Current Economy affecting Baseball Travel?

As far as college, I think we'll see if there's been an impact soon -- if current non-conference 'road trip' plans have to be altered. All the northern teams that have traditonally ventured south in the spring......it does make me wonder.....but I think it's just too early into this economic situation to really tell.

Obviously the economic news has been bad lately. My brother is in his late 40's, has FIVE children, and has worked for many years in management and sales in the construction industry. In late summer his employer just pulled the plug, closed the doors with no notice, and he was suddenly out of a job. I guess he probably won't be traveling anywhere for baseball for a while!

But for the rest of us, if we still have our jobs, should we quit doing the normal things that were important to us before this downturn? If we all quit spending and start hoarding our cash "just in case", how does the economy recover? My husband and I have lost a lot of money in his retirement savings in the past few months. But we'll hang in there and wait for it to rebound. Why does the stock market continue to decline this week? Because people have panicked and pulled their cash out.

I probably sound naive in this post. My family is not exactly comfortable financially, but I guess in truth, money is not a big priority to us. We're not thrilled about the numbers we see in the retirement account, but it's not going to keep us from doing things that are important to us. I don't know if that's right or wrong, but just my opinion.

Julie

Here's the link to a related thread:

http://hsbaseballweb.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/7106002781/m/2541099103

NCAA is looking at the first step in changes:

NCAA Changes

I don't know what is going to happen, or how it will affect baseball. Son's school has a much more conservative travel schedule this year. More teams coming to them this year.

I will tell you that I am plenty PO'd about what is happening in Congress and how we got to where we are now. I am surprised that people are not rising up by the millions and protesting. When the other shoe drops, watch out.

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When Congress' other shoe drops...watch out indeed...it's huge!





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Congress...kinda' reminds me of a poem...



............HOG............


The hog comes
on little pork feet.

It spends, devouring
both suburbs and city,
on corpulent paunches
and then moves on.

Honestly, I've never seen a year like this. The high gas prices really affected my customer base--thank God for credit lines! My house in Vegas dropped 100k in value and I don't even want to look at my bank statements.

I'm developing back up plans for my back up plan.

Plan A: Downsize to a 1970's trailer and drop the Corona for Schlitz

Plan B: Borrow a local shopping cart and collect aluminum cans by the railroad tracks. Maybe I'll get lucky and get a foot stuck between the ties.

Plan C: Move to Alaska, hunt moose, get a Palin dividend check

The real question is how many college kids won't be heading back to school after Christmas because families can no longer afford college?

It is something that we as a family are talking about.

Woody, was that Haiku??

People with loads of $$$ will wHine and cry, but not be affected.

The Poor, Middys or UpperMiddys are the vulnarable ones.
Decisions have to be made. It is all a circle of life (financial life) we will all feel it now, in the near future, and beyond.

It will affect sports as we know it at all levels.
TV is TV, you can watch it and believe what you want, live in denial, or just live in the moment, nothing wrong with that (for those that can do it- more of us should, I guess).

It is all a house of cards, or (clown shoes
as the cards start to fall, be ready.

In a few months, many of us may care less about our son's baseball career, and be adjusting to EXISTING.

The Chicago Cubs were obviously affected by the economy. With the price of baseballs, they made sure they didn't hit too many over the fence, or even hit them fair, in case they'd get scuffed and have to be replaced.

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quote:

Originally posted by Bum:
Plan B: Borrow a local shopping cart and collect aluminum cans by the railroad tracks. Maybe I'll get lucky and get a foot stuck between the ties.

Hey, hey, hey! Hands off that Shasta© Root Beer can! I'm pickin' this side! Stick to your own side of the tracks like we agreed...ya' Bum!

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quote:

Originally posted by iheartbb:
Woody, was that Haiku??

No, but I'm flattered that you thought so...it's actually closer to sushi.

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Chicago Poems. 1916.

............Fog............

The Fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.


Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Chicago Poems. 1916.

With the price of sweet light crude dropping 40% since July and gasoline dropping $1.00 per gallon it will probably cost less to travel next summer. So if you haven't lost your job and you're travel team isn't sponsored by AIG or Lehman Brothers you're probabaly going to be OK.
Fungo

what many of our players are doing for the weekends, instead of arriving Friday nite for the weekends action they are driving in Saturday morning thus saving a nite in the hotel

i've lost everything before............but never this early in the day.

G A R A G E S A L E

Laugh now but I just paid for a good chunk of Xmas and people bought some "?nice?" stuff at a good price. The only place I didn't do as well as I thought was on the sales of some old guns that I just couldn't part with, and the $2 Bloody Mary's with every $10 purchase special. By 1:00 in the afternoon my driveway was a neighborhood tailgate party watching college football in lawn chairs. My wife and daughters drove by but went back to the mall because they couldn't find a place to park.

World markets are way down today. The NYSE is currently down about 200. I can't imagine how this free-fall won't affect travel ball, college baseball budgets, and our general economic well-being in the future. A financial expert who was interviewed today mentioned an air conditioning manufacturer in Arkansas whose company usually cranks out 2000 units per week. Currently, they're doing only 400 units per week and he's scrambling to not lay off people. I hope and pray that the jobs of all my HSBBW brothers and sisters are safe.

Below is an article in this morning's San Antonio Express News explaining how our country's economic woes are affecting colleges and universities:

Academia’s ivory tower not above fiscal storms

Melissa Ludwig - Express-News

Despite endowments and a steady stream of tuition, colleges and universities aren’t immune to the worldwide financial crisis.

Like other schools around the nation, San Antonio institutions are being hit with sliding endowment returns, higher borrowing costs and in a few cases frozen investment accounts caused by the meltdown of Wachovia Bank.

If the downturn lingers, it could mean smaller endowment payouts to feed scholarships and faculty support and a slowdown of building projects.

Local universities say they’re hopeful they can weather the economic storm. In other areas though, schools are more worried. Boston University last week called for a hiring freeze and moratorium on buildings projects.

“These are very unusual times,” said Craig McCoy, vice president for fiscal affairs at Trinity University. “Even a month ago, I never thought we would be having this conversation.”

Though McCoy won’t say how much, Trinity had money in Commonfund, a $9.3 billion fund that nearly 1,000 colleges across the nation used to park money short term.

After troubled Wachovia resigned as trustee last week, managers froze accounts to prevent a run on the fund.

Trinity has enough money to carry it through January, when spring tuition flows in, McCoy said. But many colleges used the fund like a checking account and the freeze left them scrambling to pay employees and contractors.

The University of the Incarnate Word had about $2 million in the fund, but it didn’t use the money for day-to-day operations, said Doug Endsley, vice president for fiscal affairs.

As of Wednesday, colleges could withdraw 40 percent of their balance, and will get the rest as the fund’s various investments mature.

On Wall Street, falling stocks have sapped endowment returns. The University of Texas System’s $23 billion endowment — including more than $180 million for a medical school and university in San Antonio — lost around 5 percent in July and August, and September was a “difficult month,” said Bruce Zimmerman, CEO of the University of Texas Investment Management Co., which manages the endowment.

UTIMCO’s investments are wide-ranging, but nothing is doing well right now, Zimmerman said. A smoothing formula ensures the fund’s 5 percent payouts don’t take a big hit, but if the returns keep dwindling payouts will eventually follow, Zimmerman said. Payouts are used for a variety of things, including scholarships and faculty support.

“It makes things difficult for everybody, whether it is the ability to pay tuition, or make donations to endowments,” Zimmerman said.

The crunch also is being felt in the bond markets, where universities borrow money for building projects. Interest rates have been swinging wildly over the past few weeks, prompting some universities to swap variable interest rates for a stable, fixed rate. University of the Incarnate Word, which has about $60 million in variable rate debt, is considering such a move, said Endsley, the vice president for fiscal affairs.

Luckily, UIW’s most recent projects — including a dormitory and a parking garage — are nearly finished and Endsley is in no mood to borrow more money.

“If we were trying to float bonds right now, we would find credit markets too chaotic to get it done,” Endsley said.

At public institutions such as the Alamo Community Colleges, officials are concerned a prolonged downturn will translate into state budget cuts for higher education.

“The good news from Texas’ perspective is that we tend to be affected later than other states,” said Bruce Leslie, ACC’s chancellor. “But as we go into this (Legislative) session after Hurricane Ike, there may not be the surplus that everyone assumed.”

Higher education leaders also are concerned about the economy’s effect on students, especially the low-income, first generation students served by San Antonio institutions. A recession may mean that Mom or Dad loses a job, forcing students to take out loans or get a second or third job, said Tessa Martinez Pollack, president of Our Lady of the Lake University.

“I don’t know how long they can sustain that pattern — physically or academically — particularly as they hear that there is no end in near sight to the national financial situation,” Pollack said.

No more bacon in the cornbread for a while,.....

I'm not sure what your congress has to do with this crisis. This is a world wide crisis. It is about lack of money available for credit which floats everybodies boat.
Blame the loose credit all over the world if you have to but this is a reduction of money supply all over the world. The investment banks got into trouble because of cheap credit not backed by real wealth. Simply the errosion of asset values has sent the world into turmoil.
I personally blame the oil industry for bringing the world to the brink of disaster. They have squeezed corporate north america to the point of bankruptcy.
The Canadian govt has recognized this and recently bougt up 55 B of bank loans to free up the money supply from the cash strapped banks. A great move. Now banks will continue to lend and keep things afloat. This is a great strategy but the banks now have to recognize that they have to be more prudent and done away with 40y morgages and require a min of 5% down on a house purchase. Even this is somewhat risky in that housing values are starting to fall although not as bad as in the US yet. Our banks are much more controlled by the govt than in the US.
Car companies have been producing gas guzzlers for years knowing that the fuel crises which I believe is caused by the oil companies, is only going to get worse. They were caught in asset valuation reduction as the public finally figured it out that they can't afford to drive these vehicles. Lease returns with high buyouts saw vehicles returned at valus that could not be recovered leading to huge losses. A vehicle returned to the leasing Co at 12,000 was now only worth 7-8,000. Over a period of time this inequity causes lenders who backed leasing to pull the plug on leasing because they now sit on an inventory of huge devalued vehicles that noone wants. GM and Chrysler no longer offer leases and leasing was 60-75% of their business. Now they offer long term low interest loans which shift the valueless problem to the consummer. Valuless in the sense that during the bulk of the loan period the loan is higher than the value of the vehicle on the open market.
An interest business developed out of the auto crisis regarding leases. Companies like Autovin moved in to do 3rd party inspections on lease returns. They redefined the term normal wear and tear and have developed a huge market for themselves promisisng to recover millions of dollars for the leasing companies and it will be paid for by the consumer. Ford and Mazda leasing use this company and most others do or will. It is a source of revenue that was normally over looked. I just had a run in back in May with my wifes Mazada when I returned it. They came after me and I told them to stick it and the new Mazad I was looking at.
In the end stopping spending is the worst thing we can do on a national and world level but it is probably the most prudent thing we can do on an individuall level.
Spend spend spend !

quote:

just got home from another road trip and am currently watching the news. We are preparing to fly to Fort Myers in the morning for the WWBA tournament. I was just thinking "Thank god for frequent flyer miles and hotel points".

Is the current economy and falling stock market scaring any one else but me?

Are the current economic conditions affecting baseball travel plans?

My family would have to consider long and hard any opportunities that involved extensive travel including flights, hotel stays and so on if it were not for a ton of frequent traveler programs that I am a member of.

Whew!! Thank goodness we have already been that route (well, we arrived at the same destination except we took another route.) I have never been to a WWBA, don't fly, and opt for a motel over a hotel if possible. So if I had it to do over again I guess it would impact me less.
Fungo

Last weekend my wife and I flew to New York to watch our daughter play volleyball at Columbia. Today we are driving 8 hours to Birmingham to watch our son play in an intrasquad baseball game. Next Friday we are flying to San Francisco to watch my daughter run in a marathon. I calculated the total cost for the trips to be $6,000 and more if you include our time away from work. Hotels in New York are a minimum of $300 per night. My wife and I are both attorneys, but at this pace, I won't be able to go on vacation this summer or duck hunt this year. Fortunately, our eldest just graduated from graduate school and has a job, so we have extra funds to travel like this, but its still hard. The current housing market in our area has not been affected by the national decline and I am not heavily vested in the stock market. Columbia has very generous grants and my son got a $10,000 academic scholarship, but college tuition, fees, and housing still costs a combined $34,000 per year. I am self employed and my practice is not market dependent.

We are blessed and fortunate, but my finances are still marginal and a major negative shift in any of the above would call for serious cuts. Those less fortunate have already hit the wall and are scrambling. There will be tough decisions to make...pulling a child out of college, selling the home, dropping club ball, eating at home, finding a job, kids working instead of going to college, etc.

The future in not bright. Nothing has trickled down but the blood of greed.

quote:

Last weekend my wife and I flew to New York to watch our daughter play volleyball at Columbia. Today we are driving 8 hours to Birmingham to watch our son play in an intrasquad baseball game. Next Friday we are flying to San Francisco to watch my daughter run in a marathon. I calculated the total cost for the trips to be $6,000 and more

quote:

but at this pace, I won't be able to go on vacation this summer or duck hunt this year.

quote:

... we have extra funds to travel like this, but its still hard. The current housing market in our area has not been affected by the national decline and I am not heavily vested in the stock market.

Hard?
What exactly is so hard????

quote:

a major negative shift in any of the above would call for serious cuts.

Serious cuts?
Like what?
No more Grey Poupon?

I have a hunch your idea of serious cuts and my idea, along with most middle class americans, of serious cuts, are gravely different.

With all due respect,
talking about not getting to take a second vacation this year,
probably stings many,( especially to those who are actually having to pull kids out of college and are losing their homes ), like a shot of tobasco in the ol' eye.


JMHO

Don't cancel them summer games yet! Gas today in our hometown --- $2.89.

I just got back from a few days in W. Va. Seems we had a local hero and I didn't even know about it 'til someone linked me up to his video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M35r1Q4c88I&feature=related

I was shocked today when I went to get gas so I could go home this weekend. I paid $2.99 a gallon. Last I saw, gas was something like $3.45 a gallon maybe..

Nice thing is I'll be able to get home, back to school, and then drive for awhile on the one tank of gas. I haven't bought gas since I went home last time.. Labor Day Weekend

quote:

I personally blame the oil industry for bringing the world to the brink of disaster. They have squeezed corporate north america to the point of bankruptcy.

If they, along with Lehman, AIG, etc, etc were regulated, then we may have been able to avoid a crash this large. Middle class gets stuck with the bill every time. we just handed over 85 bill of our cash to AIG, and topped it off with 700 bill to the rest of them.....enough is enough. It's time to start regulating these companies. Didn't Exxon just report a record earnings in 1Q this yr?

Pat I agree with everything you said. We had problems related to the sub prime loans as well. Some of the promotion was fraudulent in my opinion. I also think the people with the big salaries should not be bailed out. One banker who had only been with the bank was there for 3 months and got 72 M buyout. That is pure idiocy. Many of them are lucky not to get prosecuted.

The Canadian dollar just dropped againt y 3 cents. A US buck now costs 1.19. Thank God for scholarships.

We are in the middle of football season right now so we are not traveling much. We are spending over a $1,000.00 a month on gas now, just traveling back and forth to work and school. I have no idea what we will do in the summer. We have cut back on extras (which were not many to begin with). I don't believe this Louisiana and Louisiana Lightning have much in common(LOL), but good for them.

I was thrilled to pay $3.59 for gas yesterday! Down from the summer high of $4.39.

Those of us in the housing industry have been in a deep recession/depression for a couple of years. It's just taken this long for it to catch up with the rest of the country.

Our boys have "come home" to go to college, and worse, are living at home. For as difficult of an adjustment it was to have the two of them away, it is an equal and opposite adjustment to have them back--actually, it is worse for all of us that they are back. Competitive baseball is out of the question for one due to injuries, and for the other, it will most likely be out because he has to work. If student loans are affected, then college in general will be out for both of them. Even with "good" scholarships, we can't afford the remainder.

I hope nobody here is involved with AIG.

We have two younger daughters, one is a high school 2011 and the other is in 8th grade. I am very concerned about them......and am sorry we committed to travel softball.....at this point....... They play relatively local tournaments but still........... We've had to farm them out with other families to the out-of-town tournaments.....we don't get to see them play.

Playbaseball~
Thanks for sharing your reality. Millions of folks in our country are going through changes in lifestyle due to our economic break down.

My husband and I had to make sacrifices our whole marriage. Even to have our kids. We did the best we could with them in sports, but we knew we would not be able to set aside some monies for their education if we participated in travel ball and showcasing. So we did not. We played Legion ball and once a season we went to a tournament that was 2 hours away, great competition. Folks could choose to stay the night or commute. No, we did not go to Florida, Georgia, or even SoCal to play baseball.
We did however, put the money we would have spent on those things aside for education. It was a personal decision, but one I think some of the pre-high schoolers on this site should, or will have to consider - or hopefully some have already begun to rethink their priorities. I would not be disappointed if this current economic climate forced people to stay local and and play ball, the way it used to be. I know I am in the minority on that thought, and my boys are past that stage, but for the sake of others that feel they are maybe being forced into traveling a lot because "everyone" is doing it and if you don't do it, you will never get noticed. My younger son has been receiving a lot of winter camp invites over the last month or so. One of the camps was two days and the cost (without travel or hotel) was $795.00 absolutely unbelievable.

I am not saying that if a family has plenty of discretionary income they shouldn't do what they want with it.

Only that some of us feel the pressure to spend money on travel, or be left behind.

Older son is playing baseball on a nice scholarship at a D-1 program two hours from home. He got his notice playing on a free scout team.

My husband does not realize how lucky he is, our children are both grown and employed with benefits. No college to worry about. Just the two of us, but we have cut back also, so we don't have to dig into whatever retirement we may have. We know that we should be spending to keep the economy going, yet not sure where it is going at this point. I feel for all of you that have the recruiting process in front of you and children to send to college and to feed and take care of at home.

We kind of did the same as the above, instead of all that travel stuff, we saved for college and only did what we felt was necessary. Son did his part (stayed healthy and good grades) and got a great scholarship to school, so the money we saved was really a savings, though we spent lots on travel.

For those more fortunate, go out and spend, that's the only way this economy will keep going and DON"T pull out on your 401k.

You're right TPM, maybe those guys from AIG, Lehman Bros., etc. that cut themselves those huge bonuses will start spending those millions.

Oh yeah, maybe the corupt and unregulated side of the lending institutions that pulled in gazillions on unsuspecting individuals that received those great loans that have forced them to walk away from their dreams of owning a home, maybe those people will get out and spend

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quote:

Originally posted by shortstopmom:
No more bacon in the cornbread for a while,.....

No wienies in the beans either...


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Not so fast on the excision of the weenies from the beanies. Our commissary often has $1.00 packages of 8 mystery meat hotdogs (and if you find a chicken 'talon', just use it as a toothpick). Some things are worth fighting for.

I've been looking around the house for things to sell. I have a large collection of martial arts books and journals and a folding woodframe kayak. Those will be the first things to go. Interested? PM me.

Last spring, to fight high gas prices, I bought a used one of these:

and it has helped save some $$. Any solo trip on to base, and I take the scooter instead of the minivan.

I guess my biggest concern is that I'm probably going to have to scrap plans to fly home in the spring to watch my FY son and his team play ball. Bummer.

quote:

Originally posted by iheartbb:
You're right TPM, maybe those guys from AIG, Lehman Bros., etc. that cut themselves those huge bonuses will start spending those millions.

Oh yeah, maybe the corupt and unregulated side of the lending institutions that pulled in gazillions on unsuspecting individuals that received those great loans that have forced them to walk away from their dreams of owning a home, maybe those people will get out and spend

I'd rather they earn PENNIES for doing actual WORK and spend it at the little general store in jail.

Yep, they should all be 'shawshanked' if you know what I mean.

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This 'shawshank' that you speak of Krak...does it involve a chicken talon?


............Changkuan Pig’s Trotter............





The complete series of food of Changkuan Pig’s Trotter, made with unique secret recipe, have applied for the national patent and the registered trademark successfully.

Main varieties of products consist of the followings smoked food including pig’s trotter, pig’s tripe, gammon, beef, rabbit, chicken, chicken wing, chicken talon and chicken neck while raw material is chosen carefully and food is processed in a meticulous way.

The product has gained the reputation for a special food in Yandong characterized by distinctive flavor integrating salty and tasty, crisp and tender taste enough to separate bones, soft and tough style for the meal and rich fragrance.

It has become a good food for both young and old by recollecting the pleasant flavor aftertastes. The seasonings used for the series of product come from more than 20 rare Chinese herbs grown in the deep forest of Mount Changbai which afford potency as strengthening spleen and harmonizing stomach, nourishing vitality and enriching blood and increasing kidney essence.

In addition, they take effect on skin toning as well. As a word, Changkuan Pig’s Trotter is rare and delicious dishes suitable for traveling, the present for friends and meal.



Now that was downright tasty Krak...would you mind passing me a toothpick?





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Who wants pigs' feet when you can go to a food stall at Namdaemun and get half a steamed pig's face for a few bucks?

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Which half Krak?

What does this pig look like?

Porky Pig or Ned Beatty?

Not sure I would want even half of either of their face staring up at me from a plate...steamed or not.





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