The economy and you. Some questions

In my latest male chauvinist thread it became clear to me that a lot of you are really struggling.

I am kind of isolated in my own world. I know the unemployment numbers are a joke. As is anything the government tells you about the economy.

I do not have to work any more. I work becase I enjoy it. No one gave me anything in life, I had to earn it on my own and spend years of sacrifice to become financially independent. So I am not some trust fund kid. I am no better than anyone else here.

Anyway my other thread made me realize that lots of you are really having a tough time making it.

So my questions to all of you are:

Are you out of work and looking for a job?

Is your current position allowing you to keep up with bills and save?

Are you literally living paycheck to paycheck?

Have you been laid off in the last few months?

Do you consider yourself underemployed?

Finally, do you see the economy improving any time soon?

I am interested in your thoughts.rettyplease:

 

Are you out of work and looking for a job?

No

Is your current position allowing you to keep up with bills and save?

Yes and no (unless you consider the equity I gain every month)

Are you literally living paycheck to paycheck?

Yes

Have you been laid off in the last few months?

No

Do you consider yourself underemployed?

No, underworked though, my boss is a slack ass...

Finally, do you see the economy improving any time soon?

Hell no

 

I'm what you call financially stable. But that isn't enough for me.

 

I regard economy differently than many. My balance sheet does not have numbers. The measure you give is the measure you get. I am gainfully engaged but I do not receive a paycheck.

Having said that, I do not see the economy recovering soon, as a matter of fact I think the economy will begin again to further decline as the commercial real estate arms begin to reset in 2011 and 2012.

It seems commercial real estate suffered the same abuses as residential real estate and 3,000 of the 8,000 community banks in the US are heavily vested in commercial real estate and are in serious jeopardy of failure.

When the treasury secretary was asked about the prospects for the situation he said the damage done was deep and we will experience it's effects for a while to come. When asked what could possibly be done he said he was open to suggestions.

It seems that now that the big banks have been rescued, extraordinary measures by the government are no longer needed. Consider that those big banks were on the verge of collapse, they had suffered great losses but were made whole by the government. Where did those losses go, they were kicked down the line.

The reasoning now is that because the system, i.e. the 20 largest banks are solvent, the system is no longer in jeopardy of systemic failure and further business failures can be handled in an orderly fashion. In other words the big banks continue to clean up while the small guy is eaten up.

 

Are you out of work and looking for a job?

no & no

Is your current position allowing you to keep up with bills and save?

bills yes, save no

Are you literally living paycheck to paycheck?

yes... but i would wotever the wage

Have you been laid off in the last few months?

no

Do you consider yourself underemployed?

fuck yeah! i shoulda been a rocket surgeon or a brain scientist

Finally, do you see the economy improving any time soon?

the world ecomomy will recover reasonably quickly.... prolly when putin decides the price of a barrel of oil is high enough, then he'll flood the planet... personal wealth will continue to struggle tho'.... it'll be a long while before any country trusts capitalism again

 

I'm have a business and I noticed a big drop off in orders last fall, but now it's looking a lot better. Still not quite a busy as last year.

I'm been able to keep up with bills and save a little too.

I think the economy is going to putter along the way it is now for the next few years.

 

Yes I am out of work, yes I am unemployed. I live paycheck to paycheck. my husbands right now that is. and we make just enough to get by. but we rarely buy anything so we can sav e everything so we can do something fun on occasion like camping. but it is still cheap to do. We reaally rarely have any money to save, for anything othetr than one camping trip here and there. and the rest of our money goes to bills and my kids needs. I dont see the economy getting better for quite awhile. I am not too worried right now about money even though we have little as long as we have enough to pay the bills and feed the kids.

 

Are you out of work and looking for a job?
no

Is your current position allowing you to keep up with bills and save?
yes- saving a tiny bit

Are you literally living paycheck to paycheck?
no

Have you been laid off in the last few months?
no

Do you consider yourself underemployed?
maybe... not dissatisfied though

Finally, do you see the economy improving any time soon?
not for the so-called "middle class" The economy is poised to tank by the end of this year or very early next year... gonna be a bumpy ride.

 

I work, I hike

 

Are you out of work and looking for a job?

No

Is your current position allowing you to keep up with bills and save?

yes and yes

Are you literally living paycheck to paycheck?

no

Have you been laid off in the last few months?

no

Do you consider yourself underemployed?

no

Finally, do you see the economy improving any time soon?

No, the economy is not going to improve. Instead the current state is, in my opinion, just the beginning of what is going to come in the next decade. People are not prepared for what is going to happen.

 

Are you out of work and looking for a job?

I am looking for a job (for the past 6 months) but am not out of work

Is your current position allowing you to keep up with bills and save?

Absolutely not. We are at least two months behind on most bills. No savings to speak of.

Are you literally living paycheck to paycheck?

More like living almost to the next paycheck and suffering the days before I get the next.

Have you been laid off in the last few months?

No. But, my partner that I share finances with has because he warks for a school that is not in session during the summer.

Do you consider yourself underemployed?

Yes! Considering the skills that I have, I am not working to my skill or education level.

Finally, do you see the economy improving any time soon?

As long as we stay capitalist, it will improve soon. It 's the cycle of capitalism. Unless of course some cataclysmic event takes place.

 

I'll be set soon as in living off retirement money in my 30s. I have no relavent work skills, but I have talent and wit and wisdom and craftiness. If there is more than one way to skin a cat, then there is more than one way to be a success.