biggest slowdown in almost 20 years ?

[Tspringer]

The President... any President... has very little direct impact on the broader economy. Fed Chairmen have more control than the President but even the Fed has no magic wand.

On quick thought on the used boat market... as the dollar continues to decline (and it will) there will grow an export market for used boats. When Italian or French boat buyers can buy a boat in the US at 25% of the same boats costs in Europe then it makes great sense even given the high import taxes they must pay. I think there could emerge nice opportunities to buy boats, fix them up a bit, sail them to the Med and sell them.



Terry

[ssullivan]

Whoops! This was supposed to be about the BOAT market. ha ha. Thread drift on my part.

The boat market is very VERY weak. I would know. I just sold a cruising boat that shouldn't have even taken the 5 months it took to sell. The broker produced next to nobody that was serious. He had all lookers, except people I sent to him because they seemed too difficult to deal with myself.

I had told my wife a Canadian would buy our boat eventually due to its proximity to Canada and the strenthening Loonie. That's what happened.

Maybe if you're looking to unload a boat, get it up North and away from all of us over-mortgaged and under-valued Americans. The Canadians are HUNGRY for boats because they are getting the best deals in years right now.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

Maybe if you're looking to unload a boat, get it up North and away from all of us over-mortgaged and under-valued Americans. The Canadians are HUNGRY for boats because they are getting the best deals in years right now.

I am in FL and will be mostly in cash.
I may buy a boat or the retirement condo or both, in a year or so.......hopefully as a distressed price.

[scallywag]

The 1970's brought nearly the same market.... Oil increased, power boat sales decreased, and resin prices for sailboats and sails increased. Seems the same thing is happening now. Remember home heating oil also increased along with gasoline and the luxury car and homes with oil furnances were difficult to sell. Power boats were devalued and used sailboat prices went up. So is life. Isn't that why sailboat owners bought sailboats instead of power boats? Can you magine putting 5,000 gallons of fuel in a power boat? Sure does limit your cruising.

John

[mickmul]

Irish stock market dropped 5% today alone!! Annual growth to date at 8-10% and you can see how big a drop that is . . . our exports are screwed because of the strong € ( I know the weak dollar is troubling many on this forum) the oil sheiks are not increasing supply because of ready demand in China, so gas and diesel is now around €1.20 a litre, over $8 a gallon, and our construction industry and housing market is in freefall for the first time ever. . . and interest rates have practically doubled in three years . . not so bright for the big toys over here either!!

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by mickmul

Irish stock market dropped 5% today alone!! Annual growth to date at 8-10% and you can see how big a drop that is . . . our exports are screwed because of the strong € ( I know the weak dollar is troubling many on this forum) the oil sheiks are not increasing supply because of ready demand in China, so gas and diesel is now around €1.20 a litre, over $8 a gallon, and our construction industry and housing market is in freefall for the first time ever. . . and interest rates have practically doubled in three years . . not so bright for the big toys over here either!!

Heard loud and clear on this end of the North Atlantic. Too strong or too weak a currency is a problem. 1.20 Euros for a litre of gas is basically insane. We always complain over here, but we still have better gas prices than Europe. I acutally think that every time I see them rise.

I would imagine you have to be pretty rich to run an Esbar/Esparacher or other diesel heater over there?

You can probably thank my luck (or lack thereof)... see, I have a shiny, new Irish citizenship. Just when I was thinking about doing a stint working over there, it all slows down after many years of incredible growth.

The "Luck of the Irish" apparently doesn't apply once your family left for a couple generations! ha ha

Seriously, we are certainly in for a global slowdown if one is on its way. We're all in that one together.

[mickmul]

Sullivan is my mother's maiden name, welcome on the passport!! Thanks for the reply, send me a PM anytime on the job thing - you never know what might come up and it's always handy to have a contact in the country of intent. The market peaked here in October 06, the month I put my house on the market unsucessfully, looking at 20-25% drop now. Managed to squeeze a boat though, but I reckon this country will be on it's knees in six months. Polarised though, more choppers here per head of capita than any country in the world, but those carrying debt like me are feeling the squeeze. Ultimately though, the wind is free!

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by David M

So many factors other than the Presidency determine the state of an economy that to blame or credit a President for the state of an economy is ridiculous. Congress if anything is to accept the blame or credit...they are the ones who decide how much and what is to be taxed and how the money is to be spent. All in all though....both are relatively minor in the big picture, especially now that the worlds economies are tied to each other.

While sone of what you say is true, let us not forget the 1.6 TRILLION dollars wasted on a war were there are no winners. Basing the creit or blame on the congress is also ridiculous. It is many factors. Also outside of the country such as our weird trade agreements with other countries.
I knew i was going to regret this.

[Celestialsailor]

Anyways...the thread was about the slow down in the boat industry and some good points were made here. I do not think the Canuck dollar is getting any stronger as much as our US dollar is devaluing in general. I check against the Euro and we are falling. I think it is a good point that my fellow Canucks might find some good value in US boats as would our European brothers. Perhaps it would be economical to have dockwise to transport boats across the pond after buying them here.

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

While sone of what you say is true, let us not forget the 1.6 TRILLION dollars wasted on a war were there are no winners.

Uh oh... I have to pipe in and point out that there were some big winners from the unpopular war. These big winners are listed as a fact, with no political point intended:
10 companies making the most in Iraq* (millions of dollars)Rank CompanyAmount
2003
2004
2005
2006
Total
1.
KBR Inc. (KBR, news, msgs) and Halliburton (HAL, news, msgs)
$2,550
$5,809
$4,505
$4,362
$17,226
2.
Veritas Capital Fund
0.7
208
850
386
1,444
3.
Washington Group International (WNG, news, msgs)
111
205
533
82
931
4.
Environmental Chemical
0
192
360
326
878
5.
International American Products
58
283
310
108
759
6.
Fluor (FLR, news, msgs)
116
413
123
105
757
7.
Perini (PCR, news, msgs)
72
312
185
81
650
8.
Parsons
0
248
120
172
540
9.
First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting
0
7
469
24
500
10.
L-3 Communications (LLL, news, msgs)
1
9
148
201
359
*Goods and services contracted specifically for Iraq. Source: Eagle Eye

[Celestialsailor]

Oh Sully...Your sooooo bad!!! Now you've opened the box!!! I'm putting on my field helmet for this one...Sully for Prez!!! he he he

[shadow]

I guess it is truly based on the person's perspective. On the average income level, yep, everything is not so good and will most likely get worse. Most of my friends or colleagues are in Europe and they are very wealthy or well off, and they are apparently in a bracket that is basically recession proof. If anything, it seems that the very HIGH end market, can't keep up with demand.

Two of my old friends just ordered new 70+ foot Ferretti motor Yachts! They all live in the MED. My old time associate is a yacht broker and he tells me that they can't keep up with demand and they are actually expanding!!

So, this really proves that the poor will get poorer, the middle class will eventually get wiped out and the rich just get obscenely richer. The Poor and Middle class have always been a target for the rich and uber-rich. It is just now VERY obvious.

I'm still planning on purchasing my first CAT within a few years so hopefully, the market will still be in my favor, not wishing any bad financial woes.

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Oh Sully...Your sooooo bad!!! Now you've opened the box!!! I'm putting on my field helmet for this one...Sully for Prez!!! he he he

Ha ha... Honestly, I didn't mean anything political. Just a few facts that were around that I quickly grabbed off some sites I was looking at. There is no opinion in that data, just pure number (as in defense contracts awarded) to the companies. I've been researching what to do with investments lately and it was fresh on the mind.

[Rez]

I guess someone should mention that the Federal Reserve is privately owned, and that banks can loan 10 times the money they have. Kinda puts an edge to things.

[ribbony]

The Aussie market usually follows the US eventually, even though we seem independant at the moment riding on a resources boom.

Having just spent a small fortune on restoring a steel yacht, we are not looking forward to seeing the value of it diminish to where we could have bought one in the same condition at half the price. That has been the case in the past, several years ago we had a downturn in the yacht and boat market when we first went shopping for a yacht, it was in part due to the tech share bust and the scrapping of a tax benifit for wealthy people using yachts as an entertainment expense. We had several options firm for buying steel cruising yachts between 33' to 36' all for between $22K - $30K AUD (x .87 to get the US equlivent). We ended up with a smaller GRP vessel until we knew we were going to like the sailing adventure. Two years latter you could not get the same yachts for under $45K and ended up with our current project at a price a bit above what we were comfortable with.

Guess if the yachts get really cheap over there in the US then a shopping trip to buy one and sail it back across the Pacific sounds like a nice little adventure.