Thoughts on the economy

Author: Ashley

29 Sep

Hey guys. I don’t know if anyone noticed but I didn’t post on Friday like I normally do. I was hoping a little hiatus from the blog would clear my head and I could think of something other than the state of the economy to write about. I can’t.

What’s worse is that I really don’t even know what I want to say about it. I usually try to put a positive spin on things, I take the news with a grain of salt, I try to see the silver lining. I’ve spent time looking at those looming dark clouds and I just can’t pick it out. Sometimes I see something kind of shiny and I think “there it is!” but then the light shifts and it disappears again.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading and for the most part I can’t get my head around the situation. There is quite a bit of uproar about the bailouts. I’ve already given my thoughts on that topic. But even the proponents of the bailout say that things are still “going to get bad”.

I guess that is my sticking point. Define “bad”. What does that mean for the everyday person? More importantly, what does that mean for me? Should we cancel our Disneyland trip? (We’ve decided on January btw.) Should we sell the truck while we still can? Should I get a job now, in case I need one later but the unemployment rate is so high that even one opening at Walmart gets 500 applications? Is my husband’s overtime going to be nonexistent? Is he going to lose his job? What is going to happen!?

Out of all those worries, the one I’m most concerned about is my husband’s overtime being cut. We really depend on him getting a decent amount of overtime, plus it seems like it woud be one of the first things to go. I don’t know what we will do when/if that happens. Then of course it depends on how long he is going to go without overtime. We use our cushion fund when over time is low. So one, two, three months with none isn’t going to kill us. But 6 months to a year is going to really be tough.

As far as his job… it’s a safe as any right now. He’s the boss, so they would have to be closing down his whole site before he would lose his job. Which may happen I guess, it’s not outside the realm of possibilities I suppose. It depends on how bad “bad” is.

So what are your worries? How are you feeling about things right now? Do you have any ideas on how bad “bad” is? Do you have plans for a worst case scenario?

Pic by: Mike Licht NotionsCapital.com

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Filed under: Uncategorized, recession

4 Responses for "Thoughts on the economy"

Kristy September 29th, 2008 at 12:21 pm 1
I am extremely worried to the point where I am no longer decorating my home, spending frivolously, etc. I am keeping a little more cash at home and we are just trying to save as much as we can. I am also stocking up on dry and canned goods, just in case. We have a cushion and will most likely be fine, but you never know what is going to happen.

This may sound extremist but I think that there is probably going to be a depression. This bailout may just put the depression off for a year or two, but I do think it will happen. There is just too much bad debt out there.
tiffanie September 30th, 2008 at 4:16 pm 2
i’m extremely worried…i’ve been unemployed for 6 months and now that i finally DID get a job..it’s part time minimum wage (about a $10/hr pay cut from my past job). i’m working about 16 hours a week and barely bringing home a paycheck. if it weren’t for the fact that my husband makes good money, we’d be in deep trouble. as bad as it sounds…i’m hoping my application for unemployment goes through for another 13 week extension (underunemployment at this point…since i’m only working part time, they make up the difference of what i would be getting on unemployment).

it’s sad that i’ve come to rely on my unemployment checks because my job doesn’t provide substantial income…
friday roundup #10 | we like money October 3rd, 2008 at 5:03 am 3
[...] at Wide Open Wallet says it all when expressing her thoughts of the economy. I share in some of this fear because of my current job situation and the fear of not being able [...]
MrsMoney October 6th, 2008 at 5:24 pm 4
I couldn’t agree with you more. I can’t see a bright side to this at all either and it’s depressing. I am extremely worried about everything, and I work in the banking industry so of course I am worried about our bank going under and me losing my job, etc. I deal with panicking people every day that make me worry even more! It is crazy, and I feel so bad that it’s putting off us having children. I just can’t bring a child into this world right now and have to worry about feeding them, etc. Everything is so sad!