Do You Perceive an Improvement in the Economy?

There may be areas of the country where it is picking up, perhaps deceptively, but I don't see how a mess that was 30 years in the making can be fixed in 2. So no.

Nope not getting better. We have years of recovery ahead of us. I also wondered that when I saw Disney questions...

It's hard to say if things will get better. Every family has their own circumstances and the economy will most definitely play an important role on those individual circumstances. I don't fret over the price of gas ~ I have a car so I need gas to make it run and it really doesn't matter to me what the price is. I'm not going to stop using my car just because the prices of gas are going up. Like you, I am in conserve mode (wishing there was more to save) but I've always been that way so I cannot say I am that way just because of the economy. I believe this is a wake up call for a lot of folks in that they are perhaps realizing mistakes made (spending more than they can afford to pay back).

I am in the minority here, but I see things in the upswing. I work as a florist and other then funeral work the base of our business is base on want not need. We were hit very hard last year and were so slow. We have picked way back up since fall. Not where we were 3 or 5 years ago, but back on the upward climb. My husband is in the retail business as well and they are well ahead of budget finishing off this fiscal year. So if people have the money, they are spending it.

Like a big ship turning, it's moving but slowly. I'm looking to return to work and I've been hearing from many sources that yes, things are improving, more companies are hiring, etc. I think it depends on where you live, etc. But I think it is.

Personally I can say I do not think the economy is getting better. If anything it is getting worse. My husband has always been able to sell back his vacation if he didn't use it. The company told them today that no one is allowed to sell their vacation time back and must use it as they can not afford to let them sell it back. I am down to working one day a week for 3 to 5 hours. He is being sent home early a lot. The place where my daughter worked just shut down right before Christmas leaving at least a 100 people without work. My neighbor just told me they are shutting down where she works. A friend of mine lost her job in November. Obama can say what he wants the economy is getting worse and not better. They are giving false information to get people to start spending more. I for one do not spend anything that we do not have to. We do not have a home phone, we have basic cable and do not go out to eat. I know of several other people that have lost their jobs in the past three months. I say save every dime you can because you do not know what tomorrow will bring. My husband is losing all of his insurance at work so now we will have that extra expense or not have insurance. I have a friend that works for Disney. They all took pay cuts to keep their positions and a lot of the workers were let go. Things are not getting better they are getting worse. Obama gave people false hope before Christmas to get people to spend money in the stores. But if you had looked around what I saw in most carts were clothing and food. I did not see a lot of toys and games going off the shelves. I spoke with a worker at Best Buy and he said even though they reported that sales were up he said that was not true. They still have piles of merchandise that they purchased for Christmas that just did not sell. Even some of the mechanics at garages are losing their jobs because people can't afford to take their cars in to get the work done. NO it is not better and in my opinion it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. Honestly, I think if we had a different president things would be better. It's sad when college students with double majors and masters can not find work....that alone should tell you how bad things really are. I say save all you can....

Because my husband and I are fiscally conservative and live on less than we make, I have noticed things like (of course) higher grocery and gas prices, etc.
BUT we are lucky in that we have maintained our employment (I was just approached about a second PT opportunity that I am considering), my hubby has continued to work much OT throughout the years, we have avoided debt, we have savings and have been (Thank God) pretty much recession proof.
It does seem that I have seen the "loosening of the pursestrings" by the general public (even if that means they go into debt to buy) and that's a good sign.
We do know many affected by unemployment and downsizing.
We have been lucky and appreciative that we have dodged the bullet thus far. But that takes a little preparing, planning and personal responsibility. I'm big on personal fiscal responsibility.
According to Goldman-Sachs, The United States can expect substantial acceleration in real GDP growth over the next two years to a 4% pace by early/mid-2012. That's good news.
And lets not blame President Obama for this people! And O. term cannot undo what's been done over the last several!

We see the upswing here.

We just finished our first full year relying solely on our compnay to carry us financially during 2010. Our sales and equity analysis far exceeded our plans for 2010.

We are in the raw materials industry (plastic) and it is roaring. There are some major price increases right now and the pricing for our products follow the oil prices. Business is going very well for most everyone in our industry. Of course you have some months much better or worse than others but over all.... projections are still exceeded.

We also believe in multiple income streams. I do run the business end of the company at home with hubby sometimes out on the road selling but I also manage to substitute teach often as well. We do things that bring in extra income.

We just closed on a no cost, no point re-fi and paid down our mortgage with a 4.5% loan and bought a 3rd car. Most anyone who reads anything I post knows we are planners BIG TIME. We believe in no debt. We knew our daughter was soon to turn 16 and we decided she would get my car back in 2007 when I got it new. We've planned for this 3rd car purchase. No surprises.

I tend to look at everything half full vs half empty. I see a lot of positives out there right now.

I dont see anything good happening for quite some time. We are now being duped into buying things for the same price but in a smaller package (coffee for instance).
Most purchases are being more thought out and frivolous spending is not happening.
I believe the vacations to Disney are because rather than spending money on things not memorable, people are choosing to do family things that create memories for their kids during these tough times *if they can muster up the cash to do so.
Making memories is priceless. Another barbie or transformer, is just trash.

Yes, definitely on an upswing. Look at the earnings for staffing companies ... all going up (and not just on the temp side; full-time hiring is also up). That sector historically is the first to move when things are improving.

Restaurants here in Northern California now have waiting times (had none last year), stores are busy with people buying, homes are selling, car dealers are busy. Some retailers and restaurants even have help wanted signs. Haven't seen those in ages. My husband and I both own companies and we're both really, really busy (he even hired late last year). Many of his clients are expanding, too. My husband is likely to add yet another employee soon because he picked up two new clients yesterday.

P.S. Count us in the Disney group. Taking our kids to Disneyland and other attractions for the first time this summer.

Its funny because before I read your question (I had only seen the subject), my first thought was about Disney as well. My family lives in Clermont which is 22 miles from Disney and we have annual passes. We went to Disney the week after Christmas and it was incredibly crowded, so much so that we just left and decided to come back another time. We ended up going this past Saturday and on the way home, all of the nice restaurants had packed parking lots. I don't know the official answer to your question but it certainly appears that there are many who are spending quite nicely these days so hopefully that's a good sign....

Personally I have learned and am learning to not listen about the "economy". My personal economy is what I am focused on. My personal economy has had a boom in some areas and a bust in others. Ultimately, I have realized I have command over my finances and my economy. It all begins with my thinking. So when my job imposed furlough days (days where we don't work and don't get paid), I just did some really great rejuggling of my finances and some serious stretching of my money. As my thinking begin to change, so did my personal economy.

If I can't find a job out there in the world, then I see that as an opportunity to perhaps create a job from the things I can do. Everyone has some kind of talent that someone else can use. Narrowing it down to something and being diligent in pursuing those kinds of dreams requires a different kind of way of thinking.

I have many friends that have decided to do different things to improve their personal economy during times like these. Things like off hours baby sitting, tutoring teens, special holiday baking, sewing, cleaning services, organizing services, handmade cards and so much more.

This year I am actively saving more than ever but we also have some major purchases on the slate for this year. I'm anticipating my economy to be better than most because I'm just thinking and implementing ways for that to happen and not really accepting anything less.

Not really. Not where I live. Interestingly enough, we're one of the places that have been hit the least hard by the economy...but there has been no real improvement. I really don't think the economy will ever be the same. It shouldn't be. As a country we have been far too impulsive, frivolous, and have buried ourselves. (By "we" I mean banks, corporations, government, and some individual families.)

Not getting better yet. Hold onto your job now and tightenthings up. This does seem to be an investors market in South Florida at the moment. Banks are finally foreclosing on units and resellng them for half price. I've seen houses that were originally purchased at 300 thousand sell for 100 thousand. I see the purchasers of these units to be oversea investors. I see them renting them out and making money. See very few US investors doing the same. Instead I see companies tightening their belts and giving more work to the employees they have rather than outsourcing or hiring new

Hi! I grew up in Boca and my mom and in-laws still live there. I was in Town Center Mall several times over Christmas and the place was packed, but I didn't see a lot people with multiple bags. We took the kids to Disney on Dec. 22 and it was packed! We went out to eat a couple of times and the restaurants were packed! So, either the economy is bouncing back or people are living on credit cards. We are now living near Kansas City and the stores/restaurants are always packed here too! Every time I've flown in the last year the flights were packed. I often ask, "I thought we were in a bad economy".

Have you lived in Boca all your life? Boca definitely gave me a skewed sense of reality growing up there. When times are bad, people will buy an Acura instead of a BMW or do a $40,000 kitchen renovation instead of buying a bigger house. Heck, Boca kicked Walmart out of town!

My mom does teach at a private school and the enrollment is definitely down, so that is one sign of a struggling economy. However, most of the public elementary schools in Boca are just as great as a private school, so the kids aren't suffering.

I recently saw a news clip that said cruise lines are good businesses to invest in this year because people will still travel. People want to break away from reality! I'm not saying that people on Mamasource are exclusively doing this but many people I know who've recently traveled to Disney are still paying it off...they put it on credit, yet another example of people living beyond their means.
I would continue to "conserve and save" as you are already doing, unfortunately IMHO I don't think we've seen the worst of it yet! All the $$$ that the Fed recently printed (look up Quantitative Easing) to lend our government has not yet hit the "small" people, and when it does INFLATION is going to be terrible. I think that is going to start sometime this year.

It seems more people are slowly hiring, but considering the price of gas and other things that require transportation are increasing by price due to the gas, I wouldn't want to splurge and would still try to be a bargain shopper. Gas will hit $4 by summer, and supposedly, it will be $5 a gallon by next year. This is especially hard on those who are currently unemployed or have just found a job only to be hit with higher prices in gas and food.

I feel that things are going to get better. Gas prices have began to rise again here in Michigan and I don't feel that things are improving by much right now. I think more people maybe working again but I don't think that they are bringing home the income they once earned if they have managed to find employment.
My pay as well as everyone else were I work was cut by 20% which amounts to $20.00 for every hundred dollars you make. Also we were denied furlow days so we have to continue to work 40 hours per week with this pay. I feel that it was very excessive but surpriingly no one has any compasion for our plight here. The attitude is ol' well I took a cut too or I don't have a job so who cares. "Why are you government worker's so special that you can have your pay cut just about in half and have an increase in your health insurance payments as well.
But, I think that some people are still willing to spend money despite the fact because it makes them feel good and helps keep the depression factor down. Alot of people I know are mostly living for the day right now and worry about tomorrow later. I have all these ideas about decorating my kids room and my husband and I already have our plane tickets for Florida next month.

No, not better by far. My husband took 5 pay cuts. He works a full time job but they cut his hours to 24 a week from 40. We still have health insurance. DH has multiple PT jobs. He does web design, photography, and now started delivering pizza. I work part time while our kids are in school. I'm actively looking for a full time job that will help pay for after school care. I get miffed about how we didn't save when things were good. We paid our bills on time but now we can't. It stinks. My college degree is useless at the moment. I'm over qualified. I can sweep a floor! But again I'm over qualified?!??!?!? I expect things to turn around in 7-10 years. On the other hand, things were getting so expensive they had to slow down. Hearing people and many of my friends come down here to Disney make me cringe. I can't afford it and we live in the state. I'm glad they can let tourism build with their visits and spending. Gas prices are a joke too. I'm over not being able to drill in our own country. Use what we have first then buy from other countries. Sorry I'm venting but I can't wait till 2020. 2010 was a horrible year.

Don't be fooled by the way people are spending. People have a tendency to get tired of not spending money. People, especially, American's have a tendency to spend spend spend. When we can't spend, it drives most crazy. Not all people have this tendency but people spend money on what they want to spend money on. . . I hate when people say they don't have any money and you see them buying expensive things. My husband has a friend that said that he didn't have money to send out Christmas cards but then the week prior bought two off rode vehicles for his daughters. I can't think of the names of the vehicles but they must have cost two-thousand dollars combined; may be more. That's fine but don't lie and say that you don't have money.

Another friend said that she wasn't going to do Christmas because she didn't have any money and her husband was still out of work but then she spent a good amount of money on her DIL's baby shower. I don't understand why people have to lie about where their money goes.

If this answers your question, or gives you some insight on people's spending habits, I hope that you can use it. It doesn't seem that the economy is better but people are tired of not spending and will only get themselves deeper in debt. Also, don't use Disney as when you go to Disney it never looks like there's a recession there; just long lines that you actually paid to wait in. . . what a world we live in.

Nope I do not. I'd like to quit and be home with my three kids...but not possible because my husband's work continues to be a rollercoaster...Money not stable. I also have friends and family members still out of work. With our gov at tax and spend and all this health care drama...our private ins rates have skyrocketed!!!!!! Very upsetting. I wish the clowns in Washington would stop wasting money and budget like the good sense mom's and dads do when raising kids and have had to tighten the purse strings...

I wonder the same thing because I noticed that throughout our "recession" restaurants continue to be packed. As a tax accountant, I am hyper aware of my family's finances. I hope that people have learned a valuable lesson from these economic times which is to SAVE!! Prior to the collapse, our country had a negative savings rate meaning that as a whole we were spending more than we made and then some. We need to spend to create jobs, but not at the cost of our family's financial well-being.

I did read somewhere that people have shifted their spending from "things" to "experiences" so perhaps what you are noticing is this trend of people who are spending on travel which creates lasting memories rather than clothing or other material possessions.

Unfortunately, I think most of the world is still painfully under-educated about finances. I think you are doing the right thing. Personally, since Christmas was just a few weeks ago and we all got plenty of gifts, I am not even allowing myself to go into the malls. I am really "thrifty" but I often get caught by clearance deals because they are too good to pass :)

Good luck and P.S. yes I think that rising fuel costs will affect the cost of food, utilities and travel.

Well, perhaps on the main land there is an upturn but here in Hawaii the economy seems to still br piddling.

Well if it is getting better, I don't see it personally.
My hubby works for WAY less than he should be paid.
I'm a SAHM that can't find a job. I've Tried.

So for us its constant... "do we have money for food>?" "oops can't get the cars oil changed, don't have the money"
"Need new clothes..Don't have the money"
and so on and so on.