On Thu, 26 Sep 2002, Ross Archer wrote:
> Ernest wrote:
> >
> > I was just wondering if any of you have had to drastically cut back on your
> > collecting this year.
>
> You said it. The economy is not only far worse than
> people generally admit, but if you pay close
> attention to recent news, all signs point to
> another sharp decline that's already underway.
> You want a recovery? We had it, baby! That anemic
> little blip was it. It's all downhill from here.
>
> Despite assurances that "the economy is basically sound",
> too many bad factors are coming together at the same time.
> Many are preventable; some are inevitable.
> Investor confidence is low, consumers are holding onto
> their cash, unemployment continues to rise, and
> foreign investors are pulling out of the US market in
> droves, perceiving rightly or
> wrongly that the US leadership is neglecting fiscal
> policy (or worse, actively screwing things up),
> and creating problems for global stability
> due to reckless and/or unilateral foreign policy. Oil
> prices
> are headed upward, mostly due to defective foreign policy,
> which is always harmful to the economy,
> and the odds are good that a lot of European investors will
> yank their holdings out of US markets and put them into
> Europe
> or Asia. There's no up-side. There's no turn-around, or
> even
> economic news that hints at one.
Perhaps so, but do not overlook the fact that most of the foreign
markets are also down.
- don
> Of course, this kind of condition just exacerbates the
> tendency
> of people to hold tighter onto their income and cut
> spending,
> in a downward spiral. In the absence of inspiring
> leadership
> to reverse the trend, it's going to be a while before people
> are
> going to spend, let along re-enter the stock markets in
> large
> numbers needed to bring things back. Bleh.
> That's my analysis, take it or leave it. :)
>
> On the bright side, now that more and more
> people are aware of the value of these old
> systems, maybe a lot more will be spared from
> the dumpster and will end up on e-bay. That
> ought to increase the supply at least. Supply-side
> economics says that means the price should drop. :)
>
> -- Ross
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > I collected 20+ Apple II clones in 2001. So far this
> > year, I think that I've picked up maybe six. Collecting old computers is a
> > luxury, of course and this year has been hard on my wallet. I've watched
> > several choice systems go by on ebay, and I never used to let any of them go
> > by -even the crappy ones.
> >
> > Things are getting better for me but I'll sure be damned glad when this
> > lousy year is over. People talk about Black '87 but as far as I'm concerned,
> > '02 has been my "black" year.
> >
> > Ernest
> >
> > http://12.228.5.66
>
Received on Fri Sep 27 2002 - 00:19:00 BST