Economic Crunch.......

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I am really concerned about the economy here, with the price of everything going up, rate of foreclosures climbing, cost of gas and groceries, etc....anyone else feel anxiety, or are you financially able to look beyond this?We have always struggled paycheck to paycheck, would know of no other way around this,what does living comfortably feel like?

Living comfortably? HA! My GOAL was to do that 9 YEARS ago! NOW, I'll be happy if I can do that in another 20. I feel the crunch also. Politicians should NOT get paid so much, should NOT get the special perks, and certainly should ****NOT**** get the special pension. They KNOW that, short of a major overthrow of the government, they are SECURE! They actually have more interest in CREATING problems.

AS far as concerns, I don't see it lasting more than another 5 years, and it may even be over already! It takes a few months to recover.

I definitely know the feeling of living paycheck to paycheck too, as that's what my fiancee and I are doing. It doesn't help that I've been out of work for two years now either. In fact, my entire family is struggling: my brother has been unemployed since September and my uncle was recently laid off.

Let's just hope there is some relief in sight.

I have to retire in 5 years from the company I have worked for for two years. I don't have to tell you I have not saved anywhere NEARLY enough to last until my eighties. I have no idea what will happen to me then on $487.00 a month from Social Security. I won't even be able to afford to be on Medicare.

So, I understand, completely!

Merle

I do alright but certainly need my check every week to have everything I need that week. I commute an hour back and an hr forth to work 5 days a week, thats getting costly. I have seen grocerys go up quite a bit in a short amount of time and of course winter heating time is now. I also work only part time this half of the year and have things to take care of financially, its tough but we always make it through.

Ya, the economy is not doing so good, but regardless, its fairly stable. the economy moves up and down, recession and then prosperity. We are certainly on a down swing, but be thankful we have such a stable economy and as time progresses we will hopefully see things improve, especally for those of us working class americans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

This is what you need to know if you want to make an educated guess as to where the economy is going.

Unlimited economic growth in a finite world is impossible. Currently, the wealthiest 1% own 40% of the world's wealth according to the UN, there is a limitation to how much wealth can ultimately be extracted due to the Earth's limited resources, and that top 1% don't want to give up their position in society. It is arguable that our economic policy has been to keep enriching that top 1% regardless of the effects on everyone else, and it is certain that the policy has been to maximize growth, even if it means cheaper alternatives to using oil or alternatives that use less oil to carry out certain functions in society have to be suppressed(See film Who Killed the Electric Car as an example). Can't have the common people spending less money, or else the goal of maximized economic growth and maximized profits to shareholders will not be obtainainable.

The middle class along with the poor get to bear the negative consequences of decisions made by their leaders; their leaders get to profit in the meantime. In order to keep the masses in line in case they initiate a paradigm shift(peaceful or otherwise), we have all sorts of new anti-terror legislation to allow the leaders to conduct surveillance on them.

It's a lovely world we live in.

Yes... it's true - we're rapidly heading towards a world crossed between "1984" and "Soylent Green".

And I think most people can see it - which is why so many people just don't care anymore!

"Fighting against the system is futile, so why bother?"



Man would I love to see an armed uprising. But that would require the masses to not be drooling idiots programmed to think the way TV tells them to.

Those of us glued to our computers(like myself), are certainly part of the problem too.

In today's world you never are safe financially. You might have a little nest egg and think you are ok--- all it takes is one mishap to send you into financial ruin. A hospital visit, missed work, lost wages...
I do pretty good at my job, but I know that if I get sick I'll be "up the creek", so to speak. Most people I know are the same way.
What is comfortable? who knows? You spend your entire life searching for it.

That's why alternative fuel sources are important. Especially solar energy. A lot of the richest people profit by oil/gas. If that is no longer the largest energy source, then the money shifts.

It's all supply and demand.

The difference is, the energy content of oil/gas is so large compared to alternatives that alternatives will never approach the same profit margins as oil/gas due to the need to use less energy in order for these alternatives to be viable. Those making their money in oil/gas are none too enthusiastic about this(even if they may have a few 'greenwashing' campaigns here and there to make it appear as if they are doing something).

Conservation ultimately means less energy is sold and used. Those making their money in energy will make less money as a result. This would also hurt the GDP, not only from less energy sold, but from reducing the social costs associated with cleaning up the effects of using fossil fuels, reduced hospital bills, reduced automobile purchases/maintenance(in the case of electric cars. Electric motors last 500,000+ miles and need no maintenance), reduce oil purchases, reduce military expenditures to protect the oil we are purchasing... Automobile sales alone are 4% of America's GDP, and there are all sorts of services attached to the automobile that ultimately account for a large portion of economy(I may be wrong on this figure as I don't recall where it is from, but I think the automobile accounts for about 1/4 of America's economy). Defense is another large portion, which must be fed through constant warfare and conflict, paid for with our tax dollars; $500 billion a year or so is spent on defense, $90 billion a year for the Iraq War, $200 billion a year for corporate welfare(according to Public citizen). All of this spending helps push the economy along, and it's not benefitting middle class and poor nearly as much as it is hurting them; those really benefitting are making millions a year on up while us common folk we're paying through our taxes and otherwise to sustain it.

Our entire economic model is a ponzi scheme, and at one point, it will not be able to be sustained(Unless by some miracle, we discover a limitless energy source such as 'cold fusion'. But a viable, scalable model of that has always been 30 years away, even if some Japanese college students might be able to demonstrate it in a lab and produce miniscule amounts of energy that require expensive equipment to even be measurable.). Our government wants to sustain this economic model at all costs; it keeps the corporate interests happy and it keeps them making lots of money from campaign contributions.

This problem isn't just endemic to the U.S., either.

I agree in part. However, you are forgetting that new products come into being all the time. People will always buy things they need, and waste money on things that they don't.

True. New products are always being made. The problem occurs when prices have risen to a point and wages have not kept pace to a point where people can no longer afford to buy the things they don't need. America's middle class is approaching this point already; as a nation, our middle class hardly saves any money and it is now common to buy on credit, unable to pay it off.

I recall hearing that productivity per capita in the U.S. has doubled since 1970, yet real wages adjusted for inflation have still declined. People born a generation or two before me have told me about promises of a 15-20 hour workweek by year 2000 made in science and economics related magazines in the 1970s, which never materialized. The technology to make it happen most certainly did materialize, and then some. Adjusted for inflation via CPI, the minimum wage in 1968 approached $9.50/hour. These days, many people need a college degree to make $9.50/hour...

I hope I am completely and utterly wrong about my statements regarding this world's future, for everyone's sake. If I am even half right, we are in big trouble.

YEP....

Carlos whats his name
Bill Gates
warren buffet
sam walston
paul allen

ALL made their money via OIL/GAS! (SARC)

The real answer is.....

Communication STOCKS, Software SALES,Insurance STOCKS, Retail SALES,Software SALES!

Believe what you want, but it is an economy driven by almost a slave mentality. The only difference is picking your master, and being paid in something having value only on agreement, rather than living staples. Also, punishment is often indirect.

Hassanal Bolkiah($20.3 billion), Roman Abramovich($18.7 billion), Mikhail Fridman($12.6 billion), Charles Kock($12 billion), David Koch($12 billion),Mohammad Al Amoudi($8 billion), the Irving Brothers($5.8 billion), Robert Rowling($5.4 billion), David Rockefeller($2.7 billion), George Mitchell($2.6 billion), and many others are some of those which insomniakat is probably referring to, who have made much of their money significantly from oil or from an inherentence accumulated from an oil company...

Then there was former Exxon CEO Lee Raymond with his $400 million bonus received in 2005.

Of the 500 wealthiest, there are quite a few that make their money in oil either almost entirely or as a significant portion of their income, and it would be safe to say that they don't want to see that end anytime soon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_billionaires_%282007%29

Limitless cheap energy is the most environmentally destructive thing I can think of (outside of global nuclear war). Our economic/ecologic problems will only be solved when we stop dreaming of all being emperors, and live within our financial and resource (ecologic) means.