As dire economic headlines go by, what goes through your head?
by Anne Tallent | October 13, 2008 at 8:00 am
Posted in Lifestyles, Your Say, jobs, money, real estate
At Sunday’s news meeting, we started talking about an upcoming story on the economy – what we wanted to know and what was on our minds: Employment security. Recession-proof industries. Saving. Rent increases and the prospect of landlords being foreclosed on. Home buying. 401(k)s. Our parents’ retirement. Food and gas prices. The holidays.
So, we wanted to know what was on your mind. When you see news going by about Lehman Brothers, AIG, employment, a $700 billion bailout, interest rate cuts, world credit markets, etc. … what goes through your head? How does it affect you? What does it mean to you? What do you want to know?
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October 13th, 2008 at 9:36 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
I wonder if pols have ever read a history book. They're re-enacting the events that lead to and prolonged the Great Depression with ludicrous bailout plans. I wonder how I'll look in a fedora standing in a bread line, as advertising is always the first thing to get cut from the budgets of struggling retailers.
Recession-proof industries? I'd say defense and...defense. Everything else is cash and carry.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:01 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
I think some people who lived through the Depression don't recall what it was like. My father (who was born in 1929) commented recently that another Depression might benefit the U.S. by restoring traditional values.
That took me by surprise. I told him I didn't want to be foreclosed on and bankrupt. I didn't want to see him and my mother standing in a bread line. And I didn't want to see children starving and suffering for lack of health care.
I'm not sure I convinced him.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:25 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
well, I don't see things getting as bad as The Great Depression (why so great?)... I really can't see 35%+ unemployment... it's hard to fathom. But I think things are still going to get worse before it gets better.
October 13th, 2008 at 12:49 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Not sure if it'll bring back values; feels like society's lost its restore point for morals and a reboot may not help.
The other extreme could be something right out of Lord of the Flies. Let's hope your dad's right. I like his version better.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:38 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
healthcare is recession proof... makes me happy my wife's a (damn good) ICU nurse. Unfortunately (or is that fortunately) there will always be sick people.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:08 am | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
I was at a party recently where the topic of recession-proof industries came up. The No. 1 industry I knew was the funeral business (though I still think that economic concerns would affect the lavishness of the coffin, funeral, etc.). My friends mentioned liquor and cosmetics.
I've been doing more reading about it since, and you're right, only 1: health care is pretty sound. But I have to imagine the market for elective surgery declines a bit. Gotta wait on those calf implants!
October 13th, 2008 at 12:45 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Actually, alcohol sales could take off. People will be looking for cheap entertainment (or affordable ways to forget how awful things are). The local watering hole will probably welcome a few more people looking to drown their collective sorrows, though.
Trendy bars and restuarants, however, may feel the crunch.
October 13th, 2008 at 12:56 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Couple of things to consider are that the great depression was augmented by the effects of our very own Dust Bowl. Second, but a definitely loosely-connected point, is that WWI ended just a decade prior.
Reason why I bring that up is because we didn't keep a standing military prior to after WWII. The normal cycle had been to keep a low number in service, ramp up for a war, and then quickly scale down after the war.
The connection here is the size of the military-industrial complex; it's undeniable that the U.S. economy strengthened during and after WWII - but - more importantly, this new development acted as a capacitor of sorts and later absorbed economic shocks. This particular 'accidentally beneficial' mechanism wasn't there for us during the Great Depression.
These are of course just my views, but, I'm saying that circumstances of the past were very different from today and therefore we can't chalk our present up to "we're repeating history." In short: don't panic.
October 13th, 2008 at 1:36 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Dino, you're right. I think the specter of a Great Depression is a little over-the-top. (I'm more aware of it than most because of my father's tales of being one of four children of a widowed mother trying to eke out a living.)
But most of us haven't lived through any serious hard times:
The dot-com bust and post-Sept. 11 downturn were buoyed by a rising housing market (if my foggy memory serves correctly).
The recession prior to that, in 1990-91, came before I even left for college. And I'm considered old. Just ask Jordan.
This may be the first exposure many people have to a difficult economic climate.
October 13th, 2008 at 3:36 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
Then again, according to CNN, squirrel brains are good for eating:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/10/13/depression.irpt/index.html?iref=topnews
Maybe we should update our cookbooks, just in case.
October 13th, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
along with alcohol, i've also read more people are starting to smoke/going back to the habit after they've quit.
October 13th, 2008 at 3:17 pm | Please log in to reply. | Log in to rate this comment | report this comment
my only question is how are my grandma and grandad gonna be with their money tied up in the system right now. i'm still amking money but those on fixed incomes are gonna be the ones who really feel the pinch and who's gonna bail them out?