I work with accountants, but I'm not exactly an economic wizard myself, but I'm still pretty interested in the current situation. So I thought I would share my limited knowledge with you.
The first thing is this, the credit crunch is not entirely a bad thing. Sure some people are losing their jobs. And I'll admit that if you took out a mortgage in the last five years you're probably F***ed, but there is a bright side...let's look at which business' are in trouble
Woolworths only sells things that you could get in Tesco for cheaper...so no loss there
MFI, Land of Leather...if DFS gets into trouble we'll really be cooking
Chrysler??? General Motors, they're only killing the planet with gas guzzlers that no one wants anyway
So all things considered we're not losing anything worth having and with a little bit of luck we might manage to get rid of a few faceless coffee houses and mobile phone shops as well
The main question though is this, why are these companies in trouble??
The answer is simple, they all make shit that we don't want.
Land of Leather aren't selling any sofas because most people are still paying for the ones they bought back in 2006 with a pay nothing for two years deal. Something that has always confused me is this, who actually buys a couch after watching a tv advert? Or for that matter, who buys a tv? I've always assumed that anyone watching an ad on tv, probably already has a tv, which rather takes away the main selling point.
The same is (you would assume) true for reasonably priced, leather, three piece suites now available at up to 50% off. If you are watching tv (I would assume) that you probably already have something to sit on.
Most advertising works best with the sort of stuff you might buy on the spur of the moment, as I'm wandering through Tesco or Asda (but not woolworths) I might pick up a particular bar of chocolate. Domino's adverts have made me fancy a pizza. Grabbing a brand new car with my morning paper? Less so...
More thoughts next week as the pound slides further towards parity with the euro...looks like everyone is holidaying in Scotland next year...bad times
Dave
Thoughts on leaving teaching
14 years ago
1 comment:
Some true observations there my friend.
The thing that bugs me about this are all the people (fat cats included) who are now running around wailing that there they have no money. Well duh.
If that's the strain of intellectualism they've been using for the past X years, then no wonder it's all gone tits up.
They have no money. Many people have no money. It's awful to see so many hard working people suffering because of this.
However. Me and my Dad live below the poverty line; neither of us are fit for work and as such are reliant on the state to help us. This won't be the case forever. Not for me anyway - once I can actually get proper treatment for my condition and get rehab'd, then I'll be in a position for finding work. Unfortunately, the NHS is wank.
Anyway. We're kinda used to surviving on pretty much nothing. The 'credit crunch' for us has meant that we live on the most basic of foodstuffs and general household necessities. Which we've been doing for some time but now our weekly shopping budget has gone from £70 to around about £45. That's a big drop considering that feeds 2 adults, 4 cats, 5 dogs and 2 zebra finches.
Granted, we have something to sit on and something to block out the misery of our days with, but when you start cooking portions for yourself that you'd give to a toddler, so that your ol' man can have a decent meal... that's harsh.
The companies deserve everything they get in my eyes. It's just a shame that people lose their jobs along the way. And then the government has the audacity to propose changes to the support services as all this is happening...
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