Recession?

earllogjam

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Anyone feel it coming? Is it here already? How is the situation where you live?

Housing market is down, construction jobs in my industry are shrinking, gas prices at an all time high, gold prices rising, weak dollar, shaky stock market, record home foreclosures, mortgage lending industry laying off tens of thousands of people... The downturn is already here in the housing industry as far as I'm concerned. I just wonder when the rest of the economy will follow suit.
 

snoozan

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oh it's here. as far as i understand, we won't really have the data to say when it started until months after the fact, but my guess is that it's been here since september or so. with energy prices and gas prices through the roof, i can't see how most families are making it. my house is for sale and we just dropped the price 10K. personally i'm ready to drop the price another 15K so we can get out of it fast rather than wait and see how much worse the housing market gets.

all of this is really depressing when i think that a year or so ago i could have gotten more than my asking price in less than a week.

at any rate, we're all doomed.
 

psidom

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yes i feel it...
i think it will be full blown in about 4-6 years.
that is when i believe shit is gonna get "real" depressing.
 

B_InDepth

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it is allready here... and the only reason it doesnt seem like it is because we keep putting fake money into the economy... citibank was just pulled out of pending disaster by billions from china... thats good for us... america is getting raped and the only one that realizes it is Ron Paul 2008 — Hope for America .
on the other side there are a bunch of loons that think our corrupt healthcare and insurance companies can put together some socialist healthcare that will cos 2-5 trillion a year... is trillion even a real number and where are we gunna get that..? thats over 10,000 per man, women, baby, cripple, senior, and fetus in the country per year... and on the other end we got a bunch of mongers that want to stay in a 600 billion dollar hell hole war that only makes their friends rich...


PLEASE I URGE YOU TO SPEND 10 MINUTES AND READ UP ON RON PAUL..!!

YouTube - Ron Paul: A New Hope

YouTube - Ron Paul for the Long Haul
 

B_InDepth

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Oh Yeah... Credit Card Debt Hit 1.15 Trillion In 2007 First Time It Was Ever Over A Trillion Dollars... Thats Great...
 

jason_els

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One of the side benefits of knowing a lot of rich people who manage to stay rich through good and bad is that you hear a lot from private financial advisors. The current thinking among the people who manage the portfolios of the very rich is that there will not be a recession but a, "soft landing."

That and, if you haven't already and are investing long-term, start investing heavily in water management and supply companies.

It's remarkable that people who scoff at global warming are so heavily invested in water supply. Might lead one to think that they don't want to stop global warming (maybe by denying it exists?) to boost their own long-term investment vehicles.
 

HazelGod

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the fight is fixed man...ron paul should win but never will. (i am still voting for him)
it is going to be some conservative or asskiss that will sell his soul.
that is just how it goes,
the working class hero is something to be.

Sadly, yes.

And it will continue to go this way so long as people keep voting for the turd sandwich purely out of fear that the giant douche will win if they don't. :rolleyes:
 

PussyWellington

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the fight is fixed man...ron paul should win but never will. (i am still voting for him)
it is going to be some conservative or asskiss that will sell his soul.
that is just how it goes,
the working class hero is something to be.
John Lennon - Working Class Hero Lyrics

Ron Paul does have some good ideas, especially around tax reform but do you really want a President that appears on the Alex Jones show?
 

HazelGod

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Ron Paul does have some good ideas, especially around tax reform but do you really want a President that appears on the Alex Jones show?

In what manner does appearing on such a show disqualify him in your mind? If one were a mouthpiece for AJ, I could see you making a case...but just appearing for an interview? Especially considering that one of AJ's constant carping points is the lack of transparency in our government, I consider it remarkable that Paul is willing to expose himself to that level of scrutiny.

People shouldn't be so hasty to judge and discount based on reputations alone.
 

psidom

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well hazel i will take the lesser evil for the greater good.
i do not care what show he was on...i respect what he has to say about
the constitution.

no other canidate touched on that with such esoteric clarity.
jus' my opinion.:smile:
 

jason_els

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What you're seeing are the effects of inflation. The government has changed the basis for inflation. If we used the same inflation index which was used in the 70s or 80s then we'd be seeing anywhere from 7-12&#37; annual inflation. Instead, the government has changed the basis for measuring inflation, allegedly to reflect a more realistic view of price increases, but in actuality to make the government look better.

Inflation is not the increase in prices. Price increases are an effect of inflation. Inflation is an increase in money supply without any additional backing of that money. The United States "prints" all the money it wants and then backs that money with debt which it then sells to other nations. The thing is, we print money far more money than we issue in debt. Just lately, China, Japan, and other big buyers of US debt have either slowed their purchase of US debt or stopped entirely yet we're still printing money.

Why print the money? Because mild inflation gives people the feeling of prosperity. Inflation makes it appear, artificially, that the economy is doing better than it is. Now why would an elected government want to make things look better than they are? Hmmmmmmm......

The problem is that once you're on the inflationary train it's next to impossible to get off of it. We've been inflating so much, for so long, that the debt is next to unmanageable and nobody in congress knows what to do about it. All the solutions would be economically painful for the US and nobody has the balls to put a stop to it on their watch.

I take it back. There is one man in the government who is raising the alarm any way he can. He's the guy who keeps the government's real books and he's David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States. All those countries who have stopped buying our debt know what he does.

And no, he's not elected.

You have got to see these videos. He's saying what the government and its media mouthpieces won't tell you.

America's Financial Future 1


and

America's Financial Future 2
Anyone feel it coming? Is it here already? How is the situation where you live?

Housing market is down, construction jobs in my industry are shrinking, gas prices at an all time high, gold prices rising, weak dollar, shaky stock market, record home foreclosures, mortgage lending industry laying off tens of thousands of people... The downturn is already here in the housing industry as far as I'm concerned. I just wonder when the rest of the economy will follow suit.
 

Elmer Gantry

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It must be bad, Australian banks are worht more than US banks based on current market capatilisation.

Commonwealth Bank is worth more than Merril Lynch or Morgan Stanley.

The slightly worrying part is who is trying to bail out the big US banks. They're mostly very undemocratic sovereign funds.
 

B_bitti14

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There's no recession in Denmark - actually the economy in Europe hasn't been better in years (mainly due to Germany finally getting back on track). But the exchange rate for the US Dollar is another issue - it's keeping the $100 a barrel oil price cheap as the dollar has fallen almost the same as the oil has sky rocketed, but it's hurting the exports to the US.
 

Axcess

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Yes we are in recession . This situation has force me to continue my graduated studies( Master degree ) in accountant. Is hard right now to find good jobs.
 

bottombuddy

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in the uk i dont think scotland in general has picked up from the 80's recession ....some pretend it has.

the only good thing about it is that if your looking to buy property cheaper or retiring and move to somewhere nicer than average you should do very well investing longer term.
 

earllogjam

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What you're seeing are the effects of inflation. The government has changed the basis for inflation. If we used the same inflation index which was used in the 70s or 80s then we'd be seeing anywhere from 7-12% annual inflation. Instead, the government has changed the basis for measuring inflation, allegedly to reflect a more realistic view of price increases, but in actuality to make the government look better.

I know the government has changed the way it calculates unemployment rates now (no longer counting people who have been unemployed over 6 months) but how is inflation calculated differently that makes the official rate artificially low?

In all actuallity, inflation is rather location and socio-economic group specific isn't it? I mean if you loose your job and need to buy health insurance your inflation rate is through the roof while those govenment workers with free health coverage are insulated to the rising cost of healthcare. If your kid needs to go to college your inflation rate is 15-20% (the rate of education inflation) but if you have no kids then you have very little. The same holds true for SUV drivers vs. people who use mass transportation and the cost of gas. And if you live in the Bay Area and want to buy a house your inflation rate was about 20% for the last few years.