Can we get the average Americans opinion?

Where i live Gas is quickly approaching $5.00/gal
Food has increased rather heavily. I spent $150.00 on groceries the other day and didn't even get to buy meat! Minimum wage here is $7.50 and average rent is about $1200.

Food and Gas are really the only things that have gotten a lot worse in recent months. But everybody keeps living as normal, including me. Quality of living hasn't gone down for most people, at least not in southern california.

Buuuuuut that can change pretty fast.

I notice food prices have gone up. The extreme burger meal at KFC went up by 1.50 in just a year. even hot chips went up. I dont know whats happening to the Chicken or potatoes. I live in Australia BTW.

reply to post by KingGryphon


KingGryphon,

I agree with your post. You don't even have to go back as far as our grandparents. Our parents (I'm 39) had a higher standard of living we do. We are the first generation of Americans that is not living at a higher standard of live than our parents. My father was the only one that worked in my family and he raised 6 kids with my mom staying home. I have 1 kid and my wife has to work to maintain our standard of living. Combined we make in the low six figures and in the north eastern US that is middle class. Inflation is the cause of this problem. The dollar just does not go as far as it used to.

The media is blowing the economic situation way out of proportion. It is bad but not a total disaster. America will bounce back. I work for a financial firm and there is no panic going on. I have personally been through worse economic times in the early 90's. Most people I know still have jobs and are putting food on the table for their families.

My life isn't affected...yet. I saw this coming and last year...in I think it was November of 2007, I took all of my stocks and liquidated them, because I figured, depending on how the election goes...and how far out of control the oil prices go, we might be in for a total stock market crash...high inflation, a big recession, I don't know which catastrophe will happen yet because the election hasn't happened and we don't know which polished turd will win, but regardless who gets elected...it's going to be bad news in the coming few years IMO.

My business is down, due to people staying home and drinking more since they are paying so much for gas. I lowered my prices instead of raising them like other bars around here, and it's slowly picking back up due to that...

My day job, is based on the car industry, and I have noticed business dropping like a lead balloon in the SUVs, the big trucks, and even the delivery type white panel Ford vans that businesses use to make deliveries, I have noticed they are repairing them instead of totaling them and turning them in for new vans etc. But the little cars that are good on gas, the Toyotas and Hyandais are still moving pretty well.

I think it just depends on where you live and what income level you're at...I think even the rich are cutting back, and I am sure the lower income brackets are hurting. I've noticed more people riding the bus now or buying motorcycles.

I think this is as good as it going to be, for a long while. And I think people should start planning accordingly now, before it gets worse. And if it surprises everyone and magically gets better, then you haven't lost anything by preparing for the worst.

No offense to anyone, but just because it may not be as bad as in other countries doesn't mean it won't be that way eventually. I often wonder "Why is it that Americans have got it so good? Is it because we're more blessed than the rest of the world for some odd reason?"

I think it's more because we invented the nuke and we got everyone hooked on oil and corporate controlled economies/governments.

We're the bullies, scaring everyone to do as we say and give us what we want. Not Us us. The people in control of our government, who are also the ones who are in control of the corporations. It's the corporations. They are making a fortune off "Westernized" society. They are slowly gaining control of the entire world!

You want a New World Order with one world government? You don't need the actual governments to do anything other than whatever the Corporations tell them, and make it seem like it is the opposite. The way I see it, we are in the NWO right now.

Things will go right along as they should until the last possible moment. Until every single sneaky little way out has been used up, and until every single person has just about had enough... and the thing that comes to my mind when I contemplate what our fate is if we don't wake up to the reality we are living is that we will not know what happened until the bombs drop and we're all turned into a radioactive field of fire and ashes.

Forgive me for being so bleak. I forgave the lot of humanity for being so naive. Just leave us weary ones alone when we don't want to continue playing children's games. Leave us alone or listen to us. Don't force us into your own psychotic narcotic Hell. I don't want to spend the last few years of humanity wasting away most of my life doing things I hate and being bitter for it.

If you've got it comfortable and you think that your life is pretty great, that is fine, but just letting you know that you are the minority in the world. Quite a few "average Americans" are suffering quite badly, and that's not even taking into account that America and Canada only count for like 5 to 7 percent of the world's human population. We're also not taking into account the actual ecosystems and ya know the entire well being of actual planet Earth. I mean, if we let go of our extreme apathy for the rest of the world, be it human, animal, or the globe as a whole, oh my God, the guilt we would have to feel. The overwhelming guilt that our gluttony will cost us the ultimate price... and many other living beings that never did anything to deserve this.

This may sound like doom and gloom, but I assure you, it's just common sense. You ignore the entire system you are a part of for too long, you die.

We in America even have extreme apathy towards our own citizens. Our own proud Americans. It's absolute insanity.

The real question is... How many people have become hermits since they realized how wrong the ways of humans, especially America, is?

If the people will not listen, they will die. SUV or no SUV.

As the faithful would say, Godlessness!

I hope everyone understands where we are headed.


[edit on 16-7-2008 by dunwichwitch]

Well I've read all the post since I posted on the first page

I'm sorry I'm still not buying it
IT AINT THAT BAD
oooga booga is right!

it aint the NWO or the Callapse of America or anything of that nature. Every 8 to 12 years we go through a ressesion, like clockwork. We are in the middle of one that is all.


They said the same thing in the 80's and the 90's and now we have one again.

LOL I'm waiting for the oceans to rise though when the ice caps melt then we will have a real problem!

Originally posted by ghostlandseller
Well i think it is hyped up in the media. As of now its not really affecting most people. People are not all becoming homeless and starving... I run my own company and i have noticed that m'y items are not selling like they were just a year ago. People just aren't spending as much! people are holding their money more.

Ghostlandseller, you can thank the media for people holding on to their money and not spending it at your business. People are scared right now because of what the media is blasting them with 24/7. It is interesting to see several posts from all around the country in response to the OP that food and fuel prices are hurting but generally they are getting by ok. If you strictly based how the majority of people are doing on what the media is telling us you would think there must be armies of homeless families all over the country. Don't believe the hype.

It is all because it is an election year and the mainstream media in the US is in LOVE with Obama. Big bad Bush and the evil Republicans destroyed the economy. Their hero Obama will save the day.

It is bad but it has been worse in our country and America always bounces back

[edit on 16-7-2008 by Erasurehead]

It is a lot of smoke blowing but as the old adage goes "Where there's smoke there's fire!"

True in this case. The system has been pillaged by a bunch of people that can be found on the beaches of Brazil, Panama & Paraguay.

I don't offer investment advice but I've done extremely well in uranium & oil plays, especially in Eastern Canada (Labrador) & some in Sask, Alberta). when the markets turns boobs up in my country it was the signal to take back my Canadian investments and wait.

Sure as the sun shines, the Canadian system is trailing the US system. what I'm now seeing is the Canadian energy/resource plays mostly receding VIOLENTLY. It's a latent effect of about 6 - 18 months. Canada is not doig as well as you say.

While our dollar is failing miserably, the Canadians are bragging that they are 'on par' or the same value. You have to keep in mind that your dollar is failing in PARITY with ours!!! The effect is latent and less because of several years of BALANCED BUDGETS in Canada. Many invested in their home commodities and are not yet failing. Wait 6-18 months and your situation will mirror ours, even if ours corrected.

I've recently started buying back for 15% of what I sold for in my Canadian portfolio. Great time to "stock up" in my humble opinion.

It's a latent effect and you have to remind your fellow Canadians to not get too "cocky" as the spotlight of devaluing is on them right now.

I hope you fare well and better than we have.

A good way to think of it is fitting everyone on a sliding scale, 0-100 for instance. People towards one end are poor, the other rich. When a negitive stressor happens, everyone moves towards 0 depending on severity. Depending whether you are sitting good near the top, near the bottom, or in the negitives will shape your views accordingly. The change can be felt by everyone with higher prices, but for the people that are falling off the edge, it makes increasingly more news.

It's similar I figure to a heat wave in the Summer. I heard a couple years ago that Europe had a big heat wave and it killed somewhere in the thousands of people. The danger wasn't equally spread, as the elderly couldn't handle the stress, and being already predisposed (nearer to zero) made it so they couldn't handle the heat. It's similar in that the people that were barely surviving when the economy was good, are now falling off the edge. And you now hear stories of tent cities springing up in California where cost of living is nuts.

The consumer confidence and other surveys show just how negitively Americans feel about the economy, with some their lowest in 50 years. Savings rates are in the negitives for the first time since the great depression. Probably the best idea you can get at the overall picture is looking at some of the polls and statistics.

The average american is doing fine, they will use their votes and freedom of speech to keep it that way. However, the millions who listen to the media and play victim may be aboot to cause some serious trouble.

reply to post by airteck


Things are bad, there is no question. But obviously some are being hit harder than others. And in some areas it is much worse. I am a painting contractor and have seen a definite decline in my business however after making some adjustments and changing some spending habits I am doing fine. It is a temporary situation and I am already seeing business start to pick back up. The real estate market is also picking up in my town. I live in SW Florida. As for how the media is portraying things... I would say they are the media. They will always cover the bad news. You will always see that family that is in forclosure on the news. They are not going to brodcast the families that are doing well. That would not be very newsworthy. Times are tough. Many people are struggling all over, however many people are doing just fine too.

We are all fine. In countries such as China, 75% of your income is spent on food, and you have to pay for tuition all the way through from K-12, and college if youre lucky. A kilogram of ribs cost the chinese 2-3 days of salary.

Originally posted by Becker44
reply to post by airteck

 

Our sensastionalized media loves to pound the doom and gloom drum whenever possible. This generally takes place (in my opinion) more so when a Republican is the POTUS or Congress has a Republican majority.

I would agree with other's observations concerning malls, shopping centers, movies and the like. I was on Newbury Street in Boston on Sunday having Brunch with the "Fam". There was a 2 hour wait at a very expensive high-end restaurant. The streets were mobbed and most people were carrying bags from stores.

The price of fuel does not reflect an accurate picture of the entire economy.

Becker

I might agree with you on the REPOs getting more heat. The cause maybe because I notice that the Republican press secretaries are usually more impatient and hostile towards the reporters. This is a possible cause, I did noticed a huge difference between the Clinton and Bush officials during the transitional week. Bush's folks did not have the same finesse... - If you piss off a reporter it can't be good.Just my opinion though

As far as the economy - I have seen gas top $5.00 five times so far in CA. Milk is about $5.00 a gallon - there are more foreclosed signs then you can imagine - My mothers has dipped $300,000 in four months, a friends house is down about $200,000 in six months. Tons of for sale signs - SUVS are been sold for ten cents on the dollar. Eggs strangely enough have doubled?? I think it all depends on what you make and how you live.

[edit on 16-7-2008 by mental modulator]

I live in one of the many energy boom towns. Ware building houses and business at an insane pace here. Our unemployment is non-existant. We actually have businesses closing down because they cannot find employees. We have two Wal-Marts. One has a sign on the door that says, "This 24 hour Wal-Mart closes at 9PM because we are unable to hire employees. Please apply inside". The other has like 40 checkout lanes and only one or two open. To us the economic slowdown is a myth.

I don't think you're going to get a real estimate of how it really is from ATS. I've seen and have responded to threads on this subject, but the folks that have it the worst in the USA probablly aren't reading ATS.
As I've stated before. I own a small family restaurant & we've felt this imaginary recession very much. The rising cost of EVERYTHING has slowed us down just a bit, but it's destroying our income. We take most of the loss. We can't just keep rasing the prices. We are still recovering from Katrina down here & were progressing pretty fine until early '08. Now the recovery has slowed to a crawl. A few small businesses have closed recently & my local bank said there will be a few more soon. Alomst 3 years since the storm & we have a long way to go. With the state of the economy I am starting to loose hope for the area (MS Gulf Coast) to come back. If it keeps going like this I could lose my restaurant & home; again! Don't feel bad for me; I'm grateful to have a business & home to lose. This ain't doom & gloom. This is my truth. After they [Americans that can afford to] fill their fridge & cars there isn't any money left to eat out.

I hear it's nice in Canada...

Good Grief...

This is ridiculous, so what... food and gas went up... minimum wage is 5.65 or whatever

lol don't work for minimum wage, what is there 16 year olds bitching about the economy in here... holy moly.

The real question and real problem is why have so many people become dependent on jobs? In America?

F Jobs... slavery, only time you should have a job is when you have 2 jobs anyway, because no business will give you enough money at one job to be able to replicate the business...

No American should work more than 5 years of their life, everyone is brainwashed into going to college picking a career getting a job...

This is a Capitalist country people, if your working jobs it's your own fault... make things sell thing, provide a service, open a F^&%$ lemonade stand...

This is sickening to listen too...

I just got divorced last year, I gave away everything I owned had my credit wrecked and i'm going out in an hr for Mojitos, my clothes and shoes are all Italian and yes I'm wearing Pradas on my feet...

Welcome to the internet age... 8.95 a month plus a domain name to start a business... Oil goes up, I got involved in bio diesel... and learned allot and... I scream woooo hoooo at the pub every nickle gas goes up now...


I mean gosh, if your not an entrepreneur in America your just out of your mind... rags to riches you just have to readand open your eyes...

it's easy, i'm basically an idiot but i'm on the way to being rich again.... yeah again lol, I friggin made it before and lost it all and did it again and it's fun as heck...

don't be so dependent, jobs.... it's being capitalized on... business is being a capitalist and this is a capitalist country...



Seriously, I go out every other night and the people I meet who are rich... I know this one girl that makes lamp shades lol... and another lady who sells vitamins and my best buddy got rich working in strip clubs as a bouncer and then opened his own club... he can count no higher than 12 I think lol... it's not that hard, who's fault is it if you go to work at Mc Donalds lol...serves you right

People who work for themselves are all rich if I sound insulting i'm not being insulting, someone just has to wake some of you up... try it, it's summer, go out with some lemons and sugar, mark up the lemonade you make 10 cents cost to the dollar and stand somehwere busy... you will earn more than 5.65 an hr...trust me (you'll best 30.00 an hr if your a cute girl) and lemonade stand is the lowest thing you can do in terms of a business... it's to teach 6 year olds...

I triple plus ever dollar I make over 3 years... it's not hard to make money from your money...


and Jesus jumpin jehoosifats .... the Internets.... The Internets, your on the Internets right now... CJ is free get an advertiser and a domain name go crazy lol lol

I know a guy... he sells pills that make your weiner bigger and he makes like 30,000 a month, he moved to Indonesia and got a satelite connect he has a giant house with waterfalls and servents and he does nothing but awnser the phone and have sex... yeah he plays with his ads... but you get the point...

I don't even know what I do...I go out to places with rich people and I sell crap, I do design work too but I hire people to do that... I go out for Majitos and hang around with rich people and tell them what i sell and we trade business cards and I put things on the net... and half my day I get bored and hang around in here ranting about aliens... while people do the work I should be doing for 1/5 of what I got paid to do it in the first place...

I sell plants I never see on farms in places I have never been... I sell travel reservations to people i never talked to by playing number games on google...

I went out last night and spent 140.00 drinking I came back I had done 185.00 in sales from ads... it's like magic when you go out and come back with more money then you left with lol and didn't do anything!!!!It's f'n crazy how much money you can make... and I don't make the stuff or actually sell it...or, lol do anything really but be kind of good with numbers and words...

I don't make that much off that particular thing... but my pal who's kind of special lol makes like 40-50 (G) a month doing it and he's completely wierded out... he couldn't even hold a real job I promise you that but he sits and does bong hits in his pajamas and gets rain man on google and he's wealthy, he's a freak and he gets hot girls every day and flys all over the place...

I'm the laziest guy in the world and i'm getting rich and the price of bread didn't hurt me one bit...



LOL I got started again this past year... I had no home last year, my shioes had holes in them and I was homeless I walked around offwering to do lawns and got a room and an internet connection... now a year later I'm...

i'm rofl ...out the door in about 30 minutes and i'll be smoking a fine Cigar by midnight and talking with rich gorgeous women and... i'm not full of sh... I was a bum a year ago, lost everything...

If your plan is to have a job your crazy... thats all, get 2 jobs, don't spend a dime until your in business and be smart about it....

hahahah those kids that made the Crazy Frog are Millionares... Can you tell me that doesn't let you know you can do it too...

screw the price of Milk lol, Sell f'n Milk! Get a life... High gas, buy a rickshaw and run people around...oooo start a delivery service... there you go...

you know what I mean? it's carzy to wory about money in America.... you want a job? What are you socialists?

ROFL!

How about the guys that started girls gone wild....

Sally Struthers is a giant Fat ass and shes rich off of being paid to stand there and eat oreos next to starving children...

it's all a laugh riot to say money is a problem in this country...


Jack ass? lol push your friend down a hill in a shopping cart ... this makes Millions...

You could work at Mc Donalds and collect comics and if you just take care iof them odds are on you could retire a multi millionare when you sell them....

LOL howmany people in here make up bs stories about thier alien theories based on nothing but specualtion and make a living...how many people who tell bs stories and lies on the net are millionares right now lol... let alone the ones that really work at something...


8.95 a month for hosting 15.00 for a domain name... and a half a brain, and I say half as an over estimate.

I don't think its that bad guys, c'mon now.. I'm a common 22 year old, driving a gas guzzler, paying bills and stuff.. going to college, and working at a food place. If i can do it you can too And now my parents don't pay # for me and I'm not rich, which is why I'm going to school so i can sit on my ass all day and make more money

Yup pretty bad and its getting crazy. We usually spend 50.00-60.00 a week in groceries plus a single monthly trip of about 160.00. My 50.00 weekly trip somehow cost me 102.00 just yesterday. Gas is almost at $5.00 per gallon. My city just started charging a waste disposal fee (should be covered in my taxes?). The city just installed a new water/ Electric meter. Stating they have only been "estimating" the past 9 years, though I have clearly seen both previous meters over the years. I live in a 1400 square foot house. My utilities are usually around 200.00. This is my fault as I live in Florida and insist on keeping my temp at 71 in the summer. Since the change my bill is now around $305.00. My cable bill/Internet bill (with nothing special) is 160.00. My cel phone bill is 90.00 (thanx to that crappy Iphone SCAM). Finally many "combo" deals at fast food restraunts can cost between 7 and 9 dollars. Fast food is no longer "cheap". Well, T-bell still is .I had a credit card with a zero balance, 20,000.00 credit limit and 9.9 % rate. I got a new one in the mail yesterday with a change in terms bible. My credit limit was dropped to 13,000.00 (no I haven't messed anything up) . The 9.9% rate is still the same. Now here is the good part, you have to be a genius to decipher that the card is now actually almost at 20% as the account now actually cycles twice in a month. The average person would have no idea. I owe 8000.00 on another card and my min payment has jumped to well over 200.00 per month. My girlfriend & I make a little over 60,000 per year. It seems we are are now just "coasting"...

WHO LET THAT MONKEY IN THE WHITE HOUSE??? & was it really legal???

~Hypno

First off,there really is nothing at all average about your basic,authentic ,patriotic american.America,(USA)... was founded to escape the average baloney of the rest of the world,but it was somehow sucked back into it after a relatively short time.

America as it is,the consumerism version,has only been around for about 80 years,until the very early 1900's,most americans based their purchases on need,not glittery BS like now,we have a lot more than we need,many who are considered poor here would be considered rich in other countries.

Look up Edwin Bernays for more clarity on this.Try to figure out why you think you need so much more than you actually do.I mean really try it,try to figure out who put those things in your head,and try to figure out why.
Also go figure out what the federal reserve really is,fit that into the thought process if you can,bet most can't.Do a little experiment,see how long you can go in a day before you are bombarded with an advertisement telling you that you really need something....

Try to figure out why all of these "licensure" thingies are out there,and fathom how much they really protect you,and who benefits....

I don't claim to be any better than anyone else,but the "average american",is an idiot.

Being rich is not about how much you earn,it is about how much you spend,you have to fight harder to keep your money than you do to earn it.

You have a bunch of lazy asses riding on your back,shake em off again like your founding fathers did for a short time....

Learn to think again.

I hope I didn't seem to wander too far off topic.......................