Feeling The Pinch

With the end of the financial year approaching (April 15th if you haven't got your tax returns in over here), it seems an appropriate time to consider how things are going at the moment. I think it's safe to say that its not going too well over here at all. The stock market is shaky, the interest rates are getting changed in leaps and bounds (it seems to be at least 0.5% every time now), the housing market is not doing well (foreclosures everywhere) and gas prices are at an all time high for the US. Okay, so that, admittedly, isn't that high compared to other places but given how many people drive here, and it's often necessary given the lack of public transport, you can see how it's hard going. In short, it's tough times. Economists are predicting that we're either in a recession, or on the verge of a recession. And people are probably going to be relying heavily on their tax rebates, as well as the extra money coming sometime in May, in order to live. I heard recently that there was an increase in the number of American citizens planning to use their tax rebates to pay off debts or credit card bills this year than previous. I guess everyone is feeling the pinch.

It's hard to know, right now, how this is going to change in the short term. Sure, some people are going to spend the rebate cheques heading their way, and if not those, then probably the additional ones in May. But is it going to be enough to stimulate the economy as intended? The high gas prices mean that the truckers are feeling it hard - there were protests this past week in Washington DC where the truckers all sounded their horns outside and around Capitol Hill in hopes that they were not going to be ignored. With high petrol prices, there is increased shipping and goods in stores increase in price - which means that people may not want to buy them. It's a vicious cycle. And when the oil companies are reporting record profits, it's hard not to see where to point the finger. With increased tensions in the Middle East lasting, this isn't going to help things either. If funding perhaps went into looking at renewable energy sources, perhaps increasing public transport here and there, maybe the oil prices would steady, perhaps even drop. WHo knows? It's a mess, really, and i guess that the best way to go would be to consider long term possibilities rather than short term solutions. Something has to give sooner or later. I just hope that it's not the economy.