And so it begins

grandpaul said:
The basis for this entire worldwide economic damage is squarely on the shoulders of out-of-control, bloated, drunk government.

NOT JUST THE USA.

Biological weaponry only opened Pandora's Box; the contents of that box have been growing for decades, fueled by hard-working innocent citizens' tax dollars.

The time for sunlight is NOW. That, or there will be no peace on Earth for the foreseeable future.
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You Nailed it Bro 👏
 
EstuaryBoy said:
It would be grossly unfair for me to generalise, but stuck in a car with a young girl from our office she readily admits her generation want the 'work/life' balance from the get go, and not prepared to do more than the minimum necessary to achieve it.
Happy to buy coffee at £4-5 a cup though, and pay £20 to have the car washed!!
Different generation, different outlook....
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You Nailed it Bro 👏
 
I am in agreement with the view that the 'younger' folk have a totally different view of cash flow in and out. My parents were in the Depression and War generation and they could squeeze a penny until it dripped blood. Holidays were rare growing up. We never had a new car until I was out of the house. No new telly no this no that. Parents did own their house that they bought new.
Old man worked a night job after his day job. The old lady went back to work as soon as the youngest started school. We always had three square a day. So I didn't grow up in poverty but grew up on a tight budget with few frills. It stayed with me and these skills paid off later in life. Like when I was working OT at the day job, had a steady PT night job and did repair work on the side.
It sucked but it paid the freight.
The idea of avoiding debts and paying them off quickly as possible seem completely foreign today. Consumerism is the norm whilst accepting high overhead is just SOP to them.
Suspect I am just being an oldster, tsk tsk tsking the kids. But when times get tough you have to get tough yourself.
 
Staytite said:
Totally agree

Quite right - go to political website if you want to post politics

Exactly - our children are going to suffer for years/decades. So sad.
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Some one mentions government and you jump to the conclusion its politics we are discussing 🙃
We are discussing the economic carnage that is apon us by the people we employ to manage our economies
This discussion is obviously over your head...we are talking about our employees...so please respect peoples prospectives
 
baz said:
Without overtime people can't make ends meet
When my kids were young I used to work 7 days a week
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I used to do a constant 70 hour week in the 5 days (when my kids were young) to try and keep a bit of balance ..:)
 
I'll tell you what, I lived through the heady days of 21% interest on a mobile home, and the concurrent collapse of the Mexican Peso (where they printed new money with more zeros, REALLY). This CRUSHED me and my 5-man / 2 truck A/C business to just me, myself, and I working 70-80 hour weeks including weekends, and doing service calls on my motorcycle because it was so much cheaper. Raised 2 kids through that, relying on my sisters little red hen (I kid you not) to provide us a fresh egg every day for our youngest to always have breakfast.

We survived by toughing it out, eating cheap food, and ZERO frills or entertainment, apart from fishing for dinner at our family pond, and hunting for deer to fill the freezer. Thankfully, our grandparents left our parents (and an uncle and aunt's families) a ranch with a pond (background of my avatar). Back then that's really all anyone needed, and land was affordable to MOST working people. Thankfully, I'm able to indirectly pass down a much smaller ranch to my kids. Hopefully it will have a pond with fish in it before I die.
 
TomU said:
Not really, it's due to a very efficient global supply chain. When there's disruptions to that (i.e. more or less or demand than expected) then the supply side can't quickly adjust. The pandemic fundamentally impacted the supply chain and it will take time for it to equalize. There's not much the big bad government can do about it, unless you want them to take over production but i doubt anyone wants that (outside of N. Korea :))

But IRT to the big bad government, what's specifically bloated and out of control? You may want to do a little research there before espousing generalities. I'm all for being critical on spending (and the government should be accountable), but most don't understand what they are criticizing.
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From your comment it sounds like you need to do some research into things such as The Defense Production Act of 1950 (emended)...which would be a good start....further more The Flu from China has only highlighted fundamental floors in globalization trade particularly when it comes to supply chain issues....basically as the old saying goes....putting all your eggs in one basket and unfortunately that basket in most cases around the world is China...
Happy to be directed to your research data points
 
baz said:
I'd imagine it's great to have family nearby
I have never had that myself
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I agree and every day older I think about it.

When my wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she had me as her care giver for six years, and due to the nature of my work, I could be with her 24x7 and still make a living - good thing since the last two years she was alive, we went to the doctor and/or hospital almost every day and she was wheelchair bound.

Things are different for me. I recently fell in my shop and lost lots of skin and had other damage. As I laid there on the floor yelling for help, I realized there was no one to yell to so I managed to get up and take care of myself. If I could have reached my phone, I might could have called someone. I can't imagine what will happen to me if I can't take care of myself. My closest biological family is 3000 miles away and estranged. My stepson, when home, is over 80 miles away but is an airline pilot so he's out of town more than in. Two grandsons are away at college, and one is in the US military.

Fortunately, if my Invesment losses stay the same for the next couple of years, I'll be fine until I die. If they get worse (ungodly now) or continue for much more than two years, I'll be screwed. That's one reason I've kept going at my IT Business.
 
marshg246 said:
I recently fell in my shop and lost lots of skin and had other damage. As I laid there on the floor yelling for help, I realized there was no one to yell to so I managed to get up and take care of myself...
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Reminds me of when I set my shop on fire.

That was CLOSE. I felt myself blacking out, my vision was tunneling, I could no longer breathe, and I managed to crawl under the smoke layer and get to the water quick enough to get it put out before I lost everything.

...and I distinctly recall laughing at the little "don't do this" drawings of oily rags in a trash can...
 
marshg246 said:
I agree and every day older I think about it.

When my wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she had me as her care giver for six years, and due to the nature of my work, I could be with her 24x7 and still make a living - good thing since the last two years she was alive, we went to the doctor and/or hospital almost every day and she was wheelchair bound.

Things are different for me. I recently fell in my shop and lost lots of skin and had other damage. As I laid there on the floor yelling for help, I realized there was no one to yell to so I managed to get up and take care of myself. If I could have reached my phone, I might could have called someone. I can't imagine what will happen to me if I can't take care of myself. My closest biological family is 3000 miles away and estranged. My stepson, when home, is over 80 miles away but is an airline pilot so he's out of town more than in. Two grandsons are away at college, and one is in the US military.

Fortunately, if my Invesment losses stay the same for the next couple of years, I'll be fine until I die. If they get worse (ungodly now) or continue for much more than two years, I'll be screwed. That's one reason I've kept going at my IT Business.
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Sorry to hear how you lost your wife in such a cruel way
Keep your phone on you at all times
As long as you are conscious you can call someone
I live alone and I've had a couple of incidents in the workshop
You have to keep your wits about you all the time
 
grandpaul said:
Reminds me of when I set my shop on fire.

That was CLOSE. I felt myself blacking out, my vision was tunneling, I could no longer breathe, and I managed to crawl under the smoke layer and get to the water quick enough to get it put out before I lost everything.

...and I distinctly recall laughing at the little "don't do this" drawings of oily rags in a trash can...
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Yep I have done the same you have to get down real low and crawl out below the smoke
Mine was a forgotten paint can with a brush soaking in thinners plus some rags
I was welding and a spark found its way down the other end of the workshop and under a bench into the paint can
Another time I'd climbed up onto my bench to weld a locking bracket on a steel window frame
It was right in the apex of the roof
As I started welding I felt faint and dropped down on to my knees on top of the bench
I'd forgotten to clip on my earth lead
And it had found an earth from an old spot light I had on the window frame
The cable had burnt out and the putrid smoke made me almost pass out
 
baz said:
Yep I have done the same you have to get down real low and crawl out below the smoke
Mine was a forgotten paint can with a brush soaking in thinners plus some rags
I was welding and a spark found its way down the other end of the workshop and under a bench into the paint can
Another time I'd climbed up onto my bench to weld a locking bracket on a steel window frame
It was right in the apex of the roof
As I started welding I felt faint and dropped down on to my knees on top of the bench
I'd forgotten to clip on my earth lead
And it had found an earth from an old spot light I had on the window frame
The cable had burnt out and the putrid smoke made me almost pass out
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Wow.

I remember the feeling of arc welding in a drizzle, from an aluminum ladder...
 
baz said:
Keep your phone on you at all times
As long as you are conscious you can call someone
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I tell myself that all the time. However, I've never been tied to my phone and half the time don't remember where I left it.

I'm starting to think about a life alert device but wondering if I would remember to keep it on. So, I checked with one company. Advertising implies that you can get into a problem, press the button, and talk. The truth is that the button will communicate with the base unit up to 600 ft, but the speaker and microphone are in the base unit, so you have to be close to it to talk. They do not support multiple base units. If you push the button, they basically call 911 which causes the EMS to come. That sounds good until the fire department wants their $2500. That was ADT - I'll see if others have a better system.
 
EstuaryBoy said:
It would be grossly unfair for me to generalise, but stuck in a car with a young girl from our office she readily admits her generation want the 'work/life' balance from the get go, and not prepared to do more than the minimum necessary to achieve it.
Happy to buy coffee at £4-5 a cup though, and pay £20 to have the car washed!!
Different generation, different outlook....
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That bothered me for a while, but I've noticed since I got old that some people are completely happy with less. I know a couple in their 30s who have two little girls and adopted another. They have a nice smaller house in rural Virginia. He works in a non-union steel mill and absolutely loves the company and work (he's not management). She works in the little town's admin office. They stay debt free except their mortgage, go on one nice vacation per year and are happy.

The girl next door I've known since she was 2, she's now 24 and graduated from college. She got several job offers with 6-months to go in college. She chose the one with the best work/life balance and best signing bonus. Makes good money and has only ever been in the office once since she started. Over the summer, she lived in Myrtle Beach and now lives in Scottsdale. She gets all the government holidays, 30 day's vacation each year. The company provides all the equipment for her to work remotely, and they pay for her internet and for someone to come set it all up each time she moves. She is not taking advantage - the company encourages it to keep good employees (and big company, small office saves a great deal on rent in Washington, DC)

Twice in my time as an employee I've been the world's authority on certain military IT programs. I got nice letters, but I have never received a signing bonus. And I damned sure had to be in the office back then. I've never worked a job where I got 30 days of vacation and I've never worked a job where I got all the government holidays. I've haven't been away from work since 1999 except one 10-day vacation and still checked on work twice a day.

In the end, I may be richer that those with a work/life balance, but that's because I've never had one.

I'm not so sure the US young people have it wrong in their thinking, but I am sure I'm jealous :)
 
While the media try to play down the economic carnage that's well on its way right now...these pension funds look very vulnerable as you may have heard recently..especially when you have the likes of Larry Fink (Black Rock) investing your/our money into the likes of failed Chinese building developments (cities) not so long ago when this current circus (cv19/trade war) begun .... were shut down by the strike of a pen over night by Xi Jinping ..billions apon billions of invested U.S tax payers money GONE...👀 New Zealand are now in the same boat

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Some live for a holiday. Others not interested in holiday because work is something that they like to do. Life choices usually preclude doing what you like instead doing what pays.
 
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marshg246 said:
I tell myself that all the time. However, I've never been tied to my phone and half the time don't remember where I left it.

I'm starting to think about a life alert device but wondering if I would remember to keep it on. So, I checked with one company. Advertising implies that you can get into a problem, press the button, and talk. The truth is that the button will communicate with the base unit up to 600 ft, but the speaker and microphone are in the base unit, so you have to be close to it to talk. They do not support multiple base units. If you push the button, they basically call 911 which causes the EMS to come. That sounds good until the fire department wants their $2500. That was ADT - I'll see if others have a better system.
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Hang on a moment - you mean that if you call an emergency service for a life-threatening situation, they send you an invoice for $2500?
I knew the US was bad, but didn't know it was _that_ bad.
 
  • Wow
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