What do you think about the shape of the US economy?

In the past 12 months, my personal economic situation has ...

  • Gotten worse

    Votes: 50 51.0%

  • Improved

    Votes: 17 17.3%

  • Has not changed

    Votes: 31 31.6%
  • Total voters
    98
F

FireMax

New member
The government says that we are not technically in a recession. Warren Buffet, the most successful investor in the US, says, yes, we are in a recession.

http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpag...utm_medium=SSP&utm_campaign=utm_campaign=news
Warren Buffett told CNBC that while the US might not have met the formal tests of recession, "most people's situation - certainly their net worth - has been heading south for a while now".
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So, how is your personal economic situation? Are things better for you this year? Worse? Unchanged in the last 12 months? Take into account as many aspects of the economy you can think of such as gas prices, food prices, income, etc. This is a private poll.
 
far more expensive

Gas is $ 4.34 a gallon, diesel is $ 4.94 a gallon while heating fuel is $ 4.12 a gallon. Both those are up over 20% from a year ago. Combine that with groceries up over 10% and 5% increase for electricity and I believe we are in a recession. The market dropped over 500 points in a week when oil hit $ 133 a barrel. If this is not a recession I don't know what will make it one.
 
Like some others on this board I am now retired . I was only working part time for the last 9 months . A short run into CA and come back with produce . My SS check now replaces what I was making so you might say that my income has stayed the same . We live in rural AZ and only go to town once a week . The gas is about $8-$10 depending on which vehicle we take . My wife watches the sale papers from the supermarkets so we aren't spending a horrible amount more on food . I will however add that if I had 3 or 4 children growing up along with a mortgage and all the other bells and whistles I would be in a troubled state of mind . It looks like we are the victims of 2 separate groups . The middle east that loves to see us having trouble being ourselves as we have long been and the market manipulators trading oil among themselves to drive the market up knowing that we'll pay . Obviously there is no shortage so the high prices are not from the market availability factors but those that "deal" in oil . They need only work on "margin" to reap a profit (10% risk capital) which is not much for most of them to risk . If this were raised to say 50% then it would cull the herd . The problem with changing the rules is that other rules would change which might do more harm than good . One of the biggest problems are the tree huggers that won't stop filing frivilous law suits and the judges that allow them therby stopping the tapping of OUR reserves underground . I believe that we should be more energy efficient but by delaying the drilling we are hurting ourselves now . The equivalent of finding out your wife is pregnant so you quickly enroll in medical school . We need a short term fix and a long term solution . Problem is that once the boogie man has left we forget he was ever here .
Living in rural AZ allows me to see first hand the advantages of solar . This has to be hands down the number one way to get out from under the thumbs of OPEC . The downstroke is big but the savings last a lifetime .
 
IMHO, what classifies a recession to some, may not to others. All boils down to amount of $`s coming in to amount of $`s going out in a given household. To many,we`re in a recession. As prices continue to rise, more and more households will fall into recession status. With fuel prices as they are we haven`t begun to see the grocery prices alone top out. Somethings got to be done. Maybe its time for the working man to declare a fuel-day savings holiday. I.E. a day through the week that nobody goes to work,cuts grass,doesn`t do anything to burn one drop of fuel and especially DOESN`T BUY ANY. I get a kick out of government stats claiming we`re either in recession or not. I`ve got eyes and can see. Good example was this Memorial Day holiday. I`d like to see gov. stat on how many million`s of tourist $`s were lost cause people couldn`t afford to travel. We`re only in the beginning of reaping the fallout of fuel prices.:mad:
 
I can remember the late 70's and early 80's, when unemployment was 12% and inflation was 13%. I am fearfull that we are about elect another Jimmy Carter, the worst president of the later half of the 20th century, and the worst president in my lifetime so far.

Obama is the favorite of Goldman Sachs, and Warren Buffett, the reason is the cap and trade carbon credit market they want so they can rob us Blind, just like they are doing with oil, and other commodities right now.:barf:

Things are going to get much worse, I promise.;)
 
Sadly, I feel that regardless of the next President, the ecomony is still going to struggle with this recession. Fuel prices, even if they stabilize, will continue to drive higher consumer prices. Strengthening the US dollar should be the first thing the new elect focuses on.

Either way, I look at this next President to be a one and done as a quick turn around won't be possible. In my opinion, I think that the Reps understand this and understand that a Rep is going to have a hard time getting elected and that's why they've run McCain out as candidate.
 
Maybe its time for the working man to declare a fuel-day savings holiday. I.E. a day through the week that nobody goes to work,cuts grass,doesn`t do anything to burn one drop of fuel and especially DOESN`T BUY ANY.
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We the consumer hold the key(pocketbook) in making changes, slow up,
toss the cell phones, cable, stay home on the weekends, be families once
again. It takes a little time and effort to make things work however we can do
it and just perhaps it may change your life.
 
My personal situation has not changed because of the economy. I did get rid of a gas-guzzling truck and bought a nice crossover SUV for the Mrs. Other than that, if prices continue to increase, all non-essentials will start to go, starting with home phone, cable, internet (access it all day at work), less trips out, combine them and plan accordingly.

My honest opinion is that things are NOT that bad, they have gone downhill slightly, but I think the DOW needs a definite correction to the negative, bring it down around 10,000 again. We reached our peak a few years ago and this is just the bottom of the trough until we start peaking again, once the housing industry picks up, the election (whatever the results are) is over, and people can get back to doing their 9-5 thing we will see a change for the better.
 
I happen to agree with your assessment, BA...

We the consumer hold the key(pocketbook) in making changes, slow up,
toss the cell phones, cable, stay home on the weekends, be families once
again.
Click to expand...

+1 x 10 to the 6th power
 
My wife and I own separate businesses. Both of us have seen this year start out worse than last year. Thus, we have less income coming in. Prices are higher at the gas pump and definitely in the grocery store too. We are not in poverty this year, but clearly, for us, things are worse this year.

I have heard many explanations about why the economy is struggling. So many. It's enough to keep a person confused about where the blame lies. But I do think the price of a barrel of oil is a major contributing factor. The fact that we import over 50% of our oil which we consume and the fact that we are sending that money OUT of the USA into other countries, should explain a lot. There is simply less money in the US economy and the main reason is the price of gas at the pump.

It's as if the powers which control the price of oil (Oil is not a free market) have decided to tax the American citizen at the gas pump by increasing the price of gas and to move our wealth out of our hands and into the hands of the oil producing countries.

To me, the price of gas is the elephant in the room. The fact that the Bush administration and the Congress have done little to try to alleviate the problem by drilling our own oil tells me a lot about the current leaders of our country. IMO, they are bought and sold like a barrel of oil.
 
I'm retired also, but worked for three years after my first retirement, so SS and my pension are replacing the check from that job ... my wife has a good job that she enjoys and plans to keep, but she hasn't gotten a raise in a while and of course pensions don't go up ... I've cut way back on just random trips, even on my motorcycle, we bundle errands so we're not driving 40-50 miles for just one thing, cutting back on "just want it" purchases and for the first time are planning to devise a budget ... I agree that things will be getting a lot worse; politicians are NOT patriots, they're only interested in getting re-elected, and that means catering to big oil and other big business at the expense of their constituents, then throwing us crumbs like the "stimulus" tax rebates ... we're letting them do it, folks ...
 
I think things are going well overall. Salary is up, and through careful exploitation of the energy and financial crises some have gotten themselves into through poor planning, I have managed to do quite well with investments and real estate.

Opportunity knocks when large numbers of people do dumb things with their money. Real estate is a wonderful bargain right now.
 
Our expenses vs. income have closed in if you compare our budget based on 40hr. work weeks. But, we've lived below our means the past few years and it's paying off.

One of the big reasons why I think the average American is suffering through "tough times" is that they way overextended their means of living and haven't been smart with budgeting.

At the moment, I really don't think most people understand just how good we really have it. Once we have to start rationing meat by having to put bread crumbs in meatloaf or have to stand in line at the "Soup Kitchen" then I might start to worry...
 
Worse. Definitely worse. The value of the dollar is lower so even if someone thinks they have not seen a change, it is because they do not realize that their $10,000.00 in the bank is now has about the same buying power as $8,000.00-- this all happened in the past year to year and a half.
 
My new job pays me more, but everything is getting more expensive. The dollar is being debased before our eyes.:mad: I'm distancing myself from the dollar.
 
My PERSONAL economic situation?

It's gotten better.

I've paid off a number of debts and I got a significant raise a few months ago.

Gas prices are annoying, but my office is 2.5 miles from the house, so a tank of gas can last me for a month or more.

I have a heat pump so I don't have to worry about gas or oil heating costs.

Food prices are going up, that is true, but the sale prices for food are, at least around here, about the same, or even better, than they were a year ago. I buy very little at the grocery store that's not on sale, so not a great big deal there.

I've also significantly cut back on the number of times a month that I eat out, especially lunches at the office. Big savings there.
 
FM,
I'm not sure how the overall economy can be judged by my personal situation. I'm doing well enough personally, but the economy I'm plugged into is pretty rotten.
 
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