who honestly doesnt think were in deep s*&t
I have been watching the news a little more lately and Ive come to the conclusion were in deep doggie do. Im positive our goverment has lost all creditibility and were headed down the pooper.
Well hopefully since the guy that got the secrtary of the treasuary didnt pay his taxes maybe we can also not pay ours. you know the old saying lead by example.
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I have been watching the news a little more lately and Ive come to the conclusion were in deep doggie do. Im positive our goverment has lost all creditibility and were headed down the pooper.
Well hopefully since the guy that got the secrtary of the treasuary didnt pay his taxes maybe we can also not pay ours. you know the old saying lead by example.
Our government's credibility has been gone. Where have you been, Doug?
Because, i can assure you, that if the shit really hits the fan, S.Korea will hit the mat long before we do. Their spend-on-credit culture puts ours to shame and is starting to unwind big-time.
Sorry, I couldn't help it. At first I was just trying to figure out why you would think S.Korea would somehow be better during worldwide economic hardship.
That being said, I have no intention of being in the "we" category. I've restructured, managed my debt, and eliminated the "extras" in life to put myself in position to survive and succeed. If my business ulitimately fails and my wife loses her job, as long as we can find work of some kind even at drastic pay cuts from what we make now, we can afford to keep what we have and continue to move forward in life.
If people want to survive and are realistic about what it takes to survive, then they will survive. If that means working more hours for less money, carpooling even though its an inconvienence, not subscribing to HBO,eliminating web access on your cellphone, having one family car instead of two. If a person will cut whatever corners and make sacrifices that need to happen to make their lives work then I believe they can make it work.
The two biggest problems I see are that people view everyday luxuries as necessities and that people think our society can "save" everyone.
People want these cars with front impact bumpers, rear impact bumpers, drivers air bag, passenger air bag, side curtain air bags, low low emmisions to help keep the air clean, the best gas mileage w/o sacrificing power or space. People want it all, and on the safety side they want it manditory so that everyone can be as safe as possible so they make laws and very high regulations to keep everyone "safe".
All those things are wonderful. BUT. All those things cost money. By making them manditory and wanting the bestest, most safest car in the world to be the only options on the market. You in turn made new cars unaffordable. Sorry, the new Ford Taurus, or Toyota Camry cost $20,000. That is what they cost. If someone was able to buy a car w/ just 1/2 of those features you could probably get the cost down by at least 25%. Government regulations make it manditory so tough shit if you can't afford the $20,000 model. There are no other options if you have a family of five. As for the options that aren't manditory, our society has made it impossible for a car manufacturer to produce them in such a way. If they offered a model with less features they would get crucified by our government, consumer reports, and our media. The entire company would be viewed as unsafe/deathtrap cars and would be railroaded out of business simply by public perception.
It also bites you in the ass from the other end as well. With all the safety, replacement costs and repairs are through the roof. Insurence companies have to charge higher premiums in order to fix all the new features. You get in a minor accident should be able to repair the front bumper and hood for $500.00. Opps, sorry you blew both front airbags and impacted the bumper since the impact was over 5 mph. New estimated repairs $4500.00.
Again, I'm not saying these things aren't great. They are if you can afford them. I'm all for safety if it makes sense. But if modern regulations and consumer perception require us as a society to be as safe as we can be with no regard for the cost of that safety, things will continue to become less affordable for the everyday person. Government and insurence companies will own the world (if they don't already)and they everyday person will continue to pay higher and higher costs/premiums until it gets to the point where they can't afford to live and function on a day to day basis.
If everyone had your mindset, justabum, the world would be a lot better off. It is really sad that the people who do not plan, and overspend are the people getting all the breaks, while the responsible people pay for their mistakes.
well, I'm not the most frugle person in the world. I was probably a touch late in restructuring my life but I'll be damned if I'm going to go down with the ship. I'm not getting my house repossessed while watching HBO on my new 52" plasma TV. I cancelled the extras, I didn't go purchase that TV even though I had the money to do so at the time. People just have to be realistic to the world around them. If someone can afford all the extras in life, awesome. But for the people living month to month or paycheck to paycheck, in this economy its only a matter of time before you hit a bump and your world comes crashing down. Prepare for the worst, protect yourself the best you can. If the worst never comes, then you will have a nice chunk of money saved to get all those extras when you feel more comfortable about the way this country is going and how secure your own job/lifestyle are.
People fail to separate wants and needs, and ultimately collapse under the strain.
Justabum - an even bigger issue with cars, is that people feel entitled to own a new car, regardless of how cheap they might be. The used car market is a great place to get bargains and there is no shame in no buying new.
People fail to separate wants and needs, and ultimately collapse under the strain.
completely agree. I can't believe anyone would spend the money on a new car these days. New cars made some sense 30-40 years ago when anything less than new was unreliable. Now, used cars are good up to and often over 200,000 miles. Is the new car smell and the knowledge that no one, aside from a few test drives, has ever driven your car, really worth the extra $10k or more?
I bought a 2006 Civic SI for $24k fresh out of college 2.5 years ago. I could have bought used and worried about reliability and safety, but I went new. I got a warranty, a nice car and something that I enjoy driving rather than just a beater to get me from point A to B. Did I buy it as an investment? Hell no, no car is ever an investment unless you buy it out of a junkyard or auction and plan on fixing it up. I also made a wise decision because A) I bought a Honda which holds value well (even more so now that American auto makers are near extinction)
But yet, on a video game collecting board, people have the audacity to say that buying a new car is stupid (not those exact words, but that's the message). But it's okay to spend thousands of dollars on collecting video games?!?! My car payment is $410 a month, and over 50% of these boards spend that on games a month... or even more on one item. A car payment doesn't bankrupt anyone so I have no idea why it's even brought up in this thread.
The issue was people qualifying for houses at 5x-8x their income and people buying on credit. At least argue the major point rather than going off on a tangent...
Good news - We are one of, if not the last dominoe that will fall in the economic chain. Other countries will go under before we do.
Bad news - What's the easiest way to solve a depression? Starting a global war!!! That way other countries can blame us for their problems and we can return the favor. Then all of the unemployed have somewhere to go, and jobs will be created in machining factories and such to support the war.
History repeats itself guys...
I don't spend thousands on collecting. I have some neat stuff, but mostly I come here for the conversation and to learn about new homebrews, etc
Car payments bankrupt lots of people. It doesn't take that long for somebody who bought a new car to roll remaining negative equity into their next loan. Snowball that effect over 10 or 15 years and you can have payments that approach mortage payments, easily.
In truth if you NEED a car payment, you can't afford the car. There are used vehicles in every price and quality bracket. Unless you are getting a 0% deal for the life of the loan, buying a new car, is in fact, stupid.