If you weren't listening to the news; if you had no access to newspapers, radio or TV; if you went purely by your personal experience and what you observe in your community around you; what would you say is the state of the economy?

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"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

I've asked this myself Cookie because I still see people shopping. I still see people eating out. I still see people spending a lot of money at the grocery store on things like wine, flowers, etc. People are still driving new cars. I know these are all purely surface observations and I have no clue how they're paying for this stuff with.

But I also see a big division between the haves and the have nots especially at the grocery store. It just seems like some are doing great and others are just barely getting by. No in between.

Though I'm going to add that I really feel we are that in between right now. And it seems that we're the only ones!

Without the media or Internet, I would still notice that the prices of groceries and gas has risen quite a bit. That seems to be the only noticeable effect on my life so far.

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"It's time to move from what we can do, to what we must do, to what we will do." ~Hillary Clinton

Fine, although I would still be frustrated at the high gas prices & grocery prices. (And deeply puzzled as to why, if I didn't have access to the news!) And if I didn't have internet to warn me of it, that quarterly statement from our investments would come as a shock.

I don't watch any network news, get no magazines or newspapers, and rely mostly on internet research or local radio for news. It's my big attempt to get away from subjective news, if that's even possible, so I can decide issues for myself instead of being told what the right or wrong views are by news outlets that are nothing more than editorial rants for their favorite political party, or entertainment.

If I had no news sources and lived in a bubble, I'd see very little change in my area of the country, we're still growing and our city has a lot of economic expansion. Housing prices have come down a little bit, but they'd been way overpriced and inflated the last few years, so I consider it a much-needed adjustment. I would notice the gas prices, but don't commute very much, so it hasn't had much an effect. My utilities seem to be about the same as past years, and groceries are higher on some things, but not on others. My investments are obviously not doing well this year, that would be noticed, but I'm in for the long-term, and plan to endure many ups and downs in the market.

I would notice that gas is up a bit but nothing else (like Chickyhip). I personally still spend the same, I don't notice all the horrible grocery prices other people complain about--I'm still finding TONS of bargains I don't know anyone who has lost their home to foreclosure or without a job who wants one. I just don't see all that stuff. So if I didn't listen to the news, I wouldn't be aware all this is supposedly going on. While I do believe we're in a recession, I think the media overplays most of it frankly. Of course....I'm known for not doing doom & gloom!!!

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Gas, electric (rose 50% this year) and grocery prices are concerning but I agree it does not seem to be stopping most people from living their normal lifestyle.

Somehow I've managed to keep my grocery bill about the same and I buy a lot of store brand organic food.

The economy has had minimal impact on our lives. However, I do realize that my household is fortunate. My spouse has a union job with good benefits. He is high up enough on the toten that he works regularly on an assigned job. While we have been hit with higher gas prices, the company just approved a new contract which increased the pay scale for my husband, he also will go up 5% in November to 90%( new workers only make 80% of trip rate). Starting next year they also will get a bump to their meal allowance while at the hotel. The only downside was we have seen increase in medical. Our copay went up to $20 for office visits, down to $25 for ER visits(weird huh?), and up to $30 for specialists visits. We also went up about $6 on our costs for the plan. Meal costs have gone up but I have gotten good at picking up bargains to offset increases. As for my neighbors, one is picking up a boarder to help offset her costs.

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Without the media I wouldn't have noticed anything. I don't drive, so gas prices haven't effected me. I shop sales, so I haven't noticed higher grocery prices. New stores are opening here. I don't have any investments. people still eat out and drive new cars. Even when people watching in the grocery stores I don't notice much difference. There's still families with carts full of food, and families with carts full of pop and chips.

Though the grocery stores must be getting scared because they're trying to lure people in so now 1lb of butter if $2.97, and 4L of milk is $3.97, and bread and eggs are cheap. So my basics have gone down, and everything else I wouldn't buy unless it was on sale anyways.

Mind you I'm Canada...