ebascoray wrote: In other words, the jobs, positions, that were eliminated during the recession would never, ever, EVER return again. Companies would realize, that, hey, they can get the work done with fewer staff, so let's just work the remaining employees "half to death", with more duties and responsibilities added on to the existing staff.
You're mostly right on that score. On the other hand, one of the beauties of the free market system is that as masses of people get laid off work, they start their own enterprises and jobs inevitably open up. You're right that the jobs that were hacked by the big corporations (Even after Obama handed them those ridiculous bailouts) will never come back. But new jobs will inevitably open up somewhere else... It just hasn't happened yet.
Kyle wrote:Yeah, there's always somebody who makes it all right through recessions. There were people who made a killing during the Great Depression, people who saw the bad times coming and made good decisions beforehand...or just got involved in organized crime, like Al Capone.
Yeah. Though Al Capone may not be the best example. He was brought down in 1931 true, but his heyday was during the roaring twenties, when people could afford the illegal liquor he was bringing in. A better example would be John Dillinger or Pretty Boy Floyd, the great depression era bankrobbers. Their exploits made them folk heroes.
But the true geniuses of the depression were a few savvy investors who realized that the mass buying on margin would eventually cause a collapse. From about 1924 on, there was a slow but steady stream of stocks being sold. The money went straight from wall street to under their mattresses. When the depression hit, they bought up huge amounts of real estate. And when the economy recovered... They made millions.
It's brilliant really.
There's a permanent tension in music isn't there? On one hand you have three chords, you know, four four and three chords. Then there's the people like me, who say "Well, why don't we add a fourth chord and put it in five four?" - Bill Bruford