US and world economy

[Ranchman]

Alan -

<font color="blue"> we should all go out and buy some new toys to get this thing going again .
</font color>

I wholeheartedly agree with you too! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[JoeR]

Today we had a discussion about war and the economy, and some of my co-workers blamed the escalating issues with Iraq. I only made one point with reference to preemtive attack on Iraq. When it comes to nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons use, there is no diplomatic resolution; therefore, it is imperative to take the first initiative to thwart any possible attack with non conventional weapons.

Joe R.

[saw_dust]

It is these unionized janitors making a $100,000 a year,that they are talking about on the TBN "related topics"that is the reason this economy is sinking.

[EJB]

Hey Ranchman...thanks for the input...we don't really need to disagree however, we both can be right...I see tough times ahead, at least for a while, ...and you say it just another cycle...two sides of the same coin....I am not really predicting the end of the US as we know it...just was wondering if others see the same things I see. Apparentley some do, and some don't...pretty much as I suspected.

I don't watch any TV news, but probably do spend way too much time regarding newspapers online (I read at least 12 per day..not the whole thing of course)...and you are right, the negatives do seem to be played up quite a bit.

Some of my more cynical friends think its all part of the liberal-media trying to make the administration look bad...who knows.

Prepare for the worst and hope for the best is always my motto. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Ranchman]

<font color="blue">Prepare for the worst and hope for the best is always my motto. </font color>

A great motto indeed! [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

its all part of the liberal-media trying to make the administration look bad...who knows.


I do believe there is alot of truth to that. There is also, I BELIEVE, alot of truth to the fact that the democrats would like nothing better than to see the economy stay in a dive. They know their best chance for re-election is if things continue to go bad. I think we all saw full well what the democrats are about when at the senator from MN's funeral. That to me was one of the biggest disgraces I have ever seen from public officials, at least that was right out there for the public to see.

[wingnut]

I'm staying out of the politics part .... but I will NOT stay out of complaining about the absolute worst criminal class in the US ... and that is the left-wing media. They're so far left that they'd think Stalin was a centrist.
It is part of their ball game to make everything sound like doom and gloom. Bad economy? Sure, it's bad .... in some ways ... but why? Couldn't have anything to do with the media screamin', moaning and wailing about it every ten seconds, could it? OK ... so we lost a bunch of dot-bombs ... whose value was an invention of the media anyway. They gave a whole lotta people a free ride for awhile and, now that they're gone, the sky is falling? Well, not on my head. My only investments are in companies that pay dividends. Strangely (not!) they seem to be doing pretty good. Yes, a bunch of non-value-added jobs are gone ... but that doesn't bankrupt the rest of us. How many "blue chip" companies are declaring bankrupcy?
OK ... Enron is gone ... so???
Our economy has taken these lickings for an awful lot of years ... and all we really need to get it speeding up more is to stop running it down and stop acting like the clock will stop at 6 PM tonight.

My job is pretty high pressure, I hate to fly, I spend too much time in big cities, living in hotels and eating in restaurants is highly overrated, and my home life could be better (we still haven't adjusted to each other yet ... perils of marrying midlife) ... but my blood pressure is just fine, thank you. I fix what I can fix and don't worry about what I cannot.

Back to the economy. The CEO of our company wants us to spend $1 billion less this year than planned because we had 8 quarters where we made less money than we would have liked. Is this because of bad economy? Heck no ... it's because the bad economy gives us an excuse not to waste so darned much money.
I'm so worried about the economy that I went and spent $1300 on a grill last week. And that's after we were informed that there would be no bonuses or raises this year. But, because I don't depend on Dan Rather and Peter Jennings for real news, I know we're a lot better off than we have any right to be.

[Hayseed]

<font color="blue">...I don't depend on Dan Rather and Peter Jennings for real news...</font color>

My mom refers to two of the three network idiots as Dan Blather and Tom Brokejaw... [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] don't know a better name for Jennings.... Socialists, one and all.

[wingnut]

<font color="blue"> Socialists, one and all. </font color>
yup ... I've always thought of the news on the networks as:
ABC - Always been communist
CBS - Communist BS
NBC - nothin' but communists

but that's just me [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[Clint]

Many of the financial problems faced in the U.S. today are because of a lack of financial education. Too many people have foregone personal financial education in hopes that somebody else will help them out. For example, many of the former employees of Enron, Worldcom, etc. blindly left their retirement plans in the hands of the corporation, granted what you can do w/ a 401k is limited, there still is some control that would have isolated and reduced many peoples' losses.

Also, too many people don't understand the power of interest. When it works against you it strangles, when it works for you it builds your money exponentially.

Many people feel it is ok to live pay check to pay check and then when the bad times roll around they have neither the income nor the reserves to support themselves. Unfortunately, people don't spend a little extra time becoming financially educated. It's far too easy to just watch tv -- 150 channels and (almost) nothin' on.

Unemployment would not be the monster it is if people kept a reserve. I look at my grandparents who never in the live's made more than 20 or 30k in a year. Their first priority every pay day was to put some money away, pay the bills, and then if there was extra they might do something nice for themselves (like buy another pig or chicken). They raised eight kids in a three bed room house.

My parents raised three kids in a five bedroom house. Was it nice for each kid to have their own room plus a computer room? Sure was. Was it necessary? Nope. The problem is that my parents never gained financial knowledge sufficient to ease their situation. That's why my Dad just had his 67th birthday and said, as he has every year for the last four years, maybe in a year or two we can retire.

I'm rambling, but my point is that a large part of Americans are not self reliant. The gov't has become the crutch of far too many people (e.g., extending unemployment out to around 9 months). We are no longer the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps people that we used to be." I'm afraid I'm preaching to the proverbial choir here, but it saddens me to see so many expect so much w/o wanting to work for it and then complaining about how bad it is if they don't get it.


Clint