How bad is the recession in the USA?

Question

My friends in the US are saying that there are absolutely NO jobs this year & that the prices of goods are skyrocketing... is that true? What I don't get is if there really are no jobs available as they say, then how come the unemployment rate is only 7% this year (which means 93% are still employed)?

Answer 1

Well the dollar has lost 20% of it's value in the last 2 years.  More jobs are being sent overseas.  There are still a lot of jobs here but not many of the jobs that you can actually live on the salary from.  As far as prices I notice I'm spending the same amount on groceries but bringing home 4 bags now as opposed to the 6 bags the money bought at the start of the year.

The government unemployment statistics are based on new applications for unemployment insurance.  They do not count people who have already used up their 6-12 months of unemployment insurance who are still looking and still unemployed.  They also do not account for people who are underemployed such as myself.  Yes I'm working, but not in the field I'm trained for I'm making about 75% of what I was making 10 years ago.

Answer 2

Of course there are jobs. I passed three stores with signs looking to hire people today. Unemployment  is not 7%. It is 5.7%. And we are not in a recession. We haven't recorded one down quarter, let alone two. Prices of many commodities are indeed rising, which is not surprising considering how fast the Federal Reserve has added to the money supply over the last 7-8 years.

Answer 3

It is bad. There are no jobs and food is skyrocketing. The reason is ethanol and not drilling for our own oil. Corn is being used to make ethanol which is driving up the price of food because corn is used to feed livestock and they are growing corn instead of other crops because corn is now lucrative. The price of oil is also driving up the cost of food because it is more expensive to drive farm equipment and transport it to stores. This results in people spending more money on gas and food and takes money out of the economy that people spend on other products. This results in less jobs because corporations and businesses are taking in less money so they are cutting back.  

Answer 4

Because your friends believe it when the media tells them the sky is falling.  The prices of some things have gone up and there are jobs available to those who want to work.  People who have managed their money wisely haven't experienced as hard a time as those who have spent foolishly like there's no tomorrow.  

Answer 5

It's not bad.People who complain about the fall of the economy have no idea what they're talking about.First of all there is no recession.It's all bull and the people want sympathy from the government because they want things for free.

Put it like this.The same people who complain about recession are the same ones that stand outside for 2 days waiting for an iPhone.The people who complain about the recession are the same idiots who made Batman: The Dark Knight reach $400 million its first week.Also the same ones who spend almost $200 going to the show and then wonder why they can't pay their gas and electric bill.And not to forget the first ones who buy spend their money on 1000 cable channels and don't even watch 100 of those.

So is that a recession to you?And to be honest these recession complainers are the same ones who will most likely vote for Obama.They are voting for Obama because he is a soft liberal who wants to give the poor everything while the middle class work their butts off and the poor people don't work and still get better treatment than the middle class.The poor wants free cable, free health care, free food, and free everything.They're sick beasts who don't wanna work but want everything free.Lazy cowards who deserve nothing because they work for nothing.

I used to be against the rich and for the poor.But then I started to think about this stuff and it didn't make sense.Why must I support people who don't deserve anything because they never worked for it?They use the recession excuse and it's annoying.

So if these poor lazy Americans complain about recession, why are they the first ones buying video games, going to the show, waiting outside for an iPhone, and paying so much for cable that they don't watch?

And what if educated middle class people get tired of working and getting nothing while the lazy poor people get everything free and unemployed?What if middle class people stop showing up to work?Now that will be a real recession.

Answer 6

IDK I`m not american, but their economy is apparently not strong enough to support all citizens there. Anyway there are still ppl there who knows how to steal money from society there recession or not.

Answer 7

It isn't so much that people are getting laid off, it's that companies are not hiring. The people who are unemployed are looking for jobs but there are none available.

The price of goods are going up as well. The basics--everything from flour to bath towels to shampoo has all raised in price. The price of oil has gone way up all over the world, but the US is largely dependent on driving. Unlike Europe, public transit is largely unavailable and sometimes more expensive even with the increased cost of gas. Entire communities have been designed around driving. Most people who have good jobs live in suburbs 10-50 miles outside of a major city--suburbs that often don't have any public transportation at all. Many Americans also own large vehicles that use a lot of gas. Large vehicles will sell for little, while small vehicles will cost a lot. (My mother's sedan is four years old and worth more now than it was when she bought it.) Many people spend a couple of hundred dollars a week just on gasoline.

Also, many older homes use heating oil. Heating oil that costs almost $4 a gallon. The US government does not subsidize heating oil, so my parents, who own a small home, are facing a couple of thousand dollars in heating costs this winter. Unfortunately, American homes have been growing larger, so someone with a moderate to large home may be paying double that.

Of course, a bad economy in the US is different from other parts of the world. We are not starving and are unlikely to be so. Most of US population can still afford medical treatment. And a large part of the population is not facing eviction from their homes.

We simply decide that this year is not the year for the new television. That our kids will have to get by with jeans by Levi's rather than jeans by Abercrombie. And that the trip to Florida will have to be postponed.

The only people in the US who are really suffering are the poor. The people who could only afford neccesities in the first place and have nowhere else to cut corners. These are also the people who are most likely to be laid off or looking for a job in the first place.

Answer 8

Couldn't prove a recession at all by me, and even if there was one, why focus on it? Things go faster if you simply take courage, muddle through, and deal with things as best you can. And to all the Chicken Littles out there, even if there IS a recession, it won't last forever, and it won't kill us.