Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Iran, Oil, and Citibank
I wanted to make another quick comment on some items today. I saw an article on the web that has the Iranian President saying that the economic woes in the West (world wide really) is the beginning of the end for Capitalism. I can understand his point of view, but he is completely wrong. He obviously doesn't understand the history of economic trends and that these worldwide recessions and depressions have happened before. Unfortunately this one is made worse than the last several recessions because the regulations that were put into place in the US during the 'Great Depression' have been slowly eroded over the last 30 years.
I am glad that some of that may be reversed only because it means we may finally get some sanity back in this country as a whole.
Where does Citibank fit in all of this? Well they announced yesterday that they were performing much better than expect in the first quarter of this year, and the market went up. January sales numbers for Wal-Mart were better than anyone expected. Is the economy suddenly better off than it was 4 months ago, NO. It is just a sign that the economy 'maybe' at the bottom, not that it is turning around. We could be at this level for sometime before things improve.
Why do I feel we may be at the bottom? Aside from the two items mention above, I have seen an increase in the last month in the number of jobs available in my field. Tax accounting isn't something a company rushes out to hire in a down economy because we are seen as a double hit on the bottom line. An increase in Tax Accounting jobs available with corporations is a good sign that companies may be starting to feel better about their financial situation. Actually 2 of the jobs that I have seen are new positions with companies that haven't had internal tax accounting personnel in the past.
(Hopefully one of them will come through in the near future.)
Please keep your fingers crossed, or my wife and I may soon be amoung the growning numbers of homeless people.
I am glad that some of that may be reversed only because it means we may finally get some sanity back in this country as a whole.
Where does Citibank fit in all of this? Well they announced yesterday that they were performing much better than expect in the first quarter of this year, and the market went up. January sales numbers for Wal-Mart were better than anyone expected. Is the economy suddenly better off than it was 4 months ago, NO. It is just a sign that the economy 'maybe' at the bottom, not that it is turning around. We could be at this level for sometime before things improve.
Why do I feel we may be at the bottom? Aside from the two items mention above, I have seen an increase in the last month in the number of jobs available in my field. Tax accounting isn't something a company rushes out to hire in a down economy because we are seen as a double hit on the bottom line. An increase in Tax Accounting jobs available with corporations is a good sign that companies may be starting to feel better about their financial situation. Actually 2 of the jobs that I have seen are new positions with companies that haven't had internal tax accounting personnel in the past.
(Hopefully one of them will come through in the near future.)
Please keep your fingers crossed, or my wife and I may soon be amoung the growning numbers of homeless people.
// posted by Little Wolf @ Wednesday, March 11, 2009 
