If those in charge of the money had been responsible and so on and so forth, then the run up in housing prices wouldn’t have happened since mostly only reasonable loans would’ve been made.

Saying that it was just one thing that caused all of our economic hardships on one thing misses the point. Not seeing the forest for the trees.

Fishing and logging are gone, no doubt about that, but we will continue to trade globally. All of the jobs that were here before are still here. Trucking is still viable and will be for years to come, It’s amazing there is nothing else but the rail road lines are inadequate.

Boeing will be here for more years as an assembly plant. Microsoft will continue to thrive here even if it contracts in other parts of the world, the same for Starbucks.

What’s missing is the hanger ons. The people who make money by representing the dream. The mid level or upper management “dead weight” may need to move on.

I think everybody forgets it was merely ten years ago when things went completely wacky. A place I’m starting work on on Monday was bought for $165K ten years ago and rented for the mortgage payment. Today it rents for $1900.

Rents just kind of stayed the same while prices went nuts. It is called unsustainable appreciation. This site was based on that term, but it is a Real Estate Industry term. It’s a blip on the screen and highly reversable. The banks, lenders, and investors need to take that loss rather than us.

An order for 15 dreamliners was cancelled. As air traffic drops worldwide, I would expect to see more cancellations.

On a bright note, amazon did really well the last quarter, but I am sure that is of little comfort to many retail stores. Many retail stores missed the “below expectation” earnings this holiday season and plenty are filing for bankruptcy.

Nope, Seattle is the home of the Eddie Bauer yuppie. Unfortunately, even Eddie Bauer is in trouble. And now Seattle is waking up in its condo dream to discover that someone forgot to take last night’s garbage out… and the sushi is starting to reek.

I am sorry to hear your news. It sounds like you are seeing the bright side of the situation, that you still retain 90 percent of your salary, but it still sucks.

Your story is unfortunately a common one. I don’t understand how people can see posts like yours, know that it is happening everywhere, and think we are at the cusp of hyperinflation. Fewer dollars chasing the goods and services. Period. You can’t force people at gunpoint to borrow and and spend.

Are those neighborhoods destroyed? Maybe. Kind of like Columbia City was decimated, or Pioneer Square?

Twenty years are a blip on the screen. The question is will Fremont hold the current yuppie values? I don’t think so. I think the Suzy Burke brick office buildings were priced per square foot for new, but as leased space gets more plentiful down town more people will move there.

OK you don’t like down town condos, maybe they are over priced, but if I were a young lawyer I for sure would rather live at South Lake Union than Fremont or Ballard, if it were a choice.

People moved here for tech jobs that are still available in sunny climates. Finance? Forget about it. Bio Tech is best in North Carolina. When it’s done we are a cold weather climate with working docks, taverns, and warehouses. We might even brew beer again.

So assuming you have an admininstration that actually enfirces OSHA (Bush did not – indeed they hampered investigations) – that water shutoff woudl cost the company $70,000.00. They would probabaly get a warning first.

Every employer has to provide water – to the point if you lose water technically you have send everyone home.

Also – think sprinkler systems.

*falls on the ground in shock*

My good fellow, I’m not sure what Seattle you are talking abt?! Seattle is *special* because the city is full of debt-burdened yuppies, and increasing numbers of former technosoftic industry employees.

Seattle hasn’t been comfortable affordable home for the working class/middle class in 20, 30 years.

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Helicopters

The point is that people will retroactively point to job losses in the local economy (the subject of this thread) as the reason housing prices declined, when it’s really only an accelerant to a fire that was already burning. As Groundhogday succinctly put it, people will get causality reversed.

Yeah, there are other factors contributing to the job losses, but if housing values were still rising instead of plummeting, other events like the credit freeze/slowdown of capital and subsequent decline of the stock market would not likely have unfolded in the same way.

Apparently this is the anti-pink pony. The idea that the housing market is the only cause of all of our problems.

Same thing is with big companies like MSFT or Boeing. The Fed could start buying software or planes to keep the local demand strong. Who knows maybe even they could start buying Starbucks coffee.

Every floor…and seemingly every light. Never seen anything like it. I’m used to seeing a few floors here and there lit up in the downtown office buildings but every one?

Perhaps energy savings aren’t on their list of priorities with all the cash their new owners have now.

CNBC knows their ratings are higher during bull markets. The conclusion becomes obvious… they try to engineer bull markets because it’s profitable for them. Never mind that it’s unethical to con impressionable people into money-losing investments.

I don’t think there is anything devious or conspiratorial going on. The simple fact is that most investors lose interest in financial news when the economy is in a tailspin. Most people don’t like to be reminded of how much they are losing in their investments.

It only makes sense that the financial media will hire staff who mirror, and represent, the views of their audience. So why should we be surprised when the talking heads on CNBC make the SAME comments that their audience holds?

Heck, the talking heads are likely starting to worry about their very livelihoods. With all the major advertisers cutting budgets (e.g. auto manufacturers, financial firms) and declining viewership, it might not be long before heads start rolling.

Actually, one of the signs we will be reaching a bottom of this downturn is when CNBC goes off the air altogether.

There was a news report many years ago — during the dot com recession. Basically it said CNBC knows their ratings are higher during bull markets. The conclusion becomes obvious… they try to engineer bull markets because it’s profitable for them. Never mind that it’s unethical to con impressionable people into money-losing investments.

Sounding a little like the real estate industry, banks, or just about any other company you’d care to name?

Overall it is ~6% reduction in the total international workforce.

As for the housing market… remember when the early price declines were blamed on the media for printing bad news? Now the news is really grim and right in everyone’s face. More sellers will grasp the reality and price their houses for quick sales. Then the negative feedback loop kicks in… lower home values => more foreclosures => more bank losses => credit contraction => less consumer spending => fewer jobs => still lower home values…

I absolutely hate it when the CNBC anchors start saying “When will this turn around”. You are supposed to be reporters, not cheerleaders you dimwits. The only person among all those nutjobs who seems to make any sense (and seems impartial) is Rick Santelli.

Oh that little hiccup.

Their rationale was, they werent being “cut-off” or “closed” but just no water was coming in to them(wink-wink). The mindset was “who would want to use a bathroom with unflowing water” and if people started complaining to officials, they would probably favor the employer when lots of people were being laid-off at that time anyway.

I was told by a manager there that they were saving money doing all of these wild “cut-backs”. Not long before I was laid-off myself.

We still have a Port, Third Runway, Adobe, Amazon, Nintendo, Building Material supplies, Paccar, and more companies I know I’m leaving out.

Seattle is special because we are a working man’s town. As a commenter said in the 1980s you could own for the amount you could rent for with a 5% down payment.

Real Estate has been cheaper here because our employment based was wage earners rather than financiers with the mad money. We are not the silicon valley hipster, but loggers.

In that regard the very diverse, low budget jobs Seattle has a reputation for will lower the price of housing more than anything else.

But you are right about the Realtors telling us 15 years from now that housing never goes down except for these weird cases when then economy brings everything down (and real estate still beats the stock market). They will certainly get causality reversed…

There is still a lot of dead weight employees and conveniences that most places have YET to shave. Now I dont foresee most places going to the drastic measures my office went through, but most places will do some of those things.

In the end conventional wisdom in Seattle will say that the economy brought the housing market down, when it’s actually the other way around.

People will forget that the economy was just fine in July of 2007 when (inconceivably) Seattle home values began declining.

Thank you, President Obama, and all his supporters, for paying for my boat.

Life is good!

I think every company in the NWshould have ability to tap in to a new distressed fund that the Fed would create. Any company that brings losses should be immediately eligible for funding.

After things stabilize then the Fed will take out the fund.

But the fund is necessary otherwise people get laid off. They don’t bring in tax revenue and cost the state. So let’s all push for another stimulus after this one.

That sums it up, when money dries up whose got it to spend on luxuries.

I’m seeing RT fares to LAX on travelocity for $145 lately….not red eye flights either….wait a few months, we’ll be able to fly to London for that soon…..