Keep Moving - No Recession to be Seen Here

[rayboyusmc]

As people around the country respond to financial and economic hard times by juggling the cost of necessities like groceries and housing, drugs are sometimes having to wait.

“People are having to choose between gas, meals and medication,” said Dr. James King, the chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians, a national professional group. He also runs his own family practice in rural Selmer, Tenn.

“I’ve seen patients today who said they stopped taking their Lipitor, their cholesterol-lowering medicine, because they can’t afford it,” Dr. King said one recent morning.

“I have patients who have stopped taking their osteoporosis medication.”

On Tuesday, the drug giant Pfizer, which makes Lipitor, the world’s top-selling prescription medicine, said United States sales of that drug were down 13 percent in the third quarter of this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/business/22drug.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

 

[Shattered]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/business/22drug.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

*yawn* In both of those cases, changing ones diet is a lot easier and cheaper. Wanna lower your cholesterol? Lay off the freakin burgers. Osteoperosis? Get over your fear that you'll drop dead if you drink a glass of milk.

Oh, and gas has dropped by more than $2.00 a gallon in the last 30 days.

 

[WillowTree]

People are having to choose between gas, meals and medication,” said Dr. James King, the chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians, a national professional group. He also runs his own family practice in rural Selmer, Tenn.




Everything is related to "gas" "oil" yet Pelosi don't wan you to have no frickin gas. She does want you to bitch and whine bout hard times, but she don wan you to have no stinkin gas.



oh woe is me, woe is me, woe is me. Pelosi is a ****.

 

[editec]

Main street has been in a recession for years.

Even before the price of gaoline spiked people were having a hard time making it.

What was it five years ago Americans saving rate was less than 0%?

That never happened before folks.

And please, you class treasonous nitwits, don't waste my time whining it was because the whole damned nation was spending money on DVDs .

I ain't buying that class-war rhetoric you're dishing out anymore.

 

[Shattered]

American's saving rate was less than 0% because they were taking second and third mortgages out on their homes to buy things like boats, new cars, etc.

I'm still on my first mortgage, I don't own a boat, I don't buy a new car until the old one's paid off, and I have a savings account that I don't touch for anything, as well as things like 401K that I don't borrow against for any reason whatsoever.

Life's made up of the consequences for the choices you make in life.

 

[rayboyusmc]

Isn't that exactly what Bush told the American people - to go to the malls and spend their money.

 

[Shattered]

Isn't that exactly what Bush told the American people - to go to the malls and spend their money.

So, if Bush told you to jump off a bridge, would you?

 

[Skull Pilot]

Main street has been in a recession for years.

Even before the price of gaoline spiked people were having a hard time making it.

What was it five years ago Americans saving rate was less than 0%?

That never happened before folks.

And please, you class treasonous nitwits, don't waste my time whining it was because the whole damned nation was spending money on DVDs .

I ain't buying that class-war rhetoric you're dishing out anymore.

OK Ed. All those folks with negative savings rates were buying generic mac and cheese with credit cards just so their kids wouldn't starve.

 

[Zoomie1980]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/business/22drug.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Are these people who write this nonsense always 3-6 months BEHIND the current news?

Gas prices are almost HALF what they were last summer. It is now CHEAPER than it was a year ago!!!

Food is 20% CHEAPER than it was last summer.

We are in a major period of DEFLATION right now, fueled mostly by a crash in energy prices. The idiots that write these pieces of silliness seem to be stuck in late July....

 

[Zoomie1980]

Main street has been in a recession for years.

Even before the price of gaoline spiked people were having a hard time making it.

What was it five years ago Americans saving rate was less than 0%?

That never happened before folks.

And please, you class treasonous nitwits, don't waste my time whining it was because the whole damned nation was spending money on DVDs .

I ain't buying that class-war rhetoric you're dishing out anymore.

No, they were spending it on computers, XBOX360's and HiDev TV's and Blue Ray players to put the DVD's into.

When I was 16 we had no microwave ovens, we had a single 21" color TV with five channels, no computers, no cell phones, no game consoles, we had only ONE car, an 8 year old Impala sedan, and 1400 sqft 3 bedroom house....and we thought we had it pretty good!

 

[sparky]

what does every crappy country in the world have in common?

a top heavy echelon, and a miserable middle class

doesn't matter what the system is either, it can happen in any of them

right now, here in America , the powers that be have told us we need to bail out wall street to aviod a depression (that's with a D)

this is the very same governance that catagorically has denied that we are in a recession (that would be with an R) on the basis of the current definition of said term....

but hey, when things get tough, the tough buy dvd's right...?

 

[editec]

OK Ed. All those folks with negative savings rates were buying generic mac and cheese with credit cards just so their kids wouldn't starve.

No you miss the point, Skull.

The 0% saving rate was the aggregate saving rate of the ENTIRE NATION.

That's bad, man. That's REAL BAD NEWS for our economy.

It tellz us something important about the state of affairs in the aggregate.

In the aggregate something so fundamental has changed that the American people are not putting aside anything for those inevitable rainy days.

Where or not you or I saved money isn't really relevant.

 

[Kit Parker]

Buy now and pay later is a philosophy for losers! Too many people take credit to the extreme paying one card off with another,at some point,we look into the abyss and see our own reflection and mine aint pretty..

 

[editec]

Buy now and pay later is a philosophy for losers! Too many people take credit to the extreme paying one card off with another,at some point,we look into the abyss and see our own reflection and mine aint pretty..

True.

Now why?

Why did Americans go from being net savers (Americans saved about 5% of their incomes historically) to debtors in the last 40 years?

Was it just a change in attitude or did something fundamentally change to make them change their behaviors?

 

[Skull Pilot]

Good point.

perhaps a sociology question as to why we as a nation have succumb to rampant consumerism

 

[sparky]

40 years ago Editec? well iirc, 40 years ago someone did say something very relevant to that, and was off'd 3 months later....

Speech by Robert Kennedy, 18 March 1968, University of Kansas.
”We will never find a purpose for our nation nor for our personal satisfaction in the mere search for economic well-being, in endlessly amassing terrestrial goods.
We cannot measure the national spirit on the basis of the Dow-Jones, nor can we measure the achievements of our country on the basis of the gross domestic product (GDP)
Our gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage.
It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.
It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.
It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”

 

[editec]

40 years ago Editec? well iirc, 40 years ago someone did say something very relevant to that, and was off'd 3 months later....

Speech by Robert Kennedy, 18 March 1968, University of Kansas.
”We will never find a purpose for our nation nor for our personal satisfaction in the mere search for economic well-being, in endlessly amassing terrestrial goods.
We cannot measure the national spirit on the basis of the Dow-Jones, nor can we measure the achievements of our country on the basis of the gross domestic product (GDP)
Our gross national product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage.
It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials.
It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.
It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”

Yes, I remember that POTUS.

He inspired many of my generation to become idealists.

Then Viet Nam happened and that inspired many of us to become cynics.

You know what a cynic is, don't you?

It's someone who was originally an idealist who got mugged by human nature.

 

[sparky]

exactly, RFK echoed the generation who warned us of mammonism, but then had no apparent choice but to fall in line with it....

and now look what's happening to them.....

Once I lived the life of a mammonaire,
Slipped into debt, I just did not care.
Stabbed all my friends backs, in deluded justfide....
Bought their 'ol lady, with whisky, champagne and wine.

Then the dow began to fall so low,
Couldn't hit up my motu friends, I had nowhere to go.
I hope my Marx redux won't offend
I'm gonna panic congress, 'til that eagle grins.

'Cause no, no, nobody owes you
When you're dow is out.
In your bank, not one penny
And as for the fed, they can't print any

When you finally get bailed out and free again,
Everybody wants to be your sub prime friend.
Said it's mighty strange, without a debt,
Nobody owes you when you're dow is out.

When you finally get bailed out, and free again,
Everybody wants to be your mortgaged backed friend.
Said it's mighty strange,
Nobody owes you,
Nobody ooooooooowes you.....
Nobody owes you when you're dow is out.

 

[editec]

Clever tinpan word smithing, Sparky.

Let me try too

Once I build a dot com, digital
It got hits just fine
Once I build website
Now it's done
Buddy, can you lend at prime?

source

 

[Hum Dinger]

What makes this all the more offensive is that the American people have, within a generation, changed from a primarily one income per family with any amount of kids, to a two income per family with limited children.

Meanwhile, for the most part, the level of education and skills per worker has grown phenominally.

This means that the total economic production per household has risen incredibly in this generation. Yet the relative standard of living for most households is no better and in most cases worse than the previous generations.

60 years ago, anyone that had two college educated workers in the family would live like kings, while supporting 5 or more kids, and enjoy a very early retirement.

Nowadays, households with two college educated workers are just getting by.

Pray tell, where is all the wealth going?