Thursday June 26, 2008, 2:47 am
Since I am perennially poor, the biggest impact recession has on my lifestyle is eating more pasta to compensate for higher food and gas prices. But there is humor and truth in this short but sweet article.

Thursday June 26, 2008, 3:22 am
And, aren't there baby booms in recession....(not that I'm trying THAT!!) I think I'd rather share your pasta, Cate! :))

Thursday June 26, 2008, 3:45 am
Great article Cate. We can all find ways to battle this recession (again!). But many have been tightening up their belts for so long, there's nothing left to tighten, and still they struggle.

Thursday June 26, 2008, 3:46 am
Oh let's not forget who was in the white house at that time:)
Who was the president of the US in 1975? Gerald Ford
Noted with thanks Cate
I used to eat lettuce with miracle whip:)
I'd have made a great rabbit, I love lettuce.

Thursday June 26, 2008, 4:41 am
thanks cate, i'm still smiling thinking about how some of us have been living this way for some years as we've watched and seen the signs of this recession coming... living here in michigan i've been watching it for four years now... and like peace said we here have been tightening our belts for a long time now, but like kathy, i love lettuce...hehehe...:)

Thursday June 26, 2008, 5:53 am
Another great article Cate. Thanks.

Thursday June 26, 2008, 5:58 am
Noted thanks Cate

Thursday June 26, 2008, 7:19 am
Through all the hard times, people adapt...may we all adapt with smiles on our faces and get through it together..It is the important things in life that matters, not the STUFF.

Thursday June 26, 2008, 9:31 am
Noted and thanks Cate !
However I find no humor in a recession ( ? depression)that not only could have been avoided but was actually set in motion by the greddy few at the top who run this country !

I have no doubt I will survive anything ,except maybe a nuclear war with Iran if Bush and the Christian right get thier way . Why should I accept it with humor though ? I will accept it with defiance against those who brought this on our country !

Thursday June 26, 2008, 11:02 am
Unfortunately the number of unplanned pregnancies increase during a recession which directly impacts the most vulnerable women and families. This may well result in a greater negative impact on society. Thanx to a misguided and hypocritical current administration we do an adequate job in supplying sex education, birth control, abortion options, pre & post natal care, child care & education. If the right wing would worry about children after they get here and grow up 20 5o 50 percent as much as they do immediately prior to conception and the seven months following, we would be so much better off. Thanx Cate.

Thursday June 26, 2008, 11:33 am
Musical inspiration:
Do economic downturns inspire great music? A case can be made that hard times help produce heartfelt anthems that cut through the anesthetic musical drone of the day. This has been true of everyone from Woody Guthrie to Bruce Springsteen to the Clash and even Kurt Cobain.

Well, maybe not Kurt Cobain, but more power to the
people who appreciate his music.
I've always been a "glass-half-full" kind of man,
which is why I so appreciated this article. It's
always for the best to try to find the positive
in even the worst of times.
btw, Cate? If you're "perenially poor", take heart,
my dear, because I'm absolutely effin' destitute!
But, one of my favorite sayings is,
"One who lives content with little possesses everything."
I DO live content with little, and I do possess everything,
but they're the best kind of possessions: The intangible kind!

Thanks for a great post, Cate!
noted.

Thursday June 26, 2008, 12:24 pm
And, like Cate, since I am money deficient and have been for the past 26 years I've been divorced .... instead of eating, I'm drinking more water...this guy makes the recession sound like fun and although I agree people need to connect back to talking to one another, especially as families...I don't see anything FUN about the economical condition of this country which is like a house falling from a mud slide...Thanks for the article Cate

Thursday June 26, 2008, 2:00 pm
I think we all have been tightening our belts, but I do look back at the '70's and smile. I had no money, no garden, but did have a job. Not much has changed. I do remember the gas lines at some stations here. Frankly, I don't miss those. I'm staying home more. May I should dig out some of that old music and really think about the old days. It should take my mind off of the present for a little while and, heck, I could make a party out of it like we use to. Everyone bring something!

Thursday June 26, 2008, 2:11 pm
Thanks Cate! I have expanded my garden this year to compensate - and I love gardening so it is one of those serendipitous advantages I discovered. Unfortunately the chipmunks like it too - but they are entertaining to watch and coaxing them away from the veggies with sunflower seeds at the other end of the yard is working. :)

Thursday June 26, 2008, 2:22 pm
Cheers to MORE PASTA...even though beer is expensive also, but since I live in KY there has to be some snappy moonshine somewhere!! Seriously, if a recession means drinking more water like Sheila is doing and spending time enjoying nostalgic tunes at home with friends/family like Susan than there is some good in it. Maybe some of us could use some slowing down and thinking about the things we really need in life.Thx, Cate

Thursday June 26, 2008, 2:54 pm
Hey, Susan, I'll bring the brownies! (hee-hee-hee!)

Thursday June 26, 2008, 5:59 pm
Raising a Garden, caning and put up all we can. My grand parents had to I am no better anyway taste better than store food.

Thursday June 26, 2008, 6:44 pm
move over pasta bar

Thursday June 26, 2008, 8:04 pm
I wasn't born until 1971 but I came of voting age during the Reagan years. Those were really dark days. Many of our friends in those days before Reagan took office were unemployed or were Vietnam Vets on disability.

We struggled and tightened the belt whereever we could. I ate a lot of cream of wheat with brown sugar for breakfast and baloney & cheese sandwiches for lunch.

Now we are returning to those tightening of the belt days. This recession could bring us close to what happened in 1929. I'm hopin' for the best and preparing for the worst.

Thursday June 26, 2008, 8:07 pm
LMAO Michael your just a pup....LOL

Big Gorilly Hugs

Thursday June 26, 2008, 10:38 pm
Michael, I agree with you 100%,
but I believe the entire economy
is on the verge of collapse. Any
one of a number of sectors of the
economy could collapse, and bring
the rest of it down with it.
When/if this comes, it's going to
make 1929 look like a garden party.
Not than I'm a prophet of doom, I'm
a realist, and I can read the writing
on the wall.

Friday June 27, 2008, 8:59 am
Great Article Cate. Learned a lot of things too since I wasn't born until l977. We always had family dinners, even after I was born. I don't mind growing my own food. Our little house in the "hood" is paid for and Doc and I are going to get mountain bikes with the points he has accrued with his American Express points. We don't live an opulent lifestyle and we never have. We are both survivors.

Friday June 27, 2008, 2:48 pm
I've been living in a recession since 1975 = soooo = I'm kind of "used to it" anyway.

Thanks for the "memories" Cate!!

Friday June 27, 2008, 8:23 pm
Bushco Bush = troll

Please take appropriate action...

Friday June 27, 2008, 8:57 pm
Please don't feed the troll.

Friday June 27, 2008, 10:38 pm
Consider him flagged.

Saturday June 28, 2008, 1:46 pm
Thanx Cate! Noted.

Sunday June 29, 2008, 9:47 pm
Since our life has always been a little on the lean side, it's not too hard to adapt, but it is not fun. I had sell my Jeep and buy a little old (1997)Mercury Tracer (30 MPG). It's not too pretty but it gets me around. I live on the WA coast and I am 20 miles from town so I need an affordable car to drive. We will get by, it's a good thing we love seafood. :)

Sunday June 29, 2008, 9:53 pm
Denice,
I was just telling a friend on the phone,
I had to give up driving last October because
of my health, and I sold my car at the same
time.
It was a '91 Geo Metro; 3 cylinder, 5 speed,
front-wheel drive, and it got 50 mpg in town,
and I live in a very small town, so it was all
small-town driving.
I should have kept it and sold it now.
With $4.00+ gas, I could have gotten a
lot more for it than I did last year!

Monday June 30, 2008, 3:18 pm
I;m an old lady in comparision to a lot of you folks... I remember (some of you have heard older relatives talk about it I'm sure, or you may have read about in history books or so forth), but I remember (sometimes I forget, but that goes with the territory when you are as old as I am.
Anyway, I remember my mother telling me what it was like living during the Great Depression (I used to wonder why they called it a "great" depression, didn't sound so "great" or cool to me just barely surviving). To think that it could happen AGAIN and in my lifetime, makes me shudder. After I shudder for awhile, then I put on my "thinking cap" (it is rather attractive hat, it is hot pink with hearts and butterflies on it...
I'm sorry, I have to keep some sort sense of humor these days to keep from becoming depressed about another Great Depression - things going down in this country and all over the world certainly makes me feel a bit queasy.


Ok. As I was saying -- and folks, I'm dead serious now -- and it is a reminder to ME at the same time: If you have the least amount of land, grow food. Properly "can" and store the food. Well, I was going to go into a litany of things we all should be thinking about, but my arthritis and carpal tunnel are bothering me now, so I will suggest for you to do some research and buy a book that gives the fundamentals of how to live as simply and inexpensively as possible.

Peace to all,

carol