Biden's America

[deedsker]

1 hour ago, ZRod said:

I started out making less than that in an engineering job with no student loan debt and a 4 year old Camaro with a loan on it. As one person I could live very comfortably and spend coin at the bars while still building upy savings account, but I was putting zero money into my retirement. I wouldn't want to try to raise a family with an income of only $57k right now. Doesn't leave much room for retirement and savings for the future...

We don't hire entry level engineers out of college for that either.

[ZRod]

1 hour ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

As the son of an engineer, I'd guess you're probably somewhere in your upper 40s to mid 60s wherein you could get a job like that without a degree, or you had your college paid for. Either way, things have changed. 

I'm in my early 30s. I'm lucky to have two professional parents who could helped support me through college. If I got C's I was paying for the class myself, but it was always my dad's goal that I graduated with no debt. I paid for more than a few classes though...

 

Starting salaries vary a lot in engineering, advancement is very good though, but you're probably not starting over 60 unless you interned at the company. It's really given me an appreciation for what I have, and empathy for what others struggle to have.

[knapplc]

 

[DevoHusker]

Surprised by this

 

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

I might disagree with him on some things.  But, everyone should respect the hell out of him for this. 
 

 

[Archy1221]

11 hours ago, Cdog923 said:

 

So it's not a direct correlation to today, but I certainly understand the thought process. 

 

If we could afford it, I'd absolutely be a stay at home dad to my kids; one small benefit of this stupid pandemic was all the time I got to spend at home with them last year. 

My wife was a teacher and she quit once we had kids because the take hime pay wasn’t too much more than the cost of daycare.  She took up photography and turned it into side income.  I have a 5 yr old as youngest btw so comparable to your situation. 

[JJ Husker]

I’m not sure if this belongs here but Biden and his administration better get a lot more proactive at facilitating some improvements in the supply chain and specifically with steel prices. My company has seen raw materials increases of 100% to 200% in just the last 2-3 months for stainless steel and carbon steel.  It is definitely causing our customers to not purchase things they normally would. But maybe more dire is the inability to even purchase many needed materials. Lead times are through the roof just like prices. Things that are normally available from multiple vendors, we’re being told 4 weeks minimum best case, or they have no idea when they will be able to get more. I’ll be dead in the water if I can’t get materials and especially if people don’t order them to begin with because the price has so rapidly increased. This isn’t good Joe.

 

The infrastructure plan is all well and good but where will the raw materials come from and how much more are those projects going to cost than they would’ve just a few months ago? 

[BigRedBuster]

6 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

I’m not sure if this belongs here but Biden and his administration better get a lot more proactive at facilitating some improvements in the supply chain and specifically with steel prices. My company has seen raw materials increases of 100% to 200% in just the last 2-3 months for stainless steel and carbon steel.  It is definitely causing our customers to not purchase things they normally would. But maybe more dire is the inability to even purchase many needed materials. Lead times are through the roof just like prices. Things that are normally available from multiple vendors, we’re being told 4 weeks minimum best case, or they have no idea when they will be able to get more. I’ll be dead in the water if I can’t get materials and especially if people don’t order them to begin with because the price has so rapidly increased. This isn’t good Joe.

 

The infrastructure plan is all well and good but where will the raw materials come from and how much more are those projects going to cost than they would’ve just a few months ago? 

I've had the same questions about the infrastructure plan.  Where are they going to get the materials to do anything?

Unfortunately, what you are experiencing is not just in steal.  It's in plastics, aluminum, tin, wood....everything.  

 

However, I'm not sure what you expect the government to do.  At least in my line of work, our raw materials come from domestic sources and the shortages of materials are because of the extreme high demand.  The government hasn't shut down production or over regulated anything that caused it.

[JJ Husker]

1 minute ago, BigRedBuster said:

I've had the same questions about the infrastructure plan.  Where are they going to get the materials to do anything?

Unfortunately, what you are experiencing is not just in steal.  It's in plastics, aluminum, tin, wood....everything.  

 

However, I'm not sure what you expect the government to do.  At least in my line of work, our raw materials come from domestic sources and the shortages of materials are because of the extreme high demand.

Yes, I’ve also seen it in some plastics we use and know it’s impacting numerous building materials.

 

Im not sure what the government can do but it sure looks like we’re headed towards a rapid cooling of the economy. I’m not convinced it is purely a result of extreme high demand. Many of these manufacturers brought much of this on themselves. They idled plants through Covid for no good reason. Demand was still there yet they severely cut back production. Some of that was due to the tariffs as the domestic guys wanted to reap the benefits of increased prices faster than would normally have occurred. TBH I don’t think demand has gone up near as much as supply has retracted. All I know is that somebody that understands it better than me better start looking at it. I don’t care if the material is produced in the US or China or wherever, when I need it, I need it or I might as well close up.

 

And to explain, we are very small and our niche would be quick turnaround. We don’t “manufacture” and I rarely know what we’ll be building even 2 weeks from now. It’s not like I can plan ahead for my material needs.

[BigRedBuster]

3 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

Yes, I’ve also seen it in some plastics we use and know it’s impacting numerous building materials.

 

Im not sure what the government can do but it sure looks like we’re headed towards a rapid cooling of the economy. I’m not convinced it is purely a result of extreme high demand. Many of these manufacturers brought much of this on themselves. They idled plants through Covid for no good reason. Demand was still there yet they severely cut back production. Some of that was due to the tariffs as the domestic guys wanted to reap the benefits of increased prices faster than would normally have occurred. TBH I don’t think demand has gone up near as much as supply has retracted. All I know is that somebody that understands it better than me better start looking at it. I don’t care if the material is produced in the US or China or wherever, when I need it, I need it or I might as well close up.

 

And to explain, we are very small and our niche would be quick turnaround. We don’t “manufacture” and I rarely know what we’ll be building even 2 weeks from now. It’s not like I can plan ahead for my material needs.

Which is why tariffs on raw materials is so destructive to the economy.  

[teachercd]

2 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

Yes, I’ve also seen it in some plastics we use and know it’s impacting numerous building materials.

 

Im not sure what the government can do but it sure looks like we’re headed towards a rapid cooling of the economy. I’m not convinced it is purely a result of extreme high demand. Many of these manufacturers brought much of this on themselves. They idled plants through Covid for no good reason. Demand was still there yet they severely cut back production. Some of that was due to the tariffs as the domestic guys wanted to reap the benefits of increased prices faster than would normally have occurred. TBH I don’t think demand has gone up near as much as supply has retracted. All I know is that somebody that understands it better than me better start looking at it. I don’t care if the material is produced in the US or China or wherever, when I need it, I need it or I might as well close up.

 

And to explain, we are very small and our niche would be quick turnaround. We don’t “manufacture” and I rarely know what we’ll be building even 2 weeks from now. It’s not like I can plan ahead for my material needs.

I still don't understand what you do...my entire life has basically been not understanding what other people do for a living.

[JJ Husker]

1 minute ago, teachercd said:

I still don't understand what you do...my entire life has basically been not understanding what other people do for a living.

Yes, yes it has 

[JJ Husker]

2 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Which is why tariffs on raw materials is so destructive to the economy.  

And that’s why I prefaced my original post with “I’m not sure this belongs here” in the Biden’s America topic. Much of this problem has to do with Trump policies. But, like or not, it’s Biden’s job to address it now. Not sure what he can even do at this point but I sure would feel better if they were thinking more about the economy and less about a lot of the other BS we hear about everyday.  Social issues don’t provide jobs or pay the bills.

[JJ Husker]

26 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Which is why tariffs on raw materials is so destructive to the economy.  

BTW, our use of plastics is extremely low but we do use some HDPE and UHMW materials. My suppliers have all indicated the reason for these plastic increases and shortages is “the snow storm in Texas”. JFC. One little storm in Texas that we wouldn’t have batted an eye at in Nebraska or Colorado has caused severe shortages and massive price increases that we haven’t recovered from a couple months later? What kind of house of cards is this?

[BigRedBuster]

40 minutes ago, JJ Husker said:

And that’s why I prefaced my original post with “I’m not sure this belongs here” in the Biden’s America topic. Much of this problem has to do with Trump policies. But, like or not, it’s Biden’s job to address it now. Not sure what he can even do at this point but I sure would feel better if they were thinking more about the economy and less about a lot of the other BS we hear about everyday.  Social issues don’t provide jobs or pay the bills.

In our industry (plastics), itwas one hell of a lot of demand.  But, then when the cold storm hit Texas a few months ago, it shut down the raw material manufacturers because of damage to the facilities.  Some took a couple months to get back to 100%.  So, now, not only is everyone backlogged with demand, the price is about twice as much as it was a year ago.  Strange thing is, it hasn't hurt demand one bit.  In fact, it's gotten worse.