[TXBSAFH]

Who says it is hot. People I know are not seeing it. Wages are stagnant here.

[Coop]

Only the entire world - minus you and Willie.

[in hoc signo vinces]

You have to look at the nation as a whole...some areas are stagnant, some are on the downside, but many are up...it depends on location and industry segment.

Todays economy, you must be willing to retrain, think outside the box, and move to where the opportunities are.

The economy is good and there are jobs. I work in the Oil and Gas sector...it is crazy hot, a friend of mine works for a DOD contractor, that is crazy hot, another does work in real estate...that is booming.

Your reality aside, you must be willing to look at where the boom is to understand that there is one...and there is one.

In Hoc.

[1rudeboy]

Wages are stagnant here.

Where is "here?"

[sinkspur]

Who says it is hot. People I know are not seeing it. Wages are stagnant here.

You think your boy Kinky can attract businesses to Texas?

Given his anti-everything positions, just how would he go about doing that?

Or, under Kinky, would we just all hang out on Sixth Street, sip on a beer and gripe?

[bkepley]

Who says it is hot. People I know are not seeing it. Wages are stagnant here.

Maybe you should move. I've had a great year.

[Fee]

In New York City, the average bonus for the financial services sector is $ 125,000 in 2005. Merchants and businesses who service these financial workers see massive pick up in business. The Northern NJ, New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County see pick up in wages and jobs. So it still depends on where you are and what part of the economy we are looking at. High tech is going thru transitions as new products (ie. ipods, flat panel TV) are displacing or replacing old tech products, meaning the tech/engineers are changing jobs from one product division to another. If one wants to protect the wages of nontech/tech workers, we need to look at immigration reform and outsourcing disincentives. The only people who have secure jobs are involve in law and executive services (no one ever outsourced a lawyer or CEO).

[doc30]

People where I work feel the same as you do. Salaries have been 0.5 to 1.0 percentage points under inflation for the last 4 years. Health insurance costs have gone up dramatically. For two of those years, take home pay, even after raises, has gone down because of health insurance costs. Add to that raises less than inflation and people are getting squeezed. Home owners insurance just doubled for most people here in FL. It is difficult. Changing jobs is a good idea, but the ratio of upwardly mobile positions (with greater paychecks) are small compared to the number of people seeking upward mobility. My company cannot even attract the engineers and scientists we need to our location because wages aren't high enough for the inflated housing market. The only bright side is that my employer increased bonuses by about 40% so there is some bright outlook as long as the company does exceedingly well. But bonuses cannot be relied upon as steady income.

The bottom line is that if people are making less and less compared to inflation, there is less disposable income available for consumption and the system will reach a breaking point. The only bright side is that increasing cheaper imports from China is somewhat of a relief. But that also feeds the negative feedback loop. The cheaper goods cause more job losses in the U.S., and puts more downward pressure on wages. Eventually, the price drops will not be made up for the loss in wages and even Chinese goods will beome less affordable.