[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('creg', 'I') have talked to my 3 neighbors,late 70's&mid 90's about the depression.They were agarian so they had basics. The thing they remember most was NO money.

[Ancien_Opus]

My mother was born in 1930 and lived on a 40 acre farm in Southern Illinois.

Shoes where always in short supply and for many years they simply did without them. My wife was amazed once when we she sent me to Grandma's with the kids and they all came home with brand new shoes. It was something my mother was extremely sensitive to for the remainder of her life.

The work on my mothers 40 acre family farm was endless. Chickens, sheep, coon dogs and 4 acres of garden required attention daily. There was a never ending to the fence mending, weeding, butchering, canning and gardening. All the tools where hand operated such as shelling & cracking the corn for the chickens. The sharpening stone was a large grinding wheel you peddled up to get enough inertial energy to sharpen knifes or cutting blades. Because sugar was in short supply they substituted honey from bee hives.

The smell of lanolin at sheep shearing time, culling the young rams from the young ewe's, along with tail lopping are things I'll never forget. I still have a taste for lamb burger every now and again.

Food and barter was a big deal for my mother's depression era generation.

Regards,

[Gil-Galad]

The farm life you describe was how many people lived, in Europe as well as the US, before the modern age with affordable transport and factory jobs.

Many people still live like this in what we term the third world. People in the US and Europe will have to live like this in the future. We/they will have to get used to limited health care, education and communication.

[threadbear]

Ancien Opus, Thanks for posting that--really interesting. Just as an aside, I'm unable to throw shoes or boots away, even if they're 20 years old and don't fit. I'm anti pack rat and not a shopper, but for the life of me, I can't bring myself to throw shoes out. Hmmm. Memories of other incarnations?

BTW, If your mother and her siblings didn't have shoes, what did they wear on their feet? Southern Illinois is plenty cold in the winter. I have a vision of all these little kids with newspaper wrapped around their feet, held together with twine, tramping through the snow, getting soggy.

[mortifiedpenguin]

edited by MQ to give proper credit to post

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JohnDenver', 'I') have come to the conclusion that peak oil is a non-event, which has no significant impact on my daily life.

Oil is up by about 600% since the late 90s. So where's all those scary peak oil effects? You know, the knock-on effects caused by the end of cheap oil.

[JustinFrankl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mortifiedpenguin', 'G')oodbye.

[Ludi]

I guess mortified penguin hasn't noticed the fact that Americans now have a negative savings rate, that some people have to pawn their possessions to buy gasoline, and that the gap between the rich and poor is growing. Oh, and a major American city is still in ruins a year after a natural disaster...

"Everything is fine."

[threadbear]

Mortified, I agree to a point, but draw your attention to the fact that people are only "keeping up appearances" by taking on more and more debt. You may be seeing the same number of cars on the road, but you aren't likely seeing as many new models.

I'll go out on a limb and make a prediction. You'll either be back when Israel bombs Iran and the straits of Hormuz go into lockdown. Or you'll be back after the fed cuts interest rates to forestall a real estate crack up crash and your dollar spirals downward out of control.

Anyway," hello, I must be leaving." Heard it first in a Marx bros. movie and on this board several times.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JustinFrankl', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mortifiedpenguin', 'G')oodbye.

[DantesPeak]

The US economy is doing well these last few years by securing additional energy directly by increased oil/gasoline imports and indirectly by buying more foreign products in general.

PO is somewhat of an ironic concept because Peak is also the best of times - especially in a country like the US with ability to buy imports on credit.

In the US, these good times are dependent on a strong dollar being able to buy ever greater quantities of energy directly and indirectly (as noted above). Ever greater because US oil/natural gas production is past peak.

So the question of when the depression will come to the US is also a question of just how long the US can continue to buy ever greater amounts of energy as we past PO with US dollars.

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '.')...
I'll go out on a limb and make a prediction. You'll either be back when Israel bombs Iran and the straits of Hormuz go into lockdown. Or you'll be back after the fed cuts interest rates to forestall a real estate crack up crash and your dollar spirals downward out of control.
....

[BigTex]

The U.S. and Chinese economies are like gas guzzling sports cars that have awesome acceleration...right up until they run out of gas and then they come to a complete stop. So yeah, right now we are seeing awesome displays of acceleration and performance, but what's fueling this display of power? Same thing that has fueled all industrialization--cheap oil. $72 a barrel is still pretty cheap compared to where it is going.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mortifiedpenguin', 'I') have come to the conclusion that peak oil is a non-event...I'll start worrying when something worth worrying about actually happens.

Goodbye.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', ' ') Oh, and a major American city is still in ruins a year after a natural disaster...

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mortifiedpenguin', 'I') have come to the conclusion that peak oil is a non-event...I'll start worrying when something worth worrying about actually happens.

Goodbye.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', ' ') Oh, and a major American city is still in ruins a year after a natural disaster...

[Kfish]

A little OT, and yet ...

In case you're still wondering, threadbear, a friend's father told how he kept his bare feet warm as a child bringing cows in for milking before dawn: warm, fresh cow pats. If you're nimble, you can jump from one to the next as the previous one cools down.

His wife, a high-society socialite, interrupted the conversation at this point.

[drew]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '
')No, I'm suggesting the resources for clean up (not even rebuilding, just clean up) are apparently not available, in spite of everything being just fine according to mortified penguin.

[rwwff]

51/49 black vs white.
higher bias towards older people.

I think it had a lot more to do with poor than black.

Choosing to live below sea level might of had something to do with it as well.

[Denny]

Assuming we will seeing a wave of bankruptcies, this article makes me wonder if even failure is coming in two "flavors" in America, one for the rich and one for the poor:

From New York Times:

n Delaware, Privacy for Big Paychecks

Bankruptcy court is supposed to be a place where facts remain out in the open. But that seems to be changing in Delaware, one of the largest homes for corporate bankruptcy cases.

The Werner Company, a maker of ladders, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in June; its bankruptcy is being overseen by Judge Kevin J. Carey of United States bankruptcy court in Delaware.

Earlier this month, Judge Carey agreed to seal documents detailing bonuses that will be paid to nine Werner executives. The move came after company lawyers argued that the pay disclosures “may create low morale and an unhealthy work environment” at Werner. The judge also shut out the public from the Aug. 17 hearing on the pay.

Call me old fashioned, but why are executives pocketing any bonuses from a comnpany they have piloted into bankruptcy?

The courts have found no problem rolling back worker wages and even retirees pensions in bankruptcy cases, but this judge is so coddling when it comes to executive bonuses.

I am wondering if and when a serious depression happens, if it won't lead to some form of revolution if the burden is all born by workers while the bosses party on. Judges are supposed to be above this and favor neither rich nor poor.