My savings are earning pretty much no interest, so I'm kinda peeved.

Unaffected.

Well my currency lost 50% of it's value and interest rates are up, no biggie.

I'm currently at uni, so it's not affecting me in a bad way. Food prices have gone up only very slightly, so it's nothing major.

If there's anything i've learnt while coming to uni, it's to be frugal with spending unless you save up plenty of money beforehand.

I'm getting 4.5% on mine, and thats in an instant access savings account with my bank (ABN Amro). Are the deals in the UK not that great at the moment?

Do you own a pawn shop?

I've been having trouble finding work. My most recent contract ended literally right at the time of the most firings in decades. Not that I'm too worried, since I'm quite frugal and have enough saved up to last a while.

Meanwhile, my portfolio is obviously down. I was quite well prepared for this situation. I saw it coming, although I didn't expect that it would scale to this extent, so I had a good cash cushion saved up in guaranteed investments. It has since been moved into the market. As always, too early to the party. Then again, can't complain about some of the bond/preferred yields I've picked up and I'm mostly very happy with my equities positions. I wish I had a million bucks to add to my portfolio, but oh well.

Hoping to find work so I can continue to invest at these prices, or lower as the case may be.

well me dads just taken a 10% pay cut so at least hes still got a job.

-I've been laid off and completely unable to find any other job opportunities in my field in the area. Seriously, maybe 1 or 2 job postings every few weeks that I can even apply to. And of course, every one of those posting has an exponentially higher amount of applicants then they would've ever had in the past, due to the terrible economic situation. So there's far, far less jobs to apply for with far, far more people applying for them. Not good news.

-My dad may get layed off from his job(of 26 years) this summer.

-My roommates dad got laid off(after 20 years same company) and has been completely unable to find another opportunity in his work field.

-A friend of mine who just graduated school has been completely unable to find any opportunities, and he's look for ANYTHING, not just his field. He's even looking at near-minumum wage jobs and even those are few and far between.


Sounds like it's really affected me a lot more than most other people on here. Everyone who hasn't been affected should be extremely thankful right now. This situation has seriously caused me a lot of monetary woes and some minor depression. I continue to search vigilantly every day and I hope that some day soon I'll find someone who will hire me, but rest assured; it ain't easy.

While our country is doing okay, my workplace axed about 240 people, in Sydney alone, but I am still here (touch wood)... other than that, I am waiting to see what our upcoming stimulus package will achieve.

it has spurred me to start my own business and steal the clients at the company i used to work at. Better, cheaper and faster has much more merit in todays climate.

I've been fortunate enough that my businesses have actually been improving, but i know of a lot of people that are hurting right now. My brother is a firefighter that had to relocate due to his wife getting a much better job, but there are hiring freezes all over the place for government jobs. Other friends and family members are either taking lower pay, or are getting axed entirely. Something has to change http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/sad1.gif

The bad thing is the economy will get worst before it get better. In my opinion this is Great Depression Part II

hasnt affected me in the slightest

Our company gave those in my department some of the largest yearly bonuses and raises to date; I still spend as much as I always have on most things; I still have my house (prices haven't changed much realistically). I liquidated most of my portfolio lto cash/gold/silver last year before the market started to drop, so fine in that area ... Other than city taxes going up a bit, I really can't complain too much.

acutally I am affected... the ecomonic issues caused pioneer to exit the plasma buisness... I was really looking forward to upgrading to a gen 10 kuro, 60" plasma with absolute blacks next year :( I guess we all have to make sacrifices... hopefully panasonic licenses the kuro tech, so the blackness will live on

It's becoming harder to save though I could be doing more to curb my spending and I've been spending quite a bit. Though I wouldn't say I'm in a tough spot. Fuel and airline ticket costs are cheap as, so that suits me just fine! [thumbup]

Any Aussies wanting to travel to Asia now's the time to do it. Malaysia or Singapore tickets are no more than $190 one way, and about the same coming back. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ies/smile1.gif

As for Kevin Rudds $900 package, I'll be picking the anal beads! http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/excited1.gif
Actually I'll be saving it as I think I've been stimulating the economy more than the average person anyhow.

Business is booming as companies look to cut their IT costs, streamline administration and reduce staffing needs. I know that makes us the evil-doers for the staff of small and medium businesses as well as computer techs that normally cater to such clients, but it's not personal.

Only place it's hit home is on the home buying front, though I'm kind of glad it happened the way it did. Fiancée and I were going to buy a 4 bed, 3.5 bath house and had two mortgages try to mess over. We were already putting 30% down on an expensive home; but both lenders, within two days of closing asked for significantly more down... Essentially, they knew what was happening to the market and saw what I had in my accounts and decided they wanted us much as they could take me for. Screw that.

She still lives with her 'rents while she's doing rotations for med school and won't move in until we're married, and I've been traveling so bloody much the last 2+ months it's not like I would have been home anyways! The great part is the house has already dropped another $15K in asking price, and it'll likely be up on auction before too long so the builder can try to cut his losses. Since it was starting to be built, they've already dropped the asking price $125K, so it's only a matter of time... [thumbup]

Lost my job 2 months ago and not been able to find another one yet. My savings are screwed as i'm not only getting .25 %. Times are looking very bleak, and the worst thing about it all, it's all been constructed by the big players in the world. I say learn how to grow food, buy a gun and make sure you have a good group of friends that are willing to protect your assets as soon we will really know the meaning of a great depression. I said all this a decade ago to many people who laughed and guess what, it's happening, this is just th start. Marshall Law and FEMA camps here we come. http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/sad1.gif

Wake up sheep, in a couple of years the world we live in will be a different place, fook watching x factor, pop idol, how to look good naked etc read some information and educate yourselves on how the endgame is being manufactured to screw us over on a daliy basis.

http://www.infowars.net/
http://www.dprogram.net/
http://www.prisonplanet.com/

One thing that I have been thinking about lately, is down the road, it is going to hurt the younger generation.
Depending on how bad this recession gets and lasts, the longer the baby boomers will work.

A lot of them lost all of their retirement money, so now can no longer retire as soon as they thought. So they hold onto their current jobs even longer, and are in the job market as well a long with all the younger generations looking for work.


So even when the recession is over, it could still be a little harder for a little longer with the baby boomers of the 40' and 50's looking for jobs as well.


Here, I was excited for my very near future as the baby boomers retire and easy to grab job positions open up everywhere.

Not to mention stuff like this happening.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7901625.stm

I suspect that Madoffs scheme would have probably gone on for years more, (maybe till he died) if his hand had not been forced by the current financial situation.

Imagine thinking you were set in your old age and then.......