They have admitted that 5% of this country is out of work, probably more like 10%. With the way gas prices are going up(never see $2.99 again), food, I almost expect another 5-10% to lose their jobs before the year is out. You honestly think our government is going to be able to handle that? Even my place of work is having a rough time. For the first 2 months of the year we've lost $80,000, the 13 properties in Feb. only made $40,000, and it's going to be really interesting to see what the numbers from March look like. They've also talked about laying people off, which is something thats NEVER happened there.
i work in a industry that needs consumers to have that extra cash to burn <winery>
i am worried for some folks and as a Man that is the primary bread winner i am worried for my family also. I am middle management but you never no these days!
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God doesn't give rights. Men have to fight for them.
Not many people have the money to spend anymore. I mean, my wife and I do fine. We have no kids, not much in the way of bills. But the rising price of food and gas still bothers us also. I can only imagine what it's like for people with an $800 a month house payment and 3 kids to feed.
I think there's more Americans unemployed than the goverment will admit.
I feel it should be near to 25 percent and no, I'm not kidding.
There also many Americans liveing off credit cards and when there used up then what ?
Yesterday in our local news paper there was a storey with pictures about the increaseing numbers of people lineing up at our food banks and churches asking for food.
Many were white people too.
The energy price's were paying has dipped deeply into the money most Americans use to buy grocerys and to live on.
The U.S Goverment has had 30 years to to develope and employ a new energy source for this country and hasn't ! And there's not going to be one for years to come and with companys leaveing the U.S for cheaper labor the future is very dark.
Unless common since is restored in our Federal Goverment it is very possible that we as American will live in almost 3rd. world conditions.
A.H
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Balkanization may not be that far off. At some point people are going to start taking matters into their own hands, and it's getting close. My town is not huge, and we've never really had much in the way of crime. But now, it's like every other day the story on the front page is a robbery/home invasion. People looking for money and drugs to sell. AH, I think 25% may be a little far off, I still say current unemployment is around 10-15%. However, with the way things are going I could see the 25% in the near future. People are going to have to do whatever it takes to feed themselves and their families. Towns with under 10,000 don't have more then probably 75, if that LEO's. There is only so much they can handle.
545 politicians control all of this and 300million American Citizens, "We the People", are letting them do it. Wake up people, we don't need professional politicians. Vote them out of office. I know that all of them are not up for reelection this term but think what an eye opener it would be to those left if all those up for reelection were voted out! Vote in replacements that will vote the way their constituents want and will vote two term limits to all elected offices. Those who don't vote their constituents wishes should be recalled or voted out their next term. We can take back our Government and make the politicians work for us in full support of our Constitution and Bill of Rights but we have to DO IT. Get out and vote.
__________________ America: Love it and protect it or leave it In God I Trust
I support Arizona
I watch whats going on every day with Wall St. and the economy and I have a real bad feeling about it.. A lot of these "experts" are still saying we are not in a recession! And then you have the Wall St. guys (that are so diss-connected from the rest of us), they are now just shrugging off bad news. The thing that got more worried recently is the fact that some big economists have been saying publicly what most of us here already know, and that is that the overall down turn of the economy is hurting a lot of people, and thats a major contributor as to why people can't pay their home loans.
I have also heard government people use the words "apocalypse" "dooms day" and phrases like "spiral out of control" if the Fed hadn't bailed out Bear Stearns.. and that nearly happened.
....and what these "experts" said would be a slow first then second quarter, now went to a
recovery in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 08'. But other another economists are now saying the economy won't turn around until 09' or 10'..
scary.
Last edited by Mad Hatter; 04-06-2008 at 01:56 PM.
Please let's not make this a partisan shouting match! We've got problems, and that's all there is to it. I've heard so many stupid comments already, I could throw up! We need to watch what's going on, and try to roll with it. There's nothing we can do as individuals to correct the mess, and yelling at each other won't do anything but cause hard feelings. I just hope there's a light at the end of the tunnel!!!
A.H. -- you may well be right about the jobs thing, and I think we ARE underestimating our true inflation rate; at least from what we're spending on food, basic needs, and energy.
Windwalker -- +1
This ISN'T unrecoverable, but we are putting our head in the sand. As a nation we need to quit squabbling about BS, and free up and build energy sources. We need to BUILD things. We need to realize taxation and regulation has a very significant cost. We need to stop jailing people for stupid things. We need to stop charging kids with crimes, and hold the parents responsible to discipline their kids. I think what we're seeing is that the fat to trim has been all gone for a while, and all those lawyer fees, the regulating fees/environmental impact fees (which seem to always come off the top), the "security" fees (i.e. those 40 TSA folks standing around and scolding us, which we don't need), the "homeland security" boondoggles (which cost $$$), the not drilling, the not building because of some stupid reguation, etc. are dragging our economy down. We've been, as a government and as a people, borrowing against this for a while, and the very real debt it there to deal with.
We can fix it though, before things fall through -- however, we need to ACT soon. The Fed's actions have largely been (correctly) blowing on coals and crisis management to prevent the dominoes from falling. There haven't been alot of options, and, given the situation, they've really done the only things they could do. It's not desirable and has been working at the expense of creating more debt, a falling dollar, and inflation. (look at it this way--would YOU lend more money to/bail out banks that have been irresponsible and squandered it on bad loans if you had a choice ?) What needs to happen is simple in concept but difficult in practice -- our productivity, efficiency, and use and exploitation of our natural resources owned or controlled by the U.S. (again, but building NOT regulating and taxing) needs to outrun our debt and falling dollar. IMHO, that's really the only thing that'll fix this and/or prevent economic collapse.
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God gives us free will; the statist tries to take it away
Your right, for now TX, we can recover. However the way things are looking, I don't know if we can handle another 6-12 months of this. You know whats going to happen to gas prices over the next few months. I think right now gas prices in my area are around $3.20-$3.30. My wife filled up the car today and it cost over $45.00. Now, luckily we trade off driving and really just drive one car, so even at these prices it's not to bad on us. But for MANY other families, I don't know. The trucking industry is taking a HUGE hit right now, and it's only going to get worse. Anyways, with gas prices going up, so will everything else. I was talking to my uncle today and he happened to mention that a can of tuna fish has gone up something like $.40 over the past year, TUNA FISH!!!!
TUNA FISH.....OH NO !!!!!! LOL.......My staple in Life
But, yes, you're right Pred. And the travel/high demand time for gas is in front of us for the year. Paid $3.57 (easy to remember)/ gal (car uses Prem) for a fill up today. It's just going up.
One thing we are fortunate with is we're blessed with an abundance of natural resources (if we only choose to use them), good hard workers, smart minds (if they're pointed in the right direction), clever problem solvers (if we teach a can-do attitude and not listen to the can't do folks), and a the potential for a good way to move stuff around (highways, waterways, railways, airways). This is what made America strong as an industrial power. We can be strong again.
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God gives us free will; the statist tries to take it away
Are we having fun yet? 
