I saw this headline on a news page this morning:

"BJ Services Tumble 65% On Demand Slump - 14 minutes ago"

You reckon this means that even the hookers are having a tough time ?????? .... lol

good time to get hooker discounts!

with the way the markets tumbled lately, my superannuation portfolio (in AUS. compulsory employer payments) took a massive dive, looks like I have to stay working til 70-75,normal retirement age is 65 here, must work til I drop dead now!
no roflmao

Edit, pity the poor bastards that pumped massive amounts of personal monies(even took out loans under the previous gov. incentives scheme)
into their super schemes!


PS. how are you Beardy?

I'm okay my friend ... and you ??

Normal retirement is 65 here also although our dear government is trying to raise it to 70. I think what they want is for you to work till you drop over dead and all the while getting half your pay in taxes and the other half in gas.
One of the bastards in government (wont say who) made the remark that smart americans are doing what they have to do to stay afloat, and that is getting second jobs ... no joke .. that remark was made !!!
The last few years I have taken a minimum of 10,000 loss per year on what stocks I had and that got to be actually money out of my pocket at the last. I did manage to sell off a lot before it came to that but I figure what has already took money out of my pocket, I would just wait it out.
Yeah, that loan ***** just don't make no sense !!! ... oh don't get me started ..... lllololol

already got me started, like you said the bastards want you to work til your body and MIND are broke and don't care how many people end up on the streets after working their lives away paying their arses in taxes and the like their whole lives and get diddly squat in return, I've heard that either Denmark or Holland have a (In my opinion) a better system where I think 50% of their taxes gets invested for them via the government and upon retirement the gov. looks after them til death,
I might be slightly (or greatly) off in the facts, but it sounds much fairer to me, I want to look further into it and recommend it to my local member!

twood be good to hear from people of other countries to see how their systems work or whether they even have a system!

Agree, things are tough. I know, I contract in IT downunder and would consider myself to be good at what I do, but contracts are not being extended eevn with good reputations.

My own super portfolio has taken a pounding as well.

However to say that we will work until we die? When a friend & I have another image in mind.

Imagine a grave, tomstone & all, with a laptop perched on top of the grave.

The see two skeleton hands coming out of the grave, taping away on the laptop.

It no lpnger work until you die, its work long after that....

But seriously, yes its tough, but most of us have been through something like this before. Don't loose hope, find something to laugh at or with. Recessions are nothing new, if not as bad. To loose hope is the worst thing you can do.

I have been out of work now for nearly 4 weeks. First time in nearly 10 years & coming here can still make me smile.

@Beardy,

Keep working there are banks that need your share of the bailout money. I've taken a beating like so many others with the 401k. The only good thing is I waited before joining my company's stock purchase plan so my shares were bought after the down turn.

Wifey works in the automotive related industry and I don't think I have to say much there. She's been on layoff for about 6 months now and that's even with having high seniority. They tell her she can come back anytime by bumping someone else off their job but it would only be for two days a week and it would cost more in gas than she would make !!!!
401k ??? ... she has lost an average of 2,000 per month for the last year with that thing. I keep telling her to pull it out of the investing part but she won't listen ... oh well.
@EL
Yeah, right .... I just loved it when the first of the bailout money went to some gluton insurance company who in turn gave a lot of it out in bonuses !!!!! That really made a lot of sense to me... tells me we have some really smart people in the government ... pffft !!!

@Cartref
Yes, my friend, coming here is nearly always a good laugh for me too ... ya gotta laugh to keep from crying .... lololol

Informatian: Here in Holland they have set just a few weeks ago the limit from 65 upto 68!!!
I also say no names, but we still wait for new rules in our political system :-S

At least you guys get to quit when you're dead. I'll have to work about 4-5 years after I die to break even.

atleast you have a retirement. Or whats left of one. Any money I have had has been gone for awhile. I have been out of work for over 2 years. I am just getting by. Aint live grant. I even had to move back home with parent, that realy sucks. I keep hoping things will get better. Atleast you don't have to fight for a job that might put some illegal immagrant out of one. Heaven forbid! I don't know about anyone else, but I have had it worring about illegal immagrant rights. They broke the law to get here. As far as I am concerned they have no rights.I think the should take away any buisness from the owner who knowingly hires them. Sorry about the ranting! I agree hopefully things will get better.

Here in England it is No Longer Permissible to Die, as they Have Not Yet Calculated a Satisfactory Method of Taxing the Deceased !!!

Oh they have here DD, since the first of the year they are going to put a hefty tax on the estates of the deceased !!!!
I don't really know how they plan to do that when it's taking about all you can make to stay afloat ... at the time of death, everyone will be broke .... the only survivors will be the cockroaches and they're working on a plan to tax them too !! .... lmao

21.7% unemployment

Thats where i am currently at :( Unemployed

Always got to keep smilin though ... Better things to come :)

it's a buum and bust economy...

pretty grim all over,
wonder how things work in Junungerland, retirement etc.?
ed. coming here is mighty big unwind for me too,
sorry for taking it out on you blokes,
but me fingers made me do it,
they're like me cock'
they have a mind of there own!

@Beardy,

Out here you got love the CEO of MGM/Mirage for getting a $500,000 raise after laying off hundreds of people. Every time they need to make a payment for the City Center project it gets fun.lol If they make the payment then the thousands of construction workers still have a job; if no payment then the job site could shut down.

The gaming equipment companies have been laying off people, the only reason I still have a job is I switched from building the machines to game design. Since casinos are still going to want to get new game themes to try to get people to gamble.

I'm with you, @Cottonmouth1.

I've been unemployed since just before Thanksgiving. "You're out the door. Happy Holidays!" Thanks.

Yeah, things are pretty grim everywhere, it's so tough here I'm having to grow my own ***** this year !! ... lmao

@EL
That's a drop in the bucket, the poor GM CEO only got 14 million in just bonuses last year, and that was for running the company into bankruptcy, Just imagine what it would have been had he actually made the company productive .... lllololol

Will Beardy the only thing we can really do is have another round of the Captain and try to hold on the best we can.

Invest in cows.