why is it harder now in your opinion?

It sure is difficult these days. I have the same problem. I work so many hours then when the paycheck comes in I don’t get to spend any of it and vacations or trips. We don’t get to eat a nice dinner either. It all goes to paying for the bills. Everything is expensive. I went to Costco to grocery shop. My total receipt came up to $132.00 All Food. I only need to buy and feed for 4 people. Not to mention my cart was not even a third occupied. There was still tons of room left on my cart for more shopping . What is happening? it sure is scary to see the prices of gas dropping but everything else has increased.

There might be several reasons for this. Sometimes things get harder in the world because there are wars going on that cost countries money therefore making gas prices rise and also the food in the stores that we need to buy regularly. I believe it really has proven to be harder to live these days then in the past. There are a lot of jobs that close their businesses and jobs being transferred. This has been going on for some time.

My country is a developing country and the prices we pay for each things are really high i can tell yes when compared to america our grocery prices are high and even the petrol diesel prizes are also twice or thrice high that of other places and we experience a lot scarcity for water and we also pay a lot for drinking water to lead a peaceful life with the salary we get here is not at all helpful for us to run a family , not only gas prizes even a oil packet prize has gone up.. i feel that your condition is far better than us

I believe that hard times, especially economic hard times come in cycles. I do not believe it is because of the actions of one man (ie., the president of the United States, the European community, the Asian community, etc.). I think it is because of factors that are hard to explain. I can say this though, gas prices fluctuate due to the actions of several communities such as OPEC, the world stock exchange, etc., etc. Then there is the rising cost of food prices. It always appears that gas prices and food prices go up when salaries and wages are stagnant or non-existent when it comes to increases. I am one for instance at this time who is unemployed. However, this is something that I heard on the Clark Howard Consumer Reporting Radio Show in Atlanta, Georgia - during hard times, hard economic times, you can find yourself looking to start your own business as it is the best of times to do so. I did not continue to listen, but it would have been interesting to know why this is the case. I talked with my wife about starting a little niche business on something that she actually discovered along with my business ideas. I am not going to give it away, but once we start it, I will let you know what it is. It will involve our own website for sales as well as Ebay. What we have to do is have faith, especially in the Lord as I do, stay positive and be persistent when job hunting. One thing that I am doing this time around is really looking at about three career paths as opposed to the first job that comes around. The other thing that I am doing is utilizing the internet to earn some extra money as my savings account is gone as are resources around the state.

That was 5 months ago, the prices of gas being so high. Now that time has gone by the price has come down a lot, almost half. But I am finding it still really hard to get by. I have noticed since Christmas that the prices of food has gotten to be crazy. I don't understand why because the cost of fuel is now down so they can't use the excuse of freight costs anymore, so why is the prices of food going up so high. A year ago I used to pay just $3.39 for a 4 litre jug of milk and now I am paying $5.29. Or bread, used to pay 99 cents for a loaf of IGA bread and now that same loaf of bread is $1.99. More than double. Or ham. I used to buy a christmas ham for $9.99 and now that same ham is $19.99. So I can see why people are having trouble getting by and I sure hope things change soon. Alrighty then, talk to you later my friend, Have a good mylotting day, Chris

i will agree with you , that life is harder than before, and richer will be more rich, poor guy will be more poor. the first thing we must face is how to live. we must make money to let us live in this world, i don't know if it would happen food problem. then how do we live? oh, it is terrible,but now don't think too much, that will make more trouble for ourself.

It is so much harder living nowadays than it was fifty years ago. Today, you cannot get a home loan unless you have wonderful credit and a great job, but who the heck has any of that? Most of us are in debt, a lot of us are having a hard time finding jobs, and so, getting a home loan is just out of reach. I am doing my best to work as much as I can, and earn as much money as I can, so that I can save some of it up to get the things that I need and want. None of the money I earn though is ever enough. My family is always struggling to make ends meet.

Well I will have to agree with you 100 percent. The high gas prices are affecting each and everone of us. And they are causing everything to go up in price too, food, cloths,and all things that are supplied by the trucking industry.More companies are shutting down, people are becoming unemployed.The housing industry is a mess.We can not just go out and have a good time like we used to do.We have to settle with staying at home.People are used to going out to eat, movies,and just hanging out with friends doing whatever tey enjoy. We are all being forced to cut back on the things we once enjoyed in life.

Now, I don't worry about the gas thing since it is still my parents' bussiness. I hope everything will be Ok anyway!

The other reason, apart from the increase in prices, is people's pursuit of money. There are just not enough people around willing to help others. The degree of selfishness in a society contributes so much more to hardship in living than people really think. In a place where people are helpful to others everything becomes easier no matter what they cost.

In my opinion, life gets harder because what used to be just wants before are becoming a need too nowadays. As more and more of these wants turn into needs the things that we need to supply them are getting less thus it turns difficult for us.

Inflation is not always a bad thing to everybody. It's depends the construction of your life cost. For example, gas is skyrocketing, and you need to drive around, then you are disadvantaged in this course of inflation. But, if you enjoy buying clothes, it's quite cheap now, in this case, you are enjoy deflation :-) Inflation has its cycle anyway, several years up, several years down. That's it. Next cycle low, remember to buy some houses :-) coz it's going to shoot up again.

Actually, I can't feel the dificulty of the inflation, everyone my age of my country always ask parents for money, so I don't feel harder any more. The inflation maybe will make some people get harder, but moderate inflation will boost the economy,so, from macroeconomy it is a good thing.