I don't know if anyone wants to talk about this, but I was curious as to how people are being affected by the economic mess.

I'm in S. Florida and work for a wholesale plant nursery that grows starter plants; we feed other nurseries that grow plants for landscapers. We have been severely impacted by what's going on in the housing market. No new houses going up means no new landscaping going in, which in turn means that nurseries have too much plant material to sell and aren't re-planting. Our sales are off by at least 30%...

So I was just informed that all of our management staff will be taking a cut in salary starting in January to try to make ends meet. Ouch! (but better than no job at all, at least)

We are hurting. I work in construction in the Tampa area and the last year has been bumpy.

We actually laid off a couple of people this year for the first time in 10 years.

The dealership I work at is functioning just fine w/only 2 salesmen...we used to have 11.

I just spent $5880 US for $4000 EU thanks to the worthless US dollar. I can't wait until Spring when I get to send the rest! Wonder how it'll be then.

The luxury condo complex I used to be Sales Manager for has no heat in the $2.5mil clubhouse.

Things are BAD.

My bf got laid off at the end of September (telecom) - hasn't been able to find anything. It's scary. He's had some good interviews for jobs but then the companies axed the programs the jobs were part of b/c of the economy. He's got a lead now, so :cross fingers:

My field (Telecommunications) started going through this almost 8 years ago. I've been going through this the whole decade! From the end of '04 until about the same time in '07, out of those 36 months, I didn't work 19 of them due to volatility. And the major episode for me was buying my first house. I closed on a Friday. I took the following Mon/Tues off to move in, unpack, and get utilities turned on. I went back to work on Wednesday, 5 days after I closed on the house. I was there an hour, on the phone with a customer, when I was told to head upstairs for an emergency all employee meeting. At that meeting the entire company was laid off, Ch.11. I didn't work for 11 months as there was just no jobs in my field local. I couldn't sell the house because I just bought it, for many people that would be like buying a new car then selling it the next week (big loss!). I made it through it, never missed a bill, always on time, but, well let's just say after that, I don't have 401k anymore. When the stock market went kaboom this year there was some very upset people in my office. A couple of them asked me how much I lost. I told them nothing and smiled Nothing to lose.

I've gone through this for almost 8 years and live with it every day. Whatever happens, don't live in fear. Kiss your wife, your husband, your child, your dog, whatever, and be thankful for what you have today as tomorrow isn't promised. Life is too short to live in fear so don't. Things will get better, especially when the media quits scaring the crap out of everyone.

You are so right about the media. They're making it worse by scaring everyone and changing people's behavior. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 Quote: Tommy DeVito

Things will get better, especially when the media quits scaring the crap out of everyone.

Actually........the media doesn't report on more than 1/4 of the problem. There would be riots in the streets if people knew how close to the edge we are right now.

Want to really worry? Check this site out on a periodic basis and read some of the links that they provide from various economic sites.........most reasonable people will really have something to worry about then.
http://www.survivalblog.com/

Will is right, but we would be in better shape in some areas if people weren't so scared. Kind of a double-edged sword. I will refrain from reading that site until I've had a Xanax. LOL.

Well, I'll tell you what, good thing is you closed on your house before hand. If you would not have been able to make the payments, you'd still be able to be in your house for a good 6-8 mos without paying before you'd have to leave. If you were renting.. 1 month? maybe 2?

I agree with what you say about the media. Yeah, things may be worse, but anytime you turn on the TV, it's blasted in your face that everyone is losing their jobs. So, no one wants to spend money, so no businesses make money, so then people lose their jobs, so no one wants to spend money, so ..... you get the idea.

If everyone would be willing to take paycuts and make changes, we could all pull through this. A lot of people won't do it though.

Just waiting for the Reductions-in-Force axe to start swinging.

And here I thought I might go to Warrant School.. yeah right.


The Washington Army National Guard just lost an unbelievable amount of funding. Thanks a lot Gov Gregoire.

Oh it's Tommy this and Tommy that, and Tommy stand behind...