Whiplash, still sorry

**whiplash** · April 16, 2008, 07:20 PM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

I am sorry, I havnt been on for a while, I am not upset, not at all, Everyone has the right to thier opinions, I am not happy with the condition of our country, we are in a very hard hit area in Michigan, and I am seeing young people and old struggle everyday, gas, grocerys, forclosures everywhere, I see a major Depression coming, and feel the polititions do not care about the little guy....What my father said years ago, is coming true, thier will be only the Poor and the Rich.....its pretty bad when I sell real estate, and my husband works at General Motors, and I cannot even afford to get my nails done, I thought I would never see that day....... ;D ;D ;D ;D No feelings hurt here....its all good, but I sure aint voting for OBAMA, and I do want to see our boys and girls home from this war, 4 thousand deaths is too much.......and counting.

**BillBallinger Sr** · April 16, 2008, 07:28 PM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

Thank you, I hope it gets better up there. You guys have had the shit kicked out of you economically in Michigan. If there's a change that needs to be made it is that. We need jobs!

And for you, I hope all will be well.

**whiplash** · April 16, 2008, 07:42 PM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

Its, real bad here, State by State, you could say its a Depression here,,,

**BillBallinger Sr** · April 16, 2008, 07:42 PM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

You guys are in my thoughts, don't forget that.

**milner351** · April 17, 2008, 03:39 AM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

I'm in East Michigan too - and the swing in housing prices is alarming.

Just a few years ago ANY house on the lake we live on was 250k and up, and the ones in that range sold very very quickly.

Oh how quickly things change - I know some folks that just bought a really nice place - all brick, over 3000 square feet, 3 car garage, etc, - it went on the market originally at 900k over a year ago, they just bought it for $450k!

Houses have declined in value by almost 50% in some cases compared to just a few years ago --

what really kills me is that the property taxes have not gone down to match? WTF?

I think everything goes in cycles - the early 80's in this country was a really bad time - I was just a kid, but I remember terms like "stagflation" and I remember how much my folks worried and toiled to make things work for our family, then came Reganomics - and the stock market boom of the late 80's made a whole bunch of folks retirement rich at young ages.

I have faith that this too shall pass -- but in the meantime - my wife and I will continue to drive our paid off high mileage vehicles and not spend what we don't have!

Keep the faith Whiplash -- we'll make it!

**BillBallinger Sr** · April 17, 2008, 05:44 AM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

Originally posted by milner351

I'm in East Michigan too - and the swing in housing prices is alarming.

Just a few years ago ANY house on the lake we live on was 250k and up, and the ones in that range sold very very quickly.

Oh how quickly things change - I know some folks that just bought a really nice place - all brick, over 3000 square feet, 3 car garage, etc, - it went on the market originally at 900k over a year ago, they just bought it for $450k!

Houses have declined in value by almost 50% in some cases compared to just a few years ago --

what really kills me is that the property taxes have not gone down to match? WTF?

I think everything goes in cycles - the early 80's in this country was a really bad time - I was just a kid, but I remember terms like "stagflation" and I remember how much my folks worried and toiled to make things work for our family, then came Reganomics - and the stock market boom of the late 80's made a whole bunch of folks retirement rich at young ages.

I have faith that this too shall pass -- but in the meantime - my wife and I will continue to drive our paid off high mileage vehicles and not spend what we don't have!

Keep the faith Whiplash -- we'll make it!

I think the underlying problem is the flight of good paying jobs out of our country. There have been a lot of people who have had the props knocked out from under them. I worked with a company almost 20 years and had what would have been $250,000 in pension funds that were literally stolen in all of the corporate takeovers and strategic Chapter 11's that have gone down. I am a bitter MF. I have the PBGIC guaranteed minimum pension now. Gee too bad I didn't get into a 401K I could have at least got a piece of it. Now I am disabled and it took two years to untangle the bureaucracy to finally receive some help.

Living within your means after you have tasted the American Dream is hard. We made all of the sacrifices,practically wore rags, raised our kids and I mean all for the kids, and just when we should have been able to settle down a little, a financial hurricane hits. I know we are not alone, but when you go from new York Strips on the grill to fried baloney its a let down, especially since you ate fried baloney for years hoping to realize what our parents had. Someone has an extra straw or two in the milkshake.

I feel compassion for anyone who is seeing the hard times coming. I'm 47, and I am not where I wanted to be financially despite my best efforts. My health is a wreck, I was doing 16 hrs a day throwing 90-110 lb cases of beef around when my babies were little. What kept me going when I just didn't think I could pick up another one was knowing that I was doing my best. Crawling to the bathroom in the morning from my legs and feet killing me, that knowledge kept me going. We lived within our means, and it still didn't help. Besides the Focus, I think every car we drove for 27 years had over 100K on the clock. I worked into management, but I didn't work any less diligently than I ever did, I used it as a springboard. The fact that the well is drying up is just wrong. I know my story is not exclusive, there are many people who built this country just like I am. Crazy, blind and waiting on the mail for the next chapter of what is going to "f" up my world again. And pissed off as hell. >

**milner351** · April 17, 2008, 06:54 AM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

Bill you've certainly had to swallow a few bitter pills, and I'm sorry to hear about all that.

What has happened to several "pension plans" is truly the worst kind of evil doing, and the big wigs and lawyers seem to always get off - how many people were hurt by the enron scandal, and how many truly suffered after all the court time was over?

Living within your means is seemingly a lost concept to many today - I do partially blame the mortgage industry who somehow figured out how to make a great number of people think that remortgaging their home was a great way to pay for a new hummer, huge TV, and that vacation they've always wanted... but somehow leave out the part that they'd be paying through the nose for those luxuries for 30 years to come!

We all have to pick ourselves up by our boot straps and keep marching at some points in our lives - now it's time for us all to do so collectively as a country..... time will tell.

The biggest thing stories like Enron has taught me is to NEVER put all your eggs in one basket - diversify!

**JRoberts** · April 17, 2008, 09:45 AM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

Employment numbers can really be bent and twisted to serve anybody's interests. I get really steamed when local governments crow about all the new jobs that have been created. They never mention that most of them are minimum wage situtations like flipping burgers and the like. How can anyone support themselves and a family on those kinds of wages? >

The good jobs are disappearing and the ones that are replacing them are not ones that provide the wages and benefits needed to live in a decent manner.

**JeffMcKC** · April 17, 2008, 11:32 AM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

Most of the jobs that have left are like buggy whip jobs, what did that guy do when the car came along, they are not worth what people want to do it for. People want $20.00 a hour to sew the tops on a pair $1.99 of underware. If the rest of the World does not make money who will be sell our junk too there is not enough of us to buy it as fast as its made. The jobs have changed, and like all of us we want what we did yesterday to be what we do tommorrow too. The World is changing, change with it or get run over by it because its not stopping. To much Goverment is in the way, making it harder for the jobs to stay here that are good jobs.

**HoosierGTA** · April 17, 2008, 11:50 AM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

I look at it this way,since the early 70's when we started buying big ticket items from foreign contries that wont let us sell our stuff there on a level playing field. We should have tariffs on them to make our workers have an even chance. I think the dems and repubs have let us down. We just had a lay of today.They let 5% of the office people go. I don't look for much from to gov Maybe we need to fire all of them Idiots that don't think this country has to live with in its means. Like it or not China OWNS us !

**BillBallinger Sr** · April 17, 2008, 11:55 AM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

I am a strong believer in constantly evolving practices to be competitive. But, there has been a segment of our economy that has sucked a good deal of the wealth away from mainstream workers. I agree that some things are like the buggy whip salesman or manufacturer, but there is always something new to go into. Why did we get get stomped out of electronics in the '70's? The computer came along, now they are all made somewhere else, the phone on my desk is from somewhere else... etc.

And, what do you do with the economic refugees? We are going to feed, clothe and keep them alive one way or the other. Pay them to make things, or leave them to sell drugs and steal and end up in the penal system, three hots and a cot with a culture that suits many of them just fine. Thats sad.

**Mr4Speed** · April 17, 2008, 04:42 PM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

You know what's sad? I went to renew my driver's license yesterday. They give you the test, and a booklet with all the answers in it! When they hand it to you they tell you that the booklet has all the answers in it. So I take the test. Half of the questions are just common sense and the others are basic rules of the road-nothing hard. I hand in my test sheet, the nice lady grades it and says "you're the only person that scored 100% today". Truly sad.

And it gets better! When I first showed up I was told that homeland security now requires proof of address to get a driver's license, and I was updating mine from my old address. She hands me a sheet that lists all the things that are acceptable as proof and I look over the first half or so and said "I didn't bring anything like this- I was going to go to the DMV next and take care of my plates-do they require this too now?" Nice lady says "No they don't have to check anything-and we accept vehicle registration as proof of address, so you can go renew your tags and come right back and get your license."

**muggle** · April 17, 2008, 06:46 PM

Re: Whiplash, still sorry

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Whiplash, still sorry

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