It’s clear from news reports that unemployment is high, home foreclosures are still high, and the housing market is stagnant. There is a house across the street from us that has been on the market for almost two years. No, it’s not overpriced, and it’s a nice house. In fact, the floor plan is almost a duplicate of ours.
I have noticed very few showings of the house.
Now that Mr. Fixit is no longer working, we must watch every penny. That means fewer restaurant meals. We are thinking our having our landline discontinued and using only the cell phones. We may scale back our Directv plan. We will cut back on our little daytrips. I’m trying to trim our food bills by maybe having a few more meatless meals and foregoing convenience foods and cooking from scratch. We drive a car that gets over 30 miles to the gallon, and I try to shop at discount stores. Unless some idiots decide to do away with Social Security and Medicare, we will get by financially if nothing untoward happens.
I look at people around us, and I am astounded that other people don’t seem to be economizing even though our economy reportedly hasn’t improved. Restaurants seem to be doing a booming business. It is true that in our area some of the high dollar ones have gone under, but the fast food industry and franchises like TGIFriday’s, Olive Garden, and Ruby Tuesday always seem to be busy. Any place that has a buffet is always crowded.
For a while people seemed to be moving from gas guzzlers to smaller, more economical cars, but it seems that trend was short-lived. I see many new SUV’s and huge pickup trucks on the road. In our area, it’s not unusual to see college students driving BMW’s, Land Rovers, and Mercedes. In fact, you see lots of BMW’s and Jaguars on our highways.
I have noticed that most people and their children have those expensive phones that do everything except the laundry. Most of the phones seem to have online capability that requires a monthly payment for that internet access if I understand correctly.
The mall isn’t as crowded, but Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart seem to be busy.
It seems 80 per cent of the women and even pre-teen girls I see in public have professional manicures and pedicures, salon haircuts, and color and/or highlights.
On the other hand, every night on the local news we hear that food banks are depleted, and the agencies and charities that help the needy pay winter heating bills are broke because so many are asking for help.
Does all this mean that there is a huge gap between the Have’s and the Have-Not’s? Is the situation not as bad as the new media indicate? I just don’t understand.
1 comment:
I don't understand it either. Those people who are eating out, still buying [even if at Wal-mart], still driving the big cars, having their nails done -- what are they using for money? I'll bet they're not saving anything. Are they running out of money at the end of the month? Are they living on credit cards that aren't being paid off? Are they canceling their dentist appointments, their kids piano lessons? Have Americans forgotten what frugality means? A few, like you [and me], know how to cook from scratch. The gurus are calling it a "recession" and not a "depression", so who are the people depleting the food banks? I think maybe we have the Haves, the Have-somes, and the Have-nots. The Haves don't want to pay taxes, the Have-somes are pretending they still have and don't know any other way to live, and the have-nots are in deep trouble and know it.
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