Reading The Signs, Awareness Around You..

[eggs4sale]

1. People now say "I know where to go when the SHTF" when finding out about our animals.

2. The main street is full of empty businesses.

3. The city elected not to have fireworks on the 4th of July.

4. The rodeo said it lost money last year due to such a poor turnout. It didn't even break even.

5. Our traditional annual fundraisers (i.e. Hospice) have decided to not continue until the economy improves.

6. The cost of groceries has gone up, the cost of services have gone up, and the feed costs have gone up.

7. People are getting rid of their horses.

8. The state has been broke for a while now, and has tried to enact laws to make it so we don't have to keep paying for illegals to live here.

 

[Mattemma]

The water department raised the rates.They said it was because people have be conserving water usuage SO WELL that now the water department is not getting enough income to meet their needs.

As my mom said about gas,water,electric: You use less you still pay more!

More people I know are canceling various serviceshone,cable,internet due to lack of funds.

 

[k0xxx]

Locally businesses are closing, and the buildings or spaces are staying vacant. The vacancy rate for business properties is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50%, when the area average is usually approaching 10%.Two of the three local car dealerships have closed, and the only two manufacturing facilities in the area have both closed their doors.

Cycles do happen. There have always been bad times, followed by recoveries. The difference that I see in this cycle is debt. The US cannot keep borrowing a trillion dollars per year (the projected deficit for 2011 is actually 1.84 trillion), and expect it not to have long term dire consequences for our economy.

 

[patandchickens]

I don't think I'd place bets, myself, on how much this is part of a cycle versus how much of it is that we were all born near the top of a "bubble" that may not be repeated among coming generations.

In a lot of ways, anyhow.

Dunno one way or the other.

I suppose it does not really matter except in the abstract.

Pat

 

[Boogity]

I am not sure what some constitute as a sign,...being here in a very small rural community that seems to be 20 years behind everyone else anyway,..I have noticed that most people are beginning to live more frugally,...getting back to the old ways so to speak. Not so many new cars on the road now,..not so many flashy toys either(4-wheelers,motorcycles). Everyone seems to be more concerned about what they are doing for themselves and family. Many more gardens being planted,..many more backyard chicken keepers,..many more people raising livestock,hogs,steers,..etc.,... I was astonished for the first time in years ,..we attended out local flea market this morning,..and people were selling ramps everywhere,..and people were buying them! You used not be able to give them away,..apparently people have begun to appreciate that wild food once more. I do see a difference here,...a slow gradual change amongst the locals to get back to their roots.

You have described the little part of rural Indiana where we live. I really do think that we (North Americans) have been spoiled rotten by the "good times" for the past 18 years. During that time period we became so fat and so lazy and so pampered and so foolish with our money and so foolish with our privilege of the voting booth.

I also think that much of the "new awareness" and the need for preparation is due to the feeling that we are a nation in serious trouble.

 

[THEFAN]

Gas 3.81, Home heating oil. 3.76 OUCH!!, Milk 4.09 1 %, Bread 3.99 a loaf, and that is just some.


No one is building anything here.
More and more happy home owners are doing there own projects. Boy do most of them have not a clue what thye are doing. Especially when I have to go and fix there BLEEP UPS!!

I see the local kids driving less.
I live on an island with 3000 people so it's not hard to see who is in trouble and who is doing OK.

Lots of nice stuff on the side of the road for sale. Might be the yr I get my sailboat for cheap. Maybe!!

Pay your debt off and things are mush easier in the down times.
I just made it through 4 months of no work with no problems. I don't do unemplyment because I'm self employed. Just good planning on our part.
This happens ever yr so I know I have to plan for 4 months off.

 

[hoosier]

I also think that much of the "new awareness" and the need for preparation is due to the feeling that we are a nation in serious trouble.

agreed

We recently went to the mall in the next county. We had not been there since '08. It was over 40% vacant, and this is in a county that is usually considered a higher income area.

 

[FarmerChick]

it is all about money in the end

 

[SKR8PN]

I live near 3 cities. Shelby is a small farming community, Mansfield used to be a very busy manufacturing town, and Ontario has always been a shopping town, with the exception of the General Motors stamping plant that shut down last year.
Shelby has nearly dried up and blown away. Over half the store front in the downtown are empty and crumbling. Ontario is on the upswing with the hopes that Calisolar will soon be moving into the old GM plant and Mansfield has become a rust belt city that is slowly tearing down the old Westinghouse buildings, and about half of the old steel mill, is gone now as well. Business's everywhere in this area are sloooow and the population has shrunk, with families moving to areas that still have work. Drug use is on the upswing, as is the crime that comes with it. Heroin has made a strong comeback and the crowd that is using it seems to be getting younger by the day.
We just keep on doing what we can to save money and keep the pantry full.

 

[savingdogs]

My county was going through a huge boom when all this hit. We had been one of the fastest growing counties in the nation. While in WA, we are essentially a suburb of Portland, so there are still jobs in the big city, but the local stores and businesses are closing one by one. Consignment stores and discount places are doing okay, but any type of high-end store is doing poorly or gone and the buildings are staying closed. We have areas where the cities put in sewer and street and electric and now there is only one or two houses even built. Developers must have lost their shirts. In our current neighborhood and our former one, houses stand empty. Many have lost approx 200,000 in value over the last two years. 200,000 is not a typo. Ours was one of them, and we lost it. We had not ....er.....anticipated all this very well. We kick ourselves now.

My 19-year-old could not find a job except working online OVERSEAS. Both my brother and my sister, always employed, are looking for work, and my husband has been seeking a second job for about three years. We feel blessed he has his job despite six pay cuts and the loss of our home. We managed to get into this place on an owner-will-carry because the former owner was unemployed and desperate and we seemed the most trustworthy she could find and a bank would not finance this house except land-only.

This is certainly exceptional times for us! My mother lived through the great depression and she says this is starting to feel an awful lot like it.