Credit Crunch/Recession Thread
 

Nobody can ignore the effects that worldwide recession will have on many people's lives, so let's talk about it on this thread. In the UK alone something like 6 million people is being predicted will be unemployed in the next few years, quite a big number. I didn't see any signs of this when I walked down Oxford Street the other day, which was packed full with christmas shoppers. I doubt the same thing will be witnessed next year.

i wonder how long it is before i lose my job

Yay! I call dibs on a swing!

someone should go and film the busiest day of xmas shopping
and then film it next year and see the comparison

Set opposite a freak on a train
Warts on his head and chin
Boy, was I getting so vain
I saw the recession around Victoria Station

I think that shopping now plays such a major part in so many people's lives that they'll continue to do so even at the expense of other, more important things. As such I don't think we'll see the full extent of the recession on the high street so much as in supermarkets, where people will begin looking at cheaper brands if it means they can save money to spend more therapeutically on luxury items.

It's all a government conspiracy, man.

OMG VOMIT SUICIDE!!!

Today the Bank of England is trying to get us excited by telling us that next year inflation could drop below 1% next year, as if that's a good thing. What they fail to mention is that it will happen as a result of the economy totally imploding, and will contribute to its further implosion.

When I studied economics at school I was told that low inflation and low unemployment are mutually exclusive conditions, yet our government is still trying to keep inflation unnaturally low, while unemployment spirals out of control.

anyway, in all seriousness, this is the first month i've felt the pinch-- clients not so eager to jump on projects as in months before. OUCH i say. OUCH.

I'm probably going to graduate in the worst possible time, and in the worst possible field. On the other hand, my hopes were never high.

Bring on the REVOLUTION!

I'm in two minds. I'm quite the spendthrift as it is, and I've got an ok-paid job. I've still got money after rent and food for records and booze, and I'm not that worried about anything else, outgoings-wise. So I've taken a small hit on food, but it's far from putting me on the breadline.

On the other hand, I'm looking at re-entering the dual world of wankers (university and in London) next year, which will likely mean that I'm living on a very small budget indeed, unless I sort myself out with contract work, which would be difficult enough at the best of times with minimal experience.

However, generally speaking, I'm one of the people who's ok - I've got a trade that I'm good at that's not really lacking in jobs, and not likely to go away. There's a lot of people who aren't lucky like me though, poor buggers.

So, how's the record industry doing? Did Guns N Roses save rock n roll?

Oh, and on the subject of Oxford street - I think it'll take a much larger drop in the economy to seriously hit the high street of one of the financial epicentres of the world. London will probably start getting more violent though, as the rich suits live on top of the less fortunate, less employable sorts.

people on salaries should be ok for now, as long as their employer can make payroll. so there should be no need to shrink your expenses unless you're saving up in case of job loss. if that's the case, stash a few of these in a cookie jar:



otherwise, it's your civic and moral duty to keep spending to keep the rest of us going, right? (no, seriously).

Keynes, yep. I've probably been spending more the last 3 months than in the preceding 6, so I'm part of the way there. I'm fairly confident my job's safe, it's a large multinational company who've laid off everyone they can in the last 2 months (lots of big scalps gone) and the big concern at the moment is that trade isn't growing to projections, not that trade is shrinking.

the only risk you see is that if your large multinational company is in dire financial straits and can't make payroll from cashflow, you might be in shit regardless. dont mean to scare you, but if banks are not lending sometimes even big businesses can sink (see: american auto industry).

Oh God, that's exactly how I am too. I'm an English major, which is the epitome of useless. At least I had low expectations to begin with.

I actually work in Soho (and so wander around Oxford St a fair bit), and as Glice says, the credit crunch has not hit London as yet. I feel that in 2009, the squeeze will hit us Londoners, and again, as Mr G says, the violence will then become all too real...