New Tractor Sales Are Declining

[2manyrocks]

Some engineers seem to have a better grasp of economics than some so called economists. I suspect its because engineers actually understand what it takes to actually build something.

 

[jyoutz]

Can’t find applicants or just not filling vacancies. Government jobs like to advertise but sometimes have not provided funding for the actual position. Other times, they do not receive enough “qualified applicants” and will reannounce the position(s).

What you just described is the current hiring situation in all sectors: public and private. Friends tell me their engineering firms cannot fill positions with qualified people and have to advertise multiple times. The medical field and skilled trades are the same.

 

[jyoutz]

Corruption and criminality does not just exist in the political class, they have corrupted many segments of our society including science and education. When a politician or anyone claims "the science is settled" a red flag should be raised.

Science is never settled, but recommendations are based on the preponderance of the science, not the outliers.

 

[Sid Post]

I don’t know what classes you took in college, but most of mine were science and math; classes that don’t talk philosophy. I did have a few humanities classes that did wander to creative thinking, but these classes are minor in semester hours compared to core classes for a major.

All of the mandatory classes like English, Sociology, Physics, some Math, History, and, most of my Freshman and Sophmore years of Engineering.

My Junior and Senior years of engineering were mostly about fluffing the egos of Professors and their underlings kissing their asses daily.

Let's see, one professor gave us extra credit for Amateur Radio stuff for his hobby, another expected us to bow at his feet for apparently stringing wire for a simple Radio antenna in Vietnam. Then there was the one that wrote textbooks and required us to write in the answers on one page, tear it out, and hand it in for 50% of our grade for the class (that way we could not sell our books and next semester's class had to buy brand new ones). The whole system was pretty corrupt IMHO. In exchange, I got the ability to check the BSE box on the job application and move on with life. In retrospect, this was the Engineering college version of a "casting couch"!

My father never understood why I didn't donate money back to the school or attend any of the school reunions. I was successful in spite of them, not because of them. Many of my classmates who played their games for various favors largely ended up in the oil field with many of them driving various trucks ... not what I would expect from 4-year degree in engineering. I guess that's what you get with short-sighted ass-kissing and selling out for near-term gains. I also didn't graduate with a car or pickup with a dealer tag on the license plate either!

 

[jyoutz]

All of the mandatory classes like English, Sociology, Physics, some Math, History, and, most of my Freshman and Sophmore years of Engineering.

My Junior and Senior years of engineering were mostly about fluffing the egos of Professors and their underlings kissing their asses daily.

Let's see, one professor gave us extra credit for Amateur Radio stuff for his hobby, another expected us to bow at his feet for apparently stringing wire for a simple Radio antenna in Vietnam. Then there was the one that wrote textbooks and required us to write in the answers on one page, tear it out, and hand it in for 50% of our grade for the class (that way we could not sell our books and next semester's class had to buy brand new ones). The whole system was pretty corrupt IMHO. In exchange, I got the ability to check the BSE box on the job application and move on with life. In retrospect, this was the Engineering college version of a "casting couch"!

My father never understood why I didn't donate money back to the school or attend any of the school reunions. I was successful in spite of them, not because of them. Many of my classmates who played their games for various favors largely ended up in the oil field with many of them driving various trucks ... not what I would expect from 4-year degree in engineering. I guess that's what you get with short-sighted ass-kissing and selling out for near-term gains. I also didn't graduate with a car or pickup with a dealer tag on the license plate either!

Sounds like you had a different experience than me. All universities aren’t the same.

 

[Sid Post]

Science is never settled, but recommendations are based on the preponderance of the science, not the outliers.

Unless you look at the policies under COVID. Move along ... Nothing to see here ...

Oh, and the proclamation: "I am science!".

 

[2manyrocks]

Mark your calendars for what comes out of the next Fed meeting on March 21-22. Powell's previous statements for about the last 9 months all pointed towards continued rate hikes throughout 2023. The question is whether they will pause the hikes after SVB or continue hiking rates and what statements they make in support of how they go forward from here.

 

[TN8Man]

The government used to be a good job. Not today as most governmental positions are under funded and not that good to begin with.

Working for a federal government contractor in aerospace can be dam good pay while your working but like most other private companies now they phased out pensions for 401k's a few decades ago. The 401k is not a guaranteed paycheck for life and in many cases spouse gets the paycheck for life after your death.

 

[MinnesotaEric]

I look at the SVB bank failure and subsequent rescue by the G________ as a way of financing hereditary aristocracy.
I think the sign on the bank doors typically says

View attachment 789222

$250,000 is one thing. I didn’t know it was extended to multi million dollar companies?

Without that backstop thousands of different companies employees wouldn't get paid because those companies that banked at SVB would not be able to make payroll. Moreover, piles of those same companies would have gone bankrupt and all of this before we consider contagion to other banks. Monday, Bank of America is rumored to be taking over SVB's accounts and business.

 

[Sid Post]

Sounds like you had a different experience than me. All universities aren’t the same.

If I could have transferred and kept the college credits I had earned and paid for I would have. In the closed university system, transferring would have meant I basically started over and wasted the time and tuition previously spent.

In that perspective, it seems like a pretty corrupt system overall, to me at least. If you had a good system with good teachers, tuition, and school fees you would not need to keep it "closed" because students like myself would not have any reason to look for a transfer to somewhere else.

These days, I don't recommend my school to anyone. If like myself, you test in the top part of the nation on the ACT/SAT, you can go to any number of schools with good scholastic programs, not just the relatively local one so you don't outpace the high school favorites which I ended up doing anyway by going to the 4-year school instead of community college.