are things really bad economically--i mean personal finance?

[ron.waters]

i hear of people that can't afford housing, gas or good food. is that the truth or media propaganda. i been told the average worker make no more than he did 30 years ago. if this is true are we in for a revolution or do we sit back and take it?

[mande95747]

A lot of this hysteria is being driven by the media, for political purposes.
Watch - literally the day after the presidential election, all this economic bad news mania will stop cold.
I predicted this last election, where the Democrats won all those senate and congressional seats - there was non-stop wall to wall coverage about how dreadful the Iraq war was, with video of bombings, etc., on at every newscast, with all the democrats running for office going on and on about how terrible it all is, and how THEY are going to get us out if they're elected, blah blah blah... and the day after the election, it just simply went away.

Same with this.
We are NOT in a recession.
A recession is two consecutive quarters of negative growth, and we have not had that, period. You don't just "feel" like we're in a recession, or "think" we're in a recession.
The word means something, it has as definition, and we have not fit that definition.

By the way, no matter how good the economy is, even when it's at its peak, there are SOME people who are poor, or have lost their homes, business, etc.
The media could drag these people on the news crying, at virtually ANY time in history.
It doesn't in any way prove that things are bad. They are ALWAYS bad for some people, and ALWAYS good for some people.
And that bit about the average worker not making more than 30 years ago is BS. Because our money goes so much further now, it's not even funny.
When I grew up (in the 60's & 70's) NOBODY had more than one TV, stereo, etc., most families didn't have multiple cars. Stuff is cheaper. VCR's were $1600 when they first came out in the mid-70's. Now you can get DVD players for $45, and this isn't adjusted for inflation! - Minimum wage was something like $2.00 an hour then. Do the math.

P.S. I'm (unfortunately) lower middle class, so if I sound like some rich guy who has never suffered, think again.
It's just that I have a brain and I don't buy into the propaganda, that's all.

[Daniel W]

Well prices are going up, food/fuel, and I don't see them coming down soon, but if you look around, (at least where I live, California) the highways are still packed, there isn't anymore people homeless than usual, people are still going to the beach on the weekends, splurging on bbq's and beer.

I think we are feeling the pinch, but its not the Great Depression they're talking about on TV.... yet. Unemployment during the Great Depression reached 25%, and consistently hovered around ~20%... we're at ~5%, so hopefully the slowdown is just temporary.

Edit: I just read the above post, I think I should mention that our family is also lower middle class. We have three cars, four tv's, we would have splurged on a plasma tv for the living room already if we weren't concerned about the direction of the economy. Debt; the parentals don't like to carry too much debt, still paying for one of the cars, mostly paid off already

.. I guess even in a 'bad' economy we should be grateful for what we have