Quote:
Originally Posted by MRM
The quick answer is that we are in the trough of a business cycle. The economy is cyclical. Times are good, things turn sour, and times get hard. We've had it so good for most of the last 25 years that this downturn seems particularly bad. Since the early 1980s, we've had some downturns, most notably in 1991-1992 and 2001, but we haven't had many sustained downward slopes on the business cycle curve. Since we are used to sustained good times, any downturn makes it hard to tell the difference between the end of the world and what is simply the end of the good times.
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This bares repeating. It is a big economy, a big country and very diverse.
My tawdry industry has been firing folks and done no hiring and little training for a dozen years. So finally, we are getting a little respect, some real wage growth and job security after many dismal years..
The question remains - how long is this downturn going to take to work it's self out??
And as more organized groups write more checks to more politicians (take teachers for instance..) to insulate themselves from any changes or taking their own fair lumps in this game - how is that going to affect the outcome??
The Japanese had their own credit crisis and real estate meltdown almost 20 years ago. But because powerful groups resisted change the economy took years and years and years to recover. And on a certain level has never come back..