Economy

healthcare will get worse - it is already. So many people are losing their jobs, have no insurance, and have no way to get it. I just found out that there is a damn cut off for getting healthy ny - if you get your application in by the 20th, you get it for the first of the following month - but if you don't - too bad - you have to wait until the FOLLOWING month. So I am out insurance now until March 1 unless I pick up cobra for a month, which is almost $500 for JUST ME.

I mean, what do single moms with 2 kids do when they get laid off and suddenly they are out insurance for the whole family??? Cobra's like $1200 for 3 people. So if you get laid off on Jan 21, you won't have insurance for a whole month if you don't go with Cobra. That STINKS.

I can see this causing major problems, major uninsured people in ERs who can't afford to pay their bills .. which probably will just raise rates even more.

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Posted by Mici n KC

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Posted by jtgarsik

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Posted by MrsHtobe

I don't know - not EVERYONE thinks it is going to get much worse. . . maybe I'm just the optimist, but I think that things will start bouncing back toward the end of this year.

No one knows what is going to happen, we can just hope for the best.

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i do agree with you here....the hubby & i are thinking it's actually going to slowly but surely turn around. however then i have clients coming in & telling me what i posted before, and it just makes me scared of what can potentially happen. u just never know & not knowing is the scary part. i also agree with the ap in that inflation can MAJORLY rise to make up for all the loss this year.. i guess only time will tell. we have to just hope for the best & pray that Obama can get the people of this country together!

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I am pretty optimistic that things will get better. I think we will see turnaround later on in the year. But unfortunately for some people they will have a difficult time getting back on their feet. After 9/11 it took the US 18 months to get out of this slump.

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Yes, these things do last a long time. . .but taking a step back - this has been going on for a year already! Wall street starting taking major hits in the fourth quarter of 2007 relating to mortgages. . .I think everyone will walk away from this okay in the long run - and a little smarter and hopefully a little more cautious!

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Posted by MrsHtobe

I don't know - not EVERYONE thinks it is going to get much worse. . . maybe I'm just the optimist, but I think that things will start bouncing back toward the end of this year.

No one knows what is going to happen, we can just hope for the best.

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I have to say that I am hoping for this as well. Ive read in a few places that things are going to start turning around by the end of the summer.

I also feel like maybe some of this is good. Houses were so inflated that who could even afford one? So the market prices are coming down and they are more affordable for first time owners.
Its a down fall for older people that are losing homes, jobs, 401K but for the younger like us just starting out its to our advantage. Our 401K plan stocks are being bought at lower prices and when the economy picks up we will benefit from it.

My heart goes out to all of the people struggling. I really hope things do turn around. Violence will go up, more people will be out of jobs and homes. The people who do have jobs will be paying to turn this economy around. I just pray this doesnt last for very long

Aside from all of the layoffs, I'm really concerned with the rising crime rate. You keep hearing of more and more home invasions, bank and gas station robberies, more muggings on the street and in the subways. Now with so many people out of work, people are going to get even more desperate.

This was from an article I read on CNN. Here's the link if anyone wants to read the full article. I'm not sure I'm that optimistic, but I hope it doesn't take a long time to turn around.

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/26/news/economy/job_cuts/index.htm

Outlook: A recovery in sight?
Brusca said he agreed with many economists' predictions that the recession will end after the second quarter of 2009. Americans might feel the job market start to bounce back a bit sooner than expected, he said.

'These recessions are like geometry,' Brusca said. 'It looks like we'll have a V-shaped cycle, in that we're going into this with very sharp losses. This intense-phase recession will probably recover fairly quickly, with the job market coming out it at the same angle it came in.'

In the short term, the economy and the job market are in trouble, Brusca said. But 'it doesn't look like the bottom is falling out of the economy,' he said.

And there's a silver lining to the gloomy clouds over America's economy.

'The good news is it's so bad right now that we will have a definite, noticeable recovery when it comes,' Brusca said. 'We're getting a lot of adjustment out of the way early.'

did you see the story on AOL about the couple who lost their jobs and the husband killed his 5 kids, wife and himself. It is so horrible

http://news.aol.com/article/los-angeles-shooting-murders/319604

on the news last night they said that they expect about 10,000 lay offs every month.

i don't know how i feel or what to think about all of this.....for us it is good in a way b/c home prices have fallen and interest rates are at a low.....we are in the process of hopefully purchasing a home within the next few months (hopefully sooner if everything goes through with the house we put an offer on).....if we woud have bought the same exact home in 2005 when it was sold as new construction it would have cost us 50K more - so in a way its good that DH and i can get a better home for less money and have a relatively low interest rate for our mortgage.....what scares me is his job - although he feels his job is pretty secure it is still scary and you never know what could happen.....it doesn't seem that bad to us because nobody we know has been affected yet - except family members ready to retire who lost in their 401K (like our parents) - but aside from that we don't really know anyone who lost a job, who is having trouble keeping their house, stuff like that......i haven't seen much of a change in our neighborhood or at the stores or anything like that....my mom says in her neighborhood in florida people are spending less, doing less shopping (she works in the macys at the mall) - but where we are we haven't noticed much of a change and everyone we know is still doing well - or at least it appears that way.....i don't know, the job loss thing scares me - A LOT.....we were talking last night with DH's parents and i said i was afraid that now isn't the right time to buy a home and move b/c i am worried about job security, bills, etc. and his parents told us it's smarter for us to move now then to continue renting - at least by owning a home and moving out of state DH will stop getting raped by the govt (as DH's dad likes to put it ) i don't know, i know its bad and you read that its bad - but honestly nothing has had a direct impact on us yet - the only thing i can think of is DH won't be getting a big raise or big bonus this year - and we lost some money in stocks - but besides those things we don't know anyone who lost a home, lost a job, etc.

i really hope things turn around sooner rather than later......even though i said nothing has really had that much of an impact on us it doesn't mean that i'm not living in fear - kwim? its like, we are doing well and it makes me afraid b/c you hear about other people doing so bad - so you wonder why - like is it just a matter of time for us? right now we have no debt and money in the bank - so are we crazy for buying a house and moving across the country in this economy? that is what scares me but at the same time we have to make a move and we have to start with our life.....