Parrothead...you got that right and it's*****scary!

Everytime I drive past Goodwill the parking lot is packed!

The stores are not as full as they used to be and those shopping are having a hard time parting with their money! You can just see it on their faces!

Plus, the stores are still trying to get rid of the Christmas inventory...people are not buying it to put away for next year like I have seen in the past.

I have also noticed (WalMart) that the food prices are raising and they are moving around inventory to make the shelves look full.

Just look at all the money he spent for that elaborate stage during his acceptance speech!

And BTW, I voted for President Bush twice and I don't have any problem looking in the mirror! Let us hope and pray that those who voted for Obama can say the same in 4-yrs!

The unemployment stats. do not include 'discouraged' workers who have given up, those who graduate from schools who want jobs but don't find them (and hence go live with relatives or go back to school), etc.

Every economist knows the real stats are worse than the 7.2% UE rate that is computed by the Bureau of Labor.

Could 1000 jobs be lost? They already have been lost, + more.

Local news will not do any investigation & then report their findings. They’re no more than people taking dictation. They print what’s told to them, never what they’ve found for themselves. Reporters my A*S!

Want to know how bad the economy is? Drive by Goodwill & see how full the parking lot is, go to a jewelry stores or pawn shops & see how many people are selling their valuables, ask a local food pantry how many people they’re seeing.

You can’t listen to that worthless Mike Jacoby. All he does is tell you to change your perspective on the economy or that a new pizza shop has opened up & will employ 4 people at minimum wage.

Things are bad & getting worse!

But I have to wonder.

I suggest folks just look at the facts:

The Bush Administration during 8 years, threw away at least 10 TRILLION dollars. Go back and review it - enormous money wasted on Iraqi rebuilding that went to corrupt officials, selling the war with lies, money to to pad various industries that featured crooks in the form of tax favors and breaks, corruption at the Interior Department (in another age, this would make a front-page scandal, complete with a multi-million $$ makeover of the Sec. of the Interior's office bathroom, including monogrammed towels), etc., etc..

All this waste at the taxpayer expense.

Then look at the economy today, and the IMITATION of a 'free-market' that Bush and the Republicans sold to the American public.

Sure, I don't think Obama will solve all these problems. There are too many.

But voters who elected Bush twice should look in a mirror if they want to bla

However, I did not see anything "racist" about his post?

Amusing that anyone who says anything "bad" about the President elect are immediately deemed "racist"...but the first news we heard was how he was the "first Black President to be elected to office"?

Let me clarify tho that even though I didn't vote for him, I support and hope Obama can make the "change" he says he can. I fear he has already realised he is in wayy over his head tho!

Pittsburgh has completely revitalized it's economy since the days of big steel in the 1970s and before. Pittsburgh reinvested in technology and education. Take a look at the data: unemployment there is now BELOW to the national average (not above), housing is affordable, they didn't have a housing bubble like a lot of places that over-developed real estate, etc., etc.

For an old industrial town, Pittsburgh did it right. They learned to change. The powers-that-be in Parkersbug-Marietta could learn a lot from examining the decisions made in Pittsburgh.

But they still have two big advantages we don't: Carneige-Mellon U and Pitt, both of which have turned themselves (especially CMU) into absolutely first-rate technology schools.

That's the point.

That really hasn't been true since the 1950s or 1960s. And it very clearly hasn't been true since the 1980s.

Sorry, get used to the truth.

But reality is reality. Guess what? Boeing (Seattle), Caterpillar (Peoria), and most everything in the Silicon Valley, is one h-e-l-l of a lot more 'vital' to the well-being of American industry than anything on 150 miles either side of the Ohio River from Wheeling to Gallapolis.

That happens to be a FACT, not just 'my opinion', and it has nothing to do with someone being 'better than' somebody else.

But , but the degree to which

Here is my response to Mark Wurtzbacher's statement:

Mark, the door has closed for you and many of your coworkers at that particular establishment, however, other doors are open that need to be taken into yours and the others consideration, for instance moving to another physical area of the U.S. or returning to School for training in another line of work. These doors are open for all that find themselves removed from their positions. I am probably going to be layed off from my job and I have a Plan A and Plan B which consists of school and/or moving. A year and a half ago I saw that the ecomony was staggering a little and put my Plan A to work (returned to school for a recession proof degree) and have not regretted my decis

If that were so true, why have jobs fled this region for 25 years like it was ground zero for bubonic plague?

Think about it.

Almost any industry in California (technology, areospace, agricultural research), the Northeast (center of banking and money as well as more dense industry), or now the new South (newer industrial base) is a more vital target for any sort of nuclear attack than the mid-Ohio valley.

Sure, southern Ohio might be 'more targeted' than Western Nebraska, but so what? It sure isn't all that high on the list. It likely falls below at least 100 to 200 more vital population centers in the USA as a priority target.

Rather, conservatives, reactionaries, and know-nothings like to use this as a characterization of Obama supporters.

That said, our problems will not be solved anytime soon because they have very deep origins. They go beyond housing, and extend throughout many American public policy decisions for 25 years.

To comment on the comment about homeowner responsibility, yes, it is the responsibility of homeowners to buy what they can afford. But it is Banking 101 to lend to the creditworthy, not those who cannot pay. The reason banks and mortgage companies did what they did was they could get the mortgages almost immediately resold and securitized, so their risk from making a bad loan was insulated. That IS a regulatory and policy issue that goes beyond individual responsibility

We are not an insulated nor are we an insolated area. If a nuclear attack were to come about, this area would be one of the most heavily hit area because of all the manufacturing that is done here. Our area is one many important areas of the U.S. that keeps the economy flowing by producing goods and services that people need. Maybe these elected officials, business leaders and economic development officials need to get their heads out of the sand and open their eyes on a daily basis so that they can give the nonbusiness people of this area a more accurate picture of what is going down.

I think that we need to listen to Mike Jacoby when he states that we need to adjust our prospectives. This advice that he has given is very wise indeed!

You really are a very ugly person and you represent what is wrong with America today.

May I also say that it is individuals like you that drove myself and many other voters away from the conservative Republican Party and to President Barack Obama.

As for Obama raising wages and paying for kids to go to college – What’s the difference in that and the taxpayer supplementing the employees at companies like Wal*Mart? I guess the later is OK because you see it as good business practices in a capitalist society.

I will pray for you to find the peace that is so obviously missing in your life Sir.

How pathetic.