start voting from the rooftops.

 

Amen to that!!!! Why don't we ever hear the politicians talking about that?

 

Um, that is what happened when oil hit $150 a barrel. We're just now "out" of it and looking to head back.

b-uno: you're in a database somewhere

 

Being from the great depressed state of MI and involved in commercial construction, from my perspective things already look mighty bleak, in fact, the worst yet. $5.00 per gallon will most likely kill any momentum toward recovery.

 

Gotta be headed towards recovery first, before you can have momentum.

It's just my opinion, but we're still sinking.

Stewart

 

Don't want to turn this into a economy thread but I 100% agree with gwh1bass. A few guys in the neigborhood just got there unemployment cut.

Wonder how there going to feed there kids.Maybe they'll find something.

I parked the X today to drive my car. Tired of looking at my gas gauge and getting mad. Winter blend and uping prices.=pissed

 

u can get anything with a gun. if they get desperate they might just use them.

 

Caterpillar opened a huge plant factory in BEIJING. They plan on hiring how many?1k? 5k workers?

Caterpillar : China Homepage

US gov. probably wouldn't give them an incentive to open it here.Just some new smog policy's theymust abide by

 

What do you expect when O's Big Health Plan is shoved down everyone's throat .- like it or not ... That's what happens when people with ZERO business experience try running a 'Business' .. Can you blame caterpillar when it costs them this much and are still expected to compete ?!? How's huge new taxes and paperwork for an incentive to push jobs completely off shore ?!?

PEORIA, Ill. — Heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar says the new health care reform law will create a $100 million drag on its first-quarter earnings because of tax law changes.
The Peoria company said Wednesday that the health care overhaul President Barack Obama signed this week will reduce the tax deduction it receives for its retiree health care program.
Caterpillar says even though the change won't take effect until 2011, its liabilities for retiree health care are already reflected in its financial statements.
So Caterpillar expects to record an after-tax charge of $100 million in the first quarter.
And the company says the tax-law change is not reflected in its already cautious 2010 profit outlook of about $2.50 per share.

 

You know alot more about this than me. I was just saying. What a shame the Gov. is running all the manufacturing out of here and as bad as it is it's still happening.

 

not much longer and gas will be the same price as minimum wage.

 

That is a scary thought. probably not for off though.

 

(I'm not faulting any of you... the following are all true for me too...)
I was a child during the Newark, NJ riots in the 60s, so the doom and
gloom isn't really completely new.

I remember during the 70's Tuna helper and hamburger helper let us
stretch the family budget. I waited in-line with mom's car to get
gas @ night on our odd (or even) day to buy gas during the
rationing.

Lots of folks are in worse shape than those of us talking about
mod'ing our new trucks (we all have hi-speed internet too!)
and how many keep up using their phone?

I'm sure some (many?) of us could use a cut in our food budgets
- or even break out those bikes or (gasp) WALK to the corner store
for a loaf of bread or gas for the lawn mower!

I tend to think we have so many things we take for granted that
most in the world don't have - that to some extent the need to
re-evaluate our lives might be ok.
We may have to give up some of the things we've taken for granted
but that prior generations NEVER had:

* $70/month for a 4G cell phone for each member of the family
* $100/month for HD cable (3D TV anyone! 52" Plasma TV?)
* We eat out (or do takeout) 2 or 3 times a week 'cause we're tired
* Drive ourselves to the "gym" and PAY to workout rather than walk
around the block and visit with neighbors.
* A TV in everyone's bedroom with their own digital cable box
* DVR so we can record shows that aren't on when we want
so we can watch them later.

Kindles (we can't read from books anymore?)
Satellite radio (cause the free radio or CDs aren't good enough?

No more playing tag in the neighbors yards for kids, now they all
have playstations/cubes/gameboys/etc. and IM with "friends"
on-line vs. PLAY outside.

I guess I'm seeing the glass as half-full vs. half-empty.
I kind of enjoyed thinking back on some of the things I mentioned.

Wow, I have become my parents - and I'm ok with that.

 

While I do agree with you on most things, I like my little perks that I and my family have earned. I am a firefighter/paramedic and work a 56 hour week. I work another 16 hours a week teaching at our local hospital. My 72 hour work-weeks have afforded us some of the "extras". My wife is a stay at home mother, raising our kids. Not day-care, not grandma.

Yep, I have an X and a 2009 30' Puma travel trailer. I "earned" those. I have a cell phone ($30 a month), as does my wife. My kids want a cell phone? They pay for it. One TV in the house, albeit, it is a 32" LCD. The kids do have an XBOX and a 27" tube TV to play it on. No Kindle or satellite radio. The kids have to go outside and play an hour or 2 each day. They still build tree forts and go down to the creek and catch frogs. Most kids today couldn't build a tree fort to save their ***.

We have no car payments, no credit card bills, nothing but a mortgage and the usual utilities and the regular cost of supporting a family.

I earned all of this. Nobody gave us anything. I learned a lot about the economy, debt to income ratio, etc. from those times in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. (I suspect we are about the same age - I am 51).

There are still some things we could do without. No doubt about it.

But if not, I earned it.

Bob

 

Consider yourself a little more fortunate than me. Our phones are closer to $90 a month each. And my Directv is up to $120 a month now since they introduced their February 2011 price increase. I don't know what the heck people do when they have a $1,500 to $2,000 or more house mortgage. And then have to spend $150 to fill up their Excursions!

I was lucky in the gas lines though back in the 70s though. I had a friend who owned a Texaco and U-Haul. He would park large U-Haul trucks blocking the view of the pumps from the road and let all his friends fill up any time they desired. As a trustworthy deputy sheriff, he even gave me a key and let me fill up even if he was closed and had gone home. I never had to sit in the stupid lines, Thank God!