I got to be honest, while we feel the pinch on food costs and goods, we are not that worried about the economy.  My DH is in the Navy and his job is very secure.  We're also of the mind set that the economy will right itself.  This is just part of the natural ebb and flow of the world economy and the more you mess with it, the longer it will take to correct itself.  he economy will right itself with time.  I guess I'm one of the few that still believes in the natural/free market system.  Perhaps it's idealistic, but that's me, I guess.  The markets were so over- and artifically inflated before, what did they think was going to happen?  You blow enough hot air into the balloon, sooner or later it's gonna pop.  Anyway, I got derailed.  Sorry.  But to sum up my answer, while we're feeling the effects of the poor economy, we're not worried about my DH's job.

The "failing economy" is a scare tactic used by an inexperienced president with an agenda.  Not cool.

My husband is in the military, and I have experience/certifications in the healthcare field, and experience/education in the environmental field.  We're not too worried about it. 

The worse the economy gets, the better we seem to be doing. My husband's profession survives off of other's hardships. Business is booming for him. And I'm part-time with no benefits, trained to work everywhere, so I'm very cost effective, and I feel pretty secure in my job. Meanwhile, higher paying senior staff in our district are being slashed.

In general, my customers are hurting and complaining. Sales are notably down. Bargain hunting is up. Shoplifting has been a real problem lately.

Meanwhile, my family doesn't fare to well. Two sisters are struggling, one just filed bankruptcy and is eventually moving in with us because she is losing her house. Despite working 4 jobs, she can't make ends meet.

@IamKelleyK@xanga - Seriously? Scare tatic? He must be in cohots with the media and whomever tracks unemployement and quarterly business earnings. Boy, he's a powerful guy.

@care - No, scare taCtic.  The economy will ebb and flow, as history shows.  But saying that we are doomed unless we get further in debt and using SCARE TACTICS to get your agenda passed is exactly what Obama did. 

And quite frankly, the problem of the economy is the stupidity of people in general when it comes to credit and handing money.  Living beyond your means and not being able to pay back all of the money you borrow to get stuff is why the economy is in the state that it's in.  The government is simply continuing this practice with this ridiculous stimulus package.

Actually it's doesn't touch me yet, but the person who are affecting much is my dad...

cus of economic crisis, his business really hard to continue...
I feel like...... my dad work so hard, but cus of economic crisis, and all his belonging..... become nth.....

Its sad... 

Personally I think things are much worse off than the govt. will admit. Ive know and have met so many people through work that have recently been laid off, lost benefits, seen their business drop 80%, ect. Up until a month ago I worked in a verizon store in a strip mall of about 10 stores. in the past month alone 3 have gone out of business, 1 soon will, and others are uncertain. I also ran a computer repair company out of my home on the side. my business has literally dropped down to about 15-20% of what it was. My new employer just announced their suspending 401k matching, as well as raises for all salaried employees. My fathers home business (Muscle Therapy) has greatly suffered as well. Businesses everywhere are going out of business. Gas prices over past 2 years are one of several factors directly responsible for the rampant global inflation, costs more to ship products, product prices go up, paychecks dont. I know alot of people say look at the past, this happens every so often but things will return to normal. I dont believe that. While it is true that every so often our economy suffers but eventually goes up, times have changed, we are no longer a paper economy like in the past. What I mean by that is most of the depts we accumulate this day are software based. Everything is run by computers, we are for the first time in history in a truly "digital dept". And for our modern US we are entirely dependant on foreign nations for the majority of our needs. What happens when our enemployment rate rises, what will happen when the hungry, and the poor fill the streets looking for food, for their families?, the wives, the children?, In the past our country had the resources, the farms, the cultivated land to provide for its own. Benefits are being cut, what happens when we get seriously sick and cant afford medical care. Yes I know, a hospital cant turn someone away for treatment because their poor, they'll will treat the sick and just put them in debt. Whats the average person going to do when they get the surgery they need followed by a 90,000 bill, that goes on their credit. There goes buying a house, financing a good car. Also what happens as more and more people loose their coverage or those who have none and hospitals have ever growing lists of unpaid bills. Then who will pay the doctors, the nurses, who will pay for the medical supplies. Heres a scenario, young man has diabetes, no insurance, govt doesnt help, he takes four bottles of insulin a month,two different types, one costs 60 a bottle, one costs 110. thats 340 dollars a month in just his insulin, not even counting all the other supplies he needs for proper treatment of his diabetes. So he lowers his dose below what he needs bc he cant afford the money. He gets very sick and has to go to the hospital for 3 days, his bill totals 28,000 dollars, we just forced an already poor hardworking struggling man into a situation he has no hope of climbing out of. Is this right? What ever happened to the govt protecting its people? Do you believe a govt's only job is to punish its citizens? and does not protecting them from harm mean ensuring their health? To make sure that people do not have to fear for their health? Am I the only one who believes for all the taxes we pay to our govt that they should at least protect us from death by disease or lack of healthcare the same way they are supposed to protect us from physical harm. Is it right that it can be said yes if someone breaks into your house to harm you we will stop them, but if you come down with something and arent lucky enough to be one of the ever shrinking citizens on an employee health plan that your out of luck, get what treatment you can, have your hard earned property, house, car sold to pay for your medical care so you can SIMPLY LIVE! We already know what were facing, hell weve known for years, how many times have you heard about social security running out for the current generation. Im 23, will there even be social securty by the time I retire?. These problems are the direct result of our governments inability to do what it was founded to do. WE NEED CHANGE! Not 10 years from now, but now. But in order to get change, we as a collective people NEED TO DEMAND IT! Not sit at home and worry about only ourrselves, if we do that we will all lose in the end. My greatest fear and what I think most likely is that people will not do what needs to be done, and if we dont make ourselves heard, if we dont take to the streets of washington and demand the changes to save our future, we will not have a good one, If we dont act, and demand our politicians do what is right for once, why would they get out of their chairs and public offices that they share with the corporations who buy them? I believe this economy will only get worse, I believer this will make the great depression look like childs play, look at our population, look at he daily and evergrowing business closing lists in your local papers, the national chains that are closing (CC), the industries that have been american landmarks and are threatened (Ford) What happens when 25%, 50%, 60% of our people are unemployed. My final Question. WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO INCITE EVERYONE INTO ACTION TO PROTECT OUR OWN FUTURE FROM THIS ECONOMIC PLUNGE.

I was laid off. I worked for a real-estate company, and they couldn't afford me any more.

But you know what? I'm a responsible adult, and had chosen to work hard and get a degree, so I found a new (better) job before the last one ran out. We don't have amazing jobs, but we live below our means, have a strict monthly budget, and pay our bills. We could buy a house, but we would rather stay in our tiny rental and save as much as possible until we have a large down-payment when the time comes to buy.

I agree about this all being blown out of proportion. You need to read a little history if you think this is anywhere near the Great Depression. That one gets a capitalized 'D.' This one is just a recession. And I was laid off - I think I get to complain, if anyone does.

If you've been responsible for the last 10 years, you'll pull through. If you haven't...welcome to the consequences.

i lost my job a few months ago. i tried SO HARD to find another job before i started to show, (had just found out i was pregnant) and though i have a degree and lots of experience in business administration and office support, i was turned down time and time again. i must have sent my resume to over 50 different organizations. then we found out that my pregnancy was high risk and, although i was not put on bed rest, it was made clear to me that finding another job asap might not be the best decision when it came to me and the baby's health. my husband is disabled and does not work. he is still going through the process involved with drawing disability pay. i have had to switch to a cobra account from the insurance i had through my former employer and it is ridiculously expensive. i am so so lucky to have a supportive family that can help me through this emotionally and financially. i only hope that after the baby is born i will have better luck finding employment, but things are getting worse every day. every single day another couple thousand or more people loose their jobs. maybe part of the way our government leaders present things are scare tactics, but the fact is that things are bad for millions of people and only getting worse. without my grandmother, my husband and i would have probably lost our home, we wouldn't have health insurance, and no way to prepare for our first child. in a situation like that, i would be seriously considering adoption. a better life for my child would be more important than anything. as we are now, we have cut everything out that is not absolute necessity to avoid having to borrow more money from my mom and grandmother. we can last long enough for me to give birth and then hopefully find work within a few months afterward. if i can't find work....i don't know what will happen. and yes, i'm scared.