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I cant beleive yall talking about times are not that bad and the media is overexagerating dont know about yall but middle class and lower income families are doing real bad financially for instance I graduated in 2004, took some college coarses went to a trade school became a certified medical assistant and cant find a job if my life depended on it and to top it off my student loan payments are coming up so dont tell me the media is overexageratting unless u really know whats going on
I am on pension, so I have not been looking for any jobs.
Our son has been working at a local grocery store collecting contracts as a vendor stocker. However he just got a better offer at a refinery, so I am absorbing his stocker contracts.
I really was not looking for a job.
We have spoken with neighbors who are out of work. Offering them each this job.
Sometimes you need to flip burgers, until the right job lands in your lap.
No, it's not as bad as they say it is....yet. But it will be soon, and it'll be much worse than what you're hearing about.
Just think about it; the majority of Americans are living off of credit. They have no money in savings, and are in debt up to their eyeballs. They spend more than they make, and even if they stop overspending now, they still have tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt, etc...
On top of that, they have no money (or a far inadequate amount) saved for retirement. Pensions and other "guaranteed retirement income" are a thing of the past. It's now entirely up to the individual to save for their own retirement, and the majority of people are not.
Finally, it's not just our citizens who are living off borrowed money...it's our government too. The national debt is going up faster than ever before, while the value of the dollar is going lower than ever before. All this is going to lead to massive inflation and a recession like we've never seen before.
In short, our entire economy is a house of cards, and there's simply no way it can keep going like it is. The market will have to correct itself at some point. When that point comes, our credit based economy will crumble, and when it does, watch out!
My prediction is that within the next couple years, several major banks will go bankrupt, the dollar will become crap, inflation will skyrocket, and we will officially end the "era of easy credit" in the United States. We'll be in a recession for a while, but eventually the economy will correct itself again, and it'll all be OK again.
But going forward, credit will be like it was in 1980. Only the wealthy will be able to get a credit card or a mortgage. Or rather I should say, only people who have a proven record of financial responsibility and a reasonable debt-to-income ratio. Interest rates will probably be sky high too, at least until the economy gets back on track.
Excellent post.
I also agree with another poster's comment about the news being so US-centric. As a Brit living in the US I get increasingly frustrated by the poor quality of economic news coverage. No depth, no wider perspective, no clarity. Just skimming the surface.
We also have the looming Alt-A crisis, the printing presses running overtime and the resultant devaluation of the dollar, artificially low interest rates that are going to skyrocket, cost of imports rising, value of large assets (ie: houses) set to plummet, cost of staples set to rise..................it's going to be a VERY rocky ride for the forseeable future.
It really depnds on where you live and work. in some areas looking at teh unemployemnt it is bad and in others not so bad. It could get alot worse nationwaqide like the 70's recession tho.All iot wopuld ahve taken is for lenders to do a better job and/or epole to not have taken thsoe stuipd loans in the first pqalce. Greed in both insatcnes. We need to regulate both it seems.
It is like the guy who fell off the skyscraper and as he passed the 14th floor someone asked him how's it going, and he said "OK so far". The worst of what is going to happen has not come to pass yet. We are looking at a National, State, and Local, Debt Load that will drive taxes to levels none of us at this point can conceive of. Add to that the personal debt statistics and the fact that the government and the banks think the answer to this fiasco is to stimulate more borrowing, and you realize no one even understands what the problem is, much less has any idea how to deal with it. One post pointed out how people are still going out and things look to be about normal, just remember during Hurricane Katrina many residents of New Orleans were having "Hurricane Parties" and refused to believe the situation was serious. There is always a price for not recognizing reality. Reality does not care if you believe in it or not.
What we are looking at is the next bubble inflating..the debt bubble. This one will be ugly when it pops and make all those other bubbles look like a walk in the park.
What we are looking at is the next bubble inflating..the debt bubble. This one will be ugly when it pops and make all those other bubbles look like a walk in the park.
Not to mention that the Alt-A and Option morgages have not yet to burst. This accounts for a huge amount of coming forclosures. These were morgages that they gave out to anyone who could breath too. It doesn't matter how much "help" is offered and renegotiation. The fact is that its unlikely that the income of most of the defaulters (which will be a high percentage of those with this type of morgage) can pay a renegotiated amount either. I attended a seminar on this popular kind of loan. For a house that could be found at that time you could manage the interest only amount at 600 to 800 dollars a month. And they played fast and loose with documentation just like with the sub prime type. It was obvious at the time to me and my friends who attended that a great catastrophy was coming in a few years.
And credit... this is a huge time bomb. A relative of mine did a very intelligent thing a few years ago. They had ten credit cards and decided to add up the cost, discovering they owed 50k on them. They were able to refinance their house at a good rate with a standard morgage and pay it off. Each has one credit card now. Its used for emergencies and paid off the next month. Otherwise they would be in dire straights about now.
Whats sad is that we did this to ourselves. We forgot that patience and financial caution is a good thing, and something thats too good to be true usually is.
If you think things are bad now give it a couple of years. I don't get much a month, but except for a cushion the rest left over at the end of the month goes for food. When prices go sky high and shortages happen I have taken precautions. Maybe supporting the economy by making a really good larder if a good way to "buy" as we are told we should do.
Lets see.....My 401K is worth about 40% less now than a year ago. My real estate is going down 1% per Month. My pension plan is in jeopardy. My annuity plan is down about 20%. I have put off buying anything that is not a necessity. I'm going to go out on a limb and say yes the ecomomy is really doing bad.
I cant beleive yall talking about times are not that bad and the media is overexagerating dont know about yall but middle class and lower income families are doing real bad financially for instance I graduated in 2004, took some college coarses went to a trade school became a certified medical assistant and cant find a job if my life depended on it and to top it off my student loan payments are coming up so dont tell me the media is overexageratting unless u really know whats going on
Health care hiring is in a bit of paralysis until details of Obama's health care reform are made public. Also, his $634 billion dollar downpayment on healthcare is partly financed by cuts in reimbusement to health care facilities and agencies, so they are afraid to hire people until they see how drastic the cuts will be.
All I know is my Lowe's Credit Card account had a credit limit of $3600 until I lost my wallet in Wal-Mart and requested a replacement card be sent. They sent me the card but failed to notify me that my credit limit was reduced to $500! When I complained, I was told by the operator that "We can not discuss this until you receive the letter notification that the limit was reduced,..we will have another sent letter mailed out to you today. After you receive it,... feel free to give us a call back."
It's been 3 months and still have not received a letter from Lowe's credit (but that bill comes every month and has always been paid in full), some say that's the reason they lowered my credit line, because they were not making any money from interest... Sears did pretty much the same thing to my wife. They CLOSED her entire credit card account simply because we never used the card, (only once to buy some sand paper that was clearanced from $4.95 to $0.42 per pack. I would never buy from Sears cause price too high, only reason Sears still in business is kickback from Credit Card Dept. Me in lowest class of society, known as the "Wal-Mart everything come from China Class" if you know what I mean.
Bascially; much of what we are seeing is the result of the economy changing for decades and people just living beyond their income.The blme goes from congressto wall sterrt to main street.Wehave got to stop thnikign that anyone is protecting our interest and satrt doing the math ourself. To do otherwise is just deying our won greed.
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