The Next Depression?

[lacyloo]

I think we will have a ,.... recession

 

[LisaJean]

You guys will think I'm crazy, but one of the most economically helpful things I've ever done was to sell my television set.

Seriously! I sold it about three months back or so.

So now I don't buy DVDs, where I was buying three or more a month. I don't see the hype for various movies, so I don't GO to movies as often. I don't see informercials and product ads, so I am less inclined to impulse buy. Aside from that, I don't pay for cable, the price of which seems to go up every few months these days!

In the evenings, instead of subjecting my brain to endless attempts to get me to buy stuff, I read, or knit, or just sit and watch my fish, play with my cats, I even gardenm at night! I have a big floodlight I direct at wherever I am in the yard.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Brilliant!!!

 

[CuddlesXL]

I'm a trucker and I hate to say it but things really look bad,or maybe I should say things don't look so good.I'm a Company driver so I have a little more security but alot of independent truckers are parking their trucks because they can not keep up with the rising cost of fuel.Especialy when they have to pay $500.00 for fuel every time they fill up.
My Dad was a trucker for years and he finally had to give it up because he was spending more for fuel than he was making.
As for not driving for three days...wishful thinking! Not that its a bad idea but I here alot of truckers talking that if everyone would just not buy fuel for three days it would make a difference,of course they have been saying that for years and it's not happened yet.Also if I don't drive I don't get paid,then my family suffers.
Just my 2 cents and thats about all it's worth in todays economy!

 

[GwenFarms]

Cuddles,
My Dh is a trucker also. There have been many plans over the past year, or so, to stage a boycott and for the reasons you've mentioned it just hasn't been pulled off. Independent logging truck drivers in our area did stage a one day strike. They were trying to get companies to pay more for loads to cover rising fuel cost. Nothing came of it. It wasn't long enough and only a fraction of the drivers participated.

To stage a national three day protest IS wishful thinking. Even though I am the one who originally posted it, I said it knowing it would be almost impossible to pull off. Americans as a whole are just too spoiled to make the sacrifice of losing three days worth of work. Reading through this post you can see that people won't even entertain the idea of losing a day's wages.

We live off of my husband's trucker's salary, so you know better than anyone what that means. It would be a huge setback for my family to miss three days pay, but we would make the sacrifice for the greater good if a real plan was preposed. Afterall, if fuel prices don't come down soon your family and mine have a bleak future. We are already seeing layoffs in the trucking industry. We are seeing less hiring, and fewer pay raises. It won't be long before pay cuts start, for some they probably have already.

Its alot to think of, particularly for folks like us Cuddles


One more thing, a couple of folks have eluded to this being too deep of a topic for discussion on a "chicken board". I just want to say that for alot of the people who post here chicken raising is not about pets, or showing animals. Raising chickens is how some of us help feed our families and supplement our incomes. Its about as deep as it gets for us. Some of us are trying to keep the Small American Farm alive. For those of us this is the perfect place and the perfect people to be discussing our shared economy with.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I totally agree with what you said at the end of the post about the chickens being part of your income and feeding your family. When we first got them they where not pets they where just used for egg purposes but grew on us. NJ is loosing farms to big companies. its sad. I really wish we could reverse it but it will never happen.
Anyway. I hope thaat we can reverse this whole thing and not go through depression. I really hope we find alternatives. And if it happens i am willing to sacrafice what I own to stay alive

 

[CuddlesXL]

Well said Gwen

 

[kstaven]

I agree ... well said Gwen

People seem to forget that without small farms a lot more people would be starving.

They also seem to be unaware that the big boys rely on the pockets of genetic diversity contained in the smallhold farm to supplement the bloodlines of big agri business. Rip out those roots and watch the whole system collapse.

If it gets much worse there are a lot of people in for a very rude shock. You just can't eat a quad or ski boat.

 

[horsechick]

I watched a show about gas prices and farmers etc..
One farmer mentioned about exactly those things, how the family owned farms not making it, selling to big corporations and he mentioned something scary, he said you think its bad depending on other countries for oil wait until we're depending on other countries for food!
Big corporations owning all the land and setting ridiculous prices for food staples. They have done it with everything else seems like.

 

[valmom]

So many points, so little time before going off to work.

Why is diesel so much more expensive than gas since it is less work to fractionate it? Gas here is $3.24. Diesel is $4.10 and up. We sold our diesel truck last year for a gas model (partly because the thing kept getting recall notices) and we were lucky we could afford to do it.

I am in the middle of reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. Very interesting reading about what we eat. I am putting in a larger garden this year and am going to try to can or freeze as much of it as I can. (I am over at the sister site on gardening, reading up) I just made Miss Prissy's yogurt, and it worked! I just don't think a cow is practical for us (too much milk) and SO doesn't like goat milk. (I'm not crazy about it either, but I have to blame someone)

I am worried about the economy. My SO and I have secure jobs, but I got a 1% raise this year. My fixed costs of gas and food have already gone up much more than that. I know it is inflationary to want more money in my paycheck, but heck, what are people supposed to do. Why do they cut energy and food out of the core inflation rate?? That's what people have to buy.