Concern and fear

Originally Posted by n2omike

Too many people living beyond their means, or right at the edge of it.

Back before everybody had a deck full of credit cards, people actually had savings accounts and bought things as they could afford them. Nowadays, it seems everybody wants it ALL and they want it NOW. They've been living right on the ragged edge where any significant hiccup puts them in dire straits.

They run their cards up to where they 10's of thousands of dollars on their plastic, buy houses and cars they can't afford, then RE-FINANCE their house to pay their cards off.... just to max them again.... then whine like a 2 year old when the economy takes a 'blip' and the water rises over their noses.

As a country, this has been building for the last 25 years. People started getting reckless when credit cards started getting dealt out like chocolate. This was followed by people borrowing money on their houses to pay them off. (banks making STUPID loans to people not smart enough to know better)

Now, this pile of cards is starting to collapse for those who waded too far out in the water and borrowed themselves into oblivion. Unfortunately, all of us who've lived within our means are going to help pay for the mess they've made.

Just remember, defaulting on bank credit is really just a scam for moving real assets into ever higher, tighter, and righter hands.

Just to give you an idea of whats up; I'm a manager/salesman at a metal building construction company. We build our own trusses, pour our own concrete, ect. In February I priced a 50x84 shop to a guy in my area- complete- insulation, concrete and all for $53000. He wasn't sure, so he didn't sign a contract. He came back this week, I re-uped the current price- $58000!! Steel has went up 5% one month, then 10% the next every month this year. Our suppliers are keeping a tight leash on orders to cover their costs too. 75% of my customers are retired folk wanting an RV garage, but I am concerned about the average Joe wanting his dream shop. Man I hate election years. And big oil companys. Oh, and clowns...

Originally Posted by rustyfordguy

Just to give you an idea of whats up; I'm a manager/salesman at a metal building construction company. We build our own trusses, pour our own concrete, ect. In February I priced a 50x84 shop to a guy in my area- complete- insulation, concrete and all for $53000. He wasn't sure, so he didn't sign a contract. He came back this week, I re-uped the current price- $58000!! Steel has went up 5% one month, then 10% the next every month this year. Our suppliers are keeping a tight leash on orders to cover their costs too. 75% of my customers are retired folk wanting an RV garage, but I am concerned about the average Joe wanting his dream shop. Man I hate election years. And big oil companys. Oh, and clowns...

Wow... didn't realize steel was going up so much. Does the US even have the capacity to makes steel anymore. I heard a few years back there were only 2 furnaces left in the US.

Originally Posted by Chooch65

Going straight to hell and not passing go!
I ain't so much worried about the price of things as I am the prospect of more and more people not being able to afford to live. I feel the housing and credit crunches that are coming are going to be ugly!!!. I know more and more people are living on credit cards and are just not able to keep their wages going up as fast as the prices for food and gas. There is trouble coming and the last thing many of us will be worried about is our "old" cars!

Credit? whats that? After my second divorce, I pretty much surrendered my credit.......or whats left of it. I live my life on a "If I dont have the money on me, I dont need it" attitude and It works pretty well. At least I'm not in debt up to my ass and starving to death. None of of my vehicles are new but.....they do run, except my '66 galaxie project, which is still in pieces at this time. People who have the " I want it all and right now" attitude are destined to fall flat on their face unless they make 100,000 + a year or.........own or are an exec at a large oil/gasoline company.Yep, You can bet your fat a&* trouble is comming and the suckers with porches and ferrari's parked in their drives (parked cuz no money left for gas) are gonna be the first to fall. I mean, really? no one is exactly gonna break any speed records to come repo my slightly dented 1989 Ford F150 lariate, even if I still owed money on it. The other rides I have are also paid off long ago and none of 'em were bought new and sure as hell werent bought off a bank or credit card. At least I can still put at least half a tank of gas in my truck and still have money left over.

Originally Posted by forddude

I live my life on a "If I dont have the money on me, I dont need it" attitude and It works pretty well. At least I'm not in debt up to my ass and starving to death. None of of my vehicles are new but.....they do run, except my '66 galaxie project, which is still in pieces at this time. People who have the " I want it all and right now" attitude are destined to fall flat on their face unless they make 100,000 + a year or.........own or are an exec at a large oil/gasoline company.

I stopped using credit card's 8 years ago when my daughter was about 2 yrs. and I owed over $32K in credit card debit from doing nothing but using cards to buy everything from gas to cigarettes...

I have $6K left in credit bills today adn that should be paid off by years end

Thanks to not buying schitt I didn't need, and just being my cheap old self

Never did I go cheap on the kids or the wife, just me

Proud of myself sort of....

Still driving 8 MPG pigs and LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT

Well, here's my take on the past, the present and what we'll be facing in the future. My dad didn't use credit cards but went to the bank for a loan if he needed or wanted something. He was very proud of his good credit rating. He bought a new XL every two years, but his mileage allowance..he worked for a steel hauling trucking company as a salesman paid for much of it and made a decent living. Our home was modest and paid for, but we had a boat, a camper, took nice (but not lavish) vacations, had a Model A and he bought my mom a couple of late model Mustangs back in the late '60s-early '70s. This was the American Dream in action. Due to the company he worked for being sold. loss of a job along with his pension and having to take a lesser one before he wanted to retire, what savings my parents had was pretty much drained when my mom died. His financial position had become bad enough that he had no life insurance on her. My dad retired on just Social Security but I know that he wouldn't have changed a thing in his life.

The present.... My friends Jeff and Lisa own a home in Cleveland. They refinanced a few years ago at a reasonabe interest rate, then took out a home equity loan to make some repairs. Lisa *is* an accountant and the interest rate was good a value for what the property was appraised at the going rate at the time.. The improvments were aimed at selling this home and buying a restored farm house in the country, their American Dream. They found such a home at a VERY reasonable price, bought it and moved in in late '06. A few months later, the foreclosure crisis began, suddenly the house in Cleveland wasn't worth nearly what it was appraised at. Even with renters over the past year, the Cleveland home cost them an extra $15K. Jeff works as a trucker, Lisa does her accountant work for a good firm and though their combined income is very strong, they couldn't pay for both homes. They were forced to max out credit cards to live and are presently filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy..it was never really eliminated by the Wubya Republicans to make their Cleveland and credit card disaster go away. These people did nothing wrong other than listening to a bank and it's appraiser.

The future... I have my 9 year old granddaughter Waldo who is bright enough to go as far as she wants education-wise.. I honestly don't care if she wants to be a topless dancer, a garbage collector, be a starving artist or get a doctorate in Asian Studies....and we're not Asian.. I want her to be happy. But whatever she decides upon in 9 years, further education beyond HS will be a must if nothing more that something as a backup, whether University or trade school. But what kind of job will she be able to get in 11- 13 years. Certainly nothing worthwhile in our area...or perhaps anywhere. Where will be Waldo's American Dream?

Jan

Originally Posted by FEandGoingBroke

I stopped using credit card's 8 years ago when my daughter was about 2 yrs. and I owed over $32K in credit card debit from doing nothing but using cards to buy everything from gas to cigarettes...

I have $6K left in credit bills today adn that should be paid off by years end

Thanks to not buying schitt I didn't need, and just being my cheap old self

Never did I go cheap on the kids or the wife, just me

Proud of myself sort of....

Still driving 8 MPG pigs and LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT

You rock dude! proud of ya.

Most all my friends have the big house that thier wives demanded they needed to be happy. They also had to move to rural New Hampster and drive 1-2 hours to work every day at 60 Miles of driving or more. Just to have a nice house. I am talking the 2500 square footers. Also rural NH demands you have 4 wheel drive so they all have SUV's. In the Northeast, most of them could not afford to heat thier houses this year. Or pay $700 a month if they did. Next year will be a lot worse.

My 2 family house is 1200 square feet each floor, with a small 3000 square foot yard. Very modest. Only cost me $200 a month to heat, @ 65 degrees. For years I have had to listen to my pals telling me to sell and buy a nice house. Of coarse they wern't paying $1500.00 a month for child support either. I am very happy with the choices I made. I have one card, and it gets paid off every month. I even get 2% purchase money back on it. So gas and food always goes on the card. The $300.00 a year that 2% generates goes into my car hobby.

I recently took half my yard and made a vegitable garden from it. It is coming along nicely, and soon I will learn how to can and freeze vegitables for the winter months. Just planted 2 cherry tree's. I also plan to burry 2-200 gallon oil tanks in my yard to collect rain water, for the garden.

Damm Tomatoes are near $3.00 each in the stores right now, and Cherries are $5.00 a pound.

I see a day where I will have an electric motor, or a hybrid engine running my 66 and will probably be getting 50+ MPG, and still have the fastest car on the street. Can't do that with newer cars, the government won't let you.

Yeah, see that is what I envision beyond what I was talking about with the hobby. I think all that is going on, is going to surely move us into a pioneer mentality; saving rain water for later, alot of recycling in every way,collecting wood for fireplaces and woodburning stoves, etc. OH YEAH, and driving in or on vehicles that we wouldnt be caught dead driving in before, with engines the size of my cell phone, or better yet; walking and bicycling instead of driving. Welcome to the pre industrial age thanks to greed. I don't worry with my Lord Jesus on my side, but it is still sad regardless.

Just make more money, there is so much money in the us, people are lazy face it. You want it go get it, noone owes you anything. Control your own destiny, relying on others for a weekly paycheck is not a viable option in this day and age.