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Old 11-05-2008, 10:36 AM   #21
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Be prepared

Silvertwinkie

I agree with your post.

But it seems like Americans in particular, wait for the bad things to happen, and then hit the credit cards.

The American teachings are when you get into trouble, use your credit cards.

The banks love that philosphy.

But, when you get your next credit card statement, then the real truth hits home.

When you read that statement, most people will then say, "now what do I do?"

The only real answer, is like the boy scouts motto. Be prepared, up to and including financial planning, for the unpleasant things that can happen.

Will our plannings always be correct? Probably not, but never give up climbing that ladder to succeed.

We blame scammers, we blame fraud, we blame our city, county, state and federal governments, but the fact remains, that we, ourselves, cause many financial problems for ourselves.

Being laid off a job, is never pleasant, but as the old, old saying goes. never, ever, give up trying to succeed.

Life has it's ups and downs, and most of us have experienced both. Being positive, and wise, is the best medicine there is.

America, is still the land of opportunity, but sometimes those opportunties, are more difficult to find.

Andy
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Old 11-05-2008, 10:38 AM   #22
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Amen to that Andy!!
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Old 11-05-2008, 10:51 AM   #23
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Inspiring

If your at that "Y" in the road, before you consider giving up, please watch the following, and then resurvey your thoughts.

Andy

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Old 11-05-2008, 11:37 AM   #24
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Jason,

When the "international CEO" of the company says the shareholders are unhappy, I wonder where he gets that information? Is he making it up to bolster his argument? Is he figuring out a way he can get a bigger bonus?

These company leaders and financial wizards of the last several years aren't so smart after all, and they tend to do what everyone else is doing. It was a strange kind of fun to see Alan Greenspan tell everyone he couldn't explain why deregulation didn't work. Like sheep, these people are prone to panic and thoughtless statements.

For many years companies have followed the mantra that they must produce every better results every 3 months to satisfy "Wall Street" and blame it on the shareholders. They sacrifice long term planning and the company's economic health. They know when the system crumbles, they will have been rewarded anyway with overblown compensation. Greenspan forget about greed and stupidity of executive sheep. I am a shareholder and always vote against the management to let them know some of us aren't buying into this crap.

Sorry to hear about your brother, Jason. I hope we can get back to the corporate values of a generation ago where executive looked at the relationship between workers and employers and a two way street, a social compact that was based on the fact we are all in this together. Maybe given yesterday's event, we are going to get back to what I always thought were American values.

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Old 11-05-2008, 12:07 PM   #25
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My brother has worked 7 days a week 14 hours a day even from home to get some games out... any bonus NOPE... I am meeting him in seattle with family this coming week, and he has an Interview with Microsoft... He will take it if it's good... He just can't stomach the way the company treats it's employees

I hope things get better soon... And my wife and I try to treat our 3 employees well....
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Old 11-05-2008, 02:23 PM   #26
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I`ll buy that

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Originally Posted by genearnold View Post
After the stresses, financial and political, of the last several weeks maybe this will help.

During this financial crisis in America a lot of people have sold off a lot of their volatile investments and are wondering where to put their money where it will be more secure than the stock market. I’ve come across a great business opportunity that sounds like Airstreamers might be naturals to buy into since we are all so flush (at least that is the perception, right?) Anyway, back to the subject.

A group of my acquaintances, called simply, “The Associates,” are putting together a new operation. Their intent is to find a depressed area and establish a large cat ranch. They are starting small, with about one million cats. Each female cat averages about twelve kittens per year; skins will bring about fifty-cents for the white ones and a dollar for the black, bringing revenues of $18,000,000 per year. This averages out to about $60000 per day, excluding Sundays and holidays.

A good cat skinner can skin about 50 cats per day at a wage of $60 (8 hours X $7.50 per hour). They figure 800 people can operate the ranch so the net profit will be $12,000 per day.

The cat food will be rats, and they plan to start a rat ranch adjacent to each cat ranch. Rats multiply four times as fast as cats and if we start with a million rats we will have four rats per cat each day. The rats will be fed on the carcasses of the cats we skin. This will give each rat a quarter of a cat. You can see by this that the business is a clean operation, self-supporting and really automatic throughout. The cats will eat the rats and the rats will eat the cats, and we get the skins!

Let me know if you are interested and I will tell you more about our investment program. By the way; we are working on a method of crossing the cats with snakes so they will skin themselves twice a year. This idea has fantastic possibilities.

Gene

(My apologies to all you cat lovers out there!)
I would like a few shares of that,has to be better than the other promises
I`ve heard lately.PLUMBER DAVE
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Old 11-05-2008, 03:16 PM   #27
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I find it interesting that in tough financial times that it's a GAME company that is doing well. Reports like this sometimes make me wonder about our priorities as a country/society.
And while I don't really doubt that these are tough times, there are days when I think "Is money really that tight, if folks can spend so much on games, recreation, etc?"
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Old 11-05-2008, 03:22 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fyrzowt View Post
I find it interesting that in tough financial times that it's a GAME company that is doing well. Reports like this sometimes make me wonder about our priorities as a country/society.
And while I don't really doubt that these are tough times, there are days when I think "Is money really that tight, if folks can spend so much on games, recreation, etc?"
Dave

I agree....and not that I think a teacher should start out at $70k/year, but it's funny that sports figures get paid on average $100k/yr and a fair number of them barely finished school, if they did at all.

So a teacher makes about $35k/year. Not bad until you try to raise a family with it....mmmm, play pro sports or teach the future generations.....I can't seem to figure out which is more important.

I know, I know, we all make choices.....
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Old 11-05-2008, 03:27 PM   #29
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That reminds me of something else I heard -
An Air Force Pilot flying a multi-million dollor airplane is required to have a 4 year degree, while the sergeant responsible for keeping it in the air only needs a HS diploma.
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Old 11-05-2008, 03:43 PM   #30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fyrzowt View Post
That reminds me of something else I heard -
An Air Force Pilot flying a multi-million dollor airplane is required to have a 4 year degree, while the sergeant responsible for keeping it in the air only needs a HS diploma.
Nice.....
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Old 11-05-2008, 03:49 PM   #31
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Tough times ???

I guess it depends on what you call tough times?

And then tough times world wide?

Perhaps.

Stop or back off of good times or recreation?

In most circles, world wide, those are fighting words.

As an example, as this is posted, Hilton Hawaiian Village in Oahu, Hawaii, has 5000 rooms, (five thousand).

For most of this year, they have been over booked. That info comes straight from the guest services manager, that has been my friend for a long time, so it's not a made up story.

Go figure.

Andy
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Old 11-05-2008, 04:13 PM   #32
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Not to question what you were told by your friend, Andy, a story in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago stated that bookings in luxury hotels are suddenly way down and there have been a lot of cancellations for the rest of the year. Apparently the market cratered as quickly as the stock market, though a little later. There are now a lot of deals for those wanting to stay in those hotels. Corporations are also cutting way back on business trips and when they send employees somewhere, they have to book at middle class places. We are lucky to have our own luxury "suites" on wheels.

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Old 11-05-2008, 04:30 PM   #33
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Money without them

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Originally Posted by aircooled4 View Post
Maybe EA Sports is getting rid of people they dont really need...If they can make the same money WITHOUT them, maybe they should go...Gotta keep the investors happy, or theyll invest in something else then EA Sports will cease to exist if they dont have investors..

I love this quote..if you don't keep the investors happy they will invest in something else (like credit default swaps) and then when they aren't happy with that investment, they will just get the government to pay them

I understand that when you have excess people layoffs are a consideration. Too many companies forget why they exist to begin with, if they make a product, its about the product, not the investor. If the product is good, then the profits come then the investors are interested in owning part of the company. You can get caught being a buggy whip maker, not adapting to the market, but you can also forget about what your product is, get caught up in "paying the investors" and then there is no company. Just look at a very long list of financial firms that are gone because, they kept reaching higher to pay an investor that they could not satisfy.
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Old 11-05-2008, 05:13 PM   #34
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Electronic Arts, INC./ ERTS

"The video game company reported a loss of $310 million, or 97 cents a share, in the quarter compared to a loss of $195 million, or 62 cents a share, a year ago"

The above info from thestreet.com on 10/31/08. For more information, go to: ERTS: Summary for Electronic Arts Inc. - Yahoo! Finance and sift through the SEC filings and look for the 8-K for each quarter in the last several years.

From Purman:

"Yesterday in the big wig meeting (his job is ok) the the international ceo said the company was selling more, and making more than they had in a long time.... They have 28 million in the back.. Things are good... But stockholders want something done. So they have to lay off 600 employees.."

I'm sorry Purman but the company is not doing well. It has lost millions upon millions in the last few years. Actually, their cash and accounts receivable are more than you indicate but hemorrhaging at the rate of $310,000,000 per quarter will eat up several million in a hurry.

In essence, things are not good as you were told, and they might be circling the drain. Layoffs, while not desirable, are a fast way of maintaining cash. You might ask yourself what these 600 (out of 9,000) people were doing if the sales were that bad. you might opine they were not needed.

Others here have said that the company should take better care of the employees. Well, there might not be a company at all if things continue as they have been.

"So they lay off 600 people that they don't need to, so the stockholders can make more money" is not quite accurate.

The company has never paid a dividend since going public in 1990 and the stock has gone along marginally up and down since. The stockholders have made very little money unless the timing was right on a couple of dips. Any company whose product is dependent on discretionary spending is subject to the vagaries of the economy. For instance, people don't absolutely have to have motorcycles, boats, fancy cars, video games, RVs, etc. When things get tight, those types of expenses are usually the first to get cut.


"It's the price of the stock and the profit to the stockholders that is the important thing."

Absolutely right! The stockholders are the owners of the company. not the CEO. Sometimes it is hard to remember that people own the company. The officers of the company do not. The owners (stock owners) put up money for the company to run its business. If it goes south, the owners are out. Yes, they want a return for their money as do we all.

I hope your brother and his company fare well!!
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Old 11-05-2008, 06:46 PM   #35
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Electronic Arts, you say?

I used to own one of their earliest video games and it was a prized possession...

It was called an "Etch-A-Sketch."

Actually, I think it was manufactured by "Ohio Arts."
And I am dating myself here.
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Old 11-05-2008, 06:50 PM   #36
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naw I think it was Pong??? Check out the graphics on that baby!

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But hey if you had Etch-a-Sketch you were cool! Much cooler than I was playing with my magnetic hair wand moving metal shavings or getting the beads in the holes games. LOL

OK sorry, nostalgia attack over.
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Electronic Arts, you say?

I used to own one of their earliest video games and it was a prized possession...

It was called an "Etch-A-Sketch."

Actually, I think it was manufactured by "Ohio Arts."
And I am dating myself here.
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Old 11-05-2008, 07:38 PM   #37
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Larry, thanks for the information on the company. With credit largely frozen, a company with such major persistent losses cannot survive. I wonder why they did not try to fix their problems long ago. It seems the CEO has had his head in the sand. I don't want to see anyone lose a job, but a company like EA is not a good one to stay with and it's best to look for a job now before the whole company folds.

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Old 11-05-2008, 07:48 PM   #38
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I love this quote..if you don't keep the investors happy they will invest in something else (like credit default swaps) and then when they aren't happy with that investment, they will just get the government to pay them


Im not sure HOW you took my statment...Any reasonable investor who ISNT getting a return that they're expecting WILL put their money someplace where it WILL provide them with the returns they want...Its ALWAYS in the best interest of the company to produce a product that makes them money. If theyre making money the investors will be happy becuase they will get a return on investment...
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Old 11-05-2008, 07:54 PM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry in MO View Post
Electronic Arts, INC./ ERTS

"The video game company reported a loss of $310 million, or 97 cents a share, in the quarter compared to a loss of $195 million, or 62 cents a share, a year ago"

The above info from thestreet.com on 10/31/08. For more information, go to: ERTS: Summary for Electronic Arts Inc. - Yahoo! Finance and sift through the SEC filings and look for the 8-K for each quarter in the last several years.

From Purman:

"Yesterday in the big wig meeting (his job is ok) the the international ceo said the company was selling more, and making more than they had in a long time.... They have 28 million in the back.. Things are good... But stockholders want something done. So they have to lay off 600 employees.."

I'm sorry Purman but the company is not doing well. It has lost millions upon millions in the last few years. Actually, their cash and accounts receivable are more than you indicate but hemorrhaging at the rate of $310,000,000 per quarter will eat up several million in a hurry.

In essence, things are not good as you were told, and they might be circling the drain. Layoffs, while not desirable, are a fast way of maintaining cash. You might ask yourself what these 600 (out of 9,000) people were doing if the sales were that bad. you might opine they were not needed.

Others here have said that the company should take better care of the employees. Well, there might not be a company at all if things continue as they have been.

"So they lay off 600 people that they don't need to, so the stockholders can make more money" is not quite accurate.

The company has never paid a dividend since going public in 1990 and the stock has gone along marginally up and down since. The stockholders have made very little money unless the timing was right on a couple of dips. Any company whose product is dependent on discretionary spending is subject to the vagaries of the economy. For instance, people don't absolutely have to have motorcycles, boats, fancy cars, video games, RVs, etc. When things get tight, those types of expenses are usually the first to get cut.


"It's the price of the stock and the profit to the stockholders that is the important thing."

Absolutely right! The stockholders are the owners of the company. not the CEO. Sometimes it is hard to remember that people own the company. The officers of the company do not. The owners (stock owners) put up money for the company to run its business. If it goes south, the owners are out. Yes, they want a return for their money as do we all.

I hope your brother and his company fare well!!

Like I told someone else I was just conveying what My brother was told... By the International higher up guy in a meeting 3 days ago...

Whether they told him the truth or not I don't know...
Whether he was for His part of the company I don't know...
EA overall may be a loss.

They have offices all over the world.... I don't know if each division keeps track of it own $ ...

Each type of Game is made in a different place...

I know When I was In management at REI in the early 90's we were told different things than the public... Not sure which one was the truth???

I don't mean to mislead anyone... I just thought the information was interesting, coming from my brother who has worked there for 10 years...
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Old 11-05-2008, 08:20 PM   #40
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Once upon a time, in a place overrun with monkeys, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each. The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest, and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, they became harder to catch, so the villagers stopped their effort. The man then announced that he would now pay $20 for each one. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again. But soon the supply diminished even further and they were ever harder to catch, so people started going back to their farms and forgot about monkey catching. The man increased his price to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so sparse that it was an effort to even see a monkey, much less catch one. The man now announced that he would buy monkeys for $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on his behalf.

While the man was away the assistant told the villagers, "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has bought. I will sell them to you at $35 each and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each." The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys. They never saw the man or his assistant again, and once again there were monkeys everywhere.
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