Fill 'er up...Yeah, right...

[KB2WIG]

I've noticed that my OM was able to buy a home, drive Buicks, ( one Pontiac) have 4 wonderful children, and his wife stayed home. Oh yeah, he didn't finish hi skool because of the depresion; he went to work.  He retired in '78.....   Nowdays, the XYL and OM work to pay for the 2.4 utes and the nikes,  computers, ipods, cell phone, multiple tv's w/ dvd  etc......  klc       

[WA1GFZ]

yea but today there are so many people in China with good factory jobs. Isn't that nice.

[W2XR]

you noticed that Bruce......The poor farmers learned the hard way when the value of their land was pumped up then they borrowed on the new value....That put a lot of them out of business.
Look at homes the value has been pushed so high nobody can afford to buy a house.

Hi Frank,

Actually, I was referring to the value (or devaluation) of the dollar, although your point is correct as well.

The talking heads in the media have largely refrained (as has Mr. Bernanke) from using the "R-word" (as in recession). However, if you talk to the guys who work for the large brokerage houses, such as Merrill-Lynch, etc., they are much more forthcoming with their impression that a recession in the U.S. is a very real probability in early Q2-08. It is interesting to note that whenever the U.S. housing market goes into a recession, which is plainly the case currently, there is a 97% probability of the overall U.S. economy going into a recession. And remember that nearly 70% of U.S. GDP is driven by consumer spending. The consumer always feels less wealthy (and spends less into the economy) when the value of his most significant asset, i.e. his home, sees a decrease in value.

Consumer disposable income is already decreasing, as shown by the poor showing of October retail sales.

I say fasten your seatbelts for this one; it may be a rough ride. I'm not ready to cash everything out yet and buy canned goods and a shotgun. However, I do think that scenario is still somewhat plausible, but much further downstream.

73,

Bruce

[K6JEK]

Something you can do about the high price of gas besides politics is use less of it.

I've fallen in love with my wife's Prius.    It gets 48-50 MPG in mixed driving, tank after tank.

Conservation is a great idea. I bought a used GEO Metro - about 45 MPG.
The safety factor is a bit worrisome, however. I think I'm about 5 x more likely to die in a crash then when I'm driving my Ford f-250.

I read somewhere that congress, trough it's establishment of CAFE standards, has caused an additional 3000 (+/-) deaths annually since the CAFE standards were established in the mid 70's. That's bout 100,000 additional highway deaths due to CAFE. We have a society that seems to value fuel economy over human life.

How can that be?   Cars are way bigger than they were in the 70's or 80's.  Is the thinking that without the CAFE standards they would be bigger still?  The Prius is a bigger, safer car than a GEO but still no match for an F-250 in an accident.

[Bill, KD0HG]

The price of biodiesel fuel made from old fast food restaurant grease and/or soy oil has remained the same for at least 6 months, near $3/gallon.

If I keep my foot out of it, I get over 20 MPG on the stuff in a 7,700# pickup truck and always have- for the last 98,000 miles.

If I could afford one, I'd buy a 50 MPG VW TDI in a microsecond.

Only problem is that biodiesel exhaust smells like a Chinese restaurant.

Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson promote biodiesel made from hemp seed oil.
I bet their exhaust smells *real* good.

http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiesel/retailfuelingsites/

[WA1GFZ]

Willie blends a little reefer smoke in to make it smell better.

Time to clean the crooks out of the beltway...less than a year hang in there. A new crook is always better than one who knows the ropes.

[W1RC]

The US dollar was worth $0.93 Canadian as of 12 noon to-day.

That calculates out to a Canadian dollar worth $1.075 in US dollars.

I have been following the daily foreign exchange rates as posted in the local newspaper  lately.  In recent days, the USD has been falling about 2¢ a day, relative to the Canadian.

The US Dollar has dropped dramatically in relation to all world currencies in the past few months.  I was in Montreal earlier this week and gas there was CAD $1.12 a litre and with 1 US Gallon = 3.78 litres this works out to CAD $4.23 a US gallon.  With the exchange rate this would cost over USD $4.50 a gallon.  When I returned to the US on Wednesday a gallon of regular 'oline was USD $2.89.

A falling dollar means that all imports will cost more.  It also means that US Made goods (are there any?) and services will cost less abroad.

Economics 101.

73,

MrMike

[The Slab Bacon]

[Yeah, Willie Nelson is big into the biodiesel fuel, he owns truck stops and manufactures the biodiesel onsight. One of our locals is running homemade biodiesel, every time he goes by it smells like rancid French Fries or Fried Chicken. I understand he gets the used deep fryer oils for free from the local restaurants to produce his fuel. I don't know if I could stand that rancid smell constantly, even if I owned a diesel vehicle!

Waste cooking grease can definately be some nasty, raunchy smellin stuff. especially if it has ben sitting out in the heat for a while.

but if you live somewhere in a warmer climate area, and you can get used oil type frying shortening, you can say screw all of the biodiesel crap and use it directly in a diesel engine!!
You just better have good fuel filters to strain out the flour crumbs. That makes it totally free and it dont get no better than that!!

                                                                   The Slab Bacon

[WA1GFZ]

I just read a large oil deposit was found off So. America.....let's see who can we tick off now. bobble head on her way to impose our  way of thinking.

[W3RSW]

Fun thread but way too long waiting for the message box 'till I can get in a few remarks.  Maybe we ought to start it up fresh.

Anyhoo... I'll describe life in absolutes, not ephemeral gas prices which mostly reflect inflation anyway.
Tried to stay out (yeah, right Rick) but for those of us able to remember... i.e. most of us here;

1. Ur rig used to come via REA.  yeah, on the railroad. You went down to the terminal to pick it up if you lived very far out.  Lucky if you got a ride.  For that matter, lucky if you had a few bucks for the rig.

2. We used to hitch rides everwhere; those having cars were fortunated indeed.  Prosperous families had a car. Really prosperous ones had one for the wife (who stayed home and gave you hell for having a hot soldering gun.) :O )

3. Most of our towns had factories right in the middle of town ; most walked to work; remember shifts or "towers" if you worked in the patch?  Coal mines here in West Virginia - whole other stories of sacrifice for family there.

4. There were no interstates or beltways.  Cities had defined centers with "the main line" for any suburbs, e.g. Philadelphia defined by railroads or if lucky a 4 lane highway a few miles out in the country.

5. You wanted to travel city to city you took the train. Happy relatives greeted you on arrival... Everybody was so excited and chattered all the way to the Thanksgiving feast.

Now in a land of plenty, three cars/trucks per family not counting the kids cars, fabulous roads everywhere, more rigs than the average ham can count, all we do is bitch, bitch, bitch.
We've gotta' get back the ol' "can do."   Take care of our less fortunate neighbors, even offer a ride now an then.  See if others are really inconvienced by riding together or won't trade the super convience of having their own wheels .....  just like to bitch as they hop in their SuckVee, run to the store five miles away for a six pack so they won't miss Tech on HDTV.   Yeah, life in a country that's been "Tyson Cornered" for mile after mile.. .   Oops, sorry, almost started a whole new set of bitches. 

Ok, so there are some of us that still live in neighborhoods... have trouble meeting monthly bills, etc., but guess where you are?
Yeah, typing away on your $3000 computer with communications unheard of a few years ago.
.... restoring 57 chevy's or old horizontal gas engines or even building up a dream AM rig. 

Don't bitch too long or life's "class E" will blow by you faster than you can think. 

[WA1GFZ]

I was driving by my egg plant friend's Dad's house today and remember bugging my dad for a ride across town because it was a bit out of range for the bike.
Then it hit me all my old pals and I were enjoying first grade 50 years ago this fall.
and we still act the same.

[The Slab Bacon]

the last few posts hit close to my heart!! We're old enough to remember the way it used to be. And still young enough to wish it was back!! Life was so much simpler back then!! It was a beautiful thing. Many times I have thought that I would love to be able to give up some of today's modern conveniences for life the way it used to be. Our parents (and ourselves) survived well for many years without computers, cellphones, shopping malls, fast food, etc!!

Have they made the quality of life better, or have they actually made it worse??

                                               The Slab Bacon

[Ed W1XAW]

the last few posts hit close to my heart!! We're old enough to remember the way it used to be. And still young enough to wish it was back!! Life was so much simpler back then!! It was a beautiful thing. Many times I have thought that I would love to be able to give up some of today's modern conveniences for life the way it used to be. Our parents (and ourselves) survived well for many years without computers, cellphones, shopping malls, fast food, etc!!

Have they made the quality of life better, or have they actually made it worse??

                                               The Slab Bacon

In the sermon yesterday our preacher quoted a study where American's were asked if the were happy with their lives and it turns out the answer is that about 25% are happy with their lives, the lowest number since the poll was tracked.   The high point of satisfaction was in the late 1950's.  His angle was that the standard of living has increased several times since then but happiness doesn't seem to follow.  I was born in 64 so I don't have any first hand experience with the simpler world but it all rings true to me because the present life is a fairly high stakes rat race with a lot of nice stuff and equally nurmerous worries about keeping the balls in the air.  If heating oil hits 4 dollars or more our savings will rapidly dissapate.   

Ed

[W1UJR]

In the sermon yesterday our preacher quoted a study where American's were asked if the were happy with their lives and it turns out the answer is that about 25% are happy with their lives, the lowest number since the poll was tracked. The high point of satisfaction was in the late 1950's.  His angle was that the standard of living has increased several times since then but happiness doesn't seem to follow.

One's happiness is directly proportional to one's independence and control over one's life.

The last 50 years have all been about surrendering our liberties and independence.

- Control of employment to big business.
- Control of manufacturing jobs to overseas companies.
- Control of personal finances to the government.
- Control of healthcare to big business/trial lawyers and the insurance mafia.
- Control of personal liberties and property rights to the black robed gangsters.
(This includes the establishment of the State as a religion, as well as so called "hate crimes".)

Don't get me wrong, both sides of the aisle have been complicit in this subversion.

Fritz Lang's Metropolis seems more and more accurate every day.
What year did he set it in, 2026, heck, he might have been 10 years early.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Of course, previous generations have said the same thing.

the last few posts hit close to my heart!! We're old enough to remember the way it used to be. And still young enough to wish it was back!! Life was so much simpler back then!! It was a beautiful thing. Many times I have thought that I would love to be able to give up some of today's modern conveniences for life the way it used to be. Our parents (and ourselves) survived well for many years without computers, cellphones, shopping malls, fast food, etc!!

Have they made the quality of life better, or have they actually made it worse??

                                               The Slab Bacon

[Ed W1XAW]

One's happiness is directly proportional to one's independence and control over one's life.

The last 50 years have all been about surrendering our liberties and independence.

Control of employment to big business.
Control of jobs to overseas companies.
Control of personal finances to the government.
Control of healthcare to big business/insurance mafia.
Control of personal liberties and property rights to the black robed gangsters.

Fritz Lang's Metropolis seems more and more accurate every day.
What year did he set it in, 2026, heck, he might have been 10 years early.

Thanks for enlightening us.  I'm sure personal liberties were at an all time high in the late 1950's.  I thought people's dissatisfaction with modern life was just from working too hard and worrying about escalating energy costs.  Are you saying that the key to happiness is found in one's relationship with big business, government, and the courts?. . .this doesn't ring true to me.   

[Bill, KD0HG]

Thanks for enlightening us.  I'm sure personal liberties were at an all time high in the late 1950's. 

...Unless one happened to be born into an ethnic or religious minority.

The perception is (true or not, the perception is what counts) that the American middle class -who has made this nation great and stabilized our society- is taking it on the chin from every direction. This is not a good thing.

On top of that, I'm getting old and crabby.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

...Unless one happened to be born into an ethnic or religious minority.

LOL. If you weren't ethnically German, you were born into an ethnic minority. And everyone knows the Germans ruled this country in the 50's. Not.

[k4kyv]

Thanks for enlightening us.  I'm sure personal liberties were at an all time high in the late 1950's. 

...Unless one happened to be born into an ethnic or religious minority.

Isn't that what the 60's movement was supposed to be all about, a rebellion against the  repressive society that existed in the 50's?

I don't recall political pressure to curtail personal liberties, at least for WASPS, once the McCarthy era had passed, but it was a time of extreme conformity.  It wasn't so much the government, but social pressure that made people conform.  But that was also the time the civil rights movement was brewing in full swing.  I  remember the "COLORED IN REAR" signs on city buses and the "white/colored" water fountains at the local FW Woolworths'.  As a rebellious kid, I used to get a great kick out of making it a point to use the "Colored" one.

That's also the same era when I used to get together with a couple of friends and go door to door after school and ask people for any old radios they might want to get rid of.  It's amazing the number of radios I acquired that way, many from the 1930's.  I just wish I had kept some of them instead of parting them all out. Some of those sets would be real collectors items to-day.

We had this speech pretty well polished and memorised about being members of a fictitious high school amateur radio club, and that every member was required to have a project, and that we needed old radios to get parts for our project, so we were wondering if they had any old radios they might be willing to give away.  Very rarely was anyone rude to us, and we always showed genuine appreciation whenever someone did give us a radio.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Isn't that what the 60's movement was supposed to be all about, a rebellion against the  repressive society that existed in the 50's?

A myth.

[Ed W1XAW]

Truth be told, the fact that average folks are going to have about $1500 less buckos to spend this winter after buying heating oil and gas, makes me worry that consumer spending is going to tank.  ED

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

Yep, mostly bored kids from white middle class families raised in the 50's of peace and plenty. Vapid mostly.

[kb3nqd]

Truth be told, the fact that average folks are going to have about $1500 less buckos to spend this winter after buying heating oil and gas, makes me worry that consumer spending is going to tank.  ED

I feel their pain BG&E increased rates by 50% this year and are talking about another bump of 30% soon (in a few months).  "Heat or eat" is a very real dilemma for many Maryland families with these rapid rate increases (nevermind the fact that their CEO makes over 500K).  Thank goodness the winter has been mild this year.  It was awfully nice of O'Malley to make good on his promise of holding the electric/gas price hikes at bay....  My apologies to any O'Malley fans but that man has hit me right where it hurts...my wallett.