I just read a response to one of my questions. It read "personal savings are at an all time low."
No, they aren't.
The savings RATE in the US was negative for 2006.
That doesn't mean people have less savings than they had in 2005, it means they spent more than they brought in.
Most people don't put their savings in the mattress..... They invest their savings. The markets have performed well for three years straight. It's not like analyzing an insurance company, it's more like pension accounting - if your assets appreciate fast enough, you don't have to contribute.
Also, notably, "savings" not only doesn't count asset appreciation, it doesn't count principal payments toward all assets, such as your mortgage. Home values have suffered a correction this year but they values are only down to mid-'04 levels at worst. 70% of us own our own homes, up from 60% in the 1970s, and our homes are twice as big.
Generally we ought to save more but it's hardly a crisis!
2007-02-12 11:20:34 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
Your example is an excellent one.
Consider this hypothetical town:
A factory which pays an average wage of $17.00 an hour closes down and 50 workers are unemployed. The same day a Walmart opens and hires 50 people at $8.50 an hour.
The media reports that despite recent factory closings, the employment rate remains steady. OH, REALLY?
2007-02-12 11:44:41 · answer #1 · answered by LeAnne 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Here's a bulletin for the "victims" of our great American economy:
The economy doesn't "happen to you". The economy is an evolving set of opportunities and challenges. YOU are responsible for picking a productive and rewarding path for your economic well-being. You do that with the right combination of education, work experience, flexibility and nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic.
Anyone here who answers this Q with the mindset: "I'm a victim of unfair economic forces aligned against me" is writing a self-fulfilling prophecy. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get out there and outwork everyone else in your company.
And if that fails, do it again, and again, and again...until it stops failing.
I know it's hard, but that's how you win. And if you'd like to prosper, America still gives you the best opportunity to succeed.
Period.
Edit (for Answer Man):
Bush I was in a campaign vs. RR (who later picked him as VP) Shall we find every Dem who has criticized another Dem during a campaign and then use that as an example of failed Dem policy?
You can do better than that, can't you?
2007-02-12 14:30:56 · answer #2 · answered by idlebud 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A whole bunch of people aren't in the boat you are describing, they're in the one that's sinking. Our national debt and our trade deficits are out of hand. Our personal debt is growing and home foreclosures are rising. I'm not convinced we are as strong economically as everyone keeps saying. The housing market has been slowing and more decent jobs are still being sent to where the cheap labor lives. The oil industry is so freaky anymore a rumor of an attack on a pipeline drives prices to the moon and we keep stirring the crap in the middle-east.
2007-02-12 11:59:17 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I wonder how you explain George H.W. Bush calling Ronald Reagan's economic plan, "Voo Doo Economics"?
Did that liberal George H.W.Bush not understand what the "Great Communicator" was saying?
2007-02-13 04:42:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
And the stock market is at an all-time high. THERE'S A STAT FOR YOU LIBS!! SO STUFF IT!!!
2007-02-12 11:24:13 · answer #5 · answered by bigsey93harrison37 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, because there are lies, damn lies and statistics.
2007-02-12 11:37:53 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋