Are we headed for another Great Depression?

Taminar · 02-03-2009, 10:19 PM

Personally, as long as neither my husband nor I get laid off, we're doing okay financially. We are paying a little more for property taxes, insurance, and utilities. The taxes and insurance are because we live in hurricane alley.

My retirement plan and the stock I bought from the last company I worked for have all dropped, but I feel like it'll bounce back eventually.

I feel like a lot of people and companies are acting out of fear, with knee-jerk reactions that are causing things to get worse. Like, a manufacturer sees a little bit of a drop in business and their stocks have fallen, like most stocks, so they lay off a whole bunch of people, thinking that'll make their stock go back up. Instead, it makes everyone more afraid.

We have people here from around the world, and I know that every country is having some fallout from the US economic situation.

How do you all feel about your lives and financial situation right now?

Chris · 02-04-2009, 01:03 PM

I have to say im doing fine too, the company im working for is doing well financially too, and i agree, it seems as things appear to be worse as they are, but im no financial expert

The recession is suppossed to ease up in the summer hopefully!

nicnac · 02-04-2009, 06:33 PM

^ if you beleive what the government is saying, reading through some of the independant economical think tank papers and theories this recession will last for a few years at least.
my advise for the minute......if you have a job, do your best to keep it.

The recession isnt really hitting me yet, it has my father though, he invested heavily over the past few years and they are at almost rock bottom value at the moment.

this recession has, for me, too many grey areas at the moment, not all details have been brought to light by the banks yet and i think this is what is holding us back.

a fair few people im in contact with have made a thought very clear to me over the course of this situation and a quote has been used frequently by these people.... it being, "This is Thatchers fault, for selling off parts of government responsibilities to the highest bidder"
Personally im still on the fence on that one, what do you think?

Taminar · 02-04-2009, 10:06 PM

I guess Maggie did with certain government agencies what the U.S. government did with the postal service? Allowed it to go private? I think the USPS is really poorly run, and that has a lot to do with why they are now crying that the need to cut back to 5-day-a-week delivery.

One of the major causes of the financial crisis in the U.S. is that the lenders got greedy. They wanted to make bigger and bigger loans -- and get more interest and fees -- so they offered more money to people. Like, when we went to buy our house, my husband wasn't working at the time, and they told us we could afford $120,000 home on my salary alone. Well, we found a house almost half that much. We considered that we have other expenses, that products and utilities always go up, that taxes and insurance would have to factor in (and they always go up, too, though we had no idea how much of an increase we'd see after all the hurricanes that hit Florida a few months after we bought the house).

I believe that most people, however, did just the opposite. This woman DH works with, single mom, two kids -- they told her she could afford a $150,000 house, so that's what she bought. Now she's whining about how hard it is to make the payments.

On the one hand, you don't want to see a bunch of people, especially families, out on the street, but on the other hand, sometimes they put themselves in that situation. It's only going to get worse, as more and more companies lay off workers, so even if they were doing well financially, now they're not going to be able to pay their mortgages.

I agree it will take a while to get better. Considering the Great Depression ended when the U.S. joined World War II and started spending a ton of money on defense, I don't know what the answer is to get us out of this one.

Heather · 02-06-2009, 08:57 PM

Im doing fine, while others in my company cannot say the same.

Are we headed towards another Great Depression?

Thats the million dollar question, isnt it?

My mind says yes, but my heart refuses to believe it.

Marco · 02-13-2009, 05:26 AM

I fear a great depression too... I read that the situation is worse than in 1929. And back then the depression only disappeared because World War II broke out, 10 years later. So it could take much longer than just one year.

However I also read reports that the stockmarkets should crawl a little up in the second half of this year, so that's hopefull. Another thing is that stockmarkets have eased at this moment. Amsterdam Stock Exchange keeps hanging around 250 points, and Dow Jones around 8000 points.

But when you think about it: it's really crazy isn't it? If everyone would have 'trust' and just spend money, the economy would go up. But because people don't trust, it goes down... It's crazy when you think of it that way...

zealousheart · 02-14-2009, 07:27 PM

I agree it's like, you want to trust because the lack of trust is exactly what's hurting the economy. However, if you do put complete faith in this economy, you risk losing everything. Paradox. :/

It's also true that inherent in a capitalist economy there are always ups and downs. There have always been ups and downs from the time America was founded, and I'm sure in other country's too. So it's hard to tell if this should be seen as worse.

Marco · 02-19-2009, 10:19 AM

This week our country officially got into a recession (it wasn't until now b/c the governement used wrong numbers), so papers were filled with reports about the economic situation. I didn't read everything, but what I read I did found interesting.

In this article an economic stated that the American economy should recover during the second half of this year and/or the first half of next year. "America has hit rockbottom", he said "and the American house-market is already slightly on the move (so people start buying houses again)." He added that American companies have already had the worst part, because they are really flexibel, and already fired a lot of people in the past few months, so now they are getting healthy again. Taking into account that the American governement will launch an economic supportplan during the second half of this year, he predicted that the economy would slightly crawl up again by the end of this year.

It would be great of course, b/c our economy is strongely connected to the American. Still I wondered if it's all true what he said. Do you guys already notice that people start buying houses again, and that people are getting more trusty that the end of the crisis is near?

Taminar · 02-20-2009, 09:36 PM

I haven't noticed if housing sales are improving in my area. It seems like I see a lot of "for sale" signs around my neighborhood and the only one that has disappeared is at the house across the street, and that's only because the bank foreclosed on it. The people are nice, but they're not very bright. They should've talked to the bank before they got so far behind.

I work at a community theatre and one of my jobs is to sell ads for publication in our Playbills (programs). A lot of our regular advertisers are telling me they cannot afford to buy for the next season, because their budgets have been cut. If I can't meet my sales budget, it's going to mean more cutbacks for the theatre, because we can't spend what we don't have. We used to have a nice fat endowment that earned interest and we could skim off whatever interest we needed to break even, but the value of that dropped by over $100,000 last year, so we don't have that to fall back on. What I don't get is why they didn't move the money into something stable, like a CD, when the value first started dropping. They could have saved a lot of money that way.

I think Franklin D. Roosevelt said it best back in the Great Depression, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." If we can beat the fear and keep our countries running, we'll recover.

Maybe the tough times will help some companies "trim the fat" and stop wasting money on frivolous things, but I sure hope some more businesses find the money to help support their community theatre.

Jacob1983 · 02-21-2009, 12:17 AM

I hope not. Depressions suck!

dmarisca · 02-23-2009, 01:35 PM

Me not hit personally, the sensible thing I did was save money, no over spending... not to buy worthless things you might not need, didn't use my credit card. So no it hasn't affected me. If i didn't then I would say it has hit me hard.

02-03-2009, 10:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
Taminar Commercial Actor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Pensacola, The Hurricane State Posts: 1,155	Are we headed for another Great Depression? Personally, as long as neither my husband nor I get laid off, we're doing okay financially. We are paying a little more for property taxes, insurance, and utilities. The taxes and insurance are because we live in hurricane alley. My retirement plan and the stock I bought from the last company I worked for have all dropped, but I feel like it'll bounce back eventually. I feel like a lot of people and companies are acting out of fear, with knee-jerk reactions that are causing things to get worse. Like, a manufacturer sees a little bit of a drop in business and their stocks have fallen, like most stocks, so they lay off a whole bunch of people, thinking that'll make their stock go back up. Instead, it makes everyone more afraid. We have people here from around the world, and I know that every country is having some fallout from the US economic situation. How do you all feel about your lives and financial situation right now? Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter!

02-04-2009, 01:03 PM	#2 (permalink)
Chris Hollywood Elite Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: London, England Posts: 16,199	I have to say im doing fine too, the company im working for is doing well financially too, and i agree, it seems as things appear to be worse as they are, but im no financial expert The recession is suppossed to ease up in the summer hopefully! Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter! __________________ My Art! California Here We Come, Right Back Where We Started From... [Legions Of Hell] [Into The Twilight] [Shadows In The Dark] Chris & Chloe xoxo

02-04-2009, 06:33 PM	#3 (permalink)
nicnac Intern Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: united kingdom Posts: 762	^ if you beleive what the government is saying, reading through some of the independant economical think tank papers and theories this recession will last for a few years at least. my advise for the minute......if you have a job, do your best to keep it. The recession isnt really hitting me yet, it has my father though, he invested heavily over the past few years and they are at almost rock bottom value at the moment. this recession has, for me, too many grey areas at the moment, not all details have been brought to light by the banks yet and i think this is what is holding us back. a fair few people im in contact with have made a thought very clear to me over the course of this situation and a quote has been used frequently by these people.... it being, "This is Thatchers fault, for selling off parts of government responsibilities to the highest bidder" Personally im still on the fence on that one, what do you think? Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter! __________________

02-04-2009, 10:06 PM	#4 (permalink)
Taminar Commercial Actor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Pensacola, The Hurricane State Posts: 1,155	I guess Maggie did with certain government agencies what the U.S. government did with the postal service? Allowed it to go private? I think the USPS is really poorly run, and that has a lot to do with why they are now crying that the need to cut back to 5-day-a-week delivery. One of the major causes of the financial crisis in the U.S. is that the lenders got greedy. They wanted to make bigger and bigger loans -- and get more interest and fees -- so they offered more money to people. Like, when we went to buy our house, my husband wasn't working at the time, and they told us we could afford $120,000 home on my salary alone. Well, we found a house almost half that much. We considered that we have other expenses, that products and utilities always go up, that taxes and insurance would have to factor in (and they always go up, too, though we had no idea how much of an increase we'd see after all the hurricanes that hit Florida a few months after we bought the house). I believe that most people, however, did just the opposite. This woman DH works with, single mom, two kids -- they told her she could afford a $150,000 house, so that's what she bought. Now she's whining about how hard it is to make the payments. On the one hand, you don't want to see a bunch of people, especially families, out on the street, but on the other hand, sometimes they put themselves in that situation. It's only going to get worse, as more and more companies lay off workers, so even if they were doing well financially, now they're not going to be able to pay their mortgages. I agree it will take a while to get better. Considering the Great Depression ended when the U.S. joined World War II and started spending a ton of money on defense, I don't know what the answer is to get us out of this one. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter!

02-06-2009, 08:57 PM	#5 (permalink)
Heather Political Junkie Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: In fields of gold Posts: 19,202	Im doing fine, while others in my company cannot say the same. Are we headed towards another Great Depression? Thats the million dollar question, isnt it? My mind says yes, but my heart refuses to believe it. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter! __________________ And so the lion fell in love with the lamb. -What a stupid lamb -What a sick, masochistic lion -Edward and Bella

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02-13-2009, 05:26 AM	#6 (permalink)
Marco Prime-Time Actor Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: .nl Posts: 3,482	I fear a great depression too... I read that the situation is worse than in 1929. And back then the depression only disappeared because World War II broke out, 10 years later. So it could take much longer than just one year. However I also read reports that the stockmarkets should crawl a little up in the second half of this year, so that's hopefull. Another thing is that stockmarkets have eased at this moment. Amsterdam Stock Exchange keeps hanging around 250 points, and Dow Jones around 8000 points. But when you think about it: it's really crazy isn't it? If everyone would have 'trust' and just spend money, the economy would go up. But because people don't trust, it goes down... It's crazy when you think of it that way... Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter! __________________ Love left a window in the skies

02-14-2009, 07:27 PM	#7 (permalink)
zealousheart Talk Show Host Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: nothing matters in this whole wide world, when you're in love with a jersey girl ;) Posts: 2,113	I agree it's like, you want to trust because the lack of trust is exactly what's hurting the economy. However, if you do put complete faith in this economy, you risk losing everything. Paradox. :/ It's also true that inherent in a capitalist economy there are always ups and downs. There have always been ups and downs from the time America was founded, and I'm sure in other country's too. So it's hard to tell if this should be seen as worse. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter! __________________ Rupert's VanillaBethieGlaremaster Banner credit dede_92 @ LJ

02-19-2009, 10:19 AM	#8 (permalink)
Marco Prime-Time Actor Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: .nl Posts: 3,482	This week our country officially got into a recession (it wasn't until now b/c the governement used wrong numbers), so papers were filled with reports about the economic situation. I didn't read everything, but what I read I did found interesting. In this article an economic stated that the American economy should recover during the second half of this year and/or the first half of next year. "America has hit rockbottom", he said "and the American house-market is already slightly on the move (so people start buying houses again)." He added that American companies have already had the worst part, because they are really flexibel, and already fired a lot of people in the past few months, so now they are getting healthy again. Taking into account that the American governement will launch an economic supportplan during the second half of this year, he predicted that the economy would slightly crawl up again by the end of this year. It would be great of course, b/c our economy is strongely connected to the American. Still I wondered if it's all true what he said. Do you guys already notice that people start buying houses again, and that people are getting more trusty that the end of the crisis is near? Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter! __________________ Love left a window in the skies

02-20-2009, 09:36 PM	#9 (permalink)
Taminar Commercial Actor Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Pensacola, The Hurricane State Posts: 1,155	It's going to be a tough year. I haven't noticed if housing sales are improving in my area. It seems like I see a lot of "for sale" signs around my neighborhood and the only one that has disappeared is at the house across the street, and that's only because the bank foreclosed on it. The people are nice, but they're not very bright. They should've talked to the bank before they got so far behind. I work at a community theatre and one of my jobs is to sell ads for publication in our Playbills (programs). A lot of our regular advertisers are telling me they cannot afford to buy for the next season, because their budgets have been cut. If I can't meet my sales budget, it's going to mean more cutbacks for the theatre, because we can't spend what we don't have. We used to have a nice fat endowment that earned interest and we could skim off whatever interest we needed to break even, but the value of that dropped by over $100,000 last year, so we don't have that to fall back on. What I don't get is why they didn't move the money into something stable, like a CD, when the value first started dropping. They could have saved a lot of money that way. I think Franklin D. Roosevelt said it best back in the Great Depression, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." If we can beat the fear and keep our countries running, we'll recover. Maybe the tough times will help some companies "trim the fat" and stop wasting money on frivolous things, but I sure hope some more businesses find the money to help support their community theatre. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter!

02-21-2009, 12:17 AM	#10 (permalink)
Jacob1983 Extra Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 476	I hope not. Depressions suck! Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter! __________________ Cartman: (holds up picture of Bill Belicheck) This is Bill Beelicheck. Head coach of the New England Patriots. He's won three Super Bowls. How? He cheated. He even got caught cheating and nobody cared! He proved that in America, it's alright to cheat, as long as you cheat your way to the top.

02-23-2009, 01:35 PM	#11 (permalink)
dmarisca Groupie Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 12	Me not hit personally, the sensible thing I did was save money, no over spending... not to buy worthless things you might not need, didn't use my credit card. So no it hasn't affected me. If i didn't then I would say it has hit me hard. Share Share this post on Digg Del.icio.us Technorati Twitter!