• Replies 19 replies
  • Subscribers 95 subscribers
  • Views 888 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Question to people aged 40+

pins

I am 29, and I watched a documentary about the 2008 financial crisis, and of course I was too young in 2008 to really "feel" it. It got me to think about our current economic climate, so my question is relatively simple to those who were adults in 2008:

Is the world right now in an actual really, really tough time economically, or am I and my peers just "feeling" and "seeing" it because we're now adults? For example, did you feel similarly, or perhaps even worse, during and after 2008?

Sorry if I sound ignorant, just don't know how much I can trust my own instincts as I tend to overdramatise things presented to me by media.

Parents

  • Recessions and bad times are personal. If you are affected they matter greatly, if you are not affected they largely pass you by. Even in the good times if you have no money you'd not be able to tell the difference.

    Things are not as bad as the 70s, not by a long way. There is no cold war. Cost of living is a problem but I don't think it is the same, lifestyles are quite different now. Unemployment is not too terrible, there are jobs out there. The problem is actually more down to the technology, you get jobs by talking to people and networking, not applying to bots.

    I lost my job at the start of the financial crisis and it took 14 months to get another, and only by taking a 50% cut in my overall package, something 15 years later I have still not made back up. I had a few weeks money left at the end and a lot of debts that needed servicing. I'd started showing symptoms of solitary confinement as I couldn't afford to go anywhere. The COVID lockdowns 12 years later gave me burnout as I couldn't do it again.

  • in reply to Stuart333

    I think you make an interesting point. I'm not old enough to compare to any other financial crises but the way we live is very very different to even my childhood, let alone before I was born. The cost of living isn't only a crisis because there's a financial one, we've almost created an unsustainable way of living. The majority of people not only have to pay a mortgage but most own a car which are now so hi-tech and expensive, phones, laptops, other gadgets. Obviously there are still some people that get the bus and don't own hi-tech stuff and they might still be struggling which is fair. But I think a lot of people will go omg I can't afford these basic necessities when actually they're probably paying for a smart phone and Netflix and a lot of things that aren't necessities yet we now see them as that.

    It is also a very good point that it is difficult for individuals to compare a crisis because it depends how directly they were affected.

Reply
  • in reply to Stuart333

    I think you make an interesting point. I'm not old enough to compare to any other financial crises but the way we live is very very different to even my childhood, let alone before I was born. The cost of living isn't only a crisis because there's a financial one, we've almost created an unsustainable way of living. The majority of people not only have to pay a mortgage but most own a car which are now so hi-tech and expensive, phones, laptops, other gadgets. Obviously there are still some people that get the bus and don't own hi-tech stuff and they might still be struggling which is fair. But I think a lot of people will go omg I can't afford these basic necessities when actually they're probably paying for a smart phone and Netflix and a lot of things that aren't necessities yet we now see them as that.

    It is also a very good point that it is difficult for individuals to compare a crisis because it depends how directly they were affected.

Children
No Data