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Housing prices are plummeting and the financial industry's meltdown threatens the whole U.S. economy. No wonder Americans are feeling more than a little tense. How are you handling all the economic uncertainty? Is the stress getting to you? msnbc.com wants to know what you think.
Who wouldnt have anxiety ?!! Your job, your medical bills, and prices of gas !
#1 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 11:37 AM EDTHow does one cope? True its stressfull times - I break away from TV to find time to watch a movie (I rent now instead of going to movie theaters to save money), I allow myself 1/2 hour to read each night before I go to bed. Also do 30 minutes of excersize each day as I am getting along in my years.
But I keep saying to myself, THIS YEAR WE WILL ELECT A PRESIDENT WHO SPREADS HOPE INSTEAD OF FEAR. So if you REALLY want to releave stress on yourself, vote for Obama who wants Peace and Prosperity instead of MCCAIN WHO PREACHES FEAR... the FEAR tactic has worked for 8 years, I hope America is prepared to move beyond that now...
OMG - realize that Obama adds stress to at least half of those polled in the nation... Talk about a man who WILL deplete your retirement savings and suck up more of your earnings through taxes...YIKES!!!
Get Real - thanks - your FEAR MONGERING is really helping things. (not)
The listed ways to deal with anxiety are not going to solve people's problems or anxiety rather. Telling yourself that you're afraid engenders fear and encourages stress. Physical proximity to other people in an attempt to solve your fear will only hinder your ability to solve it for your Self. Exercise is only a short break from the fear itself. Eating certain foods will help, however; one must continue to eat balanced for an extended period of time before benefiting from the life-style change. Distractions are exactly that and do nothing other than distract! Sticking to your regular sleep schedule is the best advice in the ad.
You (the people) need to understand something: This is OUT of your control. The system is moving freely doing what it has always done and you are happy when it is well and distraught when it slumps. You are basing your happiness on things outside of your control. This is WHY you are anxious and fearful.
Go to the mirror and love your Self. If the entire world collapses at your feet … choose to be happy. Base your happiness on what is inside you (internal). The more you base your being on external factors (outside of your control) the more vulnerable you are to suffering.
And, the only entity in your control is your Self.
If you can comprehend what I am giving you, use it. If you cannot, continue to suffer. It's either you see it or you don't and if you don't, you will … eventually.
t.A. EMP
#2 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 1:23 PM EDTYour post says it all... two toes up from DA....
When I read that Warren Buffett had moved his money into cash, I did the same, and I have missed the stock market downturn. Finanacial consultants all, always, tell people the same thing "over enough time, the market beats the bank rate of return". Unfortunately, these are not normal times.
#3 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 1:36 PM EDTOn the other side of the coin, I always remember the movie BLADERUNNER... my numbero Uno movie (if you havent seen it, watch it...) and I remember this floating car sailing over a sign that says the DOW JONES at 25,000 plus....
This has stuck in my head to this day... Yes the market is in a terrible down-turn and possible re-establishing itself at a more accurate rate, but yes, over time, stocks do go up... I have profitted on a reverse buying mode... i.e. the stocks go down, buy more, the stocks go down again, buy more again... (on a small scale) and then WAIT.... eventually the market goes back up again and I sell... repeat this on a small scale and you will be okay... NEVER CHUNCK all your eggs in one basket but playing a little percentage of your money will pay over time...
I bought some more stock today....
Well, I don't think I could make myself be happy if I lost my my job, my home, what little money I have. I feel sick all the time.
#4 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 1:40 PM EDTDiane - to worry and stress yourself is only accomplishing one thing... self-destructiveness... actually now is the time to BUY if you have a little money you can invest. The market always overreacts... Bailout *is* coming... perhaps not until Congress gets its act together, but everyone in the know has said not to panic. Media is working on panic and shouldnt but they are... Media makes NEWS of everything, even to the detriment of its viewers. Its their job to get people to flock to the TV... I could go on and on about how they manipulate the people strickly for news sake, but I think everyone by now is aware of this fact.
Let me remind everyone that in the late 70's and early 80's the Dow was down around 700 points... I wish I had had money to buy at that time, but alas, newly out of college, I had no money to invest... if I did, I would have purchased. I would be a millionaire by now. This downturn is being MANIPULATED by the media and the last thing to do is worry and fret. For one reason there is nothing you can do so why torture yourself. Sit tight, enjoy a book, enjoy a movie, stop watching the media and stop stressing. just trying to help....
Here is what bothers me about the bailout: Bush and Paulson, Bernanke, etc. all talk about the dire things that will happen if nothing is done. What they do not do is really, truly, explain how this plan will prevent the dire things from happening. They just keep repeating how bad things will get if nothing is done. That does nothing to convince me that this is the right thing!
The head of the International Monetary Fund said he wanted to see this pass, so we could get past the presidential elections. Obviously he views this as a stop-gap, not a solution. Why would we do this without any explanation of how it will solve things???
#5 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 1:41 PM EDTWhen you have a cousin, George Walker, a honcho at Lehman Brothers like Bush does, predicting the worst is just salvation for family from the poverty these greedheads don't mind dumping on those who had the least to do with the decisions. When Silverado went down, Daddy Bush did the same for son, Neil in the S&L fiasco.
It's all about accountability. A nation cannot survive without it.
I'm just sitting back and coping with the financial fiasco that is going on. The idiot politicians in office are all adding their own pork to this bush bailout plan. G.W. did such a great job of misleading the public on W.M.D.'s in Iraq he is now perpetrating the same type of fraud on us "WE THE PEOPLE". It is sad that our own president has done more damage to this country than Osama Bin Laden. With the crop of idiots we have running for the office of POTUS what else can we do but sit back and cope with this bunch of morons.
#7 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 1:57 PM EDTYes, the stress is getting to me. My blood pressure is on the rise, I am losing weight rapidly. I have had type 1 diabetes for some time and am having trouble with that since stress is a huge factor in control. I have been out of work for some time and living in a very small town that has been hit hard by this economy there is little option for employment. The last job I applied for took four months to get through the process and 200 other people put in for the same position. I just found out yesterday that I was not hired. The job I applied for before that, I was against 75 other people. So, we are now having to make hard decisions about filing bankruptcy or facing foreclosure. The cost of gas is prohibitive for a long commute. So although I appreciate theArtistEMP's post and agree that these things are completely out of our control, it is still difficult to not worry about my children eating or having a roof over their heads. It is all like watching a train wreck in slow motion.
#8 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 2:00 PM EDTLMS - how about walking outside - looking at a beautiful sky, pretty clouds, a gorgous sun, and think to yourself, I am ALIVE, I can overcome. GET OUT OF THE HOUSE, GET AWAY FROM THE TV, STOP PANDERING TO FEAR MONGERING MEDIA, and stop listening to a fear-mongering Presidential Candidate... Take deep breaths, perhaps see a doctor and look at a perscription to help overcome your anxiety and nervousness (if getting older ask doctor about a seratonin drug as your brains slows down on producing seratonin the *uplifting* hormone your brain produced when you were younger, it drops off around 40ish) dont give in to FEAR, INSECURITY, AND THE MANIPULATING NEWS MEDIA... get help and dont despair... the market is adjusting and will surive and rise again like a PHOENIX...
I disagree with ArtistEMP. The only control any of us have is over ourselves. Begin there, and you've got enough to distract you from the mess you didn't create. Membership in the fear club is cheap. Some of us have yet to regurgitate the Reagan years. It's a cloak a lot of us have worn as Main Street's finest, strongest, most resiliant. We survived Reaganomics. We'll survive this. "Get busy living or get busy dying." There's no in-between. Life is always better than the alternative under any circumstances.
In 1929, cowards became sky-jumpers. The rest managed one day at a time.
I wasn't too freaked out until the senate passed the wall street bail-out. Pelosi calls it a main street "buy-in"...if that is so, why is it more important to make sure the fat cats get the cash and not the needy people out there who have lost their homes and jobs. a lot of good would be done if the money flowed the other way...bottom up instead of top down. Oh yeh, the car industry is suffering too. losses of 30% and so forth. dealers say it is because people can't get loans from banks. I stopped by my bank this morning and asked if I could get an $18,000 loan for a new car. guess what....no problem at all and at 5% too. It is so unfortunate that we will be paying for this nonsense for years and years and lots more of us are going to lose our homes and livelyhoods. don't you feel better knowing that at least the fat cat ceos and bankers will still be able to afford their vacation homes and yachts.
#9 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 2:05 PM EDTI was broke before it started will be broke when its over no stress here just lowered hopes and dreams
#10 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 2:12 PM EDTWE THE LEGAL AMERICAN TAXPAYING CITIZENS NEED TO REVOLT BY VOTE!!!!!
I am not for either party and I am ashamed we have let our trusted politicians get us into this mess..But here is who is giving away our SS..
Social Security Facts > > Just in case some of you young didn't know this. > It's easy to check out, > if you don't believe it. Be sure and show it to your > friends. They may > need a little history lesson on what's what . And it > doesn't matter > whether you are Democrat of Republican. Facts are facts!!! > Our Social Security > > Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the > Social > Security (FICA) Program. He promised: > > 1.) That participation in the Program would be > completely voluntary. > > 2.) That the participants would only have to > pay > 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual > incomes into the Program, > > 3.) That the money the participants elected to > put > into the Program would be deductible from > their income for tax purposes each year, > > 4.) That the money the participants put into > the > Independent 'Trust Fund' rather than > into the > General Operating Fund, and therefore, would > only be used to fund the Social Security > Retirement Program, and no other > government program, and, > > 5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees > would ne ver be taxed as income. > > Since many of us have paid into FICA for years > and may now be > receiving a Social Security check every month -- > and then > finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of > the money we paid to the federal government to > 'put > away', you may be interested in the > following: > > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > Q: Which political party took Social Security > from the > Independent 'Trust Fund' and put it > into the > General Fund so that Congress could spend > it? > > A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the > democratically- > controlled House and Senate. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Q: Which political party eliminated the income > tax > deduction for Social Security (FICA) > withholding? > > A: The Democratic Party. > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Q: Which political party started taxing Social > Security annuities? > > A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting > the > 'tie -breaking' deciding vote as > President of the > Senate, while he was Vice President of the > U.S. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Q: Which political party decided to start > giving > annuity payments to immigrants? > > AND MY FAVORITE: > > A: That's right! > Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. > Immigrants moved into this country, and at > age 65, > they began to receive Social Security > payments! The > Democratic Party gave these payments to > them > even though they never paid a dime into it! > > > ---------------------------------------------------------- > ------------ > > Then, after violating the original contract > (FICA), > the Democrats turn around and tell you that the > Republicans want to take your Social Security > away! > > And the worst part about it is, uninformed > citizens believe it! > > If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of > awareness will be planted and maybe changes > will > evolve. Maybe not, some Democrats are awfully > sure of what isn't so. > > But it's worth a try. How many people can > YOU send this to? > > Actions speak louder than bumper stickers. > > > AND CONGRESS GIVES THEMSELVES 100% RETIREMENT > FOR ONLY SERVING ONE TERM!!! > > > A government big enough to give you everything > you want, is > strong enough to take everything you have. > -Thomas Jefferson
#11 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 2:15 PM EDTLast night, I put my two daughters [22 months and 3 months] down to sleep. I gave them kisses and asked them to forgive us for mortgaging their futures. May God help us - because the goverment has bailed on its people :(
#12 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 2:51 PM EDTLast night, I put my two daughters [22 months and 3 months] down to sleep. I gave them kisses and asked them to forgive us for mortgaging their futures. May God help us - because the goverment has bailed on its people :(
#13 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 2:53 PM EDTI'm pretty freaked out about the economy. I don't have a 401K at work, so I've been contributing money to an IRA on a yearly basis. This will be the first year, that I won't have any money to spare. I thought this was the responsible thing to do, you get a taxbreak for contributing and it seemed logical to me. Turns out that it wasn't. I wish I would have just kept the money under my mattress. Now the transmission on my car broke, and after paying for a new one with a credit card, I'm one little disaster away from bankruptcy, or at least it feels like that. What happened to being part of the middle class? I didn't find your advice very helpful either, I have too much of a conscience to distract myself away from my problems. Going to lunch at least once a week with someone? Are you kidding? I scratched going to lunch a few months ago, it's too expensive. I'm thinking of cancelling my AFLAC insurance and skipping my dentist appointment...but will that really help me out of this mess? I've been trying to eat better and used to shop at the organic supermarket, but it's back to rice and beans now. I don't feel there are a whole lot of things left to cut back on...some advise on that might be more helpful!
#14 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 3:04 PM EDT
I dont know if this helps, but I would like to post some MEDICAL ADVICE HERE... When prozac was released, IT WAS THE WONDER DRUG. Alot of people are aware of this, but alot are still not.
100 years ago, our average life-span was down 20 years less than what it was now... go back 200 years are more and people only lived to the 40's... it was the natural life span without medical intervention we have now....
EVOLUTIONARY WISE our brain starts to reduce SERATONIN OUTPUT in late 30's and early 40's - this is the drug that gives you uplifting high thoughts... exhillaration, feelings of warmness, etc..
In this day and age medical discoveries have pushed our life-spans far beyond what evolution had done. Keeping this in mind, as you get older, you will start to have more problems developing UPLIFTING THOUGHTS... its due to LACK OF SERATONIN... and thats what prozac the first seratonin increasing drug did... Now they have other seratonin producers and drugs that block seratonin uptake in the bodie (same thing increases seratonin)
If you are getting older and have problems feeling uplifting thoughts, see your doctor, dont keep trying to fight it on your own. Its nothing to be ashamed of, its simply your brain is not producing enough seratonin as it should AND ITS OFTEN HEREDITARY... most all the psychological problems of the past have now been shown to be seratonin depletion. Remember the old shock-therapy treatments they use to do - modern medicine now shows it stimulated the brain to produce seratonin (i.e. this hormone was not known to exist back then, its a late 80's discovery)
I post this for so many who not aware of this hormone problem. Its not a reflection on you if you have hereditary low seratonin levels, its nothing to be ashamed about. See a doctor, explain your symptons i.e. anxiousness, depression, nervousness and often even suicidal thoughts you cant dispel (which is often a sign of really low seratonin levels).
I only wish I had learned of this five years earlier in my life. My doctor was very reluctant to mention or prescribe this medicine and it angers me it took talking to my sister one night who explained all this to me - I went into the Doctor and FINALLY SHE SAYS "SURE, WE CAN TRY THIS" and within a month I was feeling NORMAL again... often you start at 20 mg of a seratonin producer and if still feeling anxious and nervous, you step it up to 40mg - this is the usual dosage for most people - sometimes as you get older, you even have to step up to 60mg.....
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep this in mind as alot of this bad news and fear-mongering can push you over the edge and this is a medical problem NOT A MENTAL PROBLEM that you need to address....
p.s so readers dont think I am crazy - I invite other seratonin users to post after me providing proof this is a major medical problem simply because of the fact modern medicine has pushed our natural life-spans far beyond what evolution originally dicatated...
If my post can save *one* person from continously torturing themselves unneedlessly, than I can count my post successful!!!!!!
I personally will continue to do the same things I did when the economy was roaring. Go to work, pay bills, live life. If this does get as bad as "they" worn then I'll live through that too. Just about every generation has its own struggles but they always somehow make it through it and end up being stronger for it.
#15 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 3:21 PM EDTThis statement I endorse - and stay away from FEAR MONGERING TV that is manipulating you into worrying too much... take ANYTHING you see on TV with a grain of salt designed to punch your buttons for certain reactions...
I'm so fed up and tired about worrying about the economy. Last night I had a hard time getting to sleep because I'm worried that my paychecks won't cover all my bills after I pay rent, put gas in my car and by a few groceries to get by. I keep my bills at a minimum which helps but it seems like no matter how much I try and get ahead, something comes up - car maintenance, etc. I made several cutbacks months ago but if something doesn't happen soon, I'll have no choice but to give up my little apartment and find a shelter (seriously!!)....I'm not normally the 'woe is me' type but lately, it just seems like there's no escape.
#16 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 3:26 PM EDTWe have no one to blame but ourselves. Some time over the last 15 years many of our people went from just having a decent life, better than the majority of the world to living BIG. Now we must pay for our money mismanagement mistakes. These are the times your grandparents and parents told you about. We will survie and I hope be much smarter for it.
#17 - Thu Oct 2, 2008 3:34 PM EDTif - today is NOTHING like the great depression - I have heard stories from my Mother who was a little girl during those times. They actually had to drive through back-roads and shoot rabbits that jumped across the road in order to eat...
Its not going to kill America to have that latess gadget, that new big-screen TV, staying at home to watch movies instead of going to the movie theaters, cut back on eating out, cut back on going out to drink, etc. etc. etc.. perhaps bad times are coming (know one is God to know REALLY what is going to happen) but I do know ONE THING. We will survive, we will make it, and while we may be facing an economic downturn for a while, its just a re-adjustment.
And seriously consider who you will vote for this time around- do we want another four years of FEAR-MONGERING and manipulation by government, or do we want a President who wants HOPE AND CHANGE for the people.... I really feel Obama is in this for the people, and McCAin is in this for himself. This is what has catipulated Obama so quickly through the ranks to Presidential Candidate - there ARE people (including RON PAUL) who honestly want a better America and are doing this for the people and not for themselves.
If we keep printing money to bail out the rich you will find out first hand what a depression is.
What we have now is taxation with out representation plan and simple I called TX congress people to day to ask how they could sale out the tax payer of the USA and how they could not vote as the people ask them. All I got was crap. they are saving us by voting in a raise for them self and crap that is crazy.
It is time to vote them out for the grace of god vote out every one that voted yes to this bail out and yes it is a bail out. They have just sold us and our children and grand children and great grandchild down the river.
just giving money with out fixing the problem make no sence they said they could not control what the CEO get and the banks don't want to have them over look them but give them the money.
New flash DA Obama vote for this mess. McCain did to so where is the difference both are tied to this money.
We need to stop this mess now. they just keep printing money that make it worth nothing and giving away the tax paying working class and the rest of the county oh ya and the loans we have good god we are broke and now will have to pay for generation to come so they could bail out there friends and lobbyist crooks the group of them vote them out every dang one that voted yes needs to go.
Excuse me? Omit me from those you want to blame. I live simply...so that others may simply live. No McMansion, no rooty tooty SUV gas guzzler, no trips to the manicure parlor, hairdresser or shocker....department stores to shop till you drop.
You can blame the ostentatiousness of those who thought money was an endless supply. Does any CEO really need to earn $245 million until a company goes bankrupt? Get real. These CEOs are nothing more than extortionists. Don't blame the entire population for the ostentations of the almighty Bush 1% he pumped so many tax cuts into for the past years.
Just imagine if we had allowed him to privatize Social Security, Medicare and Disability like he planned. His Wall Street titans salivated over that one. But, "No" isn't a word spoiled rich brats like to hear.
more beer :)great for stress
#18 - Fri Oct 3, 2008 10:32 AM EDTI like this news!
#19 - Tue Oct 7, 2008 11:47 AM EDTYou're in Easy Mode. If you prefer, you can use XHTML Mode instead. |
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It's a long cultural norm for the desired first child to be male. Of course, that never took into account what women personally deep inside wished for. It must be a hardwired thing to want to reproduce ourselves, so women wishing for a female child isn't that hard to understand.
A 55-year-old man comes to the National Health Service in Great Britain with chronic kidney failure. If he cannot afford private care, he is told to go home and put his affairs in order.
I am not sure people plumping for universal or socialized health care understand that services under such a system by necessity or rationed in such a manner. Under such a system, $300,000+ medical care for premature and at-risk babies is likewise out of the question. The choices are made by the numbers.
Please, read these posts you asked others to participate in, and at least have the common courtesy and decency, to remove posts from illiterate and obnoxious people that have NOTHING OF VALUE to contribute, such as:
"Lost Yankee".
Thank you for your time.
I live in suburbs of Chicago and went to the ER this past Friday, I have never had to go to the ER for anything, I was up for a rude awakening, I am an unemployed, educated, US citizen and had to use the public hospital "Cook County" an hour away from me, I went at 9pm thinking it would be a 2 hour wait, I hadn't eaten anything, I was not seen until 4:15 am in the morning, I met a lady who had been there since 4pm Friday afternoon and a gentlemen who had been there since 11am Friday morning they both were waited on around 3am right before me, the disturbing thing was that the area is considered to be mostly African American however, the majority of the people there were Hispanics. Hope I never have to go there again the wait was to long.
ARE YOU TOTALLY INSANE OR WHAT?
I have set for 12 hours, and watched a man nearly bleed to death and there was NOT a DR., or a nurse to be seen!
Heart attck victims brought in by ambulance, set in hallways.....for hours on end.
THIS THREAD WAS A JOKE RIGHT?
OR, DID YOU DO THIS INTENTIONALLY, BECAUSE YOU ENJOY TO READ ABOUT ALL THE PAIN AND SUFFERING AND A MEDICAL SYSTEM THAT IS TOO BUSY SCREWING, WACH OTHER IN THE LOUNGE ROOMS, TO GIVE A DAMN?
Give us a break, and go write something that WON'T piss people off!
I'm not certain what planet Ms. Weaver did her research on but the average wait time in Greater Boston Hospital ER is about 7-8 hours.
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