I have worked retail for several years. I am in mid-level store management right now. I don't want to say exactly what company I work for, but it is in the top 3 largest. I work at a store in a major city.

There have been some crazy things going on recently. The changes that we are being asked me make per corporates direction makes me think that the people at the top think something VERY big is going to be happening to the economy soon. I don't think the media or the government is giving us the full details of what is actually going on, but I think the CEO's and others at the top are fully aware and are making plans.

For one thing I check sales every day. At the store level we usually compare what sales are today compared to sales for the same day, week, month, and year last year. Sales at our store, our district, and company wide have taken a HUGE drop compared to the same time last year. When I looked at them today my store and every store in our district was down over 30% for the same time last year. The company as a whole is also in the negative for the same time last year. (but not as much, but it gets lower every day)

Honestly at my store I could say that we have done everything in our power at the store level to increase sales, but it just isn't happening. Departments like electronics are literally almost completely empty the entire day. The only departments that actually are getting sales are consumables, health, and chemicals. Just walking the store these are the only departments I ever even see people in ever since christmas ended.

Sometimes I will cover the service desk so a team member can take a lunch/break. When I do I sometimes process peoples credit card payments which lets me see how much they owe and how much they are paying. There are tons of people with THOUSANDS of dollars on their card only making minimum payments. These balances are usually at interest rates over 20%. Then there are people bringing in checks for the full amount, but they are BALANCE TRANSFER checks.... they are just moving it to other cards.

But that isn't what really worries me. What worries me is the changes corporate is making. I have worked here for years, and in the last 4 months I have seen more changes than all that time combined.

We are getting emails all the time from corporate telling us to reduce costs anyway we can. We recently got one telling us to start pulling fluorescent light bulbs, that we don't need all of them in order to provide illumination.... and those bulbs barely use any power.

Corporate has instructed all stores to lower the AC. It has been lowered enough to the point we get complaints from team members and customers.

Corporate has sent us emails telling us to make sure we fill bags to the absolute possibly maximum. They are not even sending us large bags anymore to some stores.

Corporate has recently eliminated (what I would estimate based on how many positions we lost vs the thousands of stores we have) several thousnad management positions at *all levels* of management at stores. This NEVER APPEARED ON THE NEWS! I suspect because it was not a traditional lay off. What corporate basically told us was "Your position is eliminated, but you are not laid off. Once you quit/get your self fired/whatever your position just won't be filled again" So we are basically slowly losing jobs as people company wide quit, get fired, etc.... but the jobs are never filled again. So basically we are cutting jobs, but the way it is being done is preventing it from getting reported in the media or tracked by the government as job losses.

No non-management positions have been eliminated, instead hours have been cut for them.

Raises this year have also been lowered in amount compared to in previous years. They have been lowered enough that corporate is keeping it a secret until we have to tell team members.

The company is also buying less. Our distribution centers are sending us, for example, 3 of a certain item when normally we would get 50.... and they don't send us more until those sell. I have not been able to keep departments full of product despite contacting corporate and asking for more because we are being sent such small amounts of product.

We have had trucks cancelled all the time now simply because we sold so little that they can't justify sending so few items to a store.

People are simply NOT buying things. They are not buying anything that isn't a consumable basically. I asked our pricing team to do a store mark down and lower the price on almost all of our TVs by 30-50%. We still have not sold a single one in over a week after! Our TVs were not priced very high to begin with.

Our pricing team is also being sent price increase changes from corporate in huge numbers. I am talking entire aisles of product for them to raise the prices on. The other day we got a STACK of pages of product to increase prices on. We thought it HAD to be a mistake because that has simply never happened before. We have emailed corporate asking if it was a mistake... we have not heard back yet, but I suspect it was not.

Many stores are now changing to non-overnight stores. They will be closed overnight and ALL power except in office areas will be cut overnight to save on costs.

There have even been changes to job descriptions recently. Corporate is basically giving job dutys to people at lower levels which used to be reserved for people at higher levels. Even some management tasks are being given to people in non-management positions. Basically they are paying people less to do what people used to get paid more to do.

Things are NOT looking pretty right now. I can tell you from a consumer spending point of view something is definantely going on.... All these changes tell me the people at the top are trying to brace for something big that is going to be happening to the economy.

this country is fucked

and walmart helped

"team members"

That's a common wal-mart term

I thought it was walmart

Sorry about that

treated like a human being. I used to work for a different box store, doing the same job (Meijer) and was treated like I was less than dirt, I make 1/3 again as much money, and now it's just an over all better environment.

.

:shrug:

:shrug:

Odd.

I was wrong

Thanks for the correction

WalMart doesn't have a store charge card (that I'm aware of) but Tar-jay does.

Target calls them Team Members, and I've seen the term used at Kmart too.

If I was a bettin' man I'd say he works at Target.

I was wrong

Thanks

Frankly, these days I don't think there's a hell of a lot of difference between any of these big box stores. They all suck. Every one of them. They didn't used to, but after Sam's children started screwing the employees, driving whole downtowns out of business and ordering their suppliers to move their operations to China, they all started doing the same fucking thing.

The OP probably works at Target. Since he's what Home Depot would call either a Department Head or an Assistant Store Manager (not sure what Target calls them but the word "guest" is probably in the title) he's quite correct to be very vague about what he does for a living. I could get away with bitching about the customers because I was the low man on the totem pole for six fucking years; someone in management wouldn't be so lucky.

...it's Target. They're actually one of the better big box operators out there.

There's precedent for all of this. The same thing happened in the mid-seventies right at the end of Vietnam. We tried to have guns and butter...and it didn't work then and it won't work now. That was a real estate and oil recession and this one will be similar if not worse.

but maybe they do exist.

Big boxes that don't stay open 24/7 often have "overnight crews." Those people stock shelves, clean and get the store ready for the next day. The intent is to have the sales associates driving sales, not opening boxes and putting shampoo on the shelf. Also, when you do your major packout at night, the customers don't trip over all the empty boxes you generate.

Target it is!

Target is team...

I used to work for them.

It's all the rage in the field of corporate jargon.

So I'm guessing Target.

My thoughts exactly. :toast:

associated with cheap plastic crap

for my particular department were way up.We even had authorized volunteer overtime if we wanted it.:shrug:

it's the cheapest place to shop - not best - not politically correct - but everyone knows it's cheapest, so as economy tanks even those that normally would never set foot in a W-M are doing so now. But soon when government announces it can no longer fulfill it's obligation to send Welfare and Social Security checks W-M won't be shopped in - they'll be looted.

An analogy might be to that of a tsunami, before a big wave hits shoreline rushes out to sea and exposes new shore then the big-wave comes rushing in. That's where we are right now. When big-wave hits we'll be reduced to a 3rd world country over-night.

Couple this with an attack on Iran with a World War ensuing and we're a complete Warrior Nation where every military aged person becomes conscripted to fight for the elites that started all this and won't suffer (neither will their kids).

Also count on a merger of American, Mexico and Canadian currency into AMERO. Say good-bye to our Constitution (we already have) and Bill of Rights (ditto).

None of this is a surprise to those who have been paying attention. Welcome to "New World Order".

Canada and Mexico have both denied the "Amero" story saying, "why on Earth would we choose to suffer from America's poor monetary decisions?" The dollar is in free-fall, and if Canada and Mexico picked up a common currency with America they would suffer from our stupidity.

the theory seems to be that those "poor monetary decisions" were done purposely in order to justify the change to amero/north american union. sort of an economic false-flag, if you will.

i want to believe it's tin-foil hattery, but nothing seems too wacky for those darn powers that be'ers these days.

it's a matter of what the Canadian and Mexican governments are willing to do. Canada and Mexico have no interest in joining with the American currency, especially Canada whose dollar is skyrocketing versus ours. It's not that I don't think they would do it, they never ask us about their designs for our money, but there isn't any reason for it. And remember these guys are experts at cost-benefit analysis. These guys have equations to minimize the monetary loss from injury by workers or consumers (one of my teachers knew a guy who worked at a hotdog factory as a mathematician. This guy personally wrote an equation dictating the maximum amount of time that the company was allowed to look for a severed human body part - he compared the amount of money lost from shutting down the production line for x minutes versus the lawsuits from the guy who lost his hand, the consumers for finding human flesh in their food, and the FDA for violations, and found the equilibrium. I'm sure that's exactly what that guy thought he would be doing when he was an undergrad majoring in math.) But my point is that it isn't worth it for them to throw the economy into total collapse in exchange for... what? What could they possibly gain by doing that? A New World Order? They already run the world, what is there to change?

work in the deli, nothing there is a necessity, not much there is cheap, ($8 a pound for some deli meat) so your reasoning doesn't hold water there.

I'm sure you helped the term "Ugly American" become a cliche.

It did help bring down the economy.

It did help destroy companies.

It did help lead to a culture of abused workers.

Wal Mart can stick it.

Wal-Mart and its ethos did a million times more to help create and maintain the Ugly American cliche.

Wal-Mart is the ultimate Ugly American.

And for those who say it's the only game in town, the only employer-- ask yourselves why that is the case.

I was composing something similar the moment after I read that post, but you said it better.

I haven't walked into a Wal-Mart in years. No one should.

by 'leaking' this info.

Why pay $3.59 for a pint of Häagen-Dazs at Publics when you can get it for $2.49 at Walmart? It's not like you are buying a Chinese product when you are buying food at a Walmart super store.

when walmart is the only distributor of certain items.

i forgot what this is called, but there was actually a bill or something that allowed this, and it's supposedly to far more common. there was an excellent post regarding this a while ago, where certain companies (walmart) would be able to monopolize by being exclusive distributors of products (crap).

had a discussion with my repub in-laws a couple weeks ago about this. they had noticed that their tv went out after only two years, and chimed "they don't make em like they used to..." and i followed that up with, "on purpose, so you'll have to run to walmart and buy a new one."

Nobody is helping this senior citizen to survive.

I mean, PLEASE - and if you think their food doesn't come from China CHECK OUT THEIR FISH

:eyes:

Sid

Submission is not the solution.

We aren't completely living in Koestler's Darkness at Noon just yet.

Your kind of thinking, however, will lead us there.

You'll never-ever see me in one again.

sorry. I'm not singling you out, there are millions more out there like you.

which was all conjecture anyway.

I saw the attack and I thought it rude then and still do, now.

And as an old retailer myself, I can assure you that the OP does not work at Wal-Mart. All the corporate culture cues are wrong. (And no, I never worked at Wal-Mart and I never shop there, but retailers know retailers.)

company, but left that behind for bigger and better profits round about the time Sam got sick, his eldest died and the rest of his kids took over...

If the old maxim of Rags to Riches to Rags in three generations holds true, in another twenty to thirty years, Walmart will go the way of Grants, Robert Hall, and other big chain stores.

industrialists to rob this country of its manufacturing jobs - all for the Global Fascist Agenda.

because at the retail store that I worked for (No it not Wal-Mart)i can tell the same story. Except for the fact that non mangement employees were the ones to be let go. The ones they seemed to let go were the ones that worked for them a long time. Also team member is used at almost all retail chains. For the hourly workers (Non-manegment) our hours got cut to next to nothing. Monday through friday each shift had the bare minimum to operate the store.

Unfortunately it's not affecting just Wal-Mart but all retailers except the upscale retailers although some of them are not seeing what they usually see and many of them depend on "average" shoppers just looking for "upscale" merchandise that's "affordable" and that market is disappearing from the marketplace. In most of the larger cities, CVS and Walgreen's have 24 hour stores. But they do lose money. And some of them will go back to the regular hours. The economy, in a word, sucks.

The interesting thing about Wal-Mart is that it reflects what is wrong on Wall Street. Monopolization. Didn't work 100 years ago. And won't work 100 years later. Low interest rates of the 1990s produced consolidation in many sectors. Consolidation = monopolization.

If you're greedy, and a CEO, the profit is still there. Grab it while you can. At some point, reality will hit. And the Federal Reserve will need to be bailed out. Our entire economic system, in a word, is insolvent. It is backed solely by the taxpayer. But it is not a bottomless pit. Ours is an oligarcy based on the oilgarchy. And what has eroded the foundation is what laid the foundation. The price of oil. The price at the pump has affected more than just the pump.

Things will get much worse. The first dominoes have fallen. And the others are beginning to fall as well. It will be different from 1929. It probably will be worse. Because our economy is more intertwined in the economies of other countries than it was in 1929. Everything is more intertwined than in 1929.

common-sense insight concerning trade, and made a religion out of privatisation and globalisation, at the expense of the nation's people.

In that regard, I was disappointed to read that Obama had indicated that a thorough-going regeneration of employment in the so-called the 'Rust Belt' of heavy and medium industries wasn't feasible.

Of course, Obama would be acutely aware of the strength of the political opposition to progressive policies he would face, but, frankly, I can see no reason why your Government should not begin to treat your country/sub-continent as a whole trading bloc, in itself, equivalent to the EEC, and to introduce really progressive, national, protectionist policies, particularly in the face of this incipient economic depression. Heck, Keynes considered Britain could be self-sufficient in trading terms! Although we must have been pillaging raw materials from much of the Empire at the time, it's true. But you are effectively a whole continent, and until recently, at least, still very, very rich.

In fact, it would always have been prudent and appropriate for the US, but the empire builders, of course, wouldn't have it. However, as Chalmers, Johnson I think it was, pointed out, you can either have empire or you can have democracy, but you cannot have both simultaneously.

religion of globalism and allegedly free trade. It isn't working well for half the people here, and nobody seems to care! Obama is particularly problematic on this issue for me, since he has already seen the destruction that comes after the loss of decent manufacturing jobs, and that the replacements simply don't keep families and neighborhoods together. And he can find nothing to do about it?

That's why I liked John Edwards.

I've been thinking that the economy was going to be a big problem for this election. He's an appealing candidate who may actually be able to consider and implement programs outside the globalist religion. He was out long before his message was in. That's the problem with early primaries.

There is something to the philosophy of protectionism as espoused by the conservative movement which of course has always been at odds with the
"neo-conservatives" and with the Bushes whom most conservatives have always considered liberal and in fact in terms of economic policy they are but in a very self-serving way - theirs is a facist liberalism.

Reality is our next president is going to have to deal with an economy that most likely will be the worst since the Great Depression.

The stores don't have control over the AC. Also, they only have one size of bad. If what you're buy don't fit in a bag, it doesn't go into one.

Not true. I bought a lamp shade and the bag in which it was placed was 2 to 3 times as big as a normally used bag, for example, for groceries.

...because low-cost / low-end retailers are going to do better in this new economy. And in fact, if you look at their published sales numbers, they are up.

fill positions long empty and are combining depts.

When the FCC pushes through the cross-ownership changes they've been dying to, TV and newspaper staffs are going to shrink. If your SO is a writer, they're probably going to want to think about how they'll look on camera.

Omega Man?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Skilling

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. He probably wishes now he could aspire so high as to be one of those little people who "gum up the works."

What good are you if you point out the problem with out a solution?

and the rest of us will absorb the loss by having bigger classes

yuup

Now Clinton Looks Better

NO HE DOESN"T!
I had to bail from NJ because of the '87 crash, Reagan Bush recession ( it hit there first), outrageous property taxes....( Atlantic City casinos-opened '77 - wholesale economically induced, exodous, from state, 89, so muxh for the revenue from the casinos!
I came to Maine house hunting in '90, moved here in '91. The retail sales in Bar Harbor were the biggest ever that summer! The supermarkets & chain drug stores were open 24 hours, here & in NH. Handy because I always seemed to arrive in the we small hours after driving the 550 mile trip.
During the Clinton years they were only open untill 11.PM..... Now they close at 7:30 or 8:PM. Not quite sure because the 3 small independant groceries here at home have expanded their merchandise, so I don't make the 65 mile round trip to shop twice a month! The chain has opened a new big store locally, as well, but the owner accepts the corporate decisions on stocking merchandise. Her single limited income customers are outa luck, because we are forced to buy a huge $4.00 jar of tarter sauce.( applies to most product's in the store) No small jars available! ( demographically there are far more single elderly on SS than young people with large families here) I wonder how she'll sustain, the mortgage must be huge, brand new building from scratch in 2006!
So good for the 3 independent, small guys!
One has that innate genius for marketing, that is disappearing fast! He bought from a retiring couple, a market, clothing store ( Woolrich type stuff) and a furniture store, ( stuff for a summer cottage). They were great for the 80's & 90's......He closed all but the market and opened the best $ store..but now that is only OPEN 3 days a week.
We don't miss he clothing store, the resale shop has great items, most for $3.00. The 1%'rs down in Bar Harbor wear an item until it needs washing, then they donate it and go buy new stuff!

and crammed everyone into two buildings, instead of three. Positions lost to attrition were not refilled, but no one was furloughed, TG. Next year, they are cutting administrators (rumor has it).

And we can't order hardly any supplies for next year. Everyone is pinching pennies it seems.

and my position is being cut from Title I funds. No child left untested; many left behind.

The principal scolded a secretary who wanted to mail a check back to a student ( we're an adult school and had cancelled the class ). The principal reamed her on the cost of a stamp and said the student should retrieve the check herself.

But that's about it.

and she told me the department managers had been told to expect price increases across the board all summer.

I live in an area that has very low unemployment and the economy here is very stable, people have good jobs and it used to be cheap enough to live here you could buy a house and raise a family on $25K

but some of the areas in the country are gonna get downright scary and very soon is my guess.

edit to add, Walmart is the biggest retailer in this town of 25K and I used to cuss cuz I'd see 5-6 or their trucks in town A DAY and now that I'm thinking about it, I've only seen one in the last couple weeks

:shrug:

I own a business and I also am seeing the effects of a sluggish economy. Times are hard and it will unfortunately affect us all.:hi: :hi:

While I prefer brick'n'mortar, the prices at online retailers are very tantalizing...

What do you think of the MSNBC article claiming it's a lie as to how many people have credit card debt, et cetera?

Well I don't have to numbers on what other stores do on credit card sales vs other forms of payment, but I do see what our store does in that regard. By and large the payment method most used the past few months has been credit cards.

I am currently paying off 4k in CC debt and I'm one of the "lucky" ones. I transferred my debt to a no interest card and am hammering the shit out of it before the whole economy caves in. It's going to be the only way to protect yourself when the turd (US economy) quits floating.

Firstly, it's unsecured debt. If you're going to have any kind of debt, you should have debt that doesn't give the lender recourse against any of your assets.

Secondly, if it's a no-interest card, then put the 4,000 in a CD and cash it out the last month before the card starts charging interest.

Why wouldn't I pay off debt thats no interest while it's still no interest? LOL

I can't use money that I don't have, it's debt, not assets LOL.

1 year no interest on purchases/balance transfers. Jan. '09 the interest will kick in.

Chase Visa card.

the six month CD. The time it takes to set this up is not worth it. Might be best to set up an account at Schwab or something and just keep excess cash there without having any restrictions palced on you. It earns money and you can invest in higher yielding instruments if you so choose. I do, however agree that if you have a period of no interest, then you should wait until the last minute to pay it - just like taxes - don't pay until the last minute. That reminds me...fucking taxes coming soon. I am gonna get smoked this year. I hope I have something left after the throttling I am about to receive. Cost of living in NYC is though the roof!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

Things are so fucked up now. I just went shopping and within a week, eggs - freaking eggs - jumped up fifty cents!

I have four chickens and there is only the two of us. I palm my eggs off on everyone.

maybe I should drop by. ;-)

:hi:

A carton of eggs will be waiting! LOL

I just got three chicks a few days ago. I'm hopping to be in the same predicament. Eggs have gotten expensive just like everything else.

but you would have free eggs.

the cashier said it happened overnight. JUMBO eggs used to be 99cents then about $1.19. They jumped to $1.79 and when people started complaining, TJ's stopped stocking the jumbos and is stocking Large for $1.49.

I have seen a HUGE increase in the past year in cats not brought in to the vet AT ALL until they are beyond help, and cats diagnosed with TREATABLE disease that are simply not being treated, so they eventually die.

Bush had destroyed my client base, and in doing so may very well destroy my business. He should be ----.

so there are still some of us out there who won't go to the movies or out to dinner but we will take care of our loved ones. :)

Getcher' free vet advice right here, folks! Step right up!

Turns out that, unlike dogs, primary bacterial ear infections are virtually unheard of in cats. EAR MITES are behind the vast majority of cat ear problems and here's how I treat them these days: they can be CURED by a single dose of either Revolution or Advantage Multi (those newer monthly topical flea etc products). So I apply the product in the exam room and tell the client to return for a precautionary repeat in one month. I DO NOT mess around in the ears. No stuff squirted down their to make it soupy and cause secondary infection, no Q-tips, etc. Maybe a tiny swipe at debris that is right up close in view, but we do not go messing around down in the canal. I instruct my clients to KEEP OUT OF THE EARS. I have never failed to resolve ear mites with this simplified protocol. It's like magic.

Those cases that don't resolve are in another class altogether. If they just have a stinky, soupy, painful ear, the most likely cause in my experience is a tumor in the ear canal. These are usually malignant (cancer) but if caught early and surgically managed properly, it can be curable (more magic). I have a diabetic patient who got a malignant tumor in her ear and I sent the owners off to a good surgeon who did a complete ear canal ablation (sounds drastic), and the cat is FINE now. Ear cancer CURED. Cat still has diabetes, but she's only ten and has many more happy years, we hope.

This free cat health tip has been brought to you by: kestrel.

BTW, not saying YOUR cat has either of these conditions. Just using this as an opportunity to get the word out there about some wonderful treatments and give people hope.

from all the kitty lovers on du, and we are legion....

:-)

:yourock:

To the back of their necks like you do for fleas?

Man I wish I had known this weeks ago!

Thanks!

I put it on the occipital knob, BTW, which is just a tiny bit farther up the neck at the base of the skull - harder for kitties to lick at it. Impossible, actually.

Here's why Revolution and Advantage Multi (and maybe Frontline?? check the label for ear mite approval) can cure ear mites in ONE application: the drug in them is absorbed into the bloodstream and stays for a MONTH. The complete life cycle of the ear mite is TWO WEEKS. So any and all eggs in the ears are gonna hatch and develop into adults within that two weeks, and no further egg-laying will be going on (dead ear mites don't boogie). End of problem.

I do the second treatment just to be absolutely sure, and on that second visit sometimes I will swipe a little superficial residual crud out of the ears, mostly for show, lol. But the crud usually works its way out on its own, just fine......

Products for treating ear mites that you have to put into the ears are completely archaic and obsolete now. And because they are hard to apply and can be very uncomfortable for the cat, one might argue that to use them and NOT the Revolution/Advantage Multi is downright mean.

Thank You!

My outdoor cat scratches his ear till he cries. I will try the Revolution or Advantage and see if that helps him. I've suspected ear mites, but I am among those you mention who are "putting off" the vet visits. I have 3 cats and a dog and they can be expensive. So your advice is well timed!

I will definitely keep this in mind in case my kitty ever needs it. :)

Even though I'm retired and on a fixed income (very tight budget), I took my 13 year old to the vet this morning for treatment of a respiratory infection with an allergic component. Bill was $94, so I charged it to my credit card. If necessary, I'll take money out of my savings in order to take care of my baby.

surgery for my 15-year-old cat Lila. I feared it was cancer, but couldn't just have her put to sleep if there was a chance of saving her. I had to have 19-year-old cat put to sleep in 2005 when she developed a fast-growing cancer in her jaw, but I could see that cancer so I knew there was no hope.

Anyway, Lila's biopsy showed no cancer at all. The surgery showed that she has inflammatory bowel disease. I have her on Prednisone now, and she has gained back all the weight she lost and is playing like a kitten again. I am so glad I got the surgery for her, even if some people thought I was insane to pay that much for a 15-year-old cat! If she has even one more good eyar in her, it wwill have been well worth it, as far as I am cocnerned. I would have hated for her to die when her previous few months had been so miserable. It is important to me that my pets have good lives, right up to the end.

I am NOT all that well off, but I also get all three of my cats' teeth cleaned whenever they need it and anyother medical care they need. I would do without quite a lot before I would fail to take care of my cats' health. They are too precious to me, and now that my kids are grown up, my cats are my babies.

My situation is that I was so poor for so long raising my 2 kids on less than $20,000 a year following my divorce that I learned to live very frugally. So now that my kids are grown up and I am earning a bit more money, too, though still not that much, I am able to manage okay just because I have gotten used to making do with so little.

In fact, when I go grocery shopping, I often spend more money on cat food and cat supplies than on food for myself!

I work at a hotel where there are about 20 feral cats that live on the property. 6 mo ago, management suddenly forbid the cooks from feeding the meat scraps to the cats. Now they gather outside the front door during the night begging for food. I go thru an 18 lb bag a week, but it just my heart good to see them taken care of. Other employees ask me why I do it and I just answer "I dont drink I dont smoke so I feed cats"

I ran a home daycare for 18 years. During that time, I had four milk snakes, a lizard (it was a prairie skink), four cats, and two ferrets. A friend's 9 1/2-foot boa constrictor also came for visits sometimes, but when he did, we put all the other animals into a closed up room to protect them from being lunch.

If you like funny, true animal stories, one of my 10 websites is called Pet Tales. It can be found at http://www.pettales.homestead.com/index.html

You can read about the time a black panther peed on me, the time my son (who was 24 at the time, and whom I disguise in the story to protect his dignity) peed on himself because a 6-foot alligator charged him while he was taking a leak behind a tree in the Florida Everglades, about the time we took the boa constrictor to my kids' elementary school to prove that snakes have feet and legs, and other amusing stories about budgies, parrots, cockatoos, snakes, lizards, a pet cayman alligator we once owned, and many other animals I have kept company with in my 57 years.

One reason my vet is so willing to perform expensive procedures like Lila's surgery and then let me pay it off over time is that I have gone to that clinic since 1970, through 5 different vets, and though I have sometimes had to make payments rather than pay it all off at once, I have never failed to pay my vet bills. Also, whenever I can, I bring in pets of friends who can't afford vet care to get them shots and necessary care, including blood tests, heartworm and flea meds, neutering, etc., and pay for it myself.

In other words, the vet knows for a fact that I am a major source of income for the clinic--and also good for any bill I incur while taking care of my precious pets.

In addition to being a full-time lecturer in English at a state university, I also tutor several children, and one of the families I tutor for owns a 3-year-old Bichon Frise. Last year, I took the little dog in for her shots, heartworm tests, nail-clipping, flea meds, and heartworm meds. I ended up paying about $300 for the dog’s vet care. She will be due for more shots and meds in August--and I will take her in for them, too. Besides the fact that I love that little dog to pieces (and she loves me), I also know that the parents work very hard to earn the money to provide everything their kids need, including paying my $25/hr tutoring fee twice a week every week of the year, to ensure that their kids get the educational foundation they know the American school system won't provide for them. (They also pay a math tutor $12/hr twice a week.) Obviously, as much as they love the dog, her vet care is not high on their list of priorities. But it is high on my list of priorities!

Visit me at my Pet Tales site if you have a bit of free time. Let me know what you think.

Fish is a major contributor to bowel disease in cats - it's the most common food allergen. Cats are desert animals and fish really doesn't belong in their diet at all (fish oil, however, is an acceptable ingredient in cat food and I don't see trouble from it).

Some of my IBD kitties get put on Prescription Diet I/D, but lots of them are not on it. Some of them have to be maintained on both metronidazole and prednisolone.

But now that I have people watch out like hawks for fish in the diet, I have a LOT fewer IBD patients than in the past.

Good luck with kitty. Sounds like you are on the right track.

My vet said that in his next life he wants to come back as one of my cats, because I take such great care of them. My precious old baby who lost so much weight when she was sick is now back to her normal weight and playful and fun again.

give your cat L-Glutamine powder, it rebuilds intestinal health by restoring the mucosal wall of the intestine. Mix with water and use a large dropper, twice a day. It has virtually no taste........Find it in any health food store.............

dog and two cats get regular vet exams,vaccinations, etc. They are seen more often if they need something or seem to have a problem. Two are going in next week for their yearly stuff. (Thank goodness the other cat is on a different schedule.) My personal belief is that if you adopt an animal, you have a responsibility to take care of it. The dog eats Hills Science R/D at $38.00 a bag. Yikes! The office visits will run about $200.00. I budget for their health care. They are worth every dollar I spend on them. I am grateful they came to me. I hope your practice survives.

... and one of them passed of cancer right after last Thanksgiving and I'm still missing him.

But between one of them getting radioactive iodine treatment to treat hyperthyroidism, and the other getting an operation earlier and many other tests, I basically blew a whole ESPP stock sale chunk and then some last year just on the extra vet bills. I'm glad I was able to keep the one alive a few more months though. It was worth it seeing him being happy for a while and jumping/running around for a while like a kitten not long after the operation removed the tumor earlier last year... Made the last few months that much more special.

I'm hoping my other cat doesn't get more ill again now too any time soon. That really sinks your budget in addition to the pain it causes.

worth it IMHO. I have had some patients live for many years after having it, and have had 2 or 3 treated at AGE SIXTEEN (and live a few more years). It's one of the few true CURES we have for serious disease.

The limiting factor for hyperthyroid kitties is kidney function. I inherited my grandparents' cat in 1999 and she is one of my clinic mascots. She is now 17, and a couple years ago became hyperthyroid. We uncovered kidney disease (which the hyperthyroidism was masking) so she has to take methimazole and can't have the I131 cure. We slightly undertreat her thyroid to keep the kidneys limping along........not a good situation, and now she's starting to lose weight......but she's happy......

about pets being abandoned in one of the areas where employment has taken a bad knock --
don't recall the specific location.

We've also had very bad weather across the nation which seems to have done great damage to
families ---

And look at the Katrina survivors --- Bush has done nothing for them ---

We lost one of our cats to an oral tumor. A couple of days later the vet's assistant called to ask if we were interested in a young male who'd been left behind when her neighbors moved out due to foreclosure.

Our vet neutered the cat, gave him all his shots, the staff bathed him and treated him for fleas. And they wouldn't accept one dime.

BTW, we're in a stable, comfortable region of the Bay Area and foreclosure signs are going up all over.

of the report ---

And, I think that you can also see from the posts here that this isn't uniform across the nation. There are still areas doing OK --- and many seriosly not.

Love animal lovers --- and the vets always seem to be special people, as well --

the ferret community is being hit hard because many of their problems are very expensive to treat. We, as a rescue home, have had many bills over Five Hundred Dollars, and we will continue to take care of our babies. The casual owner, however (and I hate that any owners fit this catagory) will not shell out those big bucks.

Addison's or Cushing's?? LOL, I'm drawing a blank. I don't know squat about them, being a cat vet in a state where ferrets are illegal........

When I was up in OR in 1982-3 I treated a few. If you don't spay the females and they don't get pregnant, they die of estrogen-induced bone marrow suppression. That's all I remember.......

many owners believe its because they are spayed and neutered too soon in their life by the sellers. As you well know, many vets don't know much about treating them. We are very lucky to have one of the most knowledgeable Dr's taking care of ours.

Like the rabbit breeder in Michael Moore's "Roger and Me".

I take 2 dogs to the Vet, and usually walk out about $600 lighter.

they would no more eat them than their own children.

Now, SOMEBODY ELSE'S cat might be another matter entirely, lol.......

:cry:

One is getting insulin, but the owner is on a fixed income and can't afford to get the cat in for monitoring (blood test for fructosamine every 3-6 months), and the cat is 20 so I'm not gonna hound her about it.....

The other one is a cat who I just this week diagnosed with BOTH diabetes and hyperthyroidism. Simultaneously. First time I've ever encountered THAT. Wife would love to try treating him, but the husband says absolutely not. Not even gonna TRY. So when the cat crashes with diabetic ketoacidosis we will PTS. I must admit that double-whammy would be quite costly to try to manage.........

The wife asked me how much it was gonna cost to treat and I had to explain to her it wasn't QUITE like ordering up a Big Mac and fries..............thousands of dollars in the first year was my best guess.......and it's ONLY a guess. Not the sort of thing where you can even fill out an estimate form, at least for more than the first two days of treatment.......

I call him the cat whisperer and he is the best vet I have ever had. One of my cats died a couple of months ago from congestive heart failure. She was only 4 but she always looked kind of sickly from the day we adopted her. He tried to manage her with medication but when she had a chest x-ray he said her heart was the largest he had ever seen in a cat. He and I both cried when we put her down. I still miss her.

Yes, I'm new here. I have been lurking for awhile.

I have one at home with probable Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (the genetic form rather than secondary to hyperthyroidism). He's 11 1/2 and on benazepril and atenolol. He has a really funky-looking heart on XR and I have been dragging my feet taking him to the internist for echocardiography because I kinda know they aren't gonna find anything GOOD. The meds have really helped him, BTW, and he's happy and healthy otherwise. So sometimes you get lucky, and HCM is definitely worth attempting medical management. I have several patients with it on meds.

Unfortunately, a couple weeks ago I had THREE cases all of a sudden with initial catastrophic presentation, cardiogenic emboli to the aorta, crash-and-burn type stuff. I really hate that. And hope it doesn't happen to mine.

Dr. Gary Norsworthy says some of these cats with inherited heart disease can be caught REALLY early and put on benazepril (which arrests and may reverse the deleterious heart muscle remodeling we see in the disease) for life and do great.

Sure are a bunch of cat lovers around here.

anything but love and food. Sweet things they are.

I will say one thing - you all are very passionate here about your candidates AND your cats. Just my kind of people.

Just diagnosed a few months ago with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (presumably the genetic kind, as he has never had any signs of hyperthyroidism, although it is possible that the urinary blockage he had a couple of years ago might have been a factor -- we had no idea what was wrong, and he hit crisis in the middle of the night, so he was almost totally unconscious by the time we got him to the emergency vet -- basically, that situation went longer than it should have). Absolutely no symptoms -- but at his most recent regular appointment, the vet heard a new heart murmur and suggested we do an echo. Even before she was done with the analysis she put him on the benazepril; hopefully it will be enough to get his heart to a more normal state.

The whole thing is really depressing because he is such an amazing cat; I especially feel guilty because a good part of the delay in getting him treated for the urinary blockage was due to our misunderstanding of something our vet had said -- we thought she had said she was not equipped for major emergencies (sole practitioner and all), but it turns out that what she meant was that she lacked some expensive equipment for unusual emergencies; she would have been totally able to deal with the blockage. I could excuse it by saying we were worried and not thinking straight, but that really does not cut much ice when you realize our misjudgment may have cost poor Timmy years off his life.

No link that I can think of.

But we were warned to watch out for other problems down the road, so it immediately came to mind.

Amazing how quickly you can learn to give insulin shots. He lived two years after his diagnosis, dying at almost 14.

My next two were half-siblings. Andy had high liver enzymes, then Cushing's, then hypothyroidism. He died of hemangiosarcoma last March at 14. We didn't know anything was wrong until he collapsed, which I understand is common with this type of cancer. Misty had cancer, hemangiopericytoma, in 2004. She had surgery and five weeks of radiation, and lived almost three more years, until she developed bladder cancer. She died two days' shy of 14, three and a half weeks before her brother. The money I spent on those three babies was the best I've ever spent.

The boy I have now is 2 and wonderfully healthy. I'm just enjoying every single day.

hyperthyroidism about 6 weeks ago so they put him on some pills and told us to come back for a level check. We can't afford it. You have to pay for the entire visit at the time you are there. Can't be done.

Pretzel has gained some weight back and his heart rate sounds slower. But we were also supposed to get his infected teeth pulled and there is no way that is gonna happen now that all our tax money is gone. He's going to have to hang in there for a while. :(

The followup visit and lab work serves as a guide in fine-tuning his drug dosage, and also they are watching for previously hidden kidney problems to be revealed. It's important, but not an emergency.

as is possible. At this point I am more worried about the infected teeth and him becoming septic from them. But for now he's managing and doing pretty well for a guy who is almost 14. :)

and do an "emergency" dentistry if the teeth are visibly loose and have pus pockets. Because THAT'S a very serious condition that requires prompt treatment. I'm a bit of a cowboy that way, but it works well for me.

hyperthyroidism and get his heart rate normalized and weight back up, then put him under for extraction. I asked about antibiotics by the doc said there was no point because once they ran out the infection would pop back up, and we can't keep him on antibiotics indefinitely.

I already spent a lot of the tax money on the cat (to hubby's chagrin) and I want to use the forthcoming rebate money to do some more work on him, but hubby might say no because we were planning on using it for a) a vacation (he hasn't had one in 2 years and he is stressed, b) buffer money because lately there isn't enough income to cover the regular bills.

restrictions. That is so sad. Even the stories about people who are foreclosed out of their houses, are leaving their pets behind. I love animals, this is so sad. Everything that this government is doing is having a ripple effect on humans and animals and the environment. I hate them, they should have their a$$es thrown out to the curb. Total inhumane treatment of mankind.

How I hate those lying bastards.

they are living in their ivory towers, they will sooner or later feel the wrath they have brought upon so many I hope.

nt

Almost.

This is how they'll spin it: everything was fine until a Democtratic Congress took over and they're the ones that control spending.

the damn repugs are teflon when it comes to causing or admitting wrongs.

and the owners have been opening 4 a month for those last 4 years. I worked for Carnival cruise lines previously and happen to know they built ships in the Seventies and early 80's when nobody else was doing so and they now control the pricing industry wide.
Some big companies will use this recession as justification for reducing cost. Some companies are also at the mercy of shareholders. The two companies I have cited have never really been beholden to stock holders even though they are public companies.

I might try my hand at fiction writing for real.

has been buying stocks like crazy!. He said "this is nuts- the only time people run *OUT* of the store when there's a sale"
I'm too chickenshit, though; just keep plugging away into a 401K, paying off debt and saving. There's some dark and nasty times a'comin.

I remember a story in the news about 2 weeks ago that B&N might buy Borders. People not willing to pay $15 for a paperback book anymore it seems!

(sorry: for being too lazy to look for a link)

the books are sold at msrp, and DVDs are sold at msrp (every other brick/mortar store sells them for far less), and internet stores sell books and dvds for even less. Especially these days, people will be keeping to budget and shopping online unless there's a kick-arse sale locally.

A shame; for some items I miss local stores.

and noticed no one was buying although lots of people were browsing. I think people buy books on line. It's easier and cheaper.

have been recognized as such for years.

There is big trouble coming...this has been worse than the recession of the late 80's already in our office. A terrific decrease in elective dental work has been ongoing for over a year. We are struggling mightily...

Better hold your breath...

after having the corresponding upper six done in December (severe grinder here). Not looking forward to plunking down several thousand with the economy in question, but it's way past the elective stage now.

I would suggest Mexico. Prices on dental work are 1/3 US prices, plus better turnaround time.

Just asking out of curiosity ---
and I think that if things are going to go the way we're discussing here we'll be having
more and more of these unusual conversations --- !!

and is dragging other folks down there soon.

She's kind of batty but I gotta hand it to her, she knows how to work a system.

I was living in a remote area on the beach. When one of my veneers broke off, I asked around and was told about a doctor in town that was pretty good. She had a small office on the main street of town with one assistant/receptionist. She was able to take a mold and have it sent to Mexicali for a replacement veneer which came back in a few days. It looks just like the others and I've had no problems with it since. Yes, they do have anesthesia and modern equipment and everything you would expect in a dentist's office, except the American prices.

Many Mexican dentists advertise in English publications printed near the border. As with any professional service, it is nice to have a personal recommendation, but lacking that, it is just like being in a strange town in the U.S., you can pull out the Yellow Pages, excuse me, Paginas Amarillas and pick one at random. Most well educated Mexicans (i.e., dentists) have had to learn English in school, so there isn't much of a language barrier. Of course, if you can explain what you want in Spanish, then that makes it a lot easier.

Some quick observations:
(1) They desperately need to build some roads. Enough of this running the grader over it once every leap year. If the Romans and the Aztecs and the Mayans could build roads, so can modern day Mexicans.
(2) There is much more class consciousness there, with various Indian tribes at the bottom of the heap.
(3) The upper class live very well, behind high walls that keep the riff-raff out of view.
(4) Nationalized petroleum production is great for the consumer.
(5) Drug prices set by the federal government are great for the consumer.
(6) Electric rates set by the federal government are NOT great for the consumer.
(7) When an election gets stolen, the rightful winner should not just melt away. He should make the usurper's life difficult. That's a lesson that Americans need to learn.

I considered having some of my dental work done by their dentists down there when I was down there. Hell he was MY dentist until I moved to the states, and he is damn good.

They even have computers you know... and electricity.

No seriously I know you don't mean it in a bad way, but after my dad fell here and broke his hip... the therapists was actually surprised that damn it there WERE Physical Therapists down there. And we took his X-Rays home in digital form... again I was asked, they have computers down there?

one of the best American doctors here I've ever been treated by went to medical school in
Mexico. And at the time, my husband and I trying to study some info re living in Mexico.

Part of the problem in leaving the states is trying to figure out where US foreign policy is
going to hit you --- so many nations have been victimized by us.

Mexico is now funding our debt while their citizens still go without jobs ---
Who does that benefit but the US?

hell, been considering writing a novel about the US defeat in 1848 to Santa Ana... of course NOT meant for the US Market

But Chicago school is alive and well down there.

Oh and my bro ended up at the Cleveland Clinic via Toronto Gen, after his medical school at the UNAM

:-)

Hell, I helped establish the paramedic program in Tijuana, my gift to mexico as it were... them boys are now using palm pilots for reports

I still remember the good ol days when we barely had bandages and I provided the ALS care... with my own money

meanwhile . . . uh oh . . .

But Chicago school is alive and well down there.

He claimed to have seen a billboard advertising "Cheapest Lasik surgery in town", and noted that when he is being led around by a German shepherd he can tell people "I saved a ton of money on my Lasik!"

I've got a great dentist whom I have been seeing for a decade, and I don't really want to compromise on this.

The motto should be "You can get better care elsewhere, but you can't pay more for it."

After having dental work done in 3 countries, I can definitely say that the foreigners fixed up what the American charged three times as much for.

Smiling all the way from Mexico

Facing huge dental bills, Del. couple head south for treatment

By ANDREW OSTROSKI • The (Salisbury, Md.) Daily Times • March 24, 2008

BETHANY BEACH -- It's called dental tourism. Americans in need of
extensive dental care sometimes travel to countries where the
dentists' fees are lower and recovery means lying on the beach.

Last year, Bill and Rosemary Carroll of Bethany Beach found their
smiles again in Tijuana, Mexico. In 2005, both needed procedures
costing some $150,000.

"I got up shakily from the chair, paid the bill for the day's visit
and made my way home to break the news to my husband," Rosemary
Carroll recalled.

The Carrolls' dentist recommended extraction of teeth and dentures for
Rosemary. However, dentures were not an option for her because of a
history of oral cancer in her family.

The Carrolls began looking for another solution. They sought proposals
from dentists across the country. The best offer they found in the
United States was $85,000 from a dentist in Brooklyn, N.Y., which was
still, Rosemary Carroll said, "well beyond our means."

~snip~

The couple both came through surgery well, although they have an
appointment to return to Mexico in August to have their procedures
finished.

The cost: $16,500, or about 11 percent of the quoted price in Delaware.
Glad they had work done

~snip~

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200803240345/NEWS/80324\
0341

pays fifty percent on crowns, I ain't gettin' them. As for the root canal... I passed the pain stage a long time ago. If it blows up, I'll get antibiotics and pray that it doesn't blow up again for another year or so.

Ten years ago, crowns were $400 and three years before that they were $325.

I'd love to know what the justification is for the seriously high prices on crowns when the method of making them hasn't changed in twenty years.

BTW, just had two of my son's cavities fille for $408. It is now $204 per cavity filled.

No wonder dentists are leading indicators of bad times coming. They want paid up front and charge outrageous prices.

On the other hand, my sister, in another part of the country, paid less to have a tooth implant than I pay for a root canal and crown.

A friend of mine got a root canal done in Mexico (same dentist I used) and it cost him $300. Most antibiotics are over-the-counter in Mexico and the federal government sets the prices that pharmacies can charge. Ten bucks will buy you a huge bottle of Keflex.

for less than it would cost here to do one...

arrived the morning after -- !!!

and she told me last week that they have had numerous cancellations. she attributes it to this rotten economy.

I got a letter from my dentist's office yesterday saying that after June 15, they won't be accepting the dental insurance my company offers anymore. I'll be speaking to my human resources department tomorrow. I'll sure I'll be able to find another dentist, but I don't think they should be allowed to do this in the middle of the year, when patients are locked into whatever they signed up for at the end of the previous year. I'll be calling his office, too, and ask exactly why they aren't taking Metlife anymore, and report that to HR. PCIntern, are you having any problems with Metlife? I hate to change because he's a great dentist, and I love his hygienist, but since I have dental deducted from my paycheck each week, I'm not about to pay out of network on top of that. Because of this, he just lost my parents as patients, too, and my dad has to have his teeth cleaned every three months. Strangely, at least to me, his office is in a well-off part of town.

Don't scare us only half to death; are corporations truly supporting other countries' economies and letting the US rot, then laughing about it in forbes magazine?

:tinfoilhat:

But we already have had offices overseas for years prior. There is only so much you can outsource in retail though, so I don't think retail will be seeing much outsourcing. A lot of our IT work is outsourced, but that's the only major thing I am aware of that is outsourced.

Rimshot.

But seriously, interesting post.

120 miles outside of L.A. Hotels/Motels and private rentals also had a near record winter.

Just sayin'.

Those people are choosing to stay close instead of going to Mammoth. It is also the best snow pack in the San Bernardino's in twenty years or so..

To me, that makes it hard to accept the doom and gloom predictions I hear from peeps.

If I see your sis and bro-in-law on Big Bear Blvd, I'll give 'em a wave and invite 'em to lunch!

It's kind of a wonder how it seems so much better up there then

they have had some good snow in a long time. I agree with the person who says it's not affecting everyone yet. Those who are barely making it check to check are in real trouble now and those of us who have a savings are slowly making changes but still buying and planning trips(but the college funds for the kids are not growing or the retirement funds). The big problem is it is not even touching those in charge of our government (those who are profiting from our #2 capitalistic country position in the world). As for dentist bills they tried to charge me for x-rays that didn't even turn out! Luckily, I overheard them talking about and when the bill came caught it! We have never had dental coverage and pay everything and are starting to decrease our visits and refuse x-rays. For the cat lovers out there one of the perks of homeschooling my 14 yr son this year is that he loves animals and has tamed at least 4 wild cats that hang around our house (and is working on two more but don't tell my husband)that we have gotten fixed and now feed.

are doing OK. Ordinary people are hurting. Wages have not risen. That's one of the problems. American working people including the kinds of people who buy at stores like Target and Kohl's and Sears are hurting. The people who buy at Nordstroms, Sachs and I. Magnin are still buying. And that's the socio-economic class that the winter sports enthusiasts belong to generally. There are exceptions, but generally you need to have a little discretionary money to go on cruises or do winter sports.

In the past, airlines would declare bankruptcy but continue to operate while the process ran its course. In this week alone, we've had THREE airlines--Aloha, ATA and (overnight last night) Skybus--just completely shut down. No flights, no recourse for customers with reservations, nada.

Something very ominous is going on.

Since January 1, 2008:

Already Gone:
Big Sky Airlines
Boston-Maine
Aloha
ATA
Skybus

Announced Intention of Going:
Skyway (April 5)
Champion Air (May 31)
Air Midwest (As soon as Great Lakes' gets enough airplanes to relieve of EAS responsibilities)
Info from: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/3919680/


This is unprecedented.

this country is going to hell in a handbasket FAST

I only have one channel now so it's unusual to see the hearings ---
but there was a hearing the other day on airline inspections ---
Unfortunately, I couldn't pay a lot of attention ---
but looks like deep, deep corruption.

That's the reason those companies are calling it a day. Yes, something terrible is going on. The government is hoping that the $1,200 it is handing out will blind us from the obvious. Also, we may be going to war with Iran. It looks like something is being set up. That will worsen the economic crisis. In fact, a war with Iran could end American dominance in the world. I hate to think what would happen next. I suspect Europe will take the lead. I just hope we don't end up being dominated by the Chinese.

JDPriestly

If this is true, then US are into some big economic problems. I don't know, but it looks like something is fundamental wrong in the economy.. And I am afraid it would spell over to other country's too.. As it happened in 1929... I had grandparents, and a foster father who was old enough to remember the hard 1930s. And that was something that fundamentally was scaring my from making to bad economical decision.. It was indeed hard times for the ordinary to poor people.. And it would be hard today to, because we are "used" to all this goods we have today. In the 1920-1930s the radio was the big thing..Today I would not be surprised to se that we "can't" survive without our PCs and all the other gadget who have been here around for the last 15 year...
Better to use your common sense, and stockpile food and other necessity I guess.. Plus be sure to know how to gardner.. And if everything broke down, know where you want to take your family out of the city's and make preparations for tent's, and then a Small cabin in the woods.. Maybe not that romantic as believed, but safer...

Well, if US was to end their dominance in the world, as a super power I hope our friendship would be good, and that we together can work for a better goal?. I for one would like to have US as a partner, a friend and not as the school bully it have been acted the last 8 year... ¨

On the other and it would be difficult to take the lead. In comparison to US, the interest of the different european country are like it is in the single unity that United States of America are today.. And it would be difficult to replace US as our allied with the big stick.. But I guess we would survive somehow, because we have to. And europe have existed some hundreds of year before the US was raising to the stars...

Diclotcian

Sorry my bad english, not my native language

Gardening is an important skill. But you have to have water to garden. There are many parts of the U.S. in which just getting water involves a complex infrastructure. That is why the first thing we need to do is to build social networks in our communities. That is what we will have to rely on should we experience difficult economic times.

no matter what the shortages or challenges, it comes down to social networks.

We think we have communities here in the US. But actually they are not very strong. Everyone only thinks of how to make their own house into a bunker, not how to form the social networks that are necessary in hard economic times.

those stimulus checks hit the streets, that'll fix everything.:sarcasm: :rofl:

Things would have been even worse in Jan-Feb if it wasn't for tax refund checks. Of course, that was only good for a brief delay. The tax rebate checks will only cause another brief delay.... and there is nothing else coming after those checks.

It's still something to start with, and move onward and upward from there.

Sorry to sound less than pessimistic. It's a new hobby of mine.

:shrug:

are not pessimistic, and a hobby I should probably try. I just feel so beaten down that its hard for me to get excited about too much, economically, that is. I just got my home out of foreclosure and it really took a big toll on me and my family. We were within one week of our home being sold when a deal was made, we got lucky, but many millions haven't, and my heart goes out to them.

CONGRATULATIONS! All good things to you and your family! :hug:

so very much Karenina, I'll fill you in shortly!!:hug:

:hug:

"...millions haven't..."

and thanks for the reminder!!:cry: :hug:

I am so glad dajoki!
:woohoo: :applause:
I'm sitting here with a big grin on my face!

for your kind words and support. I got lucky, but as Two Americas reminded me, millions haven't. And the fight is not over!!:hug:

and yes it was, the day after I was notified that my home would not be sold, I ended up in the hospital. I have some medical problems, but I think the stress just knocked me out.:pals:

so please post any comments here and I will be happy to answer them, thanks again!!:grouphug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3105857&mesg_id=3105857

talk about a vicious circle, HA!

just to send them out --- ???