anecdotal "evidence" that the economy is sputtering...

My chimney cleaner called repeatedly to beg me to go ahead and install the woodstove in my second fireplace. He is desperate for work as so many of his regular clients have opted not to clean their chimneys this year.

My son moonlights as an HVAC installer. His friends company was going great guns, but in the past year he has only had work for my son twice. Apparently a lot of folks are opting to nurse older units along rather than replace them. His business drop off has been huge. Most noticeable - HVAC vans around here ALWAYS used to have help wanted signs on them - not any more.

My brother and his friends own their own companies in Florida. They are all moaning about business evaporating and hoping next year will be better. Normally when the economy is in a slump my brothers business soars because people buy franchises then... Not this time.

I believe it's a very risky time to take out a big loan to buy an espresso shop. It literally would ruin his life if things went sour.

it feels awful to know that people in our country are dealing with these hardships, but when we start hearing the individual stories, it becomes so heartbreaking because anyone who is capable of feeling empathy will feel at least some fraction of the pain experienced by these individuals.

i wish our politicians were capable of being moved by these stories: they often deal with the "big picture", and forget that every pixel that makes that picture is a real live person who is hurting because of their stupid short-sighted decisions.

I'm sick of politicians. We need problem-solvers in Congress and the WH, not power-hungry politicians who do whatever it takes to win, then don't have a clue on how to govern or use their power for the greater good. I'm so so so sick of politicians.

...sigh...

my company calls it "partnering" instead of outsourcing, but the end result is they pay less to get software written and tested in India than in the US. And they are all about the bottom line.

I am one of the lucky ones, I am within 10 years of retirement age, the ones I really worry about are the freshouts and the young families...

They're waiting until the oldest one graduates from high school next spring and then moving. Times are so hard in Michigan that they're hoping things will be better in Florida.

They say here in Michigan that we're in a one-state recession. I call bs. The whole economy is tanking.

I think it is going to be a pretty grim winter - with heating costs and food costs climbing...

Our Sisterhood (women's) group is helping, but I'm worried about them for the winter. So far, it's been warm, but if the almanac is right, we're going to get socked with snow and cold in January. Hubby and I are set, but I worry about those who aren't.

The only way out of this recession is to get into the alternative fuels business. Solar, wind, biofuels, they could all provide a healthy living for those willing to invest their time and effort into it. Face it, the big oil companies are not interested, the government is not interested, the utilities might be interested, but only in a dispassionate, hands-off investor sort of way. The engine of the next recovery is going to be the growth of a small, distributed network of energy producers, who transform their local resources into energy instead of relying on a tanker bringing it from halfway around the world.

There was a time around the turn of the last century when solar hot water heaters were quite popular in the SunBelt. Today, you can see a few odd houses that have systems up on the roof, but nowhere near what the potential should be. Biofuels are also at a small fraction of their potential. Small scale manufacturers of biodiesel and ethanol should be popping up all over the place, but for some reason, it only seems to be the kooky ex-hippies that actually brew up their own and don't rely on Mama Exxon to offer them a teat.

If you are less than fully employed, you could be converting over to the future energy economy right now. Trading in your gasoline auto for a diesel one and tuning it up to run on vegetable oil; rerouting your sewer lines to a biogas digester; looking at how you and your family can go from being energy consumers to net producers.

Part of the reason the economy is getting throttled is that the price of oil is climbing without reason. Energy independence is too important to wait for politicians to do something about it. Let me know if you think likewise. :patriot:

be coming up with a way to retrofit peoples sinks and showers into a cistern for grey water to use in their gardens. With water as the next valuable resource (like oil) - those who can find reasonable ways to enable reuse of water for veggie gardens (think WWII and Victory Gardens) to help everyone grow some of their own food will have a ready made market!

When I lived in Las Vegas, I looked into recycling my grey water. Not on your life, no way, not only no but HELL NO! So said the wonderful people at Planning & Zoning and the Clark County Health Department.

See, reuse of grey water would mean less sewage flowing into the treatment plant, which means less public works projects, which means fewer contractors to donate to city council campaigns. There's a lot of money to be made providing and wasting abundant water. There's not a lot of money to be made in conserving a precious resource, just your own.

hmmm... even if we just saved the water from our roofs in the rain for gardening it would be a start.

There has to be a fundamental shift in our economic priorities to make this possible.

Right now, alternative energy sources are a luxury. Only the rich can afford it, yup, they can afford to pay for equipment that will make their energy cheaper in the long run. The poor and middle-class can't afford solar, or geothermal, or turbine, so we're stuck with the conventional fossil-fuel & hydroelectric & nuclear energy sources.

We need government help to make alternative energy mainstream. Much of the foundational technologies are available, it's a matter of converting that knowledge to mega-mass production. At the same time, the government needs to fund research to find even more efficient sources of renewable energy.

But we all know how much the Republicans hate "government".

And we certainly don't have the leadership to make it happen.

To begin the winter with a dirty chimney is, as Ben Franklin would remind you while you are standing the the heap of charred rubble that was formerly your home, "penny wise and pound foolish."

We have a wonderful Tulikivi soapstone fireplace. It's a 6ft tall column of soapstone 2 ft wide by 2 ft deep. The whole thing absorbs the heat of the fire and radiates it back out for over 24 hours! Added to that a small Jotul cast iron wood stove to take the chill off upstairs.

We wouldn't dream of not having our chimneys cleaned!

stretch of road

he closes up early every night, and is worried about losing his lot

he's been in business for over 20 years, and says this is the worst it's ever been

he goes to auctions/other lots to get cars, and says it's equally bleak there

very very sad