Is the economy getting better where you live?

[manhattan]

I put the same and I am in South Florida. Haven't had a raise in 5 years, we did get a bonus - it helped with groceries, that was about it. However, I work for a construction firm and they were really hit hard - with that being said, our company has been very fortunate that we continue to win work (I work in helping win the projects so I know exactly how well they have done). The execs all continue to get their quarterly bonuses and their year end bonus was the same as it always is. Companies are hiring, but they want you to take a paycut (with rising gas prices - no can do). My son works at a grocery store and his hours were cut by more than 50%. My husband works in the automotive industry and he has had no raise in 6 years and they continue to layoff personnel. I tried finding a part time job during the holidays and it was impossible....everywhere I went they were giving jobs to mostly college students or people without jobs. My little one takes ballet and I don't think that will be in our budget next year....with everything (electric, telephone, cable, gas, water, groceries, HOA fees) going up - something has to give

 

[verlee]

My perception is that we are now in a 2-tiered economy. For those fortunate enough to be on top of that economy - high wage earner executives, big investors, etc. - things are improving. Think the folks who can go out and drop a couple hundred bucks on dinner without thinking about it.

For regular folks, who live paycheck to paycheck and try to put a little back for kids school/retirement etc - there still seems to be a lot of job uncertainty/cuts and rising prices (particularly gas and health care) that cut into wages that are not rising at all or not keeping up with inflation. So for those folks, it is not getting better.

That's what I see anyway. My DH and I were out at a restaurant for a work function where the average entree was about $35 and the ticket at our table of 4 was probably over $200. It was absolutely packed with a 90 minute wait. I said man, you'd never know the economy was hurting based on this place. He said "these people aren't the regular people." That's sort of what I mean.

Interesting thoughts, I think I agree.

 

[fakereadhed]

I voted for worse. In MI we are used to having homes foreclosed or worth nothing and being out of work, seeing local businesses close, etc. But grocery prices are up about 40% for us based on things we buy each week.

At Aldi now I see people making choices about what they can buy based on the cash in their pocket. Should they put back the crackers or the milk? I'm sure this happened once in a while before, but now it's a regular occurrence.

With gas prices on the rise, our budgets will need to be stretched even further. Not to mention that the gas prices will make grocery costs go up even further!

 

[Golf4food]

Same or slightly worse, probably. The big companies aren't hiring, only small places with low wages, part-time retail, few or no benefits. Our benefits keep going up with our company and switched to a coinsurance plan this year, so that means more out of pocket up front, too. Gas goes up every time you blink, as do groceries. Home values are still dropping and foreclosures are still climbing. Taxes and fees go up to cover the lost value but we aren't getting any more money.

We certainly don't feel bailed out or stimulated.

 

[Colleen27]

My perception is that we are now in a 2-tiered economy. For those fortunate enough to be on top of that economy - high wage earner executives, big investors, etc. - things are improving. Think the folks who can go out and drop a couple hundred bucks on dinner without thinking about it.

For regular folks, who live paycheck to paycheck and try to put a little back for kids school/retirement etc - there still seems to be a lot of job uncertainty/cuts and rising prices (particularly gas and health care) that cut into wages that are not rising at all or not keeping up with inflation. So for those folks, it is not getting better.

That's what I see anyway. My DH and I were out at a restaurant for a work function where the average entree was about $35 and the ticket at our table of 4 was probably over $200. It was absolutely packed with a 90 minute wait. I said man, you'd never know the economy was hurting based on this place. He said "these people aren't the regular people." That's sort of what I mean.

I'd agree with that, and that's why I believe this recovery will be short lived. We have a consumption-based economy and too large a percentage of those consumers are being squeezed tighter and tighter between lower/stagnant income and rising prices. Without those consumers or a seismic economic shift towards a very different model, we can't have a true recovery - we'll have ups and downs but the overall trend can only be down if there aren't enough people with disposable income to engage in the discretionary spending that keeps all those restaurants, stores, hotels, airlines, rental car companies, amusement parks, etc, in business.

 

[Juliet25]

My perception is that we are now in a 2-tiered economy. For those fortunate enough to be on top of that economy - high wage earner executives, big investors, etc. - things are improving. Think the folks who can go out and drop a couple hundred bucks on dinner without thinking about it.

For regular folks, who live paycheck to paycheck and try to put a little back for kids school/retirement etc - there still seems to be a lot of job uncertainty/cuts and rising prices (particularly gas and health care) that cut into wages that are not rising at all or not keeping up with inflation. So for those folks, it is not getting better.

That's what I see anyway. My DH and I were out at a restaurant for a work function where the average entree was about $35 and the ticket at our table of 4 was probably over $200. It was absolutely packed with a 90 minute wait. I said man, you'd never know the economy was hurting based on this place. He said "these people aren't the regular people." That's sort of what I mean.

I completely agree and see this as well. I think the economy is improving for certain people. But there's a lot of people being left behind. I think something like half the workforce makes $500 and less/week. More and more of their paycheck goes to essentials. For a middle class family like mine, going out to eat involves picking up a Dominoes Pizza once or twice a month. There's just no money for extras.

I don't know how this all is going to play out. I suppose there can be two economies--the upper middle class and wealthy trading goods and services amongst themselves while the middle-middle and below continue to struggle.

 

[verlee]

I think we need an additional category. Slightly worse. It seems like most people do not think it is going down hill fast but not really the same either.

 

[thebeesknees]

I said worse. I know more people out of work now than I did 4 years ago. Grocery prices are way up here; I am paying twice as much for meat as I was a couple of years ago, not to mention dairy, etc. DH is fortunately still employed, but has had no COL increase since he started there 3 years ago, no bonus (as is customary in the industry), etc. Health care premiums are way up and benefits have been cut drastically as far as what is covered by insurance compared to just last year. Gas prices are going up all the time - in fact, we are trying to decide if it would be cheaper to pay for full-day kindergarten for our youngest or to pay for the 25-mile round trip pickup in the middle of the day. I already drive 50 miles total per day to get the kids to and from school (no bus service here for our public school), so add in a midday pickup for the little one and our per-day cost goes up 50%. As for the schools, per-pupil funding is way down and they have had to cut a lot of programs like music, art, gym class. Our house value has fallen quite a bit this year, but I am thankful that at least we aren't underwater on it yet. So yeah, overall I think it is worse here than it was. However, I also think that this is probably the "new normal" for a lot of us.

 

[kamik86]

I put things are about the same since I think that is true for most of my area.

However for me. Things are great. I never really hit a slump though the economy crashed before I graduated from college by industry (software engineer) wasn't doing too bad. I got a full time job with benefits and since I got the less then 3 years ago my salary has increased over 4k. (and it was quite good to begin with). My DH works at target but things really didn't go downhill for him either. The store stopped hiring but didn't lay anyone off or even cut hours too much (besides the times of year that they always do anyway).

Before I graduated I had no money being a poor college student and we had to pinch every penny so now I feel like we have tons of money.

We honestly haven't saved as much as I would have liked but that is more just we havn't done it, not that we really couldn't. (DH is not nearly as much of a saver and he convinced me to go to disney once and I got hooked) but we do still have money in the bank and our bills get paid. Only debt is student loans... so yeah not doing bad at all.

 

[kirstenb1]

My perception is that we are now in a 2-tiered economy. For those fortunate enough to be on top of that economy - high wage earner executives, big investors, etc. - things are improving. Think the folks who can go out and drop a couple hundred bucks on dinner without thinking about it.

For regular folks, who live paycheck to paycheck and try to put a little back for kids school/retirement etc - there still seems to be a lot of job uncertainty/cuts and rising prices (particularly gas and health care) that cut into wages that are not rising at all or not keeping up with inflation. So for those folks, it is not getting better.

That's what I see anyway. My DH and I were out at a restaurant for a work function where the average entree was about $35 and the ticket at our table of 4 was probably over $200. It was absolutely packed with a 90 minute wait. I said man, you'd never know the economy was hurting based on this place. He said "these people aren't the regular people." That's sort of what I mean.

You've summed up the way it is here in Richmond, Va. So many people are in banking, and all the ones we know did very well during the recession. The rest of us (dh is in manufacturing) are slowly doing better. DH's job depends somewhat on the housing industry, so it's been a tough several years.

Still we feel very fortunate he's kept his job, his company has moved out of 2 week furlough status for all professional jobs, etc.

There's a lot of money in Richmond, just not evenly distributed. So when you go to the malls, and restaurants, they're packed. They just opened a Tiffany's here across from the Louis Vuitton store. I've never shopped in either and it isn't likely I will.

 

[Hoodie]

Around here we are just beginning to feel the impact. Like a PP, I'm in the DC area. We were pretty immune from most of the collapse (except for housing prices!) Everyone I know who lost jobs were in other states. Some people locally had furlough days or salary freezes, but the overall impact wasn't really there because the federal gov't was spending like a drunken sailor.

Now that the chickens have come home to roost, we're seeing the pinch. I know 4 people laid off within the past 6 months. The feds (a huge chunk of the economy) are entering the 3rd year of a pay freeze with increases in healthcare and transportation. There are proposals to extend the pay freeze for another 2-3 years and increase mandatory employee contributions to healthcare and retirement. We're seeing the slowdown now that we sort of escaped before.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

Bad times just caught up to my job. I just returned from a Disney trip to find out there is a "big meeting" at work next week, and major budget cuts will be announced. I work part-time so it's not looking good for me.

Up till now, my job has been steady. I work for a municipality where the full-timers are unionized and civil service, and over the years negotiated huge salaries and cadillac medical benefits. Because these employees cost so much, anyone hired in the last 7 years (like me) remains part-time or a temp, with zero benefits. We are basically doing the exact same job for 1/3 the price as the full-timers. Now it finally caught up to my workplace - these full-timers are too expensive, and we have a huge budget hole for the year. But yet, the full-timers view themselves as "untouchable" and will fight any changes.

So where is my job going to save money? Probably chopping out the hours of the part-timers, what else can they do. I definitely see myself looking for a new job soon, when there are none in my field. Very bleak if I think about it too much.

UPDATED: Yep, my workplace will be closing weekends, which are run by part-timers, so only the part-timers will be affected. With other cuts, I am now down to 8 hours a week.

Time to go get my resume ready.

 

[Swan4Me]

I think we will really see the impact of the BP spill/chemicals and the Japan nuclear plant pouring radiation into the water soon in our health. The gulf is in bad shape. There is a dead zone there.
We told DH's friend at work not to travel to/ go in the water at Clearwater, FL late last year. She said "but it is all cleaned up!" Well she has had a god awful infection in her privates for months now and the doctors can not figure out what it is. She told us she is sorry she ever swam there.:

All swimmable and fishable waters are cleaned up-I've been eating fish we caught in the Gulf-since given the green light a year or so ago

The story of your friend is hogwash

 

[java]

Well so much for the getting better. DH was laid off today again.
Can I change my vote?

 

[verlee]

Well so much for the getting better. DH was laid off today again.
Can I change my vote?

Sorry about that Java. Hope he finds something else soon.

 

[PatriciaH]

All swimmable and fishable waters are cleaned up-I've been eating fish we caught in the Gulf-since given the green light a year or so ago

The story of your friend is hogwash

Really? Seriously? You TRUST what you are told no questions asked? By big business. In this country. Wow. Why would I make something like that up? I love FL. I have family in FL. I love the ocean. I also have friends that are environmental lawyers that used to live in FL (Gulf Coast) and know what is going on with the water there. They got the heck out ASAP after that spill. Do not believe it is cleaned up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Mystery-baffles-scientists-11-wash-beach.html

"n the last month, 177 short-beaked common dolphins have stranded on Cape Cod and 124 have died.
This year’s strandings dwarf the average of 37 common dolphin strandings annually over the last 12 years, and no one can explain why the numbers have mysteriously spiked this year."

Yeah no one can explain. Sure.

http://news.yahoo.com/scientists-test-sick-alaska-seals-radiation-003224466.html

"Scientists in Alaska are investigating whether local seals are being sickened by radiation from Japan's crippled ***ushima nuclear plant.
Scores of ring seals have washed up on Alaska's Arctic coastline since July, suffering or killed by a mysterious disease marked by bleeding lesions on the hind flippers, irritated skin around the nose and eyes and patchy hair loss on the animals' fur coats."

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=95596&tid=282&cid=89188&ct=162

"First Study of Dispersants in Gulf Spill Suggests a Prolonged Deepwater Fate"

http://www.watercheck.biz/index.php...ts-in-gulf-of-mexico-waters&catid=1&Itemid=95

"More bad news for the Gulf region: the Corexit dispersant used by BP during the Deepwater Horizon disaster does not degrade over time, despite what people hoped. As it turns out, scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution could still detect the dispersant in the ocean 2 to 3 months after use of the dispersants had ended, 200 miles from the wellhead."

http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/08/is-oil-still-leaking-from-bps-gulf-disaster-site.html

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2011/08/bps-gulf-oil-well-is-leaking-again-its.html

http://www.zerohedge.com/contribute...l-may-be-coming-cracks-and-fissures-seafloorV

"Is oil still leaking from BP's Gulf disaster site?"

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-6653016.html

"More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one - not industry, not government - is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows."

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/09/2011912175412109550.html

From September 2011

"BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster is, to date, the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. BP has used at least 1.9 million gallons of toxic dispersants to sink the oil, in an effort the oil giant claimed was aimed at keeping the oil from reaching shore.

The dispersants are banned in at least 19 countries, including the UK.

Meanwhile, fresh oil, either from natural seeps, oil platform wreckage, the Macondo 252 reservoir itself, or all four, continues to flow into the Gulf of Mexico."

http://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/index.html

"The Gulf of Mexico dead zone is an area of hypoxic (link to USGS definition) (less than 2 ppm dissolved oxygen) waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Its area varies in size, but can cover up to 6,000-7,000 square miles. The zone occurs between the inner and mid-continental shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico, beginning at the Mississippi River delta and extending westward to the upper Texas coast."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/gulf-dead-zone-predicted-largest-in-history_n_877188.html

"NEW ORLEANS -- Scientists predict this year's "dead zone" of low-oxygen water in the northern Gulf of Mexico will be the largest in history – about the size of Lake Erie – because of more runoff from the flooded Mississippi River valley."

 

[PatriciaH]

Well so much for the getting better. DH was laid off today again.
Can I change my vote?

Ugg. So sorry.

And it is not just the ocean Saw this today:

http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/02/23/two-headed-trout-are-mining-byproducts-blame

"Should a mining company whose pollutants are causing shocking mutations in native fish be allowed to keep polluting? According to the EPA, the answer is yes.

Buried deep in J.R. Simplot Company’s self-commissioned scientific report were startling photos of mutant, two-headed brown trout. The mining company used the report to petition the EPA to allow higher levels of selenium into creeks and streams near its phosphate mining operation in southern Idaho. Selenium is a mining byproduct known to be toxic to wildlife, particularly egg-laying animals like fish, birds and reptiles. And at first, it appeared the EPA seemed agreeable to the proposal.

Just how news of mutations in wild trout will reverberate among Idaho’s large trout farming operations is unclear. Idaho raises more than 70 percent of the farmed trout in the country."


Please read and keep informed. All of these companies have impacts on OUR lives, the economy, the world!

 

[jujube]

All swimmable and fishable waters are cleaned up-I've been eating fish we caught in the Gulf-since given the green light a year or so ago

The story of your friend is hogwash

No they have not been cleaned up. BP says they have but people that I know who fish for a living will tell you they are still seeing problems. I was at a beach 1 month ago and oil blobs are still washing up.

 

[jujube]

I'm still reading about layoffs around the country so I don't think it's getting too much better. Fortunately, our area was not hit hard by the downturn.

 

[PatriciaH]

No they have not been cleaned up. BP says they have but people that I know who fish for a living will tell you they are still seeing problems. I was at a beach 1 month ago and oil blobs are still washing up.

I feel awful for the fisherman in that area too. Their families fished for generations and many of them decided to just give up. They did not trust that the seafood/shrimp/oysters/fish are safe and had independent tests done or just walked away from their livelihood rather than make people sick. Poor LA has had runoff from farms, etc. ruining their area for years and then BP. The fishermen in Alaska are trying to get the fish tested there too because they have been seeing lots of weird things and think the radiation from Japan may have to do with it. These are people that are out there every day and see what is going on. The economy is sure worse for them. I know people want it to be clean and safe for tourism, and their home values, and they love the ocean, etc. but it is not.