Like the illusion of Wall Street, with its vast and powerful investment banks, now shuttered, China too is an illusion perpetuated by the Globalists that gave us the 15,000 mile Caesar salad, poisoned cat food and lead based paint on babies' pacifiers. Like the illusion that money would come from thin air to always push housing prices higher, China has spent a generation pursuing its illusion. Pursuing an unattainable dream to be like the West, while 6000 years of its carefully shepherded top soil blows into the sea.
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 2:04 am Post subject: For the first time I am honestly scared.
I knew we were facing massive parrallel collapses, from out of control government debt and promises. Regulation stopping most economic growth. Baby boomers about to retire, which there is a 0% possibility the system could handle it for even a few years.
Then peak oil, which I was ranking down the list. Then finally a growing world war which there is no escape from, and which will continue to escalate dramatically around the vast muslim world, and probably outside of it with the vast diasporas.
I knew we were in massive short term trouble because of this and it would take brilliant leadership to get around. I thought we had some more time though, probably past 2011 before things got bad. And maybe 2008 with speculation in the market as these trends became more apparent to the large investment people. I realize I have always been ahead of the trends by multiple years, I knew about peak oil in 1997, and I knew about the threat of militant islam in the late 90's. Still I may have been overestimating how long we could hold out.
Anyway what has got me scared is the price of food where I live. And the price of rent. The price of food has risen 25-100% in the last 2 months depending on the type of food. Some things like meat products has more then doubled.
I used to spend 60 canadian dollars a week in food. However each week it is buying notably less food. At first it was lasting the full week. But about 3 months ago it started lasting less and less. First 5.5 days, then 4.5 days, now only 4 days. Last week I didn't have food for the whole week, I got so hungry I had to take money out of savings.
Now this week comes along and I only had a small amount of groceries, the bill came out to $55.00 though. Now it is only the second day and I am almost out, I only have about 1-1.5 days of food left.
As for rent it has massively increased. Just over one year ago it was 550$. Now next month it will be 625$, with more increases they say expected. You see I am going to school at the moment so I dont' have enough money, I will have to stop school or ask my parents for more.
The problem is for them, they suddenly aren't making ends meet either. Since everything has increased in price so much in the last year they are having to dip into their savings. And this is a family that has its house paid for and is in the top .5% of canadian wage earners. About 200k a year.
Car insurance increased so much I had to uninsurce my car, but then bus fair rapidly increased as well. 75 cents in one year each way, or 40% in one year increase.
Anyway all in all I am a little scared as things are starting to happen sooner then I expected and prices are rising scarily out of control.
Yet all the time wages are dramatically falling off. Infact many are lucky to even get part time work where I live. So really I'm not sure what to do. Just last month all the health employees where I live got a 15% wage cut and benefits cut. And this is while prices are rising. I know multiple people having to sell their homes because they can no longer cover the mortgage!
And people are starting to move into tiny apartments sharing with other people, all the while there is no new apartments allowed! Something really big is going on I can feel it.
hehe thanks. I must admit the key for me was paying the grocery bill this week and being out of groceries already!
I'm not scared for my life or anyting but in the next month i will have to move somewhere to share a room with some roomates. Change especialy negative change does make one a little anxious!
I can only imagine what it must be like for other people and single mothers in my city! Welfare payments have actualy gone down over the last year.
At least for me because of my family's high incomes we are talking about not getting my own apartment, and having to stop driving my car and leave it uninsured as I have already done. Ultimately I will be able to pay for food even if they double again, it will just mean having to share a tiny place with a few people. For other people like a single mother I dont' think they would be able to afford food right now! They would have to start rationing, there is only so far one can cut out luxuries!
Has anyone else been having problems with price rising? Maybe it is mainly just the canadian economy is collapsing and other places are doing better? And of course just so you guys know our government pronounced that we grew by 3% last year. And that there was deflation.
Remember that next time your leader wherever you live tells you everything is fine, even as you see your wage dropping and prices rising! Just like the soviet union they lied until their very last day! And Baghdad Bob too!
Joined: Apr 17, 2004 Posts: 984 Location: Tulsa, Ok
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 3:42 am Post subject: times are getting tougher
Times are getting tougher for everybody.
Food is going up here too. Cost of everything is going up! Don't give up. Somebodies got to make it through. Get rid of your internet connection. That will save money you can spend on food!
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 4:05 am Post subject: Re: times are getting tougher
MissingLink wrote:
Times are getting tougher for everybody.
Food is going up here too. Cost of everything is going up! Don't give up. Somebodies got to make it through. Get rid of your internet connection. That will save money you can spend on food!
Lol no way not my internet!!! I have already got rid of my tv about 5 months ago. But if I move in with some other people we can share the cost of internet.
If I still can't afford internet at that point I would drop out of university and get into illegal activity. The internet would be the last thing to go:).
Joined: May 17, 2004 Posts: 1969 Location: Democratic People's Republic of Washington
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 5:40 am Post subject: Re: For the first time I am honestly scared.
AA wrote:
I knew we were facing massive parallel collapses, from out of control government debt and promises. Regulation stopping most economic growth. Baby boomer's about to retire, which there is a 0% possibility the system could handle it for even a few years.
Then peak oil, which I was ranking down the list. Then finally a growing world war which there is no escape from, and which will continue to escalate dramatically around the vast Muslim world, and probably outside of it with the vast Diasporas.
I knew we were in massive short term trouble because of this and it would take brilliant leadership to get around. I thought we had some more time though, probably past 2011 before things got bad. And maybe 2008 with speculation in the market as these trends became more apparent to the large investment people. I realize I have always been ahead of the trends by multiple years, I knew about peak oil in 1997, and I knew about the threat of militant Islam in the late 1990's. Still I may have been overestimating how long we could hold out.
Anyway what has got me scared is the price of food where I live. And the price of rent. The price of food has risen 25-100% in the last 2 months depending on the type of food. Some things like meat products has more then doubled.
I used to spend 60 Canadian dollars a week in food. However each week it is buying notably less food. At first it was lasting the full week. But about 3 months ago it started lasting less and less. First 5.5 days, then 4.5 days, now only 4 days. Last week I didn't have food for the whole week, I got so hungry I had to take money out of savings.
Now this week comes along and I only had a small amount of groceries, the bill came out to $55.00 though. Now it is only the second day and I am almost out, I only have about 1-1.5 days of food left.
As for rent it has massively increased. Just over one year ago it was 550$. Now next month it will be 625$, with more increases they say expected. You see I am going to school at the moment so I don't' have enough money, I will have to stop school or ask my parents for more.
The problem is for them, they suddenly aren't making ends meet either. Since everything has increased in price so much in the last year they are having to dip into their savings. And this is a family that has its house paid for and is in the top .5% of Canadian wage earners. About 200k a year.
Car insurance increased so much I had to uninsured my car, but then bus fair rapidly increased as well. 75 cents in one year each way, or 40% in one year increase.
Anyway all in all I am a little scared as things are starting to happen sooner then I expected and prices are rising scarily out of control.
Yet all the time wages are dramatically falling off. In fact many are lucky to even get part time work where I live. So really I'm not sure what to do. Just last month all the health employees where I live got a 15% wage cut and benefits cut. And this is while prices are rising. I know multiple people having to sell their homes because they can no longer cover the mortgage!
And people are starting to move into tiny apartments sharing with other people, all the while there is no new apartments allowed! Something really big is going on I can feel it.
Welcome to the economic phenomenon known as stagflation. Stagflation is a combination between a stagnant economy, and inflating costs for consumable goods. This results in a far less spending power than you would have in other situations such as just stagnation, or a inflationary economy. If the economy were completely stagnant, and no inflation were occurring, your spending power would remain exactly the same throughout the stagnant period. If only inflation were occurring, you would be spending more money for consumable goods, but you would also be making more money. A economy only suffering from inflation will have very little net reduction of purchasing power. If deflation were to occur, consumables would cost less, but your wage would decrease to reflect cost of living. This would result in net stability in purchasing power also.
Here is what I recommend to suffer as little as possible. Purchase a manufactured home, (also known as a mobile home or trailer), and some land just outside of the city limits. Preferably the land you purchase should already have utility hookups available for telephone and electricity. The land should already have a private well, so you will have a reliable water supply. You will not need much land to place your home on. I would recommend you purchase between 1.5 and 2.0 acres of land. Where I live, that would cost around $19,000 USD. A decent manufactured home around here would cost around $12,000. After purchasing the land and your home, you will have sole ownership of the land after you pay off your mortgage to your lending bank. Try to get as short of a loan period as possible, while keeping in mind your living expenses, and your wages. Try to get the lowest possible interest rate.
Although your land and home total will come out to roughly $31,000 USD, I would recommend taking out the loan for $35,000 USD, because you will need to pay a moving crew to move your house to location, and pay the utilities to hook up to your house. You will also need to lay either a concrete pad and mason blocks, or lay a permanent foundation. I would advise getting a fixed-rate mortgage, versus a variable rate. Your interest rate may be slightly higher than the "spot market" of the variable rate mortgage, but you will not have to worry about monthly payments increasing, or unpredictable interest rates. Once you have the mortgage paid off, you will own the land and home free and clear. Plus, with 2 acres of land, you will have enough space to grow a crop capable of sustaining your survival to an adequate level, and also allow you to sell excess crop for income. If you used the appropriate techniques for your area, you would be able to sustain yourself on 1 acre of land, leaving the second acre available to generate income for yourself.
If you thought the 1970 fuel shortages were tough, the globe is about to return to that state. Only this time, it will not be regional, and will effect everyone globally. Also, unlike the 1970's, this time there will be no rebound from the oil shortage. By the time the coming recession has gone into full effect, the memories of 1973 and 1978 will appear to be a wet dream compared to the situation that you will be living in. This is just the start of the decline of hydrocarbon man. Sustainability is the key to survival here, not extravagant wasting as many people are accustomed to. If you start a gradual personal transition now, it will be far easier than trying to adjust to a rapid change of life overnight. _________________ Here Lies the United States Of America.
Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 7018 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:12 am Post subject:
On the subject of inflation and the money supply, from Safehaven.com:
Snip...
"...the Federal Reserve has confirmed our Stock Market Crash forecast by raising the Money Supply (M-3) by crisis proportions, up another 46.8 billion this past week. What awful calamity do they see? Something is up. This is unprecedented, unheard-of pre-catastrophe M-3 expansion. M-3 is up an amount that we've never seen before without a crisis - $155 billion over the past 4 weeks, a $2.0 trillion annualized pace, a 22.2 percent annualized rate of growth!!!
Joined: May 21, 2004 Posts: 82 Location: Kansas City
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 10:14 am Post subject:
You know pops, occasionally this site can be SUCH a downer.
(Pun Intended)
Seriously, though, just browsing through this forum over the last two weeks is bringing me to a state of paranoia; the ever-present sensation that the *#&$ is just about to hit the fan.
Joined: May 15, 2004 Posts: 253 Location: Southeast USA
Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 4:10 pm Post subject: wow
Yeah, things seem really bad, I hope things work out for the best, but I'm starting to doubt it. Is there a solution to our economic problems? I can't seem to find an answer to off-shoring,etc. in our current system. Except completely switch over our economy from manufacturing to services or something. You can't offshore services, can you? _________________ In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.-Thoreau
Peak Oil
Fully half my staff last year were physically in India. Software is software, and @ $50 per hour, can't pass it up. _________________ "When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F Roberts.
Even the legal proffession is being outsourced now.
Many people think, "But wait - you can't outsource an attorney - you need them to make court appearances, right?"
Well, the truth is most attorneys - particularly young ones - do nothing but research and writing. That can be outsourced very easily, and it is.
Patent attorneys are getting very nervous as that is the type of work well situated to outsourcing. It is very ironic because 4 years ago, patent and intellectual property law was the big rage amongst folks starting law school. Going into patent law was a guaranteed 250,000 year income.
Now, it's not even a guarantee of a job.
I was telling somebody the other day, that it now makes no sense to borrow $100,000 to become an attorney. There is an excellent chance you would be better off learning to be an auto-mechanic, as that can't get outsourced. (At least, I don't think it can. But these days, you never know.)
My dad sells them. If any of live in Northern Cali, I can give you his info. Now obviously, I'm a bit biased - but he's as honest and straightforward a custom manufac. home salesman as your going to find.
I told him the other day that if my book takes off, I want to use the money get a CMH on a few acres of arable land ASAP.
Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 9:07 am Post subject: repair work outsourced? Ha. Maybe landfill operator's safe
Well, outsourcing has gotten rid of jobs repairing clothing (throw it away, buy new), appliances (disposable, buy new), and almost everything else. I looked under the hood of a new car the other day and confirmed with a mechanic that there's less, and less, and less that can be repaired. Automobiles too are rapidly becoming disposable-buy-new.
Only when it's become impossible to fix anything will this start to worry people.
BUT NOTE the "Safehaven" topic is fairly well debunked at Metafilter as beomg from a one-note-bugle source, with links to other references for comparison. MeFi authors are consistently pretty good on this kind of looking into things
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They would have to start rationing, there is only so far one can cut out luxuries!
