2008 Crash and beyond, A Warning and Personal Story, Must Read!

The story is about my father, a man who had nothing with a dream. A dream that back in 1986, when he started his company, his goal was to have 20 employees and 5 company cars. The company weathered through 2 recessions and at the height of 2008 he surpassed his goal many times over and then employed over 1,000 employees in 16 locations on the west coast, over 600 company vehicles, and even a small corporate jet. He was the American Dream.

Being a construction company, the crash of 2008 hit the company hard. Construction nationwide came to a standstill. We had to shrink and fast. We ended up lying off over 560+ people! Sold the plane, and 500 company cars. I, being the manager of a division, had to layoff many friends with families and it’s the hardest thing to do knowing they are not going to find anything after they leave us. It’s what we had to do otherwise the rest of us would not have job.

The one hurting the most is my father. He feels so guilty in the loss of hundreds of fellow workers jobs. Its tearing him up. He keeps telling me he is responsible for the food going on their table and now they have non. But there is nothing he can do. No one seen this coming.

We are now in 2011 and it’s the summer season, the busy season. The scary part about that is there is no busy in sight. Things are looking bleak. Companies are just now going bankrupt left and right owing us and other lots and lots of money. Things are so bad on the ground floor I see no end in sight. The people we laid off in 08 still have not found jobs. All the construction going on right now are all government “stimulus jobs.” Can you imagine what happens when that stimulus runs out in the construction world! I really don’t see an end in sight or a light at the end of the tunnel. The only light I see is the train in the tunnel fast approaching for everyone.

Things are getting so bad in the business world my father and I have started preparing for the imminent collapse of the country and its currency. The crazy part is my father of all people, the most non conspiracy person you will ever meet in your life is getting ready for an all out collapse. He sees it and his senior management see it. So take this as a warning from the ground leave of a successful company.

All in the last month he has taken upon himself to buy cattle for our retreat, Chickens, 2-year supply of food for the family, over 10,000 rounds of ammo, dig wells, buy books on homesteading, the works!

I’ve seen the imminent collapse for a long time but for someone like my dad to see it now tells me the public is waking up and its only a matter of time before we have panic in the streets.

Good luck to you all. I really mean that!

On a side note, I want to know if any of you guys/gals have seen the "Sheeple" start to wake up within the last month?

Hey man, i don't have much to offer but I just wanted to say thanks for sharing. And it's good to know your dad has a conscience, it helps all the american haters to realize not everyone who owns a company is evil, just the really really really big ones. Hopefully things don't go the way a lot of people feel it might, but aren't ready to admit it. Good luck with your dad's company, for the sake of not just your family, but many other hardworking honest people.

Great post... very sad you folks had to lay off over half your work force... Even sadder almost none have found a job in the 3 years following...

I woke up a good friend of mine, and now its all we plan on, and work towards is being self sufficient once the collapse finally hits home... Got a nice garden in the works, with more expansion planned, chicken coop in the making... dont have room for cattle or any other large live stock, but thats ok, theres alot around where I live...

My parents could care less, and think im just a tin hat wearing mofo... They used to let me go without paying rent, just by doing work around the house to make up for it... splitting wood, mowing etc etc... But since the beginning of the year when gas prices exploded, they now ask me for 300$ rent and still expect me to do work around the house... They still buy all the pointless, materialistic crap, make no effort to get into any type of reality... we get HSN/QVC junk delivered almost daily... They go on vacation/trips almost every week... totally oblivious... Ive burned documentaries on dvd for them to watch, yet they would rather catch up on dancing with the stars, american idol, biggest loser etc, instead of having to think for themselves....

So I would have to say no, people arent waking up around me anyways... Although its funny, almost everyone you talk to will admit that elections are rigged, we are in the middle east for oil, false flags had happened in the vietnam/WW2.. but fail to make any connection to the present, and 9/11...

Peace

reply to post by camaro68ss


On the construction topic, I hear ya!
The photo below was a multi-billion dollar job site that I was on that completely shut down in March of 2009. It had 6 tower cranes. The cranes are even still there, which tells you of course that the companies that own them haven't had a need to take them down to move to other job sites elsewhere in over two years..

Things are getting so bad in the business world my father and I have started preparing for the imminent collapse of the country and its currency.

This Thread Right Here certainly relates to that...

reply to post by camaro68ss

I (and therefore my immediate family) have been "awake" on this issue for a couple of years now. For a long time I have tried to speak to a wider scope of my family and friends about this and I would just get that "I don't understand what you are talking about..." look. I must say though that within the past few months I have had many of those same friends and family members come to me asking for advice on preparedness measures so I would definately say some people are in fact waking up. In my opinion, if you live in the US and don't see this coming, you must be asleep...

I have worked in commercial collections for 10 years now. No I dont chase people for there Credit Card/Mortgage/Cable/Electric bills. I work with our clients, helping them to work their AR in a more responsible matter, but at the end of the day, I am in the financial sector and my company is a collection agaency that collects money from other business

I depend on my clients getting lines of credit from their banks and NOT listening to what I have to say and extending credit to people who shouldnt get it. Once that person defaults on their loan to my client, they get placed into collections with my firm.

In late 2007 I worked with some of the largest appraisal companies in this country. if I had a dollar for every scum bag realestate agent that told us that they were not going to pay a 350.00 bill because the "deal fell through" and they shouldnt have to pay the appraisal and oh by the way, they needed that appraisal to even get a deal started. Within a year, the housing market crashed. It was writing on the wall.

Fast forward to 2011 and I have never seen the collection industry in such bad shape. Not that most of you care and to be honest, I dont really care either except for the large amount of good people that work in the commercial collection industry that I call friends.

You see, I depend on banks to loan money to my clients in the form of business loans and at this point, banks are not loaning out money and thus, my clients can not extend credit to companies who want to buy on net 30 terms.

About 8 months ago I figured it out. The banksters are not loaning money because there is none to be had. Sure the fed can print more, but it is worthless and as a Collection Industry veteran, I know that we are at the ground level of what the economy is doing and it is doing TERRIBLE.

I watch the vulchers in the MSM telling us things are looking up and I dont know where they are getting their information because I dont see it and I work smack dab in the middle of it all.

Im not making a prediction on what is going to happen, but I am scared to death of what is going to happen, because there is no bright sunny day for the American Economy any time soon.

I work for a construction firm as well. We used to do perty big jobs, nothing smaller than 25 million, now we are scraping the bottom of the barrell doing whatever we can bid on. We are bidding on triple the amount of jobs just to keep who we have left employed. Good luck with your company, I hope you can ride it out. We have had to expand into multiple neighboring states and now things are starting to look a little better.

Originally posted by morder1
Great post... very sad you folks had to lay off over half your work force... Even sadder almost none have found a job in the 3 years following...

I woke up a good friend of mine, and now its all we plan on, and work towards is being self sufficient once the collapse finally hits home... Got a nice garden in the works, with more expansion planned, chicken coop in the making... dont have room for cattle or any other large live stock, but thats ok, theres alot around where I live...

My parents could care less, and think im just a tin hat wearing mofo... They used to let me go without paying rent, just by doing work around the house to make up for it... splitting wood, mowing etc etc... But since the beginning of the year when gas prices exploded, they now ask me for 300$ rent and still expect me to do work around the house... They still buy all the pointless, materialistic crap, make no effort to get into any type of reality... we get HSN/QVC junk delivered almost daily... They go on vacation/trips almost every week... totally oblivious... Ive burned documentaries on dvd for them to watch, yet they would rather catch up on dancing with the stars, american idol, biggest loser etc, instead of having to think for themselves....

So I would have to say no, people arent waking up around me anyways... Although its funny, almost everyone you talk to will admit that elections are rigged, we are in the middle east for oil, false flags had happened in the vietnam/WW2.. but fail to make any connection to the present, and 9/11...

Peace

I know what you mean. I still have friends wasting money on stupid things like buying new cars when there car they have now works just fine or buying the newest wakeboard or whatever. Im like dude, the S is about to hit the fan and your blowing money on useless stuff. He calls me crazy. I dont know how you cant see it

reply to post by armtx


I hear you, our collections our so bad. We must get our money before 30 day or you can say by by to that money. Its not even funny how much is owed and we cant to anything about it

reply to post by rstregooski


we are in the same boat, we are now traveling 100's of miles to work and most of them are goverment jobs and we all know the goverment money is starting to run dry. its scary

reply to post by camaro68ss


That's unfortunate but construction companies everywhere have sunk. When I first bought my house about ten years ago there were houses being constructed everywhere. Land was affordable and people were building, building, building. I think this year in my county I have seen one new construction home going up. I often wondered about that...how could all these people be building these big, beautiful homes on ten, twenty acre plots? Apparently, is was all fluff after all. Now, there are empty big, beautiful houses sitting across the county. My property value has dropped significantly and will have to wait 'till its paid down more before I'd either bother selling.

As far as thinking when the next big hit to the economy will come, well hopefully it won't. I'm more concerned right now at rising food prices and fuel prices so to that end, I do plan ahead and stock up as much as possible. Not everyone has suffered from the '08 crisis; I think it depends on the work you are in. Certainly, those in jobs related to building/construction have taken a major hit. I'm sure your father has had his world rocked because of this and that has affected his perspective. Thanks for sharing your story and wish you the best.

reply to post by camaro68ss



Thanks for sharing. Tell your Dad it's not his fault. I have been out of work for over two years now just doing odd jobs and a small internet biz. Somehow I have managed to barely get by. Your story is repeating all over the country much more then the media will ever let on. Glad you are preparing and seeing what needs to be done. You might want to bring some of those trusted friends/associates into your plans if possible. Going it alone makes you much more vulnerable.

The societies of the future will be decentralized and products will be produced locally and regionally instead of like the current model, agriculture will be local. There is no reason why we need to be trucking in fruit and veggies from Mexico and South America and even China. We can grow everything we need and want year round locally in any clime with greenhouse technology...

The transition will be painful as some of us are already feeling it and it will get worse before it gets better but it needs to happen. People need to not panic but many will unfortunately.

Originally posted by queenofsheba
reply to post by camaro68ss

 

That's unfortunate but construction companies everywhere have sunk. When I first bought my house about ten years ago there were houses being constructed everywhere. Land was affordable and people were building, building, building. I think this year in my county I have seen one new construction home going up. I often wondered about that...how could all these people be building these big, beautiful homes on ten, twenty acre plots? Apparently, is was all fluff after all. Now, there are empty big, beautiful houses sitting across the county. My property value has dropped significantly and will have to wait 'till its paid down more before I'd either bother selling.

As far as thinking when the next big hit to the economy will come, well hopefully it won't. I'm more concerned right now at rising food prices and fuel prices so to that end, I do plan ahead and stock up as much as possible. Not everyone has suffered from the '08 crisis; I think it depends on the work you are in. Certainly, those in jobs related to building/construction have taken a major hit. I'm sure your father has had his world rocked because of this and that has affected his perspective. Thanks for sharing your story and wish you the best.

Yes i guess you can say by his perspective things seem bleck but the rule of thumb is everything follows construction. Most large bank loans are for new construction, a large population of jobs come from construction. I see once this summer patch of low construction hits main street its going to rock wall street

What a good and heartfelt man your father is, you are truly Blessed! Do not fret over the others or the loss, each of us will find our "space" within to survive if we need to and as we do we will be very much like your father and reach out to others as we can at that time. For now, it is as it should be so that the purge of greed can be accomplished for all.

I have no money and I am blessed with a home that is not mine but will likely be my crypt, even so I am finding peace and fortitude and I am expressing myself towards others as best I can.

These times are a gift! Something wonderful will come from all of this in time and the heroes are the Heartfelt and the wise!

Thank you for sharing your father with us, I would hug him til the day is long!

reply to post by Greensage


thank you, it hurts me to hear meany people say CEO's or whatever dont care about people. Im sure there some that are like that but i know mean that are depressed and feels guilty like my father for the lose of someones job. It sucks really bad

reply to post by armtx


Real estate agent don't pay for appraisals buyers do. Red Flag.

Tell your Dad that it's not his fault and to stop blaming himself. He did the best that he could for as long as he could.

I have been un-employed for a long time myself, but now I have the time to look in on my elderly Mom and help her a lot so that she can remain in her own apartment. I am living off my savings and hubbies disability checks, but my savings won't last forever. Scary!

Originally posted by Night Star
Tell your Dad that it's not his fault and to stop blaming himself. He did the best that he could for as long as he could.

I have been un-employed for a long time myself, but now I have the time to look in on my elderly Mom and help her a lot so that she can remain in her own apartment. I am living off my savings and hubbies disability checks, but my savings won't last forever. Scary!

I know, so many people are where you are, its so scary whats going on. I hate to sound doom and gloom but there is just no end in site. Things just seem to get worse and worse for people. Do you have a small yard or planters boxes? I have a small gardon and it saves a bit of money. Im also growing an indoor banana tree.

I love bananas, Yum

All we have is a tomatoe plant and lots of flowers. I have some herbs inside. Love my pineapple sage! We have a small yard but it's amazing how much you can grow in small areas.