The news media back in blighty is full of the credit crunch and how America is to all intents and purposes in Recession now.

That's all well and good from 5000 miles away but what's life like on the ground? Everyone I know in the states is still in work, although paying more for gas and although concerned, not running for the hills yet.

What's your experience? Bad enough to hold off moving for a couple of months?

It's not going to be any better in a couple of months, more likely worse.

How bad the recession affects you depends on your own situation. In my case it just means my gas is more, my husband and I have fairly recession proof jobs and we don't own a home nor are we thinking about buying one. Because this country is so big there tends to be less of the 'public sentiment' kind of thing you would see in Britain. Different areas are hit differently.

A couple of months will make no difference really; as Jo said it is likely to be worse but probably not noticeably so.

It all does depend on your personal situation; for instance, have you got plenty of money saved up for a rainy day/proceeds from a UK house sale, etc - that would make a big difference over coming here broke with no jobs, say - especially in the current climate.

It depends on what your field is and location.

My spouse works in IT for a financial information company (with offices worldwide) and their main clients are the investment banks and brokers but also regular banks and financial institutions too.

Many, many people working in these companies (Wall St, Midtown Manhattan) are very nervous indeed, many of them live in the local NY metro commuter towns where we live....everyone has their heads down and where possible are putting in excessive hours as job losses are expected in the coming months - they're all trying to hang on to their jobs (mindful of what has happened with Bear Stearns) and bonuses have been slashed.

If/when jobs are lost in the investment banks etc. then it has a knock-on effect to the company where my husband works as contracts often get cancelled.

...for more info peruse the website of the New York Times newspaper.

my OH is in oil and gas and as usual that takes a turn up when the rest of the country is spiralling down. he is busy busy busy i'm pleased to say.

btw the uk news media is all doom and gloom ..negative, negative reporting and rubs off on the peeps.

"America" is a big and diverse place too. Here in Oregon, our financial news doesn't match the rest of the country at all.
But we are hit by different slow downs at different times than the rest of the country, so it depends on your local economy really.

Depends on your profession and your location.

I got made redundant three weeks ago. The company had to shrink from just under 70 to around 15 people. Meh.

Where I work, there are no lay-offs, rather we're having "performance-based reductions". In fact we lost one member of our group this week.

However, this is not totally related to the economy, more to the fact the company lost a couple of big contracts, and a certain aircraft manufacturer not being able to design a plane that can fly...

My job is not affected by the economy, but my life is.

Gas prices have gone from $1.20/gal when I moved here 4 years ago, to $3.50/gal. The price is still no big whoop compared to the UK, sure, but then again, most people in the UK can walk to the shops.

The exchange rate is the real bitch. 4 years ago it was $1.7:1GBP. Two months ago it hit $2.11! i.e., any debt in the UK and you are screwed. The rate is now hovering around $1.99, and getting slowly better as the knock-on hits the UK and europe.

.... and what R word would that be - Ruh-roh?


As in "Ruh-roh, Reorge!"

It's just the gas prices that are effecting me. I work for a small software company as their only full time developer and the work keeps piling up so think my job is pretty safe.

I'm probably less affected than most. I work for the State government, so the job is fairly secure. Mortgage is fixed rate and I've no debt apart from that.

Having said that, my stocks haven't been doing too good. Oh well.

House values dropping.
Cost of living going up and wages stagnating.
Everyone is in hock up to their eyeballs.
There's a complete idiot in charge.

Hang on, are we discussing the UK or the US?

Very true .....

I posted something similar in another thread ....but basically the weak US dollar has been a bonus for two big manufacturers in the midwest. Cat and John Deere are booming with overseas sales ...thus the company I work for is also booming ..
Sure gas and food prices have risen....but don't they always

House prices in this area never really did match the national trend so there has been little downturn ....

Going through the tax return and I can't help but notice that a lot of fixed costs have gone up. Gasoline, as mentioned.. when you live in a huge geography like we have, the miles add up for doing nothing. Home insurance.. that's up nearly 25%, for doing nothing. Electric is up, don't even talk to me about heating oil (just so glad I live in a mild climate) and food prices are definitely up.

But hey! As long as there's a Big Sale at Bed, Bath & Linen's vs Things and we can use a coupon, we'll keep the economy afloat!

You would think someone would notice that it's cheaper to send a tractor half way around the world than build one there and think, hmmmm.

With housing I think people are just nervous and acting very strange around here. The market is still very localized and quite strong, but I got a letter from the bank last week reducing the amount of my HELOC due to 'lowered house prices' (I still think my original loan assessment is correct) but I also read in the paper yesterday that they are getting out of the mortgage business, so I don't blame them for tightening things.