It's Been a While

For all my loyal followers out there I want to apologize to both of you for not posting in a while. This new venture I'm involved in is taking up way too much of my blogging time. Hopefully I'll be able to get back at the blogging on a more regular basis soon.

In the meantime I really don't have any real updates to post, just a comment or two.

I am really ticked off at the politicians and the inane antics they are doing about saving this industry and that industry. I really feel it's a lot to do about nothing, as that's really what the end result will be.... Nothing! Our economy and the two biggest segments of it, auto and home building, are driven by consumer spending. If there's no spending, no buying, then nothing Congress can do will pull them out of the tailspin they are in. And right now the consumers in America have closed their wallets. They are spending only for the necessities and aren't buying the big ticket items. So builders and auto makers, and the ancillary industries that support them are all going to feel a big pinch for a while.

It won't matter how much the media and Wall Street and the politicians talk about hitting bottom and that things are now coming back. The consumer won't start spending again until they are confident their jobs and income are back on steady ground. And that's not going to happen for months yet. The layoffs and downsizing really has just gotten into full swing right now. I hardly know of any working family that hasn't been affected already or are very worried about their jobs. And as much as I hate to say it.... it's going to get worse before it gets better.

But, all is not gloom and doom. As in any situation there are opportunities that arise in times like these. And there are still a lot of folks employed. What's going to happen now is consumers will come down from the crazy spending spree that they've been on for the last decade or so and will get back to the basics. Who knows, maybe a few more conversations will be had at the dinner table, maybe a book will be read, maybe someone will volunteer at a charity? Stranger things have happened.

On a side note, a couple of sites I like to read have been saying there are a couple of big earthquakes coming in the next few days. They say they should hit around Dec 10 -15 with some major damage from them. They don't give the locations but say that they'll be generally opposite the globe from each other. So if one is in China, then the other will be on the opposite side of globe in, say the US. It's going to be interesting to see how accurate they are in their predictions. They claim that they have accurately predicted earthquakes and other physical occurrences in the past. Let's see how good they are on this one.