Do you think things are getting better(long)

[Incognito]

Graduated class of 98, and without question my best decision was getting into the trades. I actually got the call for the interview just before leaving for our graduation ceremony. Our trade is short something like 40,000 workers in North America (pretty sure, it might even be just in Canada). As all those baby boomers retire, there is a vacuum in skilled trades that needs to be filled. Can't outsource the vast majority of work involved.



Sorry to hear all that. Access to immediate medical care is often a problem in remote locations, so yeah, having good health is essential.

Mining, especially the underground work, as well as logging/forestry can be pretty dangerous. Millwrights and electricians, carpentry, HVAC, service/support work is all significantly less so, just a matter of good training.

And then there are the added bonuses of monster trout, walleye & pike, clean rivers and lakes, clean air, beautiful scenery, and room to breathe. God bless!

[low-1]

And then there are the added bonuses of monster trout, walleye & pike, clean rivers and lakes, clean air, beautiful scenery, and room to breathe. God bless!

That's what keeps me here... I actually changed jobs, and took a decent cut in pay, to have more time off to enjoy with my family and friends.

[FrugalKate]

I think that if Obama loses...And it's quite possible he will. We'll see nationwide rioting and looting (Think what happened in England recently), followed by a couple of years of violence on a scale not seen in this country since The Civil War.

So yeah. things are probably going to get a lot worse.

I have to agree with you on this....just look at how the Wall Street protesters have been behaving now with all the drugging, peeing, pooping, littering and wild free sex they have been doing. What are there 800+ arrests so far?...I can't remember the Tea Party Rallies behaving like this bunch of hoodlums are behaving like and if Obama loses they WILL only get worse.

[frugal is fun]

I have a good job, and I'm as safe as any job can be. My company is facing some hard times but thankfully they have a plan to cut expenses that don't include people.

However, even with my 4% increase last January I am finding it harder and harder just to make ends meet. Cost of everything is going up.

I shop at Savers for clothes and Aldi's for food. I get gas at Costco. There is very very very little left for entertainment or gifts or haircuts or oil changes or any of that kind of stuff.

I know I can tighten my belt even tighter but quite frankly I don't want to! I will and I know I have no choice, but this is not how I want to live.

[annymoll]

I think it depends on your situation.We own our home, and have for years. It is the second home we had, and we kept it and fixed it up with a lower mortgage, instead of trading up.We own our vehicles and keep them until they drop. They are paid in full. The housing market for sellers here is dismal, but for buyers it is great.We bought a farm in forclosure several years ago for a song. We have it breaking even now, instead of in the hole.Grocery costs are rising, but we are in a position to grow , forage or barter so much. We are still eating well, although we eat foods that others may not find tasty...... beans,potatoes, wild berries and fruits, Jerusalem artichokes,fish, etc.We also do without items that other consider necessities...I have never owned a pair of Nike shoes. Not once. No game systems, no ipod,no cable. I have a dear friend that was shocked. I have never been to Cracker Barrel, Olive Garden or Applebees.( I see the line snaking way out the door everytime I drive by.) We have an excellent income, which we invested in when we were younger, it has been secure and it has paid off.We continue to live below our means, and yes, it hurts. It is not always pleasant, and we do without .Other people have not had the same set of circumstances, or made different choices.Everyone is on the rollar coaster, and the intensity of the ride may also depend upon the seat you have.It is also very scary to hear the screams of those around you on the ride.

[i.m.cheap]

I have to agree with you on this....just look at how the Wall Street protesters have been behaving now with all the drugging, peeing, pooping, littering and wild free sex they have been doing. What are there 800+ arrests so far?...I can't remember the Tea Party Rallies behaving like this bunch of hoodlums are behaving like and if Obama loses they WILL only get worse.

I believe this is what mylastrook was refering to. I should know, since I live with him. He is no supporter of the current administration. He just watches world news constantly. We would both like to see Newt Gingrich in the White House. Not holding out a lot of hope, but we are still supporting Newt.

Nobody in this house wants to see another four years of the Obama administration. We did watch the riots in England, and have been watching the growing discontent in this country, and I don't think the Occupy Wall Street group is made up of young Republicans.

[indigo53]

Well, we did get a couple of local bridges fixed through the Recovery Act, but they should have been fixed a long time ago. Things are really good here. I live in SW Pa. where all the gas drilling is going on. Things are booming and local businesses are busy.

[valerian]

I believe this is what mylastrook was refering to. I should know, since I live with him. He is no supporter of the current administration. He just watches world news constantly. We would both like to see Newt Gingrich in the White House. Not holding out a lot of hope, but we are still supporting Newt.

Nobody in this house wants to see another four years of the Obama administration. We did watch the riots in England, and have been watching the growing discontent in this country, and I don't think the Occupy Wall Street group is made up of young Republicans.

Thanks for this...I totally took MYLASTROOK as an Obama supporter which was a mistake. Sorry about that!

[ml2620]

I have to agree with you on this....just look at how the Wall Street protesters have been behaving now with all the drugging, peeing, pooping, littering and wild free sex they have been doing. What are there 800+ arrests so far?.

Kate, can you cite where you are getting this information?

[Darlene]

Just revisiting this post and thankful for our health and although our lives are in wacky limbo with the flooded house etc. I know somehow it will work out. May not be my cup of tea for a bit but I'll suck it down. Hope you all can ride the waves too.

[pinecone]

[QUOTE=Lora88;1567993]Yesterday I was at the Dr and he was telling me that he feels things are getting better. [QUOTE]

I wonder if he might rethink that if he knew that DH and I will be paying $22,000 a year for health insurance?? Since DH has been out of work for some time, it looks like that will have to go. He has tried many places but it seems if you are over 50 you might as well go out to pasture.

piney

[MamaTreadler]

Do I think they are getting better? No. As a matter of fact, I think they are going to get worse. Like another Great Depression kind of worse. Buy it cheap and stack it deep!

[MyLastRook]

Quote:
Originally Posted by i.m.cheap
I believe this is what mylastrook was refering to. I should know, since I live with him. He is no supporter of the current administration. He just watches world news constantly. We would both like to see Newt Gingrich in the White House. Not holding out a lot of hope, but we are still supporting Newt.

Nobody in this house wants to see another four years of the Obama administration. We did watch the riots in England, and have been watching the growing discontent in this country, and I don't think the Occupy Wall Street group is made up of young Republicans.
_______________________________
Originally Posted by Valarian
Thanks for this...I totally took MYLASTROOK as an Obama supporter which was a mistake. Sorry about that!

My original prediction in this post was deliberately vague. To avoid accusations of partisanship.

However since it seems to have cause some confusion. Allow me to expound on my original statement.

The current Occupy Wall Street Protests are a dress rehearsal for the lead up to the Presidential election next year.

The current crop of protesters will abandon the effort before the snow flies this year. Their names having been dutifully recorded and compiled into a Rent-A-Riot data base compiled by the Democratic National Committee and several front organization funded by George Soros.

The Occupy Protests will resume around mid-summer next year once the Republican Presidential candidate becomes clear. Expect to see a much expanded speakers program featuring well known leftist celebs, Democratic operatives, Leftist film Producers, former 60's radicals and Former Members of the Weather Underground and Black Panther Party. The Re-election of President Obama will rapidly become one of the main objectives of the occupy movement.

The Tea Party will offer no real counter protests as they will be in disarray after the rejection of their hard Religious Right Extremist candidates by the Republican Base once the silly straw poles are over and the Adult Republicans start showing up to vote in primaries.

Note that one of the current set of demands of OccupyWallStreet has to do with the elimination of voting Machines and talks of U.S. Elections as though they were as corrupt as elections in the Middle East or Central american Banana Republics. This means that the Democrats are setting them selves up for protest violence and riots should Obama lose the election by anything less than a landslide. With any other Republican Candidate besides Herman Cain.

The Protester will play the race card and hope that the riots will be considerably larger and more violent because of the inclusion of a large percentage of inner city African Americans, whom the Democrats believe will easily buy into the "Obama was ousted by a shadowy cabal of white money men and or Jewish Bankers."

Once this rioting gets started in several large American cities. It will turn to "disaffected have not" looting in short order. The Democrats are of course counting on this. Burned out businesses and violence in the streets would be worth it if it helped them call into question the election results.

The one problem here being that the Democrats and young coffee house Communists of OccupyWallStreet assume that theirs will be a Velvet Revolution much like the collapse of Communism in several eastern block states or the recent riots in England where the populace had been robbed of the means to defend themselves from being stripped and robbed in the streets by roving bands of rioting thugs.

The only problem with the would be American Neo-communist revolutionaries line of thought here is they forget one very critical fact.

Unlike Eastern Europe or Great Britain...The American right is Armed to the teeth. Think for a moment about all those Korean store owners and their families standing on the roofs of their buildings with Semi-automatic rifles during the L.A. riots.

Now tell me if you thing the Republican gun owner is going to meekly strip off his designer shoes and hand them over or watch passively while the mob roughs up his wife because they feel entitled to her IPhone? There comes a point when American business men won't stand idly by and watch the looters break out his window and start helping themselves to big screen TV's and Playstation3's.

There's a point, and I know it will come as something of a shock to the average, pampered, hipster, American Neo-communist, professional protester...Where people start getting shot and not just a few like Kent state, but instead in great numbers like in Bosnia.

The United states has so far been one of the very few places in the world where "revolution" is a lark...rather than a very, very dangerous activity which can result in your death.

[frugalfranny]

Buy it cheap and stack it deep!

Oh, I like that saying.

Think we had all better be doing it too.............until congress can decide that they can act like grownups.......and not just go for the money for their campaigns.

The short answer...............NO.........they are NOT getting
better and I don't see that they will for awhile!