Depression? Is it coming?

[mullers3acers]

My Grandmother who lived through the depression. Always has talked about how they really never went hungry because they always had a big garden. Didn't have much money. But she really never told me really what the depression consisted of. Does anyone know? Not trying to be stupid just want to know.

 

[Just-Like-Hatching]

Visit a few foreign Countries and then you will see how great we still have it here with 4 dollar gasoline.

 

[mullers3acers]

I have and it wasn't so bad

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
Sorry I'll have to work on that. My goal is to make sure people know exactly who they are voting for before they give that representative their voice. So, for you voters out there, check out your candidate; know how they vote not just the non-sense that comes out of their yap.

Anybody who considers themselves a conservative, republican, centrist, moderate, libertarian, constitutionalist would not vote for obama even if he!! did freeze over. Obama is a liberal, and the most liberal of any member of congress. Check out his record.

 

[pvc coop]

Have you seen any news about "Peak Oil" crisis. That's when the world's demand for oil exceeds the supply. That is what's happening and so gas prices wil never go back down. The Goverment cannot stop or reverse the peak oil crisis, but they can slow it down, but who wants a National speed limit of 55 mph, to conserve on gas consumption. Who wanted to drive an GEO when they can get a SUV. Back when choices were optional you see who won; the SUV. Now that oil prices are rising rapidly, the SUV option is not practical and the GEO is wining. Did you see the movie "Who Kiled the Electric Car?"? The Government can have a better alternate fuel energy program, that supplies vehicles now, not 30 years from now. A lot of countries have alternate fuel auto's in use now.

As for the economy it's questionable. There has been a gradual errosion of the middle class due to the World Markets and NAFTA. There has been a gradual errosion of factory type jobs as they have been forced to move overseas to get cheap labor so they can compete on the world market. There are still some good blue color jobs around, but if you work in a factory, I would be nervous.

In the 1950's my Grandparents lived in a small Oklahoma town on a large lot. They were dirt poor. They always had about 100 chickens, to eat and get eggs. They even sold eggs. They had a large garden for food. They thought a Grocrey store was for sugar, flour, etc. They would "can" the garden vegitalble for year round use. Maybe those days are coming back, for the budget minded.

 

[Rosalind]

What bluey said about peak oil...Right on! With whipped cream on top!

Personally I think the 5.5% unemployment stat is quite misleading. There's a lot of data massaging that goes into that number. I would say it's probably at least double that number, realistically. When you count all the people who have simply stopped looking for work after years of being out of work, people who are laid off from full-time work and now can only find part-time or temp work, that sort of thing.

I also will have to disagree with MayberrySaint--there are lots and lots and LOTS of people who have not been fiscally irresponsible and are nevertheless struggling and not very far from homelessness. There actually are indeed Hoovervilles in these modern times, especially around the large agribusiness farms that use migrant workers--same places you found Hoovervilles in the 1930s. They still exist. There are plenty of hobo jungles and people living in camps under bridges and such. And our local food banks and Second Harvest do indeed have long lines of hungry people waiting daily. And those lines have been getting longer and the food banks find they have less food to distribute.

I know that psychologically there is a great temptation to find any way you can possibly say, "That will NEVER happen to me because I am special because I am too lucky/smart/clever/blessed/loved/morally righteous/whatever," but seriously, disasters happen quite often through no fault of the people they happen to. And they can happen to you, me, anybody. There but for the grace of god, you know? You can do your best to be very employable, you can live as far below your means as possible and save money and all that, but sometimes bad things happen to perfectly good people.

You have no idea how common this is, to victim-blame, until you see people doing it in a way that you absolutely KNOW is irrational. When I was in college, a student group I worked with did date rape awareness workshops for the fraternities and sororities. There had been a few rapes on campus, and several at the fraternity houses, one of which was a 15-year-old who had been visiting her big brother for the weekend. In more than one instance, the guy admitted to doing it but thought it was no big deal to commit a felony. When we did the presentation for the sorority one victim belonged to, the very same sorority sisters who had escaped being raped by mere chance--the two rapists had picked their victim randomly, any woman would have done--insisted that the same could never possibly happen to them. No, "Sorority XYZ sticks together! We would never let some guy just grab one of our sisters and drag her upstairs!" Despite the fact that, obviously, they had done exactly that. Whenever I see someone saying, "Bad Thing will never happen to me because I didn't (insert rationalization here)," it's those sorority bimbos I think of. It can happen to you, even though you do your best.

I think that there are social and cultural conditions that cause people to be more bad than good, though, and that governing bodies and large organizations (I don't see them as separate entities, although technically they are such on paper) have a social and ethical responsibility to ensure that those conditions don't happen. Poor quality of life is one of those conditions that tend to make otherwise decent people behave badly; we've seen it happen in our own country, we've seen it happen in other countries. And I think that some people are very much predators, and that executives of big companies and governments and so forth are often these predator types, and they use organizations as extensions of themselves. And I think we are fools if we believe it can't happen to us because of XYZ.

 

[southernsibe]

I understand that people are worried, and scared. I am very bothered by the way things have turned. But like several of our members have taken the time to write, there are reasons for these things, and they did not happen overnight.


That being said, I propose we start a NEW thread, about what we are doing. Above and beyond having chickens of course

I propose we stay away from the topic of guns and arms, simply because it is a heated issue, bound to get the thread closed. I don’t mean this to be a “how are you saving money” thread either. More of a , “Our world is changing, what are you doing to prepare or change with it?”

Anyone with me? If so, I’m going to post under “Me, My Chickens My Family” and I’m going to call it “Cha Cha Cha Changes….”

Rachel

 

[DuckyBoys]

This thread makes me tired. The blame game, in my opinion, is just another way to control people.

Try balming yourself first - why? Because you're the only person on this planet you control.

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
Yes, and no. First, I buy used and pay cash or pay off quickly. We own two cars. One is 17 years old, low miles, and gets about 25mpg. The other is a gas sucker (used to pull our RV) gets about 17mpg, and is also paid off. Ever since our car payments were retired, we continued to make our car payments into a savings account designated for a new car purchase. I won't be selling the RV/gas sucker because I live in a small house in an expensive area. That RV gives us extra space for when family comes from out of town. That saves me tax payments on a bigger house. And, when we travel to see distant family, it costs us far less than flying, even with the expensive gas payments. We use our lower mpg car as much as possible and hubby rides his bike to work to compensate. It may be unconventional, but it works for us.

But, to your argument that trading a $400 car payment to save $200 is short sighted and is the most typical argument that I hear made for us to keep the status quo. If everyone drove hybrids (not the ones being used to boost power, but the ones that are actually raising MPG), we'd cut our imported oil by 70%. Yes, Russia and China would gladly suck that right up, but I bet you that it WOULD have an impact on oil prices considering that we're the largest user of petroleum products in the world. The key to this savings is that you must hold your car past the period when the payments are over. Then, that $200 a month is in a plus column, money you wouldn't have if you had held on to the old car. And, one more thing, what happens to that $200 extra cost if gasoline goes up further than it is now? Any further raise in gasoline prices mitigates the cost of the new car.

This is not a one stop answer for everyone. Some folks need trucks for work. Not everyone can or should try to afford a new car, especially at this time. We all need to make changes where we can, but we definitely need an overhaul of the system. Raising fuel standards and making hybrids more accessible and affordable would be a good start. And, once the Plug-in Hybrids are on the market, getting 150 mpg would really make a difference, wouldn't it?

 

[PurpleChicken]

Cub Scout Motto: Be Prepared