I think our economy is in the tank because of job outsourcing to other countries and Walmart.

hate to tell the brush, but...well....
my hours at work has been cut in half....my husband's shop isn't much better off, one of my son's workplace has been laying off for weeks at a time, and well....
sorry charlie, can't spend what we ain't got...or wait a minute...ya we can, can't we...that's what got us in the mess to begin with, isn't it? but some of us morons actually learn from our mistakes!!!

anybody catch the news about target selling something like $40 billion in credit card recievables a few days ago?? ....I think there's a bigger moron out there than bush!!

George......stop......ahhh, I can't take anymore of your comedy......in fact I'm laughting so hard I want to

Oh, no, I've all over those bills from the last spending urge, Christmas. You know, Christmas, the time when all good Consumers attend the store of their choice for its services.
Oh, oh, now I've all over my fuel bills. Oops, sorry, George, but I gotta use the money to pay for them.

Please, stop, George, with the idiotic statements. Hey, maybe just do another soft shoe routine. Or sing.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
What I find mind-boggling is that apparantly, money is so tight that Chrysler just said "To hell with it! Let's just close for two weeks this summer, that'll save us some money."

And yet Bush says, "No - Spend, Spend!" He is on drugs or something. On second thought, consumer spending is all we have left after NAFTA so, may as well do your part.

This is insane. It's shameful that one of our largest employers is resorting to this. We are just a few paychecks away from being a third-world country.

they will send out more checks, just watch

their will be "patriotic calls" to "fight" this recession and spend to keep the economy and people employed

i think someone looking for a job should look into security and i'm sure Repo firm's will be hiring as well. Kozmo have you looked into these fields? their will be an increase in violence and Repo's and this is not a guess.

i realized this will not just be a cyclical downturn when i remember reading the Bank of international sentiments (BIS) which is infact the central bank/fed of all the central banks saying that the period ending in 2007 may well be looked back at in time as "the golden age". You really have to read between the lines on their statement's because they don't want to spook the markets.

there are structural problems with the debt model of capitalism, it can work well for a while , esp. when you have the world's reserve currency, but it can not sustain a high standard of living forever, and with the imbalances this country has it is a wonder our military has been able to intimidate other country's into supporting us economically for the last few decades.

main street is undoubtably screwed, the questions, in the financial media is how bad will wall street follow

[edit on 14-3-2008 by cpdaman]

I'm gonna buy a submarine, 5 year supply of food, water, torpedoes, ect. I'll disappear for a few months, cause the # is about to hit the fan and it'll not be pretty.

It's obvious that many of you have never taken Economics 101, or have any understanding on the effects that getting the economy moving can have(which will benefit your wallet). What causes an economy to slow down, is when people don't spend, which causes ripple effects throughout the entire economy. There was no suggestion of spending one's life savings, and going into debt, so watch the hyperbole.

This is all by design. Order out of chaos. This is the chaos beginning. Then when they allow things to get completely out of control, they will bring in Order.

The preemptive preparations are nearly complete. I believe gun confiscations are the final step.

I'll spend my rebate on a Beretta-- not some cheap Chinese crap.

Originally posted by trustnobody
Koz, I'm really sorry to hear about your situation, I hope things improve for you.

History shows us that all great empires fall eventually because of greed and arrogance. I think that is what is happening here in the USA unfortunately.

However the positive side is once money becomes worthless we can start over again fresh. Maybe we can come up with better economic system where money is equal the amount of work or product that is produced. Rather than monies, value being determined by a bunch estimated values in a stock market.

Best Regards,
Trustnobody


[edit on 13-3-2008 by trustnobody]

I have a question. Say it does collapse. What about the mortgages? Do they start over, I mean how could people keep there house. I am new at this. Say this, I have my mortgage thru Wells Fargo, say they go bankrupt, what happens to my house?

Another excellent OP Dimensional Detective. Star and Flag.

Enjoy this pic while I go back and read through the rest of the thread.

Originally posted by BlueRaja
It's obvious that many of you have never taken Economics 101, or have any understanding on the effects that getting the economy moving can have(which will benefit your wallet). What causes an economy to slow down, is when people don't spend, which causes ripple effects throughout the entire economy. There was no suggestion of spending one's life savings, and going into debt, so watch the hyperbole.

Bush's tax cuts profited the rich. They didn't spend that money. They didn't need to. Now normal people are broke and cannot spend. I'm sure the average American consumer would love to be able to spend. How about a tax-break on bread? That might encourage spending...

I will be spending my rebate check. Food, gasoline, and some new boxer shorts that aren't worn through.

Here's the short version of my story.

I have been without a job since I was laid-off last Summer. I can't get a service job, because I have to be able to communicate with the other employees but I don't speak Spanish. (You can't even make a special-order at the nearest burger joint anymore, you have to order by number or they won't understand you.) Unemployment has officially made a sharp increase in my region in the past few months, but I am not counted in that anyway, since my benefit expired months ago.

I have already bankrupted, and lost my apartment. I sleep in a cold, wet basement hallway most of the time now, sometimes in my car. Eating is irregular, but I'm not starving yet. There are a few charities that will give you a bag of groceries once every three months. There is also a church that gives out lunch five days a week.

My girlfriend paid my car insurance for me, but her situation is not much better. She is one of three sisters who have all had to move back home into a small apartment with their father due to financial problems. (I get to eat there a few days a week too.)

Anyhow, that's the short end of it. I just wanted to toss that out there, so people realize that some of the other posters are not isolated cases. This is happening everywhere, to people who have worked hard all their life.

Originally posted by BlueRaja
It's obvious that many of you have never taken Economics 101, or have any understanding on the effects that getting the economy moving can have(which will benefit your wallet). What causes an economy to slow down, is when people don't spend, which causes ripple effects throughout the entire economy. There was no suggestion of spending one's life savings, and going into debt, so watch the hyperbole.

too many people don't have the money to spend on the basic necessisities!! the government is giving them money on a monthly basis just to meet those!! the companies would rather sit on their profits, or give it to their ceos in the form of outrageous compensation packages than to pay their other employess enough to just buy the basic necessities....
have you gone food shopping lately? because I've seen 50 cents to a dollar increases in most of the food in the stores in a few month's time. our dollar is falling fast, which means everything is gonna cost more!! by the time we get this nice little rebate check, it might be just enough to give us a month or two of relief from the increase in the cost of living our falling dollar is causing.
if someone has to spend to kick start this economy, a good place to start would be griping at the business sector to increase their lower wages earners paychecks so they can have something to spend!! instead, the haves decided to gamble their treasures away on fraud based debt notes when probably even they knew that there was no chance of it really ever being paid back because of the terms on the loans. they just thought they could unload it on another sucker before things began falling apart and got stuck with it....
oh, well...it's the big money brokers that got us into this mess....let them give up some of their wealth to get it back together. we're on an emergency spending plan here! don't expect a big kick from us.

Is that all they have to offer? Spend more? How pathetic. That is the most shallow and superficial idea they have ever put forth and THAT is saying a hell of a lot.

With oil at $110 and climbing, with the dollar at a twenty year low against the Yen, with the housing market imploding and the credit crunch getting ever tighter it will take far more than consumers spending more to turn this bear around.

ya, it's the governments answer to every problem, throw more money at it!! only, you know they've lost control of things when they start placing their hopes on the consumer and start throwing money at them to spend!!
anyone hear anything at just what else was in that stimulus package...if we little guys are getting $600 a peice and $300 for children.....they must be throwing billions to their buddies in the business sector!
it's strange, but I haven't heard much of anything about the rest of that package, kind of like we'll be happy with this small morsel that they are feeding us and won't look at the rest of it or something.

Originally posted by percievedreality
Hey, they are funding the revolt here people! Don't waste your money on the status quo. Don't save it (for a rainy day?) or go buy a 50" plasma TV so you can futher be assalted. Arm yourselves, go buy as many weapons and ammo as you can! Wouldn't be a bad idea to stock up on whatever you deem a necessity in the event of utter chaos. Or you can decide to flaunt your money in an effort to be better than the Jones' and continue the status quo, no skin off my back. Soon enough, it ain't going to matter and you will see that you wasted your spending power on frivolous crap. I am preparing for an all out war, I suggest you do the same.

Yes, yes, yes... let's spend our money continuing to fund death and destruction.

Hey Americans, don't consume with that refund! KILL KILL KILL!!!

I understand your logic. I'm just not much for another violent revolution that ends the exact same way it always has... because we've always been so good at learning our lesson.

"Ok... so now ummm here's how we're gunna do it, gang. we're gunna uhhh do it the same as last time, but ummm only different, ya know? It'll be totally different!"

.....and how exactly will it be different?