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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NOW who wrote (12690)	10/3/2004 5:56:35 PM
From: GraceZ	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

you really are Dr. Pangloss I made no judgements. I simply pointed out the obvious since clearly I watch these things closer than you do. I'm the one who has to make collections when debts go bad. I've spent zero time collecting from any of my clients whereas in the mid to late 90s it took up a large part of my time, even from F500 companies who were suppose to be doing really well, but especially from individuals running small companies. I had huge write downs of non-collectible receivables in the late 90s and none since 2000. Many of those people are out of biz (they gave up owning their own biz and got a job), so those that remain are far better positioned. It happens with every boom bust. When things are good everybody and their brother goes into biz for themselves. After the bust we're left with only the strongest survivors. I've been through this cycle several times because my biz follows the ad cycle. Typically BK and debt service peaks two years after a recession and then trends down from there. We're right on schedule. I prefer this type of business environment to a boom any day. In a boom your costs are always running up at a slightly higher rate than your top line. I was able to cut my overhead to a third in the consolidation that followed this last boom. The greatest returns I got last year were investments in capital equipment for my business. In 2000 I was writing down as worthless equipment that wasn't even paid for yet!