What Economic Recovery?

[sayntbrigid]

Just typing this, upsets me, but I'm going to go ahead and say it. We now live in a global situation. It is no longer the case that we compete for jobs only with our fellow Americans, (or whatever country you live in) but with a whole world of people who are just trying to earn a living. We have to compete with people who still pay 5 cents for a loaf of bread. We have to compete with people that can live comfortablly on a couple dollars a day. The way I see it, thats the bottom line, thats where we have to start. (an unimaginable task..lets see, medical bills, insurance companies, utilities....I'm going to stop here...but you can see where this goes..) I feel hopeless sometimes

[Iris]

Wonder where you can move to, to afford to pay rent or mortgage. I love CA but when my husband cannot work any longer (he is several years older than I), then we will be on a fixed income and I do not know where we can move that is close to shopping/medical, low crime etc. and still be able to pay rent. It is crazy here. Sherrif deputys have had to move as they could not afford housing.

I have a friend who moved to New Mexico on a small fixed income and she's very happy there. There are lots of places in many states, but you need to get out away from the big cities. You can go on line and look up real estate markets, crime rates, etc. anywhere. I used to know a good URL for that, but sadly I lost it. Snoop around and I'll bet you'll learn a lot, and good luck to you, hon.

[Iris]

Iris -- talk to some 20-30 yr olds - not going to find many who want to "work" physical labor type stuff. They all seem to want office jobs. (That from talking to many of these younger people.)

Nonsense. I worked at Boeing, remember? There were a LOT of folks of all ages with physical jobs there. Plus, I have a 33 y.o. son I talk to daily. The guy I sold my house to is a good friend of my son's. He was my son's lead in IT. He quit IT and went into carpentry when he saw which way the wind was blowing. Another friend of mine who did what I did at Boeing was getting laid off at the same time as me, and was starting a landscape business. The mechanic that came over to look at my car a couple of days ago was in that age bracket. There are PLENTY of Americans who will work in physical jobs. Methinks you've been listening to too much right wing radio.

(BTW I am for closing boards - I have spoken out vehemently against illegals!)

Why do you think that Bush says we're in a war against terror, and then as much as invites every Mexican to come here (and any terrorists that want to come with the crowd), leaves our borders way too open for all this time, and doesn't even put good guards around our nuclear facilities and chemical plants?

WHY - because of the bankruptcy problems that have gone on,

Huh?

[Lord Moon]

It's not going to be a very good place to live when your old, in fact I think it would be an absolute nightmare....

Hundreds of thousands of gang members, freeway shootings.... California is the worst of the worst, and look at our legislature, they seem more focused on getting California ready for the reconqista....turning California and New Mexico, and Arizona into the independent country of Azatlan which they want to seeceed from the good old USA.........than in solving California's problems.......

I say we should start a group called America, for American's.....but if we did we would be branded as racist...I guess since we'll never see anthing the equivalent of Affirmative action in Mexico, that it only goes one way...?

[Iris]

I remember the California where I grew up. It was a lovely, pristine place with decent people, at least in my little neck of the woods, first in La Jolla, and later in Rancho Santa Fe.

We didn't bother to lock our doors, and when Mom sent us out to play she didn't worry about where we were or what we were doing, only that we be home at dinner time and let her know if we were going to walk to the beach. We'd never heard of a "drug problem" and there wasn't any smog. We did have to "assume the position" under our school desks for air raid drills, in fear of the Russians, and a few folks built bomb shelters, but looking back that whole time seems so innocent.

Then came more -- more people, more houses, more traffic, more price hikes, and with the war on drugs more and more gangs, more illegal immigration, etc. I left CA when I turned 19. My dad was surprised years later to find out that some of the houses he'd built and that we'd lived in were valued at over a half million dollars. I miss what was, but I don't miss what is. Thomas Wolfe said it, "You Can't Go Home Again."

[Lord Moon]

the one I know is frightening....

[Devastated]

Move to Mexico? In some places, once you learn Spanish and are "welcomed," you can still live on a few hundred a month. No Guccis.

[Iris]

You know, Dev, I was seriously thinking about that a while back. I gave up on it for two reasons, 1) I wanna be near my son and 2) you can take your pet parrots down there, but you'll never get 'em back in the states. I chatted with some folks on the web about that and there were a number of horror stories. Seems the Mex authorities were very cooperative, but the American authorities wouldn't even return calls and would go weeks without answering folks... were just as unhelpful as they could be. Has to do with the CITES list. Not important to anyone else here, probably, and there's not that problem with dogs and cats, as they're not on the CITES list.

I'd looked into some community down there though, that sounded very good. I can't remember the name of it now (darn) as that was a few years back. But there were a lot of Americans and Canadians living together there, all helping each other out with understanding the local laws, where to get things, and so on, and having a darned good time together. Looked like a great place (if one doesn't mind a few rattlers, scorpions, etc.) and the prices on things were fantastic.

I'll bet a lot of folks here would love to hear more about the realities of living down there, and I know I'd find it interesting if you care to share. Were you fluent in Spanish when you went down there? Did you run into a lot of... er... learning experiences? What do you love about it? What do you not love about it?

[Cherry Kelly]

Iris -- nah not right wing radio -- I have been talking to a LOT of people all across the USA. They've all said about the same thing. WHY -- I don't know. Yes you will find sections and areas where younger group are quite willing to do the more physical type labor jobs, but by far they are more interested in doing desk jobs or less physical type work. Many of the people that I chat with on a daily basis are from all over the USA. Some of them have noticed the same thigs in their work areas. Maybe its just a trend and probably depends a lot on where you live.

= = =
Dev - and all -- I have a copy of AARP magazine that talked about living in Mexico and less expensive life. Seems you can get into places - have to be so many miles from ocean - and live in some pretty nice places. Then on TV there was a half hour segment on the growing retirement villages that WERE near the ocean - they had some 25-30 yr "leases" that were quite cheap. (compared to USA prices)
===
I truly hate to THINK about retirement in the USA -- due to the fact that many areas keep raising taxes on property - and there are very few places that caps for seniors on tax hikes. One couple said their modest home - was assessed every year over past three years and had quadrupled in taxes. They are retired and cannot afford it...

[Devastated]

I will start a thread in the global section where you guys can ask me questions. No I was not fluent in Spanish when I came down here, but was fluent within a year. Many foreign residents just don't bother to learn, a la in the US. Megman, on the other hand, can barely get around in a taxi. It depends on what you want.

[Lord Moon]

Soon UAL goes out on strike, Bush orders them back to work and gets a federal injunction.... realizing that their pension fund is history, thousands refuse and are fired.....

Next Delta, GM, Ford.. all line up for bankrupcy so they can dump their pensions as well, which causes the federal pension fund guarantee corp to increase insurance premiums to keep it from colapsing...

This causes the stock market to go into free fall, by about October, as money flees from the market into real estate....

But when the medium price of a home in California reaches 575,000 to 600,000 the housing bubble will burst, sinking the dollar and causing the EURO to become the currency of the world,
China demands payment on interest in commodities instead of now worthless dollars.....as grain from the grain belt is shippted to the PRC... starvation begins to grip America