I'm concerned about the housing slowdown we are faced with. All of our work is in Wisconsin, Illinois (85%) and Indiana.
If developers start shutting off new subdivision work, we will not be in good shape. It's already slowing down.
The thing I hate the most about owning a company is having to let people go. I fear this is coming, just like in 2008/9.
We went from 27 people down to 4 (including the two owners) in a matter of months.
Economic policy has consequences. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. This is bad.
We have 42 people, for now.
Housing will slowdown for sure in those states imo. They are dying states with bad growth- people aren't moving there in droves like they are in say Texas, FL, AZ, NV, NC, SC, GA. Interest rates were already going up on 30 year fixed mortgages, and with the fed hiking fed funds rates .75% just a few days ago and then saying they'll probably do another .50% to .75% hike in July- 30 year fixed rates just going to continue to go up. A monthly payment on a 30 year fixed rate on the rates from the past few years prior to the recent increases on an $800,000 property is equal to the monthly payments on a $500,000 property today.
Personally, I think what they are doing is
pretty stupid. The inflation on necessary daily essentials, food, consumer goods, and vital commodities like gas that we're seeing right now is due to a few things- not the housing market and credit card spending.
We're experiencing higher prices because;
a) we still have supply chain issues bc US literally relies entirely on China for almost everything...
MAYBE START CHANGING THIS. When there is less supply of something and demand increases...well prices go up. Invoke emergency powers production acts and put the squeeze on manufacturers and suppliers to leave China or give them massive tax breaks to relocate to the US.
b) US refinery capacity is
way down- 7 refining facilities closed during COVID and many Gulf refineries were battered by hurricanes in 2020 and 2021- US lost anywhere from 1.2 to 1.5 million barrels per day of refining capacity due to this. US refineries produce 17 million barrels per day. US consumes 20.5 million barrels per day. Maybe declare an emergency and send billions in federal funding to beefing up refineries and building new ones- instead of
THROWING MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN IN UKRAINE. OH AND PUT IMMEDIATE TEMPORARY BANS ON EXPORTING US GAS & OIL.c) lift every and all sanctions on Russia. they have not worked and have only backfired. They've caused prices in the West to skyrocket and turbocharged inflation in the West. And not to mention the Putin treasure chest is at all time highs with Russia getting 60%+ premiums on their oil & gas. You'll see oil prices cool down immediately if they do this.
d) there has been price gouging and large companies taking advantage of the situation.
https://www.accountable.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-04-04-Largest-US-Retailers-2021-Profits-FINAL.pdfe) Biden needs to go over to Saudi Arabia get on all fours and suck off MbS until he agrees to ramping up Saudi production and exports to flood the market. I don't care if he's got to give up his first born crack head son to do this- he needs to get it done and make it happen.
Sky high oil prices = inflation. It's basic economics. Oil is literally interwoven into every aspect of modern life. Take a second to think about it. Oil prices go up that much that quick....price of EVERYTHING goes up. Need to get oil prices back down and stable for inflation to cool off. And this senile old f**kface Biden hasn't been doing jackshit to try and make that happen.