25 Reasons to be worried. http://www.zerohedge.com/article/mo...25-reasons-be-absolutely-disgusted-us-economy #1 There are now 6.4 million fewer jobs in America than there were when the recession began. #2 In Southern California, the average price of a gallon of gasoline is $1.00 higher than it was at this time last year. #3 The average price of gasoline in the United States has jumped about 20 cents in just the last two weeks. #4 Over the past 12 months the average price of gasoline in the United States has gone up by about 30%. #5 In the 8 days leading up to the "historic" $38.5 billion budget deal, the U.S. national debt increased by $54.1 billion dollars. #6 The $38.5 billion in budget cuts that the Republicans and the Democrats have agreed to represent approximately one percent of the federal budget. #7 During the 2010 campaign, the Republicans promised voters they would cut $100 billion from the budget for 2011. Instead, they gave in when the Democrats offered just $38.5 billion. #8 The Obama administration had been estimating that the federal budget deficit for fiscal 2011 would be approximately 1.6 trillion dollars. Now it will likely be somewhere around 1.55 trillion dollars which will still be an all-time record. #9 According to numbers released by Deloitte Consulting, a whopping 875,000 Americans were "medical tourists" in 2010?. #10 The median pay for CEOs increased by 27 percent during 2010. #11 Thanks to globalism, U.S. workers now must directly compete for jobs with workers in places such as Indonesia. In Indonesia, full-time workers make as little as two dollars a day. So how are Americans supposed to compete with that? #12 Last week, the price of gold set a new all-time record on Tuesday, on Wednesday, on Thursday and on Friday. #13 The price of silver rose almost 7 percent last week alone. #14 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago. #15 According to the Economic Policy Institute, almost 25 percent of U.S. households now have zero net worth or negative net worth. Back in 2007, that number was just 18.6 percent. #16 Americans now owe more than $903 billion on student loans. #17 According to the New York Times, as of 2009 the wealthiest 5 percent of all Americans had 63.5 percent of all the wealth in America. Meanwhile, the bottom 80 percent had just 12.8 percent of all the wealth. #18 According to a recent report from the National Employment Law Project, higher wage industries accounted for 40 percent of the job losses over the past 12 months but only 14 percent of the job growth. Lower wage industries accounted for just 23 percent of the job losses over the past 12 months and a whopping 49 percent of the job growth. #19 The first week of air strikes in Libya cost the U.S. government about 600 million dollars. #20 The price of corn has more than doubled over the past year. #21 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average length of unemployment in the U.S. is now an all-time record 39 weeks. #22 Back in the 1950s, corporate taxes accounted for about 30 percent of all federal revenue. Today they account for less than 7 percent of all federal revenue. #23 If the U.S. government eliminated all discretionary spending and all defense spending it would still not balance the budget. #24 It is being projected that U.S. government debt will rise to about 400 percent of GDP by the year 2050. #25 Americans spend approximately 27.7 billion dollars a year preparing their tax returns. On a side note, what are the best ways for a person to protect themselves from a potential collapse?
1) Obtain a degree in a specialized field. 2) Do not live beyond your means 3) Have 3 months worth of living expenses in savings at all times 4) Have a diverse retirement plan 5) Be smart
Having 3 months worth of living expenses doesn't do yo much good when the dollar become worthless or is devalued a great deal. I'm not saying it will happen. But don't be naive to think it can't happen. Invest in gold or comities? That is more what I am referring to. Your advice is good for anyone at all times. Nothing new there.
They way I do it, is to fall on my face praying for God to forgive me for my sins and take care of my needs for tomorrow. Sometimes it works, and sometimes, I insist on taking over. Rarely does my best effort do any good. Or you could run around with your arms in the air screaming the world is ending. Oh, and God has insisted I follow hookers steps.
I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about investing in gold or commodities. You might think I'm naive, but I don't think the dollar will ever become worthless, nor will the US economy completely collapse. I believe that most of what we hear from political sites or media is meant to insight or cause fear. I haven't changed the way I spend money or anything concerning my life since the recession. Nothing had changed in my world. Is it because I'm just lucky? Or is it because I'm just smarter than the average person? I don't know. But I'm not too worried about my future. In fact, I think it looks quite good.
The top 1% wage earners in the US pay over 33% of the taxes. Their income share (on average) is bested by their tax burden, annually. The top 5% pay over 1/2 the income taxes. The top 50% pay over 94% of all income taxes. I have very little concern about most people crying about how much other people are making.
The economy has been picking up, and picking up speed, since last fall. If there hadn't been the multiple middle east crises causing oil to jump way up and then the earthquake in Japan the economy would be looking even better. It's fashionable to crack on obama for a "bad economy" but, in actuality, some of the stuff he did actually worked. I am not a fan of his but you have to give credit where it is due. I am not a "stocks and bonds" guy by any measure but I do pay attention to the market, enough to pull down about 15k since Dec., and the market believes the economy is doing better. If you pay attention to partisan politics, and depending on who you pay attention to and where their info comes from, you would believe we were on the edge of a precipice but, in reality, all that is just to get your vote next time. Look at your own state, WI. Your governor had everyone believing they were on the edge of bankruptcy but, as soon as he gets union busting legislation through, there is no more "going broke" talk. In reality, WI is one of the states that are better off budget-wise but you wouldn't have known thata few months ago if you listened to just one faction.
You might want to re-read what I wrote. I don't think your naïve for thinking the dollar won't become worthless or that our economy will crash. I said you would be naïve to think it can't happen. I don't think either of those things will occur either. But I also know we live in scary times and that the possibility is there. How do I prepare and protect is the question? Did anyone read the article? More or less this thread should be about if you think the economy is really in trouble or if we are just on a slow recovery. Wish I knew more to be able to predict. I do know inflation is hitting hard right now and that has to be a concern to hamper the recovery. I typed this on my blackberry so ii hope it makesd sense.
Bruce as normal I well written post. Here in MI we are going to add About 120,000 thousand jobs from the big three. We also have a Gov who is doing some great things. I may disagree with 1 or 2 items, but as a whole I am very happy. We had the same deal Wisconsin with cutting benefits. Only Synder talked with the Unions and got his deal. No protesting, no lying, and no paying off his donors. He did not have any. I really like his new flat tax for business owners. At 6 percent, it's fair IMO and will drive business to MI. He also has some taxes increases to help pay for his tax cuts. I am stunned we lost so many jobs, I thought the tax cuts from Bush we would be fine. Did anyone know social security runs a surplus every year? That money is put into Treasury Bonds and counted as debt. Today it's about 4 trillion of the debt. Looking at the two plans today between Ryan and Obama, it's a tough call. I like a flat tax for corp, but his other cuts on Medicare(eliminating it) I am not for. They also need to look at tax expenditures, which are about a trillion dollars. Order a Volt and don't worry about Gas. Owners are getting around 1000 miles a tank. As soon as my 10 year old focus dies, I will have one.
I remember reading a few economists thoughts (an economist I'm not, btw) on the financial situation as we essentially were entering the recession. They said most economic recessions hit a low point, then begin to show signs of slow/steady growth before REALLY bottoming out one last time before final recovery. For the life of me, I can't remember the justification for this opinion or theory, but it's often in the back of my mind. Are we out of the woods yet? I doubt it. Is it as bad as the media often portrays? I don't think so. I'm a frugal person, my wife and I are blessed with good jobs, and we have our funds diversified somewhat decently, so we do what we can, I suppose. Eliminating as much debt as possible would be a start.
"2) Do not live beyond your means" Best advice right there. I have never lived above my means in any one category other than my house. If I had to do it all over again I would have never purchased such an expensive home (for me). The wife wanted a good safe neighborhood so I bit instead of really thinking. I counted my chickens before they hatched as I anticipated continued pay raises over the past three years for my wife and I. But we have not received any due to the economy. It has been really tough and many of the trips I have wanted to go on to see even some of you guys on here I have not been able to do because I cannot risk spending any decent sums of money (for me), Another bit of advice I am starting to teach my children....save 5%-7% of everything you earn from your first job on. Pretend you do not even have that money and purchase cars and homes with the thought that you are 5%-7% poorer and live as such. Good luck to any of you guys struggling out there and continued blessings to those of you that bust your tails on a daily basis.
Don't over spend. The people themselves are as much to blame for this bad economy as the gas and diesel prices are.
I don't know either way but I did a Google search and found this which states sales are struggling other than GE buying a whole bunch. http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/16/chevy-volt-ayn-rand-opinions-patrick-michaels.html
Thanks for buying one of my $50,000 flops, Gary. Tell all your friends to do the same. Sincerely, US Taxpayer
I just quit watching the news altogether, canceled my newspaper...work hard and focus on family...life has never been better. Hell - even this thread is too depressing...back to the Bowhunting talk
I agree with this. I do find myself getting down reading all the crap of this world. I just have too strong of beliefs to ignore politics and I have a vested interest in the economy so I keep following it.
