Currently, the dismal state of the economy is on everyone's mind. Today, CNN released a poll stating that three-fourths of the U.S. think we're in a recession. The recent sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase for a mere $2 a share has done little to curb these economic worries.
Anyone who's done any traveling in the past year or intends to relatively soon knows the worth of the dollar is practically zilch. Signs of an impending recession? Are we already in one? As tuition-paying college students, the economy affects us a great deal.
According to the CNN story about the poll, "Seventy-four percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey say the economy has entered a recession. That figure is up from 66 percent who felt that way in a similar survey last month. The number stood at 61 percent in January and 46 percent in October."
It's no surprise then that the economy remains the key issue in the public's mind.
By a 2-1 margin, it tops the Iraq war as the No. 1 issue for Americans in their choice for president, the CNN story said.
Considering the economy has now eclipsed the Iraq war as the issue of most importance to the public, I'd say things are looking pretty dire.
According to a recent Associated Press story, both Democratic presidential candidates are sounding off on the state of things as well.
"Our economy is in a shambles," Obama said at a town hall meeting at a community college near Pittsburgh, according to the story. "This economy is contracting, it is heading toward recession. We probably already are in one."
Also according to the story, he later said the economic stimulus package signed by Bush needs to be supplemented by enacting this year the tax cuts for middle-income Americans that he had earlier proposed for the first year of the next administration. And he hinted that, if market conditions continue to deteriorate, he might even reconsider his call to roll back Bush tax cuts on capital gains and dividends.
Clinton, meanwhile, told reporters in Washington it was a time of economic "stress and uncertainty" and said there was "urgency to continue the action that was started yesterday."
But I think there's still reasons to be optimistic. Apocalyptic proclamations of another Great Depression may be running rampant right now, but I like to think that at least I can look forward to moving into a nice, cozy tent when the job market plummets and I can't afford that penthouse pad. A tent pitched on my parent's property, that is.
