How did your friends manages to pay off their loans? I think it will take students just coming out of education most of their lives to repay back the debt they accrued. Its worthwhile accruing that debt though, as everyone I know is in  much healthier state than those I know who left school early to go into the work place. 

With mortgages, fuel costs, cost of living and other 'unforeseen's' the world is a difficult place to live - unless your lucky and have rich parents with an apartment in Spain. 

Fortunately enough they left university before the economic crash! Which made it a lot easier for them to pay off their debt. I really feel for those who have recently left further education, as the yearly fee's are ludicrous! £15,000 p/y in some cases.

It certainly is! I pretty sure that's the reason that payday loans are set to rise to an all time high throughout this year also.

Its quite surprising hearing so many positive results! I was expecting this to be the most depressing thread ever when i seen the OP. However a lot of my friends have managed to pay off their student loans over the last week, so i can only say that the economy must be making some sort of progress!

How did your friends manages to pay off their loans? I think it will take students just coming out of education most of their lives to repay back the debt they accrued. Its worthwhile accruing that debt though, as everyone I know is in  much healthier state than those I know who left school early to go into the work place. 

With mortgages, fuel costs, cost of living and other 'unforeseen's' the world is a difficult place to live - unless your lucky and have rich parents with an apartment in Spain. 

I am a student and i have sen that that it is always better to make a plan to save money. I have investen on stock too. It's another thing that i have been taking help from other.

But it's not even about low prices.  You can charge higher prices if what you sell is better quality and the service is excellent.

A lot of the crying about the economy isn't so much that the 'economy' is bad, it's that businesses don't want to adapt to the current economy.

You know, I have no concept as to where JC Penney's prices their products. I know I have walked through the store and thought that I could find better quality merchandise and cheaper prices during a GAP sale.

They just implemented it on February 1st.  Less sales but lower everyday pricing.  We took a brief stroll through on Saturday.  I didn't get to look as much as I wanted as the kids were getting crabby for lunch, but the prices definitely looked pretty good.  As far as their quality, I put it on par with anything from the likes of Kohls or Old Navy, so if their pricing is competitive there, they have a market. 

Do you think the economy can truly recover, as long as we stay focused on consumption being the engine of the economy?

It'll probably help if they stop penalizing production so much. Everything's about consumption in the end, but you gotta produce something to be able to consume.

Edward Antrobus said:

I heard this on NPR either Tuesday or this morning. Apparently, budget retailers, and premium brands are doing well, but the middle road, places like Sears & J.C. Penny are struggling. People apparently are buying the expensive stuff and going cheap on everything else.

JC Penney just rolled out their new price strategy where they're going away from raising the price then lowering it by sales, instead just lowering regular prices by at least 40% off the board.  We've gotten so used to being led around by the latest and greatest 'SALE' that I am not sure this can work, but if the regular prices actually do make sense to buy, it could take off.  We haven't gone in yet, but my wife and I are both intrigued.

You know, I have no concept as to where JC Penney's prices their products. I know I have walked through the store and thought that I could find better quality merchandise and cheaper prices during a GAP sale.

I heard this on NPR either Tuesday or this morning. Apparently, budget retailers, and premium brands are doing well, but the middle road, places like Sears & J.C. Penny are struggling. People apparently are buying the expensive stuff and going cheap on everything else.

JC Penney just rolled out their new price strategy where they're going away from raising the price then lowering it by sales, instead just lowering regular prices by at least 40% off the board.  We've gotten so used to being led around by the latest and greatest 'SALE' that I am not sure this can work, but if the regular prices actually do make sense to buy, it could take off.  We haven't gone in yet, but my wife and I are both intrigued.

That'll probably give way to super-high gas prices, which isn't cool.

It seems every time the economy gets kicking a little, gas prices spike and stall the entire thing out again.  I wish that there would be an alternative but I don't see it happening.

I think the economy growing slowly is the best thing right now.  A quick growth wouldn't be based on anything real, but if we decrease unemployment by 0.1-0.2% a month, that's actually being built on solid foundation (not just credit) which would hopefuly make the recovery more sustainable.  I'd rather have a slow, real recovery rather than a quick recovery that would likely reverse course in a heartbeat.

The number of unemployed people in both the US and many southern European countries is still enormous (9% or 8% in the the US; >20% in e.g. Spain; and this are the official figures: what about all those who have given up hope). Nobody knows the future, but I think that any substantial improvement that we will see comes very slowly.

But there are some companies out there like Apple and Starbucks that are selling premium products and making a killing through this economy - that's a good thing.  Other companies are realizing that you can make money if you provide superior service, such as Zappos.  For too long companies thought they had to cut back everywhere for profit, but people want more than goods with cheap service.

As I think the economy is getting better I think we may also be entering a phase where a higher unemployment rate is the norm.  The days of 4-6% may be over.

The velocity of money.

Thanks. I took intro to macroeconomics in my last semester of college, because I needed 2 more credits. But that was almost 3 years ago now, so, while I remember a lot of the concepts, some of the vocabulary is a bit fuzzy.