Worsened Economy in ‘09, More Job Loss Into 2010
ADMIN
- January 06 2009
- 816 views
- 28 comments
The Federal Reserve confirmed everyone’s latest fears in it’s latest report released today, forecasting that the economy would in fact continue its decline in 2009, according to a report published today at CNNMoney.com.
“If the current recession, which began in December 2007, lasts throughout 2009, that would make it the longest economic downturn since the Great Depression.”
To read the entire story, click HERE.
Photo: epicharmus, Creative Commons
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January 6th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
http://www.realknots.com/knots/noose.htm
January 6th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
seriously… if you are still watching CNN to get your reports on the financial outlook, you are the biggest idiot. Stop posting things you aren’t an expert on… reports like this are just reckless ways to create anxiety.
January 6th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Tomorrow you may learn that REEF let go 32 people today… Pull up a seat and watch the big shake-down, starting NOW!
January 6th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I predicted this was gonna happen in Nov ‘08! All empires DO crumble at some point. Guess I’m gonna have to surf on a door and wear plastic wrap for a wetsuit in the near future. A sad state of affairs…
January 6th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
word on the street RVCA are in sack mode also…..
January 6th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Let me guess, this is because of ASR??
January 6th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
yeah I heard about REEF today also….very sad. I’m sure there will be a press release….I heard entire apparel divisions for mens and womens were laid off. Yeah, I heard 32 people in all also.
Gotta love the VF corporation….”hmmm, we’ll lay off everyone but the footwear team and get our footwear market share from Reef, we’ll buy Quiksilver, lay, off their footwear people(focusing on further footwear dollars from DC) and the big apparel market share that Quik has, wtf is next… There NEEDS TO BE SOME SERIOUS, SERIOUS DISCUSSIONS at SIMA this year on how to survive the current economy and evil empires like VF from taking over everything(who dont they own, or plan on owning soon these days??) Sorry for the conspiracy theories, needed to vent.
January 6th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
??? ASR??
January 7th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Reef isn’t surprising news to anyone and if it is then you are in the wrong business. this would have happened eventually whether it was for the economy or not… think about it. If you have a 16 year old kid and they have to make a decision whether to buy Volcom or Reef apparel. Doesn’t take a CNN money expert to know that answer…I hate hearing anyone losing their jobs but if you were dumb enough to take an apparel position at Reef then you deserve to be let go.
As for RVCA, RVCA was done before it started… RVCA is a mis-managed brand with great ideas. Deserves a head stone with other like brands such as Gravis, The Closet, Active, Ambiguous, Cardboard Robot and whatever other brilliant hahaha brands/stores there were or is about to be past tense.
If you think Volcom, Billabong and Quik Designers can continue to knock of brands like G-Star, Diesel, Paul Smith, Stone Islands, Raf Simmons, etc and just throw there logo on and keep continuing to grow this market share… well you are kidding yourself. I’ve seen comments in the last couple months about Senior Management being switched out, well I think a lot these designers need to be switched out and find some new designers who can actually be authentic again rather then knock of artist. If you are okay with all these designers knocking off other brands designs/ideas and branding applications then you deserve to be out on the street with them…
What’s on the horizon is great change! It’s about time. Our industry is stale as it gets!
This is another element to the decline of our industry. Bring that up at SIMA
January 7th, 2009 at 8:10 am
kind of missed the boat, real experts have been talking about this since the start of 06. Your crystal ball must need some polishing.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:13 am
o.k. , hmmm is here now , this is going to get interesting ! What you think about the post below calling for the heads of the designers Hmmm ?
January 7th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Hmmmmm coming , better start running !
January 7th, 2009 at 8:18 am
it’s long over do!
January 7th, 2009 at 8:20 am
hahahaha
January 7th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Allllrighty then , if Hmmm is in , i am too. Somebody wake up JimboKillCrane and DivineHammer , it’s time to kill the vain ! ! !
January 7th, 2009 at 8:25 am
The thing that really gets me is that everybody is saying that this is the biggest economic down turn since the 30’s. But the market was so over inflated with bullshit and crap, being fueled by con men and greedy banks, hey which is what exactly happened in the 20’s, all taking advantage of Bush’s deregulation. We were at a total fictional peak of prosperity only a year ago. And now that this bubble has burst and everbody is crying foul. If anything I would think we are in a more stable time then we where a year or two ago. People have gain some much needed perspective and we have gotten back to a more realistic, stable and transperent economy. What was happing in the market over the past 8 years was bad not good, if you couldn’t see it you were just blinded by $$$. The only really sad thing in this is the the people that orchestrated this mess and the ones who are gona come out smelling clean while the guy at the end of the line is the one that is gona get screwed. It’s the god damn baby boomers fault all wanting to get a fat retirement and live out there dreams listing to Celin Dion and Eliton John for the rest of their days in some condo in Aruba drinking their fucking Pino Grigio.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:27 am
“the real Hmmmm” I am a designer LOL.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I didn’t write that…Like I said below I am a designer. If you really want trim the fat cut the marketing guys, rolling in a at noon and leaving at 3 and thinkin’ they’re the bee’s knees. Designers get paid crap for what we do. But I also do Marketing too…LOL. I hate myself. But where I work it small I do the job of 3 or four people so I guess they could lay off my leg or something. It ain’t some big corp where assistance have assistance, and unpaid interns do all the work.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Just a final note what are bubble filled with…”Nothing!” If it’s to good to be true. Then it is. Also it getting to the point where Is it the chicken or the egg is the economy as bad as the media says it is or is the media making the economy as bad as it it is. It like they are fueling this so they will make sure they will have an amazing oppertuntiy to show people in bread lines. Seems like they are worse than ambulance chaser now they are throwing the nails in the road and cutting the supports in bridges.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:14 am
First of all the economy in the US is as bad as the media has made it but if you want a clear, unbiased opinion then read abroad. Read what they are saying in Europe, Asia, South America. Here is a great financial newsletter out of Australia: http://www.the-privateer.com. They were calling this economic disaster way back in 2005 when the economy was at an all time high. Both corporations and individuals are to blame. Everyone has been living well beyond their means, racking up tons of bad debt and now its coming back to bite us in the ass on every level. If you think things are going to turn around anytime soon than you are sorely mistaken. Yeah the stock market will rally a little bit this spring and everyone will be saying the economy is turning around but wait until the 2nd wave of foreclosures happen and then hyperinflation kicks in. We are in for a long ride that will take us well into 2012. We are going through a big correction that will hopefully make us all a little smarter in the long run that is if we have anything left.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:51 am
Wow I thought I was pesamestic. But I agree. And it all the baby boomers fault….http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boomer. There dreams of Freedom 55 and plush retirment while they put their own parents in half ass retirment homes. Subtract 55 from 2009 and you land smack in the middle of the baby boom, 1954.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Whoa, go easy on me “hmmm’s army! I’m on YOUR side, bud! I am on the side of the folks who do the actual hard work, paid or not. I could not care less about the media reports. I’m a strong believer in America keeping operating costs down, and keeping our jobs here in the U.S. with American employees. Taxes, taxes, and more taxes. It’s no wonder the U.S. exports our jobs for cheap overseas! Interesting quip on 2012: Isn’t that supposed to be the end of times? Interesting…
January 7th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Anonymous… To your comments “if you were dumb enough to take an apparel position at Reef then you deserve to be let go”
I don’t know much about the men’s division… but Reef girls had a very good buzz among insider industry people. It had its own unique look that got a good reaction along with respectable sell through at retail. Unfortunately the apparel and swim division hardly got ANY marketing dollars to get the message out there and virtually NO in store POP to make an impact. Still, today the average consumer doesn’t even know Reef had a girls apparel line. It was not “stupid” of the people involved to get involved in a launch of a new segment and the opportunities that coincide with a successful launch. They were lead to believe that under the VF umbrella their segment would get the proper support for sustainable growth.
I’m sorry, but It’s small minded thinking for you to say such a thing and really unfair to those that took a chance with the company. I personally know some of the people that got let go and all those girls are authentic hard working individuals that got minimal support from VF/Reef for their startup segment. You can’t even begin to understand the daily monkey wrench road blocks these girls had to deal with because of VF’s unrealistic policies. Now they get the lovely gift of dealing with the wake of VERY BAD business decisions from upper management… that (by the way) got to keep their high paying jobs.
If Reef did a poor job of managing its budgets, perhaps they should look at upper management for someone that is more qualified. If VF wasn’t willing to stick with their 5 year business plan by supporting a new division the right way, they should have never built that team under those pretenses. To let go a division, that has steady growth after only 1 1/2 years is telling of their greed for immediate profit.
Anyone under their “secure umbrella” should be shaking in their boots.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Taxes are not the issue the problem lies in labour costs and unions. When you import goods after duty, frieght, materials and the supplier’s mark up, it probably accounts for less the 5% of LC of goods. Which is a damn shame. Why do people in America fear taxes. Everbody else in Western Europe and Canada are taxed 40% to 60% on their income and 10% to 35% on all Goods and services. Try eating that every pay check. The conslation is they have almost free education and medicare.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Oh and secure banks except for the ones that invest in US ones.
January 7th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
small minded or not Anonymous has a point! you can say whatever you would like about not having enought resources but we’ve all seen smaller brands then Reef make it with nothing… “If you have a 16 year old kid and they have to make a decision whether to buy Volcom or Reef apparel.”
As for hardworking! Hell we are all hard workers but it’s the smart ones who excel!
January 7th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Management is suppose to be the smart ones…so I think we agree.
Plus Volcom was not sufforcated under VFC’s stringent rules…financially it actually hurt Reef.
Volcom started apparel as a tight knit group of people that had the same vision and were willing to take risks. They could move fast and react to the market.
Reef is like a large slow ship cruising in a river of molasses…afraid to take a risk…old thinking. If you put Volcom’s top designer in that environment you would get the same result…mass layoff due to mismanagement.
Comparing Reef to Volcom is like apples to Oranges. There are a lot of differences that I guess some people just won’t understand.
Every company has its cycle. There’s a handful that have weathered fickle consumer attitudes by having the right visionaries @ the top. The ones that don’t are internally fractured and destined for mediocrity.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I totally agree about the labor costs and those damn unions. As for the “free” healthcare system in Canada…it ain’t what it seems. Anywho, back on the subject; Aside from the obvious costs to produce and sell American goods, I’m just plain sick of our jobs getting exported out to Wang Chung in China, and Deepak over in India. Make American and buy American! Oh shit…I just got my pinkslip (J/K).