Never Mind Recession....Do You Think We're Heading For A Depression?

Yes we are and I don't think we will crawl out for awhile..don't know how most will make ends meet since alot of people got married, bought a house for the American dream and now they are living a Nightmare..all we can do is budget, keep things simple and get rid of excess and have a Huge yard sale!

Things aren't looking very good are they? We have too many programs and our government is spread too thin. We need to downsize anyway. Maybe somehow, this will finely force prices to go down. Maybe finely people will stop overspending making China rich. Maybe now people will learn what they really need. Maybe now we can get some true change accomplished in our politicians.

I think we are in a depression. When I read that the stock market had not plummeted so much since 1927 it really indicated that we are there. And the Bank bailouts is the prime proof of it.

I think that these politicians have catered to rich corporate big wigs and their companies and not looked after the working man!The working man carries the burden and is the back bone of the country but he is not the one getting the real breaks!Do they ever stop and think that without working men , the back bone of this country would be gone?Groceries , should not be this high in the land of plenty. Caps need to be put on what can be charged.God bless the farmers and the working man. It looks like they are trying to eliminate the middle class to me, and we are headed for a one world order

I'm pretty jittery, nervous, yes. Makes my talking about this subject a little scatterbrained. But see, I get why this is alarming for the economy. Because banks finance business in this country. No banks, and the businesses take a hit. And remember, they've already been having a hard time for various reasons throughout this year. Banks also handle foreclosures...and there's a big question about what happens to assets like foreclosed, repossessed houses, although that'd less relevant so much to the economy, than to what makes this complicated. Anyway, so it affects all of us. Rich or poor. The rest of us who aren't rich, will notice less jobs. But we've been dealing with that for most of this year, so likely this would just mean for us that things would continue to be hard. Our economy would go through hard times for awhile, if we were to simply let this process to continue. Our global business now is, and would continue to suffer. Now in THIS scenario it'd depend on what circumstances would go on during all this. If other things seriously sucked and people do too many more stupid things with bad repercussions, then yeah...we could go into a Depression for awhile until people created new businesses which would climb to success to be able to employ people, to pull us back up again. This is ignoring the now infamous bailout plan -- which no one knows whether or not that'll go through, at this point. Even though I consider myself a betting girl, I wouldn't touch the odds on this bit. BUT the bailout plan would most almost certainly toss us into a Depression that it'd be much harder to get out of. It'd also last longer, barring a miracle. Heading toward something similar to what what started in October, 1929? Well, I see some chilling parallels, yeah. But I guess it depends on what we do differently. We can do so much differently than what was done then. If we're smart about this, anyway. Would it be LIKE that one? Well, from what I hear, it might be worse than that one. But I still maintain that it all depends on what we all do as a country. Is it LIKELY that we're heading toward a Depression? *WINCES* The odds are in its favor, presently. I'm not an economist either, but I know a little bit about alot of things. I tend to make it my business to know the odds about different things as well...and I spend most of my time lately, on calculating the odds in this economy lol. Like I said, I'm jittery! heh ^_^' How safe is our money? This also depends. Our currency specifically will only survive if inflation goes down. If it continues to rise, it will soon hit value 0 -- and we don't want to go THERE. *shudders* As for 401ks, social security, veteran's benefits...well some of this depends on the government having money to continue this stuff, some of it depends on our small time banks, and with this stuff it's hit and miss. It depends if the banks are smart enough to survive, it depends if our government's smart about not wasting money. I'm sorry I can't touch on each of these things specifically, but like I said...I only know a little bit about alot of things. Alot of people are putting their money in gold and silver, which is HIGHLY valuable now, even foreigners worried for their own currencies are going to gold and silver. I think this is pretty wise. I mean if you manage to get one ounce of gold, then you have nearly a thousand dollars worth of money, right there. I'd like to say that, people like you on SSI benefits, are no safer than people like me who're young, not able to afford college anymore...and who'll be lucky to have whatever job we get or create. For all us regular folks, while our odds are all specific to our lives, the playing field for all of us is pretty even. For example, if government remains or gets a little more steady then you could be the safest one of us all Pyewacket. If I manage to get into some serious farming and selling my wares next year, then I could be doing as best as could be expected for someone in my circumstances. It all depends, and the future's not lookin' that good over the next few years, and all of us can only be so prepared...but, as long as we're on task and alert -- and perhaps this is overoptimism from me, who's been a big critic of overoptimism especially on this subject -- I believe we can weather it all.

pyewacket I hope, I think we are not but we are getting close, it wont be that bad, but its bad enough right now as far as I'am concerned.nothing had better happen to my only source of incomel, my social security check. wow. no no no.

Funny you should post this. My husband was talking about the depression to his mother right now. According to what eh said - I don't know everything about the depression and I haven't studied it recently - that a lot of what is happening now did happen before the Great Depression which is why we are seeing the Feds bail out failing businesses. We don't get any of those benefits and I am nervous. We are starting to find more secure ways ti make our money because the financial future of this country is so shaky.

to be honest with you, i'm not sure whether we are heading for a depression... hopefully not... but we are sure experiencing some kind of recession... the symptoms are very clear... i just hope that the government can do something to solve the problem and all the countries in the world work together and help one another to tackle this crisis... i believe that if we work together and no country is being selfish, we will be able to go through this hard times together... take care and have a nice day...

I don't know about the rest of you but i already feel like im in a depression. I lost my job a few months ago due to the economy. My dad has been laid off for 3 weeks due to lack of work..so thats 2 of us in one household struggling on Unemployment. Those of you who do have assests, you won't have any or as much in the years to come if stuff doesn't make a change for the better. It's already hitting the lower middle class..it's coming for the rest of ya's to.

i'm been saying this for over a year,yes. we're hemorraging money as a nation,with war and bailouts,jobs don't pay enough, some are going overseas and others are being closed out. i live in an area where the average minimum needed to survive is $15 an hour,jobs pay minimum wage,so you have to get a second IF you can find one,and if you have daycare that takes one job's wages so you really need a third job.. and of course the state keeps claiming nothing's wrong,everything is sunshine and unicorns..while the foreclosure list daily gets bigger and bigger.

I don't know how far it will go, but I can say that most of this problem was caused by irresponsible lending practices. Everyone out for the almighty dollar and trying to take advantage of the mortgage boom. I think the financial system has got their priorities quite backwards anyways. The almighty credit score has become the god of your financial stability. If you have a low credit score you pay more for your house, and to me that is just plain backwards/ The laws of supply and demand are no longer a viable financial premise. When you have a faltering economy, then you should be bolstering it by making the things everyone needs affordable. If something is affordable everyone will buy it. Instead we are prisoners of our credit scores. An interesting bit of trivia too, do you realize that over 75% of the jobs in the financial field are related to keeping, processing and reporting credit scores? Amen to the American Dream, that is if you have a good credit score.

I believe that a Depression is inevitable, pyewacket! If anyone is a fan of late-night talk radio(as I am), this would have been evident a long time ago. Those in a position to know have been warning about this state of affairs for at least a couple of years now. That is what sparked the rush to buy gold and invest heavily in other currencies than the failing American dollar. I was so happy to hear last night that the FBI is looking into the possibility of fraud in connection with the failure of some of these huge financial institutions. Also, where were the watchdogs who were supposed to be keeping an eye on these institutions while this was coming into being? There are many questions that need to be answered. I, for one, hope the American people will not be fooled into bailing the miserable crooks out of this mess. They should be made to repay as much of the money as they can and have to serve time in prison for their crimes against the public. It is so unfair that they get to walk away with millions while the taxpayers are being asked to cover their a$$es!

I am not sure what we are heading for, but I do not like it one little bit. Before all this crap started happening we were just getting to a good place financially. We had dug our way out of a deep hole and I was really chuft because I could see this year being a good year for us financially and at last a chance to get some money behind us instead of lending the banks. How ironic that less than a month later the first murmers of trouble seeped through to my eardrums. However, it was not a problem for us it seemed, the people who it would affect first was not us and so I was able to carry on, now though consumer prices have gone up, everything is going up and money has to be stretched out further. We are still OK, but how long for, I have noticed my gas and electric going up, my shopping bill has gone up, and the job industry is shaky, my hubbys work have already got rid of a few hundred with more job losses expected at chrimbo, so it is looking shaky for us really and we have no debts aside from the mortgage. It is nervous looking out on it all, and I cannot answer your question because I really do not know what is going to happen.

Strange, I was actually talking about this with someone this morning, and I'm not sure, maybe, the dollar is becomeing almost worthless now and there arnt nearly as many jobs available, this whole gas thing is going to kill us. It probably wouldnt be such a big deal if we werent SPENDING 70 TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR ON A FREAKING WAR IN A COUNTRY THE SIZE OF CALIFORNIA!

YES! Because of all of these bailouts, taxpayers are going to pay a heavy price for all of this. Our money is not safe at all. Anything can happen between now and the time of the election, or now and next year. This could get real ugly. I fear that our economy is headed for some terrible times. Hey, I have a new book title for J.K. Rowling "Harry Potter and the Bad Economy Crisis".

I really dont know and I just cant worry about it. THe government crated this I think they should start fixing it now and makeing more money . How about you!

It's funny that I saw this because I've actually been call what we're going through now and what is in the future "The Great Depression 2" lol It does seem like its heading for a depression not just a recession.

Hi pye, Yes it is very frightening to think what is going to happen there, I know it is very bad in the U.S at the moment but I wonder if it will effect us here in the U.K as well? it seems its all happening everywhere and will effect people like us more because I am on benefits as well because of my health, its not bear thinking about. Bright Blessings Tamara

Be afraid, be VERY afraid! This is direct violation of both the posse comitatus act and the insurrection act of 1807. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

The concensus of opinion on the major television news sources and the economists (we're talking chairmen of the Economics departments at universities like Harvard and Princeton) writing op-ed pieces in major U.S. and overseas papers, all think that depression is now almost unavoidable. SSI and VA should not be affected because they aren't invested funds, but almost every thing else will be, especially pension funds. The Dow opened today about +40 and briefly spiked at +100. As I write this (10:30 a.m. PDT), it's at -147.