Scenes from the recession

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Wicked Ice said:
Are things so bad in the states? Geez...
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I guess I just know a bunch of poor people. With the exception of my mom (who had to take a pay cut), I don't know a single person who has lost their job or home... and I know a lot of people.

I've got family from New York to Colorado and they are all doing better right now than they were this time last year.
 
The recession purges losers, not winners.

The government policies to save the losers, will choke the winners to death.

This is very early in the game.
 
BBC - BBC Two Programmes - 1929: The Great Crash

After watching this, and other observations over general economics.. I concluded that history will repeat itself, much worse this time. The documentary was great, lots of good footage and a good idea of what was going on back then.

Are the government bailouts just for the rich guys to stay afloat long enough to diversify their assets before the real crash comes?
 
subigo said:
I guess I just know a bunch of poor people. With the exception of my mom (who had to take a pay cut), I don't know a single person who has lost their job or home... and I know a lot of people.

I've got family from New York to Colorado and they are all doing better right now than they were this time last year.
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Agreed. I know of one person entirely that got fired, and it wasn't because of the recession. My mother just had to do a "week off without pay" type deal but thats because she works for state govt.

I'm up 300% from this time last year.

Edit: funny comment on there: "Stealing from The Onion, Depression hits losers the hardest."
 
Hm...

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I know of anyone that's lost a job or house either.

There was talk of my mom's place of business being bought out so she said "fuck it" and retired. Best decision she ever made, if you ask me. She's not rich, but her mortgage is paid off and she just bought a "lightly used" (~1yr old) Lexus with cash.

I never thought of her being all that savvy about money but in times like these, the good old "pay your bills, live within your means, and stick some away for the future" is sure kicking the shit out of all those "savvy" investors and speculators that are shitting their pants right about now.
 
Right now, I think it's still pretty limited. And I think the only people this will take down with it are the foolish and spendthrift. Although, none of them will be big enough to admit their finances went down the shitter due to their own unwillingness to deal with them responsibly.

Kinda like newspapers who are closing blaming the "current economic downturn" instead of admitting that the recent tightening in advertising budgets was more a graceful coup de grace instead of the sole reason they sank. They wouldn't have sunk if they had adapted with the times. If they had lead, instead of fighting it.

Other companies and individuals affected will be for similar reasons. Either they're in a bad industry, or they did stupid things with their money.

Could you imagine the Buggy Builders Worker's Union appealing to Congress to enact laws to preserve their jobs? No, fuckers. Start making (electric) cars.
 
This recession shit is all sensationalized, highly political, exaggerated fear-mongering (for the most part). It was like Bush's "War on Terror" (which was a pretty damn good "war" to be in, after 3,000 of our own got slaughtered), in which all the whiney little pussy hippie Democrats cried that the War on Terror is all sensationalistic and "fear-mongering". Well, same thing now with the "great Recession", except reverse, and except the only thing the Republicans are whining about is the shit legislation being sneaked through under the guise of legislation to help the recession. Yeah! Let's piss on the public with lots of scary numbers so the Democratic Congress, Senate and President can ram through whatever legislation they want. $8 million for for scallop research? You got it, Barney!

Anyway. I was in the Disneyworld a few weeks ago, and guess what, the place was fucking packed and my girlfriend and I weren't exactly alone in some of the really nice restaurants there (and no we're not talking Arby's). Nothing scientific, but c'mon, Mickey Mouse for fucks sake!!

/end rant


344px-Mickey_Mouse.svg.png
 
invisible777 said:
This recession shit is all sensationalized, highly political, exaggerated fear-mongering (for the most part). It was like Bush's "War on Terror" (which was a pretty damn good "war" to be in, after 3,000 of our own got slaughtered), in which all the whiney little pussy hippie Democrats cried that the War on Terror is all sensationalistic and "fear-mongering". Well, same thing now with the "great Recession", except reverse, and except the only thing the Republicans are whining about is the shit legislation being sneaked through under the guise of legislation to help the recession. Yeah! Let's piss on the public with lots of scary numbers so the Democratic Congress, Senate and President can ram through whatever legislation they want. $8 million for for scallop research? You got it, Barney!

Anyway. I was in the Disneyworld a few weeks ago, and guess what, the place was fucking packed and my girlfriend and I weren't exactly alone in some of the really nice restaurants there (and no we're not talking Arby's). Nothing scientific, but c'mon, Mickey Mouse for fucks sake!!

/end rant
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Yeah fuck that. I have friends who were quite well off their entire life that can't pay their heating bill anymore. We're over 11% now for unemployment. And it's not just factory workers.
 
Didn't you guys hear? The recession is over.

The fucking stock market has gone up like 1000 points in the last week and a half. Its pissing me off since I was starting to do rather well buying/selling with all the swings.
 
Well, taking a 'glass half full' approach, an 11% unemployment rate usually means at least 80% are still working (after factoring in another 9% who choose not to work or gave up trying).

Hard to get that 20% to feel that way however hence the contagion.
 
Well, that was my point. I don't think it's untrue or that people who are in a bad spot are making stuff up. I do think how visible it is has to do with where you live (state, not neighborhood). And you do live in the rust belt, Shady. People in the auto industry are going to have to turn auto manufacturing into a start up industry like boutique tech companies. Or something.

I live a couple towns down from a big Toyota factory. A large portion of the industry in the area is suppliers for that factory. As they throttle down production, these suppliers are having to lay off big time. I know plenty of people who are affected by it. But they're not going about it the right way. When one plant shut down a week or two ago, I saw some worker being interviewed on the news saying, "there's no one else in the area who needs hundreds of workers with our skill set. We're either going to have to learn a new skill set or move. So I guess we're doomed."

Fuck no, they're not. They just don't want to do what's necessary to survive. They want the government to solve the problem.

I offered a guy with a couple decades of Operations Management experience a job. He turned me down because he wants to stay in the same industry. Fucking hell. I was even going to pay him more.
 
Don't you worry, your hero King Africano Messiah will wave his magic teleprompter to make everything tip-top again, so you can all get in debt up to your eyeballs with crap from China. Now please go pay your carbon taxes to support the luxurious lifestyle of European banksters, in order to save Al Gore's fluffy polar bear, like the good domesticated sheeple you are.
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Some of the comments on that article are awesome, haha.
 
If you're watching the Doomsday clock, it's only 1932 right now. It's way too early to say the recession hasn't hit hard yet.
 
I live in a very blue collar small city, lots of factories. Layoffs up the wazoo! Lots of temporary layoffs too.
 
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