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hi! folks this is Juan, i am an electrical engineer and let me tell you since my icons are Edison, Nikola Tesla, Westinghouse. I always wanted to live and work in my dream country, America. But i feel that this crisis that started in 2014 is worse than from 2008, i feel my chance of realizing myself as a profession of the engineering are vanishing.
Am i right? Are there an economic crisis of a huge dimension? Moderator cut: .
Please folks, if some americans are reading this, could you tell me the dimension of the crisis??
thank you
Last edited by yellowbelle; 07-05-2016 at 11:49 AM..
Reason: no politics - see forum sticky
I am not sure what changes from 2014 you are concerned about. The big issue for the past 7 1/2 years has been the effects of the great recession. The US economy has been doing well compared with the global recovery, but it falls way short of what people want and expect. Many individuals and families were hit very hard with the recession and lost jobs, savings and houses. Conditions are greatly improved with low unemployment but many people are still trying to recover. Some are still stuck in areas without jobs or could only find jobs that were below expectations. Although the economy has continued to recover, businesses are very cautious. They have cut back on R&D, they hire at the very minimum and they are not investing in major new projects. Instead many businesses are sitting on a lot of cash and using it to buy back stock.
Overall there is no doubt the average American is unhappy with the sluggish economy and no one seems to see signs of substantial improvement. Many are still concerned about some sort of major set back. There is a lot of blame. "Wall street", CEOs, bankers, and wealthy people are all vaguely being blamed.
In addition to the economy, there is a whole host of other issues and changes and none are positive.
The cultural and racial composition of the country is changing. We have always prided ourselves on being a melting pot of those from other countries. In fact most of that was just different Europeans migrating to the US. Now the white Europeans are becoming the minority. Blacks, Hispanics and Asians are becoming the majority. Lots of people do not like the changes. That dislike and fear has been intensified because many of the immigrants have been poor, uneducated and illegal aliens from Mexico.
In addition to those changes, we are seeing a great many other unpopular trends. No one trusts the government. Obama has been intensely unpopular and his Republican adversaries have lost any sense of unity or direction. The government seems unable to do anything, starting with the economy. There is an unspoken concern that the 911 and other terrorists have been hugely successful and will continue to succeed. We expend a huge proportion of our resources on security and foreign wars. It seems little is left over to maintain the infrastructure or other needed services.
Along with the recession other economic trends have become issues of concern. Manufacturing was globalized and much of the low skill manufacturing has left. That would not normally be a concern because many of the jobs lost were none too popular, but with a sagging economy, that is just another concern. We have also had long term trends that are devastating the rural economies. We have moved away from semi-subsistence family farms to large scale, efficient agriculture and ranching. Lots of jobs have been lost in the process. Again, this is another trend that is not by itself unhealthy or negative, but when added to everything else, looks like another negative factor.
This is a time when America could use a great leader with a vision for the future. Unfortunately none has emerged. Instead we have a couple of politicians...Saunders and Trump....acting as rabble rousers and benefiting by the general unhappiness. The other candidate...Clinton...is greatly disliked by many, is telling us that the last 8 years were better than anyone believes and is promising 4 more years of the same. Unfortunately she and Bill always seem to be in damage control mode due to dishonest behavior.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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What 2014 crisis? Things here are far better than even before the great depression of 2008. Unemployment is low, construction is booming and housing prices are skyrocketing. People cannot find contractors to do their home renovation/repair jobs because they are all so busy with new construction. Some cities have been left behind, but in areas with a diverse economy it's better than ever.
US can't compete globally. Our genius corporate CEOs must always do their duty and remind us of this, perhaps rub it in our faces a little. That's why they make the big bucks, and US engineers work for salaries that were considered competitive, 25 years ago.
Maybe if they paid US CEOs a little less, and US engineers a little more, people would come to respect these occupations once more, and more people would have an interest in becoming an engineer.
I'm not sure what economic crisis you are referring to. The debt bubble keeps growing, which helps to keep this party going. There may be problems once the USD is no longer the world's reserve currency. Many people will tell you that things have never been better though. So as far as most people are concerned, there is no economic crisis to speak of.
Nothing happened in 2014. We have been climbing out of the 2008 recession and are pretty close to recovery.
Unemployment is low and the economy is growing at a low but steady rate. Techs are doing better than that.
Our government is in a somewhat static situation with a stand off between the faction causing some stagnation but it is well inside livable limits.
EE is probably not as good as it was 50 years ago but still will do fine. And in some specialties better than ever. Bit twiddlers are still in high demand.
What i feel is this nation has become an unhappy one.
I'm seeing a lot of stressed out people.
Road rage, drugs, homicides...etc. you name it.
This is an unhappy country, pursuit of happiness is long gone.
We pursue happiness. But the problem with humanity is we're actually very bad at predicting what will make us happy. True happiness takes effort (but toward the right kinds of goals) and mostly doesn't come from someone or something else "out there". A lot of people don't want to hear that, so the (mostly self inflicted) suffering continues.
What i feel is this nation has become an unhappy one.
I'm seeing a lot of stressed out people.
Road rage, drugs, homicides...etc. you name it.
This is an unhappy country, pursuit of happiness is long gone.
Why are we all not surprised that your view is always the glass is half empty.
I don't think we have ever seen a post from you where everything was not crappy.
So why are so many others doing well ? The answer is they do not let their fears paralyze them and they follow their plans and goals through while others do not . They wait for good luck and financial success to find them .
Last edited by mathjak107; 07-09-2016 at 03:05 PM..
What 2014 crisis? Things here are far better than even before the great depression of 2008. Unemployment is low, construction is booming and housing prices are skyrocketing. People cannot find contractors to do their home renovation/repair jobs because they are all so busy with new construction. Some cities have been left behind, but in areas with a diverse economy it's better than ever.
Why are we all not surprised that your view is always the glass is half empty.
I don't think we have ever seen a post from you where everything was not crappy.
So why are so many others doing well ? The answer is they do not let their fears paralyze them and they follow their plans and goals through while others do not . They wait for good luck and financial success to find them .
Consider how many mass shooting that happened, he had a reason to.
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