How has the recent economic turmoil affected you?

[Blackhawk]

Also ordered a few sheets of moon landing commemorative stamps. Theys cool looking.

I got those and the T Rex stamps. Yes, I'm still 8 years old: dinosaurs and spaceships!

I usually alternate between the Star Trek and Dragons stamps.

[hitbyambulance]

my contract here has been extended a number of times, but it looks like this last extension (to the end of June) will be the last one. (i asked the manager and he said this was the case 'at the moment'.) sooooo not looking forward to resume sending during the pandemic.

i did leave on good terms with the team i was on at Google and there's a possibility i could work something out there - but not with the same shady vendor as before, nuh uh, ain't happening.

[Octavious]

And one of her co-workers gave notice yesterday beating her. This is a very small office like 10 people so they won't be amused on Friday. Insurance is booming right now apparently.

And when she gave notice on Friday she found out that her current company lost a bunch of insurance programs and is in dire straights. Programs renew yearly at this time. So she apparently ejected from the plane two seconds from it hitting the ground.

[Isgrimnur]

NPR

Car rental company Hertz filed for bankruptcy protection Friday, citing an "abrupt decline in revenue" during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hertz is just the latest high-profile company to feel the financial pain of the COVID-19 crisis: Retailers J.C. Penney, J. Crew, and Neiman Marcus all filed for bankruptcy protection this month. Home-decor chain Pier 1 Imports announced it would be closing for good, with final closing sales beginning Memorial Day weekend.
...
In April the company, which includes car-rental brands Dollar, Thrifty and Firefly, missed a payment on its debt, but reached a short-term deal with its creditors. The company was unable to secure a long-term agreement.

[Jeff V]

I had my choice of car rental companies and it appears I chose the wrong one. I was once one of their 5-star gold customers, but with the demise of travel I last used them 2 years ago when I rented a SUV to drive to the east coast.

[Daehawk]

So many stores we grew up with and thought would be around forever has died off in the last 15 years.

[em2nought]

So many stores we grew up with and thought would be around forever has died off in the last 15 years.

I never thought they would be around forever, Kmart was phoning it in for the last two decades. Many have just been on the way out for a long time. The additional sound businesses that are going to go away because of the response to this virus, that's different.

[Skinypupy]

Bummer, I’ve been a Hertz customer for the entire 15 years I’ve been doing business travel.

[LawBeefaroni]

They were liquidating their 2019 Corvettes earlier this week.

[Default]

Parcels, people. You order stuff online, a lot of it comes through us, even the UPS and FedEx stuff. It's the lack of advertising mail and the fraudulent pension prefunding that is killing us. Without the prefunding, we would be ok.

Oh, and Monday makes day 50.

[Kraken]

As someone who gets paid with paper checks in the mail, I thank you for your service.

[LawBeefaroni]

Parcels, people. You order stuff online, a lot of it comes through us, even the UPS and FedEx stuff. It's the lack of advertising mail and the fraudulent pension prefunding that is killing us. Without the prefunding, we would be ok.

Oh, and Monday makes day 50.

I just bought a bunch of USPS swag (fist day issue, press sheets, etc) for the kids. So trying to throw a few.bucks.thst way.


Also, the pension and health fund is a disaster.

[Isgrimnur]

I always miss fist day. I should set a reminder.

[LawBeefaroni]

[*]

I always miss fist day. I should set a reminder.

Hey, at current prices every day is fist day!

[LawBeefaroni]

Oh, also, the Apollo stamps are freaking gorgeous.


If you mail stuff, buy them. Shipping is free and no sales tax so market price. You may use them, you may keep them but either way, no premium.

[malchior]

Eek. This is not great. Money is essentially sitting around. No big surprise but throws water on a quick recovery. Though it largely is a function of the existing trend but accelerated. It'll probably drop pretty hard soon since it lags a bit and M1/M2 money supplies saw a huge helicopter drop by the government. The short of it is that it indicates deflation might become an issue.

https://twitter.com/BruceBartlett/statu ... 07/photo/1

[Isgrimnur]

Giving money to billionaires and corporations that were already hoarding money doesn't free up capital.

[dbt1949]

All those stimulus checks going to Amazon.

[Isgrimnur]

Reuters

U.S. consumers cut spending by the most on record for the second straight month in April while boosting savings to an all-time high, and the growing frugality reinforced expectations the economy could take years to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report from the Commerce Department on Friday, together with news that monthly exports collapsed, left economists anticipating the largest contraction in gross domestic product in the second quarter since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Data has also been dismal this month on the labor market, manufacturing production and homebuilding.

The Commerce Department said consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, plunged 13.6% last month, the biggest drop since the government started tracking the series in 1959. It eclipsed the previous all-time decrease of 6.9% in March.
...
“The saving rate represents both opportunity and a warning,” said Chris Low, chief economist at FHN in New York. “If the economy reopens quickly without consequence these savings represent considerable spending power in the second half. If it takes longer to reopen the economy, these savings will be used for sustenance over the next few months.”

[LordMortis]

That sucks for me. I need you guys to consume while I save. It's the only way I will ever be able to retire.

[Kraken]

Reuters

U.S. consumers cut spending by the most on record for the second straight month in April while boosting savings to an all-time high, and the growing frugality reinforced expectations the economy could take years to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report from the Commerce Department on Friday, together with news that monthly exports collapsed, left economists anticipating the largest contraction in gross domestic product in the second quarter since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Data has also been dismal this month on the labor market, manufacturing production and homebuilding.

The Commerce Department said consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, plunged 13.6% last month, the biggest drop since the government started tracking the series in 1959. It eclipsed the previous all-time decrease of 6.9% in March.
...
“The saving rate represents both opportunity and a warning,” said Chris Low, chief economist at FHN in New York. “If the economy reopens quickly without consequence these savings represent considerable spending power in the second half. If it takes longer to reopen the economy, these savings will be used for sustenance over the next few months.”

I read that the "velocity of money" hit an all-time low, which I think is a fancy way of saying the same thing. Velocity of money is how long it takes a dollar to go from your paycheck to Jeff Bezos' stock portfolio.

[Jeff V]

Well, fuck. Almost made it 10 years with a company. Knew something up when the HR lady was the first one to show for an alleged "one on one" meeting with my now former boss. It took 15 months to find a job last time I got punted during an economic crises.

[Isgrimnur]

Sorry to hear it, Jeff. But i know you have a solid network of contacts.

[TheMix]

Damn. That sucks. I had one of those meetings. It wasn't listed as a one-on-one, but was just a "meeting". When I showed up it was HR, some higher up that I'd never even heard of, and a few of us that were getting the boot.

[dbt1949]

You olde enough for medicare?

[Kraken]

Dang. I keep reading that the economy is going to surge next quarter, or maybe the one after that, or someday, probably. Hope you can get health insurance thru your wife's job; COBRA is a bitch. Do they have a COBRA assistance program this time around?

[Jeff V]

Dang. I keep reading that the economy is going to surge next quarter, or maybe the one after that, or someday, probably. Hope you can get health insurance thru your wife's job; COBRA is a bitch. Do they have a COBRA assistance program this time around?

She had orientation today for a new job. She heard they have good insurance, whatever it is has to be better than COBRA.

[ImLawBoy]

I don't know if your skill set overlaps with communications, but if you see anything interesting at AT&T and want to apply, give me a shout. I've been around long enough that I know a lot of people in the area. Even if I don't have much pull, I can at least put in a word for you.

[dfs]

Sorry to hear that Jeff. Contact everybody.

[$iljanus]

Dang. I keep reading that the economy is going to surge next quarter, or maybe the one after that, or someday, probably. Hope you can get health insurance thru your wife's job; COBRA is a bitch. Do they have a COBRA assistance program this time around?

She had orientation today for a new job. She heard they have good insurance, whatever it is has to be better than COBRA.

Oh no. Hope the benefits are better for your wife and that after a short break you get back to work!

[Eel Snave]

I left my boring job at a bank in February to work in a cemetery, and ended up working for a TERRIBLE company (it's called StoneMor! Avoid it like the plague!) and left in May. I just got my life ins license so I'll be starting that on 6/15.

[Isgrimnur]

I look forward to asking you questions after that.

[Isgrimnur]

WaPo

When the U.S. government’s official jobs report for May came out on Friday, it included a note at the bottom saying there had been a major “error” indicating that the unemployment rate likely should be higher than the widely reported 13.3 percent rate.

The special note said that if this “misclassification error” had not occurred, the “overall unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher than reported,” meaning the unemployment rate would be about 16.3 percent for May.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the agency that puts out the monthly jobs reports, said it was working to fix the problem.

“BLS and the Census Bureau are investigating why this misclassification error continues to occur and are taking additional steps to address the issue,” said a note at the bottom of the Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
...
Economists say the BLS was trying to be as transparent as possible about how hard it is to collect real-time data during a pandemic. The BLS admitted that some people who should have been classified as “temporarily unemployed” during the shutdown were instead misclassified as employed but “absent” from work for “other reasons.”

The “other reason” category is normally used for people on vacation, serving jury duty or taking leave to care for a child or relative. These are typically situations where the worker decides to take leave. But in this unusual pandemic circumstance, the “other reason” category was applied to some people staying at home and waiting to be called back.

This problem started in March when there was a big jump in people claiming they were temporarily “absent” from work for “other reasons.” The BLS noticed this and flagged it right away. In March, the BLS said the unemployment rate likely should have been 5.4 percent, instead of the official 4.4 percent rate. In April, the BLS said the real unemployment rate was likely about 19.7 percent, not 14.7 percent.

[Scuzz]

And one of her co-workers gave notice yesterday beating her. This is a very small office like 10 people so they won't be amused on Friday. Insurance is booming right now apparently.

And when she gave notice on Friday she found out that her current company lost a bunch of insurance programs and is in dire straights. Programs renew yearly at this time. So she apparently ejected from the plane two seconds from it hitting the ground.

My wife worked as an insurance coder for years. But companies are now using foreign sources to their coding.

[Isgrimnur]

May Unemployment - 13.3% (1.4%)

Table A-4 - >= Age 25 by education level

Category	Percent	Change	YOY Change
Less than a high school diploma	18.5	2.4	14.1
High school graduates, no college	15.0	2.0	11.7
Some college or associate degree	12.9	1.9	10.4
Bachelor's degree and higher	7.2	1.0	5.2

Table A-1 - Unemployment Rate Ages 16-19 - 30.7% (1.5 , 17.9 YOY)


Table A-11 - Reasons for unemployment

Job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs	11.3
Job leavers	0.3
Reentrants	1.1
New entrants	0.3

Table A-12 - Unemployed persons by duration of unemployment

	Weeks	Change	YOY Change
Average Duration	10.9	3.2	13.9
Median Duration	8.0	4.0	1.7

[Isgrimnur]

Brookings

BLS asserts that 20,935,000 Americans were unemployed in May, attributing the decline to employers adding 2,509,000 jobs in May as states allowed “a limited resumption of economic activity.” But it’s not that simple. The unexpected decline in the jobless rate is based on a survey of businesses and households conducted over the week of May 16th, and BLS has also reported that 29,965,415 Americans received unemployment insurance benefits in the same week. That’s a gap of 8,980,415 people, enough to raise the May jobless rate 5.7 percentage points to 19.0 percent and much closer to economists’ expectations.

How did the Labor Department come up with such a low figure? Part of it is the Payroll Protection Program: The BLS counted anyone who employers say were still being paid as employed “even if they were not actually at their jobs.” Part of it involves how the BLS treats the many millions of people now on furlough and not being paid. They are considered “unemployed on temporary layoff.” But if BLS expects them to return to their old jobs, based on the survey, they do not count among the unemployed.

Those judgments are left to the BLS’s discretion, and the agency does not issue any data on those decisions. Yet a recent analysis from the Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago estimated that 42 percent of people furloughed by the COVID-19 crisis will never get their old jobs back, and only 30 percent of those laid off will land new jobs later this year. With 30 million people receiving unemployment benefits, that analysis is more consistent with unemployment at 19.0 percent today than 13.3 percent. BLS itself acknowledges in its May report that counting those on furlough as unemployed would raise its official rate to 16.3 percent.

[LordMortis]

Makes sense to me. I've been on and off furlough for 10 weeks but I've never been out of a job yet. I've been collecting unemployment but I've had a "seeking employment" waiver every time I've put on furlough.

That said, it should still be tracked if you are looking for metrics of people not working.

Also, I'm thankful for the safety net. Fifty years, 39 of them working, I had collected unemployment for exactly one week when a fresh new employer hired me for a few weeks, my manager, grooming me to become a database programmer, got fed up and quit, and I was fired the next day. (never did become a database programmer). This is why we have safety nets and don't get rid of them and don't raid them "because they're easy to get back when we need them" and why we don't throw stones when they need to be used.

[Exodor]

Got another letter from Trump in the mail today - turns out my 14 year old daughter got $1200 from the stimulus package.

She's never worked so I assume this is because she's receiving her mother's social security benefits. Anyone know if this is a legit payout or if I should contact someone about returning the money?

[Default]

No idea, unfortunately.


Tomorrow is day 70. Good thing it will probably be only an 8 hour day. No word on how the bootlicker is going to fix the whole money issue, but preparing for disaster is the plan. Oh, and COVID19 hasn't gone away, and the douchebag next door has built a fucking tiki/karaoke bar in his driveway. I would call the cops, it's so loud, but he's the fire chief.

[malchior]

Rare good news here! Due to COVID-19 financial impacts my bank did reviews of existing mortgages and in my case waived my PMI way early. Funny enough I had talked to said same bank about a refinance in the hopes of getting rid of the PMI. Mission accomplished!