The mortgage

[slang]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

....... It's a mess that we still may not recover from. (IMHO)

Nice to see that someone is paying attention here. The dominoes are falling. Life is going to change here in the US.

What might that new life look like here? We will soon find out.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That's easy...
Inflation, unemployment, food & fuel shortages, riots, a terrorist attack, martial law, outlawing private ownership of Gold & Guns, rearrangement of the government structure, and maybe, just maybe, a nuclear war.

Thanks W.

[slang]

Did you forget to include pestilence? Maybe you're just trying to be optimistic.

[Cicero]

I am already there. It's awesome. I get to serve coffee, and it's free for me, so I don't get so hungry.

Why do people keep acting like things are going to change? According to the lack of job ads, the fit has hit the shan. Locally. It sucks. Sucky. All the job ads, outside of medical and labor, are f'ing fake. No jobs here. That means that not only is there no new employment, it probably means, people locally are getting laid off too. Scaling back to skeleton crews. I feel fortunate that I took a coffee job on a whim.

[slang]

Originally Posted by Cicero

Why do people keep acting like things are going to change?

What I mean is that life here is going to change more. Not in a pleasant way.

Less money in the economy, less credit, less options, more work but not necessarily at a job, more of a focus on independence because the machinery will be clogged or completely stalled, much less personal security finanacially and physically.

Big government getting MUCH, MUCH bigger, more nanny state BS, less freedom in issues that really matter and more freedom in trivial issues that really don't matter.

[ZenGum]

So should we be stocking up on canned food then?

[slang]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

So should we be stocking up on canned food then?

Only in small amounts IMO.

A focus on local types of services and products and living instead of this modern trend of big box types of commerce.

Generally speaking the local types of businesses and banks have not been caught up in this recent "problem".

I would just suggest that people just think about the possibility of having those modern items and systems fail. That's not to say that they will but that you create a mindset of what to do if they do fail.

You may consider lowering your expectations, something Americans are not fond of doing. That's not to suggest that you give up living in a civilized society but consider the new realities of the times.

Look for new opportunities. The old rules of the game are changing. Buying a house may not have been the best investment that you've ever made. Going into debt for your degree may not turn out to provide the security in your work that it has been in the past.

My view of the entire situation is likely much different than most people. With very few exceptions nowdays every one around me is broke. They either have huge debt for homes or on cars or student loan debt or stupid credit card debt. Or maybe they are just trying to sell their homes that they bought very responsibly and cannot sell those homes for what they were recently worth.

For the first time in a very long time I'm not being hassled about my very old and ugly car, big wads of cash stashed here and there and a growing pile of krugerrands. I've never trusted this house of cards whether a D or an R is in charge here.

Also, nearly all of those people hitting me up for buying this dumb thing or that are the same types of people that have scolded me over the years for not "getting into the game".

I see people that have "done all the right things in life" every day that are going through very rough times. Many people right here in the cellar.

It seems to me that the rules have changed but many people have not accepted that. They have invested their time and money into the old rules of the game. They didn't believe that the rules have changed but they may in the coming months.

Store up some food if you like, that's fine. Adjust your mindset for the new reality, that would be more beneficial to most.

[TheMercenary]

Yea, I think times are about to become quite uncertain for the first time since the 40's.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

So should we be stocking up on canned food then?

My Dad says we all should be. He thinks the end of the world is nigh.

I told him when the world ends, we'll come and live in the spare cottage on his farm and become mango pickers.

He thinks that's a good idea.

[Sundae]

As long as I get 48 hours notice I won't worry about the end of the world.

I'm going to Ali's Dad's farm to be a mango picker.

[Aliantha]

LOL...he's got a shotgun and he's prepared to use it when the end of the world comes. Better just give me a shout from the gate when you arrive ok?

[xoxoxoBruce]

[lookout123]

Ooooh, very good find.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Cicero

Why do people keep acting like things are going to change? According to the lack of job ads, the fit has hit the shan. Locally. It sucks. Sucky.

Does the fact that I keep hitting predictions years in advance (and get mocked for it) tell you something? We are still reliving 1970s deja vue. Have things changed? This is only the beginning - deja vue.

Remember when gasoline rose to $2 per gallon and everyone got upset? We may have only started to pay for $2 per gallon gas. Remember $3 per gallon long ago? You have not yet seen economic impacts from that price. Still pending is economic revenge from $4 per gallon gas. Meanwhile, America has done essentially nothing (yet) to address energy price increases. Nothing. For example, where is the legislation requiring 12” roof insulation in all buildings? New commercial buildings still with near zero inches. That right. Even energy is still too cheap. Don't worry. Government will save us. Rush Limbaugh and Fox News told us so.

In another thread, REIT had not yet seen the inevitable downturn. Of course. The obvious is coming. Linen 'n Things and Circuit City declared bankruptcy - a prophesy. IOW near zero bankruptcy and downsizing has happened yet. Wal-Mart was one of very few to address the obvious. One terminated business. The other uses bankruptcy to save jobs. Just another example of economic revenge created by government stimulus packages even four and more years ago.

Did you learn what saved America in 1979 et al? Deja vue? Today, government announced more protection of problems - such as Rick Wagoner of GM. Did you hear what the problem said? Wagoner says GM has no restructuring plans. Why should they? With government welfare, why should GM fix problems or restructure? Your future will be mortgaged to protect GM top management. (BTW, Ford, that did some innovation and started addressing problems years ago, says they don’t need corporate welfare.) And then massive GM employee job losses will occur maybe 3 years later because we did not fix GM's only problem.

Do you really think things changed for employees? Not yet.

Did you see the new companies lining up for government bailout money? Even credit card companies are now requesting government assistance! Socialism only for the rich remains alive and well as it was seven years ago.

Did we mention another pending $1trillion bill for "Mission Accomplished" – another George Jr gift to all Americans? His father was smarter. The world paid for Desert Storm. Therefore we did not suffer. George Jr, instead, did what God told him to do. So who really worships the devil?

Nixon did the same George Jr lies in 1968 and 1970. Therefore job losses were massive in 1978. Deja vue – when we learn lessons of history.

There are essentially no job losses today. You have not seen inevitable job losses yet. This from the same person who routinely is a lone voice on unpopular reality; who used facts to even see that Saddam did not have WMDs. Using facts and deja vue history, you have not yet seen how bad it can get.

Today the problem became more evident. Paulson has been throwing money at companies without any grasp (it only just became apparent) how to fix the problem. Oh. That $700billion to buy up toxic assets (TARP)? Today, Paulson said he wants to stop toxic asset sales and to enrich sick companies with bad management. It will now be renamed TWERP – The Wall street Employee Retirement Plan.

US Steel did not queue up for government welfare? Of course not. US Steel is part of a long list of companies obviously in trouble (due to no innovation) but not yet on the list of troubled companies. Eventually more companies will also queue up for government rescue. Rather than let basic economic principles eliminate America’s biggest problems, we have a government that loves socialism and stimulus packages. Cheney said deficits don't matter (who besides this author kept warning about that quote?).

Show me where any ‘troubled’ company has a plan to fix itself. The worst have no plans. Wagoner said GM has no plans for restructuring. GM has no plans to eliminate auto divisions and many product lines. Instead, he wanted to enrich GM management by creating a $3billion company from $10billions of free government money. Why so much silence in The Cellar, from politicians, and the press?

GM has no plans to retrain workers to revamp production lines or even retrain employees while they will be on furlough for maybe a year. Toyota does. But then Toyota is an example of a patriotic American company. How much worse the job losses because George Jr (over the past 8 years) has protected MBA management, has channeled welfare (ie tax cuts) only to the rich, and issued miracle solutions such as stimulus (rebate) checks?

What happens in four years when that $700billion corporate welfare did not remove America's biggest problem? More job losses when economics takes revenge for no ROI for that $700 billion.

How long ago did GM declare a $1billion loss? What did GM do? Money games so that they again claimed a profit. That $1billion loss was unheard of anywhere ever. GM did nothing to fix the reasons for that $billion loss. Today, GM is so anti-American as to be losing more than $1billion a month. Who did more to harm America? bin Laden or Rick Wagoner? But then Rick Wagoner is only a symptom of government that 'fixed' the economy.

[TheMercenary]

GM should just be allowed to fail. Let's be done with it. Toyota can be our new car company. But of course that is because I own a Toyota.