The bright side of recession ............ post yours

[Stinky The Clown]

This is actually not a joke post.

In reply to a comment of mine regarding the quality of lumber available from my local Home Depot, someone pointed out that, thanks to the decline in home building, better quality lumber may once again be available.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3109896#3109994

So, in line with the Lemon =====> Lemonade thing, what other good can come of a recession?

Here's a few off the top of my head to get things started:

Maybe the big box stores will give up on your neighborhood and 'condemn' you to doing business with locally owned operations again.

It could happen that the produce buyers at your local corporate soopermarket will choose local tomatoes instead of hothouse ones from Mexico or Canada.

You might be able to convince the boss that you can stay just as productive and save him the cost to give you an office, heat it, cool and light it, by allowing you to telecommute - and save the cost of commuting, lunches out, and wardrobe associated with going to the office every day.

[jakem]

1. My business is getting more export inquiries-

suddenly, american goods are a bargain-

[Zynx]

43. Almost any economic development has surprising benefits to somebody.

[grasswire]

2. I was thinking along similar lines today...

....in the grocery store. Wondering if manufacturers will abandon high fructose corn syrup in favor of sugar now that we know corn prices are going up 30 percent soon. What a dramatic event that will be in grocery stores. Many of the prepared foods will either convert or disappear.

And what about all that packaging?

What will stores look like in two years? More bulk? Plainer items? Less produce from faraway places?

And what about the old companies that have just started to offshore both food and labor? Like Nalley's pickles. Now the cucumbers are grown in India and the pickles are packed there! Are they going to survive the high cost of transportation for all those jars of pickles to the U.S.?

Everything could change, and it won't all be bad.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. "Everything could change, and it won't all be bad."

There is not one single big box store whose passing I will mourn.

There is not one offshoring company who I will not laugh at when the cost of offshoring is higher than local production.

[NMDemDist2]

10. I was thinking the same thing about HFCS and food. already I've

started growing my own veggies, since there isn't a job worth having and hubby's job is a good one and secure as any can be in this day and age.

I've already moved away from the 'big box stores' anyway, none in this town and it's a 70 mile trip one way to go to one. makes you think long and hard before you 'run down the Home Depot/Target/Costco' for a this or that. it's amazing what I can find around the house to make work, or that I can just do without. and my bank balance thanks me.

if this garden does anything like it looks like it will, I'll be able to fill the freezer and probably sell a bunch at the farmer's market too, sharing the wealth and eating better in one fell swoop

[lonestarnot]

22. Most excellent! Let me know when they're ripe!

:applause:

[NMDemDist2]

26. I should be pulling the first round of radish next week

:evilgrin:

[lonestarnot]

28. mmmmmm. Little salt and mmmmm. Wear your gloves for the little sticky deals.

:evilgrin:

[NMDemDist2]

34. i never walk outside without my gloves

can't have my hands looking like I work in the fields [/Scarlett O'Hara}

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Funny you mention the lumber...

My husband was just commenting on that yesterday.

[Lorien]

5. We won't be destroying the environment as quickly

so maybe our kids will be able to make it to fifty, instead of only making it to forty or so.

[enid602]

6. Fresh & Easy

A 'Fresh & Easy' store in every neighborhood.

[ben_meyers]

12. Fresh & Easy chain to take breather from opening stores

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

April 4, 2008

The Fresh & Easy chain has six stores in the county, including one in Chula Vista.
Billed as a new British invasion, food giant Tesco's new Fresh & Easy chain of West Coast grocery stores is shaping up to be anything but revolutionary.
Analysts and grocery store experts estimate that the British retailer might be missing U.S. sales targets by as much as 70 percent. And the company, while not discussing the financial condition of its U.S. venture, announced recently that it will delay opening any more of its Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores for three months.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080404-9999-1b4fresh.html

[enid602]

18. too bad

Too bad; I love their fresh entrees (not frozen) with no preservatives, and their produce is great. I like that you can get in and out in five minutes.

[blondeatlast]

47. One was scheduled to open about 1/4 mile from my house in April--they haven't even broken ground on

In fact, two commercially zoned areas near our home are sitting vacant and have been for sale for almost a year.

I'm quite pleased about that, so there's my positive thing!

I've heard Fresh 'n Easy isn't all it's cracked up to be, anyway. What do you think of them (if you don't mind)?

[orleans]

7. my business is nearly half of what it was. bright side: more time

at home with my family. (until i have to go get that part time job at walmart)

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. My boss cheers when the price of gas goes up

She is a rethuglican who owns oil wells.

Yes, I know, I want to slap her. But she's my boss.

Couldn't think of anything else good to report. :)

[bluestateguy]

9. The radical environmentalists do the same thing

But for a different reason.

[Jackpine Radical]

11. People are starting to think about community again.

There is a growing realization that we rely on each other. I think more connective contacts are happening among neighbors.

People are also starting to think about gardening, etc. much more.

[madrchsod]

14. one thing i have noticed in the last year

is that ppeople are concerned about the cost of driving to work. my brother in law spends over 80 a week driving to work and back making 14 as a welder. he`s thinking of applying to a place closer to where he lives..a lot of people who can`t afford to drive to work for what they get paid.

this year i`m going to madison`s farmers market..

[madrchsod]

13. my wife finally figured out that at 61 years old

i`m not going to find a decent job...but we have no credit cards...well no credit. just a house payment and such.
i`m actually considering doing what i did during reagan`s disaster..reupholstering furniture.. i actually made money...

[Stinky The Clown]

21. My paternal granbdmother made decent money during the Depression by selling .....

.... sewing notions door to door in the (formerly) rich neighborhoods. Women were still interested in appearances, but could no longer afford new dresses. So, by adding fringe or appliqués or tassels or lace or what-have-you, they could restyle an old dress and look reasonably good.

When others weren't doing well, my grandmother supported her family of six and her sister's family of seven from that business. The lesson being ..... reupholstering furniture may be a good business ..... as might appliance repair or car repair or anything that keeps old stuff in service.

[roody]

15. We will have cleaner air, I hope.

Meanwhile I plant perennial, edible food in every spot in the yard.

[grasswire]

17. perennial edible food?

rhubarb
blueberries
asparagus

what else is perennial?

[roody]

20. Or self sowing---

radish
fava
arugula
fruit bearing bushes and trees
asparagus
strawberries
In Northern California, members of the cabbage family live for years: kale, brussels sprouts, collards

[Ichingcarpenter]

16. I'm enjoying the nuances of fresh road kill and homemade moonshine

The joys of discovery and the new sport of dumpster diving is testing
new muscles that I didn't know I had.

[PA Democrat]

23. LOL! Road kill. I've had 3 near misses with deer in the past month.

I guess there could be an up side to not hitting the brakes fast enough.

[Rosemary2205]

25. They are committing suicide.

there's a deer living in some trees somewhere along I-75 between me and work. The SAME deer has darted out in traffic 4 times in 2 weeks. We know it's the same one because it has an odd marking on the left flank.

I swear it's trying to commit suicide.

[Buns_of_Fire]

42. Obviously a terrorist deer, trying to make someone wreck.

Don't let those big ol' eyes fool you. Get its license number and turn it in to Fatherland Security.

[AP]

19. Spending less time shopping and waiting in lines when I do shop.

[Rosemary2205]

24. I wish we'd receed and then stay there.

When smaller houses are more sought after, sidewalks are built and people walk to the store, we start cooking instead of deciding which fast food place to hit tonight. The process of getting back to reality will be painful, but in the end all I see is good.

[alfredo]

27. Weigh loss. I'm eating more soups and less meat. Drinking tea instead of

snacking. Drinking Rye instead of top row Bourbon.

[alfredo]

29. "More-With-Less" cook book. Think simple, eat simple, live simple.

This is a Mennonite cookbook that changed the way I looked at food. It's saved me a lot of money too.

http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/more/index.html
http://www.worldcommunitycookbook.org/index.html

[edhopper]

30. Homes will become affordable again.

The most positive aspect will be that house prices will fall to the economic viable level they have been in the past to maintain the market. Median home = 3X median income.

[il_lilac]

31. thanks

I needed the bright side. I'm walking more and shopping a whole lot less!

[Dukkha]

32. hybrid auto sales are way up, SUVs are way down

and owning a Hummer carries a huge stigma to it now.

[Zynx]

33. Trade deficits almost always narrow during recessions.

Imports drop faster than just about anything else. During the last recession imports dropped by over 10%.

[MzShellG]

35. Ummmm........

:think: Maybe we as americans will collectively loose weight, spending less money on 'comfort' foods and basically just eating to live. Okay, that's all I've got. :shrug:

[MadHound]

36. The one bright spot I can see is that with the housing bubble gone bust

It puts a halt to the mindless, sprawling development that cities are doing. I live twenty miles from an expanding city that was in out of control development. When I moved out here to the country I didn't think that this city would reach me for another twenty years at least, but when their expansion started I really started thinking more like ten years.

Now with this housing downturn and large, excess housing inventory, I once again think that it's going to be twenty years.

[MuseRider]

41. I had the exact same thought.

The sprawl needs to be handled.

This last move out to my farm is the last for us. It is our 3rd house in the country and the first two went from having little around us to being smack dab in the middle of an ugly development. 3 times moving away from the damned city. I don't think I need to worry about a Walmart Super Store going in on the land across the road, or more houses but I do worry about concrete plants (we stopped one of those already) and all those kinds of things that the city folk need but refuse to live near so we get them out here because after all, it is land that is not being used (?).

[Stinky The Clown]

48. I'd like to see a major increase in mass transit

I'd like to see a national rail system that rivals the Europeans and Japanese.

I'd like to see non polluting buses and trollies in the cities

I'd like for the suburbs to be served by transit that links them to the cities instead of everyone having to drive.

[MuseRider]

49. Great ideas

It seems inconceivable we do not have them already.

[Indenturedebtor]

37. Great thread

I just quit my job selling advertising to all types of companies, and took one that sells surveillance and some other products to primarily fast food chains. Hate to say it but fast food business is booming. :shrug: The companies that have cheaper products will thrive in a shitty economy. My new company has recently become one of the fastest growing companies in the US!!!!

And I get to work from home and get paid more than at my last job ;)


Here's a HUGE plus! The New Deal happened during the last major "down adjustment". When Obama gets elected he'll much more easily be able to get us socialized healthcare and reform the world of the richies as he outlined a few days ago :applause:

[DemoTex]

38. The GOP could be totally marginalized as a dominant political force.

And, if things get bad enough to wake the peeps, the specious Neocon leaders of the GOP-RW can, perhaps at last, be disgraced, cashiered, and .. where appropriate .. convicted.

[Ishoutandscream2]

39. I would have to say that there is now a stigma about being a Bushbot

And I live in the hometown of Congressman Ralph Hall (R - Bushbot). In 2004, my town was just so gleeful that Bush had "won reelection." Now it's hard to find anyone around here that is happy about Bush. I guess that's something.

[Perry Logan]

40. It will suddenly be OK for us to sneak across the border to get jobs in Mexico.

[aikoaiko]

44. I'm more motivated than ever to go hunting in the Fall.

And fill the freezer with venison or hog.

[Fireweed247]

45. People will wake up!

As people no longer have the opportunity to spend their time shopping and consuming, maybe they will start paying attention to what the fuck our government has been doing in their name. It has to hit home for some before they start paying attention.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

46. Recommended. Maybe, we'll get back to actually VALUING basic values, like,...

,...family, friends, contributing to something greater than ourselves, common decency/respect,...you know, stuff like that.