How badly is the Astronomy Industry is on it's buttPosted By Greg Nowell |
There's a lot of low-end crap available from reputable dealers.
In an economic upswing employment expands along with investment. Wages rise but bottlenecks in the economy lead to rising prices of critical input goods; real wages tend to fall or at a minimum not keep pace very well with productivity gains. Profits tend to rise and speculative pressures on some asset categories may inflate some people's sense of net worth. But consider the case of most people: wages did not keep up with housing costs, and the only way more people got into houses was with fraudulent access to credit; in reality, most people could not afford houses that as a ratio to income were way over their heads, more so than historically. Ditto with oil: people were working and prices were soaring, real wages were under extreme pressure on multiple fronts.
In an economic downswing investment falls and employment contracts. Sellers are under pressure from unsold inventory and are also under pressure from relatively fixed prices (such as a lease on a store, and often, wages). So they cut prices to maintain throughput for example if you sell four scopes at $2.00 profit in one month you are better off than if you sell no scope calculated to sell at $8.00 profit; so you cut prices; and you also cut prices to pay for inventory that isn't clearing: it is in some cases cheaper to move the product than to send it back to the manufacturer. And the manufacturer in any case will come under similar pressure to move the product, and so, will cut the prices rather than take back inventory....another interesting option is to sell at no profit or even at a loss because no profit and loss levels of income, say 98% of breakeven, is preferable to folding up shop and 0% of breakeven.
The result is that in a recession *those who keep their jobs* have *higher purchasing power.* One need only look at the simple situation of the oil market. The recession has caused prices to collapse and if you're still working you enjoy wages that are effectively higher than when boom/speculative conditions had pushed the price up to $146/barrel.
Ultimately manufacturers cut back output in a recession and this decision contributes to the overall unemployment; it is possible to reach a new equilibrium at lower output and have things crank along at that reduced level.
regards
Greg N
In an economic upswing employment expands along with investment. Wages rise but bottlenecks in the economy lead to rising prices of critical input goods; real wages tend to fall or at a minimum not keep pace very well with productivity gains. Profits tend to rise and speculative pressures on some asset categories may inflate some people's sense of net worth. But consider the case of most people: wages did not keep up with housing costs, and the only way more people got into houses was with fraudulent access to credit; in reality, most people could not afford houses that as a ratio to income were way over their heads, more so than historically. Ditto with oil: people were working and prices were soaring, real wages were under extreme pressure on multiple fronts.
In an economic downswing investment falls and employment contracts. Sellers are under pressure from unsold inventory and are also under pressure from relatively fixed prices (such as a lease on a store, and often, wages). So they cut prices to maintain throughput for example if you sell four scopes at $2.00 profit in one month you are better off than if you sell no scope calculated to sell at $8.00 profit; so you cut prices; and you also cut prices to pay for inventory that isn't clearing: it is in some cases cheaper to move the product than to send it back to the manufacturer. And the manufacturer in any case will come under similar pressure to move the product, and so, will cut the prices rather than take back inventory....another interesting option is to sell at no profit or even at a loss because no profit and loss levels of income, say 98% of breakeven, is preferable to folding up shop and 0% of breakeven.
The result is that in a recession *those who keep their jobs* have *higher purchasing power.* One need only look at the simple situation of the oil market. The recession has caused prices to collapse and if you're still working you enjoy wages that are effectively higher than when boom/speculative conditions had pushed the price up to $146/barrel.
Ultimately manufacturers cut back output in a recession and this decision contributes to the overall unemployment; it is possible to reach a new equilibrium at lower output and have things crank along at that reduced level.
regards
Greg N
