depression is as depression does

[techristian]

So how are you preparing for the next "great depression"? Stop spending?

 

If we all think that way, we WILL have a depression. If we all stop spending, things will grind to a halt. There is almost panic right now at my place of work with all of this THINKING. Yes, in part THINKING creates depression. Why do you think they call it depression?

 

Dan

[Jersey Jack]

Hmm, so the ethical thing to do now is...BUY MORE GEAR!!!

 

I'll speak to my wife about this. She's a big advocate of community responsibility.

[Magpel]

Hmm, so the ethical thing to do now is...BUY MORE GEAR!!! I'll speak to my wife about this. She's a big advocate of community responsibility.

Done!

 

Well, I mean, seriously, I am quite sure that depression is perception to an extent, but there are other factors as well--jobs, let's say. I don't "buy" courageous spending as a virtuous and patriotic act. In fact I find it positively bracing to spend less and like it. Call me a...liberal democrat, but I don't see a chugging, stoked consumer economy as the only social virtue...at the same time I do the point about not pannicking. I haven't pulled my meager savings from the bank yet. Doing my part, you know.

[kenlacam]

I think that the term "depression" is media-induced panic, for the most part. For those of us who have not lost their jobs and are paying cheaper gas prices, I personally am not affected by what is going on with the stock markets, so there is no need for me to panic and run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Recession, yes, depression, no. The Great Depression of 1929 was a depression. What we are experiencing now is NOTHING like back then, and I don't think that we are headed for a depression at all.

[Jeff da Weasel]

I just bought a new bed and a new TV and six sets of guitar strings.

 

You're welcome.

[Johnny-Boy]

10+ trillion national debt, jobs are dropping like flies, banking/ mortgage system crumbling (bailout didn

[UstadKhanAli]

I got a new closet installed, bought a new mattress, "new" TV (okay, i bought it used from my friend) and am considering getting Lasik next month. Doing my part to stimulate the economy because I'm a gentleman who cares.

[Johnny-Boy]

I got a new closet installed, bought a new mattress, "new" TV (okay, i bought it used from my friend) and am considering getting Lasik next month. Doing my part to stimulate the economy because I'm a gentleman who cares.

 

As long as it was purchased with real money and not a credit card.

[Dean Roddey]

To me, it seems that a lot of the problem is that the market, which I think is supposed to be a way for people to invest for the long term and give businesses the capital they require to grow (and grow the investment), is now just seen as a way to get rich as fast as possible and therefore it holds all businesses hostage, not to mention the country.

 

Well, ok, some people use it the way it's supposed to be used, but clearly lots of people see it as nothing but a potential lottery, and they make these types of situations far worse than they would be otherwise.

 

We aren't going to end up in a depression by a long shot. But a recession of some depth and length perhaps.

[Ernest Buckley]

We have had to cut out every "want" from our budget, so we`re feeling it and its very real. I`m not mentally depressed over this though. I think its necessary. The credit crisis is a tsunami... you don`t see it until its too late. Credit kills and it just keeps racking up. You have to get a handle on it from the start and though its old wisdom, its worth repeating, don`t spend it unless you have the cash.

[Johnny-Boy]

 

To me, it seems that a lot of the problem is that the market, which I think is supposed to be a way for people to invest for the long term and give businesses the capital they require to grow (and grow the investment), is now just seen as a way to get rich as fast as possible and therefore it holds all businesses hostage, not to mention the country. Well, ok, some people use it the way it's supposed to be used, but clearly lots of people see it as nothing but a potential lottery, and they make these types of situations far worse than they would be otherwise. We aren't going to end up in a depression by a long shot. But a recession of some depth and length perhaps.

 

 

The game players on Wall St. are definitely part of the problem.

 

Maybe I don't understand the stock market, but I'm thinking placing a cash-in time limit on stocks (maybe a month from purchase) would cut down on these players.

 

Wall St. could also set the dates for cash-in only on the day of the month the stock was purchased.

 

John:cool:

[Anderton]

All bets are off, all rules need to be revised because although we can learn from history, the world has changed so much as to be unrecognizable to classical economists.

 

Here's what I predict: The party is over until someone gets serious about alternative energy, and can power things for less than what it costs now. A huge amount of money is tied up in energy, whether it's heating homes, driving cars, or trucking freight. If energy costs could be cut in half, that would free up huge amounts of money to develop additional alternate sources, while rebuilding the infrastructure of power grids (which need a serious overhaul).

 

The balance of geopolitical power would be forever altered as well. Particular countries have coal, oil, or whatever. Every country has some access to alternate energy sources.

 

However, alternative energy will not be able to provide power with the same bang-for-buck as fossil fuels for many more decades. Anything that consumes energy will have to be made far more efficient - and people will have to get used to having enough, and not being extravagant.

[Ernest Buckley]

The real estate bubble burst and now the "living beyond ones means lifestyle" is coming, if it hasn`t already. In the long run, this is a good thing.

[Jeff da Weasel]

As long as it was purchased with real money and not a credit card.

 

I pay cash (or the equivalent) for everything.

[Johnny-Boy]

 

I pay cash (or the equivalent) for everything.

 

 

Too bad everyone didn't follow this discipline.

 

John:thu:

[Jeff da Weasel]

 

Too bad everyone didn't follow this discipline.

 

 

I can't speak for everyone. They may have valid reasons for living on credit.

 

I've just never bought anything I couldn't pay for right then and there (with the exception of a car, but I live in So. Cal. and can't survive without one). It's also why I don't own a house. I looked in my bank account and didn't see $750,000, so I didn't buy one.

[Dean Roddey]

If I took that approach I'd not be able to go to the grocery store. If you are going to start a business, credit is an important component of the plan. An absolutely 100% bootstrapping is extremely difficult. Unfortunately, in the early days of a small business, the only credit available to you may be the credit card.

 

Though, I should say, though I'm dirt farmer poor right now, the only debt I have at all is $10K on a VISA card, that I ran up to help cushion me over the last years when revenues were too low to keep me going even at my very low burn rate. So it's not like I have a huge amount of debt, and things are looking up for us, strangely it keeps getting better as the economy gets worse, so hopefully I can pay that off soon and get some bucks in the bank.

[Jeff da Weasel]

 

If you are going to start a business, credit is an important component of the plan. An absolutely 100% bootstrapping is extremely difficult.

 

 

I own a successful small business. Fortunately, I have very little overhead, I work in a designated office area in my own home, and my startup costs six years ago were virtually nil.

 

If I hadn't spent more than a decade working in the industry in which I eventually decided to become an entrepreneur, it would have taken a much larger line of credit. As it was, I was already well established by the time I hung my shingle.

 

So I'm still happy to live my life without much of a credit rating at all. So far, it's worked out. For others, it might be a completely different story, which is why I don't preach about it.

[Dean Roddey]

It depends on what type of business. If it's a service business, then it can often take very little. If it's a product oriented business, then it's much different. Development of a real product and bringing it to market is much different from hanging out a shingle and announcing you are ready to cut hair or do taxes or whatever. Our's is a product oriented business, and a very large and complex product.

[MDLMUSIC]

 

Our's is a product oriented business, and a very large and complex product.

 

 

This person obviously knows what he's talking about. Not only does his company have to manufacture a quark, they then have to charm it. I can't begin to imagine how this is even done.

[Dean Roddey]

It's all gauze and ball bearings these days.

[Jeff da Weasel]

 

It depends on what type of business. If it's a service business, then it can often take very little.

 

 

Correct. I didn't have to pay for die/machining costs, manufacturing setup, importing parts, paying a sales force, or any of that stuff.

 

To start up my company, I needed a phone and a fast Internet connection. And a brain. I got that last one for free. It came in a cereal box.

 

So, that's why I've said all along that my example doesn't apply to everyone.

[techristian]

 

I think that the term "depression" is media-induced panic, for the most part. For those of us who have not lost their jobs and are paying cheaper gas prices, I personally am not affected by what is going on with the stock markets, so there is no need for me to panic and run around like a chicken with its head cut off. Recession, yes, depression, no. The Great Depression of 1929 was a depression. What we are experiencing now is NOTHING like back then, and I don't think that we are headed for a depression at all.

 

 

I agree with you in part. I also believe that part of this is media induced panic. However its effects are widespread... worldwidespread.

 

I've caught myself in a bit of panic in the past few weeks. My job is at Chryslers, but if the Big Three fall, this may mean the end of domestic goods altogether. There aren't many other north american products left anymore.

 

So, you're not affected because perhaps you sell furniture for a living. Perhaps, your town builds cars. No one can afford the furniture you sell because they are out of work. Or your property value plummets even further after all of the autoworkers move away. You now live in a modern day ghost town.

 

Back to the panic part. I'm trying to have some "happy thoughts" by turning off the "NEWS". It is more than just news. It has become the depression mantra. I think we could all use a good laugh once a day now.

 

Dan

[Jotown]

There is an old saying: "When your neighbor loses his job it is a recession, but when you lose yours its a depression."

 

Though a lot of the panic and despair is media driven and mental, we are living in changing times. Whatever is happening to the world economy is only at the beginning. I am an optimist, and I pay cash for everything, but I have to tell you that we are in for one hell of a ride.

 

Things move in cycles. We are in cycle of rapid change and contraction and though it won't look like 1929, it will look different than anything we have lived through yet. We are in for a wake up call of monumental proportions and its only just beginning.

[Johnny-Boy]

Yeah, we'll be able to brag to our great grandchildren that we lived through the "Greater Depression".

 

See, there's always a bright side.

 

John:thu: