Gas prices, bad economy and 2009 OH MY!

Good morning everyone!

I have started my day earlier than normal...which is great because that means I will be home to usher in 2009 with my husband and daughter a little earlier too! With only a small numbers of hours left in 2008 I thought I'd hunt around the Internet to see what is making headlines this morning. Here is what I found.

Fox News: Oil Falls to $37, Down More Than 60% in 2008 - The United States saw its worst job market in 16 years hammer consumer confidence to a record low in December, the shopping season was the worst since at least 1970, and prices of U.S. single-family homes in October fell a record 18% from a year earlier.

Fox News: AIG May Ask Fed to Ease Rules On Disposals (take a moment to absorb that one..I won't pontificate on that subject, to put it simply the answer should be NO, it's tax payer money, they should not be allowed to do whatever they want with it!)

CNN: 2009: Nowhere to go but up! (love it!)
2008, witnessed four of the five worst market days ever in the Dow Jones industrial average - but also the three largest increases. Loving it even more! What do we have to learn from this? The market goes up and down! Stay lean, stay alert, stay in BUSINESS! In the second half of 2009, most analysts believe the market will begin to rise more consistently, as economic indicators start showing improvement in key areas of construction, housing, retail sales and credit.

MSNBC: Interesting poll on their web regarding the over all reader opinion on 2008, bear in mind this was not a scientific poll but interesting non the less. (this information was taken from their web @ 09:27 a.m. EST)

How would you describe the past year for you personally? 11298 responses
Great13%
Fine19%
OK28%
Poor21%
Terrible20%

How would you describe the past year for your country? * 11292 responses
Great1.8%
Fine3.9%
OK13%
Poor42%
Terrible40%

How would you describe the past year for the world? * 11321 responses
Great1%
Fine2.2%
OK15%
Poor46%
Lousy36%

What this humble blogger sees is that we are all overwhelmed by 2008 it's up's and down's, the loss of jobs, the financial struggles, the lousy sales for the holiday season (though there were amazing deals out there!) Perhaps realizing that you aren't alone won't make you less stressed when you can't pay your mortgage or when you have to juggle bills to buy groceries, but seeing that there has to be a collective, responsible, well organized plan for recovery from everyone hopefully will put in place a small bit of peace. In closing I wish everyone a safe New Years eve, and let's all welcome 2009 with open arms and make the most of every opportunity we get.