Interview Project - Reflection

The interview project was definitely an interesting way to find out my dad's, my aunt's, and even my own views of the economy.  You get too not only see different peoples views based upon their opinions but you can see their opinions based upon the time period they grew up in.  I was not able to interview the oldest person i have a relationship with but i was able to get my aunt, my dad, and myself.

My Dad is a very intelligent man, he is always up to date with everything that is going on around the world. He is a great when it comes to saving his money and using it purchase what is necessary and what is not.  In his interview, he told me that he was mostly effected economically by the stock market crash and the housing bubble.  To be honest, I am very close to my Dad and I never noticed a change in the way he went about life when these events occurred.  He never showed weakness because he is a very hard working man and told me that even though he was effected by these events he pushed himself that much harder to earn back what he had lost.  My dad also mentioned that in his lifetime the price of cars has doubled.  I cannot even imagine going shopping for a new car and only paying fifteen grand for a brand new car because now a days you are paying upwards of thirty grand for a good car that is brand new.

My aunt (48) who is two years younger then my father obviously grew up in the same time period as my dad but experienced different economic events due to where she grew up.  My aunt had mentioned that the one thing that was a big economic change for her was the increase in the price of gas.  She grew up in central Massachusetts, which is very rural so to get to places you need to drive a good distance.  Unlike my Dad who grew up just outside of Boston, where he did not rely much on a car for travel, as he used other means of transportation like buses and trains. My aunt also mentioned that with the economy being the way it is now a days she has to be very cautious when spending money. Which agrees with what my Dad had said.

When I went over the question with myself, I really had to think about it.  I'm young still, so the economic event have not really affected me as much as my Dad and my Aunt.  But I have still seen enough change to know that the economy is not very strong right now.  The one change I have noticed is the gas prices.  Before last summer gas was at a low $3.00.  By the end of the summer the price had risen to just about $4.00 a gallon.  And being a college student you dont necessarily have that much money, so paying for gas definitely burnt a hole in my pocket.

As I look at all three interviews, it is clear that everyone has been affected by the economy throughout their lives in one way or another.  It was very interesting to see the different answers, I feel as though I learned a lot from this assignment and it has made me want to become more knowledgeable in economics and even global news.