Are you pessimistic or optimistic for the economic future of your country?

I agree with David Suzuki that economics is a mental illness.

From inside that illness, I think that things may go up or down but that it will eventually get worse and worse, unless/until many things change that are outside the mental box of that illness.

Neutral

@Zaku Your answer reminded of the very excellent book called Who moved my cheese

If TTIP passes, everything will go to shit.

The economy on St. Lucia has a wider base than just a few years ago. Fishing, ag and clean technologies are catching up with tourism. But tourism is still King, so we fluctuate with the economies of North America and Europe. If you guys can’t afford to come down here, we tighten our belts.

As to the US, there is always a sector somewhere in the economy that does well. That’s the gift of a broad-base economy. It will be mostly flat for awhile. The Americans have beat themselves, their morale is low, they find nothing to get excited about. They are cynical. As long as Americans are pessimistic about their future and their leadership, the economy will remain flat.

It won’t go up or down unless there is a huge disaster or a new technical field, new ideas, new industries open up. I would like to see it be in the non-fossil fuel and passive energy sector. This is ripe for exploitation and the world is waiting. Every developed nation is working on something. But it takes a certain amount of national self-esteem to get things going. Americans haven’t had that attitude since the 1990’s. Depressed people aren’t creative or ambitious. We’re still digging ourselves out of our national emotional depression due to the results actions of poor leadership of the early 2000s.

I was already atomized in the recession. So much for my smug, ” Hey, I’m not feeling this at all” arrogance back around ‘07—‘08. By 2010 I was going down, and by 2013 I was destroyed, completely and utterly, destroyed/bankrupt. I am barely bouncing back now, and by that I mean I am surviving, am not homeless and have enough to eat, and a nice little place to call “home” again but any emergency over a few hundred dollars will wipe me out. At almost 57 I feel like I am 19 again, hoping my car doesn’t blow up or one of my pets doesn’t need expensive care.

No, I have zero faith in the economic future of America, there are too many people, not enough sustainable jobs and a lot of ageism as well, that anyone over the age of 50 that has tried to find sustainable work in the last 8 years will testify to.
The stats on the improving economy do not take into account the massive amount of people that have permanently dropped out of seeking employment, are collecting their SS early, are working under the table and in alternative situations, most of them in my age bracket, between 50–60 something. I am completely done with the great “out there.”

I am living a modest, alternative lifestyle and while I have a bank account my biggest deposits go in a cookie tin. The bank of Pirouline.

The question is not specific enough.

I have complete faith that the immediate future will yield great profits to those who are already in the position to make those profits.

I also have complete confidence that the vast majority of my fellow countrymen will not rise with the tide, but feel the water rise around them as they remain solidly chained to the sea floor.

@Espiritus_Corvus I find your answer interesting as I was watching the morning news programming and they had on a small business owner and as a small business owner myself, his comments hit home with me. He said even though his health care costs for his company went up a Million dollars last year he said even though it is a million dollars he can not spend on new hires he still did well and made a profit. He stressed despite what the media is heralding as a POS economy his small business still survived and made a profit. I thought to myself…so did I! Even though financially things could be a whole lot better (and should) despite the stagnant economy his and my companies are still churning along.

@Seek I asked this question specifically to not be specific as I feel every Jelly here can answer this in one way form or another.

Your pessimism about the wealthy being the only ones to yield great profits is certainly founded but IMO way too broad of an assumption. Read the Wall Street journal and many of these evil fortune 500 companies are struggling to meet profit expectations and it’s been this way for over 8.5 years now. Perhaps you have simply missed the massive layoffs and pay freezes that have been occurring during this time frame so corporations can meet investor expectations. No it is not easy to be optimistic in this economy but you and this “vast majority” (what ever that means) IMHO do not have to remain chained to the ocean floor if and when the tides of the economy start to rise.

Things appear rather grim for the country overall, because even with an uptick in the economy, the benefits realized increasingly concentrate at the top. Nowadays, even the fabled and justly ridiculed rich man’s justification of trickle down economics

Vast majority would be something over 60% of all residents of the country seeing their wealth stagnate or decline.

I’m not sure how corporations laying off workers in order to continue funnelling money to their investors is supposed to make me feel better.

is too generous. There is ever less trickle, as the money is captured at the top and not allowed to move through the economy. And the examples are everywhere. The fed has thrown billions to the banks in an effort to stimulate the economy. But the banks have recognized that there are more profitable self serving “creatve” avenues preferable to lending out the money and stimulating the economy. So they sit on the billions and the economy remains “mysteriously” sluggish. It is important to recognize that things have reached a point that it is increasingly unlikely that the current situation can be reversed through democratic methods, as the growing irrelevance of who it is that we elect becomes ever more apparent. In fact, the most useful function of politicians regarding the rich is that those politicians can be ever more saddled with blame for the state of things over which they have ever less control. Thus the rage over Obama’s supposed bungling of the economy, which completely misses the point that Obama did everything the rules called for to pump up our anemic economy. The problem is that the standard solutions to reviving the economy no longer apply in a landscape now cultivated to direct and RESTRICT any input to the top of the pile.

@Seek Thanks for the clarification and based on your clarification of 60% of all residents of the country seeing their wealth stagnate or decline IMO would be an underestimate and I would peg it closer to 75%.

Extremely optimistic, this despite the fucking hysterical reaction since Brexit of the remain voters (bad losers) & ignorance from abroad (mostly americans)
We were always going to be better off economically outside the EU, no amount of scaremongering bullshit changes that. As for me personally, my bank account purrs with content.

Optimistic. as always I guess?

There’s never been an easier or cheaper time to launch a business that can reach millions of people. I’m amazed at the breadth of people’s creativity and ability to harness that to make a living. People build things they love, find others who love them too, and turn that into their living so often we hardly notice. It’s not without tradeoffs, but I haven’t found a job that doesn’t take something.

It’s hard to be pessimistic in a world where a guy can make and sell handmade boomerangs as a business, where people can build an audience playing video games and make that their living, where you can leverage Amazon to store and deliver just about anything you like for a few dollars an item.

I don’t know if this will all seem antiquated in a few years, or if there’s some development that will lock out niche businesses, but right now there isn’t a reason for hardworking, creative people in the US to be pessimistic.

Since the 1970’s I’ve watched the markets and the only real barometer I found is the emotional disposition of the country of the country at large. Most people, I believe, have this cause and effect relationship backwards. More and more, I’ve come to believe that markets do well when we feel good about ourselves and not the other way around. It’s not the bull market that causes us to feel good as much as it is have faith once again in our country that make the bull market. It has more to do with national morale than it does money. When we feel good about ourselves, we work, we become positive and make investments and calculated risks.and we get creative. And the market reflects that and not the other way around.

At the moment, and for a long time now, we’ve been a severely divided nation and our leadership on both sides have purposely exacerbated and exaggerated that division, selfishly, to their own ends. A divided people do not function well, a divided family cannot function at all.

In the past year, slowly, incrementally, I see signs that we may be coming around. We, together, have refused to take the next step into Rove-style national politics in the form of Trump. Our anger, bitterness and cynicism could have easily gotten that man elected and taken us down to yet another level of national morbidity.

But something happened. I think people are finally realizing that negativity will not win the day. The head of FOX was neutralized to ignominy. There is now a serious senate investigation into the brutality of privatized prisons—a blemish on our country. I believe other investigations into corruption privatization will soon follow. There have been many like examples just this year. Hopefully they will look into how the gouging of Medicare is facilitated by privatized former county and regional hospitals—the privatization of which was a huge national con job. I think the times are slowly changing to a more rational era. And when we get some of the housecleaning done, we will begin to feel good about ourselve again and the markets will reflect that.

Folks, it’s time to stop squabbling and assigning blame, and recognize that the old model of growing rich through building those businesses creating jobs—that model is for suckers. Anyone struggling to grow a small business these days soon recognizes that the burden of carrying the society falls with increasing weight on those in the middle. We should ask why it is that is next to impossible to build a business based on a model of employees paid decent wages and benefits, why a college education now requires a staggering debt load, why health insurance expenses are beyond crippling, and why it is that in a society defined by a declining desperate middle class, the crisis of inadequate child care goes unaddressed.

But all of this is a waste of words. Again I ask, where is the money going and who is it that reaps the “benefits” from our miseries.

@stanleybmanly – That’s all valid points, and I understand where you’re coming from. But I feel that outlook really ignores a lot of options available.

If you can go to college, decide to do that, and get a degree then what you have prepared for is fighting for a job. It’s not guaranteed, it’s not promised, you’ve just widened your search to include jobs that need your degree.

The problem is people are being told that job is promised, guaranteed, and well paying, so they think the fight is getting the degree and the rest should be taken care of with those credentials. It’s not and never really has been.

If someone doesn’t want to do all that, then there are other options. Including living a simpler life or forgoing asking someone for a job.

There never has been a “I’m not playing any of those games” path that works. Either you farm, or you buy food.

Ask me on November 9.

@funkdaddy good answer. I agree that this is a good time for hustlers, but what time isn’t?
But casting about, I have a tough time avoiding cynicsm though my own situation is quite good. It’s daunting to accept the fact that my own insulation from many of the abrasive realities facing younger people is solely the result of being born at the right time. Then there’s my nagging suspicion that most of my whining is about the crotchety pessimism accompanying old age.

You have some timing with this Q.

I’m actually feeling pessimistic about myself and the country, but I hope I’m wrong. I’ve had a very stressful week, mostly money related, and I’m probably not thinking straight.

If things get crappy I hope I’m brave enough to take advantage of it. My preference is for overall prosperity for everyone at a reasonable modest level.

@JLeslie You are not alone. The key is to control what you can control and forget about the rest that is out of your control…ie the country. You are smart, your husband is smart and both have done great things. This is what you can control and focus on what you have and not what may never be. Hunker down with S and put on a fav movie or go for a walk…enjoy what you have and the time you have to enjoy.

^^Sooooo badly I want to just “be” with my husband. You have no idea.

Where is he?

^^Right now he is sitting in the same room as me.

It’s certainly a comfort to have someone to snug up with when cold winds are blowing.

^^Yeah. Not enough snuggle lately. Ugh. I could write a book. Going through a hard time. I’m not handling all of the changes we are going through well. I just want a break. I wanted a break.