Prices not going down??

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by geoleo

Dear Sailors, The $ dollar is supposed to be "KING" stocks have collasped, interest rates at all time lows, gold is down, the dollar is up UP on all currencies worldwide , the euro is headed for par with the dollar, the pound is way down too, oil is down 53% in 2 weeks. Yet marine stuff is same old high price. Defenders big sale is pathetic usually offering around 10-15% off a fake list price. Used sailboats are still way up there too and asking prices are the same. Why is this ? Is every seller hoping beyond hope OR is their business still doing great with old prices?

How would you like it if your employer discounted your salary 30%? Has it gotten cheaper to make a part or more difficult?

[Lake-Effect]

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by thinwater

How would you like it if your employer discounted your salary 30%? Has it gotten cheaper to make a part or more difficult?

As a business owner this happens often enough. Some months are great others not so much. One adjusts accoridngly and learns to live with these fluctuations.

This is the problem with our economy last 100 or so years. It used to be that all up and down the economic chain the prices would fluctuate according to economic supply and demand factors. Not stay rigid or only go up due to the political pressures or our own lack of flexibility.

If my income gets cut by 30% it only makes sense that my loan rate should also be cut by 30% and in turn I can price my services or products 30% lower, etc, etc. This way the market will quickly find equilibrium and realtive prices/costs will adjust to the actual demand and supply. And not stay artificially rigid. It's that rigidity in one sector or another which necessitates layoffs and makes for recessions/depression.

I bet you if the empolyers could easily cut wages 30% they would have less need/incentives for layoffs. And IMO anyone is better off getting 70% of his former wages than 0%. In the long run unemployment insurance and minimum wage schemes make for bad economics. But of course help politicians to get elected.

[zemurray]

People are dying, losing their jobs, losing their business, watching their retirement slip away, and are scared, yet your worried about saving a few bucks on a can of varnish?

[Bunji]

Originally Posted by zemurray

People are dying, losing their jobs, losing their business, watching their retirement slip away, and are scared, yet your worried about saving a few bucks on a can of varnish?

We humans are inherently selfish, Times like these we show our true colours. Probably still complaining about how much his house full of toilet paper cost, Pathetic u got that right

[Island Time O25]

At least we know know that TP hoarders are full of you know what.

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by zemurray

People are dying, losing their jobs, losing their business, watching their retirement slip away, and are scared, yet your worried about saving a few bucks on a can of varnish?

Important to have perfect brightwork in this new reality.

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

As a business owner this happens often enough. Some months are great others not so much. One adjusts accoridngly and learns to live with these fluctuations.

This is the problem with our economy last 100 or so years. It used to be that all up and down the economic chain the prices would fluctuate according to economic supply and demand factors. Not stay rigid or only go up due to the political pressures or our own lack of flexibility.

If my income gets cut by 30% it only makes sense that my loan rate should also be cut by 30% and in turn I can price my services or products 30% lower, etc, etc. This way the market will quickly find equilibrium and realtive prices/costs will adjust to the actual demand and supply. And not stay artificially rigid. It's that rigidity in one sector or another which necessitates layoffs and makes for recessions/depression.

I bet you if the empolyers could easily cut wages 30% they would have less need/incentives for layoffs. And IMO anyone is better off getting 70% of his former wages than 0%. In the long run unemployment insurance and minimum wage schemes make for bad economics. But of course help politicians to get elected.

Please replay this logic using 1920-1939 as an example. No rigid government and wages were cut. It didn't work out. No, that's not the answer. If you fully believed in ups and downs, for example, you would forgo insurance in all its guises (may you do) and accept the ride. Instead, you find value in stability (maybe you do not). In general, stability makes for more predictable, profitable business. It's hard to invest in bricks and mortar projects in the face of uncertainty.



Bailouts obviously just hide the simple truth. The economy is going to lose a lot of production while incurring a lot of cost, and there is just no way to put a pretty face on that. And then there are the reactions. Projects are put on hold for years after and spending habits change.


I don't have an answer. This is just bad.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by zemurray

People are dying, losing their jobs, losing their business, watching their retirement slip away, and are scared, yet your worried about saving a few bucks on a can of varnish?

You hear the same complaint about people who vacation in poor countries...how horrible to take advantage of those poor people.

Your alternative is to take away what little economic activity they do have. In this case it ensures even more people lose their jobs.

[Island Time O25]

Originally Posted by thinwater

Please replay this logic using 1920-1939 as an example. No rigid government and wages were cut. It didn't work out. No, that's not the answer. If you fully believed in ups and downs, for example, you would forgo insurance in all its guises (may you do) and accept the ride. Instead, you find value in stability (maybe you do not). In general, stability makes for more predictable, profitable business. It's hard to invest in bricks and mortar projects in the face of uncertainty.



Bailouts obviously just hide the simple truth. The economy is going to lose a lot of production while incurring a lot of cost, and there is just no way to put a pretty face on that. And then there are the reactions. Projects are put on hold for years after and spending habits change.


I don't have an answer. This is just bad.

Yes, I am not much of a believer in insurance schemes. Unless they are done as non-profits/mutual aid type of set ups.

The Great Depression was caused and exacerbated by the gov't action not the other way around. I'm with Austrian school on this.

Hans Sennholz argued that most boom and busts that plagued the American economy in 1819–20, 1839–43, 1857–60, 1873–78, 1893–97, and 1920–21, were generated by government creating a boom through easy money and credit, which was soon followed by the inevitable bust. The spectacular crash of 1929 followed five years of reckless credit expansion by the Federal Reserve System under the Coolidge Administration. The passing of the Sixteenth Amendment, the passage of The Federal Reserve Act, rising government deficits, the passage of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, and the Revenue Act of 1932, exacerbated the crisis, prolonging it.

[John_char]

Originally Posted by Island Time O25

The OP probably meant it as in "cash is king". So any dollar will do. May be except the Zimbabwean one.

And the Aussie one too.....

[wolfgal]

Mike said that the sky is only beginning to fall..., and my feeling is a bit along these lines.

what i see is:

Global economic shutdown, global stock market crashes, mega debt (across the board: govt, corporate, private), oil prices down and soon production down (including shale fracking bankruptcy), economic contraction globally - even in china, no silver available (yes, it is too late), more printing and devaluation of currency, finger-pointing between governments...

all this synchronised with a pandemic and the health care crisis and a home shut-in..., with underlying worries for food scarcity, with the worry that our individual rights will be trimmed (martial law), that paper money will be banned (no anonymity), that our bank accounts will be frozen...

we can argue about and V curve, a U curve or an L curve all day long, but the bottom line is that the wealth gap was only this wide in 1929.... The big difference: the one percent is in hiding, and pitchforks have been replaced by netflix.

geez i sound pessimistic. sorry guys.

in any case what is happening is unprecedented and systemic.

i'm thinking mega inflation longterm, got loads of coffee to trade.

[Navicula]

on a positive note....think about the great recovery...the great comeback when this is over, be prepared for things to take off

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by wolfgal

Mike said that the sky is only beginning to fall..., and my feeling is a bit along these lines.




we can argue about and V curve, a U curve or an L curve all day long, but the bottom line is that the wealth gap was only this wide in 1929.... The big difference: the one percent is in hiding, and pitchforks have been replaced by netflix.

geez i sound pessimistic. sorry guys.

Not at all. Realistic I'd say. Bought physical gold and silver 5 years ago and buried it in the bush. If you want the Lat and Long............ ???????

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Navicula

on a positive note....think about the great recovery...the great comeback when this is over, be prepared for things to take off

Exactly. As someone who is selling a 50' bluewater sailboat for a very good price, I can tell you what's going on.

I timed mine to sell in the spring which is the right time for boats in the north. Got blindsided by the virus..

2 days after I put all the listings up, I had around 16-18 fairly serious people.

Then quarantine hit and people got scared to make a move. Every single one said they are now waiting to buy anything and are out of the market.

However, I'm not going down from my already very good price. I'm just taking the boat out to quarantine on while the panic is going on. I'll come back after an enjoyable summer and put it back on the market for the same price. Nobody is desperate or going to take a beating on selling just because we are in a crisis. At least nobody who owns their boat free and clear. It'll pass like all the rest did.

Boats are timeless and not in a rush. Cruising boats anyway. If you want to see panic pricing, take a look at all the over leveraged coastal powerboats. Water boats">Blue water boats and the minds of their owners are largely unaffected by panic. We'll just wait it out enjoying life on the water.

Edit:. Sure wish I had work right now. Too much posting on the forum here. Lol. Hopefully we can reopen in a couple months.