On the economy

[weaktwos]

Some may say that the economy is booming. However, when the middle class is shrinking, I beg to differ.

Wages are on the rise in the home stretch to the election, but Fact Check has some information that shows we're worse off than before Bush came into office.

Comments

[lu-shines.livejournal.com]

they keep saying that it's picking up
i haven't seen it

i sincerely hope that SOMETHING ANYTHING changes after this election, i would really like a raise but right now i'm just thankfull to have a job

[modeleccentric.livejournal.com]

One of the best indicators of the activity of our econommy is the transportation sector- it's been flat for the last two years- Certainly things are rolling, but it's really only at a replacement level- spare parts, a new piece of equipment to take the place of that sacked out piece of dross, but nowhere near the level it was four or so years ago. Holding steady, really and sometimes falling back.

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

Very interesting, indeed.

We need to make you a user icon. Whether it be some animated one, or graphic one, or a photograph. :-) The model eccentric needs a symbol of eccentricity. Maybe I'll have to make you a "Libertine" icon. ;-)

[modeleccentric.livejournal.com]

We'll talk about it- I rather enjoy my anonymity-but I have been thinking along those lines of late....

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

Well, as you can see by this icon, you can express certain aspects of yourself while maintaining anonymity. It doesn't have to be you, it can be a picture you like. :-)

[modeleccentric.livejournal.com]

Pulling your leg, lady- Anonymous? Me?! heh. Let's do it all, if you've a mind; I'll gladly Ham it up.

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

Let's do it all, he says. Let's do it all!

muahahahhahhaaaaaaaaaaa

[modeleccentric.livejournal.com]

Stop that, STOP THAT!!!!!

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

Muahahhahahhhahahaaaaaaaaa!

just my $0.02...

[brittadotcom.livejournal.com]

From my microcosm POV, I do see baby steps, at least where Silicon Valley is concerned...my company had really hard times when no companies were spending any tech budgets, so we had no raises since 2001 and went through a few layoffs...I was very thankful I made it through with a job...but in the past 2 years our business has been picking up slowly but surely, even hiring positions here and there, and this past April we actually got raises again...I also am seeing more commute traffic...not back up to 2000 levels when it was truly insane, but definitely a lot more than 2001 & 2002...

I do agree that the middle class is shrinking, but I don't necessarily agree that the president has as much to do with the state of the economy as some think...but the great thing is that we have the chance for a mini-revolution every 4 years.. :) (If memory serves me right, I think that was a quote from Mr. Rennie at Casa in US History...?)

Re: just my $0.02...

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

That's good that your company is improving slowly but surely!

What I've seen in my POV is that our CEO reports unprecidented growth, but yet our staff continues to shrink, or be redistributed. I think certain sectors are growing, others are shrinking, with a net decrease. But it's good to see wages are going up. Hopefully other income types are going up because America as a whole is having a debt problem (both household debt and governmental debt.)

Trying desperately...

[cotharyus.livejournal.com]

To be more polite than I was in my last political posting. I just get so worked up. Sometimes I think people (in general) are blind. I honestly do my best to look at both sides of a situation. Seriously folks, when did the economy start going down hill? Anyone remeber a couple of planes trying to fly through a few buildings in new york, and one for a certain building in DC? Or am I the only one around here with a stock portfolio (albeit nearly imaginary) that still hasn't seen anything like a recovery to pre-sept. 11th?

The same thing goes for jobs. I keep seeing articles about "the most jobs lost in 75 years" - well, what happened 75 years ago - yep, a depression. What's been going on since september of 2001? Yep - probly the worst depression we've seen since then. Can we really blame this on Bush? Is it his fault that the security in the way of life that most americans had come to take for granted was shattered in a matter of hours one day nearly three years ago? I don't think so, and I don't think it's fair to put it all on Bush's shoulders. Yes, he is the president, and yes, the welfare of the nation is his number one job, but he can't do his job alone. He depends on everyone from congress down to you and me.

I'm not saying if we act like there isn't a problem, there won't be a problem, but sitting around crying about a problem never solved a problem.

Re: Trying desperately...

[weaktwos.livejournal.com]

Actually the economy started going down hill around March of 2001. And if Bush can't do the job of improving our economy alone, then he probably shouldn't claim that as an example of his successful leadership.

My post is mostly for folks who claim the economy is booming (and I've seen some conservatives say that), when the past few years could hardly be termed a "boom".

Re: Trying desperately...

[brittadotcom.livejournal.com]

I agree you cannot ever pin all the economic issues on the president or even the party in power. I also agree that conversely credit cannot be deserved - I don't think pinning the boom on Clinton is warranted either..or even Reagan as so often happens...but I also agree that the economy was headed south before Sept 11th, which then just gave it the extra push to dive much further down. The dot-com bust was already starting by December 2000/Jan 2001, which led the charge. My personal stock portfolio was already taking a hit pre-Sept 11th for sure.

Just as an example, my company's SECOND round of layoffs (first were in May 2001) were obviously originally scheduled for the week of 9/11/2001, since there was an all-hands company meeting already scheduled then that was postponed, and two weeks later (enough national mourning time to be back-to-usual, plus I'm sure they were bleeding money in the payroll with end of quarter looming on Sept 30th), the day after the layoffs happened, we had the all-hands explaining why to those who were left...talk about emotional suckage! Even for those of us who kept our jobs, it felt like kicking us when we were already down from the national tragedy...

IMO, the economy in general is slightly better than we were a couple years ago, but I don't think Bush can take any credit, even though I know he's trying...but also he shouldn't be blamed for the downturn either...