Aww,
I can definitely see that in terms of our sales data. The north and north
western parts of Europe are definitely big markets for us.
I'm aware of the issues in Greece, and to some extent Spain as well as the
ex-communist countries economic woes in the East.
I guess I didn't realize it was that bad. Maybe it's equivalent to Detroit or
New Orleans in the United States (significant poverty & unemployment with
much of the cities simply being abandoned, the local governments
collapsed/collapsing/or near collapse, and I'm pretty confident a few cities
have actually collapsed). The US doesn't really have much of a support system
for those unemployed or living on minimal income. Comparatively it might be
worse for those in the US. What exists often disappears after a certain
amount of time. They just expect you to 'get a job' despite no jobs being
available and when you lose that economic support you disappear from the
numbers (as if you have a job now).
Where I am in the US it's been semi-insulated from the economic hardships
much of America and Europe face. It's got a fairly well rounded local
economy, well educated populace, job opportunities, good public schools, etc.
It's one of the top 10 (maybe top 4 depending on when you look) wealthiest
parts of the country. This isn't really to say that everybody is rich. The
reason it's high in the ranking is down to the area being a purely middle to
upper middle class area. It would be very difficult financially to live here
without a car, employment, etc. If you are living here already chances are
you will be able to find a job, have a good support structure already
(non-government, ie married, family, etc, kids, etc), have savings, etc. What
happens during the economic slows here is more along the lines of people
living a lessened life-style. People don't install new pools, patios,
kitchens, spend as much on vacations, etc. Maybe you have to hold off a bit
longer to buy that house you want (few years).
I've not been a lavish spender personally although I can certainly see it in
the people around me. Most of what I've been spending money on has been
property (makes more sense than paying someone else's mortgage) and
re-investing in ThinkPenguin (I'm trying to avoid surrendering any kind of
control of the company; I have concerns over where the company might end up
if I did so...).
