Liberal,

You make a lot of very good points and I would probably have to agree with you in that there are several thousands, if not millions of people that are in serious debt and are now stuck paying them off...My mother in law is one of them, so I know all to well about some of the spending sprees that people have gone on..My grandfather went through the great depression and always taught me the value of a dollar, so i do cherish it and understand through his eyes how bad it got...i would like to think that our government is smart enough to not let history repeat itself, but you never know..what i honestly think will happen is, because of all the debt people have put themselves in we may go into a slight recession, but in due time we should be able to bounce out of it..

When I see unemployment at 4.5% and companies are still hiring, I believe the economy will be fine..Set back, but fine..I think with what we have gone through, schools should make finance and budgeting a pre-req number of courses to educate our next generation in order to not make the same mistakes we did, because some people just don't understand the word saving and spending what you don't have..One lesson my grandfather taught me that I still use to this day is, if you put a purchase on a credit card, you should have the cash in your bank account to pay it off..I have always lived by that, so I don't go out and buy ungodly amounts of junk that I know I couldn't pay off if something were to happen to me..But I do try to help the economy where I can..When there were talks 6 years ago about a recession after 9/11 occured, the first thing I did was buy an American made car..And that is kind of what I am talking about..Not to go out and just spend to spend, but try not to stop how you live your life because there are talks of a recession..

I was recently laid off and have been without a job for almost 2 months, but last week I did finally find a job and things are good.. It was the money I saved that helped me and my family get through this..Unfortunately, most people aren't like that or can't afford to..

And as an FYI, I am not republican or democratic..I am just me..I have my own theories and opinions and don't let political parties sway my decision one way or another..

And you are slightly older..I am early 30's...I was just a teenager when the last recession occured in the early 90's..

What evidence do you have that we are going into a recession/depression? This country has been in debt to its ears as long as I have been alive, hasn't gotten any better, and we have never really had anything that other countries need/want..Well, maybe rice and medicine!! I realize that we need to do something to get out of debt. I agree with that 100%, but that is not going to put us in a recession. And like I just said, we have had a higher import cost then export for as long as I have lived and I don't really see that changing in the foreseable future.

What puts us into a recssion is money being spent by you, me, society, companies/corporation, and the government. In some cases, people may not have the money, which is understandable because all societies have upper, middle, and lower. In other cases, people freak out and don't buy anything because of the fear of a recession because of these lovely news articles.

I explained it in my last post if you read it. If you and 2 million other Americans feel that we are going through a recession and stop going out to eat, don't buy that TV that you wanted or that new car you wanted, then that will kill the economy. IE, Olive Garden loses customers, then they have to layoff their staff, then those people don't go out to the concert they wanted or don't buy that new CD they wanted, then the person making the CD doesn't get the revenue they were expecting so they don't go on a vacation to Disney World, then Disney World is affected because no one goes there and they layoff half their staff..See how the cycle works and how we can get into a recession?

Companies/Corporations are doing the same thing. They have many openings and needs to fill within the company and they have frozen hiring because of this, which in turn doesn't allow someone who needs a job get a job, or allow someone to get a pay raise that is much needed. It is a vicious cycle.

Let the government figure out how to get out of their debt because they are not helping us out of ours without a penalty of some sort (like flushing your credit down the toilet making it impossible to get a loan).

Now I will say there are some areas that are going through hard times. Parts of California are going through some really rough patches and they are feeling the effect of the high costs of homes and salaries not matching the rise in homes and other costs. I have seen Alabama mentioned on here, but as far as I knew, Alabama has never been a propering/wealthy state in general. But this is common even when the society is doing good.

I don't want to argue with you because you and I both have our opinions on the matter, but this is my perspective and how I see it.