[Dusty]

Hi,
is this real or is it only making bad news without real ground ?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/fina ... risis.html

I thougt it´s only a bank crisis. Does it has a big effect to privat
household. OK, i have recogniced the low GBP, but that sounds
really hard .

The goverment in germany makes us belive everything will be OK
again in a few month.

Dusty

[André]

Hi Dusty,

You know that the value of a house or a stocks only has that value if you sell it. If you don´t sell it means nothing. The next day it can be 25% lower if you are unlucky. So all this is only intresting from where you start counting. If you take the value when it was at the maximum this could be right. But if you start counting 10 years earlier it is not the same result, right?

It is the same with the smurfprices. Many buyers= high price.
And when the number of potential buyers decreases you get the smurfs cheaper. And the value of your smurfs is lower. If you collect them for the value. I collect them because I love them.

So if you want to make money on your smurfs, you have to figure out when the "peak" is. For example: What is the price of a Sylvester Stallone autograf now compared to when he played in Rocky? Maybe not the best example.

I think you know what I mean.

/André

[SmurfingH]

I know a lot of people over here can't afford their mortgages because they bought their house when it was very expensive and now it is worth much less. Everything goes in cycles though and it will improve given enough time. I'm lucky not to be too affected by it. It's only the exchange rate that's upsetting me - fewer smurfs for the same money!

[Smurfysmurf]

Our area has been pretty hard hit....I live in a rural area where two major factories employ most local people. One closed it's doors and another one laid off several workers, so the mood in this area isn't really that good.

Even Chattanooga (where my office is) is hard hit. I know several people that lost their jobs in the past 4 weeks, and from what I heard today more of my friends (maybe even I myself) will lose our jobs on Thursday.

Earlier this year, our CEO announced that this will be the year of lay offs for us..and our office had some pretty high up visitors today who held two meetings with us, more or less telling us that they will do their best to improve automation..and also to ship jobs overseas (India) to save on costs..which will end in more job eliminations. When asked in the Q&A session if this means more lay offs, he was pretty blunt and said...yes...there will be some this coming Thursday again. (we have had them every second Thursday since January, but it was nerve wrecking to actually hear him say that there will be some major ones coming in two days).

These are pretty frightening and uncertain times (at least in the US). I know they keep saying that all will be well in 2010....but I don't see it yet...I am not sure how they will get back the jobs that are being lost this year

[SmurfingH]

Oh no Moey! I hope they don't lay you off. Fingers crossed. I suppose I'm just lucky that I don't have a job to lose.

[Tojo]

Oh Maureen, I hope you aren't one of those affected

There have been lots of lay offs in Germany too & there will definitely be more to come as our bank has taken over dresdner bank & there are obviously positions which will no longer be needed. Quite a lot of bank branches will close for example.

The housing market doesn't seem to have been affected here but then again houses & appartments are so expensive that most people rent accomodation anyway. We bought at the right time & aren't planning to sell anyway.

[Ritter_Schlumpfenherz]

Oh no Moey!!!

I'll cross my fingers for you. Well, I am concerned whatever should happen to Opel. My parents used to work for more than thirty years there, before they both retired in 2003.

[naish510]

Oh No Moey, i hope everything will work out fine for you!!!!
Fingers crossed !!!
Here in Belgium it's the same. But the job that i do (nursing old people) search desperate for employees !!!Maybe you can come and live here

[André]

Maureen,

I really hope you don´t have to loose your job.

I will also keep my fingers crossed for you.

/André

[Smurfysmurf]

Thank you

We lost quite a few today...and two of my best friends were let go.

I still have my job, which is not only a huge relief to myself but an even bigger one to my family who apparently already saw me banging on their doors asking for crumbs of bread

But...to answer the original question....again...for this area..things are looking bad...I hear of lay offs weekly...and I don't even watch the news

[steveparkes]

It said in the paper yesterday that the UK is likely to be the last country to come out of the recession, possibly in 2011

[André]

It is sad news, Steve.

But after 14 years of rising houseprices in Sweden I personally can´t say I am surpriced. It can´t go on forever, right.

And I guess it should have happened earlier if it wasn´t for the subprime-loans that kept the US economy going a little longer then it should have otherwise.

My guess would also be 2 or 3 years with bad economy and then slowly up again.

But if you look on this over 25 years, it could be like this.

10 years up, then 5 years down and then 10 years up again. It has always been like this, up and down. So it will be better times. Just wait.

But I would suggest you keep your costs down. Especially if you are planning on buying smurfs I want to place bids on.

/André

[steveparkes]

But I would suggest you keep your costs down. Especially if you are planning on buying smurfs I want to place bids on.

That made me laugh Andre - thanks

[SmurfingH]

Moey - I'm so pleased for you even though, for you, its bitter sweet.

Andre - nice try!

[Smurfysmurf]

My guess would also be 2 or 3 years with bad economy and then slowly up again.

But if you look on this over 25 years, it could be like this.

10 years up, then 5 years down and then 10 years up again. It has always been like this, up and down. So it will be better times. Just wait.

Things will definitely look up again. We spent the past few years in a bubble that had to burst and bust..and serious economists warned us of that ...and even warned us of a depression like this one, which they say is as bad or worse than the one in the 30s. It doesn't make the personal aspect of it any easier though

My biggest problem in an economy like this is...I know I need to stop spending..and to save money for a day like today..but how can I do that when you get killer deals on smurfs right now. ..(and on other stuff)

[bwalters]

Glad to hear you didn't lose your job Moey. I haven't really even seen any signs of anything around here. In fact one large company 3M had record sales this year. I think we haven't seen too much of it because of the University and state Maybe it will trickle to us sometime.

[Tojo]

I'm glad that you weren't one of those affected by the job cuts Maureen

Sorry, I can't think of anything more to write. My brains in a recession at the moment I hope it doesn't last until 2010 though...

[bwalters]

I think I lost $1 hope I find it before Max does. LOL

[Ritter_Schlumpfenherz]

Thank you

We lost quite a few today...and two of my best friends were let go.

I still have my job, which is not only a huge relief to myself but an even bigger one to my family who apparently already saw me banging on their doors asking for crumbs of bread

But...to answer the original question....again...for this area..things are looking bad...I hear of lay offs weekly...and I don't even watch the news

Sorry to hear that your friends were let go, Moey. Glad that you didn't lose your job. In my area, many jobs have been already cut due to the issues with Opel and GM. In fact, the son of my mum's best friend who has been working at Opel for more than twenty years, had already to stay home for a couple of weeks... .

[Dusty]

Hi Maureen,

firts of all, good luck to you and all others here. I think this crises will become more harder than a lot of people can imagine.
I did read some books over the last months and if you learn more
about what money how it works and what will happen - it is only time to

So, what will happen to our blue friends. Will prices go hardly down? Is it now time so sell pieces, before ist is too late to become back a part of your spended money. I think in near future, nobody will be able to pay a lot of money for a bellringer or other real rare pieces. One year ago it seems not to be problem. Sure, it´s not easy to sell such rare pieces, but at the end you will not be able to eat the blue ones.

Dusty