Dear recession:

[Bobbles]

Yep let's keep stories of hope like this going and tell the recession we have decided not to join its pity party!

I just gotta know! What does your wife do while you are a "Stay At Home Dad"?

Any chance she can help my wife get a slice of that "pie"?

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

I just gotta know! What does your wife do while you are a "Stay At Home Dad"?

Any chance she can help my wife get a slice of that "pie"?

Oh no Bobbles...That would be sharing the wealth!

 

[dvcgirl]

Extremely insightful dvcgirl...for those of you who don't hang out on the BB, dvcgirl tends to be right about economic matters. I'm glad there are lots of shoppers in your area OP, but you don't know why they are there. Are they building more CC debt? Maybe they are buying a birthday present that they usually spend $50 on, but this year they are spending $20. You can't always tell by apperances. I know many people who are getting laid off, but the malls are full as ever. I don't see as many shopping bags though.

Well, that's nice of you to say. I think that we're seeing some pretty frightening things right now and that the real effects haven't fully hit all of us yet. Make no mistake about it, if you read about what is happening around the world, we're seeing an amazing amount of wealth being wiped out. Not one, not two, but nearly 10 *countries* are close to defaulting on their debt. Russia and Pakistan are among them.....which is just slightly frightening.

Hedge funds are "forced sellers" these days unwinding positions causing the stock market to crash....and they're not done yet. Not even close. All of this is *real* honest to goodness money being lost.....poof.....gone. This means much less money out in the real economy, which means that the economy is going into the tank for real this time.

If you haven't been affected yet in some way, consider yourself lucky......

I take solace in knowing that we've done everything that we can do to prepare for tough times.

 

[gina2000]

The banks will extend the debt maturity and renegotiate the terms with the foreign countries. The loans will be put under non-performing assets until the banks can figure out a way to help the countries restructure the debt and begin to pay it off. We've been through this with South American debt before.

 

[Colleen27]

Extremely insightful dvcgirl...for those of you who don't hang out on the BB, dvcgirl tends to be right about economic matters. I'm glad there are lots of shoppers in your area OP, but you don't know why they are there. Are they building more CC debt? Maybe they are buying a birthday present that they usually spend $50 on, but this year they are spending $20. You can't always tell by apperances. I know many people who are getting laid off, but the malls are full as ever. I don't see as many shopping bags though.

Yanno, that is something to think about... Malls are useful for a lot more than just shopping. When I was young, I had a friend who lived in his car for a time and that's where he'd go to use the restroom, clean up, change clothes, etc. I hadn't thought about that in years until an acquaintance said something about spending the day at the mall with her kids while her husband figured out a way to get their heat reconnected. And I know a few people who use the local McDonalds for the free wi-fi because they no longer have home internet access; I'd imagine there are those using the mall in the same way.

 

[sahd2one]

More GOOD news!

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE49P36W20081026

Gas drops 53 cents in two weeks. That is like free money compared to last July. What fantastic news indeed!

 

[sahd2one]

I know there are more people out here doing just fine. Let's all post in this thread and show hope to others who see no hope!

 

[Peter Pirate 2]

I know there are more people out here doing just fine. Let's all post in this thread and show hope to others who see no hope!

Is there something wrong with you?

Who here see's no hope? There is a huge difference between not being able to see any good and being cautious or scared over the ramifications of the declining economy.

We all love the way gas prices have declined. I'm sure everyone sees hope in the unexpected September home sales figure but these glimmers don't just wipe the slate clean.

 

[Kathi OD]

It's not that we don't see hope, we just know that things are tough right now in more parts of the country than not. It wasn't all that long ago, that things in my area weren't that bad and then overnight, BINGO!

My advice....enjoy your healthy economy while you have it, but make sure not to get in over your head, just in case the recession does decide to rear its ugly head in your neighborhood too.

FWIW, I really hope you continue to be spared. It's good to hear that some people haven't been affected by the general downturn. As for gas declining
$.53/gal, that's not happening because the economy is healthy, but quite the opposite. Because the economy is so bad across the country demand is down and supplies are up.

 

[sahd2one]

It's not that we don't see hope, we just know that things are tough right now in more parts of the country than not. It wasn't all that long ago, that things in my area weren't that bad and then overnight, BINGO!

My advice....enjoy your healthy economy while you have it, but make sure not to get in over your head, just in case the recession does decide to rear its ugly head in your neighborhood too.

Some of us are not going to let it rear its ugly head in our neighborhood. We are going to do everything inspite of the "crisis".

It is amazing that some people are actually seemingly hoping for some to have the recession hit them. (NOT DIRECTED AT THE ABOVE)

 

[Chicago526]

Well, that's nice of you to say. I think that we're seeing some pretty frightening things right now and that the real effects haven't fully hit all of us yet. Make no mistake about it, if you read about what is happening around the world, we're seeing an amazing amount of wealth being wiped out. Not one, not two, but nearly 10 *countries* are close to defaulting on their debt. Russia and Pakistan are among them.....which is just slightly frightening.

Hedge funds are "forced sellers" these days unwinding positions causing the stock market to crash....and they're not done yet. Not even close. All of this is *real* honest to goodness money being lost.....poof.....gone. This means much less money out in the real economy, which means that the economy is going into the tank for real this time.

If you haven't been affected yet in some way, consider yourself lucky......

I take solace in knowing that we've done everything that we can do to prepare for tough times.

And this is what some posters here are missing. Things aren't bad...yet. But it's coming soon to a local economy near you. We haven't even seen the begining yet. You've all heard of trickle down economics? Well, the damn just burst and it's all about to trickle down, and not in a good way.

Is it another Great Depresion? No, at this point I'd say things aren't likely to get as bad as that, if nothing else we still have some stop-gap messures in place to help keep things from getting that bad. But I think we're in for the worst recession we've seen in 40 years. And for a lot of people here, it's going to be the first major recession they've experianced. The last bad one was in the late 70's, 30 years ago. Most young X'ers (including myself) and all of Gen Y have never known serious long term economic distress on a national level. But I've got a feeling we're about to get first hand experiance.

Hey, I hope I'm wrong. I'd love nothing better than a year from now being told "I told you so". But I don't think so.

And not for nothing, but I don't remember anyone complaining too much about the media's reporting when housing and the stock market were going gang busters for the last 7 years. All I ever heard was how great things were, and precious few reports about how "what goes up must come down" and that we should prepare for a rainey day.

 

[punkin]

Is it another Great Depresion? No, at this point I'd say things aren't likely to get as bad as that, if nothing else we still have some stop-gap messures in place to help keep things from getting that bad. But I think we're in for the worst recession we've seen in 40 years. And for a lot of people here, it's going to be the first major recession they've experianced. The last bad one was in the late 70's, 30 years ago. Most young X'ers (including myself) and all of Gen Y have never known serious long term economic distress on a national level. But I've got a feeling we're about to get first hand experiance.

Hey, I hope I'm wrong. I'd love nothing better than a year from now being told "I told you so". But I don't think so.

I am more pessimistic than you are. I don't necessarily see 25% unemployment a la the Great Depression, but there is going to be a whole lot more pain than we had in the late 70.

 

[NotUrsula]

Those of us who were living in South Louisiana and South Texas in the early-mid 1980's sure know what pain feels like. We had 14% unemployment -- I graduated from college right into the middle of it.

I lived in a house with 3 other women, all of whom were engineering majors.
It took each of them over 2 years to find a f/t job, and none of them ended up working in the field that they had originally planned on: oil & gas. (One of them actually ended up taking a manual-labor drilling job; one of the nastiest and most dangerous on the derrick. She used to have to come home and strip on the back porch every night because she was covered in mud and crude. That was unusual for a woman at the time, and she endured pretty hellish conditons doing it.)

I was the lone social sciences student in the mix, and I got lucky and ended up working for the state. I got the princely sum of $10K, and not a dime in raises for the next 4 years. It didn't go far with student loans to pay.

 

[Colleen27]

Some of us are not going to let it rear its ugly head in our neighborhood. We are going to do everything inspite of the "crisis".

Please do tell, how do you not let global economic conditions touch your neighborhood?

 

[Crankyshank]

8.8% unemployment - beating out MI for the highest rate in the country. Over $350 million budget shortfall. Top 5 in the country for tax burden. The worst bridges in the country. Borrowing money against war bonds. As of today state residents can invest in state bonds so the state can pay the bills. Oh sure - no recession here in RI. It's just the media trying to scare us.

Economists: No end in sight for R.I.'s fiscal woes
1:09 PM Mon, Oct 27, 2008 | Permalink
Jack Perry Email
By Steve Peoples
Journal State House bureau

PROVIDENCE -- If there was any good news to come out of the State House this morning, it's that Rhode Island isn't the only New England state in recession.

"Misery loves company. And Rhode Island has plenty of it," said Andres Carbacho-Burgos, an economist with Moody's Economy.com and one of a handful of independent analysts who testified during this morning's opening day of the fall Revenue & Caseload Estimating Conference.

At the spring meeting of the same group, Moody's noted that Rhode Island was the only New England state in recession.

"You could say Rhode Island has sort of set the trend for the United States," Carbacho-Burgos said.

Indeed, the economist said that Maine joins Rhode Island in recession status. And he expects Connecticut's economy to reach that level by the end of the year. Even Massachusetts, which is currently listed as having an economy in "expansion," is expected to be "at risk" in the coming months, Carbacho-Burgos said.

But today's testimony offered few bright spots for state officials trying to determine how much money the State of Rhode Island can spend in the coming fiscal year.

"The worst is not over by any means," said Mike Lynch, an analyst with the firm Global Insight. "We see little cause for any optimism."

Global Insight predicts that Rhode Island's unemployment rate will exceed 7 percent through the end of next year, among the highest in the nation. The Ocean State's real estate markets wil "continue their period of free-fall well into 2009." And Global Insight predicts it will take another five years before Rhode Island sees employment levels matching "pre-2007 peak employement levels."

To make matters worse, the economists who testified this morning acknowledged that their forecasts may be too rosy, given that they were based on data that's almost a month old.

The firms agreed to return to the House Finance Committee room in the State House basement -- the site of today's hearing -- on Nov. 7 to provide updated reports.

The Revenue & Caseload Estimating Conference is really a series of meetings in which the fiscal leaders of the House, Senate and governor's budget office convene to determine the economic health of the state.

The bi-annual tradition begins with economic forecasts. But state officials will hear testimony from several other players as well over the next two weeks, including those with information on tax credit programs and social welfare programs.

"They've indicated that we have obvious need to be concerned," Kevin Madigan, the interim head of the Senate fiscal office, said of today's testimony. "We continue to drop in a lot of indicators with no real good sense of when - they mentioned hitting the bottom frequently - when that will happen."

The weakened state economy will ultimately mean there is less money for social service programs, the state's personnel costs, infrastructure projects, and state-sponsored services like public safety, public transportation and the Department of Motor Vehicles.

"Whatever the revenues turn out to be, the budget pressure will be immense," said Russell Dannecker, the recently-retired Senate fiscal advisor who attended today's proceedings representing Rhode Island College's Poverty Institute. "There are only so many places they can cut."

Representatives from the business-backed Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council were also in attendance. He acknowledged there would be increased pressure in state government to look at tax increases during this weak economic period.

"How do you increase taxes when you have businesses that are shrinking?" asked John Simmons, RIPEC's executive director. "What would that do to the economy

 

[Missy1961]

Some of us are not going to let it rear its ugly head in our neighborhood. We are going to do everything inspite of the "crisis".

It is amazing that some people are actually seemingly hoping for some to have the recession hit them. (NOT DIRECTED AT THE ABOVE)

Do you have magic powers that the President doesn't have? or Congress? or any leader of any nation? Because if fixing the economy was simply a matter of saying "go away, we don't want a recession here" I think we'd never have a problem.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

We have decided not to participate. The parking lots of the shopping areas are full so are those around the restaurants.

The local community banks are lending money for small businesses and for home buyers.

You may be trying to bring down our country's mood, but we are not going to fall for your tricks. We are supporting those in need and giving business to those who are in our community.

Go find another area to blast on about, because we are not listening to you or your friends in the media.

 

[sahd2one]

Do you have magic powers that the President doesn't have? or Congress? or any leader of any nation? Because if fixing the economy was simply a matter of saying "go away, we don't want a recession here" I think we'd never have a problem.

I don't count on the president or Congress to provide me a job. Who is in the White House or in Congress has very little bearing with that goes on in my house.

States like MI have had economic issues for my entire adult life. This is not something that is new. However there are parts of the country that are thriving in this down economy.

A colleague of mine was told he would never sell his house in this down economy and sold it in four days and made a profit on it to boot.

Again there will be those who want to share how bad it is around the country and just do not want to read messages of hope or of those around the country who do not see signs of a "crisis".

 

[Kathi OD]

I don't count on the president or Congress to provide me a job. Who is in the White House or in Congress has very little bearing with that goes on in my house.

Unfortunately, the policies of those who are in the White House and Congress have very much to do with what goes on in your house, especially when it comes to financial matters.

Again there will be those who want to share how bad it is around the country and just do not want to read messages of hope or of those around the country who do not see signs of a "crisis".

As well as there are those who believe they can just "will away" a bad economy with positive thinking. Sadly, it just doesn't work that way.

Again, I'm very glad you are not personally feeling the effects of the downturn in the national economy. There are always locales that will buck the trend. A house that sells in 4 days at a profit in your area is the one that sits for over 1 year in my area and doesn't sell, not even at a loss.

I'll also again suggest that you should be prepared, just in case, as as you never know when tough times are coming.

 

[arminnie]

We struggled when "the country" was doing well. We are doing well when "the country" struggles. What is wrong with that?

I just find it interesting that basically the rest of the country didn't give a darn when we (TX/LA) were dying in the 80s. And now there seems to be resentment that we are getting by (not necessarily soaring) now.

Yes the country is in a recession. Yes Michigan is down the tubes. The financial industry chaos is taking big bites out of the N.E. Florida and other states are teetering.

But it is NOT universally like that everywhere. Some areas that saw little or no huge jumps in housing values have at this end of the cycle not seen the huge decreases.

I am not insensitive because I am not suffering today. What ever your worst financial fears are - it already happened to me in the mid 80s.

One thing that was very liberating for me - when the worst that can possible happen does happen and you survive you learn that it will eventually be okay again. I do feel for those of you that are going thru terrible times - it WAS painful.

I know so many people who lost everything in the 80s. Homes, careers, savings, etc.