[xerces]

Hi all,

I've been living in NYC for 2 years now. Over the last 3 months, there has been increasing mentions of Depression and the escalating financial Crisis. It's gotten to the point where every Rag Newspaper and local TV channel is mentioning it every day.

But here's the thing. The papers report massive unemployment across the board, but there are still very few physical signs of it. The most obvious signs are of course:

1. People moving out of Condos and Apartments every day.

2. Noticeably more homeless people on the streets.

But most stores are still open, people are still going out for the holidays. It just boggles my mind how things can continue to run smoothly in this city even after the core of it's economy(Financial Services) has been effectively gutted? Any ideas from other NYers?

[edit - topic moved from PFTF to Open Discussion Forum - markl]

[Revi]

I am from NYC, and it always weathers things like depressions. There are always jobs there, even if the economy is tanking.

The thing about New York is that there are probably millions of people hovering around the poverty line, while there are hundreds of thousands of multi millionaires too.

A lot of money was vaporized on Wall Street.

You'll be seeing it soon enough.

Those of us out in the provinces can see big problems already.

[Schmuto]

We're here.

[Schmuto]

We're here.

[neocone]

Well.. everywhere is crowded. Roads, shopping malls. And airports were jammed.

Depression? Yeah right... maybe a drop of 5-10% happened but nowhere near the apocalyptic proportions overnight expected by Chicken Littles...

By the law of large numbers even a major crisis now will be unnoticeable...

[outcast]

I find the media often sensationalizes and exaggerates what is happening in the world. They do it because that is what sells papers/gets views. Which do you think would grab more attention, this:

"We're having an economic downturn that will probably last a few years before it gets better"

or this:

"WE'RE ALL F***KING DOOMED! DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111oneoneone"

[IslandCrow]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('outcast', '
')"We're having an economic downturn that will probably last a few years before it gets better"

or this:

"WE'RE ALL F***KING DOOMED! DOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111oneoneone"

[venky]

According to unemployment figures (whichever ones you choose to believe); atleast 90% of the population is still working; although many are afraid of losing their jobs and cutting back on spending.

This is the worst recession in decades, but we aren't at a depression.........yet.

[carini]

This is only the beginning, wait until 2010-2011.

The remaining ARMs, which were sold over the past 1-4 years will be heavily defaulted on. These are people who don't know how to read a contract, let alone do simple math, and will basically all default on their mortgages, I think the estimate is that 75% of all current ARMs will eventually default.

What we are currently experiencing is just the tip of the iceberg.

It's gonna get REAL bad.

[xerces]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schmuto', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', 'I') am from NYC, and it always weathers things like depressions.

[Ludi]

In what way is this a Planning topic?

Mods please move this!!!

[Revi]

Do you think we don't know that NYC is a "bunghole"? Of course it's a bunghole. So is Mexico City, Sao Paolo, London, Tokyo, Mumbai.

Anyone who is from there knows that. It's the first Megacity.

When I was born there it was the biggest city in the world.

The thing about it is that there are still people dropping off there every day trying to make it. It has neighborhoods of people from every country in the world. They are all striving, pushing.

That's why it weathers any economic downturn. There is always somebody coming in below you, so you are pushed up.

I was listening to a couple of Ecuadorians on the subway the last time I was in the city. Except for their conversation being in Spanish it was probably exactly the kind of conversation my grandfather had, but his was in Swedish.

We need there to be people who still believe that if they make it there, they'll make it anywhere.

Those of us from there still have that New York hustle.

We can make it anywhere.

And we do.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'C')ategories are for small minds

[pedalling_faster]

there's still a lot of very wealthy people in New York, maybe millions of them.

same thing at Union Square in San Francisco, not too many outward signs of economic depression.

when Adobe has lay-offs, i think that will be a sign. since they're in the content-creation-software business - and have such a diverse suite of products, used worldwide - i expect them to be one of the last companies to take a major hit.

[Pops]

So when was the downturn and how much excess was there before in NYC or anywhere else anyone here could relate?

In the little world of 65 years ago only a relative few had enjoyed enough to miss the few easy things.

In the big world of today, where a relatively large percentage enjoy a relatively large amount of things and still have a credit line, it might take a while for reality to sink in.

I'm not suggesting there will or won't be a second great depression, just saying if one feels the urge to do nothing about the prospect you may find yourself at the end of the soup line.

[JoeW]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '
')I suspect your comments re NYC have nothing to do with the building, rather the immigrants? So will this thread deteriorate into another racist ramble?