Winners & Losers from Recession

talla10 · 16-09-2012 12:36PM #1

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/revealed-the-winners-and-losers-in-the-wages-stakes-3229743.html

From yesterdays Irish Independent i didn't see a thread on this already but i think its interesting reading. Some professions down some serious money and more pain to come for everyone.

Zascar · 16-09-2012 12:55PM

Anyone who is in the same job and has not taken a pay cut is a serious winner - a lot of things are cheaper and the amount of deals etc to be had is fantastic now.

GerM · 16-09-2012 01:13PM

Zascar wrote: »

Anyone who is in the same job and has not taken a pay cut is a serious winner - a lot of things are cheaper and the amount of deals etc to be had is fantastic now.

It's a serious minority but the recession has actually been fantastic for some people. For those that came into the recession with no financial commitments and managed to keep their jobs, it has made life much more affordable.

Grumpypants · 16-09-2012 01:18PM

Zascar wrote: »

Anyone who is in the same job and has not taken a pay cut is a serious winner - a lot of things are cheaper and the amount of deals etc to be had is fantastic now.

Lots of things are cheaper except food, petrol, oil, electricity, gas, home & car & health insurance, medicine and clothing.

But you can get an hours paint balling for a tenner so its swings and roundabouts.

Gary The Gamer · 16-09-2012 01:19PM

GerM wrote: »

It's a serious minority but the recession has actually been fantastic for some people. For those that came into the recession with no financial commitments and managed to keep their jobs, it has made life much more affordable.

I don't believe that.

The past 4 years have seen prices increase, inflation is running at 2% this year. Somebody in the same job, earning the same money will have seen a drop in net income due to changes in bands and newer levies. So the overall picture is of higher prices reduced income. This is going to get a lot worse in the coming years.

Jellicoe · 16-09-2012 01:20PM

Grumpypants wrote: »

Lots of things are cheaper except food, petrol, oil, electricity, gas, home & car & health insurance, medicine and clothing.

But you can get an hours paint balling for a tenner so its swings and roundabouts.

lol +1, great

risteard7 · 16-09-2012 01:22PM

Grumpypants wrote: »

Zascar wrote: »

Anyone who is in the same job and has not taken a pay cut is a serious winner - a lot of things are cheaper and the amount of deals etc to be had is fantastic now.

Lots of things are cheaper except food, petrol, oil, electricity, gas, home & car & health insurance, medicine and clothing.

But you can get an hours paint balling for a tenner so its swings and roundabouts.

I agree with everything bar food and clothing. I think they have become cheaper

ejmaztec · 16-09-2012 01:22PM

Grumpypants wrote: »

Lots of things are cheaper except food, petrol, oil, electricity, gas, home & car & health insurance, medicine and clothing.

But you can get an hours paint balling for a tenner so its swings and roundabouts.

A big downside is that if you want anybody to do any proper building work, you have to pay for the tradesmen's return ticket from Australia.

RossyG · 16-09-2012 01:28PM

Recessions create low expectation. Most people will accept pay freezes, redundancies, price increases without much fuss and governments will introduce a load of laws to stifle trade unions and make firing people easier in order to "kick start the economy".

Winners - the rich

Losers - the poor

68Murph68 · 16-09-2012 01:33PM

Losers - Union officials - had sfa to do prior to the recession, picking up money for jam. Now they are busy trying to justify the free money they got in the Celtic tiger days and everyone hates them.

up for anything · 16-09-2012 01:36PM

68Murph68 wrote: »

Losers - Union officials - had sfa to do prior to the recession, picking up money for jam. Now they are busy trying to justice the free money they got in the Celtic tiger days and everyone hates them.

Too true. €600 per annum Union dues got my ex exactly nothing!

Sir Pompous Righteousness · 16-09-2012 01:41PM

Someone with a lot of money who decided to go on a property buying spree after house prices dropped dramatically. That individual was a winner. The best time to buy is when the markets are down not when they're high in the sky.

Haelium · 16-09-2012 01:43PM

A recession is always good for a person who has lots of money and knows how to invest. The very people who destroyed the country have great opportunities because of it.

3ndahalfof6 · 16-09-2012 01:47PM

The winners were the losers as everything stopped.

Gary The Gamer · 16-09-2012 01:47PM

Sir Pompous Righteousness wrote: »

Someone with a lot of money who decided to go on a property buying spree after house prices dropped dramatically. That individual was a winner. The best time to buy is when the markets are down not when they're high in the sky.

Property fell by 16-20% last year and continue to fall. I don't think there are any property investors who have made a killing post crash. Its still very hard to find any value in Irish property.

sock puppet · 16-09-2012 01:49PM

RossyG wrote: »

governments will introduce a load of laws to stifle trade unions and make firing people easier in order to "kick start the economy".

These laws must be awfully complex if governments have spent the last 4 years drafting them.

talla10 · 16-09-2012 01:50PM

Gary The Gamer wrote: »

I don't believe that.

The past 4 years have seen prices increase, inflation is running at 2% this year. Somebody in the same job, earning the same money will have seen a drop in net income due to changes in bands and newer levies. So the overall picture is of higher prices reduced income. This is going to get a lot worse in the coming years.

According to the article some professions have had wage increases since the recession began

msg11 · 16-09-2012 01:55PM

up for anything wrote: »

Too true. €600 per annum Union dues got my ex exactly nothing!

So the Union failed to get the two of yous'e back together

68Murph68 · 16-09-2012 01:59PM

Sir Pompous Righteousness wrote: »

Someone with a lot of money who decided to go on a property buying spree after house prices dropped dramatically. That individual was a winner. The best time to buy is when the markets are down not when they're high in the sky.

On this - know a couple of older folks with family all grown up who sold close to the top of the market and traded to small house who made a killing. They keep fairly quite about it though - coming back from their third trip to Portugal this year is a bit of a give-away though.

I'd imagine that there were quite a lot of four and five bed family homes sold for insane prices where older couples moved into small places and freed up some serious cash especially in some of the suburbs around Dublin.

Also winners - a lot of farmers who sold farmland to real estate developers for insane prices. They are able to buy it back for a fraction of the money they received before.

I have heard of one smart property guy who sold out of all property before the crash is sitting pretty on a mountain of cash.

Worth remembering - in any of the cases where someone overpaid for something someone had to end up with that cash. While some of these people possibly got caught in the boom as well, there has to be someone at the end of the chain who ending up benefiting.

You can be damm sure that any of these winners are keeping things damm quiet though. These are the individuals who would be too smart to fall for the conspicuous consumption nonsense that drove the tiger.

68Murph68 · 16-09-2012 02:02PM

up for anything wrote: »

Too true. €600 per annum Union dues got my ex exactly nothing!

With the labour laws in Ireland I don't know why anyone would pay union dues.

Complete waste of money in my eyes.

Personally I don't know anyone who has got any benefit from being a member of a union.

poeticseraphim · 16-09-2012 02:40PM

68Murph68 wrote: »

On this - know a couple of older folks with family all grown up who sold close to the top of the market and traded to small house who made a killing. They keep fairly quite about it though - coming back from their third trip to Portugal this year is a bit of a give-away though.

I'd imagine that there were quite a lot of four and five bed family homes sold for insane prices where older couples moved into small places and freed up some serious cash especially in some of the suburbs around Dublin.

Also winners - a lot of farmers who sold farmland to real estate developers for insane prices. They are able to buy it back for a fraction of the money they received before.

I have heard of one smart property guy who sold out of all property before the crash is sitting pretty on a mountain of cash.

Worth remembering - in any of the cases where someone overpaid for something someone had to end up with that cash. While some of these people possibly got caught in the boom as well, there has to be someone at the end of the chain who ending up benefiting.

You can be damm sure that any of these winners are keeping things damm quiet though. These are the individuals who would be too smart to fall for the conspicuous consumption nonsense that drove the tiger.

It pays to be clever...

Jellicoe · 16-09-2012 02:43PM

Unsecured billionaire bondholders are the real winners, getting their risky private investments guaranteed by a cronie governments and then paid for by the ordinary Irish worker, while they're ordinary wages and standard of living falls.

Jellicoe · 16-09-2012 02:45PM

68Murph68 wrote: »

Personally I don't know anyone who has got any benefit from being a member of a union.

All it's good for is to make it harder for better connected union members to shaft you

GerM · 16-09-2012 09:29PM

Gary The Gamer wrote: »

I don't believe that.

The past 4 years have seen prices increase, inflation is running at 2% this year. Somebody in the same job, earning the same money will have seen a drop in net income due to changes in bands and newer levies. So the overall picture is of higher prices reduced income. This is going to get a lot worse in the coming years.

My rent dropped dramatically and the apartment is about €250 lower a month than a similar property would have been 5 years ago. There are deals to be had in a variety of areas. Eating out is dirt cheap compared to where it was. Clothing is cheaper. Cars are cheaper. Yes, utilities and fuel are higher but overall they're balanced and some by other reductions. There are people who are were lucky enough not to get stuck with a mortgage during the boom that are now able to afford a mortgage and get a house without moving miles away. People were spending plenty of money during the boom but the money wasn't theirs quite often. There's a higher percentage of income being saved now than ever before.

Gary The Gamer · 17-09-2012 08:05PM

GerM wrote: »

My rent dropped dramatically and the apartment is about €250 lower a month than a similar property would have been 5 years ago. There are deals to be had in a variety of areas. Eating out is dirt cheap compared to where it was. Clothing is cheaper. Cars are cheaper. Yes, utilities and fuel are higher but overall they're balanced and some by other reductions. There are people who are were lucky enough not to get stuck with a mortgage during the boom that are now able to afford a mortgage and get a house without moving miles away. People were spending plenty of money during the boom but the money wasn't theirs quite often. There's a higher percentage of income being saved now than ever before.

If only there was a statistical measure we could use that would take a basket of common goods and services and compare the price changes over time.

plumbball · 17-09-2012 08:21PM

I know a few winners most and they are engineers. They have the same income as before the recession but have more spending power due to the deflation.

I also have a family member in the market for a house. He is still holding off, he reckons they will come down a further 30% next year. I hate to say so, but I think he is right. He rented when everyone else couldn't wait to get on the property ladder. He is a clear winner.

Brain Stroking · 17-09-2012 08:27PM

I got a pay rise today

Fromthetrees · 17-09-2012 08:28PM

Energy prices have gone crazy but everything else feels cheaper.
You can eat and drink in or out for very modest sums.
I saw a house a few weeks ago on daft that I was renting before the crash and it's 450 per month less today, even by the time we had moved out a few years ago we were paying 250 less per month.
You can go look for a deal on anything now, over half price vacuum cleaners, 150 off tvs, PS3s for 200 odd, 70% off shirts and jeans, savage stuff out there if you look.
If you have a job and no debt things are grand.

plumbball · 17-09-2012 08:43PM

Fromthetrees wrote: »

Energy prices have gone crazy but everything else feels cheaper.
You can eat and drink in or out for very modest sums.
I saw a house a few weeks ago on daft that I was renting before the crash and it's 450 per month less today, even by the time we had moved out a few years ago we were paying 250 less per month.
You can go look for a deal on anything now, over half price vacuum cleaners, 150 off tvs, PS3s for 200 odd, 70% off shirts and jeans, savage stuff out there if you look.
If you have a job and no debt things are grand.

I notice that to, when I was buying my new tele up in Airside I went into the 3 electrical shops and told them the previous are giving it to me for 100 less, I eventually got 350 of the asking price. I also got 70 quid of my headphones in Peats a while ago, (Seinheister).

Also I got a brilliant bargain on my car. It the boom times they would have told you to F-off.

Zebra3 · 17-09-2012 08:48PM

Zascar wrote: »

Anyone who is in the same job and has not taken a pay cut is a serious winner - a lot of things are cheaper and the amount of deals etc to be had is fantastic now.

Except they pay higher taxes now.

Lawrence1895 · 17-09-2012 08:51PM

Winners: The Blueshirts, Labour, Bankers and Bondholders
Losers: The rest of the country

Winners & Losers from Recession

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