Credit Crunch
And The Ordinary Citizen
What has been the effect
of the credit crunch on the typical everyday American? As economic struggles negatively
rearrange the typical American lifestyle the result is a lack of confidence in
the marketplace. As a new president comes into
office in the United States, many people have regained hope that the credit crunch
and all of its disastrous affects on everyday life will be relieved. While this
is not likely to happen as quickly as many people believe it will, the mere hope
that it might seems to be energizing the entire country. The
affects of the credit crunch on everyday citizens has been enormous. More and
more people are struggling not only to pay their bills, but even to maintain their
jobs when so many of the largest businesses are laying off workers right and left.
The result is economic turmoil and a huge loss of confidence in the economic system.
Job Stability It wasn't
long ago that U.S. boasted the lowest unemployment rate it had seen in a number
of years. It feels quite sudden to some people that now millions of people are
not only being laid off, but are sitting at home on government assistance because
there aren't available jobs in many areas to replace the ones they lost. This
is putting stress on the local governments who have to find resources to put all
of these extra people on food stamps and unemployment until they are either called
back to work or find another source of employment. Very
few people in the U.S. can say they don't know at least one family who has lost
a job and is barely hanging onto their home, car payments, and food expenses.
Savings As a result of the
massive layoffs, Americans are consumed with fear that their company will be next.
The result is more money being packed into savings accounts and a lot less dollars
floating into business for goods and services. The credit crunch has changed the
spending habits of everyday Americans to the point many stores are putting out
big sales well ahead of the coming holiday season, expecting that people will
not be spending as much on Christmas as in years before. It
is expected that the next industry to require a bailout may very well be the retail
industry. People simply do not have the money to spend for the most part, and
those that do have anything extra are scared to let it go with the number of businesses
struggling or all out failing. Lost Confidence When
all is said and done, the credit crunch has taken the confidence in the economy
away. People do not feel safe letting go of their money unless it is absolutely
necessary because they do not know what is going to happen next with the credit
crunch or with their own jobs. Watching others lose their homes, vehicles, and
even their retirement savings as banks nearly collapse is enough for even the
loosest of spenders to tighten up the purse strings. Essentially,
this credit crunch is changing the typical American lifestyle and the lifestyle
of many, many others around the world. Years before everyone
was taking the easy money passed out by banks in the form of subprime lending
and claiming to find the American dream with their first house purchase. Today,
many of those same people have lost those homes and are struggling just to put
food on the table.
| 