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This Recession Sucks
First of all, after being in it for more than a year, I still don't know what to call it. Is it a recession, a depression, a correction, a downturn? It's the P. Diddy of financial disasters.
Second, it has no pizzazz. In the Great Depression they lived in Hoovervilles. Today everyone's on Facebook. Back then, they had Ledbelly and Woody Guthrie. We have the Jonas Brothers.
They had nothing to fear but fear itself. We have terrorism, global warming...and the Jonas Brothers.
Businesses are failing, jobs are being decimated, homes are being repossessed, and the culture is exactly the same. We are still gearing up for the new season of American Idol. We really cared who won a Golden Globe. This is like if the Titanic had hit the iceberg and everyone decided to stay on board and party to the bottom of the ocean.
Thankfully, we finally have someone in authority who is willing to tell us the hard truths, to inspire us and give us a plan: Suze Orman.
On a financial seminar called Oprah, she stresses the importance of getting out of debt, maintaining an eight-month emergency fund and not buying anything unless you can afford it. She also estimates the recession will not be over until 2015.
That's six American Idols from now.
As for the much-touted bailout, on CNN I heard someone say that not only had the first half of the $700 billion been spent, but that "no one knows where it went." I guess Congress is now discussing how best to lose the other half.
I can't wait for Obama to be sworn in, so he can stop talking like a president-elect and start talking like a president. Presidents-elect are essentially still running for the office they just won, using the same phrases and concepts that got them elected.
Obama's cabinet looks like the Clinton administration part two, but I'd like to see Obama model himself as a cross between FDR and yes, Suze Orman.
If he can't solve our financial mess, at the very least he can inspire a better culture. New York City's 1970's economic woes led directly to punk rock and hip hop. It would be a real shame if the Worst Economic Disaster Since the Great Depression gave us nothing more lasting than Superstars of Dance.
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Your are not yet seeing the true impact of this Financial World clusterf_ _ k because everyone is still awash in new stuff. Give it another year or two. The number I saw yesterday stated a combined world debt of 763 trillion dollars. That may take awhile to "work through the system".
Can you save up for eight-months if you're unemployed?
If not, would the Bank of Oprah (or Suze) give me an eight-month loan?
Also, Nostradomus and others predict end of days in 2012, so no worries ;-)
Right on man. I really enjoyed your humorous approach.
Instead of throwing money off the roof of the White House as a solution to our economic problems and hoping a few bills hit the mark our nation needs to identify and correct known failures of the past eight years.
One thing that does not get enough press in my opinion is better government control of credit and loans. All of these creditors are connected to banks that are insured by the FDIC. The federal government not only has a right but a duty to demand and enforce high standards in credit eligibility. The mortgage meltdown was caused by irresponsible lending. A dual income family where the combined family income is less than 50K per year after taxes should not be eligible for a 400K plus house especially if they already had a large existing debt and yet that is exactly the type of irresponsible lending that occurred on a MASSIVE scale.
We need some strict laws on credit eligibility and income/debt verification.
Also, how can anyone justify the $4 gallon gas prices we had? That is simply indefensible. There never was any legitimate reason for that other than corporate greed and America needs to use its purchasing power to prevent further acts of economic sabotage like that gas price fiasco from occurring again. We need leadership and legislation that PREVENTS gouging and PUNISHES the perpetrators who are nothing short of GD criminals.
Yeah but think of all the carbon we're not creating.
I agree--Suze Orman is a no-nonsense good advice type of gal.
Ooh...but you lost me in the beginning because the Jonas Brothers are so awesome. Everything else stinks, though. Agree.
Yes housing will continue to fall however your property taxes will go up if you dont get it yet we are all economic slaves! Wake up quit banking use prepaid cards in your personal life lets put the greedy out of business! This is more than a correction this is the great equalizer seeing as how it has and will affect the middle class and the wealthy the poor will weather it.Poor folks dont have 401ks Ha and we didnt lose anything on the stock market Ha! Welcome to our world how does it feel to have your wallet stolen then to be sent a bill for the crime! Wake up if you want your country back fight for it befor we all go over the cliff! Theres so much injustice in this country it reminds me off Rome and like Rome will soon fall if we dont take it back wake up wake up!
ok listen up.
about 12 months from now, china and japan will not only stop financing this country but will dump their dollars.
the dollar will lose half its value.
home prices will fall to les s than half of what they are now.
massive inflation and 40% unemployment will turn this country into something never seen before and it will not recover to anything close to what it is today.
no one will tell you this truth.
and there is no way to prepare for it.
You can and I will. Short the dollar, (UDN), buy gold (GLD) and sell the heck out of Treasuries (TBT). OOps, those who are in debt have no money. Sorry.
Only will we then see the savings and inevstment needed to remake the nation. At least the kids of today will get a hard fought education NOT to be like their parents.
I have prepared by stockpiling wine. ;-)
Well, some of us were warning of this prior to the collapse of the Clinton bubble of corporate and accounting and venture capitalists greed and fraud, back in the late 90's. And it would have gone almost this far then, except "we" created another bubble to bail us out - buy time, if you will. Federal Reserve Policy, that massive HUD regulation of Clinton/Cuomo of late 2000 that forced Fannie/Freddie to put up $trillions of sub-prime mortgages for low income minorities -- no one had business buying into an already full priced real-estate market in 2000-2001, anyway, the tax cuts (yes they help) -- but it all combined to create another dangerous bubble. Once again, this one crashed as before.
Sorry, but I've not heard anything from the press, Obama, nor the Democrats or Republicans about really having a discussion about what caused (how we all caused) this crisis - and what can and cannot be done about it.
Six more years of this!!!!!!!!!! No, NO NO NOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooo.................Okay, I'm all better now. Seriously, Suze is probably correct, but people have an amazing ability to adjust their minds and emotions to each new level of hell. We will adapt--painful though it may be. It has been a long time coming, so I suspect it will be a long time leaving. Things were just out-of-hand in every aspect of our society. We need a good housecleaning, and we need(that finger points at me and mine) to learn to quit wasting our time, money, food, electricity, water, etc. If you believe in God as I do, you gotta also believe He is not well-pleased with us.
People who had emergency funds, well they are gone. The ones who didn't are hanging on by a thread. Since gas has gone down when are things at the grocery store going to go down. ? With gas cheaper then freight has gone down. I was paying .99 cents for a 7lb bag of cat litter . Now I pay $2.99 for it. When I told my cats that they would have to go outside for a crap. Well lets just say it didn't go over very well. Will food and supplies ever come down ?. I live out in the country and about a year ago my idiot neighbors moved a left their chickens. Well guess who is feeding them ? I can't just let them starve and it started out being about 14 chickens and has grown to about 30. I can't give them away because they are scared of people. I can just walk outside and they just scatter. So if their is anyone in the peidmont of N.C. has any traps and wants some free chickens let me know. I live on a fixed income and it gets harder and harder to get to the next month. Something has to give.
You better keep the fouls yoy may need them for food bad times are comming.
I'm going to try and find this article I read a couple of months ago about chicken farming in the city (even though you said you live in the country). There are a lot of people who are putting chicken coops in their backyards... mostly for the eggs... but also to eat. There were a couple of organizations that were mentioned in the article. Maybe they could help you find buyers for your chickens (although you may want to keep a few for yourselves). Also... this could help you w/ your fixed income as you could breed the chickens and them sell them to the city farmers.
BRB
Here's the link to the article I read. It was in Newsweek. The links to the organizations (websites) regarding chicken farming can be found on page 2. Hope this helps !!!!
http://www.newsweek.com/id/168740
What would we call the "Hoovervilles" of today? "Bushparks?"
It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job. It's a depression when you lose yours.
A more accurate definition of recession - millions of sad stories that all happen at the same time.
There's a simple rule of thumb - if GNP goes into negative growth, it's a recession. If the negative growth is greater than 10%, then it's a depression.
Indonesia's GNP was at -14% in 1998, so they had a depression. The US's GNP is predicted to be -6% this quarter, so it's "just" a recession. But a bad one.
Ummm.. I beg to differ with you...
Which recession can you name in that Large Corporations like American Express let go of 15,000 employess in one fell swoop?
I think it's a depression and that's exactly why Obama is doing what he is doing..if not, it would be far worse...and it's not over yet.
What we need are some really nice old-timey Depression songs to put us into the right spirit of want and deprivation. There were great songs in that period and they're still fun to sing in the shower. Try this one:
"Once I built a railroad
I made it run
Made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad
Now it's done
Brother, can you spare a dime?"
That's my favorite, and you got to sing it in that strange whiny accent they used in the '30s. I also love "Puttin' on the Ritz," especially the popular '80s version. You're right, John, the Jonas Brothers can't define this era. I rather listen to "The Archies" sing "Sugar, Sugar."
More questions:
- How do you get out of debt if you have low, little or no disposable income?
- How do you build up a rainy day fund if it's been stormy weather for years?
- How is the advice to "not buy anything you can't afford" help us? Obviously if you have nothing, and you're credit's maxed, you aren't able to buy anything.
Even more questions:
- WHY ARE INDIVIDUALS BEING VILIFIED AND SPOKEN DOWN TO WHILE BILLIONS ARE BEING GIVEN AWAY TO THE MOST NEGLIGENT - YET SUPPOSEDLY EXPERT - FINANCIAL "GENIUSES"???
- WHY ARE CORPORATIONS LIVING ON THE EDGE ('MONTH TO MONTH') AND ARE UNABLE TO MANAGE THROUGH A DOWNTURN? WHERE IS THEIR 8-MONTH EMERGENCY FUND???
- AND FINALLY, WHY ARE THE OWNERS, CEOs AND THEIR CRONIES STILL RECEIVING EXORBITANT SALARIES, BONUSES, GOLDEN PARACHUTES, EXPENSE ACCOUNTS AND PERKS LIKE FLYING AROUND IN JETS, STAYING IN 4-STAR HOTELS AND EATING AT EXPENSIVE RESTAURANTS?????
Let's get our money back from the government - divide up this stimulus package per household already. The money is worth more to whomever first receives it, and serious devastation will continue as individuals become HOMELESS, STARVED AND SICK with zero recourse. Top-down is BS! Begin helping the individual US citizens NOW!!!!!!!!!!
Well, you sure can't argue your logic. You right. It's very odd more people are not pissed off that we are being taxed to provide incompetents their bonus's
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