What Changes are Happening in your local area?

a reply to: JAGStorm

Here's a new one:

Cat food continues to be in short supply unless you are buying boutique food from local/US supply. However, husband took a picture of Fancy Feast cubes at Target sporting anti-theft devices this week. That's a new one.

originally posted by: gb540

originally posted by: JAGStorm
I've seen soo many RV's! Now that gas is soo high it is not affordable to a lot of people.
During Covid RVs were in such demand and gas was still pretty cheap, now I bet a lot of people are
regretting that decision. Boats too, i've seen a lot of boats.

Gas for RVs and boats is only part of the picture. It's when they fall apart within a year from not being maintained or properly stored that it gets expensive. And halfway under a tarp in the driveway is not storage. I'd expect a bunch for sale this spring, full of water leaves and raccoon #.

Besides that, this area is similar. Crime is WAY up.

My boss retired out of nowhere last year- and he wasn't alone.
Million+ dollar home, million+ dollar golden parachute, decades of huge payouts for him and his wife...
They bought a brandy-new truck and a 40 foot RV.

Until money can't buy food and fuel, they'll be fine- and die of old age... unless food and fuel get so scarce they become targets.

Those of us who aren't old and rich have some harder choices to make.

Changes? It’s gone from one of the most beautiful cities in the country, to a dump.

Homeless camps EVERYWHERE (and I do mean everywhere). Housing prices through the roof (nearly half a million for a 950 ft2 2 bedroom house with little to no yard, $300k for manufactured homes, etc),

prices on everything else up accordingly.

Crime through the roof (record breaking murder and theft)

In short, it’s become a cesspool.

Well, I drive way less now. And I generally barter for food or just about anything. So I suppose not much has changed, but everyone seems edgier.

a reply to: captaintyinknots

I assume that America has no real social security, and has neither the will nor inclination to stop the social decay. It has been a steady decline, as house prices go up rents follow, and hey presto you can't afford to partake in the apple pie anymore. So what happens when the numbers out on the street double and triple. To the point where there are more people living wild than are living in a shelter.? the ridiculous situation where empty houses, are everywhere but nobody can afford to buy or rent them. Is this the future? Because the whole of the working class has always lived to the next pay packet, while the middle and upper class, milk them. Are we to assume that the middle and upper classes are in for a leaner time because of this.

originally posted by: 38181
I’ve seen more erratic and dangerous driving in the last year or so. I noticed this especially with people with junkers, or old crap cars. They’ll pull out right in front of me, pass on double solid lines, fail to give the right away, fail to come to a complete stop nearly nailing me. Ride my tail, etc etc. The heck is going on.

^ I second this. I'm specifically noticing people not looking both ways at stop signs. Or they'll stare right past me like I'm invisible and gun it. If I wasn't hyper-vigilant constantly and cautious at every intersection, I'd either not have a running vehicle anymore, or I would not be able to post on here. It's ridiculous. So many people should not have driver licenses.

a reply to: anonentity
I tend to believe the middle class is on life support. Which, in my opinion, has been the plan for a while.

This country is headed toward corporate feudalism.

a reply to: JAGStorm

One of my local officers passed away from the gunshot wounds he and 2 of his fellow officers received today. I am growing ever so tired of this brave new world.

Gas is around $4.30 a gallon. Food prices are what is really killing us here, oh, besides the drive by shootings...

Food prices are really high and still going up. Every time I go shopping I have to double check what I am buying. I am noticing that quite a few things I consider staples no longer have prices on the shelves. You have to wait until they ring it up to find out how much it costs, then decide if you want it or not - IF you happen to catch it when they ring it up.

Just two weeks ago the wife and I went shopping for a few quick things. Our bill was just barely over $100. We looked at our cart and both of us thought that it really wasn't bad for what we ended up getting. Two days ago we went to the same store. We got a little less than half of what we got last time and the bill was $79. We were both stunned. We thought, based on the last trip there, we would get out for under $50 easy. It was nearly twice what we thought it would be.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Since the loosening of restrictions related to masking/scamdemic at work we're all still masked. Some are no longer asked screening questions at the door but those who aren't always had an alternate screening above the rank and file anyway thu border security. Most of the 'beware of the covid' signs posted on every surface have been removed although we still have tongs and gloves on our desks to make us feel miserable and stupid. 2 people are now permitted to travel in the elevator at a time. I've never felt so alive!! Now about those public urinals... The place is still mired in fearmongering. Employees were permitted to return to office work but only a small percentage have; 20% tops. And word is there's really no end in sight.

Yeah the tenacity of the no smoking business... where people are still trying to ban it entirely. The city in which I live has lots of restaurants and bars and nearly every one of them have suffered since the no smoking attack on our civil rights and liberties as adults and have been a voice against it however a large portion of the over charge that smokers pay for goes directly to the coffers of removing or banning it... which by all means and measures seems to be an evil thing as smokers paying for the future inability to smoke at all is tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot.

When the public and business owners took it to the state level they shrugged it off knowing it was illegal so what the politics then decided to do was turn it off the state level legislative argument and threw it onto to cities as ordinance... now that means every city/township etc in the state now has to petition their local politicians to remove it in order to get it back to a state level argument of we don't want the anti smoking legislation. Irritated that it was challenged; Not only did it become ordinance based the tax was also increased as a response.

There are a couple states that looked at the anti smoking business and said no we aren't going that route and didn't change anything. If it was seen that it was the trafficking of cigarettes is what led to George Floyd being murdered then that legislation would fall apart as it never should have been enacted instead twisting it into a case of police brutality and a personal issue instead of the people wanting it out of the choice of adults; were the cause of that man murdered and are equally responsible as the officer is for that man's death and one is supposed to feel justified when it's killing people over a tax difference between one state to another? Gasoline or fuel taxes varying from one state to another ring a bell... sorry mam we are gonna have to kill you over the tax difference in gasoline from one state to another... as dumb as that sounds? Is exactly the same kind of dumb that killed Mr. Floyd.

That's the thing that irritates me the most... when people chose to shed light on the wrong thing or pick a perspective where nothing has really changed in response or regard to what produced or caused that man's death in the first place. It's like the moonshine fiasco coming back to life in a different form all over again; but it isn't like taxes weren't paid for it, it's more sin tax and nanny laws disguised as public health making it even more disgusting.

If that came off as a little ranty I can't help it... as gross negligence and lack of foresight when politicians enact something other than how much money can we make in the process of playing the its for a greater good game when it really isn't ever going to be that... Really gets my goat.

Politics should not be a career goal or a lifetime pursuit as in my opinion it only gets more and more corrupted over time it should be more like jury duty as honestly no one in their right mind would ever want to be a politician... leaving us with the obvious for politicians.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I live in the boonies, gas is up, but that's about it. Food prices aren't rising and there are no shortages.

Still wondering why everyone on TV is gay or a minority, or both when I live in a straight monoculture. Some representation would be nice.

a reply to: JAGStorm My RV gets about 23 regular road and 27 miles per gallon at interstate speed Quite a few people chose to go the customize a van route or buy a truck and put a camper(slide in) or shell on it... making trucks or vans in my area outrageously priced if you can even find one for sale.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I wonder if surplus MREs are getting hard to source.

Cheers

originally posted by: Crowfoot
a reply to: JAGStorm My RV gets about 23 regular road and 27 miles per gallon at interstate speed

Quite a few people chose to go the customize a van route or buy a truck and put a camper(slide in) or shell on it... making trucks or vans in my area outrageously priced if you can even find one for sale.

Here we'd consider that terrible gas millage. If it's under 40mpg then it's barely worth a second glance.

a reply to: AaarghZombies

40mpg RV's? If you got em the world is gonna beat a path to your door...

a reply to: Crowfoot
Dang my car gets 18 on the highway 13 in town. It's fast though..

a reply to: JAGStorm


A lot of angry people out there due to increasing gas prices, food prices, bishing everywhere!

i have an interesting perspective on things that have changed. i can't say make comparisons of things within the last couple years here, since i just moved back after about ten years living halfway around the world. so no "frog in the pot being brought up to boil, without noticing". and in that ten years, the price of pretty much EVERYTHING has at least DOUBLED, in that time. gas, cigarettes, grocery store prices, restaurant prices, rent, etc. although something i find interesting is that while fuel prices have doubled,the cost of public mass transit as not gone up. shouldn't the fare have gone up (say,like everything else,doubled), due to the massive increase in the price of fuel?

now at the same time while costs of pretty much everything has gone up at least that 100%, pay has not. in that time minimum wage has only increased about 50%, going from just over $10/hour, to $15/hour. so the fact is, most people are getting poorer, and poorer. and even before the pandemic, which i understand much of those price increases have come during the pandemic, people were already having huge problems paying for the super expensive electricity (thanks to "green" power generation), and heating their homes.

but what honestly disturbs me even more than prices, is the difference i have seen in grocery stores. i am not really seeing things like "mostly empty shelves", but a general lack of selection, very low amounts, fresh produce that is in really poor shape, and many products i want missing all together. only seeing maybe one or two brands, where there used to be several to choose from. a lack of meat in the meat section. where for example you might only see two or three packs of pork chops, or one or to small roasts to choose from, instead of the loaded shelves before i left. and even the selection of different cuts of meat is not there. such as you might only see one type of beef or pork roast, and only two or three other types of meat cuts. such as only one type of "beef steak", instead of several different cuts. in just over two months i have seen exactly one store that had normal rice crispies, and that being a store brand. with cereal shelves which have been rather empty due to missing stock. have not seen a single onion bun, in any bread, including fresh bread sections. even the selection of normal bread is a lot less then it used to be. and other than their nasty drink boxes, not a single packet or container of koolaid mix, except for a few packs of koolaid lemon aid in a variety store. even very little in the way of lunch meats available. with much of produce being sold being pretty much on the edge of going bad, and to be honest not at all the nice looking produce we used to have in general. and throughout stores, many products with only a couple of products left. and due to having to find a place to live, and thus being in three completely different area, i have seen the same in all, so it's not like it might be one store or one area having issues.

and all this after moving from a "third world nation", where grocery stores, are actually more like they used to be North America. (although still no rice crispies available for almost 2 years). here is the nasty part. if you were to take me into several grocery stores in each country, i would choose the North American grocery stores as being in the third world nation.

What no body can explain to me is why vehicles (cars and trucks) have rocketed in price when the government is saying that they will be phased out starting in 2025 ? That's only 3 years away, yet there are still full car forecourts. Sooner or later they will have to drop their prices or they will be left holding a lot of no go vehicles.