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Technology Stocks : Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (65705)	7/2/2004 12:22:29 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 77400

So basically you are a conspiracy theorist. Bush is putting out fake numbers on the economy.....offshoring only began in 2002 and was not part of a long-term trend.... At least I now know where you are coming from.

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (65705)	7/2/2004 12:58:31 PM
From: RetiredNow	Respond to of 77400

Well, if you live in California, that's not surprising. That state has the highest unemployment in the country. Where I live, jobs are tight, but no one is really hurting. 5.6% unemployement is really not that bad considering we just had a very fast recession and a huge tech fallout from the bubble. Last I heard, California had something like 8-9% unemployment. Is that still true? I'd move, if I lived there and didn't have a job. Anyway, watch that 5.6% national number come down steadily over the next 3-5 years. I bet we get down to 4% by 2010.

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (65705)	7/3/2004 9:40:36 AM
From: Amy J	Respond to of 77400

Lizzie, RE: "the point I have always made is that there is more to an economy and stock prices than - profits from cost cutting - revenues achieved thanks in some part to government spending I don't know where you live, but where I am, people who used to have professional salaries are taking jobs at grocery stores and restaurants. This represents a 50% decline in discretionary income and here we are in a consumer based economy. Is this economy self sustaining? Imo, no." ------------- This is very true. But the good news is new innovation is beginning to pick up, which will eventually help the economy. Orders are easier and people suddenly are calling other people asking for people to hire. This is not visible because they don't put advertisements out until they've tried recruiting existing assembled teams. Hightech companies are definitely accelerating their recruiting efforts - this may not be visible yet but it's definitely in the works as evident by phone calls from people looking for people. Intel alone has four companies getting more aggressive to get any Intel folks as of last week. At Cisco, an architect was apparently asking one of our architects some advice, but he also apparently said something that sort of gave me the concern he might have been fishing to recruit our architect (but which wouldn't be good for Cisco since we indirectly help pull - don't want to cut off your own foot.) Companies are definitely showing very strong signs of the start of modest hiring. The downturn has made people a tad grumpy at all the major large companies (public stocks perceived to be in a funk, less people doing more work, fewer opportunities during the downturn), so I believe we are going to have one heck of a high turnover rate this or next year at all the large companies, unless large companies work to minimize this through clearer and more encouraging communications. Turnover isn't good for shareholders because it becomes an added cost of doing business. (Side note: it's also not good for small companies, because large companies would have to refill their spots with new people. If a game of musical chairs ensues, this just increases costs for everyone.) I'd prefer if large companies did the following: a) clarify to their employees their companies will start to have some better career growth opportunities (because their entry level people appear to be "itchy" to leave since career opportunities haven't been great for them during this downturn and they don't know what their future holds because it's not clear to them whether or not the majors intend to grow in Calif). So clearer communication can minimize losing these people. b) the non-entry people tend to be more motivated by stock, so get the stock up to keep these people happy (workers all over are moody about their company's stock prices - Microsoft, Intel, etc.) c) work to retain their own people d) hire unemployed people Here's a good article: "Stop worrying." money.cnn.com "the decline in the Labor Department's measure of factory hiring isn't consistent with recent surveys of manufacturers." "Those higher energy prices are the likely culprit behind the recent slowdown in manufacturing activity, weaker consumer spending, slower car and truck sales and weaker hiring. Now that prices have come down, the economy can resume its forward motion." Regards, Amy J