My freeper brother in law says economy is great

[focusfan]

I heard he is looking for a second job to pay his bills.My opinion that if the economy was good one person in the family working full time would be enough to live on(I mean 40 hrs not 80 hrs a week).Most families I know both members are working and still barely getting by.If it were good we wouldn`t be carrying large balances on credit cards or have second and third mortgages.I own a small used car lot,a wrecker service and car hauling business,and work at a car auction part time,if my wife didn`t work full time we wouldn`t eat sometimes.My insurance has went from 2200.00 in 2000 to 8400.00 this year,my fuel cost in my truck last year 15000.00 in 2000 the same fuel would have cost me less than 5000.00 the really bad part is that my income keeps going down.I would quit,but I`m getting to old to start over.

[Thickasabrick]

1. I have a few freepers I work with that say the same thing. I say...

"good for whom?" It's been great for CEO's and the top 1%ers. Unless you are in that group - it basically has been at a stand still.

[focusfan]

3. That is what I was trying to say

I`m not good at explaining things

[Thickasabrick]

14. You explain things great! I was just sharing what I say to my

freepers.

[leesa]

23. You said it just fine. Keep saying it to your friends and family who

don't 'get it'.

[aquart]

6. No. Standstill would be a plus right now.

Prices are still going up every time I hit the supermarket.

I'm worrying about buying a bottle of olive oil right now.

[Thickasabrick]

12. Good point....I was cursing my grass for growing because I was

out of gas for the mower. I was hoping grass mowing would be over by now.

[ekelly]

24. I told my hubby

we should just cement over it and paint it green.

Then he said, "Astroturf". LOL

[Thickasabrick]

32. I'm with your hubby. Astroturf might be more environmentally

friendly when you think about all the chemicals and crap we put on our yards. I wonder if my HOA would mind astroturf.....:hippie:

[Spangle]

22. A stand still would be nice!

Hubby still has his job. And he gets his yearly pay raise. Funny tho. One doesn't notice it. Since the cost of health Insurance more then swallows it up. Then there is gas, etc. Working harder, Working longer hours, making more.. showing less for it.

Yes, even a stand still would be better then what we have been seaing for years.

[survivor999]

2. If you are always stressed out to pay basic bills

I don't see how things could be great...

[OwnedByFerrets]

4. I doubt it will make a difference but show him this....

... The typical family paid, on average from 1999 to 2004, about $865 a year to heat a home with heating oil or $586 with natural gas, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association.

Last winter, however, it cost $1,496 to heat a home with heating oil and $946 with natural gas. Those are increases of 73 percent and 61 percent.

Then there's gasoline. The nationwide average for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline was $2.22 on Monday, according to AAA. That's 57 percent higher than $1.41, the average price for a gallon of gas during the second week of October from 2000 through 2003.

Health insurance costs have risen even faster. The premiums workers pay for employer-provided health insurance rose an average of 7.7 percent this year - and have increased 84 percent since 2000, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health-issues research center.



economy is only good for certain people

[focusfan]

29. wouldn`t make a difference

All my inlaws think shrub is a great christian and can do no wrong.I haven`t been around them since last xmas

[tasgator1]

5. The middle class is going fast

I am a lawyer and I represented a very successful physician in my city in a family law matter. In fact, he is my daughter's doctor. He is making a little over 100k pr year. He owns one of the most successful pediatric offices in my city (over 1.5m in the metro area). The policies of the current administration, combined with pay cuts by insurers and medicaid are killing him. But he blames trial lawyers for his problems. The professional class is being decimated by our current social policies and the middle class is going fast. That will destroy our country.

[PassingFair]

8. Welcome to DU, Tasgator1!

My husband and I had a successful Graphic Design firm 5 years ago.
Now he limps along with a couple of SLOW paying clients, and I've
had to get a stressful sales job to cover health benefits.

We are doing OK, but making about half of what we made in the late 90's.
And there are NO guarantees that my job will continue to be the money-maker
that it has been, because Michigan is becoming tapped OUT!

[Rainscents]

15. Welcome, tasgator1!

Isn't it funny, how, these Doctor's still like to blame sky rocket insurance on trial lawyers? When in fact, less than 1.5% total law suit is medical malpractice. Your client did some researched on these matter, he would know why, his insurance is so high. Bottom line is, trial lawyers have nothing to do with sky rocket insurance... it has everything to do with corporate insurance greed!

[The Wielding Truth]

17. Welcome to DU, tasgator1! Glad you are here.

:toast: :kick: :grouphug:

It's the poor that concern me. Social programs are being cut and there is nowhere for them to go.

[focusfan]

27. Insurance companies are posting record proffits

and still raising rates same as back in the 80`s

[newyawker99]

28. Hi tasgator1!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[PassingFair]

7. I am swiping this from another thread, because it belongs here...

I live in Michigan. My husband says that people he posts to
around the country are "doing just great"! (These are freeper-types)

Buying boats, cars, new homes, you name it!

Here in Michigan, things are in the CRAPPER, big time!
Businesses are going under, the big three are the tiny
trio.

My question is: Are ANY of you in a state that
is doing BETTER under the REICH than you were
6 years ago.

Not just personally, but as a STATE?

[upi402]

9. Your hard situation is more common than

the Freeps will admit. They will not see facts no matter what.

[ovidsen]

10. Show him THIS

It's where OwnedByFerrets got those numbers...

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/columnists/kevin_g_hall/15781393.htm

Workers are barely keeping up. Health care, wages and energy prices are consumers' top three economic concerns, according to a Gallup poll in September.

"That has to do with things like stagnant wages, fears of jobs being outsourced, income security. These are on people's minds, particularly in lower- and middle-income areas," said Dennis Jacobe, chief economist in Charlotte, N.C., for Gallup.

"I think it's quite clear to people that their paychecks are being squeezed when they try to meet their family budgets," said Jared Bernstein, the chief economist for the liberal Economic Policy Institute in Washington. "There's a disconnect between overall economic performance and paychecks of working families."

Your brother in law, and the Bush zombies may think the economy's doing great, but you can't measure the economy by how high the Dow is or by unemployment numbers that have been been skewed by WalMart jobs.

edit: grammar

[greblc]

11. I'm searching for a new job...

and can't find anything that pays more than what I started at 5 yrs ago. Insult to injury, the health benifit packages I'm seeing are terrible. I had to refuse a teamsters job offer because there was no dependant health care coverage. Anyone who thinks the job market & economy are better must be retired, too young to know any different or simply ignorant.

Tell him to enjoy his second and THIRD job!

[chicagolefty]

13. If it's so great

Then why have the cost of houses gone through the roof? Why did my property taxes just double? Why are two of my very educated friends still looking for work since they were laid off some 4 months ago? Please. Tell it to the rich people that don't actually work for a living.

[C_U_L8R]

16. The economy is great for Board Members of Halliburton

and other Bush cronies.. but for the rest of us that
have to work for a living (including the dumbass freeps in denial)
the economy stinks. Poor job availablities, shrinking paychecks.
ballooning expenses... oh and there's that pesky national debt

[havocmom]

18. Guess he plans on dying soon and not facing the bills?

Too bad about the children...

[Bigmack]

19. Your B-in-L ...

is just one small disaster from the poorhouse.

My BinL voted for * in 2000 because "He'll be better for the economy." Since then, he was force-retired from an over-$100K a year job. (They had his age wrong.... they didn't know he was old enough to retire. One year younger and he'd have been totally fucked.) They also had to carry him on health insurance. He was damn lucky!

He pulled all his money out of his retirement, since he figured the company would screw him somehow. He invested in nice safe stocks and lost about 10% plus fees.

Then he hurt his back doing a manual labor job. Workman's comp saved his ass. I pointed out that the Dems managed to get that for him. Finally Social Security Disability saved him. He was damn lucky! I pointed out that's another Dem program.

Then he needed a 4 way heart bypass. Luckily his insurance paid for it.

I pointed out to him... gently, since his stitches aren't healed yet... how lucky he was. Any one of the things that's happened to him could have broken his whole family, and that's how it happens to a lot of people that are being left behind in this economy. There is no safety net.

Tell your BinL about this story. If he doesn't believe me, send me a personal message and I'll put him in touch w/ my BinL.

[Initech]

20. Yeah, having to work two jobs is a sign the economy is doing great!

Wow, talk about being in denial! :eyes:

[Porcupine]

21. Just lost my job. Chico CA. Real Estate shakeout.

My job was dependant on overpaid professionals buying property hundreds of miles from home on adjustable mortgages and hiring total strangers to manage the rental. They were counting on a flip with 30% profit in two years.

Suddenly everybody got paranoid and my Rethuglican bosses sloppy bookkeeping was noticed by ALL his clients. Scratch 10 jobs.

[savemefromdumbya]

25. All you hear is that the economy is slowing

[NMMNG]

26. Oh yeah, the economy is fabulous

:sarcasm:

I've been working two full-time jobs for the past 4.5 years because I simply can't get by otherwise.

At one of my jobs I nearly got laid off when budget cuts axed over $1million from the agency's funds. Even though I got to keep my job I haven't had a pay increase in three years.

Despite the fact that I pay well over the minimum payment on my two credit cards, every time I begin to get the balances down some problem comes up (big car repair, household emergency, etc.) that necessitates charging one or the other right back up. Therefore I never get anywhere near paying them off.

I'm dying to go to grad school but I don't have the money and have no idea when I will.


The economy may be good for Paris Hilton, Bill Gates and GWB, but for people like me it sucks.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

30. Your profile says "female"--same gender couple? Good luck making ends

meet.

[focusfan]

31. No male and female sorry wife signed us up

[Keepontruking]

33. Freepers

Which goes to show all freepers are delusional like
Bushie...at least they are easy to spot that way!!!!!!!1 
Circus Girl