We Ask: When Will the Pain Go Away? - A Newsweek Article
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An informative Newsweek article IMHO. A selection of "experts" provide opinions with respect to our economy -
We Ask: When Will the Pain Go Away?
An informative Newsweek article IMHO. A selection of "experts" provide opinions with respect to our economy -
We Ask: When Will the Pain Go Away?
Comments
What does this "financial pain" even mean? It doesn't seem to mean that a significant number of people are going hungry, homeless, or undressed. Yes, some people fall into those categories, and I have no doubt the number is growing right now, but by and large this isn't the case.
People are eating hamburger instead of steak, losing their house and going back to renting, and probably wearing older less stylish clothing rather than buying new outfits quite as frequently. So here's my challenge, in what historically justified sense of the word is any of this pain?
.....So here's my challenge, in what historically justified sense of the word is any of this pain?....
Interesting point RCC. During May 2007 I spent $303.20 for gasoline. Last May I spent $376.87 without significanlty changing my driving habits. (Yes, I really do keep records of this type expense) This increase of a non-discretionary expense does not really affect me personally as I can comfortably absorb the increased cost, but what about those people who really do live from paycheck to paycheck?
Whoa - you use, what - 90 gallons of gas a month? I have to ask, are you driving an F-350, or do you have a 100 mile commute, or both?
I may have been misleading. I did say "I" spent $303.20 where in fact "we" spent....
Two cars, mine is a 2006 Nissan Frontier (averaging 15.5 mpg), hers is a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder (averaging 16.5 mpg). We live in a semirural area where it is miles to anywhere and between the two of us we average about 1600 miles per month combined.
Yes, I've been thinking alot about those type scenarios. I didn't mention that we also have a 1993 Ford Explorer. So we have two mid-size SUV's and a mid size pick-up. I think I fit into the typical American gas-guzzler consumer profile pretty well.
I can't wait until this car becomes available (see link below). This really is the technology of the future
Honda Clarity
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Agreed, such people absolutely do exists. But I would raise the question why they are living paycheck to paycheck and then I would compare that to norms in both other countries and other times.
For instance, maybe they have a family of 4 and rent a 1500 sq ft 3 bedroom house. We call that necessity, but it's really a luxury to have a room for each member of the family. Downsizing to a 750 sq ft 2 bedroom apartment would be uncomfortable, but not true pain. Again, these paycheck to paycheck people are not likely going to bed hungry or sleeping in the streets.
I just think our definition of "pain" is so far up the ladder right now, that if I lived in many parts of the world I'd be laughing at our news reports. That is, if that hypothetical me could afford a smartphone to read the news on.
I'd recommend a plug-in hybrid over hydrogen. It's going to be a stillborn technology at the consumer level I think.
Getting back on-topic, I also think that most people are nowhere near financial pain. Many years ago my parents had some renters who were in financial pain. They had both the water and electricity cut off and were still living there for months not paying rent, while my parents were going through the eviction proceedings. It took us a year to get that rental unit back into good condition (I'll spare the gory details) after they finally moved out.
When I bought my house in Redmond it was being sold as part of a bankruptcy, and the former owners were in severe financial pain. When I looked at the house, the phone was not in service, one of the two toilets wasn't functioning, and there maybe was one working light bulb in each room. The kids were sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and rats (not the pet ones) had the run of the house (more gory details omitted).
The house had actually been for sale earlier in the year before I bought it(was taken off the market and then relisted a few months later). The deal fell through because there was a lien against the house by the bank who had repossesed their minivan and resold it for less than was owed--and then placed a lien against the house for the difference. The homeowners had no idea that this had even happened, but it of course came to light during the first attempted sale. Disclaimer: this is all hearsay that I pieced together from various sources during the process of buying my house.
I hope and pray I will never see such financial pain, both for myself and for anybody else. With the Midwest floods threatening to devastate millions of acres of food and feed (cows, chickens, pigs) crops, we could be in for some additional financial discomfort at the supermarket.
Redmondjp-
I think "financial pain" can be relative. The people you were describing I would call "destitute". They crossed the "financial pain" threshold long ago and that is a tragic situation. Personally, I would be stressed if I was living paycheck to paycheck without any reserve for when something goes wrong, and something always goes wrong, eventually.
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Yeah the car thing is off topic, but I like cars and I like keeping track of new technologies. Maybe this discussion should be moved to the "Everything Else" part of the Off -Topic Forums if anyone is interested in continuing the discussion. Supposedly, Honda has developed a system to produce hydrogen using solar power. I guess the question is to whether this can be done on a massive scale?
HONDA SOLAR HYDROGEN REFUELING STATION
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What I see, is people being forced to make the "hard" decisions like; should I combine all my shopping trips for the week/month into one trip to save on gas or can my child carpool to a sporting event rather than have me drive them in a SUV with just 2 passengers. That stuff is annoying, but little more.
I'll call it real pain when I see a measurable portion of the population is destitute or when a statistically significant portion of the population finds it difficult to purchase nutritious food.
About hydrogen cars...there are a huge number of technological and business problems with hydrogen power for now.
1) It can't be transported easily. We use pipes for gasoline, which works great, but hydrogen leaks out and is highly corrosive. It tends to eat through pipes. When it does spring a leak, it's harder to find and fix than leaks in gas lines.
2) Hydrogen is not free to make. You have to free it from something (water would be ideal, but usually it's coal or natural gas as redmondjp's article pointed out). In other words, it doesn't actually free us from fossil fuels, but it does make them far less efficient.
3) It's difficult to store. The press tells you that you burn it, it combines with O, forms water, and drips out of your car (or steam goes into the air). But It takes complex, expensive, and heavy equipment to store a tank of it. They are looking at some other options of molecules which will hold hydrogen with a low energy threshold to release it, or using buckyballs to trap the hydrogen, but those options require energy to free the hydrogen as well as meaning you'll have waste material that needs to be disposed and recycled.
4) It's not that efficient. Eventually we need to free it from something cheap and available, like water, but that's a very lossy exchange (both in terms of energy and raw hydrogen).
5) Filling up is also complex. It's not a liquid, you can't just "top it off". This makes for far more expensive infrastructure.
6) It's truly explosive. Movies exaggerate how shooting a gas tank can make a car explode, but it's not true. Gasoline needs to be mixed to explode in an engine. Hydrogen on the other hand really is explosive. At least this would help Hollywood I guess.
Long story short, hydrogen is an expensive boondoggle, and is unlikely to replace fuel for automobiles (aircraft is another story). Plug-in hybrids are far more likely to succeed, and are a better use of our resources/infrastructure. Most people rarely drive more than 50 miles in a day anyways, so plug-in hybrids with a 30-50 mile range will generally use grid electricity, which is generally more efficient than gasoline or hydrogen power.
Perhaps it's just semantics. If you Google "financial pain", the articles that come up use the term synonymously with "financial hardship", not life threatening situations.
I agree completely that this is a semantic argument. I'm just trying to figure out when financial pain became synonymous with "forgoing certain luxurious until one has saved the resources to acquire them." Sorry if I wasn't clear.