers, carpenters, electricians, but not all need masons. So, believe me, we are in a recession. And it is getting worse. He is actually thinking of storing cement blocks to have on hand to build chimneys for those who cannot afford heat, and want to heat with wood, if there is a depression. We already do, so hopefully that will help us. I have a wood fired outside bread oven that will bake 50 loaves of bread in one firing, so I hope that will give me an income, if things get bad.......
That sounds beautiful...
because I can't bake bread,,,
I tried to do beer bread...one bottle of hieneken to some flour...it was the worst stuff i that ever came from my oven!
I gag when I think of it!
My cousin who went to baking school
taught me to make bread, and made my bread oven, lucky me, but alas, I can't do it all right now, cuz I broke both arms, they prayed for patience for me at church this morning, cuz it is taking so long to heal, can't do much cept be on the daily paul.
You DO know you had to pour
You DO know you had to pour the beer out of the bottle first, don't you?
(Just kiddin'!)
I'm
I'm in the building trades as well and am going on my 7th week off. Looking to go on the road if I have to.
This might sound crazy but
mining is going crazy here in Australia. Plumbers just out of apprenticeship are making over $100k. If your the adventurous type, you could try looking to the Australian mines for work (most would be in Western Australia). There are most likely job agencies in Perth specializing in mines. There is a whole economy built around the mining companies and miners.
If they are desperate enough for workers, they would probably be willing to help you out with a work visa if you are willing to foot the bill for the flight over.
Mind you, I know nothing about mining or what their needs are so it's only a suggestion for further research if you're interested.
Good luck to you.
___________
Lisa C.
www.women4ronpaul.com
How DARE you lie to us and
How DARE you lie to us and foment panic! Don't you know that EVERYTHING is peachy, unemployment is down, the dollar is fine, the "economic fundamentals' are strong and there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow?
Montana has a lot of work
still if you are anywhere near there. But take a camper, cuz housing is out of this world.Rawlins and Rock Springs Wyoming too, cuz of the oil/mineral stuff, not enough housing for workers.
i'm
i'm in ohio. thanks for the tip.
Yeah I heard Montana
Was doing good. Maybe I get out that way soon cause FLA is horrible
Big Sky, Montana
Where all the elite live, Bill Gates, Schwarzeneger (sp?) etc etc. They say you have to swear you will not tell anyone who lives there, wierd, huh? And the builders there tell you to charge double, and get half down, because they don't usually finish paying you after the deposit.
My question
With the housing crash and the credit crash will housing investors become filthy rich like after the eighties, or will they not be able to obtain the credit for investing? Is real estate a wise investment if your bank might go bellyup?
At some point, you won't need a bank to buy a house.
Homes, in some cases, will be "give-aways". That's when you know it's time to jump in.
___________
Lisa C.
www.women4ronpaul.com
Some cities...
... are selling foreclosed houses for $1 because it costs them a ton of money to provide security or bulldoze the property. Cities are also beginning to sue the banks who own the houses...
For a buck I don't think I'd worry about what happened to the
house. If the lot is in a good spot, hang on to the land and build a duplex or something on it later???
___________
Lisa C.
www.women4ronpaul.com
Yes..
.. but the city will hold you liable for what happens on the property. You can be fined for vagrants and crackheads hanging out in the house, dangers from disrepair, yard upkeep, etc...
Info about the crashing
Info about the crashing economy does not come from the media, because they are now owned by corporations, bankers, and Wall Street moguls! Since the leash holding the Press is corporate, consumerist, and corrupt, bad economic news is being suppressed.
The US economy, at best this year, will be falling into a severe and inflationary recession. The American people will be shocked and surprised, because they are so ill-informed.
SUPPORT OUR FOUNDERS' AMERICA
Support the Constitution of the United States
A great summation of the
A great summation of the current situation! The depth of the unreality, wishful thinking, and downright propaganda in the corporate-poisoned "mainstream" media has finally led me to cancel my newspaper and cable TV, as I finally had to acknowledge that there was essentially nothing of value to be learned there.
I turn on the tv...
.. maybe once a week, flip through the channels, then cut it off and then either play guitar, read a book, work out in the yard or hop on the computer..
;)
There are are Target and a Wall Mart
going in nearby. The Target was built (quickly) and just opened. The Wall Mart delayed construction but, this is Michigan where recession has been a buzz word for a year now so I really don't know how meaningful it is.
walmart construction stopped
walmart construction stopped here as well.
actually 2 of them have stopped construction in my area.
My 2 cents....
1. The consumer market is basically the area that gets hit the hardest. This should not surprise anyone or be blown out of proportion. America is going through a recession and oil prices are through the roof. The above is bound to happen. America is basically being forced to stop its credit addiction. This is a good thing. A correction is coming and its 10 years overdue. Whoever wrote the above post obviously has been only working and living during these incredible credit and spending sprees we've seen over the past 20 years. I imagine the poster must be in his/her 30's because they sound incredibly naive. We are entering the 1970's again folks, not to be alarmed--unless they bring back bell bottoms, white dudes with afros, or tacky colored shirts and dresses. LOL!
2. What should scare you is that these retailers have the ability to see how much you are indebted, how much you pay in interest, and how much you pay in repayments. This is scary stuff here! Did anyone else catch that? My God, doesn't anyone care about privacy anymore?
The gardening nursery stores...
.. have more people at them than I've EVER seen before..
=)
This is a third-person post.
Unknown author.
If you're not alarmed, I've got a block of land to sell you. . .
___________
Lisa C.
www.women4ronpaul.com
I refuse to give out my
I refuse to give out my phone number to cashiers and they don't know what to do with themselves. lol I say you can't have it and they have to consult a manager.
why do they ask for the phone number?
I've always wondered why they need the phone number...is it to get your address and send junk mail...?
Just give them the phone
Just give them the phone number of the nearest adult bookstore --- or the nearest McCain campaign office.
Smart...akak
very smart!
Related ..
Here in north east Mass it has been a common topic of conversation about how much EASIER the morning commute has been for the past month or so; Hardly a need to tap the brakes anymore unless there is an accident ahead ... otherwise cruise right on in at 70.
The same road has always been stop and go for as far back as I have been driving it.
Is it the high gas price or massive layoffs causing this?
Unknowable? People suspect the gas price but I still see single driver cars are the norm so ....
I just told my wife
I just told my wife yesterday that the traffic (especially truck traffic) on the 4-lane highway we live adjacent to seems to have been decreasing substantially in the last several months.
Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, But What Your Country Is Doing To You.
The Only Thing We Have To Fear, Is Government Itself.
Funny you mention that ... I
Funny you mention that ... I have found the same thing to be true on my commute in Michigan. I wondered why the drive that used to take me almost 45 minutes can now take around 20 ... I think your theory is entirely possible!!
yeah, I have been extremely
yeah, I have been extremely confused by morning commute the last two weeks. It is usually bumper to bumper for a half hour and now it is like a deserted highway.
Wow, this is all amazing to
Wow, this is all amazing to read! I have no daily commute to work, so I don't have any direct experience with changed traffic patterns, but I thought it was just my imagination that the highway very close to my home sounded less noisy during the morning rush hour the last few months.
Traffic is still bad in SE PA
Walmart, Target, Sams Club still packed-I've never worked in these stores so I don't know what the turnover for product is, but traffic is still pretty bad.
What I do know is China is holding something like 40 billion dollars of our devalued currency (so why are they still taking our dollar and manufacturing for these big box retailers?)
There's a big problem with bees and a fungus that attacks wheat so our food production is going downhill.
Three major airlines just went bellyup, stopping flights and stranding customers-with more to follow suit.
So I think something big is on the horizon and I'm trying to become as self sufficient as possible now.