There has been a barage of bad news lately about the economy. Obviously we have the credit crisis which is only begining, we have the down turn in the hosuing market, the high price of energy and food, rising unemployement, dropping stock market, fed bailing out major financial insitutions and many going belly up or being bought up to save them from collapse. The automakers struggling, air lines struggling.

The only good news it would appear is that the dropping vlaue of the dollar and high fuel prices are bringing some of our manufacturing back to the states and giving us some ground on the export deficit. Of course we still have some GDP growth even if it is pathetically small.

But good god the media is just drumming the bad news day in and day out. Are they over blowing it? Or is the economy on a downward spiral? Is this going to be a receission or a depression?

We of the West will c**tinue to spirl downward in our overall standard of living due to the loss of our heavy industry.

We have to have vocati**s that allow the 'blue collar' to have the American dream.

**ly a relatively small percentage of our people are suited for 'white collar' or high tech vocati**s and that is just the way it is.

We have an energy crisis in America. We have envir0nmentalist's and politician's that are blocking oil drilling and any carb0n fuels.....with0ut giving an alternative. Our food is being imported and we were 0nce (recently too) the breadbasket of the world.

If that ain't stupid.....what is?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pken,

The ec**omy took several hits at **ce. This was due to inept policies and inept regulators.

With the libs taking over the country we can look foward to expensive give-a-ways.

I d**'t see a quick recovery in our future.

A good start would be our infrastructure. Road, bridges, dams and levies.

Also try and sp**sor the manufacture of more of the parts here rather than over there.

They are working on the board and adding to the dirty word list.

quote:

Originally posted by anoldnotboldrecondo:
We of the West will c**tinue to spirl downward in our overall standard of living due to the loss of our heavy industry.

We have to have vocati**s that allow the 'blue collar' to have the American dream.

**ly a relatively small percentage of our people are suited for 'white collar' or high tech vocati**s and that is just the way it is.

I can agree with this to a certain degree. We mus thave the ability to manufacture for a great number of reasons. Jobs of course being one of them.

I have been against global trade aliances for quite awhile and it sounds like you are as well. But at the same point we need to lay the ground work to make it enticing for manufacturing to come here. There are tons of things we can do along those lines including taxes, infrastructure, and yes as much as I am against it health care.

But we also need to work hard on our education system. I am really at a loss for how it could be doing as poorly as it is. But we need more science and math and even english for that matter. We need more going on to secondary education. We will never have vast blue collar job fields again even if we can extend our current count. We need to ensure our people are getting the right skills. Its not just blue collar work being offshored.

quote:

Originally posted by anoldnotboldrecondo:
A good start would be our infrastructure. Road, bridges, dams and levies.

Also try and sp**sor the manufacture of more of the parts here rather than over there.

I would agree that infrastructure definately needs some work. But I would disagree that roads should be part of that. Railroads and public transportation yes. Levies, dams, power grid yes. Wireless Telecomm yes! Water systems such as resevours yes!

Roads are a waste at this point.

quote:

Originally posted by mainedawg:
They are working on the board and adding to the dirty word list.

How are the letters "o" and "n" next to each other a dirty word?

quote:

Originally posted by bill_kananen:
The ec**omy took several hits at **ce. This was due to inept policies and inept regulators.

With the libs taking over the country we can look foward to expensive give-a-ways.

I d**'t see a quick recovery in our future.

I think your right. I currently believe we are heading to a very long recession. One unlike any I have seen in my lifetime. Probably lasting 4 to 6 years. Maybe even longer. I believe that because of this is being driven by energy as much as the credit crisis. Two major economic anchors this time around.

I don't know if it will really matter which party wins the elections.

My worry at this point is if we will really call it a recession or if it will actually be more of a depression. I am keeping my eye on the banking/credit crisis. Way to many people believe its not even close to being over. And there are tons of financial experts warning people to ensure they have their money FDIC insured. Does the government have the money to back up that insurance if some of these banks start going under without further devaluing the dollar and driving up energy even further? From what I am reading it sounds like 10s if not 100s of billions of deposits are at risk.

I live right on the water. Lake Conway in Arkansas.

This is so cool. I have had one up for about a month. I plan to trade fish for other food once the great depression hits.

http://www.bo-jofishlight.com/video.html

quote:

Originally posted by anoldnotboldrecondo:
I live right on the water. Lake Conway in Arkansas.

This is so cool. I have had one up for about a month. I plan to trade fish for other food once the great depression hits.

http://www.bo-jofishlight.com/video.html

Kewl. You gonna be able to keep the power on?

Better get you some solar panels quick... At least the thing uses energy efficient lights..

quote:

Originally posted by floersh:


Kewl. You gonna be able to keep the power on?

Better get you some solar panels quick... At least the thing uses energy efficient lights..

This is Arkansas. My cousin and my wife will gladly turn a generator instead of plowing.

The media is overreacting to the current Economic Situation, IMO.

This is actually a good time to increase your 401k contributions and personal savings plans because of all the idiots that are in full panic acting irrationally.

quote:

Originally posted by mainedawg:
They are working on the board and adding to the dirty word list.

See they are working on infrstructure already in response to the bad economy.

quote:

Originally posted by ErichG2:
The media is overreacting to the current Economic Situation, IMO.

This is actually a good time to increase your 401k contributions and personal savings plans because of all the idiots that are in full panic acting irrationally.

I am afraid that it is a little more sick then you might imagine. A 10% plus correction puts us officially in a bear market....which has not yet turned the corner.

quote:

Originally posted by dmuhler:
I am afraid that it is a little more sick then you might imagine. A 10% plus correction puts us officially in a bear market....which has not yet turned the corner.

I can imagine a lot. I remember the early 1980's, the late 1970's, 2001-2002.

Really, not the end of the world as we know it.

Yes you are right it is not quite 1929, still I am in cash and waiting for a little more direction. I still don't see the bottom. It may be months.

IMHO we went into recession in the 3rd quarter of 2007 when oil and food started their meteoric rise into the stratosphere while housing went deep into the tank.
Due to this administration's fuzzy math, the GDP numbers among other "economic indicators" used currently failed to show the recession we are in.
ANY GDP growth can be easily offset by inflationary forces in both food and energy as well as a very large increase in credit spending despite the housing mess.

When you discard the Bush administration's fuzzy math we find that we now face 4+% inflation and since "growth" has been due to excessive borrowing and those inflationary pressures I mentioned, we have actually been in a real recession since 3rd quarter 2007 and will continue to be until probably mid 2009.
Although the housing/mortgage crisis is now aproaching rock bottom we now have to contend with the credit card crisis which has been brewing since march of this year as people simply choose to "charge it" rather than make the necessary changes required to meet the new economic challenges we face with high energy and food prices. That is why we have only seen a slight decrease in gas usage over the last 6 months of 1.4% when it should be much more while the average amount of credit card balances among the American populace continues to break records month after month.
The Fed only complicated matters by lowering interest rates which was akin to trying to stop a steam roller with a paper wad. It only made matters worse and ruined the dollar.
Our economy can improve only if congress lifts the ban on oil exploration and thousands enter the workforce in energy related fields.
The oil industry could add hundreds of thousands of jobs in only a year to 18 months if this ban is lifted and energy prices could come down to 80/bbl within months of this even being announced.
If a "moonshot" type mentality were adopted, the USA could be energy independent in less than 7 years and give a very huge kick start to the American economy in the process.

However, If Obama becomes president, his radical marxist policies will send the USA into a great depression not seen since the 1930s

I Know my 401K is in the tank, but my Oil stocks are Booming.

Things are going pretty well in Texas I must admit with home values and with the job market.

I'm actually paying off my credit card balance.

After it is gone all I have is the mortgage payment and the insurance deductible on the car I just wrecked (heh-heh).

quote:

Things are going pretty well in Texas I must admit with home values and with the job market

SHHHHHHHH! We have enough Yankees here already!