Mitros is not altogether wrong. Not everyone is hurting, and not everyone is without a job. I've been on these boards more recently (this month) because I have less work this month, but the 4 months prior to April were some of the busiest months I've had since I started my company 10 years ago!
If your judging the state of the economy by the newspaper, the media (News on TV), or far worse... Craigslist, it's doom and gloom and despair. However if you get out there you'll see that a LOT of people have figured out how to play the recession. A lot of businesses are taking advantage of the recession. Tire sales are waaaay up, auto parts sales are up. Plumbing repairs are up. Home improvements (DIY) are up, etc. While anyone can argue any of these the bottom line is that some businesses are better off DURING the recession.
People are still spending money. Some people are doing better than they were. Others are taking advantage of recession sales and circumstances. Right now while everyone on Craigslist is WHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNIIIIIIIINNG like a fiddle about the economy others are gobbling up grills, patio chairs, and other items that they have been putting off buying until now. When people get desperate they often make poor economic decisions and sell things for less than they are worth. There are people out there just waiting for those items. It's not dishonest; it's life. It happens now and it happened 100 years ago.
And in addition to that, you have another trend: Someone who might have bought a new car might decide to buy a used one (from someone needing fast cash to save their house) and they might then decide "Hey! We have extra money! Let's go to Disney World!"
[On a side note: Let GM R.I.P. If they can't run their business well enough to survive they deserve to go under like the rest of us!]
6 years or so ago we were at the point of selling our home. It was just too small. Waaaay too small. Since I have a close family member who's a realtor, we knew how it all went. I put it to my wife like this: We can sell our home, and buy a bigger home. BUT if we do..... Those 3-4 trips to Disney a year will stop. She basically told me she'd sleep on the floor in the closet before she gave up her Disney trips.
My point is I choose to look at my own circumstances rather than the economy as a whole, and I'm not in a recession. Many of those losing their homes (I may get flamed....) made POOR decisions that got them there in the first place. Poor credit card decisions. Poor mortgage decisions. Poor new car decisions. Poor "keep up with the Jones" decisions. Poor "My little Johnny or Sally has to have Old Navy and Gap brand clothes" decisions. Poor eating out decisions. Poor investment decisions. The list goes on and on.
Sure we can blame things on others, but 99% of the time if we get really honest we have to admit the problem was our own.
I was raised by a single mom, in a singlewide mobile home, in a bad section of town, and I never fully graduated from college, but I turned out OK. Its all about the decisions we make.
I opted to drive (and still do) 80s and 90s model vehicles rather than pay a car payment, I take my own food from home for lunch at work, I buy my NAME BRAND clothes at yard sales for 50 cents each, I refinanced my mortgage when the rates fell so I could pay it off early, I chose NOT to try to compete with the Jones (I don't even LIKE the Jones) and in the end it was all smart. Who knew?
I've said it hundreds of times before, but the single wisest quote was from my old pastor. "We buy things we don't need and can't afford, to impress people we don't even like." This quote was made during Christmas, but it's an all year quote.
