The xXx Gloom & Doom Report

[calendula]

I am seeing our community groups starting to disband or on the verg. Not good.

What sort of community groups -can you give a couple of examples?

Our Grange is on te verg of collapse. They are getting ready to sell there building to try and stay as a group.
A couple church groups are disbanding due to age and no interest
There's a lady's group also broke up.

Some of our best fund raisers for scholarships at our summer events got done this year. Not enough people interested in running it. We are a small island too.

I will get back to you with others that were mentioned at one of meetings a few weeks ago

I am a grange member and one of the yougest one. There is no new blood and the elders can't do it all anymore. The average age is 65 in most of these groups. I find the youth is disconnected from community and it's all about me. Not good not good at all. I find Morris Berman expalins it pretty good in his book Dark Age America.

I have found that the youth groups in our are are fading away. Cubscouts, 4-H, groups like that. Sports on the other hand is a different story. That's what kids want to do now.



I have been working for a masonry and concrete construction company since 2006. I'd have to say, our biggest customer is--everyone's favorite store!--Walmart. The first few years I was here, we had a steady stream of new Walmarts that we were building. But then, in the past couple years, that stream slowed and has now completely stopped. There are no or very few new Walmarts being built right now in the Wisconsin/Minnesota/Illinois region that we work in. I don't know if this is an economic indicator, or if it's just because there can only be so many Walmarts. Right now, we are only doing additions/remodels on Walmarts, and they are piddly little jobs. I am definately worried about my employment future.

For a while, we had a lot of state projects (schools, gov't buildings, etc...) that carried us through, so it wasn't so bad. But now, even those are drying up... Commercial construction is pretty darn slow right now. We had to take a job all the way down in Iowa (a women's correctional institute).

 

[Wannabefree]

What sort of community groups -can you give a couple of examples?

Our Grange is on te verg of collapse. They are getting ready to sell there building to try and stay as a group.
A couple church groups are disbanding due to age and no interest
There's a lady's group also broke up.

Some of our best fund raisers for scholarships at our summer events got done this year. Not enough people interested in running it. We are a small island too.

I will get back to you with others that were mentioned at one of meetings a few weeks ago

I am a grange member and one of the yougest one. There is no new blood and the elders can't do it all anymore. The average age is 65 in most of these groups. I find the youth is disconnected from community and it's all about me. Not good not good at all. I find Morris Berman expalins it pretty good in his book Dark Age America.

I have found that the youth groups in our are are fading away. Cubscouts, 4-H, groups like that. Sports on the other hand is a different story. That's what kids want to do now.



I have been working for a masonry and concrete construction company since 2006. I'd have to say, our biggest customer is--everyone's favorite store!--Walmart. The first few years I was here, we had a steady stream of new Walmarts that we were building. But then, in the past couple years, that stream slowed and has now completely stopped. There are no or very few new Walmarts being built right now in the Wisconsin/Minnesota/Illinois region that we work in. I don't know if this is an economic indicator, or if it's just because there can only be so many Walmarts. Right now, we are only doing additions/remodels on Walmarts, and they are piddly little jobs. I am definately worried about my employment future.

For a while, we had a lot of state projects (schools, gov't buildings, etc...) that carried us through, so it wasn't so bad. But now, even those are drying up... Commercial construction is pretty darn slow right now. We had to take a job all the way down in Iowa (a women's correctional institute).

DH is a superintendent and has been out of work going on 3 years now. NOTHING is being built around here either.

 

[k15n1]

I was reading/listening to some economist the other day who pointed out that the stock markets do not usually give an accurate picture of the economy. We probably all know that, but it's good to be reminded. For doom-and-gloomers, more fundamental indices and indicators may be appropriate.

 

[Wifezilla]

Got nickels?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44789467

 

[i_am2bz]

So, does anyone here see a way to stop the economic snowball from picking up speed as it hurtles down the hill toward the big tree? (And I mean a practical way, not pie-in-the-sky-but-will-never-happen stuff.) Or is it better to just hunker down & do your best to take care of yourself (plus family & friends) when the calamity hits?

 

[ksalvagno]

At this point I think everyone needs to hunker down and be ready. Take care of yourself and your family. In order for this to be averted or at a lessor level, people at the top need to do a full turnaround and actually do what is right. I don't see that happening anytime soon. I think they are trying to hold it off long enough to get as much money/power/etc out of as possible before the bottom falls out.

I do find it interesting that the regular news people are actually starting to report that things don't look good. I take that as a bad sign.

 

[Wannabefree]

So, does anyone here see a way to stop the economic snowball from picking up speed as it hurtles down the hill toward the big tree? (And I mean a practical way, not pie-in-the-sky-but-will-never-happen stuff.) Or is it better to just hunker down & do your best to take care of yourself (plus family & friends) when the calamity hits?

Stopping the big picture economic snowball is up to the elected officials. Taking care of ourselves and each other is up to us as a community. I'm not concerned. I have never been under the illusion that the government has ever been much help anyway. We'd really be better off without them short term even militarily really because I can defend my own personal property, and most others can as well. It all boils down to community versus government in my opinion. I am much much MUCH better off relying on my community than relying on my government officials.

 

[Wannabefree]

Got nickels?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44789467

Interesting I have alot of change in jars around here, and a WHOLE lot of various other metals laying around.

 

[Wifezilla]

Let's say the economy and america is represented by a big bus. The bus is going down hill headed for a giant tree. You can see the accident about to happen and you want to stop it. The problem is, you aren't driving. You aren't the guy behind the driver who could say " hey stupid, let's not smack in to that tree". And the rest of the bus is filled with people telling the driver to go faster, that the tree isn't there, and that the only way to go is straight ahead. As the tax payers and average joes, where are we? Being involuntarily dragged behind...chained to the bus so we can't get away.

 

[cabinchick]

So, does anyone here see a way to stop the economic snowball from picking up speed as it hurtles down the hill toward the big tree? (And I mean a practical way, not pie-in-the-sky-but-will-never-happen stuff.) Or is it better to just hunker down & do your best to take care of yourself (plus family & friends) when the calamity hits?

We'd really be better off without them short term even militarily really because I can defend my own personal property, and most others can as well. It all boils down to community versus government in my opinion. I am much much MUCH better off relying on my community than relying on my government officials.

It's been my experience that most people can't defend thier own property, unless maybe they have a dog. No one else in my family has any type of weapon to protect themselves. Against WHAT? They all ask. Duh.
Agreed that community will be extremely important - even if it's just a community of your immediate neighbors. We will need each other to survive a meltdown.