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Some of you may not be old enough to remember the recession the US had 20 years ago. It was bad. Oil prices spiked in 1990 just like now, after being cheap throughout the '80s. The housing market took a huge plunge, again just like now. Almost 2 million jobs were lost by 1991, and it was the worst time economically for the US since the Great Depression. The stock market had crashed in 1987 and had crippled some sectors, but people thought it was going to get better after a year or so. They were wrong. I remember people being depressed, and worried about the future and the cost of food and gas. My Dad was driven out of business, unemployed for a while and had to find odd jobs for a couple years.
Now, we seem to be in a similar situation, although for somewhat different reasons. Prices are on the rise, as is unemployment, growth is sluggish, people aren't happy. We have problems now that we didn't in 1990, but we also have things going for us that we didn't then.
So do you think this recession, if it sets in, will be worse than last time, and if so, how do you think we'll pull out of it?
For me, personally, it's not as bad as the last one (eg, the stock / dot com crash of 2000)...why isn't it as bad?
Well, for the business we're in (nope, not funadvice - the one that pays the bills) there are a lot of companies, both start up and traditional, large house hold names that realize "the internet makes sense". Thus, they are cutting back on some types of advertising expenses, and increasing others.
The area where the money is shifting to is where we are at, so, it's treating us well. I don't have to explain the why or how things work...everybody we talk to knows why they are talking to me, in advance. So the only question is us or another similar firm. Once I finish explaining how we're unique, it's the rare company that says they're going to hire somebody else.
My first consulting business went under about 6 months after I was laid off in the last recession...currently, we're doing better than we were at this time, last year, and I don't expect it to change.
People I know though, if they were in real estate - I had a few friends who went through several companies going bankrupt, losing job after job & finally bailing to a new industry altogether.
Locally, too, many real estate offices have closed, real estate print publications have gone away, etc...and as a result, some parts of the local economy aren't as good, eg, aside from real estate, we've seen several furniture stores up & go, and other "fringe" businesses close, like an ice cream parlor...eg, people are definitely cutting back on things.
HI, my dad and I were discussing this topic the other day and he told me that my grandfather back during the depression lost over $20,000.00 because people couldn't afford to pay him for his services. think about this for a minute. ok...twenty grand is a good lump sum right? well imagine twent grand during the 30's? wow...I can't even fathom that. I am just thankful for what we have and try not to think about this too much or it is very scary. as far as forming my opinion if this is worse than the last recession or not I am not sure. I think probably yes because people have more things invested and spend more.
