Thank God for the updates on the news…it has been officially announced by the National Bureau of Economic Research, that the United States is in a RECESSION! No kidding, Who knew? Just about everybody except those who should have known–like the people running our economy!!! Duh!
Posts Tagged ‘financial crisis’
No Kidding!-Who Knew?
Posted in Amazing, Business, culture, denial, economy, finances, news, tagged announcement, financial crisis, news, Recession on December 2, 2008| 1 Comment »
Did You Agree To Rip Yourself Off?
Posted in anger, Business, economy, elderly, emotions, family, finances, future, Impact, life, MONEY, news, tagged agreement, anger, budget plan, Business, costs, dangerous, Difficulties, fall, financial crisis, fixed incomes, future, gamble, gasoline, home heating, locked in, news, oil, predictions, propane, suffering, Summer, Winter on October 16, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Here is something to think about with all of the financial crisis making the daily news. Have you signed anything legal agreeing to rip yourself off financially? Many people probably haven’t realized this aspect of the times yet…but, a normally smart thing to do each summer is to sign up for a budget plan with your winter heating fuel supplier…agreeing to “lock in” a price when the prices are low during the summer…just in case the price of heating oil/gas goes up, like it normally does in the fall and winter months.
This year…against any predictable reasoning…gas prices have fallen, sharply. Still, once people sign on the dotted line to lock in a heating source price…they truly are locked in at that price. I think as people discover this situation for themselves…there is going to be alot of anger of being caught in this situation. Some say, that most years it makes sense to lock in and it works out to their advantage…but, this year has really challenged that theory.
Locking in makes sense usually; the agreement is usually accomplished in mid summer. Well….if you remember correctly, in July…gas prices were sky high. In my neck of the woods…gasoline prices have dropped from an all time high of approximately $4.25 down to now a $2.88 cents a gallon. If you apply that thought process to home heating oil/propane….you can just imagine how much money that people are loosing.
With the rising cost of food, rent/mortgage payments, health insurance, and other necessities…people can ill afford to pay extra when they don’t have to. I, for one, am glad that i didn’t lock in my propane prices; like i was advised to!
Did you get ripped off by signing an agreement to lock in your heating costs this year? If you did…you are not alone…and personally i don’t think anyone expected such a situation…but, it really is a gamble trying to predict the future with heating costs. I am pretty sure that, next year, companies will have a hard time getting people who were burned this year, to sign on the dotted line. Just stop and think about how many people are living on fixed incomes…i almost hate to see winter arrive because…we will see more people suffering and living in dangerous conditions, in colder climates, because of this.
Too The Moon Alice–The Dow Soars!
Posted in accomplishments, Amazing, Business, culture, economy, emergency, encouragement, family, finances, government, Impact, life, MONEY, news, politics, tagged anxiety, banking systems, breaking news, confidence, Dow, financial crisis, Impact, losses, moon, politics, recovery, soars, stabilized, world markets on October 13, 2008| 1 Comment »
Breaking news this hour, the Dow soared up 938 points…the highest point climb in a single day ever! This is following 8 previous days of losses. It could soar to the moon; but, unless we get things stabilized…that too, could only add to the unrest. However, getting the the numbers back up into a zone that is positive again is very important to instilling confidence in the market once again. This is good news all around the world as governments have pledged to get behind banking systems around the world. People are breathing a momentary sigh of relief…as the past week or more has been full of doom and gloom which has only added to the financial anxiety. Let’s see what happens now! Will this financial encouragement impact the election at this late date? Do you think those in charge of safeguarding the future have learned anything in this crisis?
Foreclosure…it can happen to anyone
Posted in Business, celebrity, children, economy, Education, emotions, Fame, family, finances, future, health, help, home, Impact, life, loss, medical, mental and physical health, MONEY, news, pain and misery, school, stress, well-being, tagged ashamed, assests, blood, Business, celebrity, college, cost of living, depression, devalue, divorce, downsizing, economy, Ed McMahan, emotions, financial crisis, foreclosure, health, homes, investments, jobs, loss, MONEY, mortgages, plasma, property values, relationships, retirement, schools, stress, survival, United States, well-being on June 7, 2008| 2 Comments »
You know what…i don’t know much about foreclosures on a home; but, my family came closer to it than i want to think about this past winter. I know that foreclosure is happening to more and more people. I live in a state where the economy is all but paralyzed. People are loosing their jobs, left and right. The cost of living is skyrocketing. I know people who are working two jobs and still are struggling to survive. I also know people who have gone to donate blood and plasma just so that they had gas money to drive back and forth to work. This puts the quality of life into the depression era, as far as I am concerned. Foreclosure can happen to anyone because, right now, the economy stinks.
This past week, we have heard about a couple of high profile people, Evander Holyfield and Ed McMahon, who are possibly loosing their homes to foreclosure. One of them, Ed McMahon seems an unlikely candidate to loose his home to foreclosure…however, Ed explains his situation. He says that he wasn’t paying attention to how his money was managed by business people. He also says some personal difficulties such as divorce and a broken neck decreased his finances and his ability to work. He says that he worked hard all of his life. Alot of people are in the same situation…maybe they can’t even retire or pay for their child’s college because of their financial situation and the possible loss of their home.
Ed McMahon talks about the million, or so, people in the United States that are now facing foreclosure and says that he understands how people are working hard and due to their personal circumstances they could lose their homes. Many of them, Ed says, didn’t do anything wrong…maybe they lost their jobs or face medical, financial difficulties…but because of those situations…they are being forced out of their homes that they worked so hard to have. He says he would like to tell them to find the best help available and to not give up.
Those explanations are real life for alot of people. It has been recently estimated that 1percent of home mortgages have gone into foreclosure from January- March of this year alone; that is around 447,723 families. Divorce, job downsizing, health issues and the economy are putting more and more people in jeparody of loosing their homes. For most people, their home is one of their biggest assests or investments. How does this concern you? Let’s take a look…
The problem is…as the economy worsens…more people loose their homes and that means that more homes are on the market. Say you want to sell your home…how are you going to do that with all of the houses sitting empty on your street, in your neighborhood, or your town or state? And if you are lucky enough to find someone who wants YOUR house….will they give you what you have to have financially for it? Housing that is devalued further complicates the issue. Propety values plummet in areas where there are many foreclosures. When people owe more on their house then it is worth, because of the devaluing of it…they can’t sell it without taking a huge financial loss; not to mention coming up with the money to move somewhere else. The stress and the emotional toll it takes is devastating. It is a bit like a chain reaction…because then their credit is damaged…and finding another place to live is difficult, relationships take a beating in times of financial crisis too. Other people can be quite judgmental and often people feel ashamed of what they are going through. The changes that a family has to go through in a foreclosure has a far reaching impact on schools, jobs, relationships, health and emotional well-being. I heard a random number tossed about in a news report of between 7-8,000 people enter into foreclosure procedures a DAY! Those numbers are staggering…and devastating to our economy.
There are those who say…well, those people shouldn’t have tried to live outside of their means. That may be true in some circumstances; but, many of those in foreclosure had good paying jobs when they bought that home in good faith, they may have been in perfect health when they bought their home, the economy might have been healthier at the time of the home purchase. Life is full of changes; foreclosure can happen to anyone!