Storm Aftermath
Sep. 15th, 2008 11:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eggwardsI spoke to my parents again tonight. Despite being 100 miles away from Galveston, they were without power. Their whole county is in the dark, and may be for several days. My Dad said that not only were many of the powerlines hit in the area, but the main powerplant was also damaged in the storm.
Ike hit the area pretty hard, knocking down trees and powerlines. Unlike parts of Houston that flooded, or the virtual rubbing away of homes that occurred on the upper Texas coast, Hurricane Ike quickly blew over where my parents live, but still did a number on the power grid.
My parent's home, in the city I spent many years in growing up, isn't all that rural. It's a city that's a northern bedroom community of Houston, but the power company is still run like it's the 1950's. Outages were prevalent. Conroe and the surrounding areas are the only areas of Texas that are not on the Texas electricity grid. It's actually an outfit that serves much of rural Louisiana as well, so they were already overpowered by Hurricane Gustav, now they have a whole new problem to tackle.
According to their website, the company has only 2% of it's cutomers restored in Texas. Estimates say it could be as long as three weeks.
My parents seem to be handling it well. Although in the dark the last couple of nights, they've gone out for supplies and gone to one of the Points of Delivery or "PODS" that FEMA has set up to get ice, bottled water and MRE's. They've also kicked in the camping stove and cooked on it. They've been able to get batteries, too.
I spoke to them about what I could see, as Direct TV broadcast a Houston television station all this weekend. I tried to explain images to them to images from the storm that many of us had seen, but they haven't. Radio has been the lifeline, but even then, few stations in Houston have one reporter, much less enough to be able to broadcast news and information 24 hours a day. Thanks Clear Channel. They are under curfew as well.
My mom, who's a chatterbox by nature, was happy to have someone to talk to. She started going on about Sarah Palin, asking me my opinion. I had to tell her, "We're having such a nice call and you want to ruin it by talking about her?" Mom seemed very excited about her, and I said I don't think it's a wise choice, and left it at that. I didn't want to comment on it any further.
Luckily, my parents had a trip planned this weekend and they will get away to be with my sister in Baltimore. They said they are having trouble finding clean clothes to pack since they can't wash anything. (My mom is a compulsive washer - she washes clothes every night.) They might just go and buy clothes there. I think it will be nice for them to get away. They may want to extend the stay if they can, and wait for the lights to be restored.
Luckily land line phone service seems to be just fine.
__________________________________________________________________
Otherwise, as I work for a financial firm, I took a lot of calls from people who are scared of a market collapse and that they will loose everything. It's hard to reassure people that your company is stable and secure and had very little holdings in the sup-prime mortgage business (less than 1%). Still, people don't always understand what actually is causing this meltdown, and how to see that some companies were not involved in it. (Thank goodness!)
One of our competitors took a nosedive this morning and we were having several people calling to see if we could take a transfer from them. The only problem is that it will take weeks for the transfer to happen, and I'm sure the competitor will do their darnedest to keep the money with them. We are all fighting for a small pool or retirement dollars that seems to be getting smaller all the time.
Still, even my company is feeling the financial strain and let 80 people go in the processing area that is on the floor below us. As much as I complain about my job, I still have to remember I still have a job. Now if I could get a few more sales!
As for the overall economy, I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. We still haven't resolved the fact that many investment firms leveraged assets so much, that there was no way to actually pay all the debt back. It's just like someone who maxes out their credit cards and suddenly finds themselves without a job. If you aren't taking in money, you can't keep payments up to just pay the minimum payments.
The thing I'm afraid of isn't the subprime mess, we're dealing with that now, although it's going to hurt. The problem is our government has also been taking on trillions in debt to pay for budgets and the war. what happens if we are trying so hard to prop up business, the government has difficulty paying it's debt service. That could really make things bad.
One disaster after another. That's our America!
Ike hit the area pretty hard, knocking down trees and powerlines. Unlike parts of Houston that flooded, or the virtual rubbing away of homes that occurred on the upper Texas coast, Hurricane Ike quickly blew over where my parents live, but still did a number on the power grid.
My parent's home, in the city I spent many years in growing up, isn't all that rural. It's a city that's a northern bedroom community of Houston, but the power company is still run like it's the 1950's. Outages were prevalent. Conroe and the surrounding areas are the only areas of Texas that are not on the Texas electricity grid. It's actually an outfit that serves much of rural Louisiana as well, so they were already overpowered by Hurricane Gustav, now they have a whole new problem to tackle.
According to their website, the company has only 2% of it's cutomers restored in Texas. Estimates say it could be as long as three weeks.
My parents seem to be handling it well. Although in the dark the last couple of nights, they've gone out for supplies and gone to one of the Points of Delivery or "PODS" that FEMA has set up to get ice, bottled water and MRE's. They've also kicked in the camping stove and cooked on it. They've been able to get batteries, too.
I spoke to them about what I could see, as Direct TV broadcast a Houston television station all this weekend. I tried to explain images to them to images from the storm that many of us had seen, but they haven't. Radio has been the lifeline, but even then, few stations in Houston have one reporter, much less enough to be able to broadcast news and information 24 hours a day. Thanks Clear Channel. They are under curfew as well.
My mom, who's a chatterbox by nature, was happy to have someone to talk to. She started going on about Sarah Palin, asking me my opinion. I had to tell her, "We're having such a nice call and you want to ruin it by talking about her?" Mom seemed very excited about her, and I said I don't think it's a wise choice, and left it at that. I didn't want to comment on it any further.
Luckily, my parents had a trip planned this weekend and they will get away to be with my sister in Baltimore. They said they are having trouble finding clean clothes to pack since they can't wash anything. (My mom is a compulsive washer - she washes clothes every night.) They might just go and buy clothes there. I think it will be nice for them to get away. They may want to extend the stay if they can, and wait for the lights to be restored.
Luckily land line phone service seems to be just fine.
__________________________________________________________________
Otherwise, as I work for a financial firm, I took a lot of calls from people who are scared of a market collapse and that they will loose everything. It's hard to reassure people that your company is stable and secure and had very little holdings in the sup-prime mortgage business (less than 1%). Still, people don't always understand what actually is causing this meltdown, and how to see that some companies were not involved in it. (Thank goodness!)
One of our competitors took a nosedive this morning and we were having several people calling to see if we could take a transfer from them. The only problem is that it will take weeks for the transfer to happen, and I'm sure the competitor will do their darnedest to keep the money with them. We are all fighting for a small pool or retirement dollars that seems to be getting smaller all the time.
Still, even my company is feeling the financial strain and let 80 people go in the processing area that is on the floor below us. As much as I complain about my job, I still have to remember I still have a job. Now if I could get a few more sales!
As for the overall economy, I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. We still haven't resolved the fact that many investment firms leveraged assets so much, that there was no way to actually pay all the debt back. It's just like someone who maxes out their credit cards and suddenly finds themselves without a job. If you aren't taking in money, you can't keep payments up to just pay the minimum payments.
The thing I'm afraid of isn't the subprime mess, we're dealing with that now, although it's going to hurt. The problem is our government has also been taking on trillions in debt to pay for budgets and the war. what happens if we are trying so hard to prop up business, the government has difficulty paying it's debt service. That could really make things bad.
One disaster after another. That's our America!
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-16 04:29 am (UTC)Your comment about the lack of local radio reporters was very interesting to me. I wonder if most people realize how important local broadcasting was (and is, in emergencies like this), and how it has virtually disappeared because of the laissez-faire policies of the FCC under the Republican regimes of the last few decades.
I sympathize with your having to deal with the volume of financial transactions and customer inquiries brought on by the current financial panic.
You are so absolutely on the mark about how much worse it is all goinbg to get before it gets better. I honestly don't know how such a large segment of the American public can be is such a state of total denial about the current deficits and just how ruinous the current policies are for America's long-term financial stability.
And still McSame is running close to Obama. I know that Barack Obama has no easy, painless, magic solutions, and if he is elected, he will inherit a heck of a mess. But at least he is acknowledging there IS a problem. The Republicans just keep saying everything is fundamentally okay, and I can't believe anyone is still drinking that Kool-Aid.
Anyway, I am very glad your parents are safe, and I just hope you don't end up having to work too much overtime or take too many extra calls before things begin to settle down again in the financial markets.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-18 02:10 pm (UTC)Obama's solutions are OK. Nothing ground-shaking nor awe inspiring, but they are certainly more people-focused rather than corporation focused. That seems to be the state of things here. The Republicans say that the corporations will save us if they would only be allowed to, and Democrats disagree - and then put too much emphasis on the role of government. It's a now win situation, but right now when de-regulation has gotten us to where we are, it's time for the pendulum to swing back the other way.
Thanks for you thoughts!
Status Report
Date: 2008-09-16 08:13 pm (UTC)I work for a credit union and we are getting in lots of new money and how to structure account to maximize the insurance coverage for our fully insured institution. We just made several million in the last quarter and we do lots of mortgages but don't accept anyone who has low credit soores or late payment and never had. No supprimes or interest only for us so even our mortgage business has increased about 300% in the last 6 months.
Re: Status Report
Date: 2008-09-18 01:32 pm (UTC)Chris said that his family was without power for a couple of days after the 89 quake, but they lived in South San Jose, far from the epicenter. My parents may be getting power today, since they were able to get the powerplant back online.
Yes, credit unions are looking good as a safe haven. I'm not surprised that you are seeing more money coming in. We to are taking advantage of our economic strength, and trying to draw money away from other institutions. The only loans we do are loan from people's retirement accounts. The company invests in real estate, but not mortgages. It's been a good week for asset growth leads.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-18 01:37 pm (UTC)I wish they would keep focusing on Galveston and the Texas coast for a while. They are going to need a lot of help.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-18 01:29 am (UTC)At least it isn't 110 degree weather right now.
As for your job. True. Being employed is a big thing right now. But don't assume that your company is safe for the very reason you see. All it takes is a few more hits on Wall Street and any and every financial company will drop. While you might not fall enough to damage the company, it'll change the mood real quick there. :( So hang in there!
no subject
Date: 2008-09-18 02:04 pm (UTC)Well, the job is there for now. The company was already making cutbacks before this week, and did just fire the processing team that was in the building with us, so there is certainly an awareness that things could change very suddenly. We have more people upset that their 401(k) balance is plummeting than we have people calling in to move money to us, so it's going to be a rough time through the end of the year. Yes, the company has strength, but how much they want to spend on customer service is most definitely a concern.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-18 08:38 pm (UTC)But let em do it if it makes them feel better. :P
*HUG*