How is the economy where you are? Any shoppers?

[ktlight]

This is from ufochick:


I'm in the midwest in the states. I have seen HUGE drops in people shopping for anything that is not really needed. The big box stores are empty. The smaller food stores are busy but with people buying only what they need.

Used stuff is way undervalued. Only 2 out of 10 who apply for a mortgage can get one. New car sales are bottomed out (my best friend is business manager for a new car dealership) due to people simply not buying and so many not qualifying. Only about half qualify now where in the past almost all have. The used car market is starting to bottom out also.

Many businesses are failing or closing locations and many building are standing vacant, especially the large ones and whole strip centers in good areas are vacant.

Businesses can't pay their bills, sometimes store shelves are empty. So empty it's creepy. Gas is actually going down in price because of supply/demand. People can't afford to drive.

There was just a big tax auction in which over 400 properties were bid on. Some people bought houses, yes small and run down but houses with land for just hundreds of dollars, not thousands.

The city I am in is in good shape compared to others around the country. We get all this bull**** from the media about how things are ok but they aren't.

How are things REALLY where you are, don't forget to give an idea of where you are, at least the country.

http://ufochick.blogspot.com For more info

[Steven]

I'm from Eastern Quebec, Canada. Our economy here seems still in pretty good shape, but... It's all illusion and superficial, simply because it is boosted from the borrowed artificially created money that the banks inject contantly in the people's pocket.

So it seems going well, but it's all borrowed newly created money. Not very real and hard to me. A stone giant with feet made of sands.

Namaste, Steven

[exchange student]

Its now been almost a year that I am here in France, coming from Ottawa Canada, i must say that here people have a very small buying capacity. There is more and more stores and restaurants that are closing every day.
Most people will say that France is more of a Capitalist country but I must say that they are more leaning towards a socialist type of government. I have met with many middle class people and they are all pessimist about the governments way of dealing with the money. Even if Nicolas Sarkozy is on the conservative side he still has many left side ideas, their economic problems lies on all the illegal immigrants ( North Africa, Italy and Spain) that comes and uses Frances free social services, like health care, food organization and more... Globalization is also a big problem that is proven by the high welfare rate.

The french are not as proud as they used to be, with a climbing national deficeit rate, a fear for their nuclear energy, a fear for the upcoming federal elections, with major agricultural problems especially with this years terrible drought and a racist mentality towards the immigrants “that steals their jobs”, I would say that the french are in a pretty bad situation and they are not trying to hide it.

[Mark Aldebaran]

Florida, near the Cape.
The ending of the orbiter (space shuttle) program is making the local economy in worse shape than the rest of the state.
That amounts to about 10,000 on site plus another 5,000 working for local subcontractors ~ a lot of job losses for a small county to absorb.
My house is worth less than half the mortgage. Many local businesses gone or in trouble.
Both my neighbours got laid off. Tonight I'm having dinner with a friend who is laid off in two weeks and moving up north.

I'm a volunteer Red Cross shelter worker and my experience is that Americans are survivors. They rally around and help each other in need; in that sense they are community minded, much more so than back home in England. I've seen people donate money, furniture and cars on a scale that would be difficult to imagine in Europe.

There are some good signs in the economy so it's not all doom and gloom. Several new local start-ups (I'm involved in two), an entrepreneurial spirit and thanks to low interest rates a lot of capital looking for a decent return.

Retail is hurting; construction is in a bad way; high-tech (apart from The Cape) is booming.

[Sloppyjoe]

I'm from California, people still over-consume as usual, especially food, heh.

[Lefty Dave]

Here in usa much of our poverty is hidden.....out of sight ...out of mind. Welfare, disability etc keeps 15% of population out of the streets (for now) .
Wonder what the mindset of America would be ...if the 45 million people on food stamps...were turned into the streets...
Florida is a retirement state...many older folks being put on the streets, because their Soc Security checks can't keep up with inflation...
Unemployed probably 25 % here...and worse for 16-25 year olds !!!
Never a word about 9/11...or Katrina rebuild...or the Gulf oil disaster...or radiation coming to our lands...or the weekly wars we start in the east...our media is a farce!!

Why are the power brokers acting like THERE IS NO TOMORROW??

There you have it...it isn't pretty...

[crosby]

i work in retail, and i can tell you that our sales are down. we don't sell food, or gas, so it's kinda weird that we haven't gone belly up just yet. but the store that i work at is a national chain. i imagine darker days ahead. probably within 6 months. if that long. there are many stores closing, as well as family owned and operated businesses. the global and national chains are all seeing a down swing, but have the economic staying power for the time being. i have also seen an increase in food stamp consumption and unemployment. there are basically no new jobs here in western pa. almost all jobs are in the retail and food service industries. with a few exceptions popping up in the marcellus shale industry. when i start to see the fast food places begin to close their doors, i'll know what's next.
warmest regards, corson

[Rocky_Shorz]

San Diego is always the first to get slammed in bad economies, but also leads in the recovery...

we are seeing incredible growth going on, people are getting back to work

just having gas drop back down 50 cents has made an incredible difference, there was someone out dancing by the pumps the other day so happy he could afford to fill his tank again... you would have thought it was a kid looking at a pile of presents at Christmas...

hopefully cost of food will start coming down soon...

[ulli]

Here in Costa Rica a lot more people shop online, so the better shops look a bit empty.
But the shops where the lower classes go are still as busy as ever. I guess everyone wants to look affluent.
This country has really started enjoying their new wealth. I guess this type of materialism is a phase they must go through.
Even the lowest paid workers here all have cell phones...
Our 18 year old cat sitter who still lives with his parents in a wooden shack, but just started his higher education at a technical college
(free government sponsored) was thrilled when we told him that we are giving him our old desk top computer, he only has to find the $20 a month for Internet. Everyone in the family is chipping in with that...
This is not just unique to us, it is going on all over...Costa Ricans are very generous and helpful to the lesser fortunate.
I love this country. Still, lots of problems, but much good is happening.

[thunder24]

Rural Tennessee, planet earth

the county just raised property values 31%. Yet there are no new houses being built and we all know what the houseing market is doing. The reason is they are not collecting as much taxes from businesses now. So they basically raised the taxes by raiseing the land value. One cannot build a house here and sell it for what you have in labor and materials. It isn't worth building.

peace

[Ethereal Blue Being]

Las Vegas is doing Great .lots of cheap hotel rooms and entertainment outlet malls...so lots of tourists and that stimulates the economy. Houses are dirt cheap. people are coming from all over the world to buy ( I have friends in realestate sales) highrise condos on the las vegas strip are in an upsurge. New house Realestate here is doing something called " move in ready" your new carpet, tile, appliances, window shades, light fixtures, color of paint ... all done, installed and put into the price of the house ( you pick out these items) and its part of the mortgage ...some will even pay for the move and put all of your personal furniture in place.My brother is new house hunting and I go with him and his wife often to look. also baby boomers are retiring here to get away from extreme seasonal weather (snow ,ice etc) so alot of newly built housing is single story..the elderly dislike stairs...

[Arpheus]

I work in retail in massachusetts,the sales are throught the roof this year we been exceeding our goals and are always top 5 in the region within our chain,so i dunno but where i am at people are spending like mad buying furniture,rugs lamps pictures and all kinds of things related to home dec,now i am sure it could be the area people here have more buying power i am assuming?I dont think gas prices dropping has anything to do with supply/demand its all manipulation by the lobby on the senate tho.Some places are better then others i suppose,i am sure overall its not a pretty picture.

[Arrowwind]

I use to live in Salt Lake City and my kids are still there. Left there almost 2 years ago when the recession was in full swing. Property values did go down there after spending the previous 6 years skyrocketing. We anticipated making quite a bit of money when we sold our house in fall of 2009. We did Ok but made 50,000 less on it than we would have if the recession never came.... the property values had over doubled before the recession. There were/are foreclosures around but not as many as other places.

There is work in Salt Lake and the recession never hit there as bad as in other places. When I was there last month I saw quite a bit of new construciton going on in high rise, a recreation center, and homes south of the city as well as highway infrastructure being built. Lots of remodeling too. Vacant lots in residential areas are getting new houses on them.

Meanwhile the place I use to work at is really struggling right now due to medicare cuts. They whittled staff way down making each person do more work. That was happening when I was there and it made the job almost unbearable. Just a few months ago they closed their 401K program. I know they must be hurting to do that as they were pretty proud of it for such a small company. Glad I got out when I did.

[thunder24]

ktlight,

are you Ufo chick, and if not, why don';t you tell us what its like for you. if you are ufo chick, thanks for starting the thread.

peace

[Midnight Rambler]

In the Netherlands it's al-right. The country is more or less a province of Germany and economic growth is good over there and that effects this economy.

The housing market is bad. People can't get loans to buy a house. So the credit crunch is still here, money is scarce.

Has anyone an idea where all the money has gone?

[jc71]

Hi Midnight Rambler,

You are talking about money as if it were something physical and tangible that has disappeared. I believe that all this "money" that used to be floating around didn't really exist as something of additional real value. This is why the "value" of all the money in the system is going down now, because it has been devalued by being diluted by the amounts of "additional money" that were created out of thin air and pumped into all our economies. Now the additional "money" is only available to the banks and govemernment and not the public, so they can continue to use it to gain wealth or pay for services, each time before the dollar in your pocket is devalued further. We are the ones paying the price. This is why inflation is on the up in a lot of places. This is why our money doesn't buy as much these days.

Just my view...

J

[Midnight Rambler]

HI jc71,

I see what you are saying but I wonder about something. You say money is only available for banks and governments but don't they have to deal with the money scarcity as-well? I mean no-one gets an easy loan these days not even bank or governments (take Greece for example).

Because if banks could get their hands on money they would be more eager to loan some to my friends who want to buy a house. And there are a lot of people stuck in their rented homes right now willing to buy.

[Hughe]

In the Netherlands it's al-right. The country is more or less a province of Germany and economic growth is good over there and that effects this economy.

The housing market is bad. People can't get loans to buy a house. So the credit crunch is still here, money is scarce.

Has anyone an idea where all the money has gone?

Money is a big scam to create control the general public. I'm for sure all the bank customers withdraw their money at the same time, the whole banking system of a nation will collapse. The fundamental interest principal that supports bank's profit making - interest - is just pure mathematic rules based on assumption. Some third party ran by financial gangsters used to chare 300 percent interest rage for the principals. You have a loan $100, then the interest will be $300 plus $100.

The international financial gangsters - the IMF ruined every country's economy so far. That's fantastic or stupidity of humanity? I don't know. It's beyond races, culture, and nations.

My priority is to secure food and energy independence for my self and people around me. When you have food and energy, what do you really need for living? Of course, I gotta pay tax every penny I make under present system. If I refuse to pay property/house tax, I gotta go to jail.

There is family farm land. I won't work as a farmer till when situation real get worse so that food become valuable than money suppose I'll live long in this country anyway. Who runs the economy? In this country half million control 49.5 million population. The are the modern day kings and queens.

There still jobs out there if one is willing to work like slaves for the master. Most people still keep working like that. In the mean time, real jobs disappeared due to free trade and globalization. The wealth of few corporation always hit the roof top even though economy growth stall or goes down. The manufacturing technologies are so impressive.

I made a small computer program which does specific jobs probably 10,000 times faster than average human does maybe more. Guess this kind of technological advancement has occurred all over the world. Automation, sophisticated machines replace humans in every sectors of industry. The general public should get benefit from science and technologies but it hasn't happened.

I'll love to see very soon the U.S stops importing goods, begin to build domestic industries not freaking war industry. U.S can do it and transform the country within a decade. Many countries will hurt like Korea, China, Japan, etc. But, that will be the good thing for long run.

The ultimate solution will be realization of free energy devices which virtually liberate all humans on Earth. Before that happens, people and countries need to be independent, establish moral values again.

I can guarantee most industrialized countries will fix the economic problem and poverty of citizens if they stop wars, abolishing their military forces.

I believe in humans have great potential which is beyond my imagination. We already have the tools to turn Earth into paradise for all life forms without mass killing of population and destruction of civilization.



Meanwhile the place I use to work at is really struggling right now due to medicare cuts. They whittled staff way down making each person do more work. That was happening when I was there and it made the job almost unbearable. Just a few months ago they closed their 401K program. I know they must be hurting to do that as they were pretty proud of it for such a small company. Glad I got out when I did.

That's happening everywhere. Gangsters run the show. A fine example of slavery civilization. To survive the organization kills off own members.

High ranking public employees who retires collect pension around $2,000 to $3,000 in Korea nowadays till their death. Minimum wage is around $3 to $4/hr, people are struggling to have full-time job that's over $2,000 per month. Most jobs are temporary, contract bases. The unemployment rate of the young is very high. College/University students began to protest finally. For last 15 years, the tuition fee went up five times. Minimum wage went down, cost of living went up. A lot of college graduates are under debt without decent jobs to give them enough money to pay off debt. I never imagined this country would turn into this **** place. I'm sorry but I'm upset often.

Once again, the ruling class allocate 20 to 25% of government's budget to military forces which is just to waste resources and energy for false security and safety. South Korea is one of big customers of U.S weapon industries over 30 years. The sales number is phenomenal. People of North Korea is dying with hunger. South Koreans do not care them because they are our enemies.

The digital money transaction between South Korea and U.S is just agreement from both parties. I don't think actual cash flow occurs. Who's benefit from these weapon sales? Only the governments not the people of both nations.

[ktlight]

ktlight,

are you Ufo chick, and if not, why don';t you tell us what its like for you. if you are ufo chick, thanks for starting the thread.

peace

No, not me. Nothing to say. Living in London, nothing has changed, not that I can see. Abundance is around, so far.

The only indications of deterioration are the pot holes in the road and the poor road surfacing. Don't forget, they are preparing for the Olympics next year.