Talked to a decorator and a horse trainer today. Horse sales drying up and painter and decorator's job book empty. Several building companies gone bankrupt locally. The current deflation is starting affect everyone locally now. I expect far more bankrupcies due to lack of credit and more costly credit removing money from the economy.
I can't think of a safe job right now, apart from baliff. Possibly lawyers specialising in redundancy and bankrupcy will do well.
I wonder if localisation will be boosted or hurt by all this? Will locally produced food start to compete with imported food? Will people turn to their local farms or to Lidls?
Jim
For every complex problem, there is a simple answer, and it's wrong.
"Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs" (Lao Tzu V.i).
I was chatting to a couple of professional colleagues after a meeting today. The estate agents are hurting big time as far as I can tell. I'm amazed that the small operations are managing to keep going.
Builders also very gloomy.
Saying that we picked up a (smallish) commission today, almost 3 years after we put in the fee quote! Still work out there.
We demand that reality be altered because we don't like it [� oilslick ]
Friends of mine on another forum work in the Land Regstry and a solicitors respectively. The latest I have from them is that most of the lower grades in the Land Registry have been offered voluntary redundancies and the the higher skilled / more trained and qualified are now doing their jobs and basically becoming overpaid office juniors. The solicitor, working in the South West has said that they have already had two rounds of redundancies in a firm of 30 partners, most of the office staff are expecting redundancy notices by Christmas.
I can also tell you that I have never been asked to supply so many bits and pieces for people taking up knitting either. The demand appears to be on two fronts, one is as you say woolly jumpers, socks, mitts etc. The other is the making of presents which appears to be why people are taking it up.
Might be worth investing in a few hundred lengths of dowel and a very good pencil sharpener in future.
The number of people out of work in the UK soared in the three months to August by 164,000 compared to the previous quarter, the biggest rise for 17 years.
The rise took the jobless total to 1.79 million and the rate to 5.7%, up from 5.2% in the previous quarter.
The Office for National Statistics figures also showed the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance rose by 31,800 to 939,900 in September.
The BBC's business correspondent Martin Shankleman said some economists were predicting that unemployment would rise to two million by Christmas.
And at least one forecast, by Capital Economics, suggested it could reach three million by Christmas 2010.
Peter.
Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the seconds to hours?
aliwood wrote:I can also tell you that I have never been asked to supply so many bits and pieces for people taking up knitting either. The demand appears to be on two fronts, one is as you say woolly jumpers, socks, mitts etc. The other is the making of presents which appears to be why people are taking it up.
Might be worth investing in a few hundred lengths of dowel and a very good pencil sharpener in future.
Knitting supplies... Thinking about it, that could be a growth industry. Go for it! Glad things are going well for you. As nobody really knows how bad things might get, a couple of clichés for you - Make hay while the sun shines and stash some away for a rainy day.
"When the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?"
John Maynard Keynes.
Tess wrote:Love the new icon, John. Very appropriate!
It just shows what a state of confusion I'm in. I'm parked close to the Grand Western Canal at the moment, and will probably go cycling on the towpath if it's dry tomorrow, but I'm also thinking about buying a place in Wales many miles from a canal
