Why a lot are selling flutes and few are buying....

[Julia Delaney]

How could people let this pass? This thread isn’t about slackers and welfare chiselers, which this previous post smells like.

“… I refuse to believe that the sky is actually falling or even significantly cracked. My experience has been that people tend to do about as well or poorly as they decide to do. I've heard where people say, "there are no jobs here," but what I see and what I think that they should be saying is, "There are no jobs here that I'm willing to take." By this I mean that the job I left eleven years ago paid $6.50/hr, and while it wasn't a great wage, I made it work. I now make a gob more than that, but if push came to shove, I could do it again. Do I want to? Certainly not. But would I? Absolutely. Before I take unearned money from any man, I'll gladly dig ditches in the rain.”

I don’t want to turn this thread into the sort of debate that gets me banned periodically from C&F. But this is Social Darwinism of the worst sort. Does the poster really think that a family can survive when the wage-earner is being paid $6.50 an hour? I won’t belabor the point, but will point to this article on poverty in America, from which comes this extract:

The very foundations of the U.S. economy have rotted away and we now find ourselves on the verge of an economic collapse. Already, millions upon millions of Americans are slipping out of the middle class and into the devastating grip of poverty. Statistic after statistic proves that the middle class in the United States is shrinking month after month after month.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-shock ... z10odC7xwC

[Mr.Gumby]

How could people let this pass?

Well, the fluteforum has never been known for it's efficient handling of hot potatoes, has it?

[Gordon]

How could people let this pass? This thread isn’t about slackers and welfare chiselers, which this previous post smells like.

[/i]

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-shock ... z10odC7xwC

I let it pass because I missed it; I agree, Julia, with your outrage entirely. Some people are clueless, and mean about it.

[Steve Bliven]

I let it pass because any link to flutes was incredibly tenuous and because this is not a political or social Darwinism forum.

Best wishes.

Steve

[dow]

When I was a kid, my daddy told me, "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all." Apparently, I forgot that. I'm sorry that Julia, Gordon, et al. are upset by what I wrote a week and a half ago. Regardless, I think that they missed my point. The point of my last paragraph (prior to my falling off of the PC wagon) was:

...that not everyone is selling because of a "bad economy."

Dale, if what I posted above is beyond the bounds of what's considered good behavior, then by all means you've got my permission to remove it. However, I stand by my statements, and I think that a look at my post history here shows that I seldom if ever get involved in pi**ing matches with anyone on any subject. And what in the world does social darwinism have to do with anything? It was a cracked theory in the 19th century, and it's a cracked theory today. What I was getting at had nothing to do with social darwinism. What it was about was pride in one's ability to provide for oneself rather than take help unless absolutely necessary. In the last seven days there were over 1,000 new job postings in the San Antonio Express News, and those are just the ones in the paper. There is always work for those willing to do it.

Mandatory flute content: Casey makes an outstanding flute, and the folk flutes are a great and cost-effective way to get your hands on a wooden flute. Thanks, Casey, for making the flute that helped get me started. Had it not been for that flute, I may not have stuck with it.

If anybody needs me, I'll be off playing some tunes.

[Julia Delaney]

I don't want to prolong this and I do not want this to turn into a political debate. And I am not being mean. But the USA is in serious trouble. There is not a job for everybody who wants to work.

At 5.4, the number of unemployed workers per job opening is the lowest it has been since March of last year. However, it remains almost twice as high as the worst month of the recession of the early 2000s, when it peaked at 2.8.

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/j ... _per_avai/

Dear Moderators: I won't continue this discussion. I promise.

[crookedtune]

No, no, let's continue it. In the soon-to-be-resurrected PROCTology Forum, to be be fitted up with all the proper caveats and disclaimers!

Let that boy boogie-woogie! It's in him, and it's gotta come out!

[Doug_Tipple]

I think all that is needed for the Proctology Forum is a new name and everything will run smoothly.

[crookedtune]

I see it being a regular thing.

[Gordon]

I don't want to prolong this and I do not want this to turn into a political debate. And I am not being mean. But the USA is in serious trouble. There is not a job for everybody who wants to work.

Dear Moderators: I won't continue this discussion. I promise.

Julia - in case you misunderstood - I was calling Dow's attitude mean, and misinformed. And wrong. I agree with your sentiments entirely.

But I, too, won't continue this discussion. Won't on the other forum, either, as I get aggravated enough during the course of a day...

Best,
Gordon

[pancelticpiper]

Back to Casey's flutemaking, I myself am amazed that Casey is able to make flutes at that $375 price range. That's about what those horrid unplayable Pakistani flutes often sell for! Casey's flutes represent a tremendous value, I think.

I don't track flutes on Ebay but I do track Highland pipes daily, and the market is amazingly soft now.

I see top-notch instruments by the finest living craftsmen show up "used" on Ebay (but in like-new condition) for prices half, a third, a fourth what the same pipes would go for direct from the maker, for less than horrid Pakistani pipes.

I also see some of the finest pipes ever made, classic 100 year old instruments, go for very little almost daily. "Classic" pipes that would have sold for $5000 ten years ago are listed for $1500 today and the auction ends with no bids.

I wish I had the cash to invest in some of these bargains. When/if the economy turns around I could double, triple, quadruple my investment.

[Julia Delaney]

I am amazed that Doug Tipple can make a flute -- his new design -- that plays as well as it does, for about $100.
At twice the price it would be a reasonably priced, good playing flute. It has a solid low D and plays in acceptable tune with itself. It's a great bargain.

[Denny]

[m31]

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-shock ... z10odC7xwC

Are we talking about flutes?

I'm not doubting the article but rather I don't see any connection between that and eBay R&R prices, the number of for sale ads, or projected flute sales volumes of any flute maker. In fact I don't see how flutes are indicative of any macroeconomic trends. Sorry!

[benhall.1]

If flutes are indicative of macroeconomic trends, are piccolos ... ?

I'll get me coat