I heard on the radio today (WBBM Chicago) about how Credit Card companies internally were saying to sell off Credit Card Stock (I can't remember the whole story) because the expectation was that Credit Cards are going to be hit hard with the upcoming recession due to hit next year.

Do you really think we are heading for an all out 70's type Recession? I know I have heard the warnings before, but never really felt the pain or saw it happen to the extent they were threatening.

To further, I have a lot of my investments in International Stocks. I am wondering if I am safe there, or should I just pull out all together and invest in something different (safer).

My understanding is that things are much better than is portrayed in the normal media outlets. I believe that saying a recession is coming over and over and over again will have a huge negative effect. The sub-prime crisis is certainly bad, but the sub-prime lenders get what they deserve. I personally don't believe that things are even close to being as bad as some of the news stories would have us believe. Yes people are in bad shape if they purchased homes above their means based upon a "teaser" rate. This will get worked out.

With the upcoming election, I'm not shocked that the doom and gloom stories will get even worse. Our economy is strong. Yes the dollar is under siege but the lower value of the dollar should help us on the export side. A weak dollar makes American products cheaper in the rest of the world.

__________________
After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.

Mark Twain

Reccession? More like DEPRESSION! UGHHH!

Growth is still strong. A depression is not here or coming. Many of us may be facing trying times but our economy is still chugging along just fine. Things are nothing like the misery of the late 70s when the man from Plains was in office

__________________
After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her.

Mark Twain

Isn't that when we had the gas rationing, and you could only buy gas on certain days based on your tag number???

I am moderately concerned, I guess, but, we are in very good financial shape, and watch our money and investments carefully. My thinking on investments is NOT to pull them out at the first sign of something. What you should be concerned with is the over all , long haul return. When stocks go down, I buy MORE.......they'll go back up again. At least that has been our experience with what we invest in . This year our mutual fund had a close to 25% return. AMAZING!!!

Hang in there, and keep your eyes out for bargains.

__________________
Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I really don't remember a recession in the late 70's. I was in college, we didn't have any gas rationing or anything where I lived.

Oh my, I lived in the Oil State of Texas, and I remember waiting in lines with my parents for hours to get gas. It was unbelieveable.

Greg, you cracked me up! It was all in the peanuts, I am telling you! I sense a fellow Republican in our midst.

I dont remember anything either and I tell the boys that when i was little gas was no where near $3-$4 a gallon and they dont believe me

__________________
Books just wanna be FREE! See what I mean at:
http://bookcrossing.com

My other favorites
www.paperbackswap.com
www.wheresgeorge.com
www.geocaching.com

Oh yea Jimmy Carter and the great recession....rationing gas....seems alot of forgotten about that.....Sherri

__________________
"It isn't that liberals are ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
- Ronald Reagan

When I was in high school in the late sixies gas was 25 cent a gallon. We would give a friend a dollar and drive around on a Saturday night. The midwest went through a mimi depression in the early 80's. I lived in Wisconsin. High manufacturing area. People went on strike for better wages (they kept dropping). Companies closed down and tore down the buildings. I remember seeing bread being passed out to strikers. One Christmas only two people in my family had jobs (I have 7 brothers and sisters and most were married). My bil work for the telephone company and I was a teacher. I also remember in Texas, people were mailing their house keys to their mortage company because they could not afford their house payment anymore.

I don't think we are headed towards those depths but people need to watch how they spend their money.