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Post by Steady As She Goes on Feb 27, 2011 1:59:34 GMT -5
I agree jma23. A little discipline goes a long way. "K" for you as soon as the timer reaches "0".  |
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Post by djrick on Mar 1, 2011 10:32:43 GMT -5
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Post by neohguy on Mar 1, 2011 12:10:21 GMT -5
That's funny djrick. Sad but true. |
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Post by Steady As She Goes on Mar 1, 2011 12:38:09 GMT -5
Agreed ... "no one WANTS to" ........... and it might not be easy, but they better start.
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Post by comokate on Mar 1, 2011 14:27:28 GMT -5
Several of us are old enough, to have witnessed the true decline in wages/purchasing power. The median income in 1970-71 was about 10,600. That equates to slightly over 60,000 dollars today. And back then, there was usually just one wage earner in a household. How many families have that income today? How many wage earners does it take if they do? Minimum wage was 1.60 in 1970-71...you'd need over 9 dollars and hour to replace that today. Gasoline was 36 cents a gallon. The people that blow the hardest about skeptics being wrong are those either too young to realize we've had a falling standard of living for decades ( being fooled by the haze of good purchased not with income, but with credit debt ) or they have a personal agenda in stating otherwise; and that personal agenda is usually personal financial gain.
The anti-union talk is at best ignorance of what unions have done for American workers, at worst, jealousy of income disparity. Unions made sure their worker's wages kept up with inflation through the years. The rest of the working class fell behind. If these people were unbiased enough to do the simple math involved, they just might get a little angry at just how far behind they've fallen.
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Post by Steady As She Goes on Mar 1, 2011 15:38:26 GMT -5
Exactly!!!!!
The key, me thinks, is PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE!!!! Hell, we should have been preparing for set backs (big or small) all along.
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Post by vl on Mar 1, 2011 15:42:12 GMT -5
I try to help, Kate. I've seen this before and even the biggest boasters get burnt crisp in the inflation toaster.
It starts with GAS. It moves to MILK, EGGS & BREAD. You convince yourself it doesn't matter because you EAT-OUT. You spent the buffer and then you suffer when extraneous costs consume you completely. All your "cushions" deflate quickly and the next thing you know, you're working but your paycheck goes to creditors first. Hopefully, cooler heads are offsetting already, because if you know what inflates you know where to hedge (and it isn't in stocks, bonds, metals or pork bellies).
They're not after OUR assets Kate, NeOH or Reason... they're after button-pushers all-in a false economy. You don't have a prolonged bull(shit) run without tangible legs unless you intend to control the outcome by design. A reminder that 99% of the button-pusher generation can't cook from scratch. It will matter.
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Post by neohguy on Mar 1, 2011 15:55:41 GMT -5
Exactly!!!!! The key, me thinks, is PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE!!!! Hell, we should have been preparing for set backs (big or small) all along. I agree steady. It never hurts to be prepared. One of the biggest ways to prepare, imo, is to avoid unnecessary debt. Set backs happen but they are easier without debt. |
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Post by Steady As She Goes on Mar 1, 2011 16:29:36 GMT -5
I agree "neo" ... no debt is definitely the way to go, if you can ... but some managed debt can be ok also (like a house payment) ... I think the big trick is to figure out the best way to generate a just-in-case nest egg for emergencies (or times as these) as well.
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Post by comokate on Mar 4, 2011 0:16:16 GMT -5
Gasoline rose another 5 cents a gallon here since 6pm-
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Post by neohguy on Mar 4, 2011 7:01:17 GMT -5
Gasoline rose another 5 cents a gallon here since 6pm- Yes and I and many many other small businesses have raised prices. I can't eat the price increases from suppliers any longer. Suppliers have online prices that can be changed with a few pecks on a key board. Not like the old days when you received a hard copy of pricing several inches thick. All quotes from my office have big bold letters on them that say "price is firm for 30 days". |
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Post by neohguy on Mar 4, 2011 12:18:52 GMT -5
Ilargi: It's somewhat darkly funny, isn’t it: rising food prices are, as we all know, a major factor in the protests in the Arab world, and these protests in turn, according to the FAO, lead to higher food prices (oil being a main driver, for one). Irony, unintended consequences? No shortage of either these days, is there? Damned if you do, doomed if you don't.
You need look no further than Geithner and Bernanke "saving the US economy" (look at those markets!) in the face of persistent mile-high unemployment, with a fast growing percentage of new jobs paying $10 an hour or less with no benefits. Then again, are those consequences really unintended?
As the real economy is being gutted to the bone, the rising markets are nothing but a mirage, a talk-to-the-hand scheme devised by the spin masters who know what all of you like to hear and who feed you exactly that. Until their masters decide the time has come when they can't squeeze enough money out of you anymore to justify keeping the game going.And then it will all vanish into thin air. And you won't even know what hit you. You’ll be left with a whole load of nothing. No services, no benefits, no jobs, no homes, just a huge bunch of empty bags. Don't let the markets fool you, look at the situation on the ground. That reflects the future much better. We will probably see another set or two of positive numbers for jobs, and the stock markets may not have reached their highest peak. But it's all the hot air of false optimism: the economy is irreparably broken. For a while, you can delay debt payments by creating more debt, but that is a dead end street, and the piper waits at the other side.
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dumdeedoe
Familiar Member
Joined: Jan 3, 2011 7:22:04 GMT -5
Posts: 755
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Post by dumdeedoe on Mar 7, 2011 22:32:28 GMT -5
UGH... just took the boat out for the first time this year,,, 180 mile round trip to the lake, and 30 gallons of gas for the boat= a arm and a leg.......... Boating more expensive than a country club membership nowadays................Maybe I should buy a volt and take up golf...................
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blackcard
Familiar Member
As of April 2013 Mortgage is paid in full :) NO debt of any kind.
Joined: Dec 23, 2010 22:06:57 GMT -5
Posts: 660
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Post by blackcard on Mar 7, 2011 22:48:06 GMT -5
<<I live very frugally and so does V_L>>
Add me and DH, as two more to that frugal living list.
If you are having a hard time making ends meet, get a part-time job.
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blackcard
Familiar Member
As of April 2013 Mortgage is paid in full :) NO debt of any kind.
Joined: Dec 23, 2010 22:06:57 GMT -5
Posts: 660
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Post by blackcard on Mar 8, 2011 1:09:49 GMT -5
Karma for VL and kate  |
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Post by vl on Mar 8, 2011 7:32:05 GMT -5
It isn't enough to live "frugally". The best practice is to live strategically. If you need to buy something, it should have future potential in reconstitution. We store biodegradable waste in coffee cans so we can have fertilizer in the Spring. A bag of non-nutritious lettuce scraps from Mexico are "on sale" for $2.50 now. That's a 150% increase from just 3 months ago. We already know that tomatoes will be going up because rain torrents destroyed the South American crops. That covers a mighty broad range of food stuffs.
The most idiotic thing you could do is-- to remain in false markets and play- I Know Investing... while the nation crumbles. That way you can be sitting on MILLIONS of formerly-valuable dollars staring at the new economy without a way to convert. The only Hedge working right now is the Ledge on the Edge of Reality you're teetering on. Frugality and a Use Strategy is the rope tied to the inland tree the prevents you from falling into oblivion.
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973beachbum
Senior Associate
Politics Admin
Joined: Dec 17, 2010 16:12:13 GMT -5
Posts: 10,501 
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Post by 973beachbum on Mar 8, 2011 10:13:10 GMT -5
VL maybe you should do that garden thread again? |
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Post by vl on Mar 9, 2011 6:58:39 GMT -5
"Karma for VL and kate"
Kate was banished from these boards for trying to fight back all the harassing comments made by the "break room" group.
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Post by sangria on Mar 9, 2011 15:45:43 GMT -5
I'm moving to Libya! They got lots a cheap gas!  |
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Post by Steady As She Goes on Mar 9, 2011 17:28:31 GMT -5
Sangria, great picture ..... I want to know how he (she?) packed and stacked that monstrosity.
And V_L, things are finally calming down on this board and then you post this:
Are you trying to start yet ANOTHER riot? Maybe it's time for everybody to calm down and start posting civilly.
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Post by vl on Mar 10, 2011 21:10:00 GMT -5
Two-thirds of the posters left. How is that "calming down"?
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kman
Initiate Member
Joined: Oct 8, 2011 20:43:42 GMT -5
Posts: 83
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Post by kman on Mar 10, 2011 21:12:39 GMT -5
I'm sorry your disappointed V_L
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