California goes into cardiac arrest

[audrey_girl]

don't want to be a doomer or to add to the volumes of doomer porn on this site, but this is so not good from bloomberg today.

warning: reading this will ruin your day

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...EQY&refer=home

[ricket]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

don't want to be a doomer or to add to the volumes of doomer porn on this site, but this is so not good from bloomberg today.

warning: reading this will ruin your day

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...EQY&refer=home

Well, it's definitely not an *upbeat* article. But verging on doomer porn? Not so much.

The key to a successful outcome is for people to be self sufficient, and not depend on the government for help. Doing so, will make this a whole lot easier for anyone. Ive found that I relax so much more when I just realize that all this financial crisis is going to do is make our governments *irrelevant*. The exact nature of that will vary from place to place, but in general, the federal government and local services will become irrelevant.

But essentially, no one should be depending on anyone, but themselves, to assure themselves of the following most basic items, in this exact order:

1) Food
2) Shelter
3) Safety

Once you have taken care of these items, in this order, and with as minimum of an impact to anyone else, then you should be able to weather this economic storm. Failure to do so, knowing what we all know now, is simply foolish and I only have 2 words: Natural Selection

[BadJuju]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

I agree with Ricket on this. While it seems dire, it is hardly doom beckoning at California's door. People have lived well beyond their means for years now, and they are now being forced to adopt to a lower standard of living.

[GRG55]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

I agree with Ricket on this. While it seems dire, it is hardly doom beckoning at California's door. People have lived well beyond their means for years now, and they are now being forced to adopt to a lower standard of living.

Depends on how it's measured I suppose...

I'll bet a good number of people will find they can spend quite a bit less, and their standard of living doesn't change much at all. After all, how much does your standard of living really go up when you own more vehicles than you can drive, a vacation home or two that you hardly ever use, multiple big screen TVs that you never watch, and acres of granite in a kitchen that's used to reheat take-out instead of preparing meals?

And then there's the whole debate about quality of life vs standard of living...

[BadJuju]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

Why are you not out there building the bunker!? The end is nigh! :eek:

[ASH]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

don't want to be a doomer or to add to the volumes of doomer porn on this site, but this is so not good from bloomberg today.

warning: reading this will ruin your day

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...EQY&refer=home

9.3% unemployment in Contra Costa county? Pffft! In my home state of Oregon, the state-wide rate is already 9.9%, seasonally adjusted. Apparently it is 10.9% without adjustment.

The thing I find intriguing is the Wile E. Coyote effect on society. Right now, the streets don't look like we're at 10% unemployment, because the fall was so damn rapid -- I think the average monthly increase in the unemployment rate has been about 0.9% over the last four months. I get the feeling that we're in the moment of calm, when the surf recedes, before the waves come crashing back. It's only a matter of time before it starts looking like a deep recession.

[cjppjc]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

9.3% unemployment in Contra Costa county? Pffft! In my home state of Oregon, the state-wide rate is already 9.9%, seasonally adjusted. Apparently it is 10.9% without adjustment.

The thing I find intriguing is the Wile E. Coyote effect on society. Right now, the streets don't look like we're at 10% unemployment, because the fall was so damn rapid -- I think the average monthly increase in the unemployment rate has been about 0.9% over the last four months. I get the feeling that we're in the moment of calm, when the surf recedes, before the waves come crashing back. It's only a matter of time before it starts looking like a deep recession.

I have noticed the streets that you speak of are not as crowded during my commutes to work. I get to work, and back home a little bit faster than I used to.

[Shakespear]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

The exact nature of that will vary from place to place, but in general, the federal government and local services will become irrelevant.

They still have their hands deep in peoples pockets :-(

[ricket]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

They still have their hands deep in peoples pockets :-(

Yep, and they keep rummaging around in the pockets because they keep pulling out lint and old grocery lists. The pickpockets are starting to realize that they have pickpocketed us until there's no more (or we have put it somewhere where they can't get to it)

[tsetsefly]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

“People are physically going through a slow death,” said Karen Stewart, an area real-estate agent who earned about $80,000 a year just three years ago and is now down to her last $700. “You don’t have any support and the support systems that were in place before aren’t in place anymore.”
Recently separated, Stewart, 45, said she has been without a steady income since 2006 and is living on a county-issued food- debit card. The five-bedroom house in Brentwood she and her husband had purchased for $500,000 went into foreclosure in January. She said she hasn’t ruled out moving into her Lexus sedan and sending her 12-year-old son to live with a relative on the East Coast.
‘On the Edge’
Shelley Bowen, a 35-year-old stay-at-home mom from Antioch, said she and her husband Jason are “teetering on the edge,” as they face slowing sales of his art work and a $2,500 monthly mortgage that will go up by $1,000 in April.
Even though Jason makes $90,000 to $95,000 a year as an oil painter and instructor, “we’re kind of holding our breath, hoping nothing else happens,” Bowen said. If necessary, the couple would turn to family and friends, then church-welfare services and government assistance, she said.

How do people who are married (so I am assuming at least some part time job that brings in income from the spouse) and who have earned close to $100,000 for some years not be better prepared for this?

I think many in all classes but especially the middle class where living well beyond their means, which will make the crash even harder...

[GRG55]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

Why are you not out there building the bunker!? The end is nigh! :eek:

The daytime high here yesterday was minus 27 deg C. Too cold to do anything on the bunker unfortunately.

Every time I look outside, I wonder whatever happened to global warming, and why the price of oil is in the toilet...

[D-Mack]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

9.3% unemployment in Contra Costa county? Pffft! In my home state of Oregon, the state-wide rate is already 9.9%, seasonally adjusted. Apparently it is 10.9% without adjustment.

The thing I find intriguing is the Wile E. Coyote effect on society. Right now, the streets don't look like we're at 10% unemployment, because the fall was so damn rapid -- I think the average monthly increase in the unemployment rate has been about 0.9% over the last four months. I get the feeling that we're in the moment of calm, when the surf recedes, before the waves come crashing back. It's only a matter of time before it starts looking like a deep recession.

Could someone clue me in on how this effects the Latino minority, some claim it's 50/50 in some regions, but I don't know.
Did some of them leave the country when the construction slowed down to go back home and how many are illegal ?

Or is this not a big problem?

[flintlock]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

I have noticed the streets that you speak of are not as crowded during my commutes to work. I get to work, and back home a little bit faster than I used to.

I've noticed the same thing.

[flintlock]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

Could someone clue me in on how this effects the Latino minority, some claim it's 50/50 in some regions, but I don't know.
Did some of them leave the country when the construction slowed down to go back home and how many are illegal ?

Or is this not a big problem?

I've been wondering about this also. I know construction was hard hit, and a lot have gone home. On the other hand, every house painter and roofer( our area was hit by hailstorms) seems to be a latino and they seem busy as ever. I'd think the most recent violence in Mexico must be sending some back to us. As bad as the US is now, Mexico has gotten even worse.

[johnnybill45]

Re: California goes into cardiac arrest

Speaking of Latino community, the bailout money going to building bridges, roads, etc. will at least partially go to the undocumented workers - the kind that hang out at Home Depot. Even if a government job hires an American citizen to contract work, that citizen will likely hire illegal immigrants to do the work - at least in California. Therefore, some of this bailout tax money will go to Mexico and South America.