Wow What's Going On?

[LadyKay]

Not sure if this is the right place for this post. But anyway.....There are so many people that I know that are having a lot of money/job issues. People unable to afford basic living expenses. Families everywhere are losing their homes cause they are unable to pay. A lot more people are applying for welfare cause they just can't make ends meet. So I wonder what is going on? Is the American dream now a nightmare? Why are so many jobs being lost? I fear that the US is heading for another great depression.

[Steven]

Not sure if this is the right place for this post. But anyway.....There are so many people that I know that are having a lot of money/job issues. People unable to afford basic living expenses. Families everywhere are losing their homes cause they are unable to pay. A lot more people are applying for welfare cause they just can't make ends meet. So I wonder what is going on? Is the American dream now a nightmare? Why are so many jobs being lost? I fear that the US is heading for another great depression.

we are (heading for another depression).

its been forecasted for many years now......

[Hellion]

IMO,it looks like this nation is on a final collapse

corporations are constantly moving everything to China

and its not just Mi, its everywhere

and it probably will never get better.

Forclosure of a Dream(Megadeth)

the american dream no longer exists(sigh)

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

One of Clinton's last addresses as President and one of Engler's last addresses as Governor of Michigan, they both warned of the coming finacial woes of the nation. They both had the same plee to their respective congresses. They both put forth proposed budgets that could aviod this hell, both were rejected because in the short run, those budgets hurt not only the corperations but the people at large. In the long run, they would have "saved" us. Both thier budgets were rejected. So they put forth budgets that made everyone happy "right now" and put the doom off for a few more years.

The housing market though is a different story. That problem falls squarly on the banks, builders and realtors. The builders over built. Normally there is enough new construction to fill the market for 6 months... there is a 3 year stock pile of empty houses that is driving property value down.

The realtors pushed fiancing hard and over bought properties.... again... 3 years worth of properties they cant sell now... with values dropping.

The banks gave anyone who asked a home loan. The gave more people loans in the sub-prime market in the last 3 years than they gave in the previous 10.

People stopped living by how much money they had... and started living by thier credit score.

We will recover, but it will take a bit of time.

[freydis]

It's getting damn scary out there.

I wish i could believe it'll get better soon, and not worse.

[Msterbeau]

The corporations are giving our jobs away, the politicians put us in debt and we do the same to ourselves. No wonder things are fucked.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Unfortunatly, most fo the people that post here are looking through the lens of the Michigan economy which is far worse off than other states except for Ohio and um... I cant remember the other one right now.

Hell, Montana for one, has a booming economy with high paying jobs.. they just have no peopl;e to fill them. There are actually 5 states right now in the same predicament. Shit loads of high paying jobs and no body to take the jobs.

[freydis]

Unfortunatly, most fo the people that post here are looking through the lens of the Michigan economy which is far worse off than other states except for Ohio and um... I cant remember the other one right now.

I think the last i looked, the only other state with as bad an unemployment rate was alaska. That may have changed by now, though.

[Destroit]

One of Clinton's last addresses as President and one of Engler's last addresses as Governor of Michigan, they both warned of the coming finacial woes of the nation. They both had the same plee to their respective congresses. They both put forth proposed budgets that could aviod this hell, both were rejected because in the short run, those budgets hurt not only the corperations but the people at large. In the long run, they would have "saved" us. Both thier budgets were rejected. So they put forth budgets that made everyone happy "right now" and put the doom off for a few more years.

The housing market though is a different story. That problem falls squarly on the banks, builders and realtors. The builders over built. Normally there is enough new construction to fill the market for 6 months... there is a 3 year stock pile of empty houses that is driving property value down.

The realtors pushed fiancing hard and over bought properties.... again... 3 years worth of properties they cant sell now... with values dropping.

The banks gave anyone who asked a home loan. The gave more people loans in the sub-prime market in the last 3 years than they gave in the previous 10.

People stopped living by how much money they had... and started living by thier credit score.

We will recover, but it will take a bit of time.

Point blank, sir, bravo, kudos, and well put, to say the least.

Basically, to add to this, I blame it alot on my generation and my mom's generation. Actually fuck, I kinda blame the old people too, but not as much (i.e. they get Social Security, Medicade, etc = strain on our tax dollars and they are living older than ever now so they cost more). My generation (20 somethings) are probably the main culprit BECAUSE of my mom's generation: We're all spoiled little brats who get everything handed to us instantly and free by our parents. I can't say everyone is like that, but most of my friends were growing up and the ones that were spoiled are the ones who have credit cards with limits extended so far they'll never be able to pay them off. Sooo with all this "fake money" (i.e. credit) floating around, someone has to pay the bill sometime, right? That's when the whole house of cards comes tumbling in on itself. We're so fucking stupid we refinance constantly because we can't control our "needs", you know designer clothes and big cars and such *rolls eyes*, and pull equity out of our mortgages just to pay off stupid frivolous credit card bills.

Quite honestly for the most part we the society are mostly to blame for the upcoming depression, sure the government could have stepped in and wiped our asses just like we're used to mommy and daddy doing, but when it comes down to the line WE'RE the ones blowing our personal finances away like it's nothing. It's much easier to blame the government, people never like to take fault in their own actions and it's human nature to never want to be wrong.

To me the economy is stabilized by three things: citizens, corporations, and the government. When all three of those are fucked or corrupt, then bad things happen, it's simple really. Quite honestly too, IMO, the last one listed is probably the most disciplined financially compared to ourselves and businesses.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Current Rates:

1 IDAHO 2.3

2 HAWAII 2.6

3 MONTANA 2.7

3 UTAH 2.7

5 SOUTH DAKOTA 3.0

6 NORTH DAKOTA 3.1

6 VIRGINIA 3.1

8 NEBRASKA 3.2

9 DELAWARE 3.4

10 ALABAMA 3.7

10 ARIZONA 3.7

10 NEW MEXICO 3.7

10 WYOMING 3.7

14 COLORADO 3.8

15 FLORIDA 3.9

15 IOWA 3.9

15 LOUISIANA 3.9

15 NEW HAMPSHIRE 3.9

19 MARYLAND 4.0

20 TENNESSEE 4.1

20 VERMONT 4.1

22 PENNSYLVANIA 4.3

23 TEXAS 4.4

24 CONNECTICUT 4.5

25 GEORGIA 4.6

25 INDIANA 4.6

25 KANSAS 4.6

25 MINNESOTA 4.6

25 NEW JERSEY 4.6

30 MAINE 4.8

30 WEST VIRGINIA 4.8

32 MISSOURI 4.9

32 NEVADA 4.9

32 NEW YORK 4.9

32 WASHINGTON 4.9

36 NORTH CAROLINA 5.0

36 OKLAHOMA 5.0

36 RHODE ISLAND 5.0

36 WISCONSIN 5.0

40 MASSACHUSETTS 5.1

41 ILLINOIS 5.2

42 CALIFORNIA 5.3

43 ARKANSAS 5.5

43 OREGON 5.5

45 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 5.7

45 KENTUCKY 5.7

47 OHIO 5.8

48 SOUTH CAROLINA 5.9

49 ALASKA 6.1

50 MISSISSIPPI 6.7

51 MICHIGAN 7.2

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Thanks... your post is pretty damn good too.