feeling the pinch ??

[32chris]

how are you guys coping over there ??
has the credit crunch hit you hard or is it not as bad as folk make out ??
it wasnt too bad here till last month then wham - everything has seemed to stop - not slow down but just stop,
there saying that its due to rival the 194? something depression here, not good news

i'm guessing its not a good time for me to apply for a US work visa ??

anyone got a garage and need a general mechanic
hope you guys are all safe in whatever jobs you have over there

 

[grouchy]

Not bad at all. I don't have much credit card debt, gas is Less than $2.00 a gal. I've got more money in my pocket than normal.....Just remember the press makes it sound much worse than it is. Plus they had to convince people vote for their favorite candidate!

 

[51FordF1]

Things seem normal....just don't go for a loan to buy a car.........

 

[Bonehead]

As a small business owner, I see it but have not felt it yet. Still busy, but my waiting list is getting shorter.

 

[wrecker55]

Oh yea, big time, since the housing market died I let 20 employees go. All construction here is hurting bad, at least 60% of the contractors have gone out of business. The ones left are lucky to have a week a month for work. The only way most of us survived this far is by selling off all the toys we had, you may see me at walmart greeting folks before long

 

[Tripper]

how are you guys coping over there ??
has the credit crunch hit you hard or is it not as bad as folk make out ??

32,
Thanks for asking but since I live in Tejas where we all have oil wells, cattle & money trees in our back yards... all seems well! Not gonna get that Ferrari that I asked Santa for this year so I guess a rat rod is lookin' better all the time!!!

BoB

 

[bob w]

I'm retired so I don't have to worry about losing a job. However, I have taken a big hit on my savings, of which a large part is in the stock market. As a result, I've reduced my spending while waiting for a bit of market recovery. That means the project is proceeding slowly.
For the first time in 12 years I'm working. It's not bad though as I am repairing a neighbor's '40 Ford coupe. Since I'd help him for free anyway, the money is a bonus. It has been used for Christmas presents for the kids and grandkids.

 

[32chris]

glad it hasnt bit many of you too hard, real sorry for you guys it has taken a chunk out of tho
im in the latter boat, i have a small garage which, as is normal for this time of year, has gone quiet but its been quiet for about 3 months now, savings are all but gone so not sure what the new year will bring, jobs are a bit thin on the ground at the moment so if i have to close shop i dont know what - if anything i'll find,
still, we'll worry about that later, for now i'd like to wish all you guys a very happy christmas, keep your chin's up and lets hope the new year brings something good for us all
HAPPY CHRISTMAS

 

[gassersgarage]

Funny, the one thing I noticed is plumbers, roofers, etc.......are returning calls and showing up on time.

 

[theracedude]

i live in key largo florida, a tourist town 130 miles out into the ocean. this place is falling apart fast. business after business is shutting down. houses being foreclosed, lots of people leaving because of no work. you must understand that this is a 100% tourist town. i dont watch the news at all so i am only telling it like i see it live... by the way, does any one want to buy a house cheap in key largo?

 

[bob w]

I'm so tired of freezing my butt off in Minnesota that your offer of a house in Key Largo is mighty tempting!

 

[Willowbilly3]

It hasn't affected me much. I have been out of work for a year and a half. I don't owe anyone anything, and never will again.
Credit is evil, buy what you have money for, nothing more. Well a house maybe or something that will make you money.

 

[hotbuick]

Kind of depends on what line of work you're in. The housing and construction business is really bad and manufacturing is pretty slow, probably due to election and legislative changes. Overall, at least in my area, things are fairly normal. Gas at $1.43 a gallon really helps keep a little jingle in your pocket... well at least until you find cars or parts to buy

 

[Willowbilly3]

Same here. Our area is still about the same. The energy sector jobs are still available. Anyone out of work can just lok a Peabody mines, 100s of job openings all the time.
The ranchers seem to be about the same too.
I talked to a friend of mine last night who is a glass blower and all her galleries are down 35%. She said that started before Christmas last year

 

[sixtall]

I started the year with no $$$ in the bank and a fair amount owing on 2 credit cards. Now, same story, but I dipped into my line of credit. Canadian economy ( well, Ontario at least) is not looking very good. Not looking a whole lot better in the near future. Gas is finally about 70 cents a litre ($3.10 a gallon) and that's the cheapest it's been in 5 years. Took a hit on my retirement fund; it's vested so I can't touch it 'til I'm 65, but still it's $38,000 less now than what it was worth mid-summer. My taxes went up, as did my heating costs, so staying where I am doing what I'm doing will never produce any relief. What's the answer ? Even though it sounds like a suicide move I may throw our house on the line and use its equity to take out a small business loan and open my own auto glass shop. Yes, worst possible time to do so perhaps, but if I stay where I am doing what I'm doing I'll retire peniless and be very unhappy along the way. I've got nothing now, so maybe it's time to sink or swim.

 

[HOT40ROD]

You said everything seem to stop. I seen that in my area about a year ago. Right after chistmas of last year it just stopped. Everyone you talk to is either not working or working for less money. There are about 60-80 foreclosures every month in my area.

There are two rentals houses near may house that been empty for about 6 months now.

My shop is slow. Nothing big coming in just some small stuff. It seem right now that people are just doing little things to there motorcycles and not going with chopper or full customs right now. Just things like custom painted tanks, custom license plate mounts, Custom Air cleaner and some other small stuff. There is one thing I sold alot of before chistmas was my custom kick stand plates.

But with a Army and Fire Fighters pension coming in and being in my 50's I guess I can not complain.

I have cash in my pocket I been making a lot of great buys.

The funny part is no one can get money from the bank, but my bank has been after me to take more money.

There one thing I always did and that is I do not live about my means. 2 cridet card with next to nothing on them. house payment of a little over $400.00 a month and the shop is paid for.

I hope the economy picks up some. There are a lot of people hurting out there and I feel bad for them.

My brother went from making $85,000 a year to working from day to day. Sometimes only a couple of day per month. My girl freind is not working right now and has not since Sept.

 

[chipper]

i'm in the oil rig moving buisiness and it as slowed down a bit but it is not uncommon to see rigs stack out for a couple of mounths at the end of the year...just gives me more time for the ratrod

 

[donsrods]

The old saying goes......"We are in a recession when YOU are out of work, and we are in a depression when I am out of work." I really learned during the last two years how true that is when I was between jobs. Last Xmas I was hurting, but this year I was able to have some fun with my money now that I am back to work. I found out that having a job is the difference between "feeling the pinch" and not.

Generally though the economy in the US sucks right now, at least from what I am seeing here in SW Florida. Unemployment is in the 9 percent range, every business I talk to is feeling the downturn to some degree........some more than others. There are more and more of them closing their doors, and where we once had a shortage of business locations to rent you can now see signs all over the place advertising "FOR RENT." I am not usually a doom and gloom guy, but I AM a realist and can see what I see. Things are not good and don't seem to be turning around yet.

The other misconception is that people who have real money never feel the pinch................OH YES THEY DO!! The marina where I work is owned by a company that repossesses boats and every week we see more and more boats coming in, and these are not SMALL boats, but 40-70 footers. The people who owned them were not living paycheck to paycheck at one time, but things have turned for them too. My Son Don manages a 21 story condo where the units start at over $ 1 million each, and his tenants are not as liberal with their spending as they once were, even they are watching their money more closely these days.

Scarey part is, I don't think we have bottomed out yet. I know there are places in the country where the people aren't having as bad of a problem as other places, but when you look at record unemployment and record home foreclosures, those two things are what drove the economy here for so long. Now we can't count on our paychecks or home values to carry us through.

Don