How do you rate the economy?

[AintSkeered]

Don't worry be happy. In direct response to the question of whether or not the troop surge was working after several months, General Petrais said, " put the Champagne in the back of the fridge for now". Brilliant war strategy!

[trx#9]

You guys are forgetting something....the BORROWER.  If you're going to make the largest purchase of your life, how about doing some research and figuring out if you can afford it, what happens at the end of 5 years on an ARM, etc, etc.  In my mind, the biggest blame is on the borrower, if you believe the salesman, you're an idiot.  If you got in over your head, your an idiot.  And why is my tax dollars going to bail out these idiots, I did the right thing, i didn't get in over my head, why am I paying to bail everone out.

Because just like welfare, food stamps, and tons of other programs that allow idiots to mooch off the rest of us...... we're the ones paying taxes funding the bailouts, programs. We're always the ones penalized. The super rich avoid such liabilities with lawyers and loop holes, the poor are the ones being bailed out, and the middle is left holding the tab. (for the record I'm not saying all on welfare, foodstamps , or assistance are idiots - some are great people out of work or in bad situations - but many are those born and bred on the system taking advantage )

All our income taxes goes straight to the federal reserve banking just to pay our accumulating interest from our governments spending.

[SWAMP_DONKEY]

In the aftermath, the country sits as follows. First, the mean FICO score for the USA is now 70-90 points lower. Second, the real estate market is completely deflated and flooded with crap houses in crap subdivisions with pretty names like "Oak Creek", "Heron Strand" or take your pick of an endangered species and then add some natural feature as the last name. These houses are not going anywhere and are on the market for 20-30% less than they were originally purchased for. Good luck selling this crap.

Third, in the wake of the deflated housing market, the US dollar suffers. This is a no brainer. Fourth, because banks are tighter with their money, spending overall decreases....which means a weaker dollar. Fifth, the middle class takes it on the chin because is the class most impacted by the mortgage debacle. Sixth, the judicial system becomes swamped with thousands of foreclosures being filed in every county/township in the USA on a monthly basis. And seventh, the smart investor who kept his head above water and didn't get greedy during the five year "lets buy and flip" craze makes out like a bandit because he's in the best buyer's market in recorded history.

LMAO, isn't that the truth.

  In other words...It has to improve greatly JUST TO SUCK!!! Agreed.

[JackL]

Hops shortage: Higher beer prices on tap?
Posted Apr 08, 2008 @ 10:30 AM


FRAMINGHAM — Time was, when economic worries got you down, you could go to the corner pub to down a pint or two and drown your troubles before heading home.

Thanks to a worldwide shortage of hops, however, a beer might not offer much solace these days.

Hops are a key ingredient in brewing and hop prices have nearly tripled in the last year, brewers said. That price rise could soon affect the price you pay at the tap.

"Right now, if you call a hop merchant, they pretty much don't have any to sell you," said Daniel Kramer, the brewmaster at Owen O'Leary's Restaurant in Natick.

What, exactly, are hops, and why are they so important to beer?

"Hops are flowers," Kramer explained. "They grow on a vine, and they add two things - they add bitterness and aroma. If you have un-hopped beer, it's kind of out of balance."

In the last year, he said, prices for the tiny flowers have skyrocketed.

A year ago, Kramer paid anywhere from $3 to $8 per pound, depending on the variety of hops. Today, those same varieties are going for between $8 and $20 per pound. If the trend continues, prices may also soon be going up for customers at local brew pubs.

"If you walk into the liquor store, you will notice the price of beer is going up all around," he said. "I think we're in a fairly good position, but we may have to raise our prices a quarter a pint. That's really a decision the owner makes. I'm in charge of making the beer, he's in charge of making the company profitable."

The cause of the price spike, said Paul Gatza, director of the Colorado-based Brewers Association, is that there just aren't enough hops to go around.

"About 10 years ago, a surplus developed," he said. "There were more hops available than were being sold. That surplus has now been used up."

As those surpluses pushed hop prices down, many farmers responded by cutting back on production, hoping to plant more profitable crops, Gatza added. With the surplus of a decade ago now drained, brewers are turning to farmers, demanding more production on fewer acres.

"Now we find ourselves in a situation where there's not enough being planted to cover the world demand for hops," Gatza said.

This year's crop was particularly poor, he added, as weather decimated crops in Eastern Europe and England, putting further strain on hop supplies.

In an effort to stave off some of the increases, brewers like Kramer and Aaron Mateychuk, brewmaster for the Watch City Brewing Company in Waltham, have signed pricing contracts with hop merchants - the beer-making equivalent of locking in home-heating oil prices before the winter hits.

Mateychuk, though, admitted Monday the sudden economic pinch has been frustrating.

"It's a little ridiculous and stressful," he said. "We're craft brewers, but now we're worrying about numbers.

"At the beginning of this year, I was just a mess over it. I didn't want to get into the (commodities) market, I wanted to brew beer for a living."

The high price of hops is only part of the story, though.

Many brewers are also struggling with the price of another key beer ingredient: barley.

A 25-kilogram bag of the grain which cost about $30 last year today goes for $50 or more, said Dan Eng, owner of Barleycorn's Craft Brew in Natick.

Like other brewers, Eng has struggled with the question of whether to increase his prices to offset the increase.

"It makes for difficult times, yes," he said. "There's only a certain amount you can increase. We try to pass some of it on, but it's not possible to pass the entire amount on. Some of it we have to absorb."

Though he believes most of his customers understand the reason behind the increases, Eng admits business has fallen off lately.

"I would say at least 15 percent," he said. "But the general malaise in the economy is more to blame. Combined with the increased prices of everything across the board, we're getting squeezed from both ends, and it does make it difficult."

[rancher1]

Plan and simple the economy sucks a%$ big time and it doesn't look like its going to get better any time soon as long as we keep paying for the endless war instead of making the ones that wanted us to go there its one thing to kill terrorist but make the iragi people pay there share they do have the oil that we are protecting.Im going to vote for mickey mouse he would be the best candidate.


Don't worry the pope will save us all   

[AmericanRobster]

Economy isn't good at all right now. I am lucky to have a job that is gonna last at least 2 to 3 years. I am in the construction industry and many of the guys that I know that are in it are hurtin.