The last family standing...

polkatese

at the rate that jobs dissapearing lately, who can withstand it? hunkering down is only going to make things worse, so what can one do? Am I the only one worry and frustrated with the lack of "Good News" lately?

Ron-P

What do I do? I don't watch the news or read the paper, haven't for years. I'm happy and have not changed my lifestyle at all.

polkatese

Ron, I do take it with a grain of salt when I watch the news, but the fact remains: unemployment line is getting very long, 4 millions job loss since December '07.

btw, those polkies who voted for others (option #4), care to elaborate? TIA

Ron-P

I realize that, but even a grain of salt everyday can affect a person all day long, it's just not worth it.

schwarcw

Hi Frances! Just the media has an impact on public opinion on many issues. (I believe their enormous bias towards Obama was what put him into office.) I believe the media's portrayal of gloom and doom is a contributing factor. I think a lot of people have emotionally reacted by not spending, which lowers the demand for products and services, which lowers profits, which causes layoff, that cause more media frenzy, which causes more hording, etc.

I read an article earlier this week in the WSJ that described how just a modest increase in overall consumer savings, produced a gigantic loss of revenue into the markets.

Yes, unemployment is up, GM is failing, the Stimulus package contains a lot of pork, etc. But I think the media is a contributing factor by scaring people to stop spending. I can tell you it's happening in my household. My wife is frantic about saving money and emotionally upset when I buy a few CD's.

Sorry for the jack, I think the Government should lower taxes (really lower them), cut way back on the Stimulus pork and ease Government spending. My fears are that we build an economy that becomes addicted to Government created jobs that depend on borrowed money to survive and just like wild spending with a credit card sooner or later you need more money. This will create the need to increase taxes which will cut spending since consumers will have less cash which will lead to layoffs and a downturn in business and we'll be back to the same place we are except we'll have an enormous national debt and high taxes, etc.

Shrink the stimulus and lower taxes!!

DollarDave

schwarcw wrote: »

Shrink the stimulus and lower taxes!!

+1 says it all.

polkatese

schwarcw wrote: »

Hi Frances! Just the media has an impact on public opinion on many issues. (I believe their enormous bias towards Obama was what put him into office.) I believe the media's portrayal of gloom and doom is a contributing factor. I think a lot of people have emotionally reacted by not spending, which lowers the demand for products and services, which lowers profits, which causes layoff, that cause more media frenzy, which causes more hording, etc.

I read an article earlier this week in the WSJ that described how just a modest increase in overall consumer savings, produced a gigantic loss of revenue into the markets.

Yes, unemployment is up, GM is failing, the Stimulus package contains a lot of pork, etc. But I think the media is a contributing factor by scaring people to stop spending. I can tell you it's happening in my household. My wife is frantic about saving money and emotionally upset when I buy a few CD's.

Sorry for the jack, I think the Government should lower taxes (really lower them), cut way back on the Stimulus pork and ease Government spending. My fears are that we build an economy that becomes addicted to Government created jobs that depend on borrowed money to survive and just like wild spending with a credit card sooner or later you need more money. This will create the need to increase taxes which will cut spending since consumers will have less cash which will lead to layoffs and a downturn in business and we'll be back to the same place we are except we'll have an enormous national debt and high taxes, etc.

Shrink the stimulus and lower taxes!!

Carl, agreed with you 110%

This psychological fear that unfortunately will take away any chances to recover sooner. No one can't stand this downward spiral force if consumer confidence is not restored very soon.

disneyjoe7

schwarcw wrote: »

Hi Frances! Just the media has an impact on public opinion on many issues. (I believe their enormous bias towards Obama was what put him into office.) I believe the media's portrayal of gloom and doom is a contributing factor. I think a lot of people have emotionally reacted by not spending, which lowers the demand for products and services, which lowers profits, which causes layoff, that cause more media frenzy, which causes more hording, etc.

I read an article earlier this week in the WSJ that described how just a modest increase in overall consumer savings, produced a gigantic loss of revenue into the markets.

Yes, unemployment is up, GM is failing, the Stimulus package contains a lot of pork, etc. But I think the media is a contributing factor by scaring people to stop spending. I can tell you it's happening in my household. My wife is frantic about saving money and emotionally upset when I buy a few CD's.

Sorry for the jack, I think the Government should lower taxes (really lower them), cut way back on the Stimulus pork and ease Government spending. My fears are that we build an economy that becomes addicted to Government created jobs that depend on borrowed money to survive and just like wild spending with a credit card sooner or later you need more money. This will create the need to increase taxes which will cut spending since consumers will have less cash which will lead to layoffs and a downturn in business and we'll be back to the same place we are except we'll have an enormous national debt and high taxes, etc.

Shrink the stimulus and lower taxes!!

With you 200% on that one.


If not we are doomed for sure.

danger boy

the bailout plan isn't working it appears.. some of those companies that have received $$$ are still in the hole.. and asking for more???

If I had to ask my parents for money to bail my **** out of a mess.... then come to them again the following month, don't you think they would question how well I am able to manage my money? same thing with those companies that are asking for handouts AGAIN!

screw them.. if they have already had their **** bailed out once and didn't utilize the funds correctly... your **** is dead to me now. I say only those companies that know how to manage money should even be in business in the end. I don't care if that means we lose all the US auto makers or whatever US companies. end of rant till later.

ND13

Domestic economic and social terrorism, political correctness(since when did the minority dictate laws/mandates) and the liberal media fear mongering is what's ruined the economy, period!!!

Now everyone has someone (other than the foreign religious zealots) that live right next door to hate. The poor hate the rich, the rich hate the poor, there really isn't a middle class left to speak of, so the former middle class hates both. The government just promotes this even further. Time to cut the federal government numbers and control and get back to state and local control of what's right for their own.

The bailout was never intended to help, neither administrations. Just another way to give the feds more control and take rights away from the people.

If were not careful, some states will be looking to secede when states like California's and other's economic crises start to affect other states, even more than they already have so far.

You think it's bad now, wait till GM and Chrysler fail. If you really don't believe it'll affect you, then you must be already profiting from the economic downturn, smart enough to have put your money anywhere but here, or are so wealthy that losing a few million/billion wouldn't put a dent in your wallet.

This coming from a Patriotic Veteran that's at his whit's end.

Don't get me wrong. I would never wish what has happened to my family on anyone, except those who have caused the situation in the first place. Let them get a taste of what they have wrought upon millions of families and businesses.

I only wish for the best for my fellow Polkies and friends.

obieone

GM's pretty much all done. They won't get another bailout, I HOPE!
And YES, it's gonna get a LOT worse b4 it get's better- IF at all!
The media has been making fun of people like Glenn Beck, saying he's paranoid. Maybe we wouldn't paranoid if the VP WASN'T meeting behind closed doors with the AFL-CIO.
How many of you know what 'card check' is? Here's a link:

http://www.unionfacts.com/articles/cardCheck.cfm

Say goodbye to democracy!

ND13

Obama's pushing for Unions in all small businesses, if I heard right, yesterday.

metal83

Ron-P wrote: »

What do I do? I don't watch the news or read the paper, haven't for years. I'm happy and have not changed my lifestyle at all.

I agree with you.
All though i do watch the news, and as much as i feel for all the people struggling, the way things are now have had no impact on my life, or my job. Though i work for an electric company, and well, people need electricity. I'm happy as well, and things aren't any different for me than they have been.

polktiger

ND13 wrote: »

Obama's pushing for Unions in all small businesses, if I heard right, yesterday.

Just what we need, an expansion of privatized welfare.

ND13

Socialism anyone?

At the "PLUSH 5-Star Hotel UAW meeting", in Florida, that Biden spoke at, the media wasn't even allowed in the doors

Polkersince85

The "Machine" in DC has to create a crisis so that the planned spending on wanted programs can get passed without the general public complaining. Just like that gal on the street corner, they gonna get their money up front before we get scr**ed.

Listen to AM radio at night for the real news.

ND13

Polkersince85 wrote: »

Listen to AM radio at night for the real news.

They're trying to silence them, too.

sucks2beme

It's going to run it's course. Consumer spending was out of control for years.
At the beginning of 2008, the average family was spending 99% of it's income.
Same with business. There was no safety net. An unbelievable part of the
U.S. public was still paying for XMAS 2007 during XMAS 2008. TROUBLE!
With so much going offshore, jobs were dropping like flies.
Debt needs to be paid down, and that's what's happening now.
We can't have a nation of just consumers and survive. Some of this
stuff offshore needs to come back. That means wages and the value of the
dollar will fall for this to happen. And that's what happens when you print
a trillion dollars to bail out banks and "stimulate" consumer spending.
I think that's the big plan that nobody is talking about.

ND13

Nothing is so simple. Until I got sick in 2006 I was not living above my means, but when I couldn't work I had to live off of my savings and good credit, which is now history. I lost over 50% of my homes value when Chrysler sold the local plant or I wouldn't be in the financial situation I'm in now...that and there are no jobs in my area and I have no transportation to get to Indy for a job. My wife's job is now unstable and no raise this year and her retirement acct lost 48% last year and is still dropping. I'm happy for those fortunate enough to have deep enough pockets to survive, but I don't want to hear that I've should have seen all this coming when I can't control getting a staph infection and bad choices made by the uber-rich and govt.

bobman1235

ND13 wrote: »

They're trying to silence them, too.

They're more than trying. It's frightening.

ND13 wrote: »

If were not careful, some states will be looking to secede when states like California's and other's economic crises start to affect other states, even more than they already have so far.

My wonderful state of NH just recently had a resolution (which came close to passing but not close enough) which essentially said that if the Fed continues to abuse its power, then it would be deemed null and void.

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2009/HCR0006.html

A resolution affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles.

That any Act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of America or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of United States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States of America

polkatese

So, let me ask the question: everyone in Congress has their opinions, right or wrong or indifference, are they going to bicker until there's no more to bicker about anymore? The fact of the matter is, we, the people, are all ****. If I have their jobs, get paid $200K until I die, then I have no problem bickering until all are gone. For the rest of us, that's not an option.I don't want to look back two years from now, wondering how did I get here, destitute?

hearingimpared

ND13 wrote: »

Obama's pushing for Unions in all small businesses, if I heard right, yesterday.

More of the United Socialist States of America.

polkatese

sobering prediction:

JOBS

By ALAN ZIBEL, CHRISTOPHER LEONARD and TIM PARADIS

HOW BAD IS IT?: The U.S. unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent in February, a 25-year peak. The nation has lost 4.4 million jobs since the recession began in late 2007.
The job cuts began early last year, as the housing and construction industries slowed down. The collapse of the financial industry in the fall battered white-collar workers. Soon, layoffs spread across industries and income levels.
HOW MUCH WORSE COULD IT GET? The darkest days for the job market are almost certainly still ahead. With spending weak and credit markets stalled, experts think the economy will probably shed a total of 2.4 million jobs this year. That would mean an unemployment rate above 9 percent.
That would easily surpass the 2001 and 1990-91 recessions but trail the 10.8 percent rate of December 1982. Those expectations could be optimistic: The government's "stress tests" to check the strength of banks' balance sheets assume a 10.3 percent rate.
The job market will probably be weak for years, even if the economy starts to turn around next year. The unemployment rate may not fall back to its pre-recession level of 5 percent until 2013, according to Moody's Economy.com.
WHERE'S THE BOTTOM?: Economist Sophia Koropeckyj, a managing director at Moody's Economy.com, is keeping an eye out for two signs - an inching up in companies hiring temporary workers and a rise in the number of hours worked by those who have managed to keep their part-time and full-time jobs.
When business conditions improve, employers hire temporary workers first, she said, and a pickup in permanent hiring wouldn't be far behind. Koropeckyj estimated that could come in mid-2010.

SKsolutions

ALL states should adopt and ratify NH's HRC6 proposed resolution. The first I saw of it was on a forum based in Ireland. Something is really wrong when you have to get current events from foreign sources.

Rand, love her or hate her, fine words:

"Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing - when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favours - when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice - you know that your society is doomed... Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked: "Account overdrawn"

SKsolutions

Tyler Durden for Treasury!!!!

ND13

ALL states should adopt and ratify NH's HRC6 proposed resolution. The first I saw of it was on a forum based in Ireland. Something is really wrong when you have to get current events from foreign sources.

All state's should just take their Constitutional guaranteed power back, PERIOD!!!



If I had the means, I'd consider moving to Australia or New Zealand until things got better here. I wouldn't expatriate, but I'd steer clear for a few years.

Who knows, maybe the Mayan Calendar is right and it won't matter after 12/21/2012. It's not the only thing that predicts that date, about 7 other modern and ancient documents/ Wall Street's Spider grabbing computer software, etc all have the exact same date, but it's all up to interpretation of what "The End of the World" really means.:rolleyes::(

4406bbl

If Nobama and tiny tim the tax cheat would just shut the f up it would help a ton. These guys do not know what they are doing and nobody that does wants to work for them, its a disaster.

disneyjoe7

So no one seen this coming? Or yes you did but the speed of things is a bit frighten?

Polkersince85

Texas, according to their Treaty with the U.S., could vote to establish five states. This could give that area ten Senators. Such a move could balance the power in Washington. Just a thought.

exalted512

Polkersince85 wrote: »

Texas, according to their Treaty with the U.S., could vote to establish five states. This could give that area ten Senators. Such a move could balance the power in Washington. Just a thought.

I doubt thats going to happen anytime soon.

I voted for other. I think the legalization of marijuana needs to happen before this country can move forward:p:p
-Cody

BrettT1

I'm not voting because I have no freakin idea. lol