August's Weblog

Poll: The Economy and You

tua95315 — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:12:07 +0000

Poll:

Is the current state of the economy affecting your everyday life?

There goes my degree…

tua95315 — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:02:21 +0000

Right now I am a BTMM major at Temple University. BTMM stands for Broadcasting, Telecommunication, and Mass Media. The only problem with my major is that it is in a sector of the economy that is directly linked to the state of the economy. A recent article posted on MediaLife.com (Link) discusses some of the major factors affecting the Media economy. The article just talks about how a large portion of the revenue that Media companies (Film, Music, Television) receive is directly from advertising. The Media advertising market slows down drastically when the economy goes on a downturn, and thus makes it increasingly harder to make money in that field. So i guess, maybe i should start rethinking my degree?

To graduate or not to graduate, that is the question…

tua95315 — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:41:08 +0000

Ever since I was little, i had a plan. Get through high school, get into a good college and then get a good job. The problem is that now, because of the recent state of our county’s economy, it doesn’t look like that will be happening. A recent report on CNN (Link) shows that the nations unemployment rate is at the highest point in over 25 years. What this means for me is that simply graduating school with a bachelors degree and looking for a job wont be as easy as it once was. With many more qualified and desperate workers looking for work in just about every field there is out there, it is going to be significantly for a simple college graduate to land almost any job. So now I am once again put in the position of planning out the next few years, when it may make more sense for me to say in school, get another degree, and wait for this dark economic cloud to pass. So to answer my question, to graduate or not to graduate; will the economy recover in two years when i complete my undergraduate, or do i wait this one out?

The Economy: Higher bills, Higher prices

tua95315 — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:28:07 +0000

On of the major things I have noticed about my everyday life that has been affected by the failing economy has been the price of everyday living. On average, I would spend about 100 dollars at the grocery store on all the items that i need, however, recently many of the same items i usually buy have gone up significantly. Last week I spend almost 160 dollars on the same amount of groceries I usually get. Other then the grocery store, i have noticed higher prices at clothing stores as well. My landlord told me that the rent would be raised by 100 dollars if i continue to live in my apartment next year, because of higher prices in maintenance. Overall, the outlook does not look good, unemployment is up, prices are up, and peoples home values are down. When i receive a tax cut, i know exactly where that money is going; my savings account.