Depression? Is it coming?

[debakadeb]

Andy,

I agree and I disagree. I don't drive a car that gets 30 mpg but instead one that gets about 22 mpg. My husband and I carpool. But...we live 25 miles from work. Living closer to work is not an option nor is getting a different job closer to home. Those jobs aren't there. We do have 2 vehicles -- one is paid for. I would go out and buy a hybrid but can't afford a second car payment. I live in an old farmhouse that is much too large for us but we only use one floor, only heat and cool one floor. I have satellite television, cell phones and all of that. I don't really need all that but I work pretty hard in order to have it. I also don't consider it a necessity.

I can appreciate what you are saying although what was a luxury during WWII is often a necessity today. Does that mean we should be eating only convenience food, using disposable diapers, etc. A garden can be a great way to save money. Having chickens may or may not save money. Since we eat less than six dozen eggs a year, I would say they are a luxury for me.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Yep. You reap what you sow.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Yes, but now we all have it coming.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
If you're getting 22mpg out of a paid off car. There's no reason to get a hybrid. The car payment is going to exceed your fuel costs. Spending 400$ a month to save $200 in fuel is bad economics. Anybody considering getting a hybrid needs to do the math, seriously.

 

[happyhen]

Good point Guitarists!

Those "luxuries" are usually taxed and employ people in the "luxury" industries, ie coffee shops, restaurants, wineries, breweries, hotels, airlines....the list goes on.

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
Time to pay the piper.

 

[EweSheep]

If this country has learned anything from the Great Depression, we would not be in it again nor we would want that to happen again.

Well said, Mayberry, even all of us were glutton for material things, gas hogs, and want the best for everyone while some of us are more frugal and "homely" and our needs are simple like having chickens to feed us. We could learn from our grandparents how they endure the Great Depression and WWII times were hard. Not only that, remember the Dust Bowl days??????

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

See. I am worried because my husbands job coincides with the stock market. He works for a company that has a set up for "investment clubs" families, friends and co workers that want to take control of their money in the stock market by investing it in what they want. They are the only company in the US that does this. And are actually international on a smaller scale(england I think)

I know that he has been listening to me. FINALLY! Because we are going ahead with the chickens, whicha year ago he was set against. And he is behind me on cutting costs and making the house etc more energy efficient yada yada yada. But when this finally happens I dont know what we will do. Well that isnt completely true. We will leave the house we have made into our home for the last 7 years and move in with my mom and her husband. Larger house and land. I will move my horse with us(if I dont put him in the ground first) And I will farm the land there.

Now. What concerns me further is the people in our society now.
Just a few days ago a 78 year old man was struck by a hit and run in Hartford CT, and left in the road as people drove by and bystanders did NOTHING. They didnt offer comfort or call for help. It was honestly the MOST disturbing thing I have seen on the web

What are these people going to be like when the .. well you know hits the fan? Crimes are already up and going higher. When things get even worse people are going to become desperate and desperation is never a good thing.

And then there are those people that keep saying " we never saw this coming" I mean come on. How could you have NOT seen this coming?

 

[1acrefarm]

Quote:
Thats not exactly true in all cases. My behemoth has done many things your Hyundai cannot do and made me lots of money doing it Try hooking your Hyundai to my sixteen foot flatbed trailer with 2.5 tons of cargo. I doubt you will get a chord of wood in the trunk. Some of us need our behemoths it just getting hard to afford to operate them. My behemoth pulls up stumps, hauls scrap, hauls lumber and so forth. It is very rarely operated unloaded.

Everyone depends on some really big deisel guzzling behemoths. You cannot get alot of your food and other goodswithout the train and the tractor trailer. Diesel prices make gas prices look low. That effects everyones pocket including those who go everywhere with public transit and a bicycle.

 

[herbsherbsflowers]

The problem is larger than the housing crisis and the people who have fallen victim to that. Our infrastructure is falling apart. The turning point in my eyes was Katrina. That was not a natural disaster, it was poorly constructed levees and floodwalls that failed under pressure. These are things happening in smaller ways all over. The tunnel in Boston, the bridge in MInnesota. And meanwhile we concentrate our money in Iraq, and keep borrowing money from China to finance it. The government is acting like the irresponsible people you are talking about wanting to have their cake and eat it too. That is why the value of the dollar is falling all over the world, not stupid people buying houses they can't afford.
Just my two cents.