Other than a big dent in my 401K I haven't felt a huge sting yet...other than the news of sporadic layoffs in my area I haven't really seen a big downturn in the number of cars on the road, people eating in restaurants, or people shopping.
Maybe I just live in a recession rain sheltered region of the country. Or the flood just hasn't hit here yet.
Have some of you out there already been effected by the economic crisis on Wall Street?
This is a world wide credit crisis, not a wall street crisis. De-regulation allowed everyone to get huge amounts of debt and now even people without debt can't get a loan.
Not only companies but cities within the Valley of the Sun are laying off workers here. It is not unusual to walk into a grocery store and see isle after isle of only store workers. Many people have started going to Wal Mart and their stock reflects it.
My entire office building was closed 5 months ago and many have had to take huge pay cuts in entry-level jobs to survive. Foreclosures are through the roof even in so-called "upscale" communities. It is rare to drive down a street and not see a For Sale sign and sometimes they are on every other house. One just went up 2 houses down from me yesterday.
Property values are in the toilet and as a result, tax revenues will decline and the infrastructure will go to hell.
Whenever these big companies start to lose money the first thing they can think of is to lay off their own bread and butter, the little guys. My company hired more corporate VP's before and after we were laid off when they should have fired themselves for shitty management.
I could never understand why a company thinks that laying off its workers will help them save money. All it does it take money out of its workers pockets then they can't turn around and buy the products! It's a vicious circle. Hold on to your hats. It is going to be a rough couple of years!
If you have not been affected yet, you will. As for stock market value, everyone is down 30-50% and there seems to be no "safe" place except in Treasuries. Unfortunately, these too may be worthless in a few years along with our currency.
The huge problem that no one seems to be considering up to this point, is that there is a huge population of Baby Boomers who recently or will soon retire and whose retirement income just got flushed down the toilet. They will not be able to survive and social security won't cut it.
If Citibank goes under, who is next?
All of Obama's high hopes will be a backseat to a total lack of money. What a stinking mess to inherit!
Good luck everybody!
:smile: