What is the state of the economy where you live?

1. 80

   Tom Cornettposted 14 years ago

   I Live close to Dayton Ohio. Many, many people are unemployed. There are a few technical jobs on the net and some very close to minimum wage jobs in the area.  Companies downsizing or going out of business is an everyday conversation here.  There are "For Rent" signs all over town. Families are moving in together. Two years ago, we couldn't find a place to rent.
   I'm seeing more stray dogs and cats from owners leaving them behind.  A friend told me that the local shelter was "More than maxed out!"
   Our utilities have gone up 30%.  There is lots of road construction going on.  They just uprooted about 50 nice healthy trees in a median to plant new young ones?  Road construction companies are all over the place but they are not hiring at all. Our county received 1.9 million dollars of the stimulus money for a weatherization program but only hired one person.  They did buy 3 new trucks and lots of new tools though.
   Food keeps getting more and more expensive.  The prices have been creeping up steadily for the past six months.
   So...how is it where you live?

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2. 68

   fortunerepposted 14 years ago

   you know what I am going to do tomorrow to make an extra hundred bucks? Picking Peas. 
   
   dori

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3. 81

   RooBeeposted 14 years ago

   Where I live (SLC,UT), the economy is pretty good relative to many other places. There's a big gap right now between graduates and white-collar job openings, but construction is going strong. My uncle, an architect from SF, visited recently and commented on how we had several cranes in operation at any given moment with all the new buildings going up - and how rare that is right now.
   There are quite a few factors at play making this the case, but I do feel glad that most people here haven't been hit very hard by the recession.

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4. 0

   \Brenda Scullyposted 14 years ago

   Well things are hitting hard here in Ireland too.  Because it has been such a boom time,and because people have been moving here from all the world for the first time ever things are now starting to really hit hard..... There has been lots of building going on, but now the banks are holding back money, nobody is moving in to the properties...either residential or business' 
   
   So many people are losing their jobs,  you kind of get the feeling that although it is bad at the moment, it is going to get a lot worse......
   
   We have just had a visit from our landlord, he wanted long term tenants in the house, and we have been here 11 years, and have been fairly happy with the arrangement.  His wife has lost her job so he is selling this property.  We thought we would be either staying if someone bought it as an investment, or moving out when it sold..... which could be years away as houses are not selling.   He has had to bring the price down really low and told us today that we have to be out in a month so he can do it all up for a quick sale..... we will find somewhere, but everyones life seems kind of uncertain..... 
   
   A local builder took his own life a couple of months back, hope that does  not start a trend, as it is the builders who at the moment are being hit really hard.....
   
   I am sure it is the same all over the world, at least we have our health...

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5. 0

   pgrundyposted 14 years ago

   I live in West Michigan, which is slightly better off than the rest of Michigan but is still in double digit unemployment. My grown kids live in South Bend, IN. Everyone on both sides of my immediate family who still has a job has taken a 5-10% pay cut, major benefit cuts, and all have been warned their jobs may not last.
   
   What I am seeing just in my immediate vicinity is many families that once had two incomes now have one, but the one person left working is working ALL THE TIME and is unsure of how long the job will last. It makes for a lot of stress within households: One person can't find a job and feels useless while the other is exhausted and afraid to do anything but work since it might not last.
   
   That's the people who still have at least one job within a household. OUr local food banks are running out of food and now unemployment insurance is running out for huge groups of people. I think things are much worse than we are seeing on the news. They are here anyway.

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6. 69

   lrohnerposted 14 years ago

   I live in Connecticut, and it's bad here too. It seems like every other person I run into just got laid off or are unemployed. Banks aren't lending. Lots of empty storefronts, tons and tons of homes for sale, a lot of them in foreclosure or have been foreclosed on. It's tough to find a job here in a good economy, so you can only imagine what it's like now. 
   
   Even state jobs are being cut, which just add to the rising unemployment. And our stupid governor's response is "It's not as bad as we thought it would be."

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7. 79

   Sufidreamerposted 14 years ago

   So far, Greece has avoided the worst. There are some problems with national debt, and unemployment has crept up, mainly in construction, shipping and tourism.
   
   However, Greece did not have much of a housing bubble, because it has a high rate of outright home ownership (inheritance), and the government imposed taxes to prevent investors 'flipping' property and overcooking the market.
   
   The very conservative Greek banks invested heavily in the Balkans and Turkey, so put money aside against risk, which served to tide them over the worst.
   
   The key is tourism - we all know that numbers are going to fall, but by how much?

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   1. 69

      lrohnerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      That's a big question for a lot of places. The trend here in the U.S. is that people are still going on vacation, but they are seeking out 'drive to' rather than 'fly to' locations.

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8. 60

   HealthCare Basicsposted 14 years ago

   San Diego has had a hard hit too. Nearly all downtown construction is at a halt for months, and housing projects have been stopped completely. In my area, I am seeing homes go up for sale or properties left abandoned either by owners or tenents. Friends of mine are residential property managers and are having a hard time filling apartments, especially one bedrooms because people are now having to find roommates to share the cost of housing.

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9. 62

   Drew Breezzyposted 14 years ago

   In Florida jobs are hard to find. I lost mine due to business closure.

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10. 62

    Lisa HWposted 14 years ago

    In Massachusetts (suburbs North of Boston) it's mostly showing up (at least from what I've seen) in a lot of people having pay cuts or other similar changes in existing jobs.  Also, though, anyone who doesn't have a job is having a really hard time finding one.  Homes are for sale for a long time, as well.  Other than those few things, I'm mostly seeing "the state of the economy" on the news.  It isn't really obvious without watching the news or at least reading up on local, municipal, goings-on.  Our library has cut back its hours, and all the teachers have taken a pay cut.

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11. 71

    Inspirepubposted 14 years ago

    Australia is the only country in the Western world that is not yet in recession, thanks to our strict controls on banks, and high global prices for the stuff we dig out of the ground.
    
    We do have rising unemployment, though - it's up over 5% now, and they think it might go as high as 8% before the recovery kicks in.
    
    The structure of our housing market stops prices falling too much, because when homes are sold in foreclosure they can't be sold below their value. That means the bottom never falls out of the housing market the way it can in the US.
    
    The climate is mild (it only ever snows in the mountains, never on the coast), so even if people are homeless, they don't freeze to death at night. And we have free universal health care, and unemployment benefits never cut off, as long as you are genuinely looking for work, so we don't have many of the poverty-related social problems they have in the US.
    
    It's harder for folk in small towns than in the big cities, of course, and there have been some lay-offs, but for most people it is still a worry rather than an actual problem.
    
    Jenny
    
    P.S. Yes, we do accept several hundred thousand migrants per year. If you are under 40, and you have an "in demand" occupation, for example, a Java programmer - you're in!

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12. 56

    my-success-guruposted 14 years ago

    Mixed-overall not too bad

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13. 81

    LondonGirlposted 14 years ago

    In London, and England generally, people are quite nervous, but there isn't (yet) a wide-spread sense of disaster.
    
    My sister's newspaper group had a round of redundancies recently (she's a journalist) but she kept her job.

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14. 63

    kmackey32posted 14 years ago

    I live in PA, everyones unemployed, including my husband..

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15. 0

    sandra rinckposted 14 years ago

    My bf's job was cut down to about 1/2 time in a day, he got a job elsewhere so we are relocating.  My x lost his job last month...still unemployed.
    
    Other than that California is a disaster.  Ever watch the Simpson's movie and Arnold says, "I was elected to lead not to read."  Well it's something like that.

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16. 69

    jenblacksheepposted 14 years ago

    I live near London, and people talk a lot about the recession but thus far I have not really felt the effects of it. None of my family have lost jobs (although I do have a small family). My boyfriend worked in a bank and his department got shut down two weeks after he left his job (he got out the minute he started hearing rumours about it).
    
    Having just left university I will shortly be looking for a job. Technically there are lots of jobs avaliable especially for someone (like me) who has no idea wat they want to do. So hopefully it shouldnt be too bad.

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17. 67

    waynetposted 14 years ago

    Well I live in sunny old england and in the yorkshire part of england we are experiencing a couple of businesses closing down every other week and there are people competing for the same jobs, which are very few indeed, unemployment has risen and gordon browns a cunt!!

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    1. 68

       bgamallposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Gordon Brown mentioned awhile back that the world was entering a New World Order. What that means is that the biggest lenders will make money and the rest of us are screwed. It means more debt and more financial control from the top. What a guy!!!

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18. 79

    Uninvited Writerposted 14 years ago

    Well, i don't know if it means an improvement in the all over economy but for the past 3 years my RRSP (Registered retirement savings plan) has been going down; I lost over $15,000 over those years. Now, however, I notice it is steadily going up each month and I've gained back about $5,000.

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19. 68

    bgamallposted 14 years ago

    I live in Reno, NV, where unemployment is 11 percent. Reno was the fastest growing city for a time in the 90's and how far we have fallen. But there is still a new outlet mall that looks like a real mall, and the new Cabella's and Scheels are helping this tourist town.
    
    The problem is that almost 1/2 of all houses in Reno that have mortgages are underwater.

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