How do you feel?

[shilala]

6% unemployment doesn't sound bad until it's stated as the 2 million people it represents. Add .9 kids to each of those that suffer under the unemployment and a few spouses and it's affecting an incredible number of people directly.

We live in a backwood hick $8.00 an hour economy here.
Gas prices rising to $4.00 a gallon absolutely devastated household incomes. The recent drop has made all the difference in the world. There are twice as many cars buzzing around, stores are full, and there's a line at the ice cream stand again.
It may be hard to imagine something that that's simple, but that's what it's like here.
Most families here take home about $1600 a month.
They drive old junk cars because that's what they can afford. Putting gas in those cars at the rate of 40 bucks a week for two cars is $320. That's 20% of their income.
When gas prices doubled, it immediately took another 20%.
Imagine what would happen if 20% of your income disappeared tomorrow?
That's what happened to roughly 40% of the families in my county. Another 30% lost 10% of their income.
It ain't right.

[Scottw]

I feel pretty good as I am in a career that does good in good times and unbelievably great in bad times. Business is up 35% and we have some large institutional deals coming in. I have been a Sr. Manager there for 5 years and things look good. I agree with someone in the past post as he said he feels bad for the older people. I am 32 and know I have time. I minimized my risk in the stock market and still have over $100K equity in my home. I flipped my parents 401 (k) money out of internationals and index funds and into bonds right before the 778 point drop in the Dow 2 months ago. My dad said his old fund dropped 22 % the next week and the one I put him in did + 4% so I guess he dodged a bullet. Hey could you imagine if gas was still at $4.25 per gallon?

[M1903A1]

I am nervous about the current situation...but when I think back on what my parents went through growing up in the Great Depression, and what my friend the watchmaker went through (being a slum kid in the Depression, dropping out of school to feed his family, and then going through five years of hell in the southwest Pacific), I realize that things could be one helluva lot worse.

I work in an industry that depends on consumers. I have been in retail for over 20 years. Consumer confidence or lack of is a nasty cycle. The more scared people get the less they spend, the less the spend the less that gets recycled into the economy. I have seen some tough retail years, this is turning out the be the worst. Even the big boxes are feeling the squeeze. There will be some names in retail we are all familiar with disappear after the holidays. Maybe the market is correcting itself, I think it is over correcting itself.
As a country we must cut back, but not shut down. I work for a very large discount retailer, that gives back 5% of its revenues to the communities we do business in, with revenues down 4% we give 4% less back, we have less labor, which means less jobs available. It will come back... when is the question!

[SeanGAR]

On my own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone ...

Actually, although I have tenure and high degree of the job security that comes with that, they will have to cut programs here to keep up with the huge budget cuts we've gotten from the state, and they can fire tenured faculty if they eliminate programs.

We'll see ....

On a different note ... I just bought Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica CD ... and after listening to a couple of songs, I'm starting to wish I hadn't stopped smoking weed in 1984.

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

On my own, with no direction home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone ...

Actually, although I have tenure and high degree of the job security that comes with that, they will have to cut programs here to keep up with the huge budget cuts we've gotten from the state, and they can fire tenured faculty if they eliminate programs.

We'll see ....

On a different note ... I just bought Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica CD ... and after listening to a couple of songs, I'm starting to wish I hadn't stopped smoking weed in 1984.

Maybe we can have a unique herf when we both retire, Sean.

[Noodles]

My wife and I, between 401K and other investments, lost an equivalent of a house, give or take a car. It was frustrating initially but not anymore. We are relatively young and healthy. We can earn it back. We really didn't have to cut back since we've always been very wise with money.

[Scottw]

[I'm starting to wish I hadn't stopped smoking weed in 1984.[/quote]


It's never to late to start again!

[Da Klugs]

Got up this morning and walked the lil dog. Lights were still on everywhere around us. Neighbors were heading out to work. Came back in and watched the news a bit. Such positive input.. .

Drove to work. World seemed to still be rotating on it's axis, gravity is ok so the basics are still intact. Sun rose in the east as usual (hard to tell here in the winter due to cloud cover but there was a glow).

We seem to be getting much better deals on gas... saw $ 1.68 at the pump on the way by.

Noticed McDonalds is offering 2 egg Mcmuffins for $ 2. MMMM.

Sam came in and showed me that the bank is giving us a .61% on our money on deposit there. Last year it was 4.8%. Big change on a small part of our revenues. Banker just showed up to discuss, should be interesting.

Good time to have a job. Bad time to be living off of a short term interest based portfolio.

Noticed the market dropped again yesterday and for the first time in a while it's below 8000. We are getting to the levels where "the brave" can win in the long run. Now how to be brave is the challenge.

[macpappy]

I feel primarily with my hand. Very little levity but thought some was needed.

I'm one of those who always believe that "when one door closes, another opens" as it has happened many times in my life. I'm currently self-employed and make a comfortable living (for my lifestyle) by design grocery circulars for 5 different groups of stores. Last week I started getting concerned because one group had to close two stores that were forced out of business by Wal-Mart. This week I had two potential new, non-grocery clients contact me out of the blue. If I land just one of those account, I will have to consider hiring a freelance to take some of the load. So, one door closed but another one is opening.

I look at the current situations with the banking and auto industry as basically the same thing. Those doors are slowly closing. The smart people will find the doors that are opening and continue on.

[poker]

How do I feel?

I consider myself lucky in this day and age considering the high tech industry I am involved in.
In this day and age where many high tech corporations are shifting their manufacturing overseas due to lower operating costs, looming future layoffs, and uncertainty of the high tech industry overall, I'm lucky in the fact that 3 of my biggest clients are doing well and are actually looking at expanding operations. That, and the fact that my #1 client recently renewed my contract for another 5 years means I should be okay financially.

Gas has dropped from a high of $4.88/gal down to like $2.33/gal here in SoCal.
That helps a lot since I commute 63 miles each way to my clients Mon-Fri and have to fill up 18 gallons 3X a week of 91 octane.

Looking on TV the other night and on the internet today, I see there is a lot more places having some huge sales. 30%, 40%, 50%, and as high as 70% off at some places on certain items. Not bad considering how the holidays are just around the corner and its not even Black Friday yet.

I'm glad I started my own business when I did. Just heard yesterday through the grapevine that the company I used to be employed by, announced they will be laying off 22% of the workforce today and tomorrow.

All in all I have nothing to complain about, and I would be a fool to start.