The state of today's economy has significantly impacted my life.

Total Voters: 458 Yes 83% No 83% Undecided 83% Pat 06/10/08 4:06am Vallender, got it. Also, I know you respect eveyone's comments. It shows. Lola, cool proverb, I love proverbs. I understand your comment now with the addition of the proverb. We all know this day and time is rough on people, so as to that...PLEASE, new poll. Lala 06/09/08 6:54pm There is a Chinese proverb that says: Wisdom wears the nose hairs of time, Economy (i.e. Homosexuality, et. al.) wears the waste of the undergarmets. I hope this clarifies. Vallender 06/09/08 5:53pm My apologies for responding so late to your comment Pat. I should also apologize for being rather unclear in my last comment, which was directed at Lola's comment regarding the financial world being a "Homosexual"....or as I understood it, a male-dominated world! Therefore i said those things in my previous comment. Hope that answers your question(s)? But if you were refering to something else, then dont hesitate to point it out, and i'll be glad to have a debate with you? But if you must know, your previous 2-3 posts(from the last poll) had a DEEP impact on me, and i DO RESPECT your opinions....much more than you're giving me credit for! :-) Pat 06/09/08 2:16pm Alright! I thought I was in twilight zone. Going home. Ed 06/09/08 1:40pm Hey Pat! Yes I am also ready for a new poll. Pat 06/09/08 12:57pm HELLO? Anybody out there or are we all ready for a new poll? I am. Pat 06/09/08 10:17am See Regina, the whole world is being set up for the very wealthy and the very poor...no in-between. Jeff, your "novel" was okay. I've done the same thing and probably will in other polls. Lola, please explain the comment about the economy and homosexuality. Don't understand. Pat 06/09/08 8:40am Everyone can by-pass this comment, this is for Vallender. Start at the beginning of this poll to my first comment, I told you it's okay and to hang around...but this last comment of yours on this poll I am totally lost. Do you think I should blame a woman for raping me and later my daughter getting raped by a woman when it was the male species that raped us? What odd behaviour are you talking about? What's the jealousy or "power" coming from? I am just guessing that Amanda might like to know also(but I am not speaking for her, just in case) You have me totally confused. You don't have to leave, either. Stick around. Sorry to eveyone else, I just need further explanation from Vallender. Vallender 06/09/08 4:29am With all due respect, but why do the women nearly always lable everything with the "male/female" lables?? This is a VERY odd behviour, to say the least. Does it originate from a sense of jealousy or envy, OR does it come from the notion that women feel ALWAYS treated poorly by the men??? Or is this simply a question of 'power'? Lala 06/09/08 12:59am The economy is of the orientation: Homosexual. Vallender 06/08/08 2:03pm Well i left one last comment in the aforementioned pole. Hope the semi-positive tone in it, would ease your minds. Cheers. :) Jeff 06/06/08 2:39pm Sorry if I scared everyone away with my novel of a post. I read and responded to Vallander's post in the Gun control poll in-case anyone wants to chime in. Vallender 06/06/08 1:07pm Not for anything but i just left a comment in the last pole. It is my FINAL comment btw. Cheers. Jeff 06/04/08 4:24pm Trading goods and services has always been the staple of humanity. Throughout history civilizations have survived and thrived through free trade. Value for value. Trade allows me to focus my efforts on my specific craft while you focus your efforts on yours. In a free market driven society like the United States, I set my own prices according to what the market is willing to pay. As the demand for my product rises, I can raise my prices. As a result, people with similar skills rush to enter the market in order to capitalize on the higher prices. More people in my trade results in increased supply and competition, which means prices start to go down! In order to survive, I must respond to the market and lower my prices AND improve the quality of my work so that I can continue to make a living. This is the continuous Seesaw of supply, demand and price competition. As my business grows and I attract more customers, I find innovative ways to produce more volume and improve quality. Here is the problem. If the Government puts a cap on my ability to produce more of my product, that makes my product more scarce. Similarly, if the government diverts the resources I use to create my product by subsidizing it's use for other purposes, the same thing happens. Because of Government regulations, me and my competition can't produce as much volume, which means less supply, and therefore higher prices. As consumers, if we do nothing to reform these Government restrictions (after all, we elect those representatives that make up our Government), then this kind of destructive behavior will continue unabated and spread to other areas of our lives. Amanda, I know you and I agree on this, and I understand your reasoning that as consumers we should "cut down" on our usage or consume less. The problem is that this is a "band-aid" solution at best. The effort is not only futile, it is a step backwards and it's unnecessary if the Government would just get out of the way. It's much easier to reform our Government policies than to try and convince the billions of people living in all the various countries in all the world to cut back on their usage. There is no way we can stop the growth of China, India, Africa, South and Central America, etc, nor would we want that. As these countries progress technologically, many of the things that currently plague them like disease, starvation, oppression, etc, will decrease and humanity as a whole will get elevated to a level where they will actually start to care about things like the environment, and peace. Only with more energy will this happen. Allowing the Government to continue restricting oil exploration, restricting oil refineries, restricting the use of Nuclear power, restricting the use of coal, etc, will stunt our growth and create Chaos. There is no way 300 million people are going to start hunting, fishing, raising cattle, or growing their own fruits and vegetables without trampling over each other and decimating our food supply. It's true that we depend on farmers to grow our food, cattle farms to supply our meat, hatcheries to supply our fish, poultry, etc. It's true that we depend oil companies to produce gasoline, diesel, etc. It's true that we depend on our electric and gas companies to supply our energy needs. Other people depend on my for my particular trade. There is nothing wrong with this system and in fact it's the only way a planet with billions of people can possibly coexist and still increase in size every year. Supply, demand and prices are each balanced against each other and is what links everyone together like a web in this global market. When governments overstep their bounds and impose needles restrictions, the unintended consequence is that it disturbs that fragile balance which results in destitution. For crying out loud, Cuba is slant drilling into our reserves because we are restricted! Our economy will suffer greatly if we don't allow American oil companies to do their jobs. Amanda 06/04/08 3:17pm I see things this way. We as a society is headed for some sort of major upheaval. It is best to be ready and already know how to get a long without being dependent on certain things then it is to worry about what others do. I mean things are definitely going south world wide. At the end those who can fend for themselves are the ones who will make it in the long run. Pat 06/04/08 11:03am I agree with everything you said, but say out of the billions around the world that only 20-30 million do what is suggested. That still won't slow down or lessen what is happening, even though it would be a good start, if truly people would do that. But today is so much about me, me, me. Yes, I have an edible flower and herb garden, a few vegetables, plenty of flowers and bushes for the honey bees, bumble bees and butterflies(since we are losing the honey bee and bumble bee). We live in the city and the area we live in you can't own any kind of animal that is considered a farm animal. We live on over an acre of land with large trees and our back yard is such a getaway (except you still hear the traffic some and so many sirens). My sister and brother-in-law have a very nice vegetable garden. All of us carpool as much as possible. Everyone in our neighborhood recycles(which is good). If all the people would get on the same page, then our voices would be heard. How can that possibly be done? Most just look the other way. I guess we all have to take bigger and bigger steps, instead of baby steps. Maybe by example in time, it will work. Amanda 06/04/08 6:39am Pat it is simple. The consumer has to make some choices about how they are going to live their lives. You have a problem, live with the rising costs or not. True, many things may not be helped but many things can be helped. For instance, do you have a small patio where you can grow a few tomato or other plants? Can you trade and barter with people, do you know anyone with a farm? Some people may. Can you ride share? Can you walk more, drive less, can you take public transportation? What can you personally change in your life to better accommodate what you need? The thing is in all honesty most of us are spoiled. We are so reliant on what we now call necessity that we actually would die without something like electricity..we would just not know how to do anything, cook, heat, survive..and when I think about that it is really a frightening fact. We are too soft and dependent as a people. We have allowed big business to dictate what our needs should be and what we should pay for them. Take cell phones. We did not have those twenty years ago. Now, people cannot live without them and view them as a necessity..is it really? No, because how many thousands of years did we live without them and not need them? The bottom line is that in order to find solutions you have to think outside the box..really think about how to simplify your life and become less dependent on the whole. Anything from growing a few plants to help out, raise a couple of chickens for eggs ( and by the way chickens actually can eat cheaply), to cutting down on fuel expenses helps. First off it helps you personally by keeping your money in your wallet and then over all that is less money going out, so eventually the prices have to come down. It's either that or these companies sit on a bunch of stock they can't move. The consumer has to be responsible for what they spend and why they spend it. I know it is so easy to blame the government or blame the companies, however they would not have anything to sell if we did not want to buy it so badly we are willing to pay whatever price for it. That is one thing as consumers we all need to accept is our personal role in things. It is all connected and we are the ones making the money to spend. Well, we have all the power in what we spend. Pat 06/04/08 5:50am Amanda, tell me what the consumer is supposed to do. All of us have gotten so used to the simple, if not complex things, of todays society. The poorest people in our country don't even have most of the daily things that most of us take for granted, but what little they do have, they need what they buy. Like Jeff said, there are billions worldwide now that buy, buy, buy. You know one thing that could have helped is if the U.S. didn't spend the last few decades going into a lot of other countries and bringing them into the 20th century and now. Many people in other cultures have lived contented the way their ancestors lived for hundreds of years. Some small countries are fighting not to have electricity brought to their villages. They don't want phones, T.V., radios, computers, etc., because they are slowly losing their cultures. It is changing their youth. Since the U.S. is getting to be bed partners with other nations' governments around the world though, those nations are forcing the 21st century on them. There wouldn't be such demand if people could live the old ways the way they always have. Why does the government take it upon themselves to bring the whole world into all the things of the 21st century? I'll tell you why...because if all people have the modern society pushed down their throats, then their governments will have them totally dependent like we are. What does anyone else think about that? That's just how I see it. Amanda 06/03/08 7:51pm Jeff I go on what is..not what if. Bottom line is that they do have them in there and we do use too much. It's that simple. If you lower the rate of consumption then you lower the rate in which it is used and bought. While I do believe that the government has a lot to do with it so does the consumer. Ed 06/03/08 2:37pm Pat, Char and Tina I agree with you, we are up ****s creek without a paddle. Most Americans don't know it. They are listening to the bull**** that we need a change, well Obama has not done anything in the senate what makes people think he can do anything as President. He's a useless tool. and the other choices are not much better. We really hit the scum at the bottom of the barrel this election. So get ready folks we all are going to in for a very rough next 4 years. Char 06/03/08 1:11pm Tina you go girl I couldent of said it better my self. Pat 06/03/08 12:55pm Okay, first of all I'm not going to get all mystical and new age with my spiritual beliefs, so I got that out of the way. Our government is so corrupt and I don't understand how anyone can not blame them and it's not just them, it is the 1% wealthy that you never hear anything about(I'm not talking about Oprah, M. Stuart, the Hiltons, the Stars, etc.). There are those that control everything, believe it or not. If people would just take the time to see the big picture, there is more going on behind closed doors. Everything that is happening so fast now used to slowly happen in the past, that way the people knew things were getting a little tougher and that would be the end of it. NOW it is all crunching together at one time, there is something big going on and I guarantee you in our lifetime, most of us will be around to understand what I am saying. As far as our presidential candidates, this is the first time in my lifetime that any of them are not worth putting in the White House, so we are screwed and up si** creek without a paddle either way any of us go.(Just my opinion). Jeff 06/03/08 12:35pm Bottom line, if the Government repealed those asinine Ethanol subsidies and mandates, the price of food will drop. If Government repealed those asinine restrictions on drilling for Oil the price of Oil would drop. Amanda, what you may not be considering is that we are in a global market and you can't stop countries like China that are growing at 10% per/year and have 1.7 billion people consuming more and more oil each year. You can walk to work every day if you want, but it will make absolutely no difference in a global market where there are another 2 billions people starving for energy. The solution is not to "cut back" but instead to produce more! There is enough oil on our planet to supply all our energy needs for hundreds of years. During this time other sources of energy will emerge as a result of technological advances. Limiting our growth now will only result in more of what you are seeing right now with prices for food, energy, etc. Amanda 06/03/08 12:09pm Bottom line..it is in there and we buy it..game, set match..if they did not have a vast consumer they would have no market. Jeff 06/03/08 9:43am Amanda, I have to respectfully disagree. Government IS the cause of higher food prices and this is why. We have no business putting Ethanol in our cars. The only reason we do is because of government mandates. Not only that, government subsidizes Ethanol production because it would otherwise be too expensive to produce. While Ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, the production process takes up more energy and costs more! Meanwhile, our Government has made it impossible for us to drill in our own oil rich country! We have tons of reserves off the coast of Florida, but we are not "allowed" to drill within 100 miles off our coasts. Cuba is now "slant drilling" from their country and tapping into our reserves. That's right, we will not extract oil from our own territory so now other countries are slant drilling into ours and extracting oil for their purposes. This is why our food prices and our oil prices are skyrocketing. Anyone who supports these ridiculous government policies deserves to pay these high costs of food and energy. Amanda 06/03/08 7:31am I think some where I read this happens every 7 to 10 years before things settle back down. Too, I think solely blaming the government is not fair. One of the BIGGEST reasons that food costs is going up is the amount of gasoline we use in this country. It takes corn to make the ethanol that goes into the gas. As many SUV's as are driven around and as much gas as people use most of the crops are going to meet with demand of gas instead of food. It isn't just USA consumption, but any country where cars are driven as much as we drive them. Tina 06/03/08 7:26am Yes it has! I work two jobs to make ends meet and it still does not help. With this election coming depending on who we get in office we may be in further trouble. Hussein Obama will do nothing for the country except raise taxes, pull our military out of Iraq and make us look like cowards in the terrorists messed up minds. He is a waste of human space. Hillary may do a pretty good job, but Bill will bring her down with his womanizing and would probably use the White House like a whore house. Not good for the country. McCain would also do a good job. So if Hillary does not get the democratic nomination I guess I will vote for McCain. He at least has experience and could handle the country and get us out of the mess we are in. Hussein Obama has no experience and is a radical far left liberal and that combo will flush us down the tubes. He is a smooth talker but is as stupid as they come. I deliberately call him by his radical terrorist name so people will remember this when they vote for this idiot and it will be their faults. If he is elected you know he'll bring back his racist preacher and the radical bomber friend and will return to his racist church, that he has been with for 20 years. His theme is change, right....the only change you will see is the terrorists will have free reign to come back and bomb the US and kill innocent people. Don't worry about him though, he and his radical family and close followers will be protected. Remember this when you decide to vote this November! Regina 06/02/08 11:32pm It stinks! We are being chased out of Rockaway Beach NY, the only home I've ever known (a suburb of the city), as only the RICH can live here anymore ... or suffer in the ghetto! There is no middle class here anymore! Pat 06/02/08 11:46am First-Vallender, it's okay. Hang around. To this poll, yes, it has affected me quite a bit. By the time the bills and groceries are done that three of us share, I can tell a big difference in my money. The gas takes a big bite out of the money my mom and I share. Then we all have separate things we pay on. I love to shop, buy for my 6 cats and 1 pit, there are at times vet bills, I don't have insurance, so I have to save money back for the doctor and the medicines I need, I donate quite a bit of money and buy stuff to donate, I have hobbies for relaxation, the list goes on and on. I guess now I will just have to go for more walks and more meditation for my relaxation and cut back on everything else. I think of people in this nation that have it a lot worse and this is so sad and horrible what is being allowed to go on. I wish there was someway to get all the people to stand up at one time and buck the system that is going totally berserk. What in the world are they thinking? They sure aren't thinking about all of us. Amanda 06/02/08 10:52am Moving right along 5to the current topic at hand..It just cost me 150 dollars to get lights,water and sewage in my new place. I have to get garbage pick up seprately. I remember when that used to be something the city took care of..but not now. Used to that was included in your utilities bill. I am hoping to get a small garden going, just a few plants and maybe do some canning. I have a feeling things are going to get far worse than better. Vallender(aka wallander) 06/01/08 9:54am I just wanted to say very briefly, that i left a reply in the previous poll, especifically to Pat's & Amanda's last comments. Sorry for this brief derailing of the topic at hand! :-) Bam Bam 06/01/08 9:34am P.S RIGHT ON SABRINA! WELL SAID! Bam Bam 06/01/08 9:31am I got a new job that doesn't offer insurance. I still have my old job, but, I absolutely loathe it now. I started to look into alternative insurances and cannot beleieve the premiums per month. One place was over $900 per month just for me and my hubby. No offense, if I had $900 per month I could save that and pay for my **** myself! The company I'm with now has plans for around $200 per month per person. With my old employer I paid $200 per month for both. I can't wait for my husband to go back to work with the new company. They have awesome benefits and I can finally quit that other sucky job! Our gas is almost $4 per gallon. I seriously considering buying a new Dodge so I can get the $2.99 gas deal for three years. Experts are saying gas could rise upwards of $12 per gallon. SCREW THAT! I won't be driving...our grocery costs have already gone up! Just wait and see how the country goes back to it's old ways to survive. The gov't needs to get off it's high horse and realize the population isn't going to stand for this and we will find other methods of survival. We always do! Amanda 06/01/08 7:42am Well said Sabrina I agree. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal the food costs are not coming down, they are going to rise even further due to the demand of ethol for gas. So much corn is going to make it that it affects anything that uses corn...cows, chickens, breads, meats..you name it. If we don't learn to get what we need we won't survive. I just moved and it is tough..I have 51 bucks to make it two weeks on..I already know how I am going to eat, I do walk to work, and I have to feed my cats..I bet it is going to be close but I can make it. Sabrina 05/31/08 2:44pm Certainly our lifestyle has changed. Not only in regard to current spending ... but as my Husband and I are in our late 40s we had been able to save more per month for our future (retirement).... But those dollars are now spent on gas, food, rising insurance costs, rising medical costs... rising EVERYTHING costs ! We've always raised a garden... freezing, canning and dehydrating veggies... But now it's more than just a "pastime"... it's essential. Like Jeff, we too purchase in bulk, which is much more cost-effective... Now we also look at thrift stores for clothing and household needs like lamps, rugs, etc. We have our first grandchild... a new generation... I truly worry about the state we're leaving for them.... and for theirs... So we ALL need to change our lifestyle... Stop the abuse of credit, stop looking for instant-gradifications... Learn to save for what we need/want...... Understand the difference between needs and wants... and teach our children... and grandchildren to respect a dollar... To respect our planet and to respect each other... Jeff 05/31/08 1:30pm The price of food/gas has risen over the past couple of years, and I personally have been impacted, but not "significantly" enough that it has changed my life. My wife and I are both lucky enough to work very close to home, so our monthly gasoline expenses are really insignificant when compared to other costs. When we go shopping for food, we buy in bulk from places like Costco and save. We have scaled down our restaurant outings slightly, but other than that our lifestyles are pretty much unchanged. While it's true that we are experiencing an economic downturn, I believe it's just a normal cyclical event which seems to occur about every 7 to 8 years. Same with the housing market which goes hand in hand. The only difference I see is the continuous rising cost of fuel and food which can be attributed to extreme environmental restrictions and other useless government policies. Amanda 05/31/08 7:18am I think they were reaching for something on that one. I mean who isn't paying more for food and shelter..electric and GAS!!!! It's outrageous. I am glad I have a good back yard where I am moving to..I am thinking about starting a small garden. That will help out a lot!