Bush economy surging ahead

okie wrote:

My fords run great, midsize car gets 30 mpg and higher on the highway, averages about 32 or 33. I got about 42 one time with the wind. Truck gets 14 in town to 22 on the highway. Never a repair to speak of. I simply drive them. Put new tires on them every once in a while. They start every time first try. What more can you ask for?

Well, if gas prices keep on rising, you could probably ask for one of the new hybrid cars that get an average 60 mpg.

And, those car makers are offering strong guarantees: The Honda Insight has an eight-year/80,000-mile warranty on most of the power train, including batteries. The Toyota Prius has an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty on the battery and hybrid systems.

Shocking.

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Too bad they didn't concentrate more on that, maybe they would still be selling vehicles. I've watched their statement a few times this morning and they say their main problems are SUV Sales have bottomed, Material Expenses, and Labor costs. So you can't just blame those greedy communist workers!! Ford brought it on themselves because they didn't pay attention to the market!! GM has done the same. What is it you right wingers love to bring up?? Oh yea,supply and demand!! Let the marketplace prevail ...

Anon

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economy surging
...DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE...

in january 2000 the DJIA was appr, 11,800
at of dec 2003 the DJIA was appr. 10,500
today's DJIA 10,693

drop from jan 2000 to jan 2006 appr. 1,100 or appr 9 %
rise from jan 2003 to jan 2006 appr. 200 or a little less than 2 %

the economy has not been exactly surging ahead.
it sounds more like the "big sucking sound" ross perot predicted - anyone remember his charts ?
hbg

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Uh Oh!.............

Article from the Times Business section.

...."The most prominent of the worrying imbalances is the US trade deficit. Now running at more than 6% of GDP even after declining in November, it is said to be unsustainable. To correct the imbalance, members of Congress and some EU policymakers are demanding limits on Chinese exports of clothing and a host of other products.

Such restrictions would correct the imbalances. So would a substantial depreciation of the value of the dollar. Experts are guessing that a 40% decline in the value of the dollar relative to the currencies of its trading partners would bring America's exports and imports into approximate balance".................

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13129-1985575,00.html

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old europe wrote:

okie wrote:
My fords run great, midsize car gets 30 mpg and higher on the highway, averages about 32 or 33. I got about 42 one time with the wind. Truck gets 14 in town to 22 on the highway. Never a repair to speak of. I simply drive them. Put new tires on them every once in a while. They start every time first try. What more can you ask for?

Well, if gas prices keep on rising, you could probably ask for one of the new hybrid cars that get an average 60 mpg.

And, those car makers are offering strong guarantees: The Honda Insight has an eight-year/80,000-mile warranty on most of the power train, including batteries. The Toyota Prius has an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty on the battery and hybrid systems.

Shocking.

I am planning on considering a hybrid car. However, the economics of a hybrid car is not necessarily so rosy for sure. I will wait and see. When your battery pack gives out, how much is a new battery pack? From what I've seen so far, the cost savings of the gasoline saved over a comparably sized conventional car will not have a prayer of paying for the batteries. And how much does a worn out battery degrade the value of the car if you want to trade it in? Also, what is the increased danger in a crash? If gasoline continues to inflate in price, then hybrid cars become more attractive, but right now they are a feel good purchase, but at the end of the day may not save you any money. If you doubt it, do the math.

Don't get me wrong, I will monitor the situation and consider a hybrid car, but the choice is not a no brainer right now.

P. S. I know somebody with a Prius, and no way does it get 60 mpg, not even 50 average.

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my porsche 911 Carrara gets 20 mpg.

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Something I've wondered about concerning hybrid cars, probably not a huge concern with limited numbers of hybrids on the road, but what if all cars were hybrids, what kind of nightmare problems would there be to dispose of batteries, pollution, and environmental problems? Also, which metals or materials required to manufacture the batteries would become in extremely short supply? Also, has anybody calculated the energy consumption to manufacture, transport, and dispose of the batteries? In other words, have all factors been examined to determine if hybrid cars are actually energy efficient? One must include the cost and energy required not only to operate the cars, but the extra efforts to mine and process the materials required for the batteries, make the batteries, manufacture the cars, dispose of the batteries, blah, blah, blah.

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"what kind of nightmare problems would there be to dispose of batteries, pollution, and environmental problems"

recntly on CNBC there was a feature story about companies engaged in recovering and re-manufacturing of batteries abd other parts from hybrid cars. re-manufacturing will increase greatly over the next few years. european car manufacturers are designing cars that have to abide by europen re-manufacturing standards.
i understand that most parts have to be designed for such a process and that parts also must be coded - much like plastic bottles - with a code for easy re-cycling.
particularly newer cars (non-hybrids) have not much "waste" left when they leave a scrapyard for the steelfurnace. pretty well all parts are stripped out and either refurbished or recycled. hbg

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Sounds good. I should have googled it some before making the last post. Initial cost is still a problem, but costs should come down if the technology proves to go ahead with fewer problems than even originally projected.

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okie : reading european carmagazines, it seems that europeans are not quite as enthused with hybrid engines (gasoline/electric)as the japanese and north-american carmakers. they seem to prefer to get much higher milelage out of gasoline engines through turbocharging, direct injection, cylinder deactivation and other tweaking. they are also pushing much advanced diesel-engines - the most modern ones having lower emisions than gasoline engines . i had a rabbit-diesel during the 70's(volkswagen) and the mileage was quite something. of course, it was still an "oil-burner" and i wouldn't want to drive it now.
i think it's good to see some competition out there among the car-manufacturers. let's see who is best ! hbg

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Re: Bush economy surging ahead

dyslexia wrote:

Wall Street endured its worst one-day session for almost three years on Friday as a sharp jump in the oil price and badly received figures from Citigroup (NYSE:C), General Electric and Motorola (NYSE:MOT) robbed the market of what was left of its early-year gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped more than 200 points or 2 per cent to 10,666.99, its worst single-day performance since March 2003.

The broader S&P 500 lost 1.8 per cent to 1,261.43 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.4 per cent to 2,247.70.

"It is a domino effect of negative news," said Marc Pado, chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.

The chief reason was a further undermining of already-dented investor confidence in corporate earnings. The culprits were some of the country's leading blue-chip companies, including financial services giant Citigroup, whose fourth-quarter earnings fell short of what the market had expected.

Wheres the doomsdayers today? Looks like 100 points here, a hundred points there, 200 points now and then. Looks to me like days of profit taking and then days of bargain buying. And what did I hear about last year's manufacturing numbers looking pretty good? I thought I heard it on the news but can't find the numbers with a quick search.

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Washington Post - Jan 27, 2006
The US economy slowed sharply in the last three months of 2005 to the weakest pace in three years, as consumers, businesses and government all pulled back on spending, the Commerce Department

There are signs here and there. edgar

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Re: Bush economy surging ahead

okie wrote:

dyslexia wrote:
Wall Street endured its worst one-day session for almost three years on Friday as a sharp jump in the oil price and badly received figures from Citigroup (NYSE:C), General Electric and Motorola (NYSE:MOT) robbed the market of what was left of its early-year gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped more than 200 points or 2 per cent to 10,666.99, its worst single-day performance since March 2003.

The broader S&P 500 lost 1.8 per cent to 1,261.43 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.4 per cent to 2,247.70.

"It is a domino effect of negative news," said Marc Pado, chief market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.

The chief reason was a further undermining of already-dented investor confidence in corporate earnings. The culprits were some of the country's leading blue-chip companies, including financial services giant Citigroup, whose fourth-quarter earnings fell short of what the market had expected.

Wheres the doomsdayers today? Looks like 100 points here, a hundred points there, 200 points now and then. Looks to me like days of profit taking and then days of bargain buying. And what did I hear about last year's manufacturing numbers looking pretty good? I thought I heard it on the news but can't find the numbers with a quick search.

You always think you hear this and hear that but everything you choose to hear is favorable to Bush and the Republicans. You apparently filter out anything negative you hear that you choose not to believe.

Are you an investor?

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BTW I am an investor and this market scares me to death. If I were more of a speculator, I would take a short position. As it stands now, I intend to divest of the few thousand I have in stocks, excpet for my QQQQ play which already returned 100% of my original investment.

I guess my SPY has held its own since I bought back but being flat for four years is never going to build wealth.

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http://foxnews.smartmoney.com/aheadofthecurve/index.cfm?story=20060127

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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-Economy.html

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Roxxxanne wrote:

BTW I am an investor and this market scares me to death. If I were more of a speculator, I would take a short position.

It's interesting to see you and me agree on something for a change. Smile

Until 15 months ago, I had my grandma's heritage invested in a global index fund, 65 percent of which consisted of American stocks (Dow Jones Global Titans). The week after the election, I decided I didn't want my money in American stocks anymore, and sold it all for a European index fund (Eurostoxx). I never regretted that decision.

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BBB
The economy may be good for the Investor Class, but not for everyone else.

BBB

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Your link is behind a wall, Anon.

The economy is good for Exxon- 36 BILLION in profits last year.

And you folks keep smiling and laughing, while big business gets richer and richer and the poor get poorer.

Cycloptichorn

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BBB : i don't think the economy is good for a broad-based investor either . the dow-jones has picked up somewhat lately, but over a five-year stretch it's hardly encouraging.
i usually listen to the CNBC-TV broadcast in the morning (i don't need to watch it). while they usually find a few good news - i guess that's part of their job - , they don't sound confident when it comes to the broader outlook. hbg

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Bush economy surging ahead

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