Yesterday evening on a local news station to me, they were discussing the differences between a single mom of today and a single mom of 30 years ago. This was the topic as a single mom had yesterday burned her house to the ground killing herself and her 3 children, and they were discussing the stress she must have been under.

They tossed numbers up on the television screen showing that in the last 30 years:

housing costs have risen by 78%.......medical costs by 85%..............vehicle costs by 60%..........food and clothing by 45%...........utility costs up 70%

I was dumbfounded.

No WONDER when my mother asked my WHY I have not bought a house like she did when she was 30............I had no answer for her.
I know when she bought her house in 1972 the asking price 27,500....and that same house today is appraised at over 300 THOUSAND dollars.

Today is a chilly day and instead of turning up the heat my son and I added a second layer of clothing.

We will not be giving out candy to trick-or-treaters..........our lights will be out. I am VERY sorry to the little kids, but this can not be helped, you need to try another door, and better luck to you.
Please forgive me.

[edit on 31-10-2007 by theRiverGoddess]

50 years ago women wanted to go into the workforce. Now that the economy has adjusted for that, they want out?

Its all about change, folks. People want progress, they get it, and there are always consequences. Our economy hasn't changed that much in recent years. There are always ups and downs. A crash? You bet its coming. I'm sure I'm not the only one panicked about the potential of a Democrat being elected in the next election; a Democrat who is sure to try to socialize medicine, raise taxes on the so-called "rich" (you know, the people who EMPLOY other people that keeps our economy moving), and, good lord, now they want the government to match $ for $ private savings accounts? Someone as desperate to get elected as Democrats generally act are sure to screw this country into the dirt.

People like my dad and uncle, who employ 30% of the employable in a small Iowa town, are sure to back things off a bit if a Democrat is put in charge. I know because they've told me. I don't think they'll be the only ones.

mod edit: Sorry - post was deleted then replaced



[edit on 10/31/2007 by Gools]

Must be nice with your dad and uncle running the small town of Iowa...

Remember not everyone can have a rich daddy.

The rest of the people may have a different view then the "BOSSES"
they ush' do (wonder why?)

try living in reality for a bit....without your dad's help...then we will see.

and here in Canada we have a good health care system and this should be
standard for any person..esp when they are sick and the hospital can treat them...it should be paid for by the BOSS otherwise the Employee will not be
there to make the BOSS rich.

Just my Canadian 2'cents'.

Your Canadian Friend,
Sven

Yeah I do see our economy slowly crumbling away, and its all due to the wars and other bull# implemented by the government. I see a collapse in our economy in the foreseeable future..

The only hope we have here in the US is for a complete and dramatic shift in the way our government operates. We were designed and built on the precepts of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and that enabled us to flourish for almost 200 years. The concept, form an international perspective, was utterly revolutionary. We proved to the world over 7 generations that our system produced the greatest prosperity, security and quality of life.

Then the elite, the very group that our forefathers revolted against, began to work in this country to circumvent and dissassemble the Constitution so that they could advance their personal agendas and greed. They infiltrated the media, the government, business, education and especially banking in order to regain their hold on the assets of this country. Essentially, they just slowly bought-off our representatives and pushed them to pass legislation that advanced their agendas at our expense. And, out of ignorance and inaction, we let them do it.

I read posts on this board all the time glamourising 'guns-in-the-streets' and grizzly adams living off the grid. If we get to that it won't be nearly as glamorous and the outcome won't be some new, utopian country. There are alot of entities out there with a vested interest in seeing the United States cut-up and parted-out. We will be powerless to stop them for any sustainable period. There will be far too much suffereing, disaease and despair.

Our only chance and I sincerely mean our ONLY chance is to put a stop to this right now. This election. We have a chance to restore the Constitution and get this train back on-track. We need our representative government back. We need that government to adhere to the tenets of the Constitution and their oaths of office (...to support and defend the Constitution) which apparently are just a string of random words to most of our elected officials.

I urge everyone who cares, everyone who has any dream of a future to please, please look into Ron Paul and support him. He is the ONLY Constitutionalist and his record in Congress over ten terms is impeccable. He has never accepted donations from corporations and never supported any legislation that ran counter to the Constitution. Our only hope is to return to the principals that this country was designed to operate on and Ron Paul is the only candidate who has made that his mission and platform.

Despite the mainstream media's concerted effort to block and ignore Dr. Paul's campaign he has raised more money (and entirely from regular people like you and I) than some 'top tier' candidates. Also, he has gotten more contributions from the military than ANY other candidate. That has GOT to tell you something. I also urge people to support his candidacy on November 5th. The mission on that day (next Monday) is to raise more money in a single day than any other candidate in history in order to send a clear and unmistakable message to the mainstream media and the 'powers-that-be'. We can turn this around but we need to ACT. It doesn't matter what other candidate you support --- they've all been bought-and-paid-for by big business. Dr. Paul is the only one whose support is exclusively from individuals. And always has been.

For the record: I am not affiliated with Dr. Paul's organization in any way, shape or form. I'm not a grassroots activist. I've never been to one of his rallies or 'meet-ups'. My point of view comes from the breadth of perception that comes from advanced age. This is it people. The new revolution starts now or it will be too late for it to ever happen. Make no mistake about it.



For the record,

Postings like this make me sick

Its a good thing for the rest of the world and all you America haters on here that this will never happen.

Do any of you know your history? When America stumbles, we get back up, dust ourselves off and fix whats wrong! Remember the depression in the 1930's? America was dead in the eyes of the world. We came back stronger than ever.

There is not enough room on the servers of ATS to lists all the things that are wrong with the thesis of the thread. I will not watse anymore time on this post, as preaching to masses, does not work, when the masses are beyond being able to comprehend.

This will be my only posting here, so while I am gone, enjoy beating me up.

Off to threads with actual substance.

[edit on 31-10-2007 by traderonwallst]

Do any of you know your history? When America stumbles, we get back up, dust ourselves off and fix whats wrong! Remember the depression in the 1930's? America was dead in the eyes of the world. We came back stronger than ever.

Sure but it would also serve you well to find out the reason for the collapse that happened 77 years ago so that you could avoid the same thing happening again. The same people WILL repeat the transfer of wealth, and I doubt that there is anything that can be done.

I still think that owning property, free and clear would help you maintain a standard of living in the event our currency devalues and/or changes. Property can be sold for new currency; and might not necessarily devalue at the same ratio that the currency does. And even if it does, appreciation will recover that loss in value.

The guns are for protecting your property and life during the transition...

Umm since these are just opinions and not actually facts do you think this will really happen? To compare the USA simply to the USSR (The name of Russia during its collapse aka Soviet Union) is patietic. They were basically in shambles since world war 2, and never fully recovered after the war do to government changes. America on the other hand has had the same government for, I'm not positive can't remember my history but well into 200 years. Other civilizations such as the romans or monghols or any other older regime held "office" for nearly 1000 years. What makes everyone think the US will collapse after 200? If everyone is in a rush for some anarchy why not go throw a molotov at your neighbors car? Even if this happened america has been through severe debt before, remember when we beat Russia in hockey some odd 30 years ago, at that time america was in a massive state of depression during the cold war. Not only was there no gas available but no jobs either and the country didn't crumble. Sorry to tell you folks but this country is here to stay for at least another 200 years; we may see a significant depression, but the US will be here to stay just going on History alone. Gas will never run out and we just came in control of eevn more oil "IRAQ", why do you think we haven't left yet even the democrats aren't that dumb. Although it's hard to look at Aremica ruling the world with an Iron fist you may want to get used to it, or find a rock to hide under when the police come by.

You must have some strong arms from all that flag-waving you're doing.

Just because you love something doesn't mean it won't die.

There's no flag waving here, although I am very pro-american, I was born here I love this country. Whether or not I agree with politicians is another story but theres not to much I can do about that. I've also visited many other country's and how they treat you if your american whether polite or not, they treat you like #, we on the other hand accept more diversity then we shun away. If you live in this country and you aren't for this country, regardless of president, you should be kicked out. Live in the third world and then cry to get back through our gates. Right or wrong whether you'd like to believe it or not, If America faults on a global scale do you think another country will accept you because you simply disagree with America? I think not, living here makes you american, through thick or thin, and like it or not you'd be shot in the head just as quickly as twidle dee twidle dumb george w. People who don't have pride make me sick, quit complaining and leave get citizenship somewhere else and enjoy.

P.S. My arms are quite strong, U.S.A U.S.A!!

Originally posted by mattifikation
You must have some strong arms from all that flag-waving you're doing.

Just because you love something doesn't mean it won't die.

Well and you know, just because you think something will happen doesn't mean it will. the US won't have an economic collapse, it will just decline. this is CHina's century. It will be CHina no.2 US no.2, th rest of the world will take a distant 3rd.

I don't know if a total collapse of the economy is possible or not, but it is clear the government is broken and like any debtor eventually you have to pay the piper. I do see problems in the near future and when it hits the fan, the corporations that got us into this mess will move out of this country and set up shop in Dubai. They will follow Halliburton's lead. Mark my words.

When they do leave we will be left holding the tab and will recover from there. We will have to pass laws that don't allow special interests to control the agenda.

As far as elections go, one simple rule to follow is if you aren't happy with the current politicians, then always vote against the incumbent. We need fresh new leadership that play by the rules.