1. The problem we are all experiencing (I haven't worked since 2009 and am living mainly off the savings which are supposed to fund my retirement, which is not a good thing) are due to the lack of recovery. Typically after a recession, where companies have cut back and restrutured and shed jobs, but gained productivity, the recovery is very sharp as the new efficiencies fuel the growth.
This strong growth creates a lot of jobs, more than were lost in the recession, but not the same jobs, different ones in the new growth industries. Which in turn gives people income to spend, and the whole process feeds on itself with expansion which then levels off but continues to grow more modestly until the next contraction.
2. But in this case, bailouts, subsidies, extended benefits, and monetary expansion have been used to reduce the pain, which prevents the streamlining recessions usually bring, so the usual burst of recovery cannot occur. Meanwhile our debt has just been downgraded for the second time in 15 months, which were the first downgrades of US government debt ever.
We have trouble, much of our own government's making, and are not likely to find a quick road out, no matter what path we choose in the election.
You have not worked since 2009. Ouch! Living off of savings that should be for retirement, double ouch!
That is what I am talking about. Too many people in America are getting poorer, and the situation is not getting better, and I agree with you that our government is making the recession/ super weak recovery even worse, regardless of party affiliation. No matter who gets elected president in November, a 16 trillion dollar debt is too much for us to dig ourselves out of it...for many, many years to come.
Of my five children, three are 20+ years, and are struggling with finding any decent employment, even with a college education. I never had a problem finding work in high school, or after college - back in the 70's and 80's.
I talk to teachers who have kids who just finished going to college to become teachers, and they can not find jobs teaching, so are substitute teaching for far less pay, and NO medical/dental benefits.
America has really screwed over the kids looking for work who are in their 20's. It is a national disgrace.
So, from a business perspective, don't businesses like chess.com lower prices during a recession to increase profits? If each membership were reduced by 25%, would chess.com make more money, or less, with the idea that more people could pay the fees if they were lowered?
Any business operating on marginal cost (that each new paying member increases costs by a negligible net amount) would want to lower prices IF it stimulated demand enough to increase net revenue. That's the tipping point, but there are other considerations. Reducing prices de facto reduces the apparent nominal value of the service, so it will be much harder to increase prices back to or above original levels later when the recessions end, as they eventually will. So this must be considered as well when devising a strategy for the site.
When the recession ends? I guess that depends on how economists define a recession. I feel like they have already redefined it, as I believe that we are still in a recession, even though the economists say the great recession lasted 18 months and ended June of 2009.
Does it feel like the Great Recession has ended?
Some call this economic phase the new normal, which means that higher unemployment, say 8 1/2 percent nationally, is normal, and not too high.
So, many businesses will need to adjust to this new normal, I guess.
tough times for us parents, i hope your wife finds a job soon .