Ok , guys you are scaring the bejeesus out of me

[UndertheOcean]

So all of us currently living pay check to pay check with no savings whatsoever and lots of debt are basically fucked when and if the dreaded crash occurs.

We'll be the first to die off ... I mean if you saved and have property you can atleast try to prepair, store food , supplies , ammunition... we can do nothing. we own nothing other than our labour capability.

[scheming daemons]

1. We survived the 1980-82 recession.... we'll survive this....

That one was MUCH worse.

[blues90]

7. How do you figure that?

In the 80's we were not in two wars and not in this credit bind and we still had a 4th ammendment , plus gas was not near or above $5 per gallon.

[scheming daemons]

19. Unemployment was near 10%, inflation was through the roof, interest rates for new home were 18%

Gas prices, adjusted for inflation, were very high.

Industrial jobs in the U.S. were leaving in droves... the steel industry in the rust belt was destroyed, the auto industry was being dominated by the Japanese.

We had the Goverment Cheese program, for chrissakes.



Trust me.... 80 to 82 was much worse economically than what we've seen this time.... so far.

[NNN0LHI]

22. Felt like I spent more time in the unemployment office than at home then

I took a job washing truck trailers with acid. Had a real asshole for a boss. Worst job I ever had.

Don

[elehhhhna]

23. a friend of mine got an ARM mortgage loan at18%-ish back then --

and several years later the int rate had decreased to, like, 3%.


That's when i learned that you only take an ARM if mort rates have nowhere to go but DOWN. The ARM refi's of the last several years were a fraud on everyone who took one. You LOCK IN when rates are low -- but you couldn't get a locked refi w/o giving up huge equity in "points".


Everything in this country is a dmmned racket now.

[roamer65]

14. Going through the 1980-82 recession was good practice for the coming depression.

The 1980-82 recession taught me that money does not grow on trees. I remember those years well. I had to chop wood every few days to heat our house. "That which does not kill you, makes you stronger", as the saying goes.

[Fleshdancer]

20. I was just 3 years old when that recession started....

It's scary to go through the first recession of your adulthood. It's becoming increasingly hard to see the big picture when the news becomes more and more sensationalized.

I'm grateful for the economy forum here on DU...the regulars there are extremely patient with my silly questions and level-headed throughout all this.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

2. I'm trying to look at the bright side.

If I die in debt, I win! :sarcasm:

[panader0]

3. Are you British or what?

I won't need any ammo as I don't own a gun and don't believe in killing people. I do own myown property, and will be just fine. Those in the cities, I don't know.....

[aquart]

8. Well, thanks for writing us off.

[panader0]

12. As a DUer, you are welcome here.

[onethatcares]

4. nah, if and when the crash hits,

they'll always be a need for honest labor, guys that can carpenter, dig ditches, stuff like that, so you are way ahead of those that got lilly soft hands and hate to break a sweat (unless of course, you hate to dirty your hands and break a sweat).

It wasn't the janitors jumping out of skyscrapers in 1929, was it?

Peace

[bemildred]

5. This is not correct, the people you owe money to are fucked.

You are in the same situation as always.

[Mojambo]

6. It's a shorter fall for those of us at the bottom.

Those of us who are single and mobile that is.

I don't envy working class families though.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

9. Money is going to be worthless...

We are the ones with survival skills, not the douche bags who use their money for everything. We'll be the ones who make it. We were the ones who made it during the depression. We'll be the ones who make it during this shit.
Duckie

[mdmc]

10. meh. the liberals will get our backs

They have enough to donate to Obama, moveon, NPR.
They got enough guilt to kick back some cash to the workers.
Some working stiffs have guns.

[Warpy]

11. You have to realize that the largest part of the crash

has already occurred. The steepest part of home value decline has happened and the stock market had already lost 1/2 it's 2000 value through the decline in the dollar when the peak occurred.

This is just the part where people and institutions that were in the weakest condition get shaken out of the system. That means a lot of banks and brokerages will merge or go under. Sadly, it also means a lot of pension funds will simply be defunct.

Don't expect anything as dramatic as the 1929 crash. This one is in slow motion.

[Greyhound]

13. I, for one, have no intention of going quietly. n/t

[dysfunctional press]

15. get a gun.

if society collapses around us, it might come in handy.

[pitohui]

16. where do you get that? the people punished by destruction of the dollar are the savers

if all you have is debt, you are actually helped by runaway inflation, the "huge" debt of $10K say that you had last year becomes a trivial debt three years from now when $10K is only enough to pay one month's living expenses

you have nothing to worry about living pay check to pay check because nothing has changed for you

the people who are screwed are the people who gave up something precious to save money and missed out on pleasures and experiences they could have had -- only to have the value of their savings destroyed by inflation

we gave up a LOT to be frugal and yet now we are no different from you, there is no way that my husband can plan to retire

we would have been better to spend as we went along, at least we'd have better stories

[madokie]

17. How we'll survive this one will be together

Us like minded folks will have to band together for the common good, kind of like some of us experimented with back in our hippie days.

[gblady]

18. banding together....

that's my hope...like minded folks helping each other make it through.

[mdmc]

21. not exactly the American way

:(