They are hurting everywhere.....especially in places where George Bush has no influence--- http://www.autoblog.com/2006/05/01/h...ropean-growth/

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I can't turn on the news without hearing stories about delivery rates are increasing or how truckers are barely breaking even or any number of other stories. Not being reported on? Hardly.

Yet the one thing we could have been doing for decades to allieviate this problem - increasing our own oil production - isn't permitted.

The fact of the matter is that the economy is doing well - incredibly well. This does not mean everyone within the economy is doing well. It has never worked that way.

Our economy is floating on a bs money. Outrageous debt from interest-only mortgages. The US is the only industrialized nation to have a negative savings rate (i.e., as a country we spend more than we earn). The average credit card debt is over $8000, and the percentage of that credit card debt that is food and other basic necessities is on the rise. And people like me, who actually save money and carry no debt, are punished by this economy. It's a recipe for disaster.

Yay, people like me who have no savings and owe tens of thousands are riding on the backs of the fools who won't particpate in our bs economy!!


Eh, the exchange of "money" is all an illusory practice anyway.

There's a big scandal going on right now in Boston over the Big Dig. Apparently, someone supplied the project with low-grade, poor quality cement/concrete. So the safety of the tunnels that were made under the Charles River is in question now. There are fines and charges being thrown about. Yaddah yaddah...

I was thinking about this, though. It seems to me that there are lots of people in high places (MA govt, CA govt, FEMA, Bush Admin) who are making big decisions about vital things and seem not to be qualified at all to do their job. Who hired these idiots for the Big Dig? The freakin thing leaks and is made with shoddy material. Sheesh!

I'm horrible with money and I'm about to give advice about it. Hold on to your hats, people.

Everytime I get a tax refund it goes automatically to savings and I don't use it unless an emergency arises. Often, I'll overpay my taxes by 20 bucks or so each month to insure a refund. Then when it goes in, Ralphie and I aren't allowed to touch it. If we must, we do... but we have to replace it over the course of a couple of paychecks.

Also, we do a sweep every month. At the end of the month, we see how much is left in checking. Even if it's a few bucks, we sweep it into the Savings of No Return. Then we live off of the paychecks for that month. Whatever is left at the end of the next month gets swept.

I also have a savings account in Hawai'i still. I can automatically send deposits to it over the internet. To get it out is quite an ordeal. They can only withdraw it for me with a cashier's check that takes a couple days to process and a week to be mailed to me. The ordeal deters me from using it. So, I send money there often. (I'm saving up for a DL trip and a large freshwater aquarium.)
:)

My 2 cents...

Right On Brother! Money only has value when it is spent
:cheers:

That's easy to say for someone who already owns a house. But unspent money has very real value to me when how much I have in the bank is the difference between owning a home and continuing to live in an apartment.

And for the record, I'm fine with the economic "punishment" I take. I've waited a little longer to own than I'd like, and I forgo the occasional luxury. But that's because I prefer the long term benefits over the short term gratification. I'm not saying that a less long-term monetary plan is "wrong" for an individual, I just think that having an economy that rewards high debt and no savings, making it the majority strategy by far, is an economy that's destined to crash.

Wasn't that supposed to be done about 15 years ago????

There's give and take in everything, though. I am certain you could afford a home right now on the outskirts of Phoenix. I am also certain that you are unwilling to move - due to job, attachments, whatever - in order to purchase a home in Phoenix.

So your home purchasing money is devalued by where you wish to purchase.