Anyone else NOT been affected by the economy?

[opebo]

Of course it hasn't effected me or anyone else who works for a government or quasi-governmental bureaucracy.

Probably the only benefit has been the gas price thing.  I put way less money into my car, and I find that I'm always overfilling the motorbike - here you give the station attendant your payment - usually around $1 to at most $2, but when I give him the $2 amount (70 baht), he can never get it all in the tank, and has to give me change.  So I'd say I spend about $5-6/month in the motorbike on gas, and maybe $35-40/month in the car.

[opebo]

Only in that I desire to throw my radio out the window whenever I heard "OMG RECESSION OMG RECESSION OMG OMG OMG!!!!!1111". As if this really was the 1980s.

What?  The current situation is tremendously worse than the 1980s recessions.

Not being affected is not something to brag about, especially since you're not affected because you had made no effort to invest.

Hah, what does 'effort' have to do with 'invest'?  Let me assure you that most people do not invest because they have no money, not because of some fecklessness.

But since most people here are mentioning how it effects their family.. I'll just mention that while as a bureaucrat such things do not effect me, my businessman brother is in a very bad way, though not yet bankrupt.  Poor bastard has even considered taking a job - after reaching nearly 40 never having had one! 

And the decrepit parents are sitting pretty - with more and more people getting poorer, being a slumlord is just as good a business as ever.  Money's just rolling in.. literally - through a little slot in the door of the office.  You should see it.  We call it the 'Free Money Box'.

[opebo]

Yes.  I work at a Ford dealership.

If that's true then tell me why the V6 engine in my F150 is such a piece of crap. And why Ford lies about the problems with the gaskets and hydrolocking issues.

Ford v6s suck and always have. You should have did your research.

"Should have did"?  Really?

Mike Keller may not express himself beautifully, but so far every post I have read of his is absolutely correct.  Anyone who knows anything about automobiles knows that Fords, while sucking generally, have two extreme weak points - 1) transmissions, and 2) V6 engines.  By contrast most General Motors V6s are as durable as anything the Japanese have ever made.

Some advice for persons buying cars - visit sites like www.carsurvey.org or www.epinions.com and simply research what actual people's experience has been with actual cars, and you'll know exactly what to buy and exactly what to look out for. 

(oh, the caveat here is that you have to buy used cars, which is the only thing a reasonable person would do anyway)

[opebo]

@Opebo: I was referring particularly to Ireland, by the mid 1980s we had roughly 15-20% unemployment, we now have just over 7%. Yet the media is acting like this downturn is THE WORST THING EVAR!11. And I know you won't care.

* - The culture of investment is weird. Up until very recently almost no-one in Ireland invested in the stock market outside of certain affluent groups (which includes my parents).

I actually thought of that after I posted.. But this is the worst recession since the 30s in the US, certainly.  Also it is worth pointing out that no significant investment occurs in the US outside of the upper classes.. just, as BRTD points out, very small, pathetic investments that don't make any difference anyway.