The Recession

[TheEPICtrainrider]

I know a lot of people have lost their jobs, homes, and possessions, and I'm sorry for their loss. But what do you view this Rescission as? Overreaction? International pandemic? Or just something that generally happens every ten years?

[Joe9412]

Its just a chain of events going to lead to 2012 *maybe* and if not it will get better then well get a bad president then itll happen again..its just a cycle of the econmy...

[Cirevam]

Anyone who thinks this recession is the worst we've seen since the Depression wasn't around during the late 70's/early 80's. But this is just another business cycle. We hit peaks of production, then production falls and we hit a recession. Eventually we'll increase production, hit the peak, and repeat. So to answer your first post Epic, yes it's something that happens generally every decade, but this is a bit different since we had the housing market crash a few years ago. I think that's where the overreaction is coming from.

[Addictgamer]

I think it's not as bad as people say, but it's worse than cirevam said.

Why? Banks gave money to people who didn't have credit.

Now nobody can get loans, so bushinesses that need loans to start off or survive now die.

Now, this causes people to lose their jobs. They don’t have money to pay off their loans or to buy stuff, so banks lose again.

Because they don’t buy stuff anymore, other businesses close because they have no customers.

This continues until something happens to change it all; like a war, or a mega construction project, or a giant new business that’s survives its baby steps and requires many employees to operate.

[Acmex]

The outcome of the recession depends on how the situation is handled.

If not handled right, the economy, especially the U.S.es will collapse down to a depression like the '30s

It took a WAR to get us out of that, and not one like the "War on Terror"

If everyone goes out and spends between 5-50 US dollars, the recession might start ending right now.

All we can do is await the outcome.

[Cirevam]

Ah, I forgot about banks. You're absolutely right about that, addict. However, I'd like to point out you mention of war bringing an economy out of a recession. In history, this always worked (correct me if I'm wrong). However, I think the timing was off this time. The Iraq War started during a time when the economy was in a tiny slump, but it did come back up again. A few years later (2006ish) it started to fall as banks started losing money to debtors that couldn't repay, like you said, but the war is winding down now. Yeah we still have troops there, like we always do for every other country, but now the main... I want to say "production acceleration" that wartime brings has ended. If it weren't for the housing market crash, this recession would probably have been delayed a few years or might not have been as bad.

Also, the reason I think that this recession isn't as bad as the 70's oil crisis is because we're not forced to ration anything crucial. Yes we have to be more frugal right now, yes we have to adopt methods of travel that require less petrol, and yes people are losing their jobs, but I believe that a lot of this is just scare tactics. People have been saying that "the world oil supply will run out 50 years from now" even fifty years ago, for example. Obviously it didn't happen, though it has been getting harder to find oil. Another thing is that people aren't educated in what's economically correct and what's stupid, and no one tries to stop them from doing the stupid moves. Young just-married couples were going out and buying their dream houses right from the get-go. Who let them do that? The banks. I can't remember if there's any federal control over the types of loans they were offering, or maybe there were loopholes, but it's not entirely the banks' fault. People need to learn how to read a contract and how to interpret interest rates. An interest rate increase of one or two percent can translate to a few hundred more dollars that have to be paid, heaven forbid if it goes up something like seven or eight percent. My parents locked in their interest rate several years ago, and for good reason.

Therefore, I believe that the recession isn't that bad (though it's still bad to be sure) because my parents aren't idiots, and my grandfather is filthy stinking rich due to smart economic decisions and investments (I never asked him how much he makes, but he's loaded) and he helps us out on certain occasions. My parents don't have many savings due to school tuition, but my brothers and myself do, so we actually lend money to our parents when necessary and they'll pay us back whenever they get the chance. This is why it's important to get a job when you're a teenager.

Oh hey, an opportunity to make this post even longer! Alright. I got my first job in summer 2005 and I'm still working there in the summers. This has given me a decent source of income to pay for things like insurance, books, and other things. My brothers got their first jobs last year; one works where I do (and was hired easily because my boss knows all of us well) and my other brother was hired at a small restaurant. Since he didn't have any other job experience, he's just been a dishwasher for the past year and he hates going to work. This is what I don't understand. Why do teenagers today not want to work? What is wrong with you guys? If you can get into a job, especially when it's hard to find a job right now, you should feel extremely fortunate that you're making money at all. If you can't find a job, at least volunteer so that you can make connections with the local companies so that you can try to wrangle a job out of them later, like maybe when the recession starts to turn around.

I think this is a good place to end for now. Matt would be proud of the size of this post.

[TheEPICtrainrider]

Cirevam's long post:

Ah, I forgot about banks. You're absolutely right about that, addict. However, I'd like to point out you mention of war bringing an economy out of a recession. In history, this always worked (correct me if I'm wrong). However, I think the timing was off this time. The Iraq War started during a time when the economy was in a tiny slump, but it did come back up again. A few years later (2006ish) it started to fall as banks started losing money to debtors that couldn't repay, like you said, but the war is winding down now. Yeah we still have troops there, like we always do for every other country, but now the main... I want to say "production acceleration" that wartime brings has ended. If it weren't for the housing market crash, this recession would probably have been delayed a few years or might not have been as bad.

Also, the reason I think that this recession isn't as bad as the 70's oil crisis is because we're not forced to ration anything crucial. Yes we have to be more frugal right now, yes we have to adopt methods of travel that require less petrol, and yes people are losing their jobs, but I believe that a lot of this is just scare tactics. People have been saying that "the world oil supply will run out 50 years from now" even fifty years ago, for example. Obviously it didn't happen, though it has been getting harder to find oil. Another thing is that people aren't educated in what's economically correct and what's stupid, and no one tries to stop them from doing the stupid moves. Young just-married couples were going out and buying their dream houses right from the get-go. Who let them do that? The banks. I can't remember if there's any federal control over the types of loans they were offering, or maybe there were loopholes, but it's not entirely the banks' fault. People need to learn how to read a contract and how to interpret interest rates. An interest rate increase of one or two percent can translate to a few hundred more dollars that have to be paid, heaven forbid if it goes up something like seven or eight percent. My parents locked in their interest rate several years ago, and for good reason.

EDIT: sorry typo, I meant 17.

Therefore, I believe that the recession isn't that bad (though it's still bad to be sure) because my parents aren't idiots, and my grandfather is filthy stinking rich due to smart economic decisions and investments (I never asked him how much he makes, but he's loaded) and he helps us out on certain occasions. My parents don't have many savings due to school tuition, but my brothers and myself do, so we actually lend money to our parents when necessary and they'll pay us back whenever they get the chance. This is why it's important to get a job when you're a teenager.

Oh hey, an opportunity to make this post even longer! Alright. I got my first job in summer 2005 and I'm still working there in the summers. This has given me a decent source of income to pay for things like insurance, books, and other things. My brothers got their first jobs last year; one works where I do (and was hired easily because my boss knows all of us well) and my other brother was hired at a small restaurant. Since he didn't have any other job experience, he's just been a dishwasher for the past year and he hates going to work. This is what I don't understand. Why do teenagers today not want to work? What is wrong with you guys? If you can get into a job, especially when it's hard to find a job right now, you should feel extremely fortunate that you're making money at all. If you can't find a job, at least volunteer so that you can make connections with the local companies so that you can try to wrangle a job out of them later, like maybe when the recession starts to turn around.

I think this is a good place to end for now. Matt would be proud of the size of this post.

The Iraq war also shot up inflation, which is never good, and it will cost in the trillions to pay for. The military will need to polish up the army and return it to it's original state. And in my opinion, you should immediately get some sort of income for yourself when you're 16 at least, no later then 17. You can't always live off your parents, or their credit cards. I plan to get some sort of income to pay for college even if my parents do pay for it; for the sole reason that if (god forbid) something happens. I can float my own boat and my parents too.

[Cirevam]

^ I want to point out real quick that not many places will hire 14-year olds (seems like a typo the way the sentence is worded). I don't know about most states, but all you have to do is look up the minimum age requirement for attaining a work permit in your state or country and start as early as possible.

[Addictgamer]

Well...

You can start a business here in California at the age of 14 (not sure, but I think even at 13 you can). I plan on founding my company as soon as I make a commercial quality game.

Or until then, I can have a website where you click donate if you like the free games I make...

[TheEPICtrainrider]

I typo'd, I ment "no later then 17" sorry.

On Youtube and Blogger, you can put advertisements on your pages/videos if you're popular enough. You basically get paid for making videos people watch, but not much, only enough to play the basic bills I think.