It sucks but it's important to quality of life. Overthrow those that ruin it!

Updated Comment: Well, I guess it's not like anyone's not aware that the current state of the economy is not too hot right now. I'm fortunate enough to have a job and a roof over my head (albeit an apartment roof, but a roof nonetheless).

As I type now, I'm taking a break from checking out part time job ads. Pickings are slim, as anyone who's looking can tell you. My husband's business is folding, and my job isn't going to be enough to take care of the bills, so I've been spending the past few nights sifting through the internet for job postings. My husband is kind of depressed right now, so he's holed up in the bedroom. Great.

Anyway, the local newspapers aren't really too helpful right now (unless you're an RN; TONS of jobs for RNs out there). However, the strangely helpful site that I tried to actually avoid: Craigslist. There's a lot of postings there (though it wouldn't hurt to be cautious; recently in the news there was a woman who answered a fake craigslist ad who was murdered when she responded to the ad. Yikes. Guess it could happen with a posting anywhere, though, to be fair). The problem with craigslist is there's a lot of postings with not a whole lot of information attached, so you don't know which postings are truly legitimate or not.

At least I'm lucky to have a secure job right now. A word to all of you who might also be searching for a job to stay afloat: Hang on. I know it doesn't help much, but I feel for you. And if you know of a friend who also is looking, and you find a post that's not good for you but would work out for them, remember to pass it along. They'll appreciate it, and they might be able to return the favor. Good luck.

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Orig. Comment 6/13/03: Of course the economy is a big political issue, no matter what the state of the economy is at any given time. I'm not sure WHAT needs to be done to make the economy better (besides NOT wasting so much money--many institutions, at least state institutions, are painfully wasteful when it comes to money, spending tons of cash on resources that are unaccounted for, wasting the actual resources like paper, etc.), but it's always an issue that needs to be addressed politically.

The only way to fix the economy is to balance the budget. Reduce spending and stop throwing money we don't have at the problem, and we'll be back to normal within 5 years.

The economy is always a big deal.  Honestly, I don't understand why we are wasting our money helping Iraq's surplus.  I think a lot of people may think that the economy is better under one party than the other but I really think politicians are the problem.  Politicians give themselves astronomical raises every single year, and give us a stimulus to go and buy a tv...I don't get it.  While our politicians are supposed to be working for us, they are out in Minnesota campaigning for Al Franken.  But the economy can be a lot better than it is.....

If something don't change and soon I see a lot of tents being pitched anywhere and everywhere, that is, if you're lucky enough to already own one.

Numero uno in Michigan.

Are you better off now than you were 8 years ago?

  Republican policies are successful! Poor are starving as God intended!

http://tinyurl.com/4byd9a

we are in a recession and will be in a depression no matter who wins in november becouse they all think governemt is the answer the only way this is true is if we start taxing imports and start making it possible for americans to create what they need thus making jobs and an economy that actually is apart of something

on fonce dans le mur...

It's important, we need lower tax rates and to repeal NAFTA.

Forclosures are at an all-time high. . .Families are one illness away from losing both home and life savings. . .the power of real wages isn't what it used to be. . .Education and investment has a cost factor that is fast approaching unaffordability for the middle class. . .the loss of economic power of middle class families is a huge elephant in the room that won't get proper coverage of the oh-so-liberal media that presents a picture much cleaner than it is. . .if the economy doesn't allow a middle-class family to afford a university education for two kids and at least one health problem, aren't we simply talking about a big form of gambling where the particiapants simply 'hope' that bad things happen to other people? Yes, I have money in the stock market, but that doesn't make me believe in the omnipotence of business 'taking care' of economic problems and issues. . .

Well lets consider the facts:
1)Jobs are being outsourced.
2)Inflation is surpassing wages.
3)Consumer debt is at a all time high.
4)USA savings rate is $0.
5)More than half of American towns are turning into crime infested ghettos.
6)Skilled jobs are getting few and far and require networking to get them.
7)Industries are very limited as we head into the future. Looks like health care will be the big winner.
8)Lets see, the Gov't has all the money they need but I won't explain that one.
9) A trembling middle-class
10)College graduates who are lost and barely making it (twixters)
11) SS is almost out
12) Most of the jobs left are service jobs!!!

Really. What an awful time to be a young person in this country. No future here.
1)Housing is unreachable for most.
2)No creative jobs left.
3)Big fat student loans
4)Higher costs for everything

Appears only to be a great economy for those baby boomers who have money to buy the real estate, have a stable job, are retired, and are set for life....

Too bad life won't be that great for my generation.

Everything comes back to the economy. We have a massive deficit and are still spending tons of money. Costs of evrything are going up.

Yeah, this has become somewhat of a MAJOR problem, huh? I guess it's Clinton's fault,huh? That would be convenient to think if you were a conservative, so, you can't blame them. Either way, somebody needs to fix it. Actually, I know what's going to happen - it'll be repaired by a Dem, and conservatives will say it was Bush............GUARANTEED! I get hated on a lot for KNOWING this, but you know what would fix it in a DRASTIC way?...........Legalizing marijuana. As I've said before, it's a fact that we smoke more pot than all other nations on earth COMBINED. Canada makes more cash on our pot smoking than they do on CATTLE, TIMBER, AND WHEAT....COMBINED! Jobs, shrinking crime rates and prison pops, exporting,etc etc..................CASH! We're talking TRILLIONS! GO-ZILLIONS!

Yes, we need to have a much better economy than we have right now. I mean, that's just a fact. It isn't as big of a focus right now as it should be.

Economy consists of a wide range of issues. Generally speaking, this field, consisting of mainly monetary and fiscal policy, requires both objective policy analysis and, to an extent, a reasonable amount of subjective analysis. It's a question of making choices in a market where scarcity is the rule rather than the expection. Thus politics is inseparable from economics. Yet that should not stop the policymaker from using objective analysis. The main economic challenge we're going to have to deal with is the falling US dollar. The Euro is reaching all time highs against the Dollar, gold prices are also at 16-year highs. Really this shouldn't be a surprise to policymakers. Back in 1991, George H.W. Bush allowed the Dollar to fall as a way to get the US out of the recession partially created by the Persian Gulf War. The reasoning behind this was that a falling dollar would make US goods more affordable abroad, and that would help out bring American corporations out of the red. It ended up working. The son ended up pursuing a similar strategy in 2001. Initially, they went with a policy of low interest rates and tax cuts as a way of re-spurring the economy, but it didn't really work. By 2003, the administration began allowing the US dollar to fall, allowing corporate profits to go up once again, even in the face of military action and instability in Iraq. But now, there's a legitimate concern that the US dollar will continue falling and may even collapse. Should a currency panic occur, it might cause international investors to pull their money out of the US. The only way to keep investors here and protect the dollar simulataneously will be to raise interest rates, which the Federal Reserve seems inclined to do. The way to prevent this is to make sure that the US Dollar finds some supports. Of course, the phenomenon of the twin deficits (concurrent trade and domestic budgetary deficits) have a corrosive effect on the aggregate economy and along with it our currencies buying power. With the baby boomers entering retirement age in 2008, expect Social Security payouts to increase monumentally. Basically, I don't anticipate that surpluses are going to be coming back soon. Foreign nations today are financing our consumption, but a weakening dollar means that they are losing confidence in our responsibility as a lender of last resort. Economy is an issue that probably impacts us all most directly, yet it barely makes it on the political radar. Deficit spending, interest rates and inflation are all important issues that have a domestic and international impact.

This along with the war on Iraq/terrorism are definitely the most important issues in this election. The leftist media can paint the picture all day that the economy is struggling and the common man is hurting but the bottom line is that our economy is on a huge upswing and unemployment levels are at record lows. John Kerry can also keep saying he represents the common man in this election, even though his familiy's financial status is so far from common it is hilarious. Kerry can also keep complaining about the tax cuts that benefit the rich more. As a matter of fact on Neil Cavuto recently, he commeneded a wealthy businessman who gave up his very large tax return to benefit americans. When Cavuto asked Kerry what he did with his tax return, he said he couldnt recall. Please, the economy is booming and John Kerry is stretching

The economy is getting better. The only way to stimulate it is to let people have more of their hard earned money and let them spend. If people are not buying our economy will remain stagnant.

Getting better day-to-day.

The first thing one must remember that usually, the best thing the government can do for the economy is to leave it alone. The second is to remember that when analyzing government policy and the economy that there are non-revenue/economic and revenue/economic considerations, and sometimes the former trumps the latter. For instance, a non-revenue/economic policy to decrease the wealth differential between rich and poor may be pursued even at the expense of decreasing tax revenues and hurting the overall economy. Third, government can do little to actually create jobs other than redistributing or encouraging the flow of capital and labor in desired directions; nevertheless, in the end all the state can do is nudge when the primary forces are outside its control. With all that said, the economy boils down to labor and production. Whether we like it or not, with the fall in the costs of transporting goods and distributing services, the labor market is now global (ie one is not only competing for jobs against the next town, but across the globe). With this reality, if the U.S. wishes to retain jobs, it must chose between three basic options: 1) reduce domestic labor costs (ie wages, salaries and benefits must fall to make domestic labor more competitive); 2) implement uniform and enforceable tariffs for the entire developed world (ie North America and Western Europe) which will increase inflation but salvage jobs; or 3) create real or perceived value added for American production which will support higher prices for American goods and services in relation to foreign competitors. As the third option is not viable on a macro scale, we must decide on either option One or Two (or a combination). Pick your poison. Tax policy is a bit complex for this comment, but with tax cuts in the face of deficits being such a confusing matter for the public, let me just say that the U.S. marginal tax rates are clearly above the point in which general tax revenues would be maximized under normal circumstances. This means that in the long-term, revenues would increase by lowering the tax rate; however, we currently have compelling short-term revenue demands. The answer is not necessarily to reduce taxes today, but rather to convert some existing tax burden to a temporary surtax which will automatically drop as the revenue demand fades (assuming Congress can be trusted to comply which is a huge assumption).

The Economy has rarely seen better days. Low interest rates, no inflation, strong GDP growth, record productivity, home ownership is at an all-time high (including minorities), unemployment is low and shrinking, the stock market had one of its 5 best years ever last year and we will see even more job growth in the coming months. With new and improved tax law allowing for record increases in capital spending by business we have seen a robust recovery. This will only improve into 2005.

The economy is great! Let's talk about it!

My rating reflects the political importance of this issue--- and I don't think we can deny that in the next Presidential election (or any Presidential election), the economy is one of the most important issues to the average voter. Certainly, the government's policies do influence the economy, but certainly not as much as most seem to think. Many think that the policies of the government alone can contribute to the success or failure of the economy. I'm no economist, but I realize that there are many different factors. The fact is that the economy was showing signs of weakness before Clinton left office, and that 9/11 more than anything else, including the Bush tax cuts, contributed to the difficult economy of the past two years. The economy is now showing signs of rapid recovery, and this could prove to be a valuable asset to the President in the next election. Indeed, next year's election is mainly about two things: terrorism and the economy.

I think our society is dependant on a strong economy now more than ever. Very few people are still living off of the family farm. The government can only hand out welfare for so long when unemployment is high and the economy is bad therefore hurting tax revenue for the government. High taxes and interest rates hurt the economy while low taxes and interest rates help it. Don't believe me? You're watching it happen right now. It's only the Democratic presidential candidates who are screaming about a bad economy. I'm also annoyed by people saying these are only tax cuts for the rich. Here's why: How much income tax are the poor people paying? NOTHING! ZERO! ZIP! NADA! In fact they usually end up with a tax credit. Bush has been busting his ass pushing tax cuts and we've just had our third round of cuts. With less people on welfare and more people working that also increases tax revenue for the government. Hey the economy is good. I just got a big fat bonus with my last paycheck. Thank you Mr. Bush!!!

Lets see. Bush inherits a slump economy. Bush does a tax cut for the middle class (the 'tax cut for the rich' is bullcrap) for the middle class, gives checks to companies to encourage them to stay in America, gets blamed for the Enron collapse because Lay was his friend and contributor. The terrorist strikes caused the unpredictable economy to nearly collapse. The DOW fell 600 points the day it reopened. The government began rebuilding the infrastructure of the military. Thanks to Clinton, the military was reduced in it's budget. Why did we have a huge surplus during the Clinton administration? Higher taxes and a large reduction in the military budget, and some cash from the Chinese because of his selling of our some of our nukes.

This is a huge issue. I know how hard it is to find a decent job nowadays. I'm not going to blame Bush exclusively for the bad economy, but a lot of things do need to change. Tough penalties should be imposed on any corporations and executives who participate in fraud. Also, there should be tax breaks for companies that hire workers and CEO's should be held to higher standards. How can a struggling company sign a CEO for a billion dollars (with stock options), then the first thing he/she does is downsize to "cut costs"?

Its been said that Bush runs the country as if he were a CEO. Which is scary since he was a failed CEO of three company's that went bankrupt under his lead. So here's where I believe the Bush economy is going: Corporations downsize, don't pay taxes and buy politicians. The politicians deregulate to favor the corporations and run up a huge deficit to build the worlds most powerful military, which bankrupts the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO. The middleclass is destroyed and becomes a very cheap slave labor force. Corporations are now free to globally exploit the people, destroy the enviroment and destabilize governments. America is a banana republic run by a handfull of corporations and to hell with the economy.

The importance of the economy is immeasureable. It effects everything. Crime,employment, poverty, etc.,etc., And Dubyah's done screwed it up. Hasn't been this bad in about..oh..ten, eleven years.

It is not the proper role of a government to interfere with the economy.

Anyone who denies the strong importance of the economy as a top issue facing the US is putting their head in the sand. A bad economic plight causes crime to skyrocket and no escapes unaffected. Running up deficits only causes other countries to become stronger at the expense of your own. Let's face up to the fact that two million Americans have lost their jobs, social ills are multiplying, and it's time for politicos to stop dodging responsibility for this.

this most improve

Since Bush stole the Presidency, most of my friends have lost their jobs, I've had to let several employees go, and nobody wants to spend money.

Considering that the economy in this country is not in good shape at the present time, I would have to say that it is a very important political issue. Many Americans have been laid-off from their jobs and are having great difficulty finding work. It's a bad situation that's going to take more than just presidential policy to fix.

circle them thar wagons boys! Start repealing all that free trade stuff and nafta. Punish all those companies that moved to other countries to increase their bottom line at our expense. Nationalize all foreign properties here in the U.S. The depression is right around the corner. Me and mine are prepared to ride her out.

Since all Government is the collective incompetence of a society institutionalized and designed to assure that the incompetent don't die out from the logical results of their own stupidity and to guarantee them employment, it really shouldn’t have anything to do with the economy aside from getting out the way of the consumers and producers.

Before 9/11, there was a slowdown, after 9/11 there was a recession, after Enron & Worldcom, there was a full recession borderong on a depression. What did FDR do in the depression -- he followed the Kynesian formula: he took money from the super rich and gave it to the the poor and middle class, who usually spend what they make. He "primed the pump" with defecit spending on the infrastructure. How many overseas choices does anyone see in their 401 (k)? The middle class and working poor don't have a choice -- they have to spend or invest their money here. The wealthy, on the other hand, can put their money wherever they see the best return. They also tend to hold on to their capital -- thats why they are wealthy! GW, on the other hand, seems to be following the "Enron loot and bailout" strategy. Waste all you can on a big, expensive missile shield and more cutting edge military hardware for an already saturated armed forces (a tad less than the REST OF THE WORLD TOTAL). At the same time, help out Kenny and his buddies with tax cuts on both INCOME and WEALTH that total 43% as a REWARD for STEALING from everyone else, so that the deficits and debt get bigger than EVER. Who's gonna pay for those when the social security bubble bursts in 2010? Big suprise! The next generation of poor and middle class taxpayers, assuming they have anything that Kenny and his buddies didn't take the last time they felt like they needed another plush estate!

definitely more important than gay rights, for example......

Call Michael Porter of Harvard Business School to help out Bush in the economic direction of the country. Porter is the man of the moment!

This is the biggest problem, the state of the economy generally dictates what the federal government can do about most other problems. The coomon thought is that its good for the economy to have a republican president or republican congress, while not totally true, that line of thinking does have its virtues. So why is it that Bush as a republican, is increasing federal spending to new heights with very little going into social programs, the deficit is going to go through the roof. While raising federal spending he decreases taxes for the rich, what is he doing? I really hope someone takes us off the course that we seem to be heading in.

Its is getting better as we speak. Really, it isnt totally the Republicans fault for the down economy (not recession, like those liberals think). Bill Clinton should take share of the blame, he screwed the economy over, along with al-Qaeda.

of course the economy is important..

There is not enough being done to stimulate the economy. Politicians aren't doing anywhere near enough. What do THEY care -- as long as THEY make lots of money -- about the poor, jobless, homeless, etc.? They're all old and set in their ways and never seem to come up with any good, new ideas to make the quality of life better for ordinary working people and poor folks.

Really, economic issues should not be the major role of the politicians. That job should go to professional economists. There should definitely be more of a discerning between politics and the economy.

The Economy is certainly an important political issue. It is unfortunate though that so many people think that the President has such a large effect on its health. There are so many factors that go into the well being of our economy, the Presidents words or actions are only a very small percentage. For those who think Bush is cause of our current woes, your just misinformed by emotional spouting by those upset that he won. First off, economic change does not take place in a span of a few days or even a few months. It takes several months and even years for changes in the marketplace to effect the total economy. Look back to the Clinton administration; the question is not why Greenspan had to reduce interest rates, the question is why where they raised to begin with. Secondly, the Government has no control what so ever, over how and where people invest or companies forecasting and manufacturing processes. The largest ingredient in our current economy is over aggressive sales forecasting, resulting in larger than needed inventories that are now stranded in warehouses. Now this is where I will say the President/Government does have impact, but still not control. When you look back at the last years of the Clinton administration, they clearly either ignored the data or flat out lied to the public when they said “all is fine” because it was not. Any statistician will tell you that after 7 consecutive and directional data points you can establish a pattern. I’ll tell you if you look at the national and international debt accumulated by the U.S. government, Corporations, and individuals over the past 8 years there is a staggering pattern of spending that clearly shows warning signs of out of control spending by all of us. But, look at the time it took for the “all is fine” comments to take effect; at least a year or more. Another problem we are having in our current economy is inexperienced investors and pure greed. Our economic structure was built on investment strategy and planning, not snatch and grab stock transactions. One of the major issues Greenspan is facing is trying to figure out how to make adjustments in our current economy where millions of stock transactions can be made instantaneously by emotional uninformed investors. I’m sorry but there are no financial or economic tools to aid any one in forecasting non-logical emotional investment strategies. Another prime example of poor investing is the money lent by major corporations to these start up internet and telecom companies. If you read the business plans of some of these companies who received millions in funding, you would be sick knowing companies you bought stock in gave money away so frivolously. The forecasted revenues some of these companies came out with sounded more like science fiction than mathematics. Sure we were in a booming economy but to forecast 30-50% growth year over year for a long term is plain foolish. There was no historical financial model that would support these pie in the sky forecast. The thing for us to all understand is that the economy is cyclical always has been always will be. We are in a low period just as we were in the late 80’ early 90’s, there were highs and lows all along the way for years prior. Our economy is still strong where it counts, in the foundation. We have the knowledge and technology to successfully manage both the highs and low periods, that is what makes our structure so great. A low period such as this in some countries create civil unrest and civil wars. If your not happy with the economy in its current state then don’t get upset with Bush, Greenspan or anyone else in the Government. Be upset with corporate leaders like Rich McGinn who lie to Wall Street and investors. Be upset with your neighbor for making instant stock transactions based on emotional babbling instead of sound research. Be upset with yourself for increasing the overall debt by misusing and overspending on credit cards. Be upset with the Clinton administration for not keeping the public informed of our true patterns and economic trending, which led corporate spending in the wrong direction. Be upset with the corporations who listened to the Clintons of the world and did not do their own homework. The most important thing for us to do right now is to be patient. During the great Stock Market crash, there were a lot of people jumping out of windows, if they had thought long enough to buy when stocks were low for long term investments would have enjoyed long and prosperous lives.

It is because Dubya, spouts doom and gloom and the sheep of this country, follow. Will the real Stupid Bush, Please Shut Up, Please Shut up.

You go Snufy Smith!!!! Well writen!!!!! I have read a few of your opinions and cant wait to see more.

Greenspan's folly of early 2000 -- those multiple interest rate hikes to stifle inflation (which we haven't seen signs of since 1982) -- at least sets the stage for GWB to score a major victory with his across-the-board tax cut. It's funny that none of the Democrats (who try to credit Clinton's tax hike of 1993 with the long economic boom he inherited) are proposing a gov't spending stimulus. I guess "we're all Reaganites now" (to turn a phrase that once was applied to Keynesian economics before it was exposed as bankrupt in the 1970s). It's very important that the U.S. continue its economic growth, since that is always accompanied with a higher quality of living, more individual opportunity, better health all the rest. GWB's recipe of free trade, stable money, lighter regulation, and supply-side tax cuts is the way back to growth!

Now that we have had eight years of Clinton-Gore to ruin the hard work of the Reagan years, let's see if we can beat the recession that started a year ago with some good old fashioned THINKING instead of heart-string pulling.