Look around... THIS IS WHAT A DEPRESSION LOOKS LIKE!
LLS
It’s a depression alright, when the Best Buy and Olive Garden shut down you will realize it is a COLLAPSE. An old gent who was born during the thirties recently told me that this is not a depression because we don’t have soup kitchens yet! I reminded him that during the thirties we didn’t have millions of people swiping food “stamp” cards. We also didn’t have millions drawing unemployment compensation, we didn’t have millions supported by other government programs. All the “soup kitchen” equivalents totally dwarf what was going on in the thirties, the current situation is actually worse than the thirties and rapidly growing worse yet. The difference is that now some people are gullible enough to believe there is a recovery in progress.
It would be interesting to know where the money that pays the tab comes from.
Retirement pay?
Investments?
Unemployment checks?
Money available because they stopped paying on thier mortgage?
A restaurant full of people tells you nothing other than the restaurant is popular.
By the way, I know several on unemployment who are living it up more than when they worked.
What happens when it ends?
How long before your tax burden, which pays for their checks, becomes so high that you can’t go to the restaurant but end up with your nose pressed to the window watching them live it up?
That may sound silly, but the frugal who work will end up being the stay at homes when the tax rate equals a certain point.