Recession a foregone conclusion already?

Parent Cafe
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<p>The Japanese are now building luxury cars that are also as good as any in the world. My Toyota Avalon is built on the same platform as the large Lexus and shares many components. It is totally quiet, has tons of power, lots of room yet gets a good 30 mpg on long trips at 80 mph average speed. When I travel I end up renting many current US cars and there is no comparison at that price point. Just try to find a stripped down enonobox Toyota these days. It’s not what people want.</p>

<p>Based on that experience we next bought a Toyota Scion Tc as a smaller car for daily commuting 60 miles RT. It too has lots of bells and whistles we like like a great sound sytem, a bunch of airbags, sunroof, power everything and feels solid and comfortable all for $17,000. You can’t beat it.</p>

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<p>“Again, these were agreements made by well educated executives to buy time. Dollars tomorrow rather than today… how is that the workers fault? they agreed to work for less than the market demanded for promises… why is it their fault the management couldn’t keep their end of the deal? Aren’t you blaming the wrong person? Didn’t two parties come to an agreement?”</p>

<p>Yes, two parties come to an agreement and hence BOTH must accept responsibility. The unions gave the management a choice: give us health care and pensions in retirement or we close you down now. Given a choice of certain death now or likely death in the future, management chose to kick the can down the road.</p>

<p>And, it’s not just the size of the vehicle that is causing Detroit to lose business. They are also losing business in the SUV and minivan market as well. With the labor component of each vehicle thousands of dollars more than the comparable Japanese car, the only degree of freedom remaining is to use cheap parts leading to maintenance/reliability issues.</p>

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<p>"My area well east of Seattle is showing no such empty home activity. Homes are selling well–generally in less than a month if priced well which means just at or above last year. "</p>

<p>Bellevue Issaqaugh, NB? Mirco people? :wink: Seattle for the most part has avoided the bubble, but the bubble been going on a while round the country. What I am seeing has occurred in the last 6 months. </p>

<p>And speaking of the B word…farming out the labor hasn’t really worked too well on the new plane has it? </p>

<p>Barron’s I glad your business is doing well, but if I only had to worry about yours or mine no worries… I think about the 25% that don’t make it out of HS and what work opportunities will they have. More importantly, what will they do IF they don’t have work opportunities? We have our own third world forming in the US… the undereducated. In the past there were production jobs and service jobs where these people could move into and have a decent, if simple life. A modest home, modest car and basic life. </p>

<p>Maybe that is something that doesn’t cross your mind, it does mine. At some point if these folks aren’t working, my tax dollars are supporting them. Those dollars are taken from other public services or created through increased taxes. As I start to move towards fixed income I worry about what will have to be done to support this underclass we’re creating. My world’s fine, your world’s fine, but what happens when their world pushes into yours?</p>

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<p>I believe you Barrons- but I live in a part of Seattle- with small older homes- on lots that will not fit the size of homes that new families want to live in. Not to mention- the Seattle school district?
Laughable.</p>

<p>I agree that transportation sucks- the city core at * least* should have transportation and the S.L.U.T back and forth from Nordstroms to Vulcan off of Lake Union- doesn’t count for much.
[South</a> Lake Union Streetcar - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Lake_Union_Streetcar]South”>South Lake Union Streetcar - Wikipedia)
Its a start I suppose, but I would rather have the waterfront trolley back
At least on my street- zoning prevents condos from going in- but not too far away they are really going beserk</p>

<p>It will be interesting- when Seattle was supposed to put lite rail through Ballard, lots of single family homes were sold and turned into ( IMO overpriced) townhouses- but they are really too small for families & again IMO, families are critical for the backbone of a city.</p>

<p>With Adobe and Google as well as Getty Images & Impinj just a few blocks away I’m not worried about our lot losing value but I do worry about being able to afford property taxes.</p>

<p>However- I like some parts of the changes- I like the Cascade neighborhood by REI,- but we need more parks if we are going to have more people & especially if they are going to be stacked on top of each other-
and that thing by the art museum? * I don’t get it*</p>

<p>[The</a> Arts | Art at Sculpture Park is a touchy subject | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2004116768_sculpture10.html]The”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2004116768_sculpture10.html)</p>

<p>Gerrys’ mitt by Safeco- is much more public friendly- that is what good design is all about.</p>

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<p>that’s what they said two years before the Great Depression.</p>

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<p>“The Japanese are now building luxury cars that are also as good as any in the world”</p>

<p>So essentially what your saying is the japanese are just behind the us in production history?</p>

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<p>^lmao…more like 47098370589723 light years a head of us</p>

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<p>I was thinking more Mercedes, BMW and maybe Audi/Volvo. I doubt they even consider US luxury cars serious competition these days. I have heard some Cadillacs are pretty good but have not been in one in decades. My dad had a 1958 Caddy that he let me use on some dates in HS. I have some fond memories from that car.</p>

<p>Out past Issaquah–Snoqualmie–or more like Snowqualmie this year. We have had snow on the ground for a good month.</p>

49

<p>Well according to the fed, if there are no rate cuts below 3.5% then our economy is doomed for depression.</p>

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<p>[Bloomberg.com:</a> Worldwide](<a href=“Bloomberg Politics - Bloomberg”>Bloomberg Politics - Bloomberg)</p>

<p>"Standard & Poor’s said it cut or may reduce ratings of $534 billion of subprime-mortgage securities and collateralized debt obligations, as home loan defaults rise. </p>

<p>The downgrades may extend losses at the world’s banks to more than $265 billion and have a ``ripple impact’’ on the broader financial markets, S&P said.

The securities represent $270.1 billion, or 47 percent, of subprime mortgage bonds rated between January 2006 and June 2007, S&P said today in a statement. The New York-based ratings company also said it may cut 572 CDOs valued at $263.9 billion.

The downgrades may increase losses at European, Asian and U.S. regional banks, credit unions and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, S&P said. Many of those institutions haven't written down their subprime holdings to reflect their market values and these downgrades may force their hands, S&P said.

It is difficult to predict the magnitude of any such effect, but we believe it will have implications for trading revenues, general business activity, and liquidity for the banks,'' S&P said. The ratings company will start reviewing its rankings for some banks, especially those thatare thinly capitalized.''

S&P downgraded $50.1 billion of subprime-mortgage securities, none rated higher than A+. More than 69 percent of the AAA rated subprime securities from 2006 and 46 percent from the first half of 2007 were placed on review.

Didn't See It

``This one, I didn't see coming,'' said Mark Adelson a consultant at Adelson & Jacob Consulting LLC in New York, and a former asset-backed bond analyst at Nomura Securities."</p>

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<p>oooh a friend had I think it was a 1947 Cadillac- it was his- had been his grandfathers- really a beautiful car. Off white exterior and leather interior- as big as a house!</p>

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<p>Yup, the backseat was as large and comfy as a couch. Lots of chrome and metal everywhere. One of the few cars then that had FM.</p>

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<p>So what were you doing in the * backseat?*</p>

<p>;)</p>

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<p>EK! He was making fond memories!!!</p>

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<p>Whatever it was I wasn’t alone. Growing up in the country with lots of very quiet hidden places had its benefits.</p>

<p><a href=“http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/104302/Ten-Most-Popular-Luxury-Vehicles[/url]”>http://finance.yahoo.com/loans/article/104302/Ten-Most-Popular-Luxury-Vehicles&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>“Growing up in the country with lots of very quiet hidden places had its benefits.”</p>

<p>Yea, the one pity for our kids that growth has brought. Gotta drive to eastern washington now to “park”.</p>

<p>Everywhere I did is now housing developements. No fond mememories while looking at a duplex where the best make out spot used to be.</p>

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<p>Yea, the one pity for our kids that growth has brought. Gotta drive to eastern washington now to “park”.</p>

<p>I don’t think that would be the biggest deterent, for me it is the size of the cars ( although once H and I slept in his Toyota Corona- when we couldn’t get into the campground and didn’t want to turn around and go home)</p>

<p>I grew up on the Eastside and we used to ride dirt bikes and have parties where Microsoft is ( we also used to have parties on the slough in Marymoor park- then stay up all night and play baseball on their fields as soon as it was light.)
( oh- this thread is kinda going off track- oops)</p>

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<p>( oh- this thread is kinda going off track- oops)</p>

<p>yea, we’re awful. shame shame shame what an example we must be setting. </p>

<p>")</p>