Cheney on economic numbers: Don’t forget about eBay

Siji · Post by **Siji** » September 10, 2004, 4:47 pm

http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?sto ... 31,1034852

Indicators measure the nation’s unemployment rate, consumer spending and other economic milestones, but Vice President Dick Cheney says it misses the hundreds of thousands who make money selling on eBay.

“That’s a source that didn’t even exist 10 years ago,” Cheney told an audience in Cincinnati on Thursday. “Four hundred thousand people make some money trading on eBay.”

San Jose, Calif.-based eBay Inc. is an Internet auction site where anyone can sell just about anything, including clothing, cell phones, jewelry, memorabilia, trinkets and automobiles.

Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards responded that Cheney’s comments show how “out of touch” he and President Bush are with the economy.

“If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking,” Edwards said in a statement.

You have got to be kidding me. No, seriously. And these people are in charge of this country?

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » September 10, 2004, 4:49 pm

Siji wrote:http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?sto ... 31,1034852

Indicators measure the nation’s unemployment rate, consumer spending and other economic milestones, but Vice President Dick Cheney says it misses the hundreds of thousands who make money selling on eBay.

“That’s a source that didn’t even exist 10 years ago,” Cheney told an audience in Cincinnati on Thursday. “Four hundred thousand people make some money trading on eBay.”

San Jose, Calif.-based eBay Inc. is an Internet auction site where anyone can sell just about anything, including clothing, cell phones, jewelry, memorabilia, trinkets and automobiles.

Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards responded that Cheney’s comments show how “out of touch” he and President Bush are with the economy.

“If we only included bake sales and how much money kids make at lemonade stands, this economy would really be cooking,” Edwards said in a statement.
You have got to be kidding me. No, seriously. And these people are in charge of this country?

I know....heh, its really a big joke everywhere else in the world

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » September 10, 2004, 4:52 pm

You do realize that Ebay sales volumes are over $2,000,000,000 a year right?

Just as an aside, the typical Bass Pro Shops store does $10 mil a year in revenue. That would be equivilant to having 200 Bass Pro Shops open across the country. With each store staffing 185 employees, that comes out to 37,000 jobs. Laugh now dipshits.

Keverian FireCry · Post by **Keverian FireCry** » September 10, 2004, 5:01 pm

But ebay has NOTHING to do with how the Bush admin has handled the economy.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » September 10, 2004, 5:01 pm

You do realize that a large portion of eBay sellers aren't based in the US? And you do realize that the largest sellers on eBay are usually actual companies that use eBay as an additional sales channel - not as their primary one.

Not saying there are no people making a living from eBay sales, but I'd confidently say they are in the very extreme minority.

Xzion · Post by **Xzion** » September 10, 2004, 5:10 pm

I think Eudas used to make a living off selling eq items while 6-8-10 boxing or something crazy like that...george bush needs to take credit for everquest's economy!
This shows how desperate they are to lie about the progress of there failed economic policys

Siji · Post by **Siji** » September 10, 2004, 6:23 pm

I'm waiting for the "if you aren't making money on eBay you're encouraging terrorist attacks on the US!" speech from Cheney.

Chidoro · Post by **Chidoro** » September 10, 2004, 7:12 pm

Kilmoll the Sexy wrote:Just as an aside, the typical Bass Pro Shops store does $10 mil a year in revenue. That would be equivilant to having 200 Bass Pro Shops open across the country. With each store staffing 185 employees, that comes out to 37,000 jobs. Laugh now dipshits.

Siji pretty much pissed on your attempt at an argument.

So we do laugh, at you if you think this admin isn't trying anything to cover up the reality that they don't have a positive job growth since the days of the fucking depression.

Pretty good namesake... so long as people are stupid enough to buy the shit being sold them now

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » September 10, 2004, 7:38 pm

Yantis is going to get an invite to the White House for his economic revitilization efforts on behalf of his country.

Midnyte_Ragebringer · September 10, 2004, 7:39 pm

Dregor Thule wrote:Yantis is going to get an invite to the White House for his economic revitilization efforts on behalf of his country.

LMAO

Now that's comedy.

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » September 10, 2004, 7:45 pm

Kilmoll the Sexy wrote:You do realize that Ebay sales volumes are over $2,000,000,000 a year right?

Just as an aside, the typical Bass Pro Shops store does $10 mil a year in revenue. That would be equivilant to having 200 Bass Pro Shops open across the country. With each store staffing 185 employees, that comes out to 37,000 jobs. Laugh now dipshits.

37,000 jobs is about 6 days of population growth.

can i laugh now?

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » September 10, 2004, 8:14 pm

I've missed you this week Vor

Krurk · Post by **Krurk** » September 10, 2004, 8:21 pm

Also your numbers are not a great comparison.

I worked in a store that did 2.5 million in business last year (while others in the area did upwards of 5 million) and we had 4-6 employees over the course of a year.

A store doing 10 mil a year with a staff of 185 people is horribly inefficient. That breaks down to 54k a person. Factor in other costs of operating the business (inventory, facilities, utilities, advertising, tax) and that company has issues.

And going back to the person who mentioned that a lot of ebay businesses were overseas... I bought the parts to build a new PC over the summer from about 15 different sellers. Without exception, the sellers were either storefront businesses using ebay as a means of selling internationally, or the seller was located in Hong Kong. This is by no means a definitive argument against jobs provided by ebay, but I just think it needs to be kept in perspective.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 10, 2004, 8:25 pm

Krurk wrote:Also your numbers are not a great comparison.

I worked in a store that did 2.5 million in business last year (while others in the area did upwards of 5 million) and we had 4-6 employees over the course of a year.

What was your profit margin, overhead etc?

Raistin · Post by **Raistin** » September 10, 2004, 8:30 pm

You didnt know Krurk is Yantis? Gees you dont keep up with all the old drama.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » September 10, 2004, 10:45 pm

Winnow wrote:
Krurk wrote:Also your numbers are not a great comparison.

I worked in a store that did 2.5 million in business last year (while others in the area did upwards of 5 million) and we had 4-6 employees over the course of a year.

What was your profit margin, overhead etc?

Probably low but the other compuation of 54k a year per employee is way too fucking high, you'd be broke in no time even with minimum wage employees

Krurk · Post by **Krurk** » September 10, 2004, 11:37 pm

Yea Raistin, I am Yantis. I was the one who had the bitching party in Vegas with an open bar and strippers so that 19 year old acne infested EQ dorks could cop a feel on silicone titties.

Really though, didn't Alloria and Ooga get exposed for the operation they were running? It's not like it was a surprise or anything, outside of them flat out admitting in back when he posted how-to guides pre-rok on the guild board. Bet you won't believe that I did not know ebay even existed until Ooga posted about how he was making $100 for 10k in pp.

And we all know what a stable personality Furor is. By the way, I heard that those five year non-competitive contracts are a real bitch when you wanna work for Sigil because you don't like the direction WoW is going in terms of the high end game.

Get over it.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 11, 2004, 12:36 am

kick ass; fucking guild drama in current events.

Drasta · Post by **Drasta** » September 11, 2004, 12:38 am

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » September 11, 2004, 12:51 am

kyoukan wrote:kick ass; fucking guild drama in current events.

At least it's not the usual midnyte spews brainless drivel and we yell at him routine. A nice diversion!

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » September 11, 2004, 1:10 am

yeah this is what made this board great!!!

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » September 11, 2004, 4:42 am

Krurk wrote:And we all know what a stable personality Furor is. By the way, I heard that those five year non-competitive contracts are a real bitch when you wanna work for Sigil because you don't like the direction WoW is going in terms of the high end game.

Hehe, would be SO fun if thats true. Never liked the guy, and was actually shocked that someone would hire EQs #1 "act like a 5 year old because i r0xx0r" guy. Furor being hired to do quest work at Blizzard are actually one of the numerous things that keep me from going near WoW

.

Xyun · Post by **Xyun** » September 11, 2004, 6:50 am

you won't play a game because they hired an experienced mmorpg player to help work on quests for them and you call him a 5 year old? comedy.

Raistin · Post by **Raistin** » September 11, 2004, 8:08 am

no drama lol. I was just kidding when i said people thought Krurk was yantis and the rest is the same ol shit. when in fact 2,-4 other people were making $$$$$ non stop, and just blamed it all on him.

Hesten · Post by **Hesten** » September 11, 2004, 8:09 am

Try to read my post again Xyun, as you can see i say "one of the numerous things that keep me from going near WoW". That means that there are a load of things that keep me from playing it, Furor is just yet another factor.

Krurk · Post by **Krurk** » September 11, 2004, 12:39 pm

heh... It's all cool, I bow before Raistin's superior baiting skillz. Got me to bite on a sarcastic comment.

Lalanae · Post by **Lalanae** » September 11, 2004, 2:30 pm

Xyun wrote:you won't play a game because they hired an experienced mmorpg player to help work on quests for them and you call him a 5 year old? comedy.

newsflash: FoH isn't recruiting anymore, so you can stop being a Furor fanboi

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 11, 2004, 7:23 pm

Xyun wrote:you won't play a game because they hired an experienced mmorpg player to help work on quests for them and you call him a 5 year old? comedy.

you obviously haven't played WOW yet. it's fucking vomitous how many furor references there are in that game. apparently you can't even pay the cunt a salary to keep his enormous ego in check.

Dregor Thule · Post by **Dregor Thule** » September 11, 2004, 7:31 pm

Apparently he had all his original ideas years ago when he made his EQ characters. Either way, it doesn't matter one way or another to me that he works on the game, other than having to read his hack quest dialogues.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 11, 2004, 7:36 pm

it doesn't keep me from enjoying the game. it just doesn't make the game any better having to read his asinine horse shit or having NPC's named Kartak and Kalaran spamming the zone every 30 seconds and reminding me what an enormous twit he is. someone seriously needs to reign his tired shit in.

Hayley · Post by **Hayley** » September 11, 2004, 10:59 pm

I predict his ass canned in less than a year. Maybe Blizzard will figure out he's insulting beta testers on the board by posting as is ho, Melia.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 12, 2004, 12:14 am

Any links to WoW boards where Furor is flaming people yet? I'd like to jump in on that action and have some fun!

Toshira · Post by **Toshira** » September 12, 2004, 5:25 am

kyoukan wrote:it doesn't keep me from enjoying the game. it just doesn't make the game any better having to read his asinine horse shit or having NPC's named Kartak and Kalaran spamming the zone every 30 seconds and reminding me what an enormous twit he is. someone seriously needs to reign his tired shit in.

not to mention the ice cream...

I'm hoping that stuff gets taken out though before release.

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » September 21, 2004, 2:39 pm

New numbers I just happened to see.

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/0 ... aebay.html

About 430,000 people make their living today on eBay, selling everything from leather furniture to baseball cards, SUVs to food processors.

But I guess a half a million people is just 600 days of population growth.

Post by **Sylvus** » September 21, 2004, 3:40 pm

I believe that's half a million people worldwide that "make a living" on eBay. And they don't give any numbers as to what sort of a living that is, and they specifically a bunch of businesses that sell over eBay. I would be willing to bet that a significant portion of those people have brick and mortar operations and supplement their sales through eBay.

*~*stragi*~* · Post by ***~*stragi*~*** » September 21, 2004, 3:41 pm

Krurk wrote:Yea Raistin, I am Yantis. I was the one who had the bitching party in Vegas with an open bar and strippers so that 19 year old acne infested EQ dorks could cop a feel on silicone titties.

Really though, didn't Alloria and Ooga get exposed for the operation they were running? It's not like it was a surprise or anything, outside of them flat out admitting in back when he posted how-to guides pre-rok on the guild board. Bet you won't believe that I did not know ebay even existed until Ooga posted about how he was making $100 for 10k in pp.

And we all know what a stable personality Furor is. By the way, I heard that those five year non-competitive contracts are a real bitch when you wanna work for Sigil because you don't like the direction WoW is going in terms of the high end game.

Get over it.

Take you're own advise, sheesh. Same old tired acusations. Move on

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » September 21, 2004, 4:17 pm

i think we need a slightly more quantitative analysis of those "400,000 people making a living on ebay".

i mean are 50,000 of them unemployed selling their baseball cards from when they were kids?

i doubt that Wall St analysts look at this number as any sort of real indicator of the status of the economy. Its the same reason they tend to not look at the Household job totals as opposed to the traditional job numbers. Because somebody is self-employed doesn't mean they are making money. It might mean they are paying interest on a small business loan though. I'm not saying self-employed businesses and things started in people's garages aren't important things in our economy. I'm just saying that my understanding is the Street tends to look at the traditional job numbers when making their decisions that ultimately effect their job performance.

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » September 21, 2004, 4:34 pm

You are right Voro. The Democrats should set aside a few billion to set up a government entity to do a study and regulate it.

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » September 21, 2004, 6:51 pm

haha you're still finger pointing at democrats for overspending. that's hilarious.

Kilmoll the Sexy · Post by **Kilmoll the Sexy** » September 22, 2004, 9:18 am

Not for just overspending because both parties are HORRIBLE with spending. Dems just add more roles to the government when they spend rather than blow it on already created roles.

*~*stragi*~* · Post by ***~*stragi*~*** » September 22, 2004, 10:35 am

already created rolls = the bank rolls in the conservative pocket?

Sylvos · Post by **Sylvos** » September 22, 2004, 12:04 pm

Congratulations you managed to regress 3 years into guild drama. Bravo.
Apparently, "letting shit go" has no meaning in your happy little world. People generally forget that it takes two to tango and if they could see just how fucking psychotic they look to others when they start frothing at the mouth or attempting to write out a witty flame, you would be shocked.
Some of you people hate Furor, wow grats that's great. Do we really need to see your constant and blatant hate for him on boards he frequents maybe once in a blue moon? Way to go, you win at the internet. Most of the people who froth at the mouth about ebaying are those who took a great part in it.

Oh and to call out personally which I had prefered not to do. Furor does not have a "ho" and he does not flame through his said "ho" Melia. That would be Ravvenn who's opinions are her own and she is not a "ho" in any way shape or form. Nice try Hayley.

Now getting back to the game design, regardless of your INCREDIBLE and LIFE ALTERING hate for some people online who work for Blizzard. The game is going to be top notch, much like Vanguard will be and DnD online. Does it chafe your ass that all 3 of those games will have Fires of Heaven personel working on them? I'm sure it will, sandy vagina is apparently a terminal disease that a lot of you just can't seem to shake.
I really do not see the point in going all balls to walls about this crap, I think you would be pleased that someone who has played games for years and showed many of you the raiding/gaming aspects of online gaming is helping design games for you. Go figure.

And you can flame me back, but like...I don't care?

Kilmoll the Sexy · September 22, 2004, 12:39 pm

Did you just say DnD online?

Avestan · Post by **Avestan** » September 22, 2004, 12:42 pm

kyoukan wrote:haha you're still finger pointing at democrats for overspending. that's hilarious.

It is not that they democrats do not want to spend (they do), they just want to raise taxes so that they can spend more.

Sylvos · Post by **Sylvos** » September 22, 2004, 12:42 pm

yep, Dungeons & Dragons MMORPG is in the works, will use the Eberron World setting.

Kilmoll the Sexy · September 22, 2004, 12:45 pm

you will spill every detail you know or there will be repurcussions farmboy!

miir · Post by **miir** » September 22, 2004, 12:47 pm

Kilmoll the Sexy wrote:you will spill every detail you know or there will be repurcussions farmboy!

There's a decent little writeup about it in this months PC Lamer.
Tons of interviews floating around as well.

Rasspotari · Post by **Rasspotari** » September 22, 2004, 12:59 pm

Xzion wrote:I know....heh, its really a big joke everywhere else in the world

u.s.a. have been just that for quite a while you know, shouldn´t be news to you.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 22, 2004, 1:24 pm

Freaky!

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » September 22, 2004, 1:40 pm

The few instances I actually was in a raid or even hang around with Furor were good experiences from my book. As I wasn't in FoH just watching and listening I learned a great deal about raiding and leading raids. Maybe it's because I wasn't in FoH that I don't understand the loathing some people have for him but from my outside view he just seemed really intense on FoH being the first and best and everything... dosen't seem like a bad thing to me, especially since some of the members were actually able to profit from it IRL. I would love a chance to be checking out WoW, no matter who is designing it. Some of you guys that are actually getting that chance might consider those of us chomping at the bits before complaining

It's like a slap in the face... unless of course you want to help me/us get into the beta then I'll just deal with the handprint.

Now in regards to the actual thread... the Dems want to raise taxes for those who make over $250K per year... if you fall into that category you shouldn't be complaining about taxes. That money will be used to provide Education (actually fund the no child left behind stuff), Health Care, Social Security AND... the War or Terrorism so we can stop borrowing money from China.

Marb

VeeshanVault

Cheney on economic numbers: Don’t forget about eBay

Cheney on economic numbers: Don’t forget about eBay

Re: Cheney on economic numbers: Don’t forget about eBay

Re: Cheney on economic numbers: Don’t forget about eBay