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View Full Version : "Economy strong and consumer confidence high."???




RP08
10-17-2007, 01:39 PM
Ya know, I'm about fed up with hearing Bernanke, Bush, Hannity, Limbaugh, news shows, and the like spouting off about how strong the economy is and how people are secure and confident with their financial situation and spending!

Maybe there are a bunch of Wall St. brokers and big companies, boosting their bottom-line by outsourcing to "cheap" labor, doing just dandy, and people who have enough excess to invest in the stock market (or via mutual funds, what-have-you)... but out here in the real world, people are scared. I'm scared.

The cost of making-ends-meet has been increasing far faster than my income has, and I make pretty good money in comparison to many Americans. I don't have a car payment, I just cover the monthly bills and modest mortgage as it is. In another few years with "inflation" outpacing my meager annual increases by 3x, I won't even be able to do that.

I talk to lots of people I work with (satellite site of a major conglomerate corporation), and everyone (paraphrasing) feels like they're walking through a "fun-house" with trap doors in the floor that will dump them at any moment. It wouldn't be so bad if the job market for talented and skilled people wasn't currently flooded due to "downsizing". If you find yourself out of work, outsourced, severenced, you're basically in the club... NOT walking into another new "open door" in your career. These people aren't out buying new cars, houses, feeding the economy. Most of them are trapped paying little more than interest on debts, plus food, and utilities.

Granted, there are obviously exceptions and I'm personally jaded from being a Manager in high-tech industry for a decade, and seeing what I've seen, but this does seem to be a growing theme in America and that bothers me.

Please discuss


.

saku39
10-17-2007, 01:50 PM
Ya know, I'm about fed up with hearing Bernanke, Bush, Hannity, Limbaugh, news shows, and the like spouting off about how strong the economy is and how people are secure and confident with their financial situation and spending!

Maybe there are a bunch of Wall St. brokers and big companies, boosting their bottom-line by outsourcing to "cheap" labor, doing just dandy, and people who have enough excess to invest in the stock market (or via mutual funds, what-have-you)... but out here in the real world, people are scared. I'm scared.

The cost of making-ends-meet has been increasing far faster than my income has, and I make pretty good money in comparison to many Americans. I don't have a car payment, I just cover the monthly bills and modest mortgage as it is. In another few years with "inflation" outpacing my meager annual increases by 3x, I won't even be able to do that.

I talk to lots of people I work with (satellite site of a major conglomerate corporation), and everyone (paraphrasing) feels like they're walking through a "fun-house" with trap doors in the floor that will dump them at any moment. It wouldn't be so bad if the job market for talented and skilled people wasn't currently flooded due to "downsizing". If you find yourself out of work, outsourced, severenced, you're basically in the club... NOT walking into another new "open door" in your career. These people aren't out buying new cars, houses, feeding the economy. Most of them are trapped paying little more than interest on debts, plus food, and utilities.

Granted, there are obviously exceptions and I'm personally jaded from being a Manager in high-tech industry for a decade, and seeing what I've seen, but this does seem to be a growing theme in America and that bothers me.

Please discuss


.

I don't think the economy is strong and most of my family doesn't have high "confidence." I work in real estate, and it is all screwed up right now. Foreclosures and defaults are out of control. prices are dropping and there still aren't enough buyers.

Kregener
10-17-2007, 02:03 PM
And if "officials" say that the sky is black and that grass is pink, do we believe that too?

We all realize the ultimate "retail holiday" is fast-approaching, right?