With the economic crisis and all, how are you holding up?

I'm one of those loons that has been trying to tell anyone who would listen since about 2005 that we were in for a crash, and a BIG one, so none of this is coming as a surprise at all to me. In the past 3 years I cut loose my credit card debt did the legwork to get a job that would not be as affected by the economy. So we are better situated now than we were 3 years ago, but I know a lot of people are not.

Now, I still believe that things are going to get significantly worse before they get better, and this mess is going to be measured in years (possibly decades) not months.

But I am seeing headlines like "The end of American Capitalism?", and I'm starting to think that people are going a bit overboard with the panic.

Even though the economy is going to be shit for a long time, it is important to realize that the world is not suddenly any poorer in actual resources than it was a month ago. The system was simply pushed to the breaking point and is now sputtering. But the fact is that human beings are adaptable creatures, and we tend to gravitate back to the routine and the everyday because it comforts us, and eventually, things will be back on a more even keel.

Sure, when it all shakes out, America may no longer be the pinnacle of American capitalism. But who cares? Being the pinnacle never did a damn bit of good for our millions of homeless and indigent.

Hopefully we will come out of this better and stronger and wiser for the experience. Hopefully, we can shake off the Bush years like we shake off an old nasty phlegmy flu virus that has run it's course.

Anyway, I didn't intend to have such a long screed on a poll, but there you have it.

So what is your feeling in the face of this panic?









*for those of you who are too young to remember, "Soylent Green" was a 70s film about a dystopian future America where most people live in desperate poverty, without electricity or enough food, resources being so scarce that they end up having to eat the unthinkable...



(EDIT: I meant 2005, not 1995. I'm certainly not THAT prescient!)

It will take creativity, patience, resolve and building the community. Get local, and come together to face whatever comes.

I want a sustainable future. NOT the Pirate-ruled, class distinctive, fat and greedy system of yesteryear.

Bring 'er on!

I have a vague understanding of what's happening with the economy and am concerned about it, to be sure, but I am also wary of personally going down a path of fear and panic.

It certainly will not help me to feel any more empowered if I choose to focus on feeling helpless and in despair.

It's in times of crisis that we realize what REALLY matters and in my book, I choose to focus on what I'm GRATEFUL for: my health, my husband, my family, my friends.

In the midst of it all, I have a lot to be thankful for. Truly.

...I'm not sure how I feel. On a personal level, I'm optimistic that I won't be too affected because I don't have much debt and don't live high on the hog. However, if everything goes to shit, all bets are off. I suspect the economic woes will bottom out over the next month or two, and the country will start rebuilding itself in the latter half of 2009.

One thing that seems evident, since I've traveled around a bit over the last few weeks. The economic woes seem a bit regional. Maybe I'm oblivious to something, but I don't see that my state (Washington) has suffered much of the economic downturn that has eaten away (and is about to devour) states like Michigan and Ohio. California, on the other hand, always seems to be on the front of any big upturn or downturn.

Think, Ricky, think!

:shrug:

I guess we're not as "gloom and doom" as the right accuses us of being.

I got a bad feeling abck in late '02, pulled my money out of the markets and paid the house off with it. Having a paid for home is going to be the best asset I can think of if this thing really goes south.

I fear for my friends and family though, some of them are in way over their heads and it doesn't bode well for them. I guess they can always camp out in my yard if they need to, it's pretty big. ;)

I lost my husband last November and since have been trying to live on my income alone. I have been doing ok but was already beginning to worry about winter expenses. I locked in my fuel oil at $2 more a gallon than I paid last winter and that was going to stretch things pretty thin for me as it was. Now with all of this economic chaos I am just not sure how I will do. I have lived on a cash economy a number of years and the only real debt I have is my house and my car. Everything else I need I have managed to pay cash for so I am grateful and I know there are many more out there who are not as fortunate as I.