is the economy really

[justsam]

as good as the media keep reporting it is.. as i go around the country and talk with different people, i can't see where it is so hot for the average working person, maybe they just do their polls among the filthy rich and wall street..

[Beetwasher]

1. Massive Economic Propoganda and Book Cooking

No, the economy is not as good as the TV tells you. It's an illusion.

[tom_paine]

29. Exactly--the Busheviks are taking a page from the Soviet Communists

Government reports coming out of Bushevik Imperial Amerika are about as trustworthy and as 1978 Soviet Agriculture.

Sometimes in life...it's just that simple.

[madrchsod]

2. no it isn`t

almost three million people have lost jobs..has three million been created? no.

[marie123]

3. I am so sure it is that bad

I am losing my job this summer as a Unix admin.

I have been searching monster.com and other sites. I just started sending my resume out and I have been getting back replies. This has surprised me cause I read about so many of us being out of work.

Of course nothing has come of my search, but only started yesterday.

We will see just how good this economy is

[justsam]

4. good luck,

but i but i think the media and Bush have their heads up the same backend.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. I am in high-tech sales-and know a lot of people in your position

for every Unix admistrator position you see, they receive a deluge of resumes. I know a lot of techies (MAs and PHds in CS) who have been looking for work for over a year. Those jobs are being sent to India.

[marie123]

13. I know

pisses me off!

whose country is this anyway? I thought I had a say in the way my government acted. Guess i was a fool to believe.

My backup plan is to go to LPN nursing school for a year. since I can only last a year without a job I need something fast

[tridim]

8. I did the Monster.com thing 10 months ago

Took me 6 months to find a job and I didn't find it via Monster, I found it through my local tech user group. I'm currently making 2/3 of my previous salary (and 1/3 of my highest salary) with absolutely no benefits. If trends continue, I'll be making minimum wage by 2006. Yippee!

Good luck!

[marie123]

15. sorry to hear that

please tell me you were making 150k or something like that
:-)
It is scary, I dont like this mess at all!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

18. I'm looking for a job-the packages I'm being offered are less

than I was making in 1994-when the Boston area was just coming out of the recession and I had much less experience in sales. Many companies are resorting to selling via Inside Sales Reps (cheaper to pay them) than experienced sales folks.

I'm glad you've had a change of heart-who will you be voting for in November? Do you like a particular candidate?

[marie123]

20. thanks

BTW I am from the Boston area originally

[Kathy in Cambridge]

22. Cool-Where From and Where Are You Now?

BTW-good thing you left. the cost of living here is OUTRAGEOUS!

[marie123]

25. try living in CT

I will go back to Boston any day! CT has taxes I never even heard of. I am in the land of haves and haves not. There seems to be very little middle class here. Lots of old Yankee money. Sometimes i can smell it in the air.

The only thing I see CT doing for their poor is keeping them away from the rich.

I am so out of this state in two years when my youngest graduates from high school. Heading to FLA.. any liberals old and single want to come with me?!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

27. The Hartford area is a study in haves and have-nots for sure

I went to school in Hartford (rich white preppy college), right in the middle of one of the poorest neighborhoods. This was in the '80s, and I go back to Hartford on business and things haven't changed in 15 years.

You couldn't PAY me to live in FL-I'm retiring to Costa Rica!

[marie123]

28. OMG

what a CT reply that was!

Sorry you wont be joining me in FLA, but have fun in Costa Rica.

What school did you go to? NWC?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

30. Trinity-hated every minute of it and transferred

too many blonde waspy rich kids. Coming from a working class background it was difficult to understand their callousness toward the poor and others. Went back home to Cambridge and finished up at UMASS.

I boycott FL after the 2000 election. I will not spend my money there. My parents are thinking twice about retiring there. 90,000 African Americans were purged from the voter rolls to deliver Florida to Bush. It is a corrupt 'banana republic' controlled by Jeb and his cronies.

http://www.ericblumrich.com/gta.html

http://www.commondreams.org/news2001/0412-02.htm

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=55&row=2

[marie123]

32. you were lucky

to have the parents and the opportunity they provided you. I have no faith in public schools anymore. My youngest goes to NWC

I had to say this as I say it to my son almost daily
:-)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

33. Partial scholarship and loans-I had a MUCH better education at UMASS

a PUBLIC school-than at Trinity. Lots of narrow minds at Trinity. I have never encountered so much racism in my life.

I am all for public education. How else would the poor and working class get an education? Vouchers are BS-just another tax break for the rich.

[marie123]

34. interesting

Dont get me wrong I am for public education, just not the public education of today.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

35. There are a lot of bad schools, I agree

but much of it has to do with under-funding. Check out this DU thread about teachers-it's really interesting, and a lot of different opinions are expressed:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1067819

[marie123]

26. never answered your question

I am from winchester Ma. Now I live in Canton CT.

[mastein]

6. The numbers vs. the spin

The numbers used are honest numbers. I don't think they can cook the books. There are lots of safeguards in place. However we have some serious issues in the economy, and several revolve around what we want our economy to look like.

The current economic growth is being fueled by the Bush Tax cuts and those tax cuts help the wealthy few over the average Joe. So a logical conclusion is that those with additional money are spending it on higher end stuff. (e.g, I think boat building has seen a boom, as has large SUVs etc.). The other main source of increased growth is Uncle Sam's deficit spending, mostly from the war in Iraq. That puts money into the hands of the folks at Haliburton et al., once again not Joe Sixpack.

These facts lead to several questions: 1) How much is it going to cost us to finance the debt long term? 2) Is this a wise use of our money (or power)? 3) Does trickle down economics work? 4) is the Wal-mart style of government (lowest price possible) a reasonable model, or do people want better?

[OneTwentyoNine]

19. True,but ending unemployment benefits is a way to cook the books..

That after all is the main way of collecting unemployment numbers. No one walks around knocking on doors to make sure someone DID get a job after their unemployment benefits ran out--they just assume you are working as is shown as such.

Thats why it behooves Repigs to limit benefits to the shortest period possible and kill new efforts for extensions. If 200,000 run out of benefits next Monday then they can show (with no checking from Whore TV) that the economy is improving when in fact its not.

David

[rman]

7. depends on your definition of "economy"

if economy = CEO bank accounts, then yes it's doing very well thank you.

[leftchick]

9. well my tv tells me aWol* is a very popular president with...

great approval numbers. Consider the source....

[Bandit]

10. I am a food service wholesaler and I can say without hesitation

that it is not. I just had another major account of mine declare bankruptcy. Left me holding the bag for over six grand. That makes a total of six accounts in 2003 that had to close their doors due to the economy. They were substantial accounts and it hurts. None of my employees will get their normal raise and that hurts worse because they deserve it. Local restaurants are not doing as well as in the past and that is a common complaint among them. People just don't have the resources to be able to eat out as often.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

17. There have been a lot of restaurants closing here

and the Boston area is pretty affluent. No one realizes how the bad economy effects so many. I ran into an old friend at the gym yesterday-she has been a waitress for over 20 years and says this is the worst recession she has ever weathered. They have fewer staff at her restaurant so that the ones remaining can at least make a little money. Considering waiters and bartenders only make $2-3/hour, tips are crucial for survival. And with local companies downsizing and patrons with less money to spend, this really hurts them.

[Devlzown]

11. I'll believe it's better when there are jobs.

I've been looking for a job for going on three months now, and I'm not being picky either. I drove all the way to New Orleans yesterday, which is about 90 miles away, to interview for an offshore job and I'm praying I get that one. I don't care what the stock market is doing, if average people can't find jobs (and decent paying jobs, at that), then any kind of recovery we might be experiencing would seem to me to be artificial.

[jmags]

12. Read this

I think this article sums up why our "exciting" economy, isn't exciting those outside the investor class.

http://www.freep.com/money/business/jobs30_20040130.htm

[ProfessorGAC]

14. No, It's Not As Good As You've Heard

There is extensive extrapolation of snapshot data that results in overly optimistic estimates. In addition, there are no discussions of additional dimensions of the impact of borrowed money and growth fomented by gov't spending. The consumption rate is not increasing by any statistically significant degree, but gov't spending is skyrocketing. So, the growth is fueled by out of control spending, using $400 billion of borrowed money.

Not exactly a recipe for sustainable macroeconomic health.
The Professor

[Skittles]

16. of course it isn't

only idiots believe this ridiculous corporate spin

[theorist]

21. Minimum wage.

Raising the minimum wage would surely be a good move at this point, but I haven't heard it mentioned ONCE in the past two years. Wouldn't this be the sure-fire way to retain his place.

I can hear the speech already: "In order to better help the wallets of the most hard pressed Americans, it is the duty of the president to put more money in the pockets of the averagest Americans--average Americans. When small businesses can give more to their lower income employees, it promotes an exciting economy." (This is the best top-of-my-head B*-speech I could write.)

[Bandit]

24. Minimum wage increases has been mentioned by every single Democrat

running for President with the possible exception of Leiberman. I take it you have not listened to any of their speeches.

[theorist]

31. You're right. No television. (no excuse, though.)

I was mostly referring to the group in power. It would be great if everything a politician mentioned in a stump speech would pan out, but that's a bit optimistic, don't you think?

[Merrick]

23. as long as

the economy is shit. The slight GDP growth is spawned by huge defecit spending that goes mostly to corporate coffers (along with all the rest they can suck from the people/communities they're sucking dry before everything collapses and they move to Mars).
umm. yeah.