Recession got you down?

IronDuke

Ancient Mariner
Around the world, the economic outlook pretty much sucks. Thousands are losing their jobs in the EU, the USA, and Canada. People's retirement savings are going down the tubes. Governments are spending trillions of dollars and Euro to prop up failing businesses.

But that's all hard to understand and digest. I find it difficult to put impersonal stories in the news and "trillions" of dollars into perspective. I'm a human being, which means I'm a social critter. I need stories and anecdotes.

So, I want to know how the struggling economy is effecting you. Have you lost your job? Seen your hours reduced? Been forced to cut back on things?


I'll go first: to be honest, I haven't been feeling the pinch at all. My area of Canada has been underperforming economically for a century. We didn't go through the "boom" of the last decade, so this sudden decline isn't really hurting us to a great deal.

My fiancée and I are looking at steady employment (though we have five university degrees between us, so we may be unique), and though we won't be living extravagantly for a while, we won't want for anything either.

I don't know anyone who has lost their job yet, except my brother-in-law who was a contract employee for an oil exploration company in Alberta.

So wher eis the pain being felt? I've heard the eastern and western coasts of the USA are MIGHTILY screwed, due to the colossal runup and instant deflation of housing & mortgages. How is the average Euro guy doing?
 
To be honest, I don't know anybody, or know anybody who knows anybody, who had anything happen to them. There's always talk of people fearing for their jobs, but there always has been. I haven't noticed any change at all.
 
My hours are minorly reduced, though I am not really suffering.  It's the yearly "slow time" for this particular industry I'm in.  Hours will pick up later in March, I expect.
 
I guess the main difference is that I'm still a student while you guys contribute something valuable to society...
 
My hours are consistent.  I have cut back on personal things, just because my 'side business' of selling parts and bikes is slower.  I have gotten rid of my satellite tv, reduced the dining out and movies.  It is a little hard to really know, in my industry, if things are slowing until the spring really hits.  Now, one important thing in my area-- it has been 'depressed' for years.  Our economy has been poor for over a decade, so the things that are happening on the left and right coast aren't really affecting the bulk of the people that I know around here. 

It is making me rethink a 401k plan.  I've put serious thought into alternate sources of retirement funding-- investing in products, rather than mutual funds. 
 
See, that is the same thought here, Wasted, as the Duke said previously.

And I *always* thought 401ks were bad idea.  Though, for you, if you already have one, don't stop now.  The 401k will rebound, at your age.
 
I still have my jobs, if you can call them that, but I need something more permanent. It might be on the horizon from what I'm told, so that's the gamble I'm taking now. I can actually get a good job NOW, but I'd have to abandon my Business degree and my dream of my own business OR stick it out and hopefully have a huge payoff at the end of it.

but to answer your question, my mom and I have been in the shits for a while as well, no different.
 
Although like Perun,  I'm a student,  I can safely say that I haven't noticed anything different in my family,  or anyone else I know.  But there are people in my circle who express their worries.  That's all.
 
IronDuke said:
How is the average Euro guy doing?

I'm not the average guy but with what I see around me :

Fear Is The Key : People are mostly scared. This affects everywhere :
In every single business I ask things are down,
which means much less profits and more fear for the days to come.

In my everyday life I can clearly see it : My supermarket once over-crowded, now is empty.
The guy I'm giving my clothes for cleaning is complaining. One taxi driver I know, he says that business is really down.
Restaurants, bars I used to go the same.

I've heard about people loosing their job, but I don't know any of them; but still, crisis has just begun,
more people will follow, some of them it will be us. Oh yes, and I know someone ;
Shipping industry -England; he lost his once well -paying job,
and now he's back home in Italy where he operates the (single-ship) family business.

Where I'm working things are really down, I work /earn the double than before, but only due to other circumstances
hard to explain here.
But fear is everywhere, and everyone's nervous.

But as I told before, we're just at the start of the crisis, in one year from now when it will be in its zenith
we will see where will we be

Perun said:
I guess the main difference is that I'm still a student while you guys contribute something valuable to society...

I don't agree with you. Production means nothing to me, it's just a necessity.
Studies is a golden period in someone's life so don't feel like this ; When you're studying you have enough time
to make your world a little better by learning things and being carefree
and transmitting these feelings to the people that they don't have time any more.

I never felt more 'useful to society' than when I was doing nothing else but writing my things,
and practising my time-travelling
Really. Never been happier, brighter, charming. And it was then that I felt I was really useful to society,
much more than now. Things never had more meaning than then, never been more essential.
 
Truth is, recessions come and recessions go. This thing will be over within the next year or two and lo and behold, 15 years from now we will be in another one. It's not in our control so we just have to ride it out.

Thought the funny thing is for me is that, although I am being paid the same, I have more money in my pocket than I did even a few months back. How this has happened is down to laying down some personal financial priorities and putting my money matters in proper order. How I wished I had done this a few years back, but live and learn.

As for my job, well I'm not worried about loosing it - however, I would not say it's safe as no job is entirely safe but the company I work for is willing to spend money on me to go on training courses and such, so that bodes well.
 
As long as there's a government and people to kill I will have a good, steady paying job. I actually get a raise next month. I'm recession proof for the next 6 years.
 
I'll let someone else complete that one. :D


Plesiosaur said:
I'm recession proof....
It has been said that the company I work for is recession proof - one of the few private retail companies that is. I would say it sort of is, but not fully. I work for a large retail organisation that predominately sells sweets, newspapers and tobacco (CNT stores, as they say) and people will always buy their daily rag, their fix of chocolate and, if they smoke, their fags. As well as that, they have several hundred local convenience stores that will always do well.
 
Yeap, they sell alcohol in these convenience stores - so I am officially depression proof as well. :D
 
The major industry in my part of Canada has traditionally been logging. It's been in decline for a long time already. Locally I've noticed the ones feeling the pinch the most are auto dealers. New car sales are way down. Real estate and construction were booming and now seem to have slowed down. Less builds are starting and that hurts those working in construction, yet summer is just around the corner so we'll see.

Me myself, I work in a body shop, despite the recession people are still crashing cars. So it's business as usual for me.
 
Wolf said:
The major industry in my part of Canada has traditionally been logging. It's been in decline for a long time already. Locally I've noticed the ones feeling the pinch the most are auto dealers. New car sales are way down. Real estate and construction were booming and now seem to have slowed down. Less builds are starting and that hurts those working in construction, yet summer is just around the corner so we'll see.

Me myself, I work in a body shop, despite the recession people are still crashing cars. So it's business as usual for me.

Where are you from, Wolf? BC and northern New Brunswick are both "logging" areas that've gotten hit hard lately.



There was just a report on the evening news that sales of craft beer (aka micro brews) are skyrocketing in Canada, while other alcohol is staying the same. I guess people see good beer as a "treat" they cna afford in hard times.
 
I'm really biting my nails for my older brother who just lost his job and has to struggle with two teenagers who want to study in Germany.  My younger brother, who lives in Seattle, had to cut down in order to keep on paying the mortgage on his house.  On a personal basis, I was "graciously invited" to an early retirement plan, it was either that or be fired.  I can't complain, I can still make a decent living with half my salary, provided I drastically cut down all purchases in dollars, i.e., software, books, dvd's, etc.  As you may know, the exchange value dollar/Mexican peso has dramatically increased. 

In my country people aren't buying anymore, but I don't know if they really don't have the means to do it or this is just another case of collective panic.  Anyway we're somewhat used to financial crisis, this isn't the first one to hit us.
 
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