This is what has me very concerned

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Rick Colunga

CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
Posts
129
Loc
San Antonio, Texas
After reading and replying to Bob's post on BB's growth as a concern, I felt the need to share my concern for the framing market. Follow the link below. Credit card debt catches up with Britons


Credit card debt is out of control and being in a luxury industry, I fear this could put us all in a whole world of poop very quickly. What is going to happen when all those credit purchases with delayed payments mature at the same time? I know people who have bought an entire house of furniture on credit with no payments til the end of 2006. Is everyone in America planning on hitting the lottery before these cards come due?
The credit issues in this country is starting to reach critacal mass and all it takes is another bad hurricane season which is already predicted and the economy will be in the crapper. The economy is up right now due to the amount the U.S. goverment is spending on the war in Iraq and the money that F.E.M.A is dishing out in relief and rebuilding but we are all going to have to pay this back with either tax increases and higher inflation. Gas and Utilites around the country are jumping at record speed, insurance companies are raising premiums to compensate for the butt kicking they got in Gulf of Mexico. Compound that with people having to start paying back all those deffered credit cards and we are out of gas.


Maybe I should sell all my stuff and buy a moving van. I think alot of Americans are going to have to start moving out of the burbs and into apartments to keep the lights on.
 
I guess I might as well go home now and kill myself. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.
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I feel queasy...I'm going in the back to put my head between my knees
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A lot of the press about looming economic disasters is politically motivated. Always has been. Looking past the headlines, the real facts about our economy are mostly improving.

Our still-almost-free-market economy is among the strongest in the world, and still the biggest. And it is presently on the upswing.

If we were headed back into recession, I'd be thinking more conservatively about 2006. But I believe it will be a better year for most framers than 2005 was.

Economic hardship comes and goes, but American consumers will continue to spend. Our trick is to reach the ones who are spending at the moment.
 

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender"

Winston Churchill
 
Gee golly wiz. What country is Texas in anyway? Stock market about to top 11,000 maybe, housing market booming, ten quarters of 3%+ growth, talk of bringing troops home, and gas is falling, at least here.

Are you sure you're living in the US?

And lots of my customers--and I mean $500 to $2,000 orders this season--paid with either checks or debit cards, some even with cash. And some people actually pay off those credit cards monthly.

But if you're correct, and who's to say you aren't, I'm going out tomorrow and buying a CASE of Wild Turkey so I don't run out when the depression comes.

Thanks heaps for moisturizing my parade
 
quit listening to the crazies in the news media that are determined to bring down George W any way they can...everything that is wrong is being blamed on this poor man...remember the story about the hot dog vendor in NY...if you keep saying things are bad...hey they will be!!!!!!!!
 
Mike I never said the economy was slow, we have news here also. I don't doubt you are having a great year and I'm very happy for you. The concern is not the economy as a whole it is how much of the growth in the economy is real. How much of what is purchased today with money not even earned yet. $5000 televisions are not bought cash. The Y generation is growing up and they were raised with $100 nikes shoes and a television in every room and the credit card companies know this. The nieghbor to the right of me is almost $100,000 in unsecured debt and the one on the left is about $50,000. The one on the left is a mortage broker and told me she is hurting because so few people can afford to close a mortage due to too much unsecured debt. This is a problem and not only on my street. A good friend of mine just made-over his house by himself. He is bar manager and the results prove it. He charged over $6000 on a Lowes card to lower the value of his home. Now he and his wife have to pay off shotty craftsmenship for the next few years only to turn around and take a loss on thier biggest investment because it looked so easy on TLC.


Mike, you have been an owner for some time and you have worked hard to build a solid, high income client base to help you through the lean years and I applaud you for that. For the newer business' with a lot smaller client base, this is a major concern. I only have two clients that are in the top one-percent of the country, the rest are people living day to day, paycheck to paycheck. Having great artwork with no electricity is pretty useless. That is why I am so concerned about this problem.


I don't feel I am an Alarmist, merely a realist. I jumped too fast once before and I'm **** sure I won't do it again. The hardest year in business is the first and I don't want to sign another lease until I see where this goes. "Slow and steady" is my motto for 2006.

The humor in the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane" is the truth behind.
 
Dubya doesn't need much help in bringing himself down. The only thing I like about the guy is he does what he says he's going to do, the problem is the things he wants to do are pretty stupid.
 
Jim Cramer said this morning on the Today Show that retail will be up in 2006. The question is...Will you be a retailer or a frame shop ???
 
Well let's see here: we got threads on Michael's, threads on the threat from BBs, threads on how the economy sucks, threads on how competition sucks threads on how Bush sucks, , threads of all sortsa negativity. Why it's so much here 'tis 7:38 a.m. and I'm ready to start drinking alreay.

IF I believed all these threads.

I don't.

I am totally convinced that negativity breeds negative thoughts which breed negative actions. I am also firmly convinced that positive thoughts, optimistic thoughts, breed positive and optimistic actions.

So here's bottom line: listen to the media, listen to the critics, listen to all the negative posters if you want to. It's fun to vent, just don't take it all too seriously. And if something in the business is failing, review the business plan, listen to Miller/Carter/DTWSDM (Tim)/go to classses by Carter/Goltz/Bluestone/Markoff and quit the negativity.

Yes there are potholes here and there, stumbling blocks set up all over the place. But I confidently feel they are overcomeable and the business--whatever busineess you're in--can survive and thrive.

Lastly: if you find the framing market unsettling, questionable, etc. why not look at another business to start?

Picking up my soapbox and leaving the scene.

By bye
 
Credit Card companies lend you money. That’s what they do. They do not send a guy named Guido to force you to accept it.

Right now, if you play your cards right, you can borrow money without interest. My wife changes credit card companies almost every month looking for an extension for a zero percent. We amortize the payments so that at the end of the term it is paid off. We’re borrowing money at no interest. This is a great deal!

If someone forces you to buy a $3000 Jacuzzi with no interest until July, 2006, and you delay payments until then, don’t act surprised when you get a bill next summer.

Oh wait, I must be wrong … it must be the President’s fault. Come on, get real!
 
Hey everyone! Invest in Gold! When they say gold could increase 1000% in the next 5 years, there is a depression looming.
 
I see what Rick is saying. I am aware of many people who have trouble handling their debt, and credit cards make it even easier to get further into debt. Personally I have been at the top of that slippery slope, looked down it, but my wife yanked me back and said NO
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There will come a day of reckoning for individuals and families when they will not be able to get more credit....and what happens then....They want a new TV but can't buy it?
Debt can be a very effective way of getting ahead....Honestly, how many people can buy a house without carrying a mortgage? Debt that is put to work can be good if managed properly. Like Rick points out, when a person has maxed everything out, and is no longer able to service their debt what will they do?

What I am trying to teach my children (and still have to remind myself of) is this very important question:

Do I need it or do I want it?

Both questions can have a yes answer, the trick is to ask the next question:

And how am I going to pay for it....Can I afford it or is there something else I should be doing with my money>

Like putting value on the table...For some people that should be groceries, for others that may be a luxury item like CUSTOM PICTURE FRAMING. The problem may come as people continue extend their debt and have no realistic chance of servicing it while maintaining a reasonable lifestyle. This is an issue that could haunt all of us.

Merry Christmas everyone, and I hope your credit cards are not unmanageable when the season is done!

James
 
Originally posted by Mike LeCompte CPF:

I am totally convinced that negativity breeds negative thoughts which breed negative actions. I am also firmly convinced that positive thoughts, optimistic thoughts, breed positive and optimistic actions.

So here's bottom line: listen to the media, listen to the critics, listen to all the negative posters if you want to. It's fun to vent, just don't take it all too seriously. And if something in the business is failing, review the business plan, listen to Miller/Carter/DTWSDM (Tim)/go to classses by Carter/Goltz/Bluestone/Markoff and quit the negativity.

Yes there are potholes here and there, stumbling blocks set up all over the place. But I confidently feel they are overcomeable and the business--whatever busineess you're in--can survive and thrive.

Lastly: if you find the framing market unsettling, questionable, etc. why not look at another business to start?

Picking up my soapbox and leaving the scene.

By bye
Click to expand...
MIKE< you are my new hero!!!Sorry Baer.

Enough of the doom and gloom. If things are that bad for you get out.

We are doing well, if your not, figure out why and change it or sell.

Things go up and down, but if we start to dig a grave every down turn we'd be in China.

Global warming, bird flu, viruses, gangs, and a billion other epidemics are in the news yearly and so far the human race trudges on.

Things are good on my coast and if they slow down we will do our best to work through it and come out stronger on the other side.

Their is no up without down!
 
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