For some a recession is not going on their third holiday for others the recession is when millions 'will have to choose between eating and heating their homes' David Cameron, talks about' we are all in it together' that's a load of old bull.
Where I live, Central Vally California, we have some of the highest unemployment rates for the nation. I'm seeing houses that were on the market in 2008 at $350,000 now being sold for $150-160K.
Down the road a piece there is a new subdivision, it was started as the housing bubble burst. It is about 80% completed with over half of the completed houses never being bought. Those structures that were not finished have been gutted by thieves for electrical wiring, copper pipe and tube. More recently several, perhaps many, of the never lived in completed homes have been gutted.
The guy who owned the construction company that started that project went bankrupt, lost everything. The Bank chopped up his business into tidy little pieces, sold every bit of equipment. He committed suicide he lost this investment, his business, his house, everything.
The grocers we traded with for nearly 15 years went belly up two months ago. The mall in Modesto (the nearest city) is half empty most of the year. Right now its opening up seasonal shops. Last year many of those didn't see a profit. Tiny malls are mostly empty. Downtown Ceres (a no stoplight town the nearest to us) is empty, every store front is boarded up. In 2000 it was thriving, the town spent a good deal of money in converting the main street back to brick, with lots of nice planters and everything. Business was (past tense) booming, crime at an all time low.
Homes are on the market. In the other direction of us there is the older sub-division completed in 2001, all if its houses had sold, today you can drive the street and see for sale sign after foreclosure sign. Empty houses with tall grass long on the market and being as cheaply constructed as they are they are already showing signs of decay.
It sounds like it Bowyn Aerrow.... Obviously after the glory days of out and out consumption we're all needing to reassess what is really essential in life. But, of course, people still need to live, eat and be dressed and housed. The Construction professions ought to be still employing as there is such a dearth of lodgings in France still, but I don't know if that's really happening.
It's a recession over here, too. The busiest store on Saturday afternoon is Salvation Army...and these are middle-class neighborhoods. One of the largest employers in the city just let over 400 people go, and my employer announced that they're cutting the budget by $100 million next year. Meanwhile, hundreds of people are applying for each fast-food and janitor position posted in the newspaper. Traffic is better because fewer people are commuting.
The person who previously lived in this unit is now homeless...in her fifties. For the first time. Lost her job two years ago, and never found a new one. Tried going back to school, but ran out of money before she could finish. Fortunately, her two children are staying with her ex-husband. She had a very nice car three years ago, but lost that to debt-collectors.
And like in California, foreclosures are everywhere. You can buy a 1200-square-foot house for $10000 here...when the previous owners bought them for $100k+
The "official" recession statistic is based upon GDP estimates that aren't finalized until *after* a given quarter, and even then are commonly revised months later. People will feel it in their personal finances long before the news announces it.
Hello All,
The current state of the economy is in dire failure in the UK... Admittedly not as bad as greece spain and italy but thats purely because we didnt join the euro.. l however have seen how devistated business have got round town and after manyh years people having to shut the shop... Landlords and landladys are having to throw their tenants out on the streets because they need their home to sell or live in again... I have witnessed something very sad happenning and its after effects are still occuring...
Due to the economy and people not moving my Brothers business failed.. He was a full time self employed removals employing 12 members of staff. He had seven trucks a massive yard a two storey office building and several hundered storage containers along with state of the art CCTV, Business insurance, etc etc security related...
In august this year he was declared offically BANKRUPT.... He lost his business andf fled to denmark... Now the admistrators are not happy and on about taking my uncles house as he was a business partner my brother was told not to mention to them... His ex girlfriend from germany is being dragged into it because she lent him money to set it up and eeven though she was re paid shes still being chased and worst of all.... My grandparents home where my brother lived... They could loose their homes and business because my brother is in approximately £700,000 - £1,000,000 worth of debt and they want their money!
This is why the economy and the goverment are just fucked up
The global economy is doing BAD. The largest economy in the world (EU), second largest (USA) and fourth largest (Japan) are all going through some serious times. When you have that many big names from the top 5 economies list in trouble, who the hell is going to bail us out?
I mean even the 3rd largest economy (China), which commonly is thought as ever-progressing, has experienced slow growth after EU started to fail with it's debt crisis. Because EU and China are each other's largest trading partners - what happens to another will affect the other one too.
Can you imagine what happens if even the collective effort of EU and PRC isn't enough to repair the situation? Sure, you can. It will affect EVERYONE.
Can I ask, do you believe that this tough economic time is a 'correction' meaning that prices, particularly in real estate, have been artificially inflated for so long leaving people with massive mortages on properties that are actually worth a lot less than what they paid for?
Is that a symptom that has contributed to the economic downturn or a result of the downturn.
Real Estate is only one example of over-inflated prices, the stock exchange and shares are another example where people have paid stupis prices to own something, then when prices eventually correct themselves, people lose big time.
I wonder what would happen if the world went bankrupt???>? Would it mean these multi millionaires would be living in a real world where you scrape and save to get by?
Let's not oversimplify matters. The money's there, but maybe we all need to start consuming more wisely and less frantically. That would not be sustainable if all 7 billion people on this planet consumed like the biggest consumer on this planet, the United States.
Just how bad is the economy?
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