Is the economy picking up at your house or your area?

[kamik86]

Personally things never really got bad for my husband and I. My husband was working at Target before things got bad and although they cut total hours at the store his have stayed quite high, they just haven't been hiring as many people. We don't really need his income anyway.

I graduated college as things were really heading down hill but still found a great job. I got a small raise last year after only working 7 months of the period they look at to detrmine the raise... I expect to get more this year. But with getting my first real job I have more money then I ever have.

My company is doing really well. We are a DoD contractor and just got another large long term contract that means we are hiring more people so I don't fear layoffs any time soon.

As for my family one sister is working two jobs but I'm not sure her hours were cut at her old one or anything I think she actually just really likes bartending at night. She has the personality for it and is making tons on tips on the weekends. My dad didn't get as much overtime as normal, my mom did lose her job but she would have had to leave anyway since she had to ger her knee replaced. she is on disability now since she has only ever done waitressing and housekeeping neither of which could be done with her knee still healing. She will hopefully get disability for at least 1.5 more years at which point she will be 62 and can start taking retirment.

One of my other sisters works retail is doing ok. The last one is hurting but she is probably the only one I know that really is.

If gas prices go up it will hurt some but not huge. We don't pay for heat on our apartment since it doesn't have a seperate meeting from the one downstairs and our car only uses around 10 gallons a week normally so that won't be enough to really break the bank.

 

[solfan68]

Gas prices predicted at $5/gallon. Which means food prices will increase. Actually, prices of everything requiring transportation will increase.

Wow. Gas is currently at $3.20 here in PA, so I can't imagine a near $2 spike. We're doing ok. Not setting the world on fire, but certainly holding our own and paying the monthly bills, including some frivolous things like Netflix. Thoughts and prayers to those taking a red pen to their monthly budget.

 

[MoniqueU]

I am in Socal as well and my DH's new job is down in San Diego so we will probably feel the pinch of gas but ease up on tolls. Our county saw 14 percent unployment and has been hit hard. I am just seeing signs it is getting better.With the budget cuts it could get much worse however I agree that we need to restructure our state employees and make drastic cuts. I always used to say if you have 10 people in your office each spending 10 percent of their time browsing the internet then they have one to many employees. There is alot of room to cut some jobs as tough as that may be. I do hope that people can find new jobs and that we encourage more companies to do business in CA.

 

[happygirl]

Not really, I think things are getting worse. It seems like people have given up looking for jobs. A person can only look so far before they give up.

I'm happy for those of you that things are picking up in your area

 

[tlschmier]

I live in Nevada That should explain all I could possibly say BLEH!

 

[#1hoosierfan]

We have been fine in our household. I am a tenured teacher, so my job is safe. School funding, however, has been cut over and over in the state of Indiana because we are tied to the state sales tax. I am working MORE because things like my aide hours were cut in half this year.

My dh is a manager at a locally owned bank. He works in the home foreclosure area. They have been busy, but the amount of foreclosures and short sales seem to be decreasing, so that is good news for both. There are a lot of sad stories about people losing their jobs and then their homes, but truthfully there a TON of people that got in WAY over their heads with their mortgages a few years ago, and now it is catching up with them.

 

[Colleen27]

We're in the Detroit area. Need I say more? We were mired in recession long before it was national news, and I'm sure it'll stick around long after the rest of the country starts seeing recovery. Fortunately we personally are doing okay, a fact we owe as much to luck as to hard work or good planning, but it is hard to see those around us struggling.

 

[Pakey]

Although my company just finished the its best year in its 30 year history and I got an incredibly generous bonus, the area in which I live has not recovered. My husband owns a small business and his revenue was down 10% although he did see an increase in activity in recent weeks. Unemployment rates here remain in the double digits and I continue to see businesses, especially restaurants, close.

There are still a lot of foreclosures but I do believe they have slowed.

Of course, everyone knows what kind of financial shape our state government has been in here for years now.

 

[mrodgers]

When was the economy good? I can't remember that far back.

I started working a "real" job in 1995. Back then, a $10-12/hour job was pretty good. Fast forward 15 years and they are still the same $10-12/hour jobs, but you get 1/3 of the living from it.

When I started working, you obviously had the Haves and the Havenots. The problem with the economy isn't Bush, isn't Obama, isn't Afganistan, isn't Iraq, isn't oil, etc, etc. The problem with the economy is that the gap betwee the Haves and the Havenots has grown so huge it is ridiculous.

15 years ago around me, $10-12/hour was pretty good money and the Haves were making $90-100k/year. Today, the Havenots are still making $10-12/hour, but the Haves have been escalated to $150-200k. They ran around in their happy little bubbles crapping all over the Havenots and then.... their little happy bubbles popped when the disparity grew too large.

If you have 80% of the people as Havenots and 20% of the people as Haves, and the Haves crap all over the Havenots and collapse them and the 80% of the people go into crisis mode, suddenly there is 80% less product being sold and 80% less business to support the happy little bubbles of the Haves.

The economy has been crap for a very long time, not just this recent stuff the last couple of years.

 

[Marionnette]

When was the economy good? I can't remember that far back.

I started working a "real" job in 1995. Back then, a $10-12/hour job was pretty good. Fast forward 15 years and they are still the same $10-12/hour jobs, but you get 1/3 of the living from it.

When I started working, you obviously had the Haves and the Havenots. The problem with the economy isn't Bush, isn't Obama, isn't Afganistan, isn't Iraq, isn't oil, etc, etc. The problem with the economy is that the gap betwee the Haves and the Havenots has grown so huge it is ridiculous.

15 years ago around me, $10-12/hour was pretty good money and the Haves were making $90-100k/year. Today, the Havenots are still making $10-12/hour, but the Haves have been escalated to $150-200k. They ran around in their happy little bubbles crapping all over the Havenots and then.... their little happy bubbles popped when the disparity grew too large.

If you have 80% of the people as Havenots and 20% of the people as Haves, and the Haves crap all over the Havenots and collapse them and the 80% of the people go into crisis mode, suddenly there is 80% less product being sold and 80% less business to support the happy little bubbles of the Haves.

The economy has been crap for a very long time, not just this recent stuff the last couple of years.

Wow! That's a pretty big indictment of a whole class of people! Im sorry that your lifestyle has not improved over the last 15 years. But I cant see how you can hold all successful, hardworking people responsible for your income level. Our employees have had very generous salary increases over that time period as well as vacation and Christmas bonuses. The success of our business is closely tied to the way they perform their jobs and they are rewarded for it. Im sorry that your employer feels differently. However, I take offense that you somehow feel that our success somehow came at the expense of someone else. Our sucess actually means more jobs for other people.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Though I work in an industry that has seen its share of downswing, when the economy is tough I personally get busier... as people's dissatisfaction and personal financial issues spur them to seek new ways to make money... like litigation!

 

[Colleen27]

Wow! That's a pretty big indictment of a whole class of people! Im sorry that your lifestyle has not improved over the last 15 years. But I cant see how you can hold all successful, hardworking people responsible for your income level. Our employees have had very generous salary increases over that time period as well as vacation and Christmas bonuses. The success of our business is closely tied to the way they perform their jobs and they are rewarded for it. Im sorry that your employer feels differently. However, I take offense that you somehow feel that our success somehow came at the expense of someone else. Our sucess actually means more jobs for other people.

Of course it isn't going to hold true for everyone and the categories aren't as clear cut as the picture previous poster painted (a lot of the foreclosure problem was people with a middle class income trying to live like the "haves"), but as a general rule she's right. The "haves" are making more while their businesses pay less, in wages, in healthcare benefits, in hours, in overtime, etc. It isn't an indictment of every single person in that group - no thinking person would claim that Warren Buffet is no different from Michael Duke. But as a general trend she's right; prices go up, profit margins go up, but productivity has for the first time in our history been completely divorced from wages and the "have nots" (working class/blue collar/whatever you want to call it) are making less in inflation-adjusted dollars than they did a decade ago, never mind a generation ago.

That's something I don't see a lot of people talking about, so much so that it has become something of an elephant in the room. We're a consumption driven economy, but outsourcing and downward wage pressures have eroded the consumer base needed to support that consumption. Until that changes - something that is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future - the economy will continue to struggle. We'll see recoveries, but we'll also see more and deeper recessions and the overall trend will be downward.

 

[Marionnette]

Of course it isn't going to hold true for everyone and the categories aren't as clear cut as the picture previous poster painted (a lot of the foreclosure problem was people with a middle class income trying to live like the "haves"), but as a general rule she's right. The "haves" are making more while their businesses pay less, in wages, in healthcare benefits, in hours, in overtime, etc. It isn't an indictment of every single person in that group - no thinking person would claim that Warren Buffet is no different from Michael Duke. But as a general trend she's right; prices go up, profit margins go up, but productivity has for the first time in our history been completely divorced from wages and the "have nots" (working class/blue collar/whatever you want to call it) are making less in inflation-adjusted dollars than they did a decade ago, never mind a generation ago.

That's something I don't see a lot of people talking about, so much so that it has become something of an elephant in the room. We're a consumption driven economy, but outsourcing and downward wage pressures have eroded the consumer base needed to support that consumption. Until that changes - something that is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future - the economy will continue to struggle. We'll see recoveries, but we'll also see more and deeper recessions and the overall trend will be downward.

Point well made. However the pp was not just referring to the Warren Buffets of the world. mrogers took aim at the top 20% of wage earners (basically one out of every 5 families). That's a far cry from the 0.5 of the top 1% that Buffet and company comprise and a lot of small business owners who are trying to keep it together thru this economy so that there will be a business to run and jobs to work when things do improve.

 

[mrodgers]

(a lot of the foreclosure problem was people with a middle class income trying to live like the "haves"), but as a general rule she's right. The "haves" are making more while their businesses pay less, in wages, in healthcare benefits, in hours, in overtime, etc.

Yes, this is obviously true as well. The Haves have McMansions, $30-40,000 cars, cell phones surgically attached to their ears that cost a monthly payment that a car use to. Now the Havenots also have the McMansions, $30-40,000 pickup trucks, and cell phones surgically attached to their ears that cost a monthly payment that a car use to.

And I would categorize the post that replied first to me as within the Haves group rather than the Havenots.

And finally..... he, not she

 

[mrudman]

Not doing a whole lot of upswinging around here yet...

DH's pay has been frozen for 3 yrs now.. no cost of living raise, no bonuses, no nothing.. and he only makes $22k or so as a middle school teacher.

My pay had been frozen for 3 yrs.. no raise, no bonuses, no nothing either.. but this year, we are getting a 2% CoL raise finally... i'm a part-time nurse (24-hr), making about $24k.

(those pay amounts are take-home)

But we're doing fine.. actually have a savings for 1st time ever.. been following DR's envelope systems, etc (but tailored to how I wanna do it).. and feeling pretty comfortable right now)

Own our house, with mortgage, but no CC debt or cay payment.

 

[MoniqueU]

When was the economy good? I can't remember that far back.

I started working a "real" job in 1995. Back then, a $10-12/hour job was pretty good. Fast forward 15 years and they are still the same $10-12/hour jobs, but you get 1/3 of the living from it.

When I started working, you obviously had the Haves and the Havenots. The problem with the economy isn't Bush, isn't Obama, isn't Afganistan, isn't Iraq, isn't oil, etc, etc. The problem with the economy is that the gap betwee the Haves and the Havenots has grown so huge it is ridiculous.

15 years ago around me, $10-12/hour was pretty good money and the Haves were making $90-100k/year. Today, the Havenots are still making $10-12/hour, but the Haves have been escalated to $150-200k. They ran around in their happy little bubbles crapping all over the Havenots and then.... their little happy bubbles popped when the disparity grew too large.

If you have 80% of the people as Havenots and 20% of the people as Haves, and the Haves crap all over the Havenots and collapse them and the 80% of the people go into crisis mode, suddenly there is 80% less product being sold and 80% less business to support the happy little bubbles of the Haves.

The economy has been crap for a very long time, not just this recent stuff the last couple of years.

That's a little harsh. My Dh makes more now then he did 15 years ago but only due to long hours, many on weekends and holidays where he didn't recieve overtime or a paid day off. He gained experience and management skills. I know alot of people that did not refine their skills or put in the extra time to move up where they were. I read an article years ago that those that make over 100k a year put in something like 50 percent more hours. The smount of whining people do just on the dis about vacation time, holiday shifts and weekend hours leads me to believe what I read was correct. I will be happy just to have the time off to take a vacation, never mind even affording one.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

Although my company just finished the its best year in its 30 year history and I got an incredibly generous bonus, the area in which I live has not recovered.

What industry?


I think things are holding steady in my area. Housing prices are still high- not as high as the ridiculous rates at the top of the market in 2005, but still high. Most of my neighbors are government workers (DC Area, plus close to NSA) so I know very few people who have been laid off.

DH and I got minimal raises but our health care costs went up. Overall our household income has increased because I went back to work in September, but I was unemployed by choice after the birth of our third child. The overall cost increase of things and lack of possible is why I am no longer able to make that choice. Two kids in braces is a SERIOUS budget buster, too!

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Of course it isn't going to hold true for everyone and the categories aren't as clear cut as the picture previous poster painted (a lot of the foreclosure problem was people with a middle class income trying to live like the "haves"), but as a general rule she's right. The "haves" are making more while their businesses pay less, in wages, in healthcare benefits, in hours, in overtime, etc. It isn't an indictment of every single person in that group - no thinking person would claim that Warren Buffet is no different from Michael Duke. But as a general trend she's right; prices go up, profit margins go up, but productivity has for the first time in our history been completely divorced from wages and the "have nots" (working class/blue collar/whatever you want to call it) are making less in inflation-adjusted dollars than they did a decade ago, never mind a generation ago.

That's something I don't see a lot of people talking about, so much so that it has become something of an elephant in the room. We're a consumption driven economy, but outsourcing and downward wage pressures have eroded the consumer base needed to support that consumption. Until that changes - something that is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future - the economy will continue to struggle. We'll see recoveries, but we'll also see more and deeper recessions and the overall trend will be downward.

I was actually talking about this with DH the other night. My thoughts exactly, well said.

 

[Anne34]

I'm also in the Chicago suburbs and feel like our area isn't doing too badly. Yeah, our taxes are going up, but we can't stop that. My husband's business has been increasing the past 6-8 months -- they have upped the hours for the workers back to normal. I personally don't know anyone looking for a job. Our neighbor left a CPA job, but he had another lined up. We have seen a few more for sale signs than normal, but noone I personally know has been affected.

 

[pixiewings71]

OP I'm really glad things are looking up for you!!!!! We are still in a slump. There are just NO jobs around here right now, it's kind of sad really. I lost my job in June, send in an average of 100 resumes a month (not for December and not for this month, there are NO jobs being listed) and I've had 2 interviews in that time period. Both went with other people. The job market here is so slow. The good thing is I do qualify for the unemployment extention and our mortgage lender is willing to work with us on our mortgage, we just hope the UI continues for me or I find a job and that our loan mod is actually approved. I live on a street with about 20 houses, 2 are in foreclosure, 1 right next to me, the other is across the street, we are upside in value by a lot and we did everything "right" when we purchased, values have just dropped so much in this area that it affects even those who did do it the right way.
I really am happy for you OP!! Don't let those of us who are still struggling make you feel guilty for feeling good!!