Has the troubled economy led you to delay any major life changes?
Posted at 5:00 AM on November 21, 2011
by Eric Ringham
(45 Comments)
Filed under: Economy
Births declined in the United States in 2010 for the third straight year. Population experts suggest that the poor economy may be a factor, and that prospective parents may be waiting for better times. Today's Question: Has the troubled economy led you to delay any major life changes?
Comments (45)
If no one calls the bullshit bullshit, there are those who will mistake it for a legitimate opinion.
Steve,
How has it been working out for you? Made any progress? Changed any minds?
I know for (most of) the rest of us it makes the forum all but unreadable.
b
I don't have to refute your "facts," kimMN. It would be duplicating the efforts of the folks at snopes.com, factcheck.org, politifact.org, etc.
I think Minnesotans will put off a lot of big decisions until 2013, pretty much the same as our President has done with the Canadian pipeline decision he has put on hold until after the election. He says he took a major role in working with the European economic issues with the collapsing Euro and Greece but no one sees our so called leader in DC working with the Super committee to lower the deficit and cut spending. People need to know that the Republicans have put forth and passed 18 bills for growing the economy yet, the old Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid has refused to take those bills for a Vote in the Senate. Why? Obama raised our debt to 15 trillion in three years, more than all the former presidents combined and not letting the Senate have a vote means his spending America into becoming Greece is secure.
Minnesotans should not make major financial decisions until this smooth talking but phony presidential administration is replaced. The good news is_ Obama's green jobs czar, the radical communist Van Jones was forced to resign, Obama's appointee Anita Dunn, AKA: " I love communist Mao" had to resign, Attorney General Eric Holder is being forced to resign for incompetence or malfeasance in office from not doing his job, for discriminating against whites in the voter harassment by Black Panther case and for making unconstitutional demands upon states for school records, appointee Chu, in charge of the Energy Dept for loans for Green energy, will likely have to resign for being ill prepared to do the oversight of 32 billion in loans....and Rahm Emanuel also quit as chief of staff after two years serving. His name is on the block for his involvement in setting up loans with Solyndra for paying off campaign bundlers.
So how's the economy today? Unemployment is still above 9.1 % after spending $870 billion in stimulus money to prevent just such a rise above 7.6%...Hmmmm, we won't be fooled again unless we want to be like Greece with riots likely in 2013 when the government can't afford to make the entitlement payouts. And no to the ones who say Tax the rich more to end the deficit. Tax all those above 1 million income from investments and business ownership at a 99% tax rate and the deb would be cut by less than 1% for one year only and the loss in jobs would rise but it might make the socialists feel good for the week.
I am putting off making a major decision on selling the house because I think KimMN has a good point about most of us don't really know much about who is Mr. Obama and we know less about his current plans for our country. Kim in MN was accurate in that Obama is playing in Indonesia instead of working with Cogress to help create jobs. He has failed in many of his promises. His economic record is dismal. The downgrading of our debt rating by S &P is a first in our history, our national debt did in fact triple to $15 trillion instead of cutting it in half as he campained on.
How can we in Minnesota begin to make realistic plans when our President has had nothing but failed policies on our economy, on Israel, the f-- wars, not closing Gitmo, failing to unite the country, failing to make Congress work quickly as he promised us and wasting billions paying off his contributors through Green job loans? Whoa_ I think kimMN posts really did get me thinking.
Agreed Allison C. This country is becoming a run-down whore house toilet where rape is ' just business' in the pursuit of freedom and happiness.
Logging on to the question of the day has become so loathsome having to read such pointless nonsensical banter of which 'KimMN' brings to the conversation. Abortion has an upside.
I am putting off having more children until I know birth records actually mean something for everyone, not as a tool to scam the system..Steve should read this:
"April 27 release, some of the startling findings of two-time No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Jerome Corsi’s then-upcoming blockbuster book declaring Obama ineligible for the White House, titled, “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” Sad when a President has to hide his birth certificate for three years isn't it? Why is that?
@steve the cynic: Oh now now Steve, what exactly can you support that is in error from what was posted?
I was right on OWS back 8 weeks a go but you said I was wrong in thinking the unions would step in and raise hell..they did, they brought in hired protesters,closed a shipping port, violence began, etc.
Besides putting off a new home, we are delaying buying, investing our money in private business. America has to end the Insider trading that Congress is legally ok to do..imagine this_ would you trust someone voting on a bill that would then enrich their stock holdings? Of course not..Dems and Repubs alike have done this; during Obama Care legislation and earlier during the Prescription Care bill, many in Congress invested the day before the bill was passed. D-Nancy Pelosi made a few million in the past few years in several stock within Health Insurance and phamacuticals that were tied into the bill being passed..wow..and she still denies it even with FCC records clearly showing she profited from that insider trading..so until that stuff is made illegal for them to do, one would be foolish to invest in the stock market.
I wonder if CNN, MNBC and NPR will cover this story that was revealed this week or will they tout Obama goofing of in Indonesia instead df working in DC to get a jobs bill passed? I wish I had his vacation schedule.
KimMN, you wouldn't know the truth if it stomped on your head while you're trying to bite it's heel.
The truth will hurt at first but then it will set you free :)
@rich in duluth,
Gosh young man, I didn't know you were a gay man, you must be to use the term, teabagger, which you so freely throw around to demean conservative Tea Party adults, as used in your post. I assume you do know that term is some type of perverted sexual practice among gay men? Your name calling to other's posts only confirms to the Independents that the far left folks are too radical.
Speaking of radical__the funny part is the CBO shows Obama raised our national debt x 5 within three years while he campaigned he would CUT the debt in HALF by the end of the first year..Did he not have full control over the House and Senate for two years but still got nothing passed for deficit an budget_ 900 days now and still no budget from the Dem controlled Senate.
Hmmm, maybe Obama is not so intelligent after all..but wait!!! If he was so brilliant then why oh why does he refuse to release his college records when others have done so ??? Why did he take three years to release a birth certificate copy and then, only when the latest forgery experts discovery was out in print did he then magically come up with a photo copy of a Certificate of Live Birth? You see, no one on the Far Left can or wants_ to answer those politically incorrect questions..not even NPR will touch it. as long as they get their million donations each year from Soros..makes sense.
@ Steve the cynic's comment: getting over the myth of the liberal bias in media"
Oh please, even NPR did a piece on this and the independent researchers found indeed the mainstream media and NPR favor the leftist views with 3 x more coverage to their left based stories and less rebuttal as well as not_ covering left stories when seen as negative. In 2008, the mainstreet Media had but ONE question on Obama's past affiliations with admitted 60's terrorist Bill Ayers_ ONE question was asked of him while there were 90+ stories on Cain being accused by anonymous women with recollections of abuse 12-14 years back??? Did the media air the story of the Union thug speech a month back saying " we have to show these son of a bitches" or how about the near genius Maxine Waters, D- congresswoman shouting , " The tea party can go to Hell!" And didn't Mr. Obama call for more restraint on using aggressive violent rhetoric after Gabby was shot with five citizens being murdered at her rally last year?
In 2008, the main street media had full control over the election coverage...everyone knows that now_and now we have a sort of sliding CNN and Fox News to dare dare dare cover the issues kept from us three years a go. Wasn't there a rock song in America, that sang, "..we won't be fooled again." That is the 2012 campaign song for who ever in the Democratic party runs against Barry Sotero AKA: Barack Hussein Obama....yes, he was adopted with that name as a youngster living in Indonesia, but when did he legally change it? When he was back in the states as an adolescent I guess.
Obviously then the conditions in Canada are a lot WORSE than they are here. If that not being the case why is Allison STILL HERE????? bitching about a country she's not even a citizen of.
@TA
This is not the America I joined the military to defend back during the Cold War. That one was worth defending. I was proud of it. With the last 30 years of sliding toward plutocracy, I can understand why a Canadian immigrant would hesitate to be naturalized.
@ Allison C
"The USA of 2011 is not the USA I fell in love with in 1993 and doesn't seem to be getting better fast."
Then why are you still here? You don't like the USA enough to become a citizen after 20 years(!) then get the hell out and go home to Canada.
I chose to get an undergraduate degree in a 'safe' field in which I was nearly guaranteed a job upon graduation- biomedical science- and due to this have not felt the effects of the recession as much as some. That being said, however, I finished an administrative masters degree a year ago and am still stuck in my original job. I haven't delayed personal decisions including a new baby, but if I had a do-over, I'd certainly hold off on the expense of the graduate degree until the economy perked up again and all the positions didn't require the degree plus many years of experience, as they suddenly started requiring.
Not on todays question, but, I wish you would stop broadcasting the whining of a Target employee every 15 minutes. He ought to be thankful he has a job. Must be a slow news day!
@barracuda,
I prefer to think of it as calling the bullshit bullshit.
@Steve the Cynic
Please stop feeding the troll.
I would really like to sell the house I own in a town of 270, and move closer to my job, which is 75 miles away, but in this economy, I know I couldn't get anywhere near what I have into it, so I guess I'm staying put. I am looking forward to retiring in the next 5-10 years, but I enjoy my job so much I wouldn't mind working longer if necessary. I do feel very badly for people who are trying to pay their mortgages (or their rent) AND trying to provide for their children, AND trying to put food on the table, AND trying to pay for increased health care insurance premiums, AND trying to enjoy life just a little bit. It's terrible that so many people, myself included, have had to put "enjoying life" at, or near, the bottom of the priority list, and how bitterly ironic that is. American Dream, indeed.
I immigrated to MN from Canada with my family about 20 years ago, when I was a child. I'm legal, pay taxes (on my meager income), etc.
I am putting off naturalizing. The USA of 2011 is not the USA I fell in love with in 1993 and doesn't seem to be getting better fast.
Although I would like to be able to vote, I enjoy not feeling responsible for this mess and will continue hedging my bets.
The "grand obstructionist party" doesn't want to use the terms "Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003." garyf because it points out the fact it's been a decade now, and the alleged job creators have not yet created any jobs. Instead they have horded record amounts of cash. I think we've had enough time to see that the tax cuts are not working. Wiping them out could solve almost half the "stupidcommitee's" budget goal right of the bat. But that would be compromise, not partisan politics.
As for obamacare it's only been about a year. In all fairness lets give it 9 more before we decide if it's working. You gave moron bush that long. Plus I think there's more pressing issues at hand.
Divorce. We can't afford to get rid of the house because we're underwater. We can't sell and neither of us could afford to make the payments without the other. We're trapped. Couples used to fight over who got to keep the house, now they fight over who has to take it.
GaryF - "Then I would expect you in the future to call the "Bush Tax cuts" by their proper term or I won't be taking you seriously" ............................... except that they are fully implemented, and their impact is measureable over a period of time. In the case of "Obamacare" the program isn't fully in force as enacted, its features are under revision efforts by congress & there is much that is "assummed in" but in reality not part of the passed-signed legislation. The older horse - can surely be called by its earned name. The newer one is still getting to its legs and someone is trying remove one or two of them.
Posted by Jim G - "Can't afford to Die" --- priceless ... I too have a couple of "too big to fail" corporations that are depending on me. Wait till China sees Europe and America's consumer economies slow-plode into no-livian. As the conservative mentalitiy of less-government spending takes hold - China and India will suffer because they require cosumption of business services here. India has a more robust internal economy - but horrible infrastructure impeding absorbion and adoption of their international business capability. China has wonderful infrastructure so general development could move ahead - however they have stifled internal wage rates and supressed the valuation of the reniminbi currency so. Essentially there isn't enough fluid internal consumer capital to support the level of production from their factories. China fades, India fades more and .... we begin the 4 years of international slump. The booming SAmreican and African economies fade less - but many projects there stymie from lack of international partner funds.
"Any time someone uses a term such as "Obamacare" I know they can't be taken seriously (or are P.R. flacks, paid to post to forums such as this)."
Then I would expect you in the future to call the "Bush Tax cuts" by their proper term or I won't be taking you seriously.
Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003.
Or just specific reference to the tax code statute, that is, if you want to be taken seriously.
"BTW, the media job is to report the news, not to act as a cheerleader for any party."
Then I guess you think it's a good thing that the media hasn't been cheerleading Obama, kimMN. Objective analyses have clearly shown that he's getting a lot more negative press than all of the Republican contenders combined. When will the myth of the "liberal media" die? Or is it an article of faith, like evolution and the absence of global warming?
You appear to be under the delusion that most Americans agree with your ridiculous rants. I have news for you: they don't. True, a majority of folks are disappointed in Obama, some because he's too liberal, others because he's not liberal enough, and then there are those who decided in advance that they weren't going to like him no matter what he did, but very few would agree with your apparent assessment that he's totally evil. Get a grip! (And let go of that preposterous birther meme!)
Any time someone uses a term such as "Obamacare" I know they can't be taken seriously (or are P.R. flacks, paid to post to forums such as this).
As for the Question of the Day ... we've moved during this particular downturn and downsized in the process, which actually makes life a bit less stressful for us (added bonus).
We are both lucky and have jobs, but I have only had one raise in five years, which falls far short of paying for the increase in health and dental insurance premiums (my wife's raises have been about equal to her insurance increases over the same period, luckily).
We spend less on new items purchases and restaurants. And drive older cars. I suspect we will continue this behavior even when good times return.
And we have both increased our 401k/403b contributions, though we both have contributed more than 10% above matched contributions for decades.
Overall, we are quite fortunate.
Any time someone uses a term such as "Obamacare" I know they can't be taken seriously (or are P.R. flacks, paid to post to forums such as this).
As for the Question of the Day ... we've moved during this particular downturn and downsized in the process, which actually makes life a bit less stressful for us (added bonus).
We are both lucky and have jobs, but I have only had one raise in five years, which falls far short of paying for the increase in health and dental insurance premiums (my wife's raises have been about equal to her insurance increases over the same period, luckily).
We spend less on new items purchases and restaurants. And drive older cars. I suspect we will continue this behavior even when good times return.
And we have both increased our 401k/403b contributions, though we both have contributed more than 10% above matched contributions for decades.
Overall, we are quite fortunate.
I am putting off all major life changing plans until we know that we have a new administration in the White House. The the plans for building a new home will wait, adding more employees will have to wait until the new President takes office or until the new law suits on Obama's eligibility for being president are completed. America is no longer blinded by main street media's support of him ( BTW, the media job is to report the news, not to act as a cheerleader for any party.
When Barack Obama announced last spring that he was finally releasing his birth certificate after two-and-a-half years of battling court cases and ridiculing requests to prove his presidential eligibility, he declared it was time to “get serious” and move on.
It was no accident that one week before the April 27 release, some of the startling findings of two-time No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Jerome Corsi’s then-upcoming blockbuster book declaring Obama ineligible for the White House, “Where’s the Birth Certificate?” were leaked on the most influential news and political page on the Internet, the Drudge Report. The next President will have to be vetted by all media and Congress before America can feel we have trust in the government. This lack of trust is what happens when the media is bought out by any party. We get a leader who circumvents Congress and thumbs his nose at our Constitution. 18 Bills for job growth that have been already passed in the House of Reps are still sitting on Senator Reid's desk. The deficit climbed 5 times in threes years and the Simpson deficit plan was still ignored. It sure seems the Democratic leaders are the real party of NO.
How do we plan for our future when our own president does a flip flop on transparency? We had the Fast and Furious sham and the Solyndra scam where the White House is still withholding releasing suppoened documents. Then we had the by-passing the process to ram through Obama Health Insurance reform Care act , all behind closed doors yet it finally showed the real backbone of that plan; i.e. it stole $500 billion from Medicare but the media wouldn't report that little fact, assuming they read the whole bill. Recall that it was former Speaker Pelosi who said, " we have to pass it (the bill) to see what's in it." Imagine buying a car where the salesman says, "YOU HAVE to BUY this car so you can see what engine is in it." ???? or for a home sale, " You have to sign the mortgage first__ to see what rate you will have?"
Until November, 2012 most of us will probably not make any big decisions because the uncertainty is too much with this administration.
I wish I lived in the fairy tale world where "obamacare" was the root of all evil and not a subterfuge, non-issue used to distract morons from real life issues, like how gay marriage and fetuses are used.
Retirement has been delayed another 5 years. Our health insurance costs have not gone down since ObamaCare was passed. We are still waiting patiently to hear what our Leader will do for us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pB4b11_LREA
I'm planning on putting off infirmity, unemployment, sick children, or unforseen conflict with my wife. Last of all, I really couldn't afford to die.
I hope my husband will be putting off retirement--we've talked about it and it's his decision to make. I am also working more hours than I would be otherwise, since the cost of food has gone up by 50% in the last couple years.
no. just as the economy went into the bin ... I got divorced. we sold our house at a discount to complete the separation and ... i found out I have a chronic illness -manageable but there it is.... since then, I took my share of equity, held my nose, and bought a house for me and the kids. Now ... kids are hitting college age. I've maintained a modest retirement savings program and ... that's about it. I don't date because recreational spending doesn't exist in my budget. so ... help the kids get their lives started and work until a better day or death comes along.
My wife was downsized almost two years ago and hasn't been able to find a job, but has since given up due to lack of jobs available and we decided that she will remained home with our son instead. We would love to give him a baby sister, but supporting a family of 4 on an income that was meant as half of a two income household is just not possible. The high cost of Health Ins. premiums for a family is just to high to have any more than just my son and I on my insurance.
Yes, retirement.
I’ve worked 46 years, paid into Social Security and Medicare and put as much as possible in our 401k. I work in the engineering business, so I know how to make realistic estimates of costs and calculate future costs.
With these tea baggers in power, however, how do you make estimates of future costs? They claim to want to make government “irrelevant” in our lives, which puts Social Security, a significant portion of our retirement income in jeopardy. They are undisturbed by the possibility of a government default on its debt, which puts the value of the dollar in peril. They won’t raise taxes to pay off the national debt, which is financially negligent and impacts the value of our government bond values.
With these irresponsible people in power, I find it very difficult to consider giving up my job and going on a fixed income in retirement.
Being 27 and graduating with my master's this summer- it's really hard to think about things like marrying my boyfriend or thinking about kids when I've got over $50k in student loans as my #1 priority. Did I know what I was getting into? Yes. Does that make the price of college fair? Absolutely not.
HAHAHahahahahahahahahahaaaaa...... Delayed? Where do I start?
My overly optimistic fiance is determined to have kids as soon as she graduates from college. I have a wait-and-see attitude. When the grover norquist duped morons run the country into a double dip recession next year, and I get laid off again and finally lose my house, I think plans may change. Plus if they destroy social security as I have a feeling I'll have to be taking care of my mother too.
I haven't put in my notice (or just walked) from a job with tons of unnecessary drama coming from the top and the constant under-staffing and schedule changes are leaving me exhausted making it hard for me to look for a better opportunity. A catch 22 situation I need to end.
Contribute as much as I can to the grand-kids 529 college funds.
I tend to be an optimist. We go through these cycles of boom and bust. I've seen it many time over my lifetime. The future looks bright as far as I can see, it's the change that makes most folks apprehensive about it.
"Because of . . . the passing of Obamacare, I'm taking better care of my health . . ."
Hey, it's already producing good results! ;-)
I wasn't planning on any major life changes, having to decided to be content with what I have instead of obsessing about what I don't have.
Being 47 and on the end of the baby boom, I've realized that I won't get any social security or it we be so devalued it won't really count. I will have to work at least until I'm 75 before I can even think of retiring. Because of that and the passing of Obamacare, I'm taking better care of my health, working out and eating better so that I can live the life I want to and not be dependent on the government.
Yes, it is part of the reason my husband and I have delayed having children.
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