Wow, the economy sucks right now

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Capitalism may be the best system there is, but it cannot function in the absence of property law and contract law.

Currently, neither of these areas of law are holding up well and the erosion of this is a HUGE piece of what is pulling the entire system down.

Throw in the erosion of trust by the people in any part of the government AND the media and you get.... well I'm not holding out alot of hope.

Recently there was a series of banks who passed counterfiet bills to people. Once you leave the bank with your cash they are no longer responsible for it. So banks have started recirculating bills rather than taking the hit of the loss for accepting the bills. They are supposed to be a bastion of security for our money, one place that catches any phony bills. But it was proven that one bank knowingly released bills they should have known were fake......



Erosion of trust. Bigger than people realize.

 

[HHandbasket]

Quote:
But if ya gots nuttin' to invest, ya gots nuttin' to invest.

We had to cash out our retirement a little over 2 years ago when Farmer Lew lost his job only 3 months AFTER I lost mine (I was primary wage-earner at the time). We lost everything. Our big house in the burbs, our 2 nice reliable cars, and now we drive an old '88 Isuzu and a couple of scooters. Moved to the ghetto, and even lost THAT house. We used the retirement to keep us afloat after we got slammed with things like, ya know, basic living expenses, etc.

We got nuttin' left.

I wish we had something to put back in, but we are still living paycheck-to-paycheck and have not yet financially recovered from the last recession. The industry I work in has changed, and I no longer have the earning power I did even 5 years ago. Even though I do the same thing for a living I've always done, I make less than 1/3 of what I made 2-1/2 years ago. Hubby can't even get full-time work right now and works part time, but he's also a partially disabled vet and gets a small stipend that helps us pay our rent.

 

[Dunkopf]

I have WHAT in my yard? :

Capitalism may be the best system there is, but it cannot function in the absence of property law and contract law.

Currently, neither of these areas of law are holding up well and the erosion of this is a HUGE piece of what is pulling the entire system down.

Throw in the erosion of trust by the people in any part of the government AND the media and you get.... well I'm not holding out alot of hope.

Recently there was a series of banks who passed counterfiet bills to people. Once you leave the bank with your cash they are no longer responsible for it. So banks have started recirculating bills rather than taking the hit of the loss for accepting the bills. They are supposed to be a bastion of security for our money, one place that catches any phony bills. But it was proven that one bank knowingly released bills they should have known were fake......



Erosion of trust. Bigger than people realize.

Between the media and the corruption in the banking and investment industry and the election system we have, we are truly in deep doodoo.

I was looking at my 401k plan, There are a bunch of investments that lost up to 48% during 2008 and gained it all back in the last 2 years. It will be interesting to see what those investments are doing in the next quarterly report.

What will really be interesting is what happens after the 2012 elections. Right now POTUS has come up quite a bit and is actually 8 points ahead of where Reagan was at this point in his presidency. Congress on the other hand has about a 75% disapproval rating. I guess they are getting the credit they deserve for the last round of crud. We have the most useless congress that we have had in years at a time when our country is in dire need. What's happening?

 

[KristyHall]

Quote:
But if ya gots nuttin' to invest, ya gots nuttin' to invest.

We had to cash out our retirement a little over 2 years ago when Farmer Lew lost his job only 3 months AFTER I lost mine (I was primary wage-earner at the time). We lost everything. Our big house in the burbs, our 2 nice reliable cars, and now we drive an old '88 Isuzu and a couple of scooters. Moved to the ghetto, and even lost THAT house. We used the retirement to keep us afloat after we got slammed with things like, ya know, basic living expenses, etc.

We got nuttin' left.

I wish we had something to put back in, but we are still living paycheck-to-paycheck and have not yet financially recovered from the last recession. The industry I work in has changed, and I no longer have the earning power I did even 5 years ago. Even though I do the same thing for a living I've always done, I make less than 1/3 of what I made 2-1/2 years ago. Hubby can't even get full-time work right now and works part time, but he's also a partially disabled vet and gets a small stipend that helps us pay our rent.

 

[chickened]

The chickens have come home to roost. The time has/is coming to pay back the money borrowed it is really basic economy 101 you borrow you pay back. I noticed they raised the debt ceiling.

Listening to the media and borrowing from a corrupt financial system (most never trust a bank which is why they send you statements) is a choice, personal responsibility and discipline or lack of is the real blame, the people are the government here did it to ourselves.
Quote:
Between the media and the corruption in the banking and investment industry and the election system we have, we are truly in deep doodoo.

I was looking at my 401k plan, There are a bunch of investments that lost up to 48% during 2008 and gained it all back in the last 2 years. It will be interesting to see what those investments are doing in the next quarterly report.

What will really be interesting is what happens after the 2012 elections. Right now POTUS has come up quite a bit and is actually 8 points ahead of where Reagan was at this point in his presidency. Congress on the other hand has about a 75% disapproval rating. I guess they are getting the credit they deserve for the last round of crud. We have the most useless congress that we have had in years at a time when our country is in dire need. What's happening?

 

[Mattemma]

I wish we could pull the money that is currently in dh's 401k.I don't think you can,but it would be nice to pull it all out before we lose it again like we did a few years ago.

I don't even want to look at our home value anymore.I think we are upside down now with the mortgage/value.Oh well gotta live somewhere!

It is crazy how the government raised the debt ceiling.Shoot, I don't ask for a bigger credit line when I have trouble paying MY bills.I spend less and pay more on the bills.Why can't the government do that????

I am embarrassed to talk to my kids about how this government is being run,and it is on all levels-national,state,and local.How to teach responsible spending when the *powers that be* refuse to do it?!?!?!!?

 

[chickened]

I try to invest in land as I have never trusted banks. IMO the stock market is for money you can afford to lose. A little time spent researching a good investment in other less conventional ways will pay out. I have found myself a bit lazy when it comes to investing and the lure of someone doing it for you surely has its' appeal but if one can manage to make enough to invest then one can surely manage to invest themselves wisely, the fault is we would rather leave it to those who profess to know more and just pay them a fee to do it for you which is not the same as when we invest it ourselves especially when weighing the risk.

 

[SierraView]

Quote:
But if ya gots nuttin' to invest, ya gots nuttin' to invest.

We had to cash out our retirement a little over 2 years ago when Farmer Lew lost his job only 3 months AFTER I lost mine (I was primary wage-earner at the time). We lost everything. Our big house in the burbs, our 2 nice reliable cars, and now we drive an old '88 Isuzu and a couple of scooters. Moved to the ghetto, and even lost THAT house. We used the retirement to keep us afloat after we got slammed with things like, ya know, basic living expenses, etc.

We got nuttin' left.

I wish we had something to put back in, but we are still living paycheck-to-paycheck and have not yet financially recovered from the last recession. The industry I work in has changed, and I no longer have the earning power I did even 5 years ago. Even though I do the same thing for a living I've always done, I make less than 1/3 of what I made 2-1/2 years ago. Hubby can't even get full-time work right now and works part time, but he's also a partially disabled vet and gets a small stipend that helps us pay our rent.

Your story sounds like mine. A year and half ago we lost everything. Our income was 100k+ yr. and for the first time in 25 yrs my husband was laid off. He is a union plumber. Unemployment pays 18k yr and you have to pay taxes on that so ends up less. Savings goes fast when you need it to live on, and he lost around 40% of his pension in the stock market.

I've learned how to stretch a dollar. I've been lucky my chickens support themselves, I make enough selling eggs and birds to pay for their food, supplies and get more shipped eggs

. I think they are the only hobby I've had that pays for itself.

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
Between the media and the corruption in the banking and investment industry and the election system we have, we are truly in deep doodoo.

I was looking at my 401k plan, There are a bunch of investments that lost up to 48% during 2008 and gained it all back in the last 2 years. It will be interesting to see what those investments are doing in the next quarterly report.

What will really be interesting is what happens after the 2012 elections. Right now POTUS has come up quite a bit and is actually 8 points ahead of where Reagan was at this point in his presidency. Congress on the other hand has about a 75% disapproval rating. I guess they are getting the credit they deserve for the last round of crud. We have the most useless congress that we have had in years at a time when our country is in dire need. What's happening?

You know what they say about opinions. So far that's all I've heard and the saying is very true. JMO for what it's worth. About as much as all the others. The economy is going in the tank and I haven't seen anything in the last 35 years or so that actually helps. Every spike we have is a fake spike. Dot Com spike. made a lot of people money and went nowhere. Housing spike and deregulation of investors. Once again made a ton of money for a select few. Everyone else got bent over.

We have done a fantastic job of showing how ineffective a 2 party system can be.

 

[Slinkytoys]

I've been so thankful that my husband has been taking care of the stocks and bonds. He's managed to make money, in of all things gambling stocks! Who would have thought. We decided to pay off the properties. Moved my mother onto one of the houses on the property (so we don't have to worry about her if TSHTF.
Now to my point. We need live-in caretakers. You would think in this economy people would be beating our door down. Oh heck no! We offer a nice home, ability to have pets (chickens too) in return for some help on the farm. Cleaning dog runs, checking fences, haying pasture horses and snow removal (we have skid loaders and 4x4 Kubota tractor (large). Not too much work, only the dog runs are a daily chore (and haying in the winter). Perfect for a couple, especially with one who works and one who stays at home (or works from home). To the right couple, we would cover utilities in leiu of wages, which really helps on their income tax. Oh, we've had inquiries. Most everyone has a bazillion kids, too many for the 2 bedroom home, or they want it all PLUS thousands a month AND not do the work. Sheesh. We've had some wonderful caretakers who ended up saving enough money to buy a home. Cool!
We'll keep interviewing people, but hey this is something I would have been interested in when I was younger or at retirement age. I can't believe that people are willing to live in a hotel room on welfare instead of looking into this. Or maybe I do believe it....
Rant over.
Slinky