Because consumer spending drives two thirds of the US economy, consumer confidence, sentiment and expectations have the ability to move stock and bond prices and are use to predict economic growth. They tend to be leading indicators, meaning they improve before the economy turns around.
Together, my students are a good sample of the college population in the state of Massachusetts. By analyzing how you and your family feel about the economy, we may be able to predict whether the Massachusetts economy will improve, stay the same, or worsen over the next few months. So, let’s try a little experiment this week!
How do you and your family feel about the Massachusetts economy today. Do you feel the economy is growing? Do you think the employment situation is improving? Are you planning on spending more this holiday season than you spent last year? Do you have more access to credit than you had last year?
I will let you know the results next week.
Tags: Consumer Confidence, Consumer Expectations, Consumer Sentiment
How do you and your family feel about the Massachusetts economy today. Do you feel the economy is growing? Do you think the employment situation is improving? Are you planning on spending more this holiday season than you spent last year? Do you have more access to credit than you had last year?
We feel as though the Massachusetts economy is getting better but very slowly. We hope the economy is growing due to the large $700 billion stimulus package we recieved. I heard 640,000 jobs were created and the number is supposed to go up to 3.5 million jobs by the end of the year.
I can’t speak for my family but as for me, I have a very strict budget for the holiday season and so far I’m doing really good with it! As for my credit, it is teetering in the upper 700s, I maintain this by paying off my credit cards in full soon after big purchases.
My family and I still feel the economy is not where it should be, although there was a rise in GDP due to cash for clunkers, and other government programs. But that is not enough to keep GDP rising through the fourth quarter. The unemployment situation is still at a high of over 10%, and more are still losing their jobs even with government stimulus packages that we received that were supposed to go to creating new jobs. This holiday season will still be tough, as we are all cutting our budgets down from what they were last year. Making the most out of small budgets is going to be a must this year especially since access to credit is also down from last year, due to having to use credit cards to pay for things when cash was low.
Being what most people see as “just a kid,” I do not watch, read, or associate with the news in anyway even if it does effect my situation. I know I personally will be spending more this holiday on gifts but that is only due to the simple fact; I have two jobs and want to treat someone very special this year. I in fact do not have credit due to the fact I’m in all possible ways avoiding getting a credit card because I know I would do something stupid and splurge on something that I truly didn’t need to buy. I can only hope that the situation in the US will improve by the time I finish my degrees in 2012 so that when I have a credible degree from a good school I won’t have to scrounge at the bottom of the barrel to get a halfway decent job. Things in “The Land of Opportunity” should have never reached this low to where 10% unemployment has happened when there is the potential to have everyone employed and then some, even as “a youngin’” I can see that it’s bad.
I think where the economy is now does not give you a good idea of where it actually and will be going. As the holiday near people begin spending because they want to and need to, but it should in no way be an actual relection on the economy of the US. Employment numbers for the season usually fall this time of year as stores and buisiness hire temporary or seasonal help. I think each year credit companies and stores play games with peoples credit to allow and intice them to purchase outside of their means, to get a more expensive model or a better brand. We budget Christmas purchases throughout the year and do not use credit for purcheses during the season.
Do you feel the economy is growing? Do you think the employment situation is improving? Are you planning on spending more this holiday season than you spent last year? Do you have more access to credit than you had last year?
I dont not feel the economy is growing nor is in a recession. I think its come to a hault but now that christmas is here maybe the economy will grow because employees will be hiring seasonal help and selling more inventory. The unemployment rate is almost 10% according to my managers at Bertucci’s. So, no I dont think the unemploment rate is growing especially in the area of jobs like CEO’s. Toys’ r us is hiring and Sears so there are jobs out there, their just not the $80,000 a year jobs. This holiday I dont plan on spending more, I plan on spending less. I do have more access to credit but I refuse to take out any credit cards or loans just to be on the safe side for awhile.
My family and I think the Massachusetts economy will remain the same as it is now. The recession didn’t hit hard on Massachusetts but due to the governments decision on Budget cuts, employment is going to improve slowly.I think in the next 5 to 10 years, the government will continue to receive large stimulus packages each year to create more jobs and employment numbers will increase due to the amount of college students graduating by 2013. This holiday season, I won’t be spending no more than $600.00. I don’t have access to credit because I don’t have a credit card.
Compared to 4 years ago when I was here I would say that the economy in Massachusetts right now has been slower than before, and especially it has been hurting to everybody about the financial situation. For example, two years ago my family’s usually spent lot money on every holiday like cooking; shopping for gift, but this year we won’t do anything at all instead of going to work. However, I felt that not only in Massachusetts but it also everywhere in the world. For instead, I’ve heard some news about economic situation in my country they said that “the rate of tourism go to visit Cambodia is dropping down remarkable.” In my country, our economic basically depend on tourism field but in this high seasons coming soon they won’t get any booking yet from anywhere. This result shown that, today money is so tight so everybody has to watch out their money before they want to do something.
My family and I don’t believe the economy economy is growing and believe that it will not grow for a couple years. The recession was a big hit on the USA and effected a lot of people including us and it makes it even harder to spend money then before. The unemployment situation is not going to get any better because till this day it is still close to 10% and people are still losing their jobs. This holiday I’m not spending as much money as i usually do and buy gifts for a limited amount of people. Due to the fact of how the economy is so poor, people are not really going to waste that much money on buying gifts.
My family feels that it’s not quite ready to turn, but it is beginning to. Employment is starting to turn in areas that the governement cannot live without (ie machine shops) and very slowly in other areas as well. Holiday money is always a problem for me and I know that my parents aren’t going to spend the money they would like to this year. My credi is not great but my parents have seen no change in theirs. After this holiday season we may find out whether or not we will be turning around.
I feel that the economy is stabilizing but it will be a long time before it significantly grows. The unemployment rate will hopefully begin to slowly improve as new jobs are created. It is a good time to be a younger college student because during these rough economic times it allows us to focus on education which will give us more value when the economy turns around. This year for the holiday season I feel everyone will be looking to spend things that they really need not want. I know for myself, I want to spend my holiday money on smarter gifts that people really need and will use.
I feel as though i stress the same overall opinion for most post about the economy, because I think a lot of people, especially analysts and the media, do not take a look at the overall state of the United States and how we got into such an economic meltdown. The economy in Masschuesetts is a direct result of the entire nations economy, and more importantly a result of our monetary policy and national deficit. My family has experienced the dwindling economy especially my mother, who is trying to sell her house, which has been on the market for over a month with no offers, and this process of selling has limited her spending severely, especially for the holidays. These “solutions” like bailouts, personal stimulus packages, and programs like cash for clunkers are all temporary solutions, which will help short-term economic endeavors, but with the U.S. dollar’s worth heading south steadily, the economy will eventually collapse if we stay on this same path. An ounce of gold in 2001 was just under 300$, and today, the current price as of November 23rd is 1,174 $ per ounce- Which has risen not because gold is more “rare’ per say, but because the US dollar is so weak, which is why you see so many commercials offering “cash for gold”, because smart individuals realized they will gladly shell out worthless pieces of paper ( dollars) for peoples gold jewelery, which can be melted down to bricks of actual wealth. Overall, the Massachusetts economy is not going to improve by consumer confidence, as we are such materialists anyway, but rather by change in the monetary and government policies in general, or I think we are in for a brutal and total collapse of the dollar and economy in the future.
How do you and your family feel about the Massachusetts economy today. Do you feel the economy is growing? Do you think the employment situation is improving? Are you planning on spending more this holiday season than you spent last year? Do you have more access to credit than you had last year?
I do think the economy is getting better, but I will say very slowly! Nothing huge has happened where you can just think about the economy and just be like “oh, everything is getting better and i will just go spend my money now.” I do think the employment situation is getting better. As for me, I haven’t been hearing as much unemployment stories as before. This holiday season i havent figured out how much i want to be spending. I know this season though the presents i buy will be more focused on what people need instead of just things they want. I feel thats how a lot of people will be spending this holiday season.
My Family and I don’t think the economy us going to improve anything soon. We don’t like to be negative, but as you notice we see unemployment rate increasing by the month. It could possible take one to two more years till everything goes back to normal. With the holidays coming up we see many families struggling to save up there money so they can buy present, but many families stop paying there bills so they can have enough money for the holidays. Since many families are holding back there money and not spending enough GDP level remains the same. In this crisis many families are also having problem with credit and have strict budget.
My family and I feel that Massachusetts economy is slowly improving from the previous years. Employment will start to improve because seasonal jobs are opening for the holidays. Stores will try to hire workers during the busy holiday especially when it toward the end on the year. I just heard from a friend who got a seasonal job yesterday and this prove that many stores will be hiring new seasonal employee for the holidays. During this time, people usually go buy presents for close friends and family because Christmas is coming up. Plus Black Friday is this Friday and there will be many people lining up early in the morning to buy things. Although they may be on budget this year, people will still buy something for close friends and family. As for me, I am planning on spending less this year. I don’t work as much as before because my hours were cut down due to the economy. There’s no way I’m going to charge it to my credit card or spending money I don’t have. So I’m playing it safe and spending what I have and that’s that!
How do you and your family feel about the Massachusetts economy today. Do you feel the economy is growing? Do you think the employment situation is improving? Are you planning on spending more this holiday season than you spent last year? Do you have more access to credit than you had last year?
i do not think that the Mass economy is growing, nor will any time soon. The government has no money and is consequently cutting jobs everywhere; from town office positions to police officers. because of this, the employment situation is not improving. there are many people in Massachusetts that are still unemployed with little hope of getting a job in the next few months. if the economy has improved at all (which i believe it hasn’t), it has improved at a very slow rate. even if the businesses seem to recover, the economy still hasn’t because the average person has not seen any positive changes in their own lives. until that happens, the economy will not improve.
We are not planning on spending much more than last year, but probably will anyway, due to price increases in the things we want. since i am a minor, i have no access to credit, but my family has plenty of access to credit.
My family feels that the economy in Massachusetts is getting worse. In my opinion the economy is not growing. It’s probably going down because there are still people losing their jobs. When there’s no jobs, they won’t be able to spend money. It’s a big blow to the economy when consumer spending goes down. I’m planning to spend the same amount of money as last year this coming holiday season.
I feel there has been a lot of changes and improvement on the economy since the new administration came into power, compared to the Bush administration. High skill unemployment
continues to be one of the lingering problems with the US economy. Foreclosure has stalled and contained to a certain degree due to the bank modification program from the stimulus.Thanks to the Obama administration
Regarding the holiday spending, one should remember that cash is king. Just because there is a bit improvement in the economy, one should not start spending and buying like other previous holidays. The emphasis should rest on saving, especially since the economy is not quite out of the hole yet. Credit card and credit access this year should be discourage since this is one of the main reasons consumers have been deep into debts due to people spending more than what they can afford. For me, I will rather spend cash than relying on credit this year,even if I have easy access to credit, not until the economy is in full swing to recovery.
My family and I believe that the economy went down alot, and now its stuck, not moving. If the economy does not worsen, it will stay at this stage for at least another year. Spending money is not a priority right now. We believe its better for us to spend less money this holiday, and acumulate savings for the next months. It is not safe to spend alot of money or make debt. We have decited to buy only what is necessary and not to use credit cards, that way if one of us looses their job, we have some money saved up, and no debt.
Actually My family and I believe the economy in the state of Massachusetts as well as The US nationwide is getting worse. I noticed a lot of businesses shutting down and also unemployment growing in steady rate. On the other hand, we decided to spend less in this holidays due to fact we cannot afford to spend a lot this holiday season; we have to be ready for the worst if this economy does not get better. Furthermore, I think we have the same access to consumer credit cards, but if we use credit cards for this holiday shopping would be a bad idea because most of the consumer credit cards are tricky; they offer a attractive rate and then suddenly they raise their interest rate. In conclusion we believe the economy would get better, but no anytime soon, so we have to be patient, and save money just in case if we do not recover from this.
My family and I think that the economy is growing slowly. Employment is also getting better, but at a slower rate. We all plan on spending less than we did last year on Christmas, but we say that every year and it never happens. I can’t really say about having more access to credit because I haven’t tried to get more. Overall we feel that things are improving.
My family and I feel that its poor. There lots people out of jobs. No the economy is doing the opposite. Its actually shrinking. I think that it is very slowly possibly getting better. But for right now as of today no there really isn’t any real improvement. As for my family and I, we will be spending less this holiday season. I will have to say no. Since the economy hasn’t recovered yet will probably not recover for awhile I say that there is less credit for everyone.
My family and I think that the economy is still pretty bad. Just recently, two
of my family member were laid off from their job.This year my didn’t spend
a lot of money during the holidays as well. My parent have already gotten rid of some of their credit cards.In conclusion, I don’t feel the economy has
improved since last year.
I believe that the economy in MA is not as good as it should be, my hours at work had been cut and some people had been laid off. I don’t believe that the economy has gotten any better since last year. And also this year my family wont be spending much money for christmas for the same reason that our situation hasn’t improved since last year.
I feel that the economy is improving slowly but it will take a while for us to see the results. I also believe the employment situation could be better but people are just lazy and using the employment situation as an excuse not to work. There are many businesses that have now hiring signs in our area and have had them for a long time. If people really wanted and needed these jobs those positions would be filled. This holiday season I am spending less than I spent last year. I am only shopping for imediate family and only buying them things I know they need. I do not know if I have more access to credit but I have been paying my bills on time, trying to avoid a low credit score.
The economy seems to be improving but not to where it should be. I am lucky to have a job, but I can see that the economy is getting better in the retail stores. I do not think we will be where we were 5 years ago or even prior to 9-11. I think it will take time to get there but eventually we might get there. It will be very interesting and we will see if we are able to get there over time. My family and I think that the economy is improving slowly.
My family and I think the economy is all right. My town just takes a while to get things done the the water main on my street broke three times until they actually are going to fix it. They are fixing it now. Massachusetts is trying to keep it the best they can but everyone has lost jobs and I am lucky enough to have the job I have today. I don’t think that the job situation is getting any better than what it is now. I am not planing on spending that much this year on people that I have the past couple of years. I didn’t have credit last year and I don’t have it this year. It will get better as the years go on. We are in our second depression as of my knowledge.
I believe that people don’t realize about the recession until it affects them. I and my family haven’t seen anything till now which doesn’t really bother us much about the economy right now. I don’t think there is going to be any affect on our holidays shopping this year. But I also know some of the families which they will be thinking about the spending for the holidays. As holiday’s season is on, people will be spending money now even though they won’t do as much they used to do it before but still people will be spending money for shopping and I think this will move the economy going and business. I think it will be a good time to move up the economy.
I do not feel the Massachusetts economy is growing and if it is, it is not growing at a passé you can notice. I work at a retail store for minimum wage and not a lot of hours. Sometimes I feel if is not even worth going in for the little money I make. I have been looking for a job that might pay a little more or even give me more hours but there does not seem to be much out there. I made more money last year and had less debt than I do this year. Buying presents and things was not so difficult last year around Christmas time as it is this year. Even though some of the stocks may have gone up this week because of the time of year, I do not believe they will have gone up as expected to since last year.There seems to be worse economic conditions for my family this year than last year.
After doing some research and talking to people, I found that many people are leaving Mass. The majority of people who moved from Mass last year reported they were very happy with their new lives in their new states and would not move back. A Boston globe has found 73% of those surveyed say they live in homes that are much bigger than here in mass and 54% of people say their standard of living is much higher, the findings underscore the difficulties of living, raising children and raising enough money in mass, and is suggested that these fundaments aspirations of the American middle class are often easier for people to achieve outside the state. Also when polled what people missed the most about mass 25% of these polls said their family. 22% said natural resources, and 8% missed the culture. Ask what they missed least, weather topped the list. Traffic and commuting was named second by 19% and taxes rounded off third by 16%. Also not to be left behind politics. Which people find much less complicated in other states. The results also show New Hampshire was one of the top destinations for people fleeing mass. Florida was the second most popular state. Regionally the south east was the most popular overall. Blue collar non professionals and those who made less than $75,000 a year were more likely to move than others who left the state. Middle class people found they can no longer afford to live in the bay state. People want a suburban lifestyle, a yard, a home. They want the American dream. It seems to hard to find in the good old bay state. As a father of three children, two children almost in college, I will be one of those people thinking about moving once my children are off to college. I too, find mass to be too expensive and overtaxed than other states.
A relatively low rate of employment is a clever way of saying a high rate of hidden unemployment, and a lot of underemployment. For instance, a lot of well qualified people cannot move upwards in a company that is busily cutting the numbers in its ranks. Good work does not get rewarded, and pressure is put on employees to perform more for the same pay. The emphasis in the lean, mean, company is on mean, with managers leaning on their underlings.
And its unreasonable and unethical to waste resources and spend as we have currently done, knowing that future generations will be burdened with the waste and debt, and rely on a quasi federal institution to cover-up the injustices by constantly running the money presses.
My family and I don’t discuss the economy that much, but it does often reflect by what we say when we do have certain discussions about what is going on in the world today. For example, I watch the stocks and occasionally, I notice the differences between how companies are perfoming in certain quarters up to now. I know that the Google stock price is now in the high $500s. It is right now, $579.76. That was an increase from $262.58. Federal Express has a stock price of $82.65, and over the course of a year’s time, the yield has been increasing and decreasing since March, but it is a steady growth. I think that since March, the economy is making a progressive rebuild. I don’t see any type of inflation going to happen anytime soon even though consumers are changing their spending habits, it’s not impacting the market significantly to cause another recession from what I’m seeing on the charts.
My interpretation of today’s economy has somewhat improved over the past year. Granted, the job market is still in the gutter but “economically” the states have improved capacity. The nation’s wealth and markets have shown some improvements. The stock market is showing a steady climb and residential areas are appraised at higher values.
As a business school graduate, I’ve been on the job hunt. I’ve applied to numerous companies (big and small) and gone on several interviews. The bigger companies like State Street Bank, JP Morgan Chase, US Bank, Liberty Mutual etc. have either been on a hiring freeze or downsizing. The job market certainly hasn’t come around just yet.
My family, too, is feeling the wrath of this fallen economy. My father, an architect, hasn’t been able to find work nor have adequate funding from banks to start new jobs. My sister, a mortgage consultant, has had increasing difficulty closing loans and qualifying candidates. All in all, this economy is STARTING to see a turn around, but the majority of the state’s inhabitant are still greatly affected and hurting from the weakened economy. Hopefully it’ll turn around soon.
Well according to recovery.gov which tracks the presidents economic stimulus package, it states that Massachusetts has been awarded approximately 3,884,242,919 billion dollars so far and has received only 622,090,000 million. It also states that because of this large amount of aid by the government, Massachusetts has created 12,374 jobs so far. When looking at these concrete numbers you can see that this has already impacted the unemployment sector for the good. New jobs are being created, which it turn will cause the economy to grow, and the unemployment rate to decrease. Therefore the numbers show the Massachusetts economy is growing. On the other hand, I myself am spending less money this holiday season then last year. I feel that at this point, saving and putting money away is more important. When it comes to access to credit, i feel that this year is harder than last because of the strain on the economy.
i myself do not see much of a change because of the economy. the changes i see are more connected to buying a newer car and having to keep up with the payments. but mass has is starting to see a bit of a turn around with all the stimulus packages we recieve. it seems like jobs are sprouting up all over the place lately. the american people as a whole seem like they are putting more of an emphasis on saving rather then spending. i know last christmas season i was buying and receiving presents like crazy. however this year i already know what individual gift i am getting for everyone and how much it costs. with the economy i have found i tend to research purchases more now then i use to. instead of just buying and returning i tend to really test to see if i want it before i spend. i feel like people are not accessing their credit because of the economy at this time and i feel like it is helping us alot.
I don’t think the economy is growing because the prices at the grocery stores have doubled or tripled in the last year or two. There’s no improvement in the low unemployment and people are still getting layoff, pay cuts, and hasn’t been much new job creations. According to the New York Times “50 percent of respondents said the economy was very good or fairly good, while 47 percent said it was very bad or fairly bad”. I keep hearing on TV that the recession is over but personally, I’m not seeing it. My family and I still feel the economy is not where it should be. This holiday season I am not planning to spend as much money as I had years before because we don’t know where the economy is going and when is all this going to end. With this recession no one would like their credit card balances accumulated on the way up.
The Massachusetts economy is like the rest of the country growing in certain areas but not in others. However, overall the economy is getting a lot better. In some places they are hiring but that is probably seasonal and not permanent. In the manufacturing business where a lot of jobs have been cut they are expecting more jobs to be lost in the future. There is hope because it appears the state will have turnaround. A Boston Globe article said “Massachusetts manufacturers were hit hard in the recession, shedding 8 percent of their jobs and cutting employee hours. But the worst appears over. Many firms are reporting rebounds in orders and extending work weeks to meet the demand. Some are even calling back laid-off workers.” This holiday I willl spend about the same which isnt that much, because for me I havent really seen an improvement in the econmy, just small strides in the right direction.
Overall I feel like the the Massachusetts’s economy is better then most of the other states but it still is not that good. I feel like the more people are finding work even if it is part time for the holidays. Personally I won’t be spending that much money this holiday season. This year I have less credit available then last year. Hopefully the economy will get a boost with all holiday spending.
Overall from last year at this same time I feel like the ecomony is better and on a slow, slow rise. my father is in construction and this year he has more projects than last ans my mother is a flight attendant and she says the airports are still as busy as ever. However, I do have two friends who lost their jobs some months ago ans still cannot find a new one. Furthermore, I have been trying to get a credit card for the past 6 months with nothing to show for it. Hopefully in the next year we will see a more stabalized economy and jobs on the rise.
My family and I feel as though the economy is on a slow but steady rise. Now that Christmas is approaching, people are going to want to spend more money to buy gifts and such. Since there is going to be a rush in consumer spending and people running in and out of stores, businesses are most likely going to want to hire more people to help out the customers. I personally am not going to spend more this Christmas season, only due to the fact that I am broke and have no money. Other people I’m sure will want to spend more. Although there is no “got to have it” item this year, no new gaming consoles, no major video games are coming out this Christmas, so people won’t be looking for one thing in particular.
My family and I do not feel the economy is improving. My husband has been laid off since March and has been unable to find new work. The very few jobs that he has found and inquired about are unwilling to pay a decent salary. Some of these jobs are requiring a 4 year degree plus experience, but are only willing to pay $30,000 per year, sometimes less. We have several friends who are also unemployed, so no I do not think the employment situation is improving at all. We will not be spending more than we did last year, although I do not think we will be spending much less either. I am not sure if we have access to more credit this year, because we have not attempted to get more credit. All in all, I do not feel that the economy is improving.
Even though the government is declaring that the recession is over, the people are yet to feel the effect namely job opportunities availability. Most are convinced that the worse is over but hope that the effects of the economic rebound are happening at a faster rate. This pattern of consumer expectation is confirmed by Dennis Jacobe; the chief economist of Gallup.com in his article on this website. The situation is the same here in Massachusetts where people are spending cautiously and buying only the necessity and not going overboard buying extravagant items for the holidays. The recent “Black Friday” shows that most are taking advantage to purchase items for their own use rather than buying it as a gift for others. This fact supports the fact that people are being vigilant on their spending as their confidence in the economic growth of the country has not been fully restored.
I believe the Massachusetts economy is not growing. The unemployment rate has gone down, but it is still pretty high. The Bay State’s jobless rate increased slightly in May, a sign that the unemployment rate may not have peaked (boston herald). This year I have gotten a new job getting paid more per hour than last year, I will probably spend the same amount on Xmas gifts that i did last year. My credit has not gone up, I believe that the Massachusetts economy will grow, but I don’t know how long it will take.
My family and I agree that the Massachusetts economy is still suffering from the recession, however, not as severely as in other parts of the country. Unemployment rates are high and consumer spending has dropped significantly. Fortunately, my family and I have not been seriously affected by the recession, maintaining stable income and the ability to pay our bills. With this being said, we have agreed that this holiday season, we will not be showering eachother with gifts as we have in the past. One of my sisters had a baby this past year, and my other sister just recently got married in October. Having had such an exciting and eventful year, one can imagine the amount of money that comes along with such events. Therefore, Christmas will be a little more subtle this year. I do not plan to spend as much as I did on gifts last year, especially since I no longer live at home, which tightens my budget a lot more than prior to moving out. I do have access to credit, however I am very frugle with the amount of charge purchases I make. I feel that it is best to avoid the overuse of my credit cards for the benefit of my financial situation currently and in the future.
My family and I feel that the economy is still suffering. I believe that the economy is moving into a more positive direction. Compared to last year, I have been making more money, but probably because I work retail. Since it’s the holiday season my hours finally have been getting higher and I no longer have 20 hour work weeks! I know that will change after January, so I do have to keep a low budget for Christmas this year. As for my family, they haven’t been able to work much. So they will also be spending a lot less on Christmas.
How do you and your family feel about the Massachusetts economy today. Do you feel the economy is growing? Do you think the employment situation is improving? Are you planning on spending more this holiday season than you spent last year? Do you have more access to credit than you had last year?
My feelings and my families feelings about the Massachusetts economy today differ greatly. My parents, especially my mother take the negative and defeatist approach to whether or not the economy is on the rise or not. They feel the same way as far as the employment situation is headed. I, on the other hand feel differently towards the direction that the economy in Massachusetts is moving. I believe that history gives us a blueprint as to what will eventually take place in the upcoming months and years. History has told us that economy works in cycles, meaning that what goes up must come down. The same can be said for the opposite view, what goes down, ultimately must come up. This pertains not only to consumer spending but also to the employment situation in Massachusetts. More consumer spending will drive the economy up, therefore influencing spikes in the economy, which in turn will create more and more jobs. As to the question of whether or not my family or I will be spending more this holiday season than last season I think my answer is probably the same as most others. Due to the current state of the economy, I will not be spending as much as I did last season. The reason being that I am now a full time student so my financial situation is quite different from last season. I have never had a credit card but I’m sure that if I did that I would probably be making a substantial amount of unneccessary purchases.
Personally my family does not have that much faith in Massachusetts economy today, just because of experience they’ve encountered, for example tax hikes, toll hikes just to name a few; I do think the economy is recovering, very slowly but it is recovering non the less, unemployment is still in the rise but it will eventually overturn. This holiday season I do intend to spend less, because last year I have a little more faith in the economy than I do currently. My credit is stagnant it didn’t improve and it did not decrease which is a good thing in a way, but I hope it makes its way up in the coming year.
For my family the economy has been very tough. There are seven poeple in my family and its madness. My dad is a pilot for US airways but since 9/11 his salaries have been cut by almost 50%. The economy is growing but at a very low rate. I do believe the employment situiation is becoming less of an issue but for many families out there it is a key struggle. As hard as the economy is today I actually am plannign on spending more this holiday season. I think that if everybody puts there financial issues to the side for the holidays and people ar eout buying things like they should, it should give the economy the boost it needs to get up and running once again. However, many people will probably still be skeptical about spending a lot of money during the holdiays. Ive never had access to credit and Im not going to for many years. I dont think i need a credit card and if i did I would be very, very far in debt.
My family has mixed feelings about the Massachusetts economy. My grandparents who are of the more conservative mind seeing a grim forecast in the future economically, especially with all the borrowing and spending the government has done. Meanwhile I’m slightly optimistic about our nation’s economic future and I’m exceptionally positive about our states future as we have tread water and not suffered nearly as severe as many parts of the country have.Home sales in the area have leveled off and the foreclosure crisis here is not as bad as in some parts of the nation, and home sales and reduced foreclosures are a very strong indicator of where the economy is going.
Well I’am optimistic, of course a large chunk of our economy is based on unpredictable occurrences, such as the maritime industry, potential development from the stimulus, and the income taken in by tourism. However I think the social-political support for the less advantaged in this state and the potential for growth leave Massachusetts in a good spot to grow exponentially in the future as the economy turns on the upswing after a prolonged recession.
Me and my family think that the Massachusettes economy isn’t going as well as what we want it to. The employment situtation is defiently not improving. It is so hard to find a job. Even though work force develpment says “The Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development reported today that the unemployment rate in Massachusetts dropped from 9.3 percent in September to 8.9 percent in October, the first monthly rate decline since June of 2007. Jobs are down 900 for the month of October,” people are still having trouble finding and holding a job permittedly. This holiday season we are spending a whole lot less on presents this year then on last year’s presents. Money is tight this year since my dads work cut back on over time so he lost about $10,000 in over time money. So me my mom and my brother have to contribute more to help us. This time last year i didnt have credit but since im a student my bank gives us a credit card with a $500 limit to help me get credit and be set when i get older. Hopefully this time next year the economy will alot better and can spend more on presents for my family and friends.
My family and I feel that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ economic state isn’t at its complete worst, and if anything will more than likely improve in the foreseeable future. A good indicator of economic growth or the lack of it is by analyzing the unemployment rate. In Massachusetts, the percentage has dropped slightly in a month’s time, going from 9.3% in September 2009, to 8.4% in October. These percentages still need to come down significantly for strong economic growth, and in comparison September 2009’s 9.3% was the highest rate of unemployment in the state since January 1992 at 9.7%, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. While being smart about my personal credit, and reflecting on the state of the economy in general, several people I know and myself will be spending quite less than normal this Christmas.