Scobleizer - Latest Comments in Are we in a recession?

Re: Are we in a recession?

Andy Winters — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:06:42 -0000

Clearly there's no argument to the question now. The rite to bear arms may become a good thing depending upon your demographic!

Re: Are we in a recession?

kelly — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:41:11 -0000

I believe that a Recession is on it's way. I vave a good paying job, as does my husband, and were ok. But for those who do not have a good job and are only making min. wage, they have to pick and choose which bills to pay each month. The stimulus check that was sent out to buy things to boost the economy....everyone that I know spent it on trying to catch up on back bills. The upper class may think that all is well, but let them walk in lower class shoes and see if they have the same view point.

Re: Are we in a recession?

John Maas — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:07:18 -0000

Recession is relative! Is the country in a recession? Maybe not by the means of the definition, but is sure isn't progressing diligently. Unemployment is up, and in certain parts of the country it's insanely high! You can definitely say that the midwest is in a recession.

Re: Are we in a recession?

Afar — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:01:31 -0000

Why do I care more about the American worker than the truly impoverished worker in a 3rd world country who's children are much more likely to be actually starving? I never have understood this argument that one is more important than the other.

Re: Are we in a recession?

Rebecca McIntyre — Wed, 28 May 2008 22:06:40 -0000

It is clear that the only real security in life is money in the bank.
We need to start helping ourselves by making it a priority to "buy American" made products whenever possible. We need to refocus our efforts on "Made in the U.S.A." instead of supporting products made offshore or using services now being set up in record numbers offshore. As a nation, we continue to give it all away. It is financial suicide. Now, despite the fact econimc statistics say we are not in a recession, why are vendors who are setting up at nationwide flea makets routinely selling one item for $14.95 after a days work? After the booth fee and gas costs, they are down about $100. Based on sales, it appears people are not spending money, when they do spend it is with a credit card, and the people trying to earn an extra buck to pay for living expenses are going in the whole for trying.

Re: Are we in a recession?

Erika Isleta — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:09:54 -0000

To the the guy who said he has 20 job offers and he is not even searching for a job. I am happy for you. My guess is you are either from Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan,Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and probably from MIT, Harvard, Wharton, Univ. Chicago, Darden, Yale or Stanford MBA or undergrad. Well, how many of the average American have that background??? We are talking about recession average American who comprise the majority of the population. The 30Billion Federal Reserve to bail out Bear Stearns came out from the Average Americans' taxes. But who got those big fat bonuses after the Average American can't afford to pay their home loans? The point is although there could be greed on most Ave. Americans (either because of greed or ignorance since they simply listened to those financial institutions decorated by their handsome Ivy League degrees), who really got the better end of the deal? The average american is losing his house, while those with their creative financial solutions got their big fat checks and got bailed out with 30B using the Ave. American's taxes . And yes, most of those who created this creative financial risky loan still have 20 job offers while the Ave. American is homeless queing up for his SSS to have something to eat. I have nothing against the rich and I do believe in Ivy League education but I do hope that the upper class who are really running our country both in the government and private sector will use their education not to serve themselves but to give back to the country.

Re: Are we in a recession?

Ken — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:33:12 -0000

John, (april 22nd)

Have you considered we are not in a recession, but maybe we as americans have been living beyond our means?? we have crossed that boundary, and now we are reaping the consequences of that??

Yes, people are defaulting on credit cards... but why did they overextend their credit?

Yes, people are being forclosed on, but why did they think they could afford a 400,000 home on a 50k a year job?

My wife an I have worked hard the past 2 years to pay off all our credit card debt, pay off 2 cars, 1 jetski and 1 motorcycle that we had overextended ourselves on. After paying that all off, we still scrimped and lived frugally, and now have 6months of living expenses in an amboydirect savings account making around 4% interest (not alot, but not risky either). When we have our first child in august, we will both take 16 weeks off (unpaid) and still have enough $$ to live on. We also have another account that we have saved about $5k in. this is our emergency fund. It pays for home/car repairs. Yes, that means no credit cards to pay for emergencies. No stress when we run over a nail and need a new tire.

Now we only have our utilities/food/gas and mortgage to pay every month. This means out of our less than $4k a month take home, we have over $2500 a month to invest / save and play with. I went to a local church yardsale last weekend and bought myself a 60" Sony TV (not an LCD) for $300. Did I flinch to buy it?? No, I paid cash. Why? because I don't use credit for anything. If I can't afford to pay cash for it, then I don't need it.

Stop living the lie that you are entitled to drive a tahoe, that you are entitled to that nice lake house and a $30k pontoon boat. You do NOT need that 60" LCD TV.

If the "recession" is breaking you, then I believe you deserve to be broken. If you would learn to manage your $$, and live within your means ( not your delusional ones, but the ones dictated by your current paycheck) then I believe you will find freedom from the slavery of the dollar.

I really encourage any and all of you to do all you can to get out from under your creditors, FAST. Do a google for debt snowball, debt reduction. Stop buying starbucks and start drinking JFG brewed at home. Stop eating out every meal and eat some ramen noodles. If you are buying your $30 angus steak on your visa, then should you be eating that steak?

Re: Are we in a recession?

johny — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:55:00 -0000

who cares ha losers

Re: Are we in a recession?

felipe — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:54:19 -0000

ok ha who cares ha just play the slots and youll be fine ahhahah

Re: Are we in a recession?

Stephen — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:28:16 -0000

FYI - Australian comment

History repeats.
7 year cycle

Reason: Let your slaves go free on the 7th year.
Origin: Biblical
Controller: WZO

Plan: do your research.

The WWW is an excellent resource. Turn off the TV and live. Read the book of truth for more reasons and clues.

Signed
Fellow Slave...

Re: Are we in a recession?

John — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 17:12:03 -0000

I think it is funny that the upper class does not see a recession forming yet if you talk to the middle and lower class they are the ones hurting. They are more and more people everyday that have just enough money to fill their tank but none left for the kitchen table. I have seen many people shut down their business, evicted from their homes, lose their cars, defaulting on credit cards and just trying everything they can to make ends meet. Big business will continue raise their rates and prices due to fuel or whatever reason they see fit this week but never pass that on to the employee. Our government is crap. We all know that there is no fuel shortage. They should have a cap on the property values and fuel. Anybody that does not see what is going on has entirely too much money and should spread it those that work for them or at least go live a day in your employees' shoes(You would jump off a bridge). I have had to lay off several guys that have dedicated their service and life to a company that has normally treated us well. They to have become money hungry and letting their employees' starve while we raise prices. I have watched the rates rise because of such lies like (we have a to pay employees more, gas for their vehicals to the job-sites, material costs and so on). They took their fuel cards away and no raises have been given, so they are pretty much stealing from the employee. I could go on for days but I will spare you.....

Re: Are we in a recession?

Jason — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:22:50 -0000

You people are idiots. If you want to say the economy is weak, that's fine. It is. But we ARE NOT in a recession. A recession requires multiple quarters of negative growth. That simply has not happened. I can't help but think that some of you are just taking your own personal struggles and looking for a scapegoat. This economy is slow but it will be fine. Chill out and at a minimum, don't go running around saying we are in a recession when we are NOT.

Re: Are we in a recession?

Frank — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:52:54 -0000

Prokofy Neva and the rest of you out there...

Get your facts straight - subjective reasoning while reasonably interesting misses the point. Objectively we are not in a recession - which requires two negative quarters of GDP growth - in fact, we have not even achieved one quarter of negative GDP growth - yet. And we may, and we may enter into a recession, but redefining the term to mean that because you lost your job or a loved one had their house foreclosed is misleading and emotionally based - not factually accurate.

Keep it real, keep it objective, leave the story telling to grandpa.

Re: Are we in a recession?

Rita Ashley — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:19:28 -0000

Pundits aside, each of us feels the recession every time we go to the grocery store. The question is not are we in a recession, the question is how do we protect ourselves, our finances and our careers. Each of us faces the recession differently and each of us needs different resources. The first line of defense is recession proofing our jobs/career. And that ain't easy. A few ideas are mentioned in my articles http://jobsearchdebugged.co....

Re: Are we in a recession?

Lissandra Canal — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:09:43 -0000

The question of are we in a recession? Is very difficult to answer at this point in time but it is leaning in the direction of yes. The economy of this country is having problems with mortgages, prices, jobs, inflation and unemployment. One of the biggest problems in this economy is foreclosures on homes; there becoming an epidemic in this country, where you can’t get a house rented or sold or paid for because there are no jobs. There are thousands of people getting laid off because the country does not have the means to pay them, due to inflation. This country is basically financed by borrowed money and it does not seem to be getting any better for a long time. There are many problems with the jobs and people getting laid off and that is causing a lot of unemployment and due to all the new unemployment there won’t be enough money to support everyone. On the news I heard that President Bush is trying to get the banks to forgive the late fees and freeze the mortgages so people won’t lose their homes and go to foreclosure and that way they can pay the debt on a later time. The problem of inflation is also hitting us hard because since everything is going up and it’s very rapidly we don’t know what to do. People are not going out with their families anymore to save money and they are also not going on vacation because they’re scared to waist the only little money they have; in this state that we are in the people have started thinking of saving money for the future. I will say this we are heading for a recession whether small or large that is still to be known. I do know this if this country does not buckle down and start fixing this mess correctly (no this does not mean cut taxes), but really fix this mess that we are in then we could avoid a large recession in the economy in the future.

Re: Are we in a recession?

Winfred Mann — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:42:19 -0000

It's amazing how few people understand what a recession is. They prefer to create their own definition.

In spite of the "media contrived recession," we still had positive growth in the 4th quarter of 2007. February 2008 bls stats indicate an unemployment rate of less than 5%.

On the other hand, we must reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Nuclear, wind, solar and whatever we can use for energy must be developed. Unfortunately, environmentalists fight every option we attempt. Why?

Re: Are we in a recession?

Jim Heller — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:32:43 -0000

It's amazing to me how quickly Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have forgotten our military bailout of them. Now we ask for alittle more oil production and they stick it to us. Next time I say let them suffer.

Re: Are we in a recession?

John Kenney — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 09:19:17 -0000

All of the indicators are pointing to a major recession: Over 2000 points lost in the stockmarket within the last 12 months; Negative Job Growth in the last two quarters; Stagflation driven by Gasoline Prices which is making everything much more expensive in terms or food and transport (in 2004 we were at $20 a barrel for oil now it is a staggering $104+ with Opec not expected to increase it's productivity); Consumer cuts in spending which will exaggerate the problem even more; A HUGE Deficit by this country which is devaluing the dollar because will not be able to cover its debts without foreign capital;and more that i don't have time to mention. We are in for some very trying times until this administration is out of the house for good...

Re: Are we in a recession?

ALAN COOK — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:11:58 -0000

I am a lumber trader for the largest wholesale company in America. We have over $8billion in sales annually. We see the lumber market and feel trend change sooner than anyone in the business, period. We knew the market was slowing down in June 2005 and predicted it. Katrina came along and prolonged the inevitable. We blew hard for 3+ years and the correction was necessary. That being said, the main stream media is way overhyping today's market to the downside. The housing market will begin to feel better late second quarter and will be on a slow trend towards recovery thru end of 2008. By this time next year, the news you hear everyday will not come close to mirroring today's news but it will be a "hindsight". I am certainly not saying all things are rosy, just want to please advise using sound judgement and think about the big picture. Job market is as good as it has been in the last 10 years. The cost of borrowing money is way cheap and probably will get cheaper. Their is tons of pent up demand. European investers are flush with cash and speculation is already starting to show in the hardest hit markets like Florida. Commercial jobs are starting up every day. I quote huge jobs almost daily and have been for months. Heads up........we have troughed out.

Re: Are we in a recession?

Chris K. — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 11:51:51 -0000

When someone wins, someone loses. When the stocks are low, that is "trouble" to the ones that have billions of dollars in it. Not really, its just greed. They really truly don't need all of that, the millions they are left with are plenty enough. That is the perfect opportunity for someone that has little cash to jump in. All we are doing is shifting the money into different hands. Who are the ones that make the headlines? The ones with the big bucks. Who are the ones that make decisions? The big Whigs. Who donates the most to candidates? Big lenders. Who persuades the media to twist a story around to attempt to persuade the masses? Companies with big money - that advertise - who happen to benefit the most when their party wins the election. So what do people do that have money and power when "their" economy is pointing downward? They attempt to change things for their benefit. Basically, what I am saying is that the money is still there, we as individuals should each do something to get it in our own pockets. Don't fall for lies candidates are telling, don't let the issues they bring up divert your attention from the real issue and don't waste 400 dollars on a Nintendo Wii for a 5 year old, put it into a guaranteed investment for his/her college. Also, for those lower income folks, don't spend a thousand dollars on rims and subwoofers. Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize! The government makes only so much money a year. The majority of the money goes into fewer people’s hands and the lesser of the cash to the majority of people. Does that sound right?

Re: Are we in a recession?

GC — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:17:23 -0000

The "bottom line", or rather, "ONLY LINE" for determining whether this condition exist can be summed as follows:
1. An economic downturn is when a neighbor two blocks away loses his/her job and he is up-ended for a couple of months to a year(s).
2. A recession is when some near and dear to you loses his/her job and he is up-ended for a couple of months to a year(s).
3. A depression is when YOU his/her job and he is up-ended for a couple of months to a year(s).
You can spin the issue around a million technically theoretical ecomonic methods, but it still only boils down to these simple, direct points!

Re: Are we in a recession?

phone man — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:05:20 -0000

The way I look at this is simple, if the main street media plays this up everyday its likely to NOT come true. There is this sudden need for media to get ahead of the news by basically predicting the future, they have a bad track record.

I think the subprime mess and housing market hit a bottom in Dec. Dec is when homebuilder's finally got the hint and stopped building, this historically has proved to be a bottom. No doubt subprime is bad, but its pretty much built into the market, I don't see another shoe dropping unless we end up with a big unemployment problem, which I don't see coming from my vantage.

Also I wish the stimulus was better focused on small biz and not individuals who I predict will run to Best Buy and buy a flatscreen made in China... money flowing with little in between directly out of our economy.

Re: Are we in a recession?

WorldWakeUpCall — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:55:39 -0000

Robert,
About Davos, I hope you get the chance to read French policy analyst Dominique Morsi's incisive and salient editorial about how Davos has devolved from a barometer for significant world trends to a mere mirrored echo chamber. I quote: "[...]call it the 'I was told in Davos' impramatur -- which explains why political and economic analysts and commentators, keep coming back despite the forum's combination of pomposity and intellectual vacuity."

Re: Are we in a recession?

Colin Joss — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:04:08 -0000

3 difficult interest policy option for the government..

Lowering interest will attract people to go into debt while spending will keep the economy going.

Not doing anything will make people crazy, because they think government doesn't care about what's happening.

Increasing interest will piss everyone off, because those with debts will be strangled even more and those who are not will go into trouble because of this.

So, I think lowering the interest still the best option there is for the goverment to make.

Re: Are we in a recession?

TranceMist — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:00:18 -0000

Startups and venture capitalists and Google...

This is limited to the "high tech" sector, not a broad view.

Personally, I don't really care if you call it a recession or not. Unless it's so bad that EVERYONE agrees, it doesn't matter so much.