Republican Party, Teabag Party and the Libertarian Party absolutely SUCK!

[Henry Hawk]

my point is that you said yours "has dramatically slowed down."

My guess is that's your own fault for choosing the wrong stocks for your portfolio.

My "Profit" sharing program "has dramatically slowed down" because profit margins are not as good as they once were because the market "has dramatically slowed down" in our industry due to the economy.

You guess would be wrong.

[Bo D]

My "Profit" sharing program "has dramatically slowed down" because profit margins are not as good as they once were because the market "has dramatically slowed down" in our industry due to the economy.

You guess would be wrong.

Again, I must disagree with you. In my conversations with you in the past, I seem to remember that your job somehow involves data cable installation. In my company, we have a cabling division that has been growing in leaps and bounds over the past four years. They are getting more work than they can handle.

Next .......

[Henry Hawk]

Again, I must disagree with you. In my conversations with you in the past, I seem to remember that your job somehow involves data cable installation. In my company, we have a cabling division that has been growing in leaps and bounds over the past four years. They are getting more work than they can handle.

Next .......

I work for an Electrical Contractor, while the telecom business IS doing okay, the business as a whole is still in a very, very competitive market and profit margins has not returned to where they were before the recession.

next

[Bo D]

I work for an Electrical Contractor, while the telecom business IS doing okay, the business as a whole is still in a very, very competitive market and profit margins has not returned to where they were before the recession.

next

I thought competition was a good thing!

And what happens to margins when competition is hot?

Another sign that the economy has greatly improved!

[Exterminator]

...but the democrats are the ones making WALLSTREET  richer than ever...

You can't fucking be serious.

[Exterminator]

But if the democrats would not have created the housing bubble that burst.........you may have never lost it in the first place.

Please explain how the democrats did that?

[Exterminator]

I thought competition was a good thing!

And what happens to margins when competition is hot?

Another sign that the economy has greatly improved!

Maybe his boss just really sucks at being a businessman and can't figure out how to make a profit in what should be a very lucrative business sector?  More likely there is less profit to share because his boss gave himself a big raise...that would be the norm.

[Henry Hawk]

I thought competition was a good thing!

And what happens to margins when competition is hot?

Another sign that the economy has greatly improved!

Bo, I am not going to play the same style of game that you guys do and insult you.  But, obviously you do not understand the way the market works.  When times are tough, the profits are tight, when times are good the profit widens. 

No Ex, I see the profits on a daily basis. I know what it takes to win jobs.  That is what I do and have done for 15 years now.

[Exterminator]

No Ex, I see the profits on a daily basis. I know what it takes to win jobs.  That is what I do and have done for 15 years now.

Then you must be the problem.

[Bo D]

Bo, I am not going to play the same style of game that you guys do and insult you.  But, obviously you do not understand the way the market works.  When times are tough, the profits are tight, when times are good the profit widens. 

No Ex, I see the profits on a daily basis. I know what it takes to win jobs.  That is what I do and have done for 15 years now.

Obviously you can't see the truth even when it smacks you in the face. Business is booming. More companies are starting up and competing for more jobs. Competition drives profits down. Just ask any local merchant near a WalMart.

I remember years ago when it was common to make 30 and 40% on the sale of a computer system. Now computers have become nothing more than a commodity and you'll be lucky to make 5% on a sale. That has nothing to do with the state of the economy. It's just a natural progression to commoditization as computers have become more and more common.

So goes it with the telecom business. It's more common and not so specialized anymore. Those days of high profits are gone. And it is not because "times are tough."

It's the same with IT support. Companies that provide common IT support now have to compete with the likes of the Geek Squads of the world and the competition is driving down margins. That's why nimble companies like mine have diversified our offerings to keep on the cutting edge of IT.

Don't tell me times are tough. It's a lame excuse for not running your business correctly and getting left behind.  I can tell you honestly that business is booming here.

[Purplelady1040]

Obviously you can't see the truth even when it smacks you in the face. Business is booming. More companies are starting up and competing for more jobs. Competition drives profits down. Just ask any local merchant near a WalMart.

I remember years ago when it was common to make 30 and 40% on the sale of a computer system. Now computers have become nothing more than a commodity and you'll be lucky to make 5% on a sale. That has nothing to do with the state of the economy. It's just a natural progression to commoditization as computers have become more and more common.

So goes it with the telecom business. It's more common and not so specialized anymore. Those days of high profits are gone. And it is not because "times are tough."

It's the same with IT support. Companies that provide common IT support now have to compete with the likes of the Geek Squads of the world and the competition is driving down margins. That's why nimble companies like mine have diversified our offerings to keep on the cutting edge of IT.

Don't tell me times are tough. It's a lame excuse for not running your business correctly and getting left behind.  I can tell you honestly that business is booming here.

You are exactly right. My husband is a copier and office sales manager/salesman and he always has people who will say they can get a fax machine for a little bit of nothing from places like Wal-mart or Sam's. He tells them you need to go there because he only deals with larger copiers and faxes for bigger offices. He doesn't do it be mean to the people but if they want to save money that this is the place to go and a lot of times the people will come back to him for larger copier needs.

[Henry Hawk]

Obviously you can't see the truth even when it smacks you in the face. Business is booming. More companies are starting up and competing for more jobs. Competition drives profits down. Just ask any local merchant near a WalMart.

I remember years ago when it was common to make 30 and 40% on the sale of a computer system. Now computers have become nothing more than a commodity and you'll be lucky to make 5% on a sale. That has nothing to do with the state of the economy. It's just a natural progression to commoditization as computers have become more and more common.

So goes it with the telecom business. It's more common and not so specialized anymore. Those days of high profits are gone. And it is not because "times are tough."

It's the same with IT support. Companies that provide common IT support now have to compete with the likes of the Geek Squads of the world and the competition is driving down margins. That's why nimble companies like mine have diversified our offerings to keep on the cutting edge of IT.

Don't tell me times are tough. It's a lame excuse for not running your business correctly and getting left behind.  I can tell you honestly that business is booming here.

I hate saying this, but without a doubt, you do not understand the nature of electrical contracting.  I don't like to pat myself on the back and you won't catching me doing this often, but  I DO understand this side of the business.  PERIOD.  Times are not as tough as they were, there are signs of SOME improvement, but it is not back in the glory days as it was, six years ago.  I fully believe the best is yet to come, but I fear it is going to falter once again.  With the world imploding around us....Israel, Iraq, Ukraine, Russia.  Healthcare not living up to its name it was sold on.  I don't see a rosy economic burst in the future.

Business is not booming anywhere Bo, not in the fashion we had in the 80's.....Our business is one of, if not the largest in Central Indiana....and we will continue to be in the future, but times are NOT nearly as good as the should be or could be.  Hopefully, the pendulum in Washington will swing back to the right, and we will once again see REAL economic growth and development. 

[Exterminator]

Business is not booming anywhere Bo, not in the fashion we had in the 80's...

You mean the 90's; don't you?  There is a reason we all made jokes about Reaganomics...well, the educated among us anyway.

[Bo D]

I hate saying this, but without a doubt, you do not understand the nature of electrical contracting.  I don't like to pat myself on the back and you won't catching me doing this often, but  I DO understand this side of the business.  PERIOD.  Times are not as tough as they were, there are signs of SOME improvement, but it is not back in the glory days as it was, six years ago.  I fully believe the best is yet to come, but I fear it is going to falter once again.  With the world imploding around us....Israel, Iraq, Ukraine, Russia.  Healthcare not living up to its name it was sold on.  I don't see a rosy economic burst in the future.

Business is not booming anywhere Bo, not in the fashion we had in the 80's.....Our business is one of, if not the largest in Central Indiana....and we will continue to be in the future, but times are NOT nearly as good as the should be or could be.  Hopefully, the pendulum in Washington will swing back to the right, and we will once again see REAL economic growth and development.

I don't have to "understand the nature of electrical contracting."  It's a business - period. And unless a business continues to diversify and keep current, it will die of stagnation. Period.

So just keep on selling those little desktop fax machines until you're standing in an unemployment line somewhere wondering what happened and trying to blame it on the economy.

[Henry Hawk]

I don't have to "understand the nature of electrical contracting."  It's a business - period. And unless a business continues to diversify and keep current, it will die of stagnation. Period.

So just keep on selling those little desktop fax machines until you're standing in an unemployment line somewhere wondering what happened and trying to blame it on the economy.

Bo, for the first time you are showing ignorance on here.  I can tell you, without any doubt, YOU are wrong.  Quit being cocky about it.  I belong to a roundtable with 30 other companies just like ours, all over the nation.  We are ALL in agreement about the economy and its effect on our business.

DONE.