Bad economy?

[Ginevra]

Well, I see it. Our own economics have improved a lot in the past 6 months, but for the 1.5 years before that, it was very noticeable in our own home and it's been noticeable in my wider community for a couple of years. My husband is a plumbing and general contractor. There were so many weeks we didn't take pay - it added up to about half of the year with no paycheck. We do not have a high-overhead lifestyle, so between using savings for necessities and not purchasing extras, we scraped along. A casual observer, though, would not have seen us as hurt by the economy, because I still live in a nice house, still drive a nice car, still have a Blackberry, etc. But if we owed on these things, we would have been in dire straights.

 

In the homeschool co-op, I have seen the effects of the economy very clearly. I know many hs families that either are not in the co-op anymore, or the wife is now working or have arranged their families in some new way because their work and income situation has changed.

 

Also, I see tons of empty storefronts, tons of houses languishing on the market for years, tons of For Sale signs on RVs, motorcycles, boats, sports cars. People have to sell those things if they don't know where their next paycheck will come from.

 

Dh & I have struggled for the last 3 years, & from that I have learned this: never. tell. anyone. Never. ask. for. help.

:grouphug: That makes me so sad, Aubrey. I learned the same lesson in a different way. The "experts" pay lip service to "asking for help/support," but there can be serious ramifications for doing so.

Edited March 4, 2011 by Quill
Sorry: Aubrey, not Audrey

[creekland]

I think the economy here is starting to get better, but how much better will remain to be seen.

 

Many people I know are underemployed, not unemployed. I also know many that were laid off and took positions paying much less than before.

 

I know in our situation, we have paid taxes every single year since the year after hubby started his own business. This year we got a refund for more than we paid in AND we qualify for a Pell grant (low income to qualify) for my oldest at college. This isn't anything I ever would have expected if you'd asked me as recently as 5 years ago. We've never been on the unemployment rolls, but we certainly have cut back our spending for everything - and I know that trickles down to others.

 

But, it seems like it might be improving. We'll see.

[Mom0012]

I don't know. I live in a pretty affluent area and I see all the stay-at-home and homeschooling moms returning to work. I was just filling out an application today to renew my expired CPA license because I might need to work next tax season for the first time in 10 years.

 

Lisa

[ChrisOR]

Even the unemployment data isn't quite the clearest picture. In Oregon, where the economy boomed on construction, many are without construction work but are also self-employed and not eligible for unemployment.

 

For those employed, less pay seems to be standard.

[Wheres Toto]

It seems pretty mixed around here. We are doing well and DH is one year into a three year contract in an industry that's doing well (generic pharmaceuticals). I know some people who have been unemployed for a long time - dd's dad has been unemployed for almost a year which affects us because he's not helping pay for any of her activities - while others seem able to find new jobs fairly quickly.

 

I'm getting ready to look for part-time work to help out a little as we get ready to build a new house. It's hard to say how hard it's going to be, I have two degrees and worked pharmaceuticals which is a big industry here.

[Susan in KY]

Leaving the government spending/deficit out of the discussion.....

 

People talk about the bad economy and hard times. In my day to day life I am not seeing it. ...

Around here the stores are always busy. The malls are packed. Restaurants are packed and have wait lists. ...

Dh and I just scratch our heads. Where is the bad economy?

 

 

I used to see this in Zimbabwe before the economy there REALLY tanked. It was surreal. When we arrived, malls were packed. When we left two years later, the busiest of them was totally abandoned.

 

Sad, yes. But I think really bad times creep up on us—or at least we want to ignore the warning signs.

Susan

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I just drove past a shopping center that I hadn't been to in a while, and every store except Game Stop was gone. My ds 8 commented on the Game Stop being the only store left, and I said, "Well, I guess people are playing games to keep their mind off the fact that they have no jobs and their homes are being foreclosed." Of course, he didn't know what I was talking about, and said, "I think people just like Game Stop."

[Peek a Boo]

Am I seeing things? :w00t::seeya:

 

Welcome back!

 

 

Thanks- :)

 

and I'll add that dh has been able to tell the market by his employment status: at the first sign of a hiccup, the fancy jets get scaled back. He expected the market would pick up in November...and it did. ;) a bit, anyway.

 

He looked all over the US and Canada, and even considered a stint overseas [that never materialized], but as soon as the market started coming back, being here in the DFW area paid off. One company had *500* pilots apply. Unfortunately most of us aren't just feeling the effects of a local economy-- it's a big world, and it's hitting everyone somehow. what goes around comes around.....

[Stacy in NJ]

hitting our region as hard, but I'm not seeing the effects of the poor economy. The stores are all busy, busy, busy; the parking lots are full. No one in my immediate family or circle of friends is unemployed. Because my dh works on Wall Street, bonuses have been effected, but even those are starting to recover.

[Barb_]

Leaving the government spending/deficit out of the discussion.....

 

People talk about the bad economy and hard times. In my day to day life I am not seeing it.

 

I see people taking vacation. I see people with the latest technology like fancy phones, netbooks, and ipads. I see people with newer cars. I see the Kindle or Nook everywhere. I see kids with Nintendo DSi and ipods. I see people with their kids in many different activities many of which cost a chunk of change.

 

Around here the stores are always busy. The malls are packed. Restaurants are packed and have wait lists.

 

Most people I know have pay for lawn service. I hear people telling me about their home renovations such as new house color because they don't like the shade of gray their house is.

 

Dh and I just scratch our heads. Where is the bad economy?

 

I think a lot of the stuff is leftover from before. I drive a brand new van, but have no car payment. We paid cash from savings 18 mos ago. I have a lawn service, but dh works out of state now and a lawn service became a priority. We canceled Satellite to pay for it. We dropped all lessons for the kids, pulled our son out of preschool, and sold my husband's car (the one with the car payment). We don't go to restaurants but I do still have my Audible account. I have a Kindle, IPOD, and laptop but they were all purchases I wouldn't be able to make now.

 

My husband used to make a nice salary, but when he lost his job he had to take a 30% pay cut and move out of state. Our house is worth half of what we paid for it. We're not destitute by any means, and many in our neighborhood are much worse off. But we've had to make, and continue to make sacrifices and lifestyle changes due to the economy, the biggie being our continued separation. But if someone were to look at our family from the outside, we really don't look any different. I think the whole thing has hit families unevenly. A lot of people here in Phoenix are profiting as they snap up foreclosed properties and rent them out. Such is life.

 

Barb

[ralfy]

Sorry for bumping this thread, but I can't see any recent one, the crisis continues, and this may be connected to home schooling and other forms of localization.

 

There has been no recovery, and if we look at the global economy, the situation may have gotten worse. That's because the main cause of the crisis may be a combination of peak oil, economic instability due to increasing debt and financial risk-taking, and environmental damage coupled with global warming.

 

According to the IEA, conventional oil production peaked back in 2005 while consumption increased for the rest of the world, leading to oil prices tripling, and with that high food prices. Companies used non-conventional oil (i.e., more expensive energy- and material-wise to process, and in several cases, leads to more pollution) while others are now focusing on renewable energy (which has lower energy returns and still requires oil for manufacturing components).

 

High food and oil prices led to weakened economies, contributing to the 2008 financial crash, and with that, more economic crisis in many parts of the world, from Europe to Asia.

 

The effects of global warming did not help, leading to everything from property damage due to floods in Australia, Pakistan, and parts of Europe, to crop destruction due to heat waves and droughts in the U.S. and Russia, etc., contributing to high food prices. Meanwhile, what scientists reported in the past would take place many decades from now are taking place, including significant levels of sea ice melting, methane hydrate release, and so on, together with reports of millions of bees dying, etc.

 

Meanwhile, the same banks and financiers, flush with free money from governments, are now engaged in the same financial risks, which explains the volatility of various financial and commodity markets. At the same time, food and oil prices remain high and unemployment remains a problem for many countries. Some social scientists and economists argue that high prices coupled with austerity measures are contributing to riots and social unrest in Europe and the Middle East, as new reports of surveillance and increasing aggression by police and military forces take place in the U.S. and elsewhere, including saber-rattling in the Middle East and in Asia.

 

With that, economists like Peter Schiff believe that another crash will take place.