Has the economic crisis affected you personally?

[MothBalls]

I would especially like to hear from those outside of the US. I'm just curious if it's more of an issue here or is the rest of the world feeling the affects. I'll start by tossing out my personal observations.

It really hasn't affected me, my family or my friends that much. My day to day life really hasn't changed much. Although probably the wrong thing to do, I find myself being a lot more cautious with purchases and make an even better effort at saving rather than spending. I even bough domestic beer yesterday. Gawd I hate American beer, it's one thing we don't excel at.

I do know some people who ended up in a bad situation. Mainly because they were overextended to begin with. The parking lot where I used to work (in Houston) looked like a luxury car lot full of BMW's, Lexus, and the like. At the end of the row, my 10 year old pickup. Some of them even asked me for help. Sorry, I have no sympathy for those who don't think ahead or put more emphasis on image than responsibility.

Basically just curious if it's really as bad as the media claims or are we just being duped once again while the upper 1% benefit from the situation they created.

[August]

Work for me is booming. We're getting a lot more students but having a much tougher time placing them.

[Shearwater]

I even bough domestic beer yesterday. Gawd I hate American beer, it's one thing we don't excel at.


That's why I'm drinking German beer, right now :()1:

On a more serious sidenote though: A friend of mine is currently faced with the perspective of unemployment. They phoned him during the holidays and told him that if the economic situation does not improve until the end of September, they'll sack him. Since they did it on too short notice, it could be that he does not receive unemployment pay (you need to tell the employment agency 3 months in advance before your contract expires).

Fortunately, both of my parents are employed in the public sector and thus their jobs aren't affected by the crisis. I'm really glad of that.

I was working during the current semester break, which in itself is a good thing because finding vacation jobs has also become increasingly difficult, but since I've done it a couple of times before and have always done a good job, I was lucky enough. However, a colleague of mine who was also working there just graduated as an engineer and couldn't find a job because the company he was working for during his studies has just imposed a hiring freeze about two months before he finished.
So bottom line: I'm not affected personally, but I know a couple of people who are.

[SteamWake]

Yes

[Task Force]

yes, no, maby so... err yes... lots of stuff, not alot of money...

[GoldenRivet]

Since the economic crisis has started i have completed all of the following

1. Purchased a new vehicle with great financing options
2. Purchased an airplane
3. Opened a flight school which is doing relatively well (paying for itself with profit)
4. Moved into a nicer area of town

I think that the "crisis" is highly localized to specific areas.

[Arclight]

Not me personally, no, my income actually went up and inflation is at 0%. Overall buying power is up, but so is unemployment. Gonna be a treasury deficit, though not as bad as predicted. Budget cuts are nescesary, but won't be made next year, instead they'll wait to recover from the depression.

I still think that if the media hadn't stirred up a storm, nobody would have been the wiser and people would have just spend as normal, greatly reducing the impact of it all. But that's another matter. :hmmm:

[Aramike]

Since the economic crisis has started i have completed all of the following

1. Purchased a new vehicle with great financing options
2. Purchased an airplane
3. Opened a flight school which is doing relatively well (paying for itself with profit)
4. Moved into a nicer area of town

I think that the "crisis" is highly localized to specific areas.GR, great post! See, most people don't realize that, while a "crisis" is indeed a crisis for some, it is an opportunity for others. For instance, the housing collapse sucked ... unless you were in the market to buy your first home.

As for me, the economic situation really hasn't impacted too badly. Sure, I've lost value on my home like everyone else but considering that it's free-and-clear and I have no interest in selling, who cares? I work for an organization that prepares forecasting reports and position pieces for government bodies so work isn't an issue. The only real impact I've noticed is that my teenage daughter is having a difficult time replacing her current job.

[stabiz]

Nothing wrong here either, I have actually never had more money than I have now.:woot:

[OneToughHerring]

Basically just curious if it's really as bad as the media claims or are we just being duped once again while the upper 1% benefit from the situation they created.

That's the right question right there. What exactly is the recession, where did it come from, who created it and most importantly, who benefits from it? I'm not a specialist in economic affairs, a lot of it goes over my powers of comprehension, but I do know that there is a lot of scheming going on on the wing of the 'recession'.

[GoldenRivet]

I heard somewhere...

"No matter how bad the media makes a recession out to be... Someone, somewhere is doing something to make money."

I find this to be an undeniable truth :yep:

[SteamWake]

I heard somewhere...

"No matter how bad the media makes a recession out to be... Someone, somewhere is doing something to make money."

I find this to be an undeniable truth :yep:

Yea the goverment there 'making' money everyday :rotfl:

[Dimitrius07]

The work hours has been reduce,(imagine that) wish means less money. Now the situation is better and i have less time to sit in front of PC.:D

[August]

I heard somewhere...

"No matter how bad the media makes a recession out to be... Someone, somewhere is doing something to make money."

I find this to be an undeniable truth :yep:

Yep. Even during the Great Depression the unemployment percentage never got beyond 23% (in the US). That means over 3/4ths of workers were still able to earn a living in far worse economic times than these.

[Shearwater]

A year ago, some people have already warned that this crisis would become the worst one since the Great Depression :hmmm:
I'm glad most people didn't buy it. If they had, it would have been another case of a self-fulfilling prophecy. No one denies that there have been severe problems, and it's not over yet. But it's not the season for scaremongering.

[AVGWarhawk]

I think that the "crisis" is highly localized to specific areas.

Absolutely correct. The towns that survive on the automobile industry are bad.

The economic down turn has not affected me.

[GoldenRivet]

Yea the goverment there 'making' money everyday :rotfl:

lol if your going to give away a trillion dollars to the corporate equivalent of a dopey 14 year old... (GM) then yeah... you better be making some substantial cash :haha:

[CaptainHaplo]

Yes it has. Because of the downturn, my employer whom I have been with for over 5 years, has done an across the board, every person from the CEO down, salary cut of 6.5%. We have also "downsized" twice, for a total of about 75 people, consolidated specific departments (resulting in less cost but also less efficiency/productivity), as well as currently have a hiring freeze in place.

My lady also makes 15% less than she used to due to her employer being forced to cut costs/benefits.

We have had to delay the purchase of a larger home due to the economy.

I am not complaining, we each have times where things are good or bad. The fact is this is turning into an opportunity IF things continue as they are, because it is often said that necessity is the mother of all invention.

[AVGWarhawk]

One good thing Capthap...you are both still working. Thats all that matters at the moment. It will get better. :yeah:

[GoldenRivet]

Because of the downturn, my employer whom I have been with for over 5 years, has done an across the board, every person from the CEO down, salary cut of 6.5%. We have also "downsized" twice, for a total of about 75 people, consolidated specific departments (resulting in less cost but also less efficiency/productivity), as well as currently have a hiring freeze in place.

some of the very reasons i left my previous employer.

not only was the work environment slightly toxic to begin with, but with fleet reduction, staffing displacements, furloughs etc it was not worth it for me to commute to a job site that was on the other side of the country - or move to that location for what would be less money.

so i respectfully resigned and followed my current venture.

[August]

It's a pity you have to delay Hap. It's a buyers market right now.

[CaptainHaplo]

Its all good guys. Thanks for the words of support. Don't misunderstand, I am not negative about it. Life throws you curves, but sometimes that makes the drive fun!

While we are delaying a purchase on the home for now, the delay is actually allowing us to expand our search. The kids get to stay in school until the summer of next year, and in the meantime we can also consider new construction, which I would like since it would allow me to customize some things immediately.

[jumpy]

Considering things have been going down-hill since late 2007, I've been out of stable full-time work for about 12-18 months now.
I was made redundant from full-time employment (of 5 years) as a CAD draughtsman in october 2007. During 2008 I had several temp CAD jobs ranging in duration from 12 weeks to 3 weeks.
Since the end of 2008 there has been FA work in what I'm qualified in.
For 2009, I've had a couple of crappy warehousing jobs and am currently employed (haha - I've yet to have a day's work out of the company yet) as a trade plate driver.
Of all the job applications I have sent out in the last year, I've had maybe 3 replies, mainly detailing how I've not been successful this time etc etc.

There's not even any of the little jobs that were ten a penny this time a year or so back; the jokecentre (jobcentre) is crammed to bursting and regardless of how broad your skills or your search criteria are, the only thing you get out of the jokecentre staff is "you'll have to broaden your options for work..." damn automatons. If you ask for 'training' you are told there's no money for anything. So you're stuffed.

The construction industry here is ****ed, pure and simple. And my career (such as it is) has followed suit.
My other half has escaped the first round of redundancies at her place, I suppose being an archaeologist specialising in the study of human bones/remains is not likely to be much over-subscribed. But nothing is certain income-wise.

We are facing worse to come I reckon.

As some here will know from my periodic outbursts of incensed bile, directed towards the banking system and our gloriously facile and oblivious leaders, that I'm pretty pissed at being subjected to the consequences of recession and now personal debt which had nothing to do with me whatsoever thank you very much. I had my little bubble of modest living, free of debt where financial responsibilities were kept under strict control. I'm somewhat embittered that I was careful with my money/credit but have none the less paid the price for somebody else's spendthrift attitude - it makes a mockery of not spending what I didn't have to begin with! I might as well jumped on the gravy train and spent loads of cash that wasn't mine in the first place; at least I'd have had a better standard of living until the bubble burst, and would then have had a few more assets to sell to keep a roof over head.
:mad: :damn:

[Kloef]

Not really,but over here they are posponing big financial decisions so the overall effect will be felt much later..kind of like in the states,make a mess of the countries finances and leave the rubble to the next government..

And we have some spare gas to sell to the highest bidder when the need arises so i guess we are ok,other european countries have much bigger problems and usually we are the first country to stabilize,and that is happening right now,the worst is past us and for instance Germany is recovering too.

[FIREWALL]

It's far from over. The Prez said in New York that still, some lending and Wall street institutions were still up to their old tricks.

[SteamWake]

My comment about the Fed's making money meant they are printing more they aint earning it. Indeed tax revenues are at a record low.

I also work in the construction industry. I ask every salesman, representative, architect, contractor, etc. I see "Hows buisness".

To a man they just shake their head and relate storys about downsizing layoffs and just lack of work.

[Blacklight]

I can say that here in Connecticut, the downturn has REALLY hit hard (mostly for those of the middle class and lower. Connecticut pretty much has two kinds of jobs available that aren't retail, Insurance and insurance. There used to be manufacturing, but almost all the manufacturers either closed their doors and moved overseas or are trying to.
I ended up with a genetic health dissorder that rendered me dissabled two years ago which has screwed my life and now I make only a quarter of what I used to. My wife, who worked in insurance got laid off after 10 years of service along with a HUGE portion of the whole Connecticut insurance industry. Insurance companies all over Connecticut are ADVERTISING for workers, but they are only HIREING temps ! So my wife is now stuck as a temp and every time she goes for a job interview, there's at least 20 other people trying for the same job, or they don't like the fact that she has 10 years of experience (They say "OVERQUALIFIED" a lot which is bullcrap).
She says that right now, where the offices used to be all full time workers are all now 90% temps that the companies don't have to pay health insurance for and pay pennies for wages. We just got this nice apartment a few years back, and now, because of all this, we're going to have to dump it and move to a smaller/cheaper place.
I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel for the blue collar or lower class workers at all for the near future. Those classes ALWAYS had trouble here in this state, and now, they're REALLY having problems.

[CaptainHaplo]

BUT BUT BUT.....

I thought the Savior, his Excellency Barack Obama was going to make sure no one lost their home due to this economic downturn?????

Perhaps you need to shoot him an email and let him know that somehow you have slipped through the cracks.

Seriously - my thoughts and prayers will include you my friend. It is never easy, and I will hope for a breakthrough for you and your wife.

EDIT - corrected shoot him an email - it initially was "shoot him and email" and I don't need any more secret service people knocking on my door.

[MothBalls]

BUT BUT BUT.....

I thought the Savior, his Excellency Barack Obama was going to make sure no one lost their home due to this economic downturn?????

Perhaps you need to shoot him and email and let him know that somehow you have slipped through the cracks.

Seriously - my thoughts and prayers will include you my friend. It is never easy, and I will hope for a breakthrough for you and your wife.

So frickin amazing. How about the republican azzhole who caused the whole mess in the first place? Nobody would need a "savior" if the previous Republican administration didn't f' things up as bad as they did.

It's just amazing how idiots shift the blame because the incoming president can't fix the previous administration's pile of sh1t they left behind.

[BootsmanBoof]

Thankfully Australia has been somewhat sheltered from the full effects of the storm. I manage a fruit and veg operation that has a turnover of around $35,000 a week; at the worst point, and I think winter sales trends also had something to do with it, we suffered weeks as low as $28,000, but we're back to 35 grand weeks already.

When the economy goes to hell, I guess people still have to eat. That's one advantage of being in this business (plus the fitness that comes from lugging crates of spuds around all day).

Also, as a renter it was quite nice that mortgage interest rates went down so no chance of the rent increasing!

My prayers for all those who are having very difficult times :(

[CaptainHaplo]

Mothballs.... in case you didn't pay any attention - it wasnt "republican" or "democrats" that caused this - it was BOTH sides turning blind eyes to crooked dealings, as well as economic cycles and bad judgement on the part of both the past AND current administrations.

I could point to clinton and his administration telling lenders they had to lend to more "poor" people, meaning more high risk loans. You could turn around and point at stupid government subsidies by Bush to banks and financial groups that can't account for taxpayer moneys. Back and forth, back and forth - and we would both be right in PART.

My comment wasn't about "democrats" in general - it was specifically in reference to statements/promises made by the current president that obviously are not being kept. You can get all offended, call other people "azzholes", it doesn't change the fact the current administration is taking economic steps that are digging a bigger hole, instead of steps out of the current hole we are in.

I am not a republican - I am an independant. Bush was wrong on his "stimulus" - and Obama is wrong in his economic policies of tax and grow government.

My comment was obviously overly sarcastic. It highlights the current political climate of "how dare you point out a flaw/mistake/broken promise" on your temple victory party president. You can't even take someone poking a finger at him. Sorry for you, he isn't any kind of diety (though some of his actions make you question if he or others think he is), and he made statements he can't fulfill now that he is elected.

Instead of making it a "D" vs "R" thing, why can't you take a little joke, move on and perhaps encourage Blacklight. After all, your response is SO OPENMINDED, SO TOLERANT of someone else. Instead of calling names and trying to lay blame on people who are not even in power anymore, why not say something uplifting - like "Blacklight, some sources are saying the economy is turning around, so hang in there". After all, some sources do say that. Others say its going to double dip, but instead of being uplifting, you would rather waste time blaming others.

How liberal of ya....

[Tchocky]

Yeah, it has. I came out of university just around the same time as the arse fell out of the country. I started working in a "safe" job, one that I wasn't that interested in, but was secure and paid a decent amount while I decided where to go next. I was made redundant in April this year along with half of the team (20-odd people), but after 2 weeks of being out of work the same company rehired me into a better position :D. I had my last day there on Friday, but I resigned instead of being let go, which makes a world of difference :P
For the 6 or so weeks that I was looking for work I could see that there wasn't much going. Lots of companies advertising positions that turned out to be part-time/temp positions. Lots of people unemployed, wages being cut, benefits cut etc.
Couple of upsides, though. In the last month we've managed to cut rent by 25%, just by asking. The property market here is in a black hole, so landlords are rather flexible :D

Anyways, I'm emigrating to a new and better job in November.