Used to be ‘a run to the bank’ ment you went to the ATM machine to withdraw 200 bucks to go to the next train show. Now with the economic woes, higher prices, job loss, mortgage woes, and dipping stock values; a run to the bank becomes ‘a run on the bank’ to find out are my investments safe?
Well not to diverge into the doom and gloom of the economy to much, but it has affected my spending habit. The wife said no more trains! Yeah I spend about 200 a month right now on trains because now is the time to buy! Things are exceptionally cheep right now because of the economy and seasonal dip in train demand… but now the wife has lowered the boom and said no more! How do I convince her that its an investment? When the holidays come around I sell the excess, to pay for items I wanted to keep on the layout or for a small profit…but the fear has grasped us all, what if fewer people show up to the next meet, what if I cannot even sell what I bought this year? Crowds have dwindled, Ebay is slow, is the interest down in trains? Cannot tell yet.
So this year my road to ‘depression’ will be fewer trains to buy and sell. I may even have to sell a few items I was planning on keeping…The light at the end of the tunnel? I have not seen it yet, and yes I would be happy it was a ‘train’…
Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you are relying on the purchasing and selling of trains to get by then you’re in tougher straights than you realize.
I’ve talked with many, many people in this hobby and the common thought is ‘if you are in it for the money, you’re in it for the wrong reason’ there is little margin in toy trains.
Sometimes you just gotta enjoy and appreciate what you have, where you live, what freedoms you have, the quality of food you can buy and eat, the health care available to you. Travel to some poor country and go into a slum and tell a person who doesn’t know where they will get their next meal that your depressed cause you can’t buy as many trains every month. You, me and the rest of the USA are living in the land of milk and honey. The best cure for depression is to get some exercise on a bike or going for a walk. Its the magic drug.
There are a lot of folks “hurting” and it is getting worse. Most of us are lucky [for right now]. We can get a few trains and trains related items. I have cut back on big lake fishing as it costs so much to run that big boat and get it to the lake. Trains purchases have been cut back too. I gave so much press time to our Town staying “revenue neutral” in taxes after a major county reevaluation. The Town Board backed me. All the other municipalities and the County increased taxes. My stand is folks are hurting and need all they can get to buy gas to get to work and food prices are going up. Yes, I’ve been to other countries and they have it bad. We do not have to stoop to thier standards. It seems “Washington” is sitting there with their heads up ------. The President is just as bad. I say Washington and the President needs to step in and get gas prices under control and especially speculators. Now I have a very close friend who screams, that is controling free enterprise. Then he cries his retirement is going out the window because the stock market is FAILING. Well dummy, fuel prices is why. You can’t have it both ways.
Just think, after the Economic Panic of 1890 virtually all U.S. railroads were bankrupt or in receivership and the same occurred during the 1930s. My own prototype, the Southern Ry avoided bankruptcy in 1939 only because of the commodity economy ramping up to support European Allies and to prepare ourselves for war. According to some history books there were more engines and rolling stock parked than operating.
Chief, we shouldn’t get upset at our preening, pontificating, finger-pointing, pitiful politicians, in particular Congress, just because the country is broke and broken[8]. We don’t want to hurt their feelings![:-^] The bright side is that as the dollar continues its erosion over the next decade, our declined standard of living will cause others to quit manufacturing for our smaller U.S. market. Then we will have the opportunity to again rebuild our manufacturing industry, have low paying jobs [:(] and recapture pre-WWI market share.
Just think, after the Economic Panic of 1890 virtually all U.S. railroads were bankrupt or in receivership and the same occurred during the 1930s. My own prototype, the Southern Ry avoided bankruptcy in 1939 only because of the commodity economy ramping up to support European Allies and to prepare ourselves for war. According to some history books there were more engines and rolling stock parked than operating.
Chief, we shouldn’t get upset at our preening, pontificating, finger-pointing, pitiful politicians, in particular Congress, just because the country is broke and broken[8]. We don’t want to hurt their feelings![:-^] The bright side is that as the dollar continues its erosion over the next decade, our declined standard of living will cause others to quit manufacturing for our smaller U.S. market. Then we will have the opportunity to again rebuild our manufacturing industry, have low paying jobs [:(] and recapture pre-WWI market share.
Spoken by a very intelligent retired CFO. For all who do not know, Dewey was CFO for the great Cone Mills and made it a top company. After his retirement, the new CFO “crashed” it.
BTW: The reason the quote is like it is. Our software upgrade must be screwed up. Kept telling me nothing between quote symbols.
As a military pilot for over 20yrs I’ve traveled to every armpit you ca imagine throughout the world. I can say without hesitation that this country is the best place in the world to live PERIOD!!! Most of the people out there that hail the virtues of other countries saying that we sould be more like them either have never really been there or are so wealthy that they stay at exclusive resorts that are beyond the means of most of us while they are there. Please trust me when I say we have it real good.
There is no doubt our economy is in sad shape, and it is easy to fall into the media driven morass of doom and gloom. Twenty-four hour news networks have some redeming qualities, but listening to those talking heads constant drone about how bad things are is a waste of time, not to mention depressing. Actually it p***** me off sometimes! [|(]
A buddy of mine who recently retired from the Army has a way of putting things into perspective. He says, “Any day you can get out of bed, drink a cup of reasonably good coffee, go through the day without anyone shooting at you or trying to blow you up on the highway, and make it back home to find your loved ones safe and sound is a good day. Add a cold beer and its damn good day”
It fully expect to see one of those gloomy news guys start his show by saying,“This just in! Everything is worse that we thought!!!” [swg]
Anyone who has witnessed the depth and scope of abject poverty in the US, both rural and urban, and then have also had an opportunity to travel abroad to witness poverty elsewhere mostly reach the same conclusion. The grass is truly greener on our side of the fence.
We just don’t realize it because the facts don’t generate as much media interest/hype as doom and gloom. And the glass half full platform doesn’t get a political figure the spotlight and the votes. He/she gets lambasted for “ignoring” the problems. There is no balance in either the media or politics. And we would be wise to be more critical of the talkers, not the doers.
Immigration issues alone on our “radar screen” should start one thinking about why the economic, social, and political Mecca is still here, not there. On this country’s worst day, I would choose to live here rather than anywhere else. Apparently those in other countries share that view.
With regard to Chief’s comments, I found them practical not political.
I totally agree with you, making a living on trains you just cannot do. I don’t see how Lionel, MTH, and other manufactures survive in times like this. However I was able to buy a sell a few items to cover the cost of some new items, a few bucks here and there helps. My point I guess is the interest trains going to dwindle this Holiday year? This such a great hobby that relieves stress, I can run trains for 30 minutes and forget about the problems of the day, such a shame that this economy will have a direct affect on our fun.
Well Chief I didn’t want this to get political and you touched on a few topics that have been near a dear to everyones concerns, especially since GM has anounced today starting Jan 1st all retirees after age 65 will have no health care… ouch! Seems this will be the industry norm. But getting back to the train topic, seems this will have an affect on future buying habits. The domino’s have started and unfortunately this will curb our train buying practices.
