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I have never experienced a recession like this. I feel a bit like Winston Smith in 1984 because I cannot remember it being so bad. Maybe it was due to the lack of internet and 'not so much information' like we have now.
Like I have said, I always had a job or two prior to having my son 11 years ago. I started working at 18 (during summer and college breaks), went on to grad school after working two jobs, and worked full time and finished grad school.
Granted, I have never had a great job, but they have been enough to pay the bills and give me some sense of being.
So, older people (and I am no kid) please tell me you have seen recessions like this before (or similar) and that it got better. I am beginning to doubt life will ever be normal again (and by normal, I mean going to a job, getting a paycheck)..
I have never experienced a recession like this. I feel a bit like Winston Smith in 1984 because I cannot remember it being so bad. Maybe it was due to the lack of internet and 'not so much information' like we have now.
Like I have said, I always had a job or two prior to having my son 11 years ago. I started working at 18 (during summer and college breaks), went on to grad school after working two jobs, and worked full time and finished grad school.
Granted, I have never had a great job, but they have been enough to pay the bills and give me some sense of being.
So, older people (and I am no kid) please tell me you have seen recessions like this before (or similar) and that it got better. I am beginning to doubt life will ever be normal again (and by normal, I mean going to a job, getting a paycheck)..
Thank you for thoughtful replies.
The 1979 to 1982 recession was pretty bad it got better and this one will get better as well.
No guru here but I believe the current state of affairs will hang around for another two full years and it is going to be tough.
But the market is always changing and in some jobs we're looking at extinction much like the cooper and blacksmith of 100 years ago so if you are retraining or going to school be careful what you select. Don't follow the herd.
I have never experienced a recession like this. I feel a bit like Winston Smith in 1984 because I cannot remember it being so bad. Maybe it was due to the lack of internet and 'not so much information' like we have now.
Like I have said, I always had a job or two prior to having my son 11 years ago. I started working at 18 (during summer and college breaks), went on to grad school after working two jobs, and worked full time and finished grad school.
Granted, I have never had a great job, but they have been enough to pay the bills and give me some sense of being.
So, older people (and I am no kid) please tell me you have seen recessions like this before (or similar) and that it got better. I am beginning to doubt life will ever be normal again (and by normal, I mean going to a job, getting a paycheck)..
Thank you for thoughtful replies.
No one alive has seen it like this.
Even in the depression the USA still had a massive manufacturing base and tens of millions of family farms. If you had some cash it went a long way.
Now we have little but "bubbles" and a currency going into a death spiral.
You are ahead of many/most people in that at least you get it, which shows courage,which will carry you through.
I have never experienced a recession like this. I feel a bit like Winston Smith in 1984 because I cannot remember it being so bad. Maybe it was due to the lack of internet and 'not so much information' like we have now.
Today's recession is IMO still better than the 1997 economic crisis in asia. They survived, so will we...
Today's recession is IMO still better than the 1997 economic crisis in asia. They survived, so will we...
Wasn't that only in Japan?
Anyway, I got out of grad school during the early 90s recession (late 1992/early 93 to be exact), and a lot of it actually seems similar, there were articles then about how there's going to be a big group of "permanently jobless" people and what we can do about it, a recently elected young Democratic president after a controversial Republican administration being villified by the far right for being "different" and being accused of being "the 2nd coming of Jimmy Carter", etc.
But the one difference that does scare me now is that we really didn't have the outsourcing craze then. Customer service and tech support people were in America and were still a growing industry, for example. I'm not sure how we solve that one since our society/price structure/standard of living is setup that you can't just live on $1/hour wage. I don't think we had quite the budgetary/debt problems we have now, especially on the state level where it leads to cuts no one ever dreamed we'd have to do (like closing prisons or having 40+ students in a classroom).
In that sense, I almost probably feel like you Gypsy Soul 22, sorry. But I do agree with the previous post that the Great Depression was still worse because no safety nets were in place.
I think the early 70's recession was just as bad. Couldn't even find a job as a dishwasher job in L.A., and making use of a job agency to pay them to find me one.
A calculator is all you need to calculate the next one. It's very simple math.
Roughly, 7-8 years between the bad times. Back down from from this one and the prior one and the prior one, you can even do the math in your head.
When we get through this one, add 7-8 years. And next time you'll be more prepared as you saved enough money through the good times to have some laughs during the next one.
It's sheer folly to ever think this is the last of the last.
I don't think it will get a whole lot better, it will get better only when housing markets stabilize. Which I suspect will be a couple of years off. Offshoring is eating away entire industries in this country, unless we replace those jobs with another industry - it is not going to be good. Our politicians will not admit this. They are beholden to the large corporations.
It was bad in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and early 2000s - seems like every 10 years, and getting more frequent. I personally have just accepted that Americans standard of living is permanently lowered. (Not that we personally ever lived real high on the hog anyway) We will live like the europeans, with very small fuel efficient cars. Keep them for 15-20 years. Be very frugal and live in smaller homes that are more utility efficient. We will just NOT be able to afford to live any other way.
born in 1945, entered workforce in 1963, retired 2007.
This is by far the worst I have ever seen.
The farm meltdown in the early 80's came close, but that mainly affected farmers and rural business.
I do believe the great depression was worse cuz there were no safety nets in place.
For now yes, in event of currency collapse and/or hyper-inflation no.
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