Originally posted by pplrnuts
Well this is a real change for the OP.

A few months ago, the OP was boldly posting replies showing no regard for any of the 'common' folks in society and suckin' up to the wealthy and being a groupie for corporate welfare, and now he is showing some leftist compassion for people.

What happened there camaro68ss? Getting a taste of the bad life now that ya thought you were once immune from??

Ya gonna have to sell that nice camaro of yours now soon? Ya on the chopping block?? Ah shucks, eh??

edit on 31-7-2011 by pplrnuts because: COLOR

I see, it all makes sense now. When I read the OP comments, I thought perhaps he was a rich Republican trying to get people to think we need to cut social programs (by cutting spending).

I guess he wasn't going to get much sympathy if he talked about how the bond portion of his portfolio was going to lose value, so he decided to talk about the employees he fired.

Hey, if he was really like the average corporate employee, he was firing people NOT because the company wanted to make more money but because the top management wasn't making enough money!

The REAL truth is corporations are making a TON of money - just as much as before - but they don't WANT to hire.

Hey brother, there is hope and I say this with all sincerity.

Please consider supporting Ron Paul.

While he wont be able to fix things overnight, we can begin to resuscitate America.

And for those who are skeptical of him, I say give the man one chance. If his policies do not help, no worries. There will be a thousand establishment Republicrats and Democins waiting to return us to our current state of decline.

Give real change a chance.

We're all in this together friends. Be strong for yourself and others. This system is nothing but an illusion. We are all much stronger than we realize and will make it through ok. Be positive. Prepare your mind body and soul for what is coming. Its time for humanity to realize its true potential. Time for us to stop the insanity of this dead end system.

A private contractor is motivated by profit and is accountable to a banker and or shareholders who have little tolerance for rhetoric. Access to funding is limited so he has to demonstrate economic responsibility. Inefficiency and lack of focus implies failure. He/she must quickly adapt to changing conditions. A psychopathic or sociopathic personality would not survive in the longterm in a small enterprise.
Governments are not impressed by efficiency and accountability. The customer for an elected official is a dumbed down selfish voter. Promises and not performance are the values by which he is judged. Accountability is not an issue as someone else can be blamed for the failures. Voters have a short term memory so empty rhetoric can go far in government.
In government a psycopathic or sociopathic personality can take you far. Psychopathic and sociopathic personalities lack a conscience and emotions so compulsive lying is not a problem. As economic problems arise you simply kick the can further down the road. Additional capital is not an issue. It can be raised by issuing new treasury bills, bonds or simply raising taxes. The public objects to tax increases but not to increases in debt. Politicans with no accountability, little morality, and no concern over the consequences of their actions, live in a totally different environment than the small business man.
In summary the small business owner has to give a damn, the politican doesn't. Each lives in a different world which is judged by a completely different set of values. Applying the same values that makes a politican successful in government would result in catastrophic failure in a small private enterprise.

My first post here.
I've had to let go half my office staff and about a 3rd of my field staff after purchasing our business property about 3 years ago. This has been the worst 2 years of my life. Never knowing if we'll stay in business until the next year and keeping the people from being burnt out and on their toes.
For the past 6 months, I've been taking some money and buying over a year's supply of food and supplies for us. ...in case it all collapses.

It's not going to get better. The good time are not in front of us.........at least not in my lifetime.

I'd like to offer you my congratulations on handling things very well there Camaro. You work hard for your family and I know you've been wise in preparing and doing what you can in the face of an uncertain future. I completely understand your fears about sharing what you think and feel with your family. I have 4 grown sons now and I felt that way from when my first was born over 30 years ago. Where does the time go?
Yeah, I've been waiting that long for the shoe to drop and it still hasn't.
That might make me a certifiable nut case or maybe I was just ahead of my time.
I'm less anxious now than I ever was before and the lessons I've learned are - (1) Fear does nothing good for you and (2) What happens, happens. There isn't much we can do about it aside from the basic preps you've already done. We CAN however project forward and think about what would become valuable in a society that gone in to a deep depression.
Things that will have great value after TSHTF:
Medicines
Hand tools
Seeds
Stored foods
Guns/ammunition
water filters

Who knows? If we play our cards right we might actually fare BETTER after the SHTF due to simple preparations we've made.
If we don't enjoy each hour of every day what's the use in prolonging our misery?
Get out there and live each day as if it were your last.
Every day is a blessing and a positive outlook will do as much for your family than all the preparations we could ever make.

I am sorry to hear you've had to lay off more of your workers.
That is not your fault and every day you gave them paying work was something good that you provided them.

You have a good mind and a good heart, don't let the negativity of the world drag you down for one minute.
Time is all we have so make the best of it.

Cheers,
ATA

Originally posted by gladtobehere
Hey brother, there is hope and I say this with all sincerity.

Please consider supporting Ron Paul.

While he wont be able to fix things overnight, we can begin to resuscitate America.

And for those who are skeptical of him, I say give the man one chance. If his policies do not help, no worries. There will be a thousand establishment Republicrats and Democins waiting to return us to our current state of decline.

Give real change a chance.

Right.

Nice thread camaro. I'm not materialistic but do like a roof over my head and the ability to go to the grocery store and buy quality food, I like to be able to pay the utility bills and internet bill as well. If just being able to do these things is considered "lucky" than that is a sad day. But I know people who cannot even afford the basics and I wonder what level we working class need to be before we're considered poverty level? I suppose to those wealthy people out there maybe I am "poor" lol.

Originally posted by Daughter2

Originally posted by pplrnuts
Well this is a real change for the OP.

A few months ago, the OP was boldly posting replies showing no regard for any of the 'common' folks in society and suckin' up to the wealthy and being a groupie for corporate welfare, and now he is showing some leftist compassion for people.

What happened there camaro68ss? Getting a taste of the bad life now that ya thought you were once immune from??

Ya gonna have to sell that nice camaro of yours now soon? Ya on the chopping block?? Ah shucks, eh??

edit on 31-7-2011 by pplrnuts because: COLOR

I see, it all makes sense now. When I read the OP comments, I thought perhaps he was a rich Republican trying to get people to think we need to cut social programs (by cutting spending).

I guess he wasn't going to get much sympathy if he talked about how the bond portion of his portfolio was going to lose value, so he decided to talk about the employees he fired.

Hey, if he was really like the average corporate employee, he was firing people NOT because the company wanted to make more money but because the top management wasn't making enough money!

The REAL truth is corporations are making a TON of money - just as much as before - but they don't WANT to hire.

Sorry Daughter2, I like how you seem to know everything and try to get into peoples minds and be completely WRONG!

We have to cut people because there is no more work for them. What, are we sopose to pay them a wage for sitting there and not do anything? And wrong again, the company is bearly braking even, there is no millionaires and billionaires here. Its a typical family owned company. you know the one lib's hate so much.

About my car, why do people think i live high on the hog because i have a highly maintained 68 camaro. I got this car 10 years ago and it was a rust bucket. So now your going to give me S*** because I put over 1,500 hours of body work into and now that makes me "RICH." Well maybe if you get off your lazy butt and start working on your car and house you can be rich too.

Originally posted by pplrnuts
Well this is a real change for the OP.

A few months ago, the OP was boldly posting replies showing no regard for any of the 'common' folks in society and suckin' up to the wealthy and being a groupie for corporate welfare, and now he is showing some leftist compassion for people.

What happened there camaro68ss? Getting a taste of the bad life now that ya thought you were once immune from??

Ya gonna have to sell that nice camaro of yours now soon? Ya on the chopping block?? Ah shucks, eh??

edit on 31-7-2011 by pplrnuts because: COLOR

A real change? I’ve always have had sympathy for people. It’s just our views of changing the country are different. We are at the point where we have to choice the lesser of two evils. Cut 45 million Americans off the government dole, plus the social security recipients, and Medicare recipients, and hope charity and communities help them out. Or keep them all on the government dole and lose all 310 million Americans to starvation and chaos through hyperinflation. And it looks like we are going to do the latter so your still going to get your checks, don’t worry.

Yes, there are thousands of other things that need to be cut to like the military down to only its constitutional liabilities and getting rid of all these going nowhere programs. But your still faced with a 110 Trillion dollar entitlement liability. You can’t possibly hope to tax your way out of that can you? Even Obamas budget plan factored in 500 billion in tax increases Still would take 220 years to help pay off entitlement spending, that’s if the government froze its spending increases that are growing at over 18% a year and you would yet still be running deficits. You can’t Tax your way out of the problem… you can’t. Do the math yourself and stop watching TV.

My husband's laid off and we're struggling- and my husband keeps expecting some big SHTF scenerio where it all goes crazy at once but I don't see it.

I see a neighborhood where everyone is out of work. I grew tobacco for years and I make homebrew beer for my hub and have it put up but now neighbors are coming over here wanting to bum smokes, beer, sending their kids at dinner time...noticing produce has disappeared right out of my garden - there were canteloupes, now they are gone, and look a bunch of ripe tomatoes too- and I'm telling my hub man these folks are going to drain us.

You read the paper but if you don't have a degree - even if you have strong skills that used to pay very well - no one wants you to even apply locally without a bachelor's or a master's. It's awfully depressing to see MINIMUM WAGE jobs requiring master's degrees, but I have been seeing that here.

Today I'm hobbling together webcams so i can surveil the outside of my home. I wish these people would go to the RICH neighborhoods to pillage. I need to start thinking about booby trapping my yard I guess. You can't keep a dog out because of laws. The house next to me has been broken into at least twice.

What do you do? We aren't even CLOSE to our neighbors. We're turning into a nation of bums. Doesn't anyone notice? There's a guy at my walmart that has a sign - he did have stage 4 pancreatic cancer for 2 years or so, now he's got a family of 4 that needs help.

No, we're not going to see SHTF, we're going to see crime and vagrancy and bumming dripping all over us, little plops at first and then a steady sprinkle.

The thing was, these were all good, working people before the economy went to pot. There was no crime in this neighborhood when people had steady income.