Please tell us what to expect...

[blue8ewe]

if we are to go into a depression. I know some remember. I set back and I know I just dont get it.
How will it be realy? Im I right in thinking that those in the sticks will fare better than those in the city?
How about work?
I figure many if not most will not drive, because of gas.
I have to admit also that I see things being much worse because of all the crime we have now. I see people killing each other and acting like animals in the streets.
What is the likelihood people in the masses will literally starve to death?
BUT the big question.
We are just about to buy a home. The payment will be doable for us on DHs income. Once we are in our new place we intend to buy a van.
If it realy gets to the point that no one can work, and everyone gets to a survival point, will they start throwing people out of their homes? Even if its like EVERYONE that is currently paying a mortgage? Thats like this entire town, and every other 98% of the population.
How can they come and take the cars of everyone?
Am I not understanding something?

[comfortablynumb]

Your probably going to die.

after being cold and hungry for a few weeks.

sorry. You did ask.

[blue8ewe]

Dont be a butt. I want a serious answer.
And I figure you are to young to "know" anyway.

[alpha phi]

The poorest 10% will not even notice, nothing is nothing
The next 40% will be a few more dollars short
the next 40% will panic, and think they are Soooo poor
The richest 10% will still be rich and won't even notice.

or it could just get crazy.

[Terri]

Originally Posted by comfortablynumb

Your probably going to die.

after being cold and hungry for a few weeks.

sorry. You did ask.

Um, yeah....

My grandfather was a college teacher, and he had his wages cut again and again. Eventually, he decided he could not live on those wages, so he sold his house and moved his family to a small town. He had an acre of land, and a knowledge of agriculture.

He also got poorer and poorer. The end.

My husbands grandfather was a poor farmer. He could no longer hire help at planting time, so he had his kids help with the plowing. One held the plow handles by reaching over her head, and the other guided the mule. They did better than my grandfather, on the whole.

[Laura]

Go to your library and start reading history. Have you read Grapes of Wrath? Not the movie, the book. It's a very accurate portrayal of the Okie Migration.

Learning from history helps people interpret what lies in the future. But you have to learn the true history, not the stuff that's peddled in public school textbooks for kiddies.

Yes, people were forced from their homes and farms during the depression, if they didn't own them outright, and those houses sat empty and deteriorated. Many people starved, kids died.

[MWG]

My great great grandfather commited suicide for the insurance money so the kids could eat.

[Kevingr]

And in some cases the people were allowed to stay in their homes too, the banks didn't want all of them. That's what my uncle told me about what he saw and experienced.

[Wayne02]

Originally Posted by MWG

My great great grandfather commited suicide for the insurance money so the kids could eat.

I wonder if you can do that anymore? Don't insurance policies have some sort of exemption for suicide? Or maybe that is just for the first year after the policy is started?

[Wayne02]

I wonder if the county will still want the property tax payment... maybe if the county assessor lost her job... they wouldn't come calling... probably wishful thinking...

[MWG]

Originally Posted by Wayne02

I wonder if you can do that anymore? Don't insurance policies have some sort of exemption for suicide? Or maybe that is just for the first year after the policy is started?

Back then you could, it was based on the whole purpose - life insurance.

No, now there are exemptions. I had a friend that wife committed suicide and he got nothing in insurance. That's why if you are going to do it make it look like an accident.

[DaleK]

Originally Posted by Wayne02

I wonder if you can do that anymore? Don't insurance policies have some sort of exemption for suicide? Or maybe that is just for the first year after the policy is started?

There are still policies that cover suicide but they're rare and VERY expensive and usually have a cooling-off period. About 10 years ago a large farmer here was deep in trouble, he searched until he found a company that covered suicide, borrowed as much as he could find and used it to buy the biggest policy he could, then calmly waited ( I think it was 14 days) while writing out in-depth instructions on how to use the insurance payoff to save the family and the farm and the day after the insurance kicked in he killed himself.

[DaleK]

Don't forget that there can be some big opportunities even in a depression if you're paying attention to what's going on around you and you're ready for them. Just before the great one a neighbour here bought a farm for $800, the final payment was due to the bank just before the crash. He went to the bank the day it was due and ran into a friend who sidelined him into the bar, ended up losing the payment in a poker game and the bank got the farm.

The bank couldn't sell the farm for the next 4 years until finally Grandpa bought it for $250, the first year's crop paid for it. We're still working it today.

[treesonggal]

I don't know how it will be for others but, we are among the "10% who will not even notice."

I'm glad we're already there and that we basically take care of our food, fuel and repairs ourselves. We're planting much more this year and thinking about hooking the water heater up to the woodstove next winter to save on electric. We already DON'T BUY so there's not much more we can do except be grateful that our place is paid for.

My mother's famiy lived in a chicken coop during the Depression and said they considered themselves fortunate. Her mom's seven or eight siblings AND their families ALL lived in the main house. At the time, mom was an only child so the chicken coop was roomy for three people!

She talked of babies being born and placed in a shoe box as there was no crib; of people begging at the gate for food and offering to weed or cut wood for a free meal; of making clothes out of feed sacks; of going barefoot until the snow came because she had no shoes; of eating potatoe water soup (one mashed potatoe, one whole potatoe diced, enough water to fill the pot and salt and pepper); of parents not eating three meals a day so the kids could eat.

If this country slips into a Depression it will make the last one look like a picnic. Our society is too lazy, too unskilled, too coddled, too impatient, and too easily bored.

People will panic when life becomes uncomfortable. Those whose sense of security and self worth comes from following the latest trends and external stimuli like TV, Ipods, internet, CDs/DVDs, a Depression will likely drive them overboard long before a lack of food or heat.

People were booted out of their homes then and they will be again...just may take some time as there are so many more homes and people today. Same goes for vehicles.

I'd say read up on the Depression and become more frugal than you already are. Delay certain purchases. That way, if TSHTF you'll be further ahead. If it doesn't you're still ahead!

[Terri]

According to my family, many went hungry but few died.

There was a writer who was popular when I was younger: his name was Euell Gibbons. He wrote books on foraging and on feeding yourself from the wild. I did not know at the time he was an Oakie: when he was half-grown his family loaded their car and went west in search of work. The drought had destroyed their crops.

He foraged as they traveled, and added greens and such to their diet. Even so, their diet was rather scant. He says that if he had know then what he knew as an adult they could have feasted, but he used what little he knew.

A lot of the other Oakies refused to try the foods that they were eating. They did not eat "weeds".

As an adult, he thought it was important to teach people how to recognize good food in the wild. People he knew were hungry when there were mussels and cattails right next to them. He saw no reason for that, and so when he was grown he wrote books and gave lectures at colleges.

[frogmammy]

There were MORE millionairs coming OUT of the depression than there were going INTO the depression. Not everyone was dirt poor...it was a great time to improve your station in life...it was also a great time to quickly lower your station in life. All of those people "living on the edge" fell big time when the "edge" crumbled.

My grandfather moved some chicken coops onto his land and let some homeless people live in them...something to keep the snow off and break the wind, I guess. He found them jobs and if they didn't work, they were moved out...BTW, he did NOT charge them rent, nor let them live there any extended time...he just offered a hand up. (my mother was a child then, and told me this)

If you can remember back to the last severe recession, IF you had money to spare you could pick up some FANTASTIC deals on large $$$$ items and many other smaller things. Merchants lowered prices just so they could move their stock.

Mon

[Laura]

If you can remember back to the last severe recession, IF you had money to spare you could pick up some FANTASTIC deals on large $$$$ items and many other smaller things. Merchants lowered prices just so they could move their stock.

Very true. I did very well in those days. I expect to get by just fine this time, too.

[tnokie]

Terri, they(we) are Okies not oakies! Sorry ,we are very defensive.LOL

Did I miss something on the news- Who said we were going into a depression. Ithought we were going into recessision! When is this supposed to take place?

[Terri]

I stand corrected!

You will have to forgive my ignorance: the depression chased my family out of the Dakotas instead of Oklahoma! (Though we all ended up in California! )

[Terri]

Oh! I don't think we are going to have a depression. A recession, yes, but with a new president there will be some new fiddling with the economy and things will change.

It is too early to predict what those changes will be. IMHO.