Where is the economy heading?
One person's birds eye views is another person's ground floor particularly in terms of where is the economy heading?
I am an eternal optimist. I am quite aware of how fragile the economy is. Unemployment continues to surge. Are we still on the way down or are we now feeling the large tremors from the initial shock? I see restaurants packed and others closed. I read that rents are stabilizing in NYC but are they? I do wonder ( and worry ) about people in my age bracket who have lost their jobs and their jobs are never going to come back, they have vanished. They have kids going off to college and now they can't afford the mortgage or their life. What will happen to them? Younger people will be able to take a step back and reassess their careers and lives. Most people my age have a harder time doing that.
I was speaking to a guy who gives our Vespas the tune up every year to return to the road. The nicest guy. His shop is in Brooklyn. Today, he told me he is moving to Vermont. He believes the unemployment will hit 11% in the near future. So, he is leaving NYC. He has family there and is young enough to make the move and change his life. He is concerned about the economy. He wonders if the US will ever be able to rebound when we are becoming a country that won't be manufacturing products to export. That is what his parents world was about and we are still living off of that but it has ceased to exist.
Where I sit, I believe that we will come back and be stronger than ever. We will create new industries, new economies, new ways of life that are energy efficient, think about saving vs out spending our neighbor, giving back and caring more, changing the way we educate our children, etc. I could go on and on. I see the downfall in the economy as an opportunity to change for the better. That is how I think.
But after getting off the phone with our bike guy, it gives me pause and ability to look through a brand new set of eyes. Sorry to see him go. But, I hope that the change for him is a great one and that with him making a move to Vermont, he will create new economies for that state that he didn't even know he would or could.
Comments (Archived):
I agree with your optimism. After the forest fire cleans out the forest, new life comes back with a vengeance. This down turn in our economy is almost a natural thing, and new business/industries will emerge to make the economy grow and become strong again.
I love the forest analogy. So truejoanne [email protected]
“Where I sit, I believe that we will come back and be stronger than ever.”I don’t share your optimism. America and Americans need moral bailout … ethics and morality have become a foreign concepts in the US of A as a result of toxic and criminal system called capitalism.You have a colossal problem in your hands when money manipulators run the show. Look who has Obama surrounded himself with: Larry Summers? Rahm Emmanuel, etc. and you are optimistic? do you know who Larry Summers is?
I agree with you, however I think in the near term things will get worse in Manhattan. Certain restaurants and nightclubs will appear to be full only because others will have shut down, leaving far fewer options. Not a bad thing, quality stands out.The recovery will occur, and we hopefully will be stronger and better as a nation than before. But it will take an exceedingly long time, a decade or longer.
You are right so many people are concerned and the economy is obviously in bad shape and the future of it looks even worse to me. I know here in Eastern NC that there are hardly any vehicles on the road anymore, i live on a state road and during business hours 10 years ago there was non-stop traffic all day long.Well now, they are seen itermittently about every 15-30 minutes, weird. Not to forget that because of the shape of the economony there are more scammers, loan sharks and nasty employers. I was forced to resign from a law enforcement career because a lieutenant and another conspired against me building a case for my dismissal. The lieutenant’s statements were several but all were bullcrap. I did my job, respected persons i dealt with, and answered my calls for service on a timely basis.I really believe that the lieutenant had a buddy he was trying to get into the police department because he must have lost his job due to the economic crisis. I tried to file for wrongful termination but NC lawyers tell me that the laws are so lax in the arena of employment. They say that the unless you are discriminated against because of religion, sex, nationality there really isn’t a whole lot that they can do.Sad, Sad world we live in. People doing other people wrong, basically what has got us in this shape to begin with.I sure hope for the best but all i can see are bleak, dismal days ahead and utlimately the complete collapse of the American dollar.Chris
I hope it isn’t that depressing. I do believe that we are in this situationbecause of greed, pure and simple.