I was reading that initial jobless claims fell for the third week in a row by 3,000 to 456,000 . That don't sound very good to me with a number like 456,000 initial claims. Around me in the last week I have read that three places are closing immediately or by the end of the year for a total of 450 jobs at one, the other 500 jobs an the third 100+ jobs. Something is wrong when our leaders are touting that things are looking better. Reading the Wall Street journal and many economist saying we may be getting ready to take the double dip plunge. That worries me!!!! The stimulus money just went for nothing and out this years spending of 2 trillion more that we don't have put us further in debt and about to see the largest tax increases that we have ever had. Every business is trying to get as much of there earnings into this year for the lower taxes so that next year the government will bring in less tax money even tho they raised the the rates. Many are saying that the jobless rate will the rise more as well.

Do things look this gloomy where you live?

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Where i live things are pretty steady. My dad owns a construction company and has actually been getting a lot more plans lately for condos, apatments and hotels.

that being said our economy is going to suffer because of the oil washing up on our beaches and no tourist wants to come to swim in oil.

Expecting a nice temperate incline come September when Cameron/Coalition has finished exposing the previous halfwits buffoonery.


How can you have a ex arch chancellor near bankrupt the country eh???

What kind of imbeceile sells off all the nations gold, when gold hits it's lowest price.

Look on our currency (sterling). It used to say "promise to pay the bearer xxx sterling". Now all it says is "promise to pay the bearer".

Pay what I ask. Our currency has become a idea, not a fact.

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No no and no

+1

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

worse in australia, especially melbourne from what ive heard.

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riley

I think pessimisim is not good for an economy.

Our economy is doing just fine. actually, its doing very well. This years budget delivery sealed the coffin for homeowners posting losses on mortgages that were written into trusts. That spelled an end to people who are creating massive wealth through real estate, I cannot wait until capital gains tax rolls in.

Perhaps, I may actually be able to afford a home eventually. Babyboomers have made far too much money on property in the last 10years, and that means their children are forced to rent as thay can no longer afford a first home. Ive heard of people owning many properties- in Auckland over 80% of people rent.

You know what stirs me up? When Im old, there will be more pensioners than tax payers. That means as I work, I pay for someones retirement. When I retire, I get no pension. I have to pay for it myself. There will be nothing at all except a stupid "Kiwisaver" scheme that was meant for kiwis to save (but really is a pension fund) for retirement. The reason why there will be no pension, because the previous govt had an immigration policy which meant people come into the country and go straight on unemployment benefit and have no intention of working at all, and they are meant to replace people who leave for other countries for better pay (Engineers, Doctors, Accountants, Lawyers etc.. high valued citizens)- while I pay my taxes.

I get annoyed when I hear an old fella complain about the amount of money he gets on pension, yet people dont realise that us younger folk will get none at all for our many decades of hard work.

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Nik,

That's what happened to the United States in the middle 60's. Welcome to the new age. Money is an idea and inflation make your money worth less.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

The bubble is going to burst and the economy will dip severely. It has only managed to survive this long because of all the injection of Govt money just like when Roosevelt used the same strategy. The housing market is bubbling right now and ripe for another crash and inflation is right down the road. Taxes are going to go up no matter what the President promised and unemployment will not be back to normal levels for another 5-7 years. Just my opinion and you may disagree but I see no proof to indicate otherwise.

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

Just because there are less people making unemployment claims doesn't mean that things are getting better. Unemployment runs out after a year, and I bet that a lot of those people are still out of work even after it runs out and they aren't on the official list anymore.

At the start of all this I thought that Texas, and particularly Houston would be safe. Things were just failing up north. But slowly it got worse and worse. The oil spill is the kiss of death for the gulf coast. Or more specifically, the thought that perhaps we won't be able to drill for a few more years or existing rigs will be shut down. It probably won't happen, but we've all got that in the back of our minds, that it might be a possibility. That fear alone is what's causing people to be laid off and it's preventing the people who have already been laid off from finding a job.

On top of that the cancellation of the Space Shuttle program means more thousands of people in the Houston area will lose their jobs soon. And since Continental airlines is merging with United and moving to Chicago the jobs move with it which means more thousands of unemployed or relocated people who can no longer help the Houston economy.

Sorry to go on and on like that, I just need to vent. Maybe I should just go spend a day at the mall like a normal teenager and not worry about this crap.

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
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I agree and disagree with you blerts. For one thing capital gains won't come in in the foreseeable future. I dont kno if it's really necessary too. From what i understand, people want a cap gains tax to get tax from people who sell houses etc as a means of income? and these people are subject to a capital gains tax anyway.
feel free to hit me up

I think the economy naturally saw an up shift. What else could be expected when you pump tons of dollars into it. But that could very well decline rapidly. I'm no economist, but I would have let the banks crumble and reset. Contrary to what Michael Moore preaches, its not Capitalism that killed the economy, it's "Crony Capitalism". Bailing those bastards out taught them nothing and dumped the burden on us and our children and their children and their children. Want to help unemployment? Take some of the folks collecting and some of the other stimulus dollars and put folks to work helping with the Gulf oil clean up on the coastlines. The work will get done with less of an increase in gov't spending if the dollars are already allocated. Send BP the bill afterwards.

The real problem is when/if the Global Monetary Fund/World bank call in our nations debts. They aren't interested in those bits of paper we use as currency. It's commodities they look for. There's simply not enough gold in the world to pay off the UK's debt, never mind the US's.
We'll be absolutely screwed.

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No no and no

I've been in the financial services / investment industry for 25 years.

Predicting where we are headed is no different than fortune telling. But, you still need to make choices on education, careers, real estate, investing etc.

The US and global enconomy is bad, but it is better than it was last year. A very few countries, Australia and Canada are actually doing better than the rest.

It'll take many years, 5 or more, before US real estate prices reach the peaks seen in '06 / '07. It will take many years, 5 or more, before unemployment levels in the US reach the lows of '06 / '07 of 4% or so.

Us baby boomers are a worry to those who are not. (That's why you need to get an excellent education, so you can support us old folk.) US debt is very high, US taxes will go up, US government spending will go down, short term interest rates will go up. I wouldn't be surprised to see gas taxes in the US and VAT like taxes as well.

I believe the US stock market is a good place to start puting money to work. Buying real estate as an investment may be a little early unless you have lots of time and lots of capital. If you're young, buying a place to live and you can afford it, now is probably a good time as any.

Fender recently brought out lower priced MIA guitars for a reason. their sales are down and people don't have as much cash to buy guitars as they did a couple of years back. I also understand vintage prices have come down a lot.

YMMV

Add retiring Baby Boomers to that. It's enough to make one cry how bad off it is about to get over the next couple decades.

sober and well thought out response. for those of you that disapprove of the obama stimulus plan...do you realize that without it unemployment would likely be higher and the economy worse off then it is now.

also, thank god for fdr and the congress that passed the law that included federal deposit insurance. if there was no federal deposit insurance many people would be worse off. of course some of you would probably like to abolish that big government socialistic safety net called federal deposit insurance, just as you wished obama's stimulus plan never was enacted.