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Thread: Price of gas

  1. #121
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pinnacle-Project View Post
    Ed, what state are you in? According to the Bureau of Labor, as of December 2015, New Mexico had the highest unemployment rate at 6.7%. Of course each state will have varying rates by county.
    I'm in Oklahoma. I'm not sure what our unemployment rate is right now but I know lots of people that have recently lost their jobs in the oil and gas industry. I still think it will get worse too.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CeeBee View Post
    Unemployment rate is a lie used for political capital gain....

    It's the only method that they can establish an empirical number.

    Perhaps some of those people that you listed in that 27% have started their own business, or won the lottery. There's certainly a lot of people whose benefits have run out but are still looking for work., But it's much harder to count those people.

    I know it's popular to slam the government for "lying" about the true number of unemployed. But any other method doesn't produce an actual number, just an estimate.
    When you're left out of the club, you know it. When you're in the club, you don't see what the problem is.

    I am Green-Eyed.

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    Senior Member Pinnacle-Project's Avatar
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    Yes, what GreenEyed said. My number was used for simplicity. Further, I acknowledged there will always be variations within a given state.

    Now, getting back to Edball. His explanation makes complete sense. The oil/gas industry has really been hurt by these low prices. New development is very hard to justify at these prices and even existing operations may not be able to cover their own costs so lots of people in this industry are being hurt. Thankfully, the country on the whole is doing much better. There was an article in the Grand Rapids Press last night which said in part there are more job openings right now than people looking for jobs. Of course, I am still busy though (I work for Goodwill) because no matter what the state of the economy, there are always people with difficult barriers to employment which makes it tough for them to find jobs even in the best of times. In my program, we take people with significant disabilities, teach them the A+ certification, and then once they are certified, they start to work in our partner's call center answering help desk calls for the government.

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    Senior Member CeeBee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by northbayteky View Post
    But any other method doesn't produce an actual number, just an estimate.
    An estimate is certainly better than a blatant lie.
    It is easy to track everyone, DMV has all the names. And they know how many people are working. Those who run a business still make an income that is being reported. Only doing so would cause massive panic and would look bad for the politicians.
    The problem with that "empirical" number is that if no job is opened and no person laid off it will decrease to 0 within 1 year (give or take depending on state and length of benefits) although there is no change in (un)employment.
    Last edited by CeeBee; 02-16-2016 at 08:55 PM.

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    Hey Pinnacle, how are things supposed to be in the lower part of the state(STurgis/3 Rivers/White Pigeon, etc, etc)? Inlaws were laid off by Chevron and Shell and have moved up there. They had bought a retirement house a couple years ago and decided to move in early.

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    Back up to 1.69
    "But I got it because I'm an iSheep who needs to have all my stuff have an Apple logo on it."

  7. #127
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    Devon is beginning layoffs today. Chesapeake has already laid off hundreds. These are the two main oil/gas companies in OKC. Sandridge in Tulsa has been on the brink of collapse for months. Sandridge is so desperate that they ignored orders to cease salt water injection in wells that were causing major earthquakes and only stopped after they were threatened with a lawsuit. This is just the beginning of an avalanche that will pick up steam as more secondary businesses begin closing their doors. Oil states are used to this roller coaster ride though and we will survive. But there is a real human cost to low gas prices in oil states. Hopefully we will keep building windmills and lead the charge into the development of alternate energy sources. Unfortunately these energy sources also suffer when oil is too low because they can't compete. Ironic that big oil and alternative energy both need higher prices to survive. But it is almost worth it if we could take Saudi, Russia, and Iran with us.....

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    We've mostly laid off middle management so far. I overheard some of the execs talking about how we can't lay off anymore. Feels that way, we are all working the jobs of 2-3 people.

    I do know that as long as I survive this, I will be poised to make some good money. Been promoted twice in the last year, and still hold both titles. Either one will bring in a lot more money, once there is money to be had. My company is great, but they better come back with something going towards my wallet.


    In grad school I kept saying that I don't want to go into Energy because of stuff like this. As soon as I got hired on by energy, stuff like this happened. Stupid stuff like this.

  9. #129
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    Our local community is feeling it. We are right in the marcellus shale and for a while there it looked like a big economic boom for our area. However since foreign oil / gas prices have dropped production and new well starts have slowed. People are getting laid off left and right. It sucks. It doesn't really affect me because I'm not in energy and my job is secure, but we do have land leased as part of a unit that is supposed to be drilled in the next couple of years and were hoping for some royalty money to help build our house....that's not looking all that promising right now

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    Quote Originally Posted by CeeBee View Post
    An estimate is certainly better than a blatant lie.
    ...
    An estimate and a blatant lie are about equal.

    Quote Originally Posted by CeeBee View Post
    ..
    It is easy to track everyone, DMV has all the names. And they know how many people are working. Those who run a business still make an income that is being reported. ....
    Seriously? You think the DMV can do more than create lines of people waiting for testing and registration? And no, the DMV has no clue who is working and who is not.

    If it makes you feel better to rail against those nasty politicians, by all means, keep it up. They don't care and it makes you feel good. I just don't see bogey men behind every corner and don't think the way they choose to calculate unemployment rates is done purposely to exclude people who have a hard time finding work (I was one once) and I don't think it's purely out of malice.
    When you're left out of the club, you know it. When you're in the club, you don't see what the problem is.

    I am Green-Eyed.

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