Bad Christmas Season
 

It looks like this Christmas is going to be bad for most people I know mostly due to lack of money. Some have been laid off or just don't have any money to buy Chtistmas presents. Everyone seems unhappy and sick of being poor. The economy doesn't seem to have recovered yet. I can't believe how miserable people are this year. Very sad... Santa needs reemed up his poop shoot. He sucks!

And I feel exactly the opposite. Gas prices have dropped dramatically. Everyone I associate with is happy and feeling blessed. Reports have shown that unemployment is down. And don't ever talk about Santa in such a demeaning way. Santa rocks in any economy.

We'll I'm glad your cup is half full and I hope you have a good Christmas. But Santa is the pooh so take a big whiff. Almost everyone I know is struggling this Christmas. I give 2014 the finger. Wa Wa....

Most people I know seem to be really happy because there are so many sales going on right now that they are able to buy even more for their families and friends. I am loving the lower gas prices too it really helps. I live in the Pittsburgh area and we didn't get hit too bad here with unemployment thank goodness. Its nuts there are so many tech companies here and they cant find qualified people. I have different places calling me every single day for QA jobs. I tell everybody I know get to get into the IT field its like healthcare there are always jobs.

This is all very dependent upon what part of the country one lives in. The Denver area in Colorado is doing very well, and never really had a recession, which I attribute to various things, but that's more a political discussion.

I hope things look up for you and yours, soon! Merry Christmas!

Denver, too. Technology, medical, science, engineering, luxury food and zillions of new restaurants, organic farms, clothing boutiques, craft beer, even craft ice cream - everything is doing incredibly well here! There are cranes all over the skyline, new rail lines, new skyscrapers, new neighborhoods - it's really quite amazing.

Economy isn't any good also here in Italy, but here gas prices are very high and usually gas stations raise the prices right before Christmas because they know that people must move around in those days.
Me and my family are lucky because we have a natural gas vehicle.
There aren't jobs available in any field because for ANY kind of job that isn't janitor (or the likes of) you must have a degree. You need a degree even to be a teacher or a nurse or a street cleaner, and my poor sister with an english literature degree can't find a job even as a waitress.
We are looking at it in a positive way, 2015 couldn't be worse than 2014 even trying and we're enjoying our lowcost Christmas.

Marijuana is legal.:lol:

Because the tax dollar revenue on the sale of weed is making a HUGE difference. Maybe 48 other states (don't know how Washington is doing their legality) should take a close look at that. Especially the ones that are circling the bottom of the toilet bowl.

I'm just really sad this Christmas. Getting too old to ignore things.

I can certainly relate to that. The holidays always stress me out, and seem to do nothing but put a spotlight on all the ugliness in the world.

It's astounding to look at the differences in our nation's economy. Here in Texas, and especially Austin, we're truly in a golden era for the history books. The recession never really hit here, and 150 additional people move to Austin in particular every single day. Yet employment is at 4%, housing sales & values are skyrocketing, and everyone is prospering. The only bad news is our infrastructure can't keep up. For the time being the energy boom is the rising tide that's lifting all boats in Texas. The extent of it has to be seen firsthand to be believed, and even then, it's impossible to wrap your mind around the scale of it. How long this can all be sustained is another matter. But even if the bottom falls out from under the energy sector, in the process Texas has diversified it's economy to the point where it could weather about anything.

On the other hand, all I hear is gloom and horror from my friends and family in the Carolinas & Florida. My brother & his wife can't keep their kids fed, my Dad is making 1/4 what he did 6 years ago, and my friend Lee hasn't worked in 5 years. These regional disparities are unlike anything I've seen since the Oil and Savings & Loan busts of the 1980s. But this is so much larger and complex than that. What will pull these areas out of the hole besides time? :shrug:

Not quite. The weed tax hasn't even been here a year, and the money from that is for public schools and marijuana regulation. Excessive amounts of taxes collected will be refunded to all Colorado taxpayers in their tax returns each year.

Denver is doing well because of three decades of heavy investments in public infrastructure that make it a desireable place to live and do business - something that "red" states and cities don't seem to understand, in their mad rush to eliminate government spending and taxes, which is really just the fast-track to eliminating jobs and growth.

Christmas and other holidays is not like they used to be with the loss of my parents and sister so in the past 7 plus years I try to keep moving on around this time of the year.

On a happier note like Viv mentioned about the gas prices are cheaper this season and according to the news as they said some of the store are doing great this time around.

Cheaper gas prices do help shoppers with extra cash for gifts and the cost of trucking the merchandise to the stores with cheaper diesel fuel.

On some of the negative news reports on stores are doing crappy .I think they are probably made up just to get the shoppers out to the stores.

This season might be the last holiday season that Radio Shack will be around.
Shoppers found cheaper ways to get their cellphones and cell service then going to Radio Shack .
I used too love Radio Shack in the 1970's and 1980's since I'm a electronics geek.

I love getting together with my family on Christmas. But I'm also thankful another year has gone, like the jasmines of my mind.

Yea I agree .Another year will be gone.Another year that I seen my favorite band on tour .
I'll be heading over my sisters house and my brother in-law and niece, nephew and their friends will be there.

It is nice to see gas prices down. Just wish the food prices would take a dip as well, in my area they just keep going up week after week. Economy down here in SW Florida is doing great for large retailers like Walmart but small businesses and the average "Joe" are still struggling. Being in the food and beverage industry many of our local restaurants, hotels, bars and other establishments have eliminated full time employees and allow staff members to work less than 30 hours to somehow escape benefits and offering healthcare . Basically forces people to work 2 or more "part time" jobs, which leads to more stress in many cases.

With all that said I hope everyone can have a very Merry Christmas and prosper in the New Year.