"Gregory Morrow" > wrote in message
...
>
> Puester wrote:
>
>> Gregory Morrow wrote:
>> > blake murphy wrote:
>>
>> >> jesus, george. the media are reporting it as the worst financial
> crisis
>> >> since the depression because it *is* the worst financial crisis since
> the
>> >> depression.
>> >
>> >
>> > It's not even as bad as the '82-83 recession, blake...
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> What planet are you on, Greg? Millions of people are out of
>> work and losing their homes,
>> businesses are closing left and right.
>
>
> I live in Chicago, and in the early 80's Chicago was the buckle of the
> Rust
> Belt...unemployment in the this SMSA was almost 13%...in downstate
> Illinois
> in some areas it was around 20%. The Midwest was HAMMERED by the
> manufacturing crisis and also by the farm crisis...
>
> I got canned from my job in late '82, and lemme tell ya, if it had not
> been
> for some help from my family I would have been on the streets, there were
> NO
> jobs available at all, not even menial ones.
>
> NPR and other outlets this morning reported that 49% of those that have
> lost
> their jobs recently have found new ones...some of those jobs are not as
> highly paid, some are not full-time, but 15% found *higher-paying* gigs...
>
> Fortunately our Chicago economy diversified; there are still "help wanted"
> signs out there, even though these are not dream jobs if you want to work
> there is *something* to do. That was simply not the case in the early
> 80's...
>
> Many made foolish and immature decisions their finances, many of those
> foreclosed upon had no business getting a mortgage in the first place,
> others over-extended to afford lifestyles which they could not sustain.
> We
> are seeing the fallout from that. It's ugly, sure, but hopefully some
> will
> learn a lesson from this...we shall see.
>
>
> Have you been to a
>> restaurant lately? They are like ghost
>> towns and offering specials all over the place to get people
>> in the doors.
>
>
> And there are plenty of restos that are thriving, some are doing better
> than
> ever, and I know tons of folks in the F&B business. The key is to offer
> good value and good service...
>
> Pay close attention to the economic indicators, all is not gloom and doom.
> I laffed when one prognosticator in January said that the very worst will
> be
> over by May, but maybe he was not talking in jest. Of course unemployment
> will continue to increase, but that is one indicator that "lags"...
>
> Peeps toss around the term "Depression" but go back and read some history,
> we are nowhere *near* a Depression...better yet, talk to some folks who
> lived through the Depression, that'll put our present crisis in context.
>
>
>
Today folks think there's a depression because they have to choose between a
cruise to the Bahamas or a new Beemer, because they have to cut back on
sessions at the hair salon, the hot stone massage parlor, and manicures,
pedicures, and hot wax pubic treatments... because their kids have to share
a PC... during the great depression three kids had to share one pair of
shoes, and that was just urban kids, hillybillys never had shoes on their
feet until they were GI issue. There's no depression, not even close...
when folks are logged on to an ISP 24/7, think a cell phone is as essential
to life as water, and consider a job at wally world is like mining in
Siberia there's no depression, not even a recession, they're just spoiled
rotten. Truth is anyone who is living on poverty's edge today was living
there when the economy was booming too, the have nots are have nots for a
reason, they're lazy and stupid, and SPOILED. My parents lived through the
Great Depression, they were embarrassed to say how bad it really was, what
people did to survive .