A major purchase?
A wedding or a divorce?
A vacation?
Having kids?
Going to college?
Buying a house?
Quitting your job?
Giving up drinking?
February 24, 2009
Now that the entire world has crashed, what major things are you putting off in life?
A major purchase?
A wedding or a divorce?
A vacation?
Having kids?
Going to college?
Buying a house?
Quitting your job?
Giving up drinking?
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49 comments:
I think now is the right time to go to college for an advanced degree. There's going to be a recession for atleast a couple of years, maybe more... Till that time, government will inflate the currency so much that we will be back to million dollar McMansions. That ought to give people some breathing space and restart commerce...
Inflation would hurt, for sure... but its way better than deflation.
People who say deflation is good must be rich & hold a lot of cash.
I am for inflation, coz I am not rich and have nothing to lose. Atleast I'll get a job in an inflationary economy...
So, I'm planning getting a PG in Structural Designing or Construction Management. Because I know there would be more bubbles to come down the line...
wedding, house, kids.
Not too sad about skipping a lavish wedding and having kids. Renting sucks though, but if things continue to go poorly, buying a house may re-emerge as an option.
Good luck with your waiting for inflation. It'll be a long time before that happens.
Expansion of money and credit = inflation
Decrease of money and credit = deflation
We are and will be in a deflationary cycle for quite a while.
"But there's so much money being pumped into the system.", you say.
If you print with your magical printing press a billion dollars and bury it in your back yard that would technically be an increase in the money supply but since you buried in your back yard i.e. you're sitting on it and not lending it out, you have a deflationary or unchanging state depending on the circumstances.
Banks aren't lending, they're sitting on piles of cash because they don't know if lent out money will be coming back.
Hoping for inflation as a way out is just that hope.
Ain't going to happen soon.
Maybe someday but not for a good long time.
Dying. I want to be around long enough to see how this will end. Now, it may be a real quick end or a long dragged-out end. Either way, I want to have a front row seat.
We prepared, so we're doing OK. The main thing we're skipping is the gloating. We're not reminding any of our friends in the U.S. "We told you this was coming. You thought we were crazy, but we were just a bit AHEAD of the 8-ball." Most of them realise it without us telling them.
The only person I gloat to is my Mom, who still hasn't sold her bank stocks, which won't buy her too much gold these days (like I told her to do last September.) Actually, I'm not even gloating to her any more, since the last time I Skyped her, she admitted I was right.
So the only person I'm gloating to is the anonymous conservative who reads this blog. It feels so nice to be a government union member with a secure job; to be a liberal who made money in the housing market so I can live large.
I hope your life is going well too, mate. But if you're poor and struggling, at least you have the satisfaction of knowing that you're not in a union and you didn't work for the government or sell a house for a good profit. That should help ease your hunger pangs.
Eating.
I am for inflation, coz I am not rich and have nothing to lose. Atleast I'll get a job in an inflationary economy...
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You are the dumbest human being on earth and will be one of the first to go in the die off. God the gene pool in this country got all f*cked up. Cull the herd.
Mega Deflation First - Hyper Inflation Later (Youtube)
Clearly, having children w/o a support network of grandparents and relatives would be a mistake for anyone.
Right now, the present generation has no resources for procreation, other than living in tin corrugated shacks like in Botswana.
Simple, dual income couple, rent an apartment, and no kids is the name of the game for the next 5-6 years. There's a 95% chance that a prudent couple, as mentioned, could come out fine from this mess.
Afterwards, one can make some alterations but until then, forget about it.
We prepared, so we're doing OK. The main thing we're skipping is the gloating. We're not reminding any of our friends in the U.S. "We told you this was coming. You thought we were crazy, but we were just a bit AHEAD of the 8-ball." Most of them realise it without us telling them.
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Bukko, you are f*cked. Were do you think the Chinese get their raw materials. Your backyard retard. The rest of the world is double F*cked includeing the boys down under. Now they have you to deal with (poor bastards). Hey look at the bright side retard. The Chinese are commies just like you. They may let you live (as a slave). No, when the shit really hits the fan the good old USA will make it. 150m guns do have a place in society when the Bukkos and Chinese threaten to run wild in a bid for absolute power. All the trouble in the US is located in 5 (Bukko the government socialist leech worker personally destroyed the largest.)states. They will be isloated and handled after this Obbbammmyyy crap is dealt with. There is no way I would want to be sitting next to all those pissed of starving sexually flustrated Chinese who are beginning to reaaly hate America.
Hey Bukko do I need to sign?
Keith, this is exactly why I think we are largely still in the denial stage and reality is slowly creeping in. If we were further along then people would have different answers to the questions that you pose. I will answer your questions from what I see from people personally.
A major purchase >>> I definitely see people avoiding major purchases such as buying new homes, new cars, putting on additions to their homes etc.
A wedding or a divorce >>> I do know of one couple that is staying together, but it is only because they do not want to give up their personal place in society.
A vacation >>> I see and hear people going on vacation like always. I will say more domestic travel seems apparent, but travel none the less.
Having kids >>> Not once have I heard this from anyone.
Going to college >>> Not once have I heard this from anyone, and in fact I hear about more kids going to college due to a lack of jobs available.
Buying a house >>> Major purchases out.
Quitting your job >>> I never really heard this before the recession.
Giving up drinking >>> Perhaps drink more but not less from what I see.
I see people out to eat like I always have, going to the movies, and shopping. Sure major purchases are off but that is to be suspected. I do not see many people curtailing the way they live their lives. For the most part it is business as usual by most. At work people buy breakfast and lunches all of the time, like always. I just don’t see a major disruption to peoples lives as of yet. I think it is coming, but it will be forced upon them by the deflation that we are experiencing and not by choice… yet anyway.
Had my eye on a box of Padron 1964 Imperials
guess it can wait
Putting off my divorce because of job peril (Transport Industry). My cheating wife though (in Health care Industry) runs away with her newfound BF whenever she hears his inviting voice on her cell. Comes late night after Gala Time. House in co-ownership. Just tolerating till good times dawns.
Millionaire here, putting off buying a NYC apartment, better opportunities buying financial products in another year or two or even more distressed property such as Miami....
I see people out to eat like I always have, going to the movies, and shopping. Sure major purchases are off but that is to be suspected. I do not see many people curtailing the way they live their lives. For the most part it is business as usual by most. At work people buy breakfast and lunches all of the time, like always. I just don’t see a major disruption to peoples lives as of yet. I think it is coming, but it will be forced upon them by the deflation that we are experiencing and not by choice… yet anyway.
February 24, 2009 1:07 PM
__________________________
You are not in denial you are in another world. You will the first to go in the die off.
I've been out of housing and stocks for over a year, renting and saving ain't so bad, so I've given up very little (not much to shed anyway) and taken up surfing (the ocean, not just the web). I plan to take up pot smoking again, too. And Pink Floyd, which is still remarkably prescient commentary.
What I've given up is listening to conservitards without comment. Where I once just seethed, I now openly laugh and ridicule the idiot Reaganomics dead-enders and deregulation fetishists. I ought to slap them, but I won't give up on nonviolence.
The fear of jail/unemployment/job loss from speaking out is gone on my side of the fence. The pants-pissing, "save me Daddy and give me Johnny's lolly while you're at it" crowd that brought us here and once held all the cards has been thoroughly exposed. BTW, their genitals are predictably unimpressive.
One fear that won't go away is that the warmongers, dipshits, and pantywastes on both sides of the aisle that keep us in Afghanistan and Iraq will continue to hold sway on that issue. Death in the dust of some hellhole (for the poor and brainwashed) and fiscal disaster for us all will linger, and we will not recover as long as these nihilistic bastards remain to gum up the works and fuel the death factory.
So I haven't given up the conviction that we will continue to piss "blood and treasure" (and morality) into the black hole assembled for the short-term comfort of the thumb suckers, racists, fundies that got us into this mess. But I do laugh at them openly now.
Simple, dual income couple, rent an apartment, and no kids is the name of the game for the next 5-6 years. There's a 95% chance that a prudent couple, as mentioned, could come out fine from this mess.
The third wolders here in the US legal and illegal are breeding like flies. 3 to 1 third worlders to anglos. They are supported by the government (ALL OF THEM) They will breed like a cancer and consum all. Prudence does not exist in OBBBBAAMMMYYYSSS world. Prepare to feed clothe and house the children of the third world. You are now a slave in your own country, serving the scum of the planet.
Life, in general.
America is Dead.
Turd World Nation of Nothing.
I think that there is an enourmous amount of wealth destruction but I am not sure what this will mean for "big" decisions. People are going to live. People living on credit will see their lives change. This includes both ends of that bargain: the loaner and the lender.
Not everybody buys a cup of coffee at Starbucks on a credit card. That world is ending but so what?
America grows more food than anybody. Compared to the rest of the world we have a relatively clean system. We also have fusion weapons. Let's keep our heads, quit believing and start thinking, and things will be okay.
DP
"Stu said...
I see people out to eat like I always have, going to the movies, and shopping."
Why do these idiot moronic comments use eating and movies as a barometer to anything but taking a shit and wasting an evening on Hollywood garbage?
Are you really that stupid? Send some money to the mixed race miracle then...
Jerkoff.
i've said this for a long while now...even before i found housing bubble blogs...
i will buy a nice home close to my workplace when it is cheaper than renting...PERIOD!
f*ck no!
FULL STEAM AHEAD!!!!!!!
if my taxes are paying for the illegals, then GODD*MNIT i'm having kids!
I'm 45, so many of the biggest decisions are behind me...
Absolutely no new big purchases for the time being. Our family owns one car at a time and drives each about a decade. We'll probably stretch this one out to 15+ if things go as they look. (Kunstler posits in his essays this one may very well be my last. Who knows?) House full of 6-10 year old appliances - hoping they live long and prosper. Just finishing a full scale drip irrigation conversion with smart controller. Glad I started when I did; don't know where we'll be with water resources in a decade.
Married, but never did the big wedding thing. Just don't understand it. Not contemplating a divorce either. But I can see how the economy puts the kibosh on grown-ups wanting to go off and "play house" in style. (You could add plastic surgery enhancements here too, Keefer. Bet there are a lot of fake boobie plans shelved!)
Vacations? Well, we still drive to places like our cabin, family homes, friends'. That could change. We rent out the cabin in the mountains and just this quarter there are a lot fewer people booking vacations. The real test will be summer.
As to kids, what can I say... Life is essentially a simultaneous gift and burden at every moment in human history. The risk comes baked in the cake. A bad economy, a drunk driver, a rogue gene... Who can say which is riskier?? Get over yourself and have a few if you're so inclined. But no more than two, please.
As for college, well, that one is puzzling! Why are all these lovely fresh faced 18 year olds accepting massive loans to shuffle off to overwhelmingly inadequate institutions? Live at home a little while longer! Read more! Save some money and go somewhere interesting! It's a big, big world. Ask yourself, do I really have to begin a life of debt servitude right now? I'd love to see a wave of incoming freshmen just opt out for 6, 12, 18 months. Can you imagine tuition falling like a stone in the face of this? Delightful.
Buying a house? We all know the answer to that one. Unless, of course you're already an experienced knife carny looking to up the thrill...
This could be a great time to quit your job if you didn't have debt. But most do; that's the problem, right?
Drinking? I'm going all in on this one. Guns and gold sound dangerous; after the great unraveling I aspire to planting potatoes at the cabin and making vodka in my bathtub.
What I'm doing more of these days: baking from scratch; planting seeds and trees; taking digital photos.
Good luck all. L.
I personally put off buying any new furniture for my apartment (renting). Some of it came furnished anyway and I am borrowing a friend's 40-inch tv and couch for the duration. She didn't need them since she moved in with her BF and she didn't want to sell them yet so we both benefited from that. I am also putting off buying a car even tho my trusty Toyota has 120K miles on it. Fingers crossed that it keeps going for a while longer. I am only working part time so I have to put off any vacations. I might go visit some relatives near the beach this summer for a low-cost stay. I haven't put off drinking (the social-variety, I'm not an alcoholic). I think the food/booze/drugs industries will survive the longest. People consider those the basic necessities and will fight before they give them up.
We're postponing major purchases such as a plasma TV and buying a house. Waiting until next spring to take a Royal Carribean cruise.
If anything, we'll be doing more drinking...
Another beautiful case-shiller Tuesday. Prices in Boston down 1.3% for the month, 7% for the year, 16% from peak, and now lowest level since June '03.
Every single city down over past month. Both composites down ~19% year over year. Not a single bright data point to latch onto anymore. =)
I put-off buying that Matisse I wanted, looks like it went for $41.1 million yesterday at Christie's. I wonder whom picked it up, looks like a great price for these depressed times?
But seriously, the bank is giving me a tough time buying some land, so, I'll just save and pay cash when the time is right and the price is sane. It also seems some people can afford to hang-on to their property until someone can pay what they're asking.
For the above reasons, it doesn't look like the economy is going to go thru the normal cycle, yet. The intervention by the government into free-enterprise has made everything unpredictable, to say the least.
Thanks, Obama, and don't forget to tell the bankers to start loaning again tonight, when you address, We-The-People>piss ants.
guy n. cognito said
'IF' my taxes are paying for the illegals'...
Get with the program man
BILLIONS are spent on Illegals
Welfare, Healthcare, housing, education....
All on the good ol American tax payer!
.
I'm going to travel to Mexico.
One good thing about it,
NO MEXICANS!
Their all up here!
.
"..we will continue to piss "blood and treasure" (and morality) into the black hole assembled for the short-term comfort of the thumb suckers, racists, fundies that got us into this mess."
Quite so, Cointreau.
Thinking about drinking more too.
Can't drink often or much though cause it makes me depressed.
Oh well.
I am paying my children's rent, insurance and food bills.
I don't want them moving back in.
I am not buying anything that is not associated with survival.
I bought a bike and a backpack that I can ride to for small purchases. We have a vast array of stores close by. There is even a Wall mart within a mile.
I put in 850sq ft of raised bed gardens in the backyard and I am growing lots of veggies. I have 8 fruit trees.
I got with my Mormon Neighbors across the street and purchased enough "25 yr long shelf life" #10 cans of staples to feed my family and our neighbors for a year if it comes down to it.
I installed an off grid PV solar system for electricity and a Hot water Solar system.
I paid off my mortgage, cars and revolving credit cards.
I put an emergency kit together with camping equipment, food and water for a 2 week stint.
I purchased a 1985 Mercedes 300D , that I converted to Bio-Diesel. I have stored about 250 gallons of oil so far.
I am looking at digging a fallout shelter.
My biggest problem will be a water source if all goes to hell. I have stored lots of water, but if the shit hits the fan, I will need alternatives for a long haul. I can't sink a well, the HOA and CITY will have a fit.
NO mortgage, no debt, well stocked , growing food, generating electricity but what happens after a year hunkering down?
It might be better to be in the first wave if Nukes start to fall or everyone else is starving.
I quit buying condoms.I am drinking cheap ass budwieser instead of good microbrews.Not buying a new car until prices ares slashed 50%.
A major purchase? Don't need anything major.
A wedding or a divorce? Nobody around here gets married anymore.
A vacation? Yes, putting that off but need it badly.
Having kids? Sadly too expensive right now. Who wants to bring kids in to this world right now?
Going to college? Did that. Not sure what that degree did for me.
Buying a house? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Quitting your job? I would love to quit and start a business but I need to replenish my reserves before I do. I might start a side business
Giving up drinking? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I have found Andrew Dice Clay's approach to be the most prudent in these trying economic times.
"I was thinking of buying a Cadillac. Instead, I jerked off and saved 40 grand."
"Anonymous said...
I am paying my children's rent, insurance and food bills.
I don't want them moving back in."
Thank you for your post, you gave me a good belly laugh, which is becoming a very rare commodity in America!
Godspeed to you and yr. Family!
Carpe Diem
It's status quo, except we aren't going to Greece this summer. Some of my husband's distant relatives are sick and dying. Our vacation would literally involve being guilted into visiting one sick person after another. $10,000 to fly the family out to do this? No, thanks! We'll stay in the US and put the money to better use.
In all seriousness, after injuring my back and watching my husband tear his tricep/recover from surgery from a horrible snowboarding accident (it's official, we can no longer keep up with our kids), I've come to realize that none of this really matters if you don't have your health. That is my big lesson from this crisis.
"I am paying my children's rent, insurance and food bills.
I don't want them moving back in."
Why? You'd spend less, and since you're supporting them anyway why not do it as cheaply as possible.
What would your kids do if you were dead? You could cut the cord, you know. My parents asked me if I was sure before I moved out, because I would not be coming back. You know what? Instead of buying crap, I saved starting right at 18 years old.
Nothing. I have always lived frugally, and favor needs over wants. FWIW, needs = food/clothing/shelter. Everything else is optional.
When I hear somebody whining about not having money, I observe their shoes and nice clothes, and see their $800/mo leased car. I have never seen someone whine about money who didn't have plenty. Oddly the poorest people I have known never really complained.
Think about it. When we were supposed to send everything we had to Ethiopia, did you see some jive-talking crackhead Ethiopian chanting "help" like those embarrassments in New Orleans after Katrina?
This whole economic situation was caused by, and has been perpetuated by, a bunch of spoiled children.
STOPPED putting off having another kid. After I was laid off, we've been comfortably living on savings (18 mos. - 2 yrs living expenses in the bank). Then our welfare daddy in chief gave us a 65% subsidy on monthly COBRA health insurance - a cool $700 a month from the govt.
Upshot: we're doing it without protection and will probably convince a 100% first-world (though mixed-race) baby.
YEEEEAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
I'm going to travel to Mexico.
One good thing about it,
NO MEXICANS!
Their all up here!
"Their up here" Me guess your english no such good.
The crash hasn't made me change my lifestyle.
The bailout, on the other hand, pisses me off. As an act of defiance, I've cut back spending.
(1) Making a profit on our paid up second home which was up for lease. We have let it at less than 1/3 the market rate to an unfortunate family from church who is in foreclosure with credit that is too screwed up to get a real commercial rental. The current rate will cover my taxes and insurance. And if they are unable to pay, so be it.
(2) Vacation this year. We'll probably take a day or too to go down to some pleasure spot within easy commute, but otherwise,we are too busy putting in the tire garden vegetable raised beds and expanding the backyard chicken & egg production. Thinking about raising catfish in a cistern type backyard pond, and running their effluvia into raised beds for aquaponic agriculture.
(3) New car. Old ones are paid for, fuel efficient, and work good.
(4) Sweating the small stuff. My eldest age 18 who has been yanking my chain for the last 4 years, is in college on the parental dime, and has suddenly got religion about her studies and part time job due to the Second Great Depression. My youngest, age 11 is in an excellent private school, and by golly, suddenly the teachers are going the extra mile! My mom is ok for now, and we have room for her if that changes. My brother and his family, ditto. Actually, while the times are very scary, I feel pretty good.
Thanks as always for your devoted attention to my words, Anonymous-who-lacks-the-technical-skills-to-set-up-a-Blogger-profile. I hope I have irritated you. That is my goal!
You seem to be the sort of person who takes pleasure in thinking that other people will suffer. What a bitter existence you must live. I'm not like you. I hope people have good lives, even you, sour-applenonymous. Maybe that's why my life is going so well and yours is so sad. When you try to spread goodness, as I do in my work and my day-to-day existence, it's more likely that good things will happen to you. Karma, mate. When you wish evil, bad things accrue to you.
I realise you're just talking bitterly when you bring up Chinese control over Australia. However, I will address you as though you are a serious, mentally functional person. I do the same thing with demented or schizophrenic patients. People respond better if I pretend they're normal. And what I'm about to say might be educational for other people reading these comments.
There's currently a controversy here over a Chinese corporation which wants to buy a controlling interest in Rio Tinto, one of Australia's two biggest mining companies. It raises all sorts of interesting questions. Will the Aussie government allow this? Will WTO rules force them to? What about commercial pressures? Chinalco's got a lot of money in U.S. dollars; Rio Tinto is loaded with dollar debt, so there is logic to it. Suppose a new Chinese owner wants to sell ore at a below-market price in order to subsidise its Chinese operations or to evade Aussie mineral taxes? What happens if Chinese ownership wants to impose harsh working conditions and unions strike? Would the Aussie government support the unions made of its own citizens, or support the ppsotion of the company's communist owners?
I'm sure you hate unions and taxes, No-name Anonymous. In those instances, who would you support -- a government and union composed of white people, or the Asian communists? Tough choice, eh?
Life is like that, hate-filled anonymous. There are complexities and nuances. It's not like your simplistic imagination has it, with randy Chinese males coming Down Under to rape Anglo Aussie sheilas. Your mind has a fantasy image, Anon. I hope you'll eventually learn more about how things actually work.
"I am paying my children's rent, insurance and food bills.
I don't want them moving back in."
"Why? You'd spend less, and since you're supporting them anyway why not do it as cheaply as possible."
"Why? You'd spend less, and since you're supporting them anyway why not do it as cheaply as possible."
Because it took too much effort to get them to move out in the first place. Their rooms have been turned into an exercise room and an art studio. They don't get along with the Mom. They are in school, and... I made the simple rule: when you move out, you can't move back in again.
'What would your kids do if you were dead?"
I would hope they grieve for a while.
Then, if both of us are dead, they get a stipend until they turn 30, but only if they have a degree. If they get a Masters, it doubles and if they get a PHD, it doubles again.
When they turn 40, they can choose to take a lump sum or increase the stipend.
The trust has all kinds of benchmarks they have to achieve in order to get a full share.
Once the younger one turns 50, they can split up the remainder, sell off the properties and do what they want with the money regardless of what they have achieved.
"You could cut the cord, you know."
I am hopeful they will become productive and gain the same kind of work ethic my grand father had and invest the wealth to give their own children the same kind of opportunities they have had.
On the other hand, Obama might just abscond with my savings and redistribute it to dimwits who squandered our economy and drove it into the ground.
When I was still looking for houses, we were talking to an owner that was desperate to sell because he and his wife were divorced but both still living in the house. Then a few weeks ago, I ran into an Associate I hadn't seen in a while and found out that he was also divorced and STILL living with his ex-wife until they sold their house. I suspect we'll see more of this. Maybe the bad economy will actually keep families together.
I am not putting off anything at all.
I am single and love it.
I am renting and love it.
I have a good salary, relatively safe job and no risky assets.
I am enjoying life and watching this incredible show unfold.
Gold dropped like a rock and the stock market soared. What gives?
I'm with you Anonymous Whose Kids are Being Paid to Stay out of the Parental Home. Our wills don't give our kids control of our money until the youngest is 35, although there is money set aside for their educations. We haven't specified what KIND of education, however, because it seems to me that my kids getting electrician's certificates might be more useful to my as yet unconceived grandchildren than their getting PhDs in English Literature. Right now my 18 year old is engaged in heavy lifting as an aide in a nursing home. This allows her to make the kind of money that permits her to continue live with her illegal immigrant boyfriend instead of coming home, (while simultaneously attempting be a full time college student on my tuition dime.) I have offered to pay for a rental apartment for the young fools if she makes B's or better. I have also offered to pay for a welder's certificate or automechanic training for him, if he gets his GED. (I still ain't paying for heat or food, however, although I suppose I'd muster around with a few meals worth of dry rice and lentils if they went hungry for more than 2 days, and I might even lend them an emergency kerosene heater if the utilities were unpaid and the temperature below zero.) It's amazing how their productivity in both academics and in the workplace has soared! After all, who's to say what a "good job" might be in the future? I'm a physician myself, and it ain't what it used to be. I don't want my kids going to med school right now, although the climate might be better when my 11 year old hits college.
Anonymous with an 18 year old who after years of driving me batty has suddenly turned into a rather nice adult even if she doesn't always share my values.
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