[Shrek]

1/20/23 11:33 PM CST

Decades ago my grandfather and father while explaining to me the how the recession of the 1970s was in reality as much of a young depression in the works, they told me we regular folks were mushrooms in the eyes of the wealthy folks , politicians , media outlets and other powers to be.

When I asked why, my father said "just like mushrooms , those pulling the strings do their best to keep us middle class folks in the dark and feeding us on cow pies as they make financial and power gains as we use the cow pie environment as best we can making it from today to tomorrow and then do it all over again the next day.

After our talk of the reality of being treated as mushrooms , surviving today to get to tomorrow, keeping the wrinkles out of our bellies, pay our bills, keep saving the best we can as we kept on living.
When I went to school Monday after our talk and told my junior year of high school teacher of our economics , civics and government classes , he told me they brought up some interesting perspectives during our day pond fishing for catfish and chewing the fat.
My teacher was so impressed with the questions I had from what my folks had thrown at me that he gave me a last period study hall pass to discuss it further with him. During our one on one time , he told me it would make a good basis for my second semester economics extra credit report.

45 years later although I see a few new jokers tossed into the deal , the key points my high school econ teacher told me to cover in my report still apply.

With that in mind I thought we could have a discussion of how in this era despite new jokers in the deal , we could touch base on how today we have to handle keeping up with bills, keep the wrinkles out of our bellies and make it from today to tomorrow as the cow pie fef mushrooms our leaders and shakers and movers think we are.

Just for kicks, as we post our opinions how about we all imagine we are fishing off the bank on a mild March day as we chew the fat.

 

[Shrek]

Posted 1/24/23 12:35 AM CST

I find it odd nobody hasn't offered any opinion to the wide landscape discussion of survival aspects during economic churnings.

One thing my grandfather and father told me of surviving as the PTB considered us the mushrooms of society, was to never forget that our country has never really left the gold and silver standards despite that FDR took the nation off the gold standard and signed an executive order prohibiting privately held gold coinage in 1933 and Nixon ending the silver standard in 1971.

They both said regardless the cost of gold or silver jewelry bought with budget surplus fiat , if our fiat currency ever turned into toilet paper , family jewelry boxes would become more valuable because they both believed precious metal prices were kept artificially lower than actual value as most every family had precious metal jewelry and stones and if times got that bad most folks would negotiate clipping links from necklaces to get the best trade value of their precious metal.

 

[muleskinner2]

In the area where I live there is a thriving barter economy. You can get most anything you need if you have firewood, pot, or moonshine to trade. I have neighbors who have traded for lumber, labor, and a side of beef. Another got a septic tank and drain field installed for three ounces of gold. Where there is a will there is a way.

 

[mreynolds]

I've always been more of a lone wolf to 90 percent of the people around me. I do what I need to survive and I drive a truck that is 15 years old. I never saw the point of buying something newer when the one I have is perfectly good. I raise food and a few animals. I would raise more but my job often doesn't allow it. If the shtf, I can trap hogs very easily. Then I can raise them from the litters and domesticate them. Killing off the others for meat until they grow. Or, I'll eat rabbit and chicken until then. I raise both.

I also try and learn to play by the same rules of those others. Anyone can play those rules if they want to. I don't care to be like them but I don't want to be caught with my pants down either. It's just a safety net.

Most people look at my old truck and worn clothes and have no idea what I am actually capable of. I like it that way too.

 

[Montanarchist]

In the area where I live there is a thriving barter economy. You can get most anything you need if you have firewood, pot, or moonshine to trade. I have neighbors who have traded for lumber, labor, and a side of beef. Another got a septic tank and drain field installed for three ounces of gold. Where there is a will there is a way.

Same here. I know one person who bought twenty acres with silver bullion.

 

[Shrek]

Posted 1/24/23 6:42 PM CST

I've always been more of a lone wolf to 90 percent of the people around me. I do what I need to survive and I drive a truck that is 15 years old. I never saw the point of buying something newer when the one I have is perfectly good. I raise food and a few animals. I would raise more but my job often doesn't allow it. If the shtf, I can trap hogs very easily. Then I can raise them from the litters and domesticate them. Killing off the others for meat until they grow. Or, I'll eat rabbit and chicken until then. I raise both. I also try and learn to play by the same rules of those others. Anyone can play those rules if they want to. I don't care to be like them but I don't want to be caught with my pants down either. It's just a safety net. Most people look at my old truck and worn clothes and have no idea what I am actually capable of. I like it that way too.

My friends can't understand why I still drive 35 to to 59 year old rigs. My two newest rigs get 25 and 27 mpg and the workhorse 42 year old inline 6 cylinder pick up gets 17 mpg, my old 64 gets the lowest mileage at 15mpg but it was my first car.

Maintenance, including two rebuilds over the years and restoring my old first car has always fit inside my budget surplus and my fuel and liability insurance is still less annually than insurance and cost of newer rigs.

Best part is no car payments

 

[jeepgrrl]

Posted 1/24/23 6:42 PM CST



My friends can't understand why I still drive 35 to to 59 year old rigs. My two newest rigs get 25 and 27 mpg and the workhorse 42 year old inline 6 cylinder pick up gets 17 mpg, my old 64 gets the lowest mileage at 15mpg but it was my first car.

Maintenance, including two rebuilds over the years and restoring my old first car has always fit inside my budget surplus and my fuel and liability insurance is still less annually than insurance and cost of newer rigs.

Best part is no car payments

That’s awesome that you still have your first car! I no longer have my first car, ‘81-‘82 Honda Prelude, but I had my Jeep Wrangler JKU built in 2014 and I plan on being buried in it! Indeed, the best car is one with no payments! 😁

 

[mreynolds]

Posted 1/24/23 6:42 PM CST



My friends can't understand why I still drive 35 to to 59 year old rigs. My two newest rigs get 25 and 27 mpg and the workhorse 42 year old inline 6 cylinder pick up gets 17 mpg, my old 64 gets the lowest mileage at 15mpg but it was my first car.

Maintenance, including two rebuilds over the years and restoring my old first car has always fit inside my budget surplus and my fuel and liability insurance is still less annually than insurance and cost of newer rigs.

Best part is no car payments

They should have never got rid of the inline 6. Every time I see a '64 Chevy truck I cry. That was my first truck. I traded it for a bull I refused to cut for FFA. I couldn't see cutting a perfectly good limousine bull and trying to compete with the doctors son's at the fair. Plus I made money off the sire fees to pay for feed. I have always thought of the long stretch.

I drove that truck until the wheels fell off. Marriage and kids made me get a better truck. I should have never sold it.

Just don't tell anyone that I used to drive a Chevy please.

 

[Montanarchist]

I've had five pickups over the years but don't have any anymore- I miss the 12 valve Cummins and M37 but I still have my first car, and my first Jeep, a '48 CJ2A that I swapped a 231 Buick motor and 4 speed Muncie box into.

 

[Terri]

If the weather stays good I intend to polish off the scratches on my '05 ford pickup. I like a vehicle that is looking nice, and I do hate car payments. It only has 120,000 miles on it, and so I intend to drive it for some years yet. Why in the world would I want to pay $350 a month for a pretty car when I can do the same thing with an afternoon of work??? What is that, $4,000 an hour? Very good pay!!!

 

[Vjk]

I have active screeners on ebay, carfax, and cars.com for cars with less than 100000 miles and less than $8k. I got my 2008 Dodge truck with 75K for 7500, my son's 2007 sentra with 65k for 4K. I went a bit out of the range and got my 2010 Sienna with 51k for 10k, but it has every possible option except AWD. it was originally owned by a Purple Heart veteran and came with a scooter/chair lift installed in the back. talk about spotless. The headphones for the backseat screen were still in the plastic bags in the console. I've found a few cars for friends too. Like some have noted the savings from insurance and property taxes are huge on a yearly basis.