I had to post some comments after viewing today's paper....Front page news today - Winter heating costs are expected to be astronomical and funds to assist lower income people as to those costs are drying up quickly and are expected to be almost non-existent due to the economy. Heating oil has more than doubled since last fall and forecasters are expecting many more people to walk away for those high ceiling, super large McMansions that were built to accomodate American's growing taste for "bigger and better." Now that reality has hit and people are realizing how over extended they really are, there will be a downturn as to many things; the disappearance of the McMansion and the disappearance of the SUV. More people are giving up the McMansion in the rural setting and moving near the major Cities to avoid the cost of commuting via car (discussed a few days ago on Good Morning America). Fewer and fewer people are being able to afford to drive to work due to gasoline costs and other commuting fees that are rising (parking, tolls).
I remember a talk I had about 10 years ago with my now deceased mother who went through teh Depression as a teenager. She told me that the life of the future will revert back to the life of the past in that the family unit will again become parents, their children, grandparents and great-grandparents all living together to survive the high costs of living, heating/air conditioning, child care, elderly care, etc., etc. Housing will eventually be developed to accomodate multiple generations all living together.
The costs associated with this economy will not go down quickly if they do go down at all. The cost of oil and gasoline will remain high for quite some time and may never go lower. The price during this downturn has been tremendous due to the rise in costs for almost everything and the loss of jobs and house values at the same time. It is possible this country could see another Depression similar to that which occurred after the Stock Market Crash in 1929 and the long period of recovery thereafter. My mother told me horror stories about families losing everything and moving from place to place to find jobs. Her family was unaffected as her father, my grandfather, worked for the Railroad which was a business that did not suffer greatly at that time. But she remembers she and her mother taking in laundry/ironing for extra money since families at that time were very large (she was one of 8).
Some of the postings on here as to financial troubles greatly mirror that above already although the time frame is not the same.
Can America change its ways as to easy credit, predatory lending and learning to do without? Or are we yet to see many more years of foreclosures and bankruptcies...
I remember a talk I had about 10 years ago with my now deceased mother who went through teh Depression as a teenager. She told me that the life of the future will revert back to the life of the past in that the family unit will again become parents, their children, grandparents and great-grandparents all living together to survive the high costs of living, heating/air conditioning, child care, elderly care, etc., etc. Housing will eventually be developed to accomodate multiple generations all living together.
The costs associated with this economy will not go down quickly if they do go down at all. The cost of oil and gasoline will remain high for quite some time and may never go lower. The price during this downturn has been tremendous due to the rise in costs for almost everything and the loss of jobs and house values at the same time. It is possible this country could see another Depression similar to that which occurred after the Stock Market Crash in 1929 and the long period of recovery thereafter. My mother told me horror stories about families losing everything and moving from place to place to find jobs. Her family was unaffected as her father, my grandfather, worked for the Railroad which was a business that did not suffer greatly at that time. But she remembers she and her mother taking in laundry/ironing for extra money since families at that time were very large (she was one of 8).
Some of the postings on here as to financial troubles greatly mirror that above already although the time frame is not the same.
Can America change its ways as to easy credit, predatory lending and learning to do without? Or are we yet to see many more years of foreclosures and bankruptcies...
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