Frankly, not a great deal. I got the job I wanted about 9 months ago (in the public sector, believe it or not) and the other half got herself a damned good job around the same time. The only real difference it has made for me is that I spent a few months unemployed whilst searching for a job instead of spending them in a filler job at a supermarket or bar.


If it wasn't for the fact it was in the news all the time I probably wouldn't be aware it was happening. Sure, there have been a few shops going bust in the high street, but they have all been the weird shops that sold crap nobody really wanted that should never have been set up in the first place. Crisis is far too strong a word.

First of all...."Miserable" "Student"....the terms are contradictory. I graduated as an Electrical Engineer...so I worked my ass off studying...but believe me, brother, I partied my ass off and college was, without a doubt, the BEST years of my life! So...better re-think and restrategize...

"Economic Crisis": I'm now 43....My house that I built 12 years ago is worth less than when I built it...I can't even sell it for what I owe on it, and it's down probably 40% from its peak value. In other words...****if I wanted to move, I couldn't...because I can't sell my house without getting financially **raped***** Imagine NOT being able to move if you wanted to...

Economic crisis....Unemployment is *reported* at 8.8%....REAL unemployment...taking in to account people that have taken "lesser" jobs and people that have quit looking or people that have been unemployed so long they are no longer are counted is at about 18%. 4.5 out of every 25 people is making less than they used to make...less round the numbers....1 in 5 people is financially worse off than they used to be. Personally, I am making 30% LESS than my maximum wage, upon which I once built my lifestyle (but, fortunately, being Conservative, I never LIVED at my maximum, and thus am not bankrupt....i.e. lesson learned, do NOT live as a liberal without thought for tomorrow....i.e. most "Democrats" live a "conservative" lifestyle, even though they vote Demoncrat....an odd thing, to be sure....)

Economic crisis: Gas prices are unpredictable, and have SKYROCKETED over the last 5 years...which affect EVERYTHING that uses gasoline....i.e. FOOD, transportation to work, clothing that is trucked to stores, that big TV you just bought that was delivered to a store by truck....EVERYTHING is more expensive because of gasoline.

Economic Crisis: Instability in Federal Fiscal Policy....means that employers don't know what to expect in the next 1-2 years....and therefore hold off on hiring decisions. If Obama gets re-elected, they expect HIGHER taxes, and thus are loathe to hire more people, and instead will cross train and make people work overtime, they will repair equipment and be inefficient instead of purchasing new equipment......I work with businesses....this is what they tell me. It's not "political"....it's just anecdotal evidence.

Economic Crisis is not being able to take your family on vacation because you don't know if you will be fired next month, next week, because the government has overtaxed the economy so much that businesses are failing and falling like dominoes...

And it IS government that is at fault. It IS tax policy and regulation that determine, in part, whether or not a company survives, whether or not you get a raise...whether or not you get FIRED....

So vote wisely this November....because the current Economic Crisis is at stake....

Octavious is *clearly* living in a selfish ***me me me*** world in which the ONLY thing that matters is whether or not HE PERSONALLY has the job he wants....and therefore does not grasp what an economic crisis this country is in. He apparently does not know family after family after family that had owned their house for 10+ years and are now under water....and, I suspect, Octavious is....DING DING DING...a Liberal....

Yeah seriously man miserable student? Live it up

You know....F*** while the f***ing is good....

Let him dream that it's only going to get better...

I have to completely agree with krellin here.

Octavious' comment that "Crisis is far too strong a word" is so shockingly out of touch.

Look at the failing economies in Greece and Italy for the extreme example. In Greece, 1 in every 4 people in unemployed and the rate of under-25s is 60% unemployment - that is a crisis.

In Italy, people have been resorting to self-immolation to protest against austerity measures. Self-immolation as protest is extremely, extremely rare in European democracies - it is the type of protest we have seen used in the Arab Spring and made famous in Colonial India but to see it in supposedly stable Western democracies is terribly worrying.

How anyone can say this is not a crisis shows terrible lack of judgement and compassion. And their ivory towers should be brought down.

My first +1 to krellin.

I make sense much more often than you realize... :P

@ Sarg

The question was what does the economic crisis mean to me, and the answer is not a lot. Life really hasn't changed much at all for myself, my family, or friends, or most of the people I know.

Yes, Greece is in a genuine crisis. That is obvious. Britain at the moment is not. Neither is the majority of the world. There is always somewhere in a crisis at any given time, and the fact that it happens to be Greece does not make it any more or less special.

Actually, the question was: "what do you think when you hear the distant term "economic crisis" on television, the news, or from the general population?"

You can't even quote yourself accurately.

@ krellin

I'm a Conservative, krellin, and therefore simply say it as I see it. Britain is not in a crisis. Most of the world is not in a crisis. Parts of the US may be, but parts of the US always are.

The United States is still the MAJOR economic power in the world...and it IS in crisis, whether or not the insulated child-population of the university setting realizes it. I know...Mom and Dad or student loans (that you WILL have to pay back...) are funding your life right now....so REAL economic realities are beyond your conscious thought right now....but soon enough, you will learn what we speak of. Or, hopefully, a fiscal Conservative will be elected to the White House, and fiscal conservative will take over the government in general and the economy will rebound....because the additional TRILLIONS....(Yeah...it's kind of a ridiculous thought, isn't it? I mean...we now LAUGH at the idea that this idiot Obama ran the debt up by 4...5...TRILLION dollars...THINK ABOUT THAT!!!!!!) ....I lost my thought....Trillions....TRILLIONS of debt....we don't need ANY more of that.

Vote Democrat...and I can GUARANTEE you will understand what "Economic Crisis" means....

Octavious...YOu don't see SHIT... You are some young punk witha girlfriend and you havne't invested in a home and have NO investment in this country. MOST PEOPLE DO....

You are like my kids....they don't pay the bills, they don't buy groceries or put gas int eh car....they think everything is fine, BECAUSE I tell them it is so, and I sacrifice for them, so they can be happy. How old, Octavious? Own a home, or rent? Still in college? Or just got your first job and don't really know what the hell you are talking about?

@krellin

Question: Where do you stand on the Defense budget? Last time I checked, 40% of world spending on defense is from the US.

I'm all for cutting spending, but I find it interesting how most of the people demanding spending cuts refuse to cut one of the largest areas of spending.

Abge -- I look to the Constitution and I see a very FEW listed requirements for the Federal Government....One of those if Defense. So....I'm not sure what you are asking.

So....what...we should cut Defense spending so that we can continue government grants into researching cost flatulence? Is that what you are suggesting? Because if you look at THE CONSTITUTION....I don't see cow flatulence research listed amongst the duties of the Federal Government, even in the MOST liberal interpretation...

So do NOT be a typical liberal and throw up Defense spending BEFORE you have the balls to attack the OBVIOUS abuses. (Harry Reid's Cowboy Poet's competition funding earmark....good god....)

And I am NOT against defense cuts....you know...pull ALL the "advisors" out of Africa....pull'em out of England and Germany and let Saudi Arabia defend itself. NO ARGUMENT HERE. I've watched my brother deploy overseas...and i have no desire to watch him come home shell-shocked again. Our defense policy s BULLSHIT.

Our defense policy ought to be this: PISS US OFF??? B-52's are on the way...No ground troops....no economic sanctions....just big fucking bombers with BIG fucking bombs. Bombs are cheap...AND effective....

@krellin,

So, is your position that the Fed should only do exactly as is required by the constitution and no more?

"So do NOT be a typical liberal and throw up Defense spending BEFORE you have the balls to attack the OBVIOUS abuses. "

I'm not saying those shouldn't be cut, but the reality is they are negligible compared to the defense budget.

You are a tit at times, krellin.

No, I've not invested a cent in the US. This is largely because I'm not a Yank.

And no krellin, not my first job. My first job was running the family business at 18 because my Dad got screwed up by an NHS hospital operation that went wrong and could no longer work. That to me was something of a crisis. Then around 7 or so years ago our glorious Labour government decided it was going to shut down half the Post Offices in the country and the Clarks factory (the main local employer) closed, making the business unviable. That to me was also a crisis. I took whatever jobs I could to make ends meet, went to University to study physics whilst doing part time jobs to pay my way, came out in the "economic crisis" and got a job as a flood engineer.

I know what a crisis looks like. A crisis turns your world upside down and screws with your mind. And it's blatently obvious that for most people in the world this is NOT a crisis.

So, i am just a kid and am the first to admit i don't know much, which is why this is mostly a question. Isn't it pretty much past the point of reducing spending? Sure that would shrink the deficit, but we're already so far in the whole, is slowing down the rate we're digging really enough?

"And I am NOT against defense cuts"

OK, that was my question. I guess you did understand.

@Abge.....is it YOUR position that the Federal Government should EXCEED is INTENTIONALLY LIMITED role as defined by the Constitution?

Then might I ask you to just bend over and get your tracking device injected in to your ass NOW??

Of course I want the Federal Government to be LIMITED BY THE LAW upon which it derives it's power!!!! Is that bad?

If you WANT the Feds to have more power, THEN AMEND THE CONSTITUTION. See...THAT was the brilliance of the founders....they RECOGNIZED their own limitations, and allowed a process to correct their errors and account for a changing world.

So YES...I WANT the FEDS to be RESTRICTED by the Constitution.

Now I'm by no means claiming that Obama is doing a good Job, with your economy.

But I mean "the five former Democratic Presidents (Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Harry S. Truman) all reduced public debt as a share of GDP, while the last four Republican Presidents (George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Gerald Ford) all oversaw an increase in the country’s indebtedness"

The Republicans won't necessarily do any better.

(Bearing in mind my Canadian-ness)
The same pattern is present in Canada, where the Liberal party, typical did a far better job reducing debt, than our Conservative party.

Given the track record, and other, poor policy decisions the Republicans might make, isn't it kind of a wash to pick one or the other. History suggests the Republicans will mismanage it too.

Finally, as the the original question. The economic crisis, to me means a chance for change, when things fall apart rebuilding them, in a smarter fashion. And good riddance, the political and economic system, needs a real good shake up.

Finally Krellin, if you're sheltering your kids, and keeping them from knowing about the financial issues, you're contributing to the generation that has no idea what's going on, and thinks its all going to wash over.

"
Our defense policy ought to be this: PISS US OFF??? B-52's are on the way...No ground troops....no economic sanctions....just big fucking bombers with BIG fucking bombs. Bombs are cheap...AND effective.... "

That's funny, very similar to how much of my family thinks: Ground troop and building infrastructure is expensive and has been demonstrated to be thankless, much more effective to just level everything with bombs (Which are expesive yes, but they are a cost up front and then not more and more every day) and let them build up their infastructure again. if they are still a problem, lather rinse and repeat.

"Then might I ask you to just bend over and get your tracking device injected in to your ass NOW??"

Yeah, because supporting the NSF clearly means I support mandatory personal tracking devices.

You caught me, krellin! Well done!

@OCtavious....to you, a "Crisis" only exists if it affect YOU...that's what I read. Honestly...my family does OK in this crisis....but I am NOT so blind as to see how it has affected others. I can't move...but i don't want to...so it doesnt' affect me. But my neighbor...he wants to...and can't sell his house. YOU tell a PERSONAL story...i.e. YOU are SELFISH. I see my neighbors...my community...and I KNOW we are in crisis because it is all around me. I don't PERSONALLY need to be affected to recognize a crisis!!!!

@Abge.....good god, man...Once again, as I have stated in SO MANY threads....it was HYPERBOLE!!! Yo know....the stuff Liberals use ALL THE TIME to state their case....but which you all say is evil if a conservative uses. If you are going to be such a disingenuous ass as to play that card....the conversation is over. I actually thought for a moment that you wanted to have a real conversation.

@krellin

Did I misunderstand you? You said you didn't want the fed to be responsible for duties not directly assigned to it by the constitution.

I gave the NSF as an example of a worthwhile spending. Do you disagree?

@Ancient....If we have the option of keeping world peace (like it or not....it is our current role)....we can do it two ways: 1. Send in troops, peacekeepers, etc....play endless war.... or 2. Bomb the next country that offends us into oblivion. then the next Achmidinnerjacket will be loather to fuck with us. It's called FOREIGN POLICY.

REAGAN was quite affective is his LIMITED but AGGRESIVE use of force....he didn't invade and occupy for endless years....he just bombed the shit out of them

We are NOT in Labanon. You know why? We BOMBED THEM...and they caved. We are STILL in Iraw and Afghanistan....because we occupied.

Tell me bobming the shit out of a limited target isn't a better option, and prove your case.

Reagan killed FAR LESS through bombing Labanon than we have managed to kill over endless war in Iraw and Afghanistan. if we would have carptet bombed them ONCE.....and pacified them....there would have been FAR FEWER deaths....on BOTH sides...