You can’t get blood out of a stone

Discussion in 'Economics' started by mr double, Jul 7, 2012.

  1. When I was a kid back in the 1950’s, most women didn’t work. Americans maintained their standard of living by putting a second person to work. When that was expended they made up the difference by going into debt and, eventually, they used their homes as cash machines. Now student loans total more than $1 trillion. I just don’t see where the consumer demand is going to come from going forward. You can’t get blood out of a stone....

    I think living standards of most people in the world, particularly in the West are going to decline precipitously. The Federal Reserve recently reported that the net worth of the median American family has fallen nearly 40% since 2007 after adjusting for inflation. Before this all plays out, I think the percentages are going to be far larger.....
    http://www.financialsense.com/contr...bry-on-gold-silver-currencies-and-commodities
     
  2. those were the days my friend, and out in the suburbs where I lived, it was a big deal when one of the fathers would buy a new car and let his wife have the old one, then she could drive the kids around during the day and you didn't have to wait for the father to come home from work.
     
  3. like the man said, "One man use to be able to support a family, now it takes two incomes just to raise a couple of kids. If things keep going this way, pretty soon, it will take a village to raise a child."
     
  4. women didn't work unless their husband died. The only friend I ever had whose mom worked was a kid whose dad was a college professor and his mom was a school teacher. And then they went to Europe each summer.

    He came back one fall with a 45 rpm and said, "You gotta listen to this guy.!"

    It was a 45 rpm of Jimi Hendrix. (I think the other one was from a group called The Small Faces.) not my style, but they had this kid singing for them named Rod Stewart.
     
  5. like in this story:
    The Turnip
    Russian folk tale


    An old man planted a turnip. The turnip grew to be enormous. The old man started to pull the turnip out of the ground. He pulled and pulled, but couldn't pull it out. So he called the old woman over.

    The old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip, they pulled and pulled, but couldn't pull it out. So the old woman called the granddaughter over.

    The granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip, they pulled and pulled, but couldn't pull it out. So the granddaughter called the dog over.

    The dog took hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip, they pulled and pulled, but couldn't pull it out. So the dog called the cat over.

    The cat took hold of the dog, the dog took hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip, they pulled and pulled, but couldn't pull it out. So the cat called the mouse over.

    The mouse took hold of the cat, the cat took hold of the dog, the dog took hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, the old man took hold of the turnip, they pulled and pulled--and finally pulled out the turnip!


    --In Russian, the name "Zhuckha" is used in place of "dog." Also, the translation loses all the the lyricism of this little tale. In Russian, the similar words repeated patterns combined to make a rhythm that is almost a tongue-twister! Transliterated, the last line of the tale sounds like this:

    Myshka za koshku, koshka za Zhuchku, Zhuchka za vnuchku, vnuchka za babku, babka za dedku, dedka za repku, tyanut-potyanut--vytyanuli repku!
     
  6. yeah I saw the TV show, it was in black and white. The first week you could go to the store and get a little peanut butter in a mouse jar. Then once you ate that and washed it out, you could get a little bigger jar in the shape of a cat which the mouse jar fit inside of. We had them all until they came out with the "Old Man" jar, and my mom sad, "This is ridiculous, I'm not paying 79 cents for a jar of peanut butter."

    Too bad, cause last time I was at the second hand store, I saw a complete set going for $200.
     
  7. mong12

    mong12

    So more or less a 61.8% retracement of the highs in an uptrend... I'll buy that!!!
     
  8. Bob111

    Bob111

  9. net worth? You must be joking. What American family do you know has a positive net worth? Might have been true when the house they were constantly refinancing was appraised at twice (or more) the value they could sell it for today.

    Add to that student loans, the car payment, and what they owe on their credit card for all the crap they bought at walmart, and I doubt very many have a positive net worth.

    You could check it out in divorce court when the bitch claims she wants half of everything he's got, only to find out her debts and his debts put them both in the hole.

    I doubt there are very many Americans that actually have positive net worth.
     

  10. Does the story come with a good turnip soup recipe?

    Big turnip = lots of turnip soup.

    Gawd, I love a good turnip soup.
     
    #10     Jul 8, 2012