The American economy

If the American economy is so flat, (as Liberals jump to point out)
then how come wait times for scopes like AP which are luxury items
and a bell-weather of economic health are so long now?
In the 1990s, you could get an AP in about 2 years, now it's 5-8 years.
Also, the fact so many expensive apos exist in the market today versus
years ago is also testament to what has to be a fairly robust economy.
Meade also saw fit to release expensive new SCT hybrids and you don't
do
that in a down market.
-Rich

On 24 Aug 2005 16:00:43 -0700, "Rich"
wrote:

If the American economy is so flat, (as Liberals jump to point out)
then how come wait times for scopes like AP which are luxury items
and a bell-weather of economic health are so long now?
In the 1990s, you could get an AP in about 2 years, now it's 5-8 years.
Also, the fact so many expensive apos exist in the market today versus
years ago is also testament to what has to be a fairly robust economy.
Meade also saw fit to release expensive new SCT hybrids and you don't
do
that in a down market.
-Rich

A flat economy- or even a horribly depressed one- does not mean there
aren't plenty of people with disposable income. Even in bad times, niche
markets may do very well. If you want to assess an economy, you'd be
better off looking at something like cars, or houses, or furniture. That
is, look at something with a broad market.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

I remember luxury boats suffered pretty badly during the recession of
the early 1990s.
I guess their market is pretty broad.

"Rich" wrote in message
oups.com...
If the American economy is so flat, (as Liberals jump to point out)
then how come wait times for scopes like AP which are luxury items
and a bell-weather of economic health are so long now?
In the 1990s, you could get an AP in about 2 years, now it's 5-8 years.
Also, the fact so many expensive apos exist in the market today versus
years ago is also testament to what has to be a fairly robust economy.
Meade also saw fit to release expensive new SCT hybrids and you don't
do
that in a down market.
-Rich

Folks who don't believe $6000 is unreasonable for a 5" apo are not a good
indicator of how the other 99.99% of Americans are doing.

Then again, there's this guy who didn't feel that the price of an AP scope
was unreasonable a few years ago. He's on Astromart right now selling off a
lot of really high end equipment (C14, TMB, AP1200, Paramount ME... etc.)
because of financial hardship.

Ask him about the American economy.

What's worse, the market is only flat because high priced American labor is
being transitioned out to low priced foreign labor markets. When that
transition is complete and there's no other way to bolster the bottom line
for stock holders by reducing operating costs, the economy will no longer be
treading water and maintaining the flat line. The owners and operators of
the means of production will then have no other choice but to pull out and
avoid the cost of doing business in the United States. The American economy
will tank in a matter of a few years.

I'm such an optimist.

American labour has been "transitioning" to cheaper markets since the
Japanese
opened up shop for electronics in the early 1960s.

The U.S. economy isn't flat, it's a debt-fueled juggernaut that worships
consumption at the expense of everything else. High end telescopes (like
other luxury goods) are selling well because of easy credit. On average,
Americans now consume $1.08 for every dollar of goods they produce. This
obviously can't continue forever, so if I were in a business selling
high-end astro gear, I'd enjoy the good times now and prepare for the
crash that's coming.

Some companies may do fairly well though, especially if they don't rely
on imported raw materials. When our outrageous debt is inflated away,
the resulting fall in the dollar relative to other currencies should
make American exports extremely cheap.



Rich wrote:
If the American economy is so flat, (as Liberals jump to point out)
then how come wait times for scopes like AP which are luxury items
and a bell-weather of economic health are so long now?
In the 1990s, you could get an AP in about 2 years, now it's 5-8 years.
Also, the fact so many expensive apos exist in the market today versus
years ago is also testament to what has to be a fairly robust economy.
Meade also saw fit to release expensive new SCT hybrids and you don't
do
that in a down market.
-Rich

"Rich" wrote in message
oups.com...
If the American economy is so flat, (as Liberals jump to point out)
then how come wait times for scopes like AP which are luxury items
and a bell-weather of economic health are so long now?
In the 1990s, you could get an AP in about 2 years, now it's 5-8 years.
Also, the fact so many expensive apos exist in the market today versus
years ago is also testament to what has to be a fairly robust economy.
Meade also saw fit to release expensive new SCT hybrids and you don't
do
that in a down market.
-Rich


You cannot judge the performance of an economy by the sales of niche,
limited-appeal, or high-end items such as expensive telescopes, cars,
yachts, and the like. The FACT is that for almost 20 years, middle class
income has been stagnant, lower incomes have dropped, while people in the
"upper brackets" have seen their income and net worth increase steadily and,
in some cases, dramatically.

Remember, even in such sewers as certain African states, there are a few
very wealthy people who live as well as a member of the Saud family (or the
Bush family).

Your example was anecdotal, not analytic. So here's an anecdote for you --
I work as invnetory manager for a major home improvement chain. I have a
military pension and my wife has a pension from 35 years of teaching school,
plus income from our savings and investments -- we are insulated from a lot
of income problems. However, most of the people with whom I work are
working at our store full time with benefits and working another job
part-time. School is now starting and everyone with children is buying
back-to-school clothes. The main topic of conversation in our break room is
how much they are NOT spending on back-to-school clothes because of the cost
of gas. Meanwhile, we live in a tourist area with several casinos -- so,
while my co-workers are not buying back-to-school clothes for the kids and a
re worried about how they will afford the gas to get to work, folks are
still flying in here on their private jets and dropping huge wads of cash at
the casinos. The state of the economy is illustrated more by the plight of
people who work full-time yet still can't make ends meet -- the fact that a
few folks buy big buck scopes or drop $100,000 at the crap table tells us
nothing about the economy.

--

-----
Joe S.

"Rich" wrote in message
ups.com...
American labour has been "transitioning" to cheaper markets since the
Japanese
opened up shop for electronics in the early 1960s.


Cool. I use to work in electronics. Now I work in software, for a computer
hardware "manufacturer".

When that software work is fully outsourced, that will be two strikes for
me, and a lifetime of worthless knowledge and experience.

;-)

Rich wrote:

If the American economy is so flat, (as Liberals jump to point out)
then how come wait times for scopes like AP which are luxury items
and a bell-weather of economic health are so long now?

They arent a "bell-weather" of general economic health, in fact demand for
such luxery items may be a contra-indicator.


In the 1990s, you could get an AP in about 2 years, now it's 5-8 years.
Also, the fact so many expensive apos exist in the market today versus
years ago is also testament to what has to be a fairly robust economy.
Meade also saw fit to release expensive new SCT hybrids and you don't
do
that in a down market.
-Rich

That is precisely what you do in a down market!

jerry

dont confuse him with facts.

"Joe S." wrote:

"Rich" wrote in message
oups.com...
If the American economy is so flat, (as Liberals jump to point out)
then how come wait times for scopes like AP which are luxury items
and a bell-weather of economic health are so long now?
In the 1990s, you could get an AP in about 2 years, now it's 5-8 years.
Also, the fact so many expensive apos exist in the market today versus
years ago is also testament to what has to be a fairly robust economy.
Meade also saw fit to release expensive new SCT hybrids and you don't
do
that in a down market.
-Rich


You cannot judge the performance of an economy by the sales of niche,
limited-appeal, or high-end items such as expensive telescopes, cars,
yachts, and the like. The FACT is that for almost 20 years, middle class
income has been stagnant, lower incomes have dropped, while people in the
"upper brackets" have seen their income and net worth increase steadily and,
in some cases, dramatically.

Remember, even in such sewers as certain African states, there are a few
very wealthy people who live as well as a member of the Saud family (or the
Bush family).

Your example was anecdotal, not analytic. So here's an anecdote for you --
I work as invnetory manager for a major home improvement chain. I have a
military pension and my wife has a pension from 35 years of teaching school,
plus income from our savings and investments -- we are insulated from a lot
of income problems. However, most of the people with whom I work are
working at our store full time with benefits and working another job
part-time. School is now starting and everyone with children is buying
back-to-school clothes. The main topic of conversation in our break room is
how much they are NOT spending on back-to-school clothes because of the cost
of gas. Meanwhile, we live in a tourist area with several casinos -- so,
while my co-workers are not buying back-to-school clothes for the kids and a
re worried about how they will afford the gas to get to work, folks are
still flying in here on their private jets and dropping huge wads of cash at
the casinos. The state of the economy is illustrated more by the plight of
people who work full-time yet still can't make ends meet -- the fact that a
few folks buy big buck scopes or drop $100,000 at the crap table tells us
nothing about the economy.

--

-----
Joe S.