How is everyone doing? (14 Viewers)

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Just head towards my place and we'll go from here, I really haven't thought much past whisky and fire so I have those two bases covered and we will have to figure the rest as we go.

You're gonna need some coffee and bacon too!
 
You're gonna need some coffee and bacon too!
Not coffee...
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Just home from our big summer trip
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Saw some great sights, lifetime memories with the kids.
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Lots of catching up to do now.
 
Headed to Dubai tonight and hopefully on to Saudi on Wednesday. It's been a nice break but time to get back to the day job, full time. Took two Covid 19 tests this week; both negative. Have to take another one in Dubai before they will let me fly to Riyadh. Just one more adventure.

I hope everyone stays safe. I'm hoping to get back stateside in December. :cheers:
 
Headed to Dubai tonight and hopefully on to Saudi on Wednesday. It's been a nice break but time to get back to the day job, full time. Took two Covid 19 tests this week; both negative. Have to take another one in Dubai before they will let me fly to Riyadh. Just one more adventure.

I hope everyone stays safe. I'm hoping to get back stateside in December. :cheers:
Godspeed my friend!!!
 
Yeah, head on a swivel. So, this is the last trip over and done?

No unfortunately. Probably work another 2 years. Have to pay for this retirement home somehow!
 
That’s the saying, but I’ve seen reports that state that 45% of people interviewed in some states (Oklahoma, Indiana) say they can’t make the August rent (this was a month ago). 40% across New Jersey.

In another nationwide survey, (U.S. Census Household Pulse), for responses collected July 9 through July 14, 26.5 percent of U.S. adults either missed last month’s rent or have slight or no confidence that they can make their next rent payment on time. In addition, 51.1 percent of adults across the country live in households that have experienced a loss in employment income, and 35.2 percent expect to experience a loss of employment income.

If people can’t pay rent, and maybe can’t pay to keep the heat on this winter, things could get a bit dangerous.

I don’t want to get political on mud, but as Bob Marley said, “A hungry man is an angry man.”

If I armor the pig, does that count against the “5,000 budget”?

So yes, silver, gold, guns, ammo....
More appropriate thread here👇

I’ve seen a lot of conflicting info as far as statistics of unemployment etc...
Gauging from what I see around me, not much has changed where I’m at. Nothing compared to where AZ was in 2009. At that time, probably 30% of every person I knew lost their house, I was nearly one of them. This forced propaganda we’re dealing with here is directly a result of governors and mayors choosing to “shut down” on account of a virus. I was half expecting corpses to dig themselves out of their graves to come hunt me down for my brains, but so far that’s been a let down.
 
So yes, silver, gold, guns, ammo....
More appropriate thread here👇

I’ve seen a lot of conflicting info as far as statistics of unemployment etc...
Gauging from what I see around me, not much has changed where I’m at. Nothing compared to where AZ was in 2009. At that time, probably 30% of every person I knew lost their house, I was nearly one of them. This forced propaganda we’re dealing with here is directly a result of governors and mayors choosing to “shut down” on account of a virus. I was half expecting corpses to dig themselves out of their graves to come hunt me down for my brains, but so far that’s been a let down.

AZ gov just extended the “no eviction order” through October.


And although New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has issued an indefinite moratorium on evictions, and the housing courts have suspended trials, landlords have still filed more than 15,000 eviction cases in April - June in New Jersey alone.

Maybe it’s people choosing to no pay their rent. Maybe it isn’t. I don’t know. I know 15,000 cases is a huge backlog.

The recession you mention actually started in 2007. Arizona got hit harder than basically every other state except Nevada. At the end of 2007, there were more than 210,000 people working in construction in Arizona. By February 2011, there were less than 110,000. At the end of 2016 there were 132,000. Thats 8 years of bad times In the construction industry in AZ.

Pictorially it looked like this
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Right now, jobs are fully recovered for the highest wage earners, but fewer than half the jobs lost this spring have returned for those making less than $20 an hour.

If you own a home, or even a FJ55, it probably isn’t affecting you much. That doesn’t mean nobody is affected, and it doesn’t mean it’s “over”.

BTW, the whole point of the shutdown is to keep healthcare from entering systemic overload (and failure), and to have some chance of those employed in “essential services” able to show up to work.

Most people talk about police, fire fighters, healthcare, teachers and grocery workers as essential. But who here has ever worked in a sanitation treatment plant, worked down a manhole in a sewer or had anything to do with a municipal water supply? Or worked for a power company? Or driven a truck for a living?

So Bigger Picture. Maybe?

“The virus” itself will “only” kill 0.5-3.0%, unless we collapse the healthcare system. Most of the dead will be older folks. Start to overload healthcare with a communicable disease and doctors, nurses and a whole slew of people either can’t or won’t show up to work. This makes the ability to receive treatment for anything (Covid, flu, accidents, heart attacks, delivering babies, etc) much more difficult. It also makes it more difficult to fight fires, catch criminals, and run other infrastructure such as sewage treatment plants and municipal water supplies.

The real problems start if the infrastructure starts to fail, because people in those industries can’t or won’t show up to work.

Nobody lives very long without potable water. You can’t boil it without sufficient fuel, and most people have little idea how to otherwise deal with it.

You need power to run all that, too.

And nearly all our food is shipped by truck.

And you can’t run those “essential services” with unskilled workers. We’ve also all seen what panic buying will do to a supply chain. (Toilet paper, ammo, Lysol, bottled water during a weather event, ...)
 
Made it back to the magic Kingdom a few days ago. Two negative covid 19 tests in the US got me into Dubai. I then needed another test, special permission from the government and a charter flight to get to Riyadh. Wife couldn't come with me but at least I was able to get our two dogs back. They had been with a very nice Saudi couple that boards small dogs for the last 5 months. Very happy to see them.

Not going to get into a protracted discussion on the economy but my impression is that people with money have been spending it during this lockdown. We bought a house a couple of months back and it has been difficult to get any kind of skilled labor as everyone is so busy. Appreciate greatly that likely varies widely across the country but it's not all bad everywhere.
 
my impression is that people with money have been spending it during this lockdown.

Yup, even in the cottage industry around rebuilding landcruisers.

Spoke to Luke at 4x4 labs a couple days ago. His backlog has grown from 12 to 16 weeks for built bumpers.

VintageTeqParts says he is super busy.

John Russo at SLOCRUISERS is semi-constantly sold-out due to a combination of higher demand and supply chain issues.

The guys at Classic Cruisers say they’re real busy too.

Even the local Austin landcruiser shop is full (bays and yard).
 
My work is ahsenshall because our engineering firm works mostly for the power company. I dont know if it was a coincidence or cause and effect, but we got busier starting in April. I'm lucky enough to work from home, same with my wife. We actually had some things go our way this year and got completely out of debt in July. Now we are socking half a Pig build a month to buy a house when the market gets more realistic.

This was not like 2008 for me. That was a bad time to be a surveyor.
 
Congrats on being out of debt. Some people argue having some debt is good. I love the feeling of not owing anyone anything, other than taxes, etc. With all the people leaving Ca. shouldn't housing costs be coming down soon.
 
Congrats on being out of debt. Some people argue having some debt is good. I love the feeling of not owing anyone anything, other than taxes, etc. With all the people leaving Ca. shouldn't housing costs be coming down soon.
There are still more people coming into CA. Just that the people leaving are really vocal about it. There is low inventory and in San Diego prices are actually growing faster than the Bay Area. It will take a while for the down payment so the prices today dont mean much to me.
 
Congrats on being out of debt. Some people argue having some debt is good. I love the feeling of not owing anyone anything, other than taxes, etc. With all the people leaving Ca. shouldn't housing costs be coming down soon.

“Coming down” is relative in markets like southern CA. The full price for the house my daughter and family are very comfortable in Grand Junction might have made a down payment for a similar one in Ocean Beach, where they rented for 10 years. Monthly PITI is hundreds less than their rent.
I do miss having a good excuse to visit OB several times a year, especially in winter. And the calamari at the Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill.
 
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