Why do some Americans believe that the economy is in shambles?

The economy is booming, the Dow Jones has reached record highs, taxes are lower, the unemployment rate is lower than it was during the Clinton Administration. Yet if you believe the polls out there most Americans believe that the opposite is true. Does anyone know why this is?

Why do some Americans believe that the economy is in shambles?emergency loan

Because the only ones talking are the ones who are against President Bush, and his policies. Since the majority of people (not just Americans, b ut all people) are too concerned with their own lives to give the issue it%26#039;s due dilligence, they listen to whatever it is they see on TV and believe it.

BTW... you forogt that minority buiness ownership is at a record high, housing starts are up- overall- housing purchases are up- overall- minority home ownership is up, consumer confidence has dropped some over the past year, however is still up overall.

Why do some Americans believe that the economy is in shambles?

loan

Most Americans are so focused on the price of gasoline and oil that they can%26#039;t see anything else. You gave me some economical information that I didn%26#039;t have, so thanks.|||They are stupid and still PI**ED OFF that they LOST!!!|||Becuase they people society listens to are liars, and those who speak truth and wisdom have their words fall on deaf ears.|||left wing liberal media|||Because for %26quot; some Americans %26quot; their personal economy is in shambles, And when polled they don%26#039;t seperate personal economy from the countrys economy.|||Enron.. WorldCom.. Tyco was also booming and I.. some years prior to their going belly up.. predicted that those companies as well as others(yet to be caught) were corrupt and what we saw i front was only a thin piece of paper ready to burst.. Well.. it did and I was not the least bit surprised.....I, now, feel that the economy is in SERIOUS shambles right now even though... yes, even though the news is thast the economy is going great guns.. I know it is now and I fear that within the coming 2-3 years, my fears will come to light.|||Cause they listen to Liberals.|||$3 a gallon gasoline does not make for a good economy. It impedes travel and kills vacations. I don%26#039;t know about you, but I sure don%26#039;t have any extra cash laying around to do much like movies and restaurants. Won%26#039;t say who%26#039;s fault it is, only that I don%26#039;t have the free cash I did 6 years ago. No new jewelry or alot of other things I could afford then. When the luxury money disappears, the economy is bad, and mine has evaporated. Glad it%26#039;s better where you are.|||why do you retards keep saying that unemployment was lower than in the Clinton Administration... Clinton%26#039;s low was 3.9 in Oct. of 2000... what%26#039;s the closest Bush has been? I think it was like 4.1 when he was sworn in... and it%26#039;s not been that low since...

to answer your question... most people don%26#039;t play the stock market... and gas and insurance costs are WAY up and the average pay for the middle class (if you include inflation) has dropped...

I would cite these, but you don%26#039;t cite anything and you wouldn%26#039;t believe me if I did anyway... it%26#039;s not that hard to find most of this stuff anyway...

oh... and tax cuts help those the wealthiest the most... the lower 50 percent of Americans only pay 1 percent of the taxes, due to their low pay... so tax cuts don%26#039;t help...|||Because those people went into high debt with credit cards during the Clinton administration. Now they are so deeply buried in bills that the economy just seems sluggish to them.|||most of Americas money is owned by the chines and the like tied up in bonds and stuff

trade balance unsustainable

debt ratio way out of whack

plus more

wanna hope debts not called in real soon

bid trouble if did

being very vague i know do reserch to find facts and be suprised|||Perhaps because the dollar is weaker than the Euro and has lost strength against other currencies as well.

Just a thought though, if it%26#039;s weaker does this increase the number of foreigners that are willing to travel to the USA and cause them to buy more, thus strengthening our economy?

And if our unemployment rate is lower than when Clinton was in office, does this mean that the illegals are not adversely affecting the economy? Or does this simply mean that people that once had well paying construction jobs are now forced to work 2 and 3 lower paying jobs so the unemployment rate is giving a false picture?|||chubbyguy makes a great point. The economy, the stock market, jobs are all doing great at the aggregate level. But in a great numbers, most American%26#039;s are overexteded beyond what they can afford. They got snookered again in this housing bubble (just like they did in the internet bubble). I know several people that turned to flipping, and the only flipping they see if that middle finger from the loan companies. It aint%26#039; only the rich buying those plasma, DLP, and Hi-Def tv%26#039;s at Best Buy. I work with this HR chick who drives a Mercedes, and she makes no more money than I do. But hey, she does look HOT in that car. I know a teacher that buys $200 jeans. She lives in an apartment, drives a Benz also, but hey, YOU and I will work our asses off for her retirement. Cheers.|||They are usually the down an outers. They have failed to advance through their own bad choices and need to blame someone other than themselves.|||the americans who work in retail don%26#039;t think so. I used to work at a local cellphone store and business was booming. Now i work for a moving company and we have so many people moving we don%26#039;t have enough people to handle all of them. The economy is good when all i have is a highschool diploma and i started off at $10 an hr. The only people on unemployment and wel-fare are the ones who want to be. Bad for the Democrats to say such lie%26#039;s but that%26#039;s a Dem for you.|||Six months, at the outside.

The %26#039;economy%26#039; is booming because people mortgaged their grandchildren%26#039;s lifetimes to pay for supersized drywall suburbia shanties, and now, the GNP looks great because those same people are feeding fuel into their SUVs to drive to work.

The economy is booming because the price of oil is propping up the value of the dollar. That%26#039;s why the PTB freaked when Saddam Hussein wanted to sell oil for Euros.

The people know the economy isn%26#039;t doing as well as the news reports say because they are seeing their savings go down and their credit card balances go up. The standard indicators of the economy don%26#039;t show this.

The government stopped reporting one key factor; the size of the money supply. This means they don%26#039;t want the %26#039;street%26#039; to know how bad things really are.

Everything on the stock market is based on the perception of perpetual growth. The perception comes to a conflict when the true oil production peak is determined, or when oil hits 85 dollars (my number from the sky ).

Buy less, buy local, get to know if you can be a better neighbor or a better shot.|||If you are a ceo of big oil things are great, but middle class Americans are feeling the pinch of high gas prices and good paying jobs going over seas. I guess you are not middle class. You should feel lucky.|||You are obviously way behind on your news; News Flash: Latest headlines: DOW OFF 121 points. The unemployment rate is higher than it has ever been, just because it goes down a little doesn%26#039;t mean it is getting better relevant to what it should be. The Clinton Admin. left us with with the highest overage ever in the budget. Now look, we%26#039;ve got the highest deficit ever. Wake up you dumb as* Repub. and smell the rotten roses. This country is going to hel* and you shut your eyes to it. Oh........, and we are in a war that is costing billions a day and there was no REAL good reason for starting it and no good reason for staying in it.|||Economy is such a big word. Lets take a look at what the middle class should really be talking about. People are saving less, college cost,health care cost, gas prices,food cost,energy cost, Bush said that the deficit is shrinking but the truth is that large corporations made record profits last year so we took in more taxes but the people are still waiting for the trickle down. The dollar%26#039;s has dropped 12% from 2002. But most important is the gap between the rich and poor compared to today with the 50s 60s and 70s you will then see that %26quot;We the People%26quot; is under attack by large corporations.|||I think you might made one key mistake - taxes, unemployment rate and the stock market index are only some of the indicators of economic health, not all of them. You might have gotten the chain of causality wrong with the taxes thing, lower taxes are generally used to stimulate the economy by encouraging business activity. The cause -%26gt; lower taxes, the effect -%26gt; better economy, not the other way round.

The US economy does have its challenges, though, due in a large part to very high levels of consumption over and above what the US actually produces. This is not necessarily a bad thing until you remember that the trade deficit is currently being financed by countries like China and Japan who hold a large amount of US dollars in their reserves (I think China has something like US$ 900 BILLION in its reserves) now. At some point, these countries are going to want their money BACK. Consider that China had only US $ 100 billion or so in 2001, and I leave it to you to wonder if this might perhaps pose a risk to the United States economy.|||According to the Bureau of Labor, inflation is increasing faster than wages.

Most Americans don%26#039;t make a lot of money on the stock market.

Sure they are employed but Walmart doesn%26#039;t pay very well.|||Many of the answers here are about calling liberals names, but let%26#039;s look at some facts:

While it is true the total economy is doing well on paper, but there is something the Republicans are not taking into consideration.

Like in the 1980%26#039;s the government is borrowing huge amounts of money. Like Regan, Bush is running things on a credit card. In my house, I feel like I%26#039;m doing well while I%26#039;m maxing out my credit cards. But sooner or later we have to pay it back. And that will mean higher taxes sooner or later.

Over all there has not been a tax cut. Federal taxes went down but most state and local taxes went up so as a whole the government has not left any more money in my pocket.

Average income is rising much slower than inflation. So while unemployment is low, more people are making less relative to the cost of goods.

Higher energy costs works like a defacto tax. I have to get to my job every day and I have to drive to get there. If gas was $10 a gallon, I would still have to pay it to get to work. I have to heat my house in the winter and I have to have electricity. I have to pay whatever they charge.

This is the stuff Rush won%26#039;t tell you and Bush hopes you don%26#039;t notice.|||Because some of us have lived through periods which were similar to this and recognize that, in the last two years oil has tripled in price, steel has doubled, copper has gone up by a factor of 4, the interest rates have tripled in the guise of holding down inflation, wages have remained stagnant for a decade, our manufacturing base is moving offshore, domestic auto production is in the tank, our government is prosecuting a war using deficit spending such that the federal deficit is the greatest in history, the deficit is being funded largely by China so we cannot press fair trade, the unemployment rate is artificially low due to the number of people who quit looking for work or have exhausted benefits, Dow Jones just took a major correction, orders for durable goods are starting to sag, to name a few. In the next year or two we will begin to compete with the government deficit to borrow money which will raise interest rates even further destroying the mortgage market. The big increases in the economic figures will be seen for what they are, a result of inflation with no major increase in GDP.

Is this enough of an indicator why working people who have seen it before ( 1980 ish) are not convinced by the smoke and mirrors.

Here%26#039;s an idea for you, max out your credit and then deal with double digit interest again. Its coming.

By the way that was a result of Ford lifting wage and price controls and nothing that Carter did.|||You don%26#039;t know the half of it! That BS about they got to have taxes is a GIANT lie! Alaska pays and doesn%26#039;t tax their residents. The state makes all the oil, minerals, ores, ect. belong to the residents by law.

The companies that take the Earth%26#039;s good pay the state for them and the money goes into a fund. The fund pays ALL the state costs and PAYS everyone $1000 p/yr.

The Alaska state constitution claims common heritage rights of ownership of oil and other minerals for the people of the state as a whole. Citizen dividend checks are distributed every year in Alaska out of the interest payments to an oil royalties deposit account called the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) created in 1976 after oil was discovered on the North Slope. The APF is a public trust fund - a diversified stock, bond and real estate portfolio - into which are deposited the oil royalties received from the corporations which extract the oil from the lands of Alaska. The first citizen dividend check from the interest of the APF was issued in 1982 and was for $1000 per every person for everyone in Alaska who had resided in the state for at least one year. Annual citizen dividends have been issued every year since then, for a total of more than $23,000 per person.

In 2003, each of the nearly 600,000 Alaska US citizens (residents of Alaska for at least one year) received a check for $1,107 from the APF. The total amount dispersed was $663.2 million. The $25 billion investment fund%26#039;s core experienced stock market losses which led to the dividend%26#039;s decline this past year compared to the several previous years. The amount was $433 less, a 28 percent drop from the 2002 pay out of $1,540, and a 44 percent decrease from the all-time high of $1,964 in year 2000. The amount changes based on a five-year average of APF investment income derived from the bonds, stock dividends, real estate and other investments.

Alaska relies on oil for about 80 percent of its revenue and has no sales or income tax. Alaska state government is mandated to invest 25% of its oil revenue into the APF while the other 75% of oil royalty revenue is dispersed to other government funds to finance education, infrastructure and social services. If 100% of Alaska%26#039;s oil royalties had been deposited into the APF, it is conceivable that the CD this year could have been about $4,400 or $17,600 for a family of four. But then there would have been no funds for roads, education and other public services and no funds available to run the state legislature - a libertarian dream fulfillment or a social and economic disaster, which one we will never know. If state services were to have been maintained while 100% of oil royalties were deposited in the APF, there would of course have been the need for income, sales and other taxes on wages and production.

If the feds were doing their job the nation would have a system like this. Then with 50 states doing the earthrights, the feds could PAY us $50,000 p/yr and NO TAXES!

I took them patented 100% clean fuel-less electric power, and they snubbed me! Because I told them I wanted to build enough to supply the world with clean US made power. I wanted to take 1/3 of the foreigner鈥檚 power bills and make a fund like Alaska and pay every head of household from the fund. That could be another $50,000 p/yr for every household.

Fuel-less means it%26#039;s CHEAP clean power. .05c p/KW!

Clinton; was to busy(gettin BJ%26#039;s)

Gore; %26quot;wished me the best of luck%26quot; (Mr. BS movie)

Newt; %26quot; Promised his full support%26quot;( to sell it for .01c on the dollar)

Newt%26#039;s pissed at me for not taking Ga. Power%26#039;s offer, he thought it was a great offer! Hell the patent cost more than their offer.

I%26#039;ve never gotten any gov support for this.

I did spend $50,000 in DC trips!FOR NOTHING!

The feds are Fg you for $100,000 p/yr, AND making you pay taxes.

Ever hear even one politician say anything about these things? Hell no, they talk like taxes are the only way. They ALL know what Alaska does! This makes them liars!

They tax you, but let EVERY foreign company pay NO taxes on their goods they sell here. ALL the goods are sold then bought on paper in a foreign port to make a no profit paper hoodwink on the tax. This makes them cheaters!

They stole your grandmother鈥檚 retirement by spending the SS money they had no rights to. No we face getting nothing for our SS payments. This makes them thieves!

They give our tax money to foreign companies and they build factories with it. They then write laws to send our jobs overseas. This makes them backstabbers!

They get up and make speeches to get elected and they never say a word about how they will get every dime of lobby money to do whatever big biz wants them to. They get $100,000 a pop for every issue they told you they would do different. This makes them corkscrewers!

They make back room deals and take graft to put pork into every law that goes by their desk. Then they scream in speeches, do photo ops, and news show saying what a great job they%26#039;re doing. This makes them dirty dealers!

Now lets total this up; they%26#039;re liars, cheats, thieves, back stabbers, corkscrewers, and dirty dealers. Why HELL they%26#039;re Flim Flam Men! Just like in George C. Scotts movie %26quot; The Flim Flam Man%26quot;!

They call themselves the %26quot;Honorable%26quot; soandso? HEll Flim Flam Men have NO honor what so ever! They%26#039;re crooks, criminals for god%26#039;s sake!

The smoke and mirrors plus their BS propaganda hoodwinks the population to what is really happening. Watch the BBC news, this stuff is all over the BBC news. They have film of every official. I mean ALL of them, going in and out of Abramoff%26#039;s restaurant in DC, that鈥檚 where lobbyists do the big money deals to F you! They go almost every day! ALL of them!

We had better smell the smoke! The house is burning down and we%26#039;re asleep.

Get registered! VOTE! Vote for anyone that鈥檚 not a Democrat or a Republican! They have ALL the power, and ALL the control. They must bear ALL the responsibility for their gross mismanagement and abysmally poor judgment!|||Because it wouldn%26#039;t fit the template to admit that the economy is doing well. And people tend to believe what they read, so, if politically motivated people write the economy is in the crapper, people will automatically assume, that while they may be doing well, their neighbor must be suffering... so, being good hearted, they believe that it%26#039;s not doing well, as if the admission would absolve them of their guilt for doing well.|||People assume the worst because living/working in a market society(capitalism) creates something most people don%26#039;t like = uncertainty. Capitalism, in general, has always baffled the general public since Adam Smith first mentioned it in %26quot;Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations%26quot; in 1776. When things get bad most people look for the government to make things better, it%26#039;s fairly difficult to maintain strong-faith in markets and the %26quot;invisible hand%26quot;...and makes it impossible to conceptualize what will happen in the future. For example, did people in the %26#039;60%26#039;s and %26#039;70%26#039;s conceptualize a world connected through %26quot;the internet%26quot; and dependent on the personal-computer? Or that Communist China and the (former) U.S.S.R. would learn to trust capitalism? I would confidently say no.

Today%26#039;s world is %26quot;smaller%26quot; thanks to globalization and the internet, and it is also moving at a faster pace. The United States is not the supreme economic power (relatively) as it used to be, but does that mean things go to shambles? Let%26#039;s me ask this question: %26quot;Has the world economy progressed? Are its people living better and longer than ever before?%26quot; Yes to both questions...if you look at the bigger picture there is no doubt to that.

What underlies most Americans worries, i think, is that other countries are taking larger slices of our %26#039;pie%26#039; (in terms of oil-market, jobs, and money)...mainly fears coming from newly prosperous China and India. Thus, many things that used to be more affordable for us, like gas, are more expensive because of the new players in the game of capitalism. Let%26#039;s not forget that those two countries have LARGER domestic problems than we will ever face...mainly distribution of wealth, food, JOBS, and other resources for almost 2.7 billion people!!