Are we in a recession????

[CrookedArrow]

Are we or are we not??? The government say we kinda are, or headed that way. The jobless rate in Texas is very low. Odessa/Midland is the lowest on unemployment. The oil business may have something to do with that, ya think?? I am not sure of the recession, I am sure of one thing. If the cost of freakin gas keeps going up, I am going to have to buy a donkey and ride it back and forth. This is freakin ridicoulous Every time the price goes up, it is justified, Well Arab Nations lost a big plant and this will cause an increase. Our reserve is low, so we wil have to go to it ect ect ect BS!!!! If someone farts the gas prices go up!!! It sucks, in a royal way

[Landrover]

No!

[BentBow]

Just because everyone has a job, doesn't mean they can live on what they are making while working.

Fuel makes the world go around, in today economy. If it were not traded on the stock market, there would not be the freenzy you see for fuel and the rapid hikes in costs.

[CrookedArrow]

Just because everyone has a job, doesn't mean they can live on what they are making while working.

Fuel makes the world go around, in today economy. If it were not traded on the stock market, there would not be the freenzy you see for fuel and the rapid hikes in costs.

Very well put, TY

[jerp]

The classic economists definition of a recssion is two consecutive quarters of "negative growth" in GDP (Gross
Domestic Product) To the surprise of many, this week we learned that we actually had positive growth last quarter although it was a meager .6% annualized. A slowing economy and recessions are painful for many, but they are a normal part of the business cycle as the economy works off various excesses and gets back in balance. Nobody can eat for 5 years straight without taking a dump - the economy is no different.

[1369]

Nobody can eat for 5 years straight without taking a dump - the economy is no different.

DO FREAKING WHAT!?!?!?!?

Great Caesar's ghost man, you mean all along it wasn't that the dog that defiled the bathroom from the time my dainty, pure as the driven snow wife had to "powder her nose" was in there to the time I had to use it?

Holy crap, you mean......girls........CRAP?

Well that sure changes the whole relationship dynamic.

[Landrover]

The classic economists definition of a recssion is two consecutive quarters of "negative growth" in GDP (Gross
Domestic Product) To the surprise of many, this week we learned that we actually had positive growth last quarter although it was a meager .6% annualized. A slowing economy and recessions are painful for many, but they are a normal part of the business cycle as the economy works off various excesses and gets back in balance.

Thank you sir, you are a scholar and a gentleman! I did not have time to post the definition when I saw the question!
If you want me to agree things are not rosy I will.....but....by definition we are NOT in a recession.
Stagflation has taken a solid hold on the economy but still not a recessionary economy.....by definition!

[jerp]

Sorry 1369, I should have said "Nobody except for women"... er...oops!

I think you are right Landrover - I too am more worried about the food/energy inflation we are seeing than I am about the slow economy - hopefully the $ will firm up and help us out.

[cosmiccowboy]

I'm not sure this is going to be a classic recession. I think long term it will be more about redefining American lifestyles and expectations. We are competing in a world economy and the "good times" as we have known them are rapidly coming to a close. Middle class salaries in the future are NOT going to keep up with inflation.

Easy credit, advertising, and "keeping up with the Joneses" has created a false sense of expectation of what is "basic necessity" in virtually all facets of our society. I can remember when average middle class people (my parents and their brothers and sisters for instance) lived in modest frame houses (maybe 1200 sq ft.), didn't use the air conditioning (if they had it) to save money, had one car that they shared, kids shared bedrooms, they had a garden, they didn't go out to the movies, All meals were cooked at home, they had one television (if that), and recreation was visiting each other at their houses on the weekend and sitting outside looking at the stars (looking for sattelites) and sipping iced tea.

Pretty far cry from what the average middle class family considers "necessary" now. I can see some pretty tough times ahead for a lot of people unless they start now on a serious effort to eliminate debt.

[Landrover]

I think long term it will be more about redefining American lifestyles and expectations. Easy credit, advertising, and "keeping up with the Joneses" has created a false sense of expectation of what is "basic necessity" in virtually all facets of our society. I can see some pretty tough times ahead for a lot of people unless they start now on a serious effort to eliminate debt.

Ditto! Change is constant and folks better change in a hurry!!!!

[bowhuntertex]

I agree that folks need to change their spending habits.......I for one am trying to get my all my debt paid off by the end of the year except for mortgage and car payment.......

[cosmiccowboy]

BTW...stopping frivolous spending and reducing debt is the LAST thing the government want us to do...they want us to keep "stimulating" the economy with consumer spending to keep their numbers looking good.

[1369]

BTW...stopping frivolous spending and reducing debt is the LAST thing the government want us to do...they want us to keep "stimulating" the economy with consumer spending to keep their numbers looking good.

Of course it is the last thing they want us to do, it is such a foreign concept to them they can't possibly believe that it works.

[Mister Bubba's bulletman]

No!

We are not. When all the undocumented workers go home it's time to worry.

Right now there is by the government figure 5% unemployment. How can this be?

10 to 15 million undocumented workers add up to more than that 5%.

Hum?

[jerp]

I think you are spot-on CC. It's mind boggling when you see the amount of consumer debt people are carrying - there are millions of Americans who have credit card balances equal to their entire annual income - or more. You are also correct about how the perception of what's neccesary has changed. When my boys would visit the house I grew up in, a basic 1,300 sq ft middle class "Wonder Years" kind of place, they just couldn't imagine -"five people lived here? With 1 1/2 baths? and only one TV?" Downright primitive!! Of course when I was that age I thought the same thing about the little shotgun house in Grapeland my Dad grew up in.