The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee

[Harpgirl]

Edison is largely a socio-political strip that attempts to have its finger
on the pulse of national sentiment. To that end, I pose the following:


There seem to be differing opinions daily on the state of the economy.
Some believe it is strong and cite low unemployment numbers and a
healthy stock market. Others feel that the economy is poor and cite
losses of jobs to overseas countries and failing companies such as the big auto makers.

How do you see the economy? Is it working for you? Are you doing
better now than 2, 5, or even 10 years ago? Do you feel secure about
your ability to retire. Are you free of unsecured dept and able to send your children to the college of their choice without taking out a 2nd (or even 3rd) mortgage?

If you are getting ready to enter the job market, are you confident
about your prospects?

[katiek]

I hear all the time how great the economy is and especially how low unemployment is but I am not seeing it. Some of my friends are laid off
and some have been "downsized". One guy I know with a "white collar" job looked for a new job for over a year after his job was eliminated.

I have heard that the unemployment figures aren't accurate because they don't include anyone whose benefits have run out after their time limit is up.

[ladycat]

You might find this of interest.

http://www.house.gov/htbin/blog_inc?BLOG,oh17_ryan,blog,999,All,Item%20not%20found,ID=070523_0635,TEMPLATE=postingdetail.shtml

http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_archive_10302003se

Our economy isn't so strong as some believe.
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[Harpgirl]

Well it is now Feb 2008 and the big campaign topic is - you guessed it - the economy! I first posed this question back in June because whenever an Edison strip was critical of the state of the economy, John would get angry letters from folks insisting that the economy was fine and that John was "just another delusional liberal". While a lot of people just seem to be figuring out that the economy is in trouble, most of our friends have been struggling since 2000 and most particularly hard hit in all of 2005 to the present.

So again I pose the question - how is the economy working for you?

[ladycat]

Living expenses are going up. Grocery prices are rising. Heating bills and gasoline are up in price with no end in sight.

The mortgage situation is unbelievable. No mortgage here, but I would have been smart enough to avoid a variable rate. I'm stunned at how the mortgage companies have been lending to people with a bad credit history and letting them move into homes that they obviously can't afford in the first place. The mortgage industry brought this situation on themselves, but they have hurt the national economy by their actions.

It seems like the world is falling apart. Weather disasters are straining relief resources as well as resulting in wide-spread crop failures.

I could keep listing things that are all going wrong, but it's too depressing.

*sigh*

(ETA: to answer your question, for me personally, it's getting harder to make ends meet. My economic situation is worse than it was a year ago).
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