As the economy turns...???

[Bob Holmes]

"U.S. auto sales surged another 11% in January to a four-year high of 14.18M vehicles/year. Key gainers included Ford (F) (+7.3%), Toyota (TM) (+7.5%), Honda (HMC) (+8.8%) and Chrysler (+44%). GM's (GM) sales fell 6.1%, including a halving of Volt sales."

Can't wait to see some uptick on the local level.

[Schtauffer]

We're busy at work.

[tedly]

We're hiring on a third shift at the Chrysler Belvidere plant and have been running wide friggin open for months. There are so many new faces that it's unbelievable. If the new Dart sells well it's going to be interesting to see how many more people get brought in. I can't tell you how happy I am that we got profit sharing on the new contract! This looks to be a very good year for me personally and for the hundreds of people that are now being brought in. It won't take long for those paychecks to start rippling out. Hell, I've got an empty apartment I need to fill with furniture and electronics, parts for the Tbird to buy, another car to get, clothes, I can actually afford to go out and have fun at restaurants, bars, movies, I can buy things I want but don't necessarily need again, etc, etc... You better believe I'm going to be dumping some cash in the local economy!

[66Fury3]

That's great Tedly...... The Dart looks interesting.... I would consider one but there is no V8.... I had a '72 Demon I bought new while I was in the service...... Wish I still had it....

[Brian Lohnes]

Tedly, great news. Chrysler certainly had a heck of a year in 2011. Glad to hear that you and many others are a part of that action!

Having spent the last couple months in near constant contact with parts manufacturers and stuff, I can tell you that their outlook is very positive. Many companies said that they have been making hay since early December and it shows no signs of letting up.

Brian

[SpiderGearsMan]

ya , the unemployment rate drops as 7 million jobs just vanish ...
PRINCETON, NJ -- U.S. unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, increased slightly to 8.6% in January from 8.5% in December, but was down from 9.9% in January a year ago.

[oldsman496]

We're hiring on a third shift at the Chrysler Belvidere plant and have been running wide friggin open for months. There are so many new faces that it's unbelievable. If the new Dart sells well it's going to be interesting to see how many more people get brought in. I can't tell you how happy I am that we got profit sharing on the new contract! This looks to be a very good year for me personally and for the hundreds of people that are now being brought in. It won't take long for those paychecks to start rippling out. Hell, I've got an empty apartment I need to fill with furniture and electronics, parts for the Tbird to buy, another car to get, clothes, I can actually afford to go out and have fun at restaurants, bars, movies, I can buy things I want but don't necessarily need again, etc, etc... You better believe I'm going to be dumping some cash in the local economy!

Congrats Tedly! You made me smile this morning... Thanks!

[Monk]

We're seeing a slow turn around in my business......albeit slow.
We're looking at 2015-2016 before we get back to 1 million housing starts.

As I travel, I'm starting to see more 'help wanted' signs.

[TheSilverBuick]

Congrats Tedly! You made me smile this morning... Thanks!

x2! Good news is sometimes hard to come by.

My buisness is still booming. Talking with a drilling contractor and some other contractors yesterday, it still sounds like if I were kicked out the door here I'd land a job before I hit the ground because of a major shortage of experienced geologist.

[milner351]

Randal - with the surge in popularity of PEX tubing - do you think there's any chance the price of copper may stabilize as housing starts are still slow (housing using wiring and plumbing - both lotsa copper)

any affect at all? Do you have a breakdown of where the copper you mine goes? That would be interesting.

We're still doing more with less here at Ford, most guys I know are starting to burn out from working so much "casual" over time.

"we have done so much with so little for so long, we are now qualified to make anything from nothing"

[JeffMcKC]

Inventory is ran out, Jobless rates a Joke they DONT COUNT PEOPLE THAT HAVE QUIT LOOKING FOR A JOB BECAUSE THEY CANT FIND ONE.
Its a election year they are going to try to save all their Jobs because those are the only ones they worry about.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/record...n-rate-tumbles-

Record 1.2 Million People Fall Out Of Labor Force In One Month, Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To Fresh 30 Year Low

A month ago, we joked when we said to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%. Looks like the good folks at the BLS heard us: it appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million. No, that's not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month! So as the labor force increased from 153.9 million to 154.4 million, the non institutional population increased by 242.3 million meaning, those not in the labor force surged from 86.7 million to 87.9 million. Which means that the civilian labor force tumbled to a fresh 30 year low of 63.7% as the BLS is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation. As for the quality of jobs, as withholding taxes roll over Year over year, it can only mean that the US is replacing high paying FIRE jobs with low paying construction and manufacturing. So much for the improvement.

[BluLightning]

Our business has been booming for years. We've had record sales years the past 5 years in a row so this recession did not affect us. Nothing this administration did helped us or hurt us.

[455 LeMans]

The five year anniversary of Mrs 445 LeMans' and I's business is the 12th of this month. We were discussing
ways to expand our business, I said a better economy would be nice. The economy has been in the toilet since we started this endeavor, it has been okay with a bit of growth each year, but I can only imagine what it would be like with a better economy. I remain an eternal optimist.

[68 Valiant]

Randal - with the surge in popularity of PEX tubing - do you think there's any chance the price of copper may stabilize as housing starts are still slow (housing using wiring and plumbing - both lotsa copper)

any affect at all? Do you have a breakdown of where the copper you mine goes? That would be interesting.

We're still doing more with less here at Ford, most guys I know are starting to burn out from working so much "casual" over time.

"we have done so much with so little for so long, we are now qualified to make anything from nothing"

They still use copper tubing for plumbing new houses in the states?

PEX has been used in Alberta for close to 10 yrs.

[TC]

1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month!

Or in other words .004% of the population..........