A Word of Warning

[Bold Believer]

Tough times bring out the nutballs. Be careful what you read and listen to. It seems that since all of the recent economic troubles started, one nut case after another has been predicting doom and gloom. Some of these folk are political candidates. Others are so-called prophecy teachers.

I live in a tourist area near the Great Smoky Mountains. Every day I see people driving through the area in huge motor homes, vintage autos, and the like. What with the cost of gas, just how are they affording to drive such monstrous gas-hog vehicles, hmm? Yet they zoom up and down our highways and byways, they enjoy themselves at our expensive hotels, they buy in our inflated price gift shops. I have come to the conclusion that one of two things is evident:

1. Either these people are dumber than a fence post, as blind as the proverbial bat and just plain stupid, or:

2. Things are not as bad the pundits of doom and gloom are making them out to be, and they are deliberately deceiving the American people into looking at something to keep their eyes off of something else.

It is a common trick of magicians to make their charges look in one direction whilst they (the magician) do something else which they then seemingly cause to appear at the proper time for their (the magician's) benefit.

Use the good sense our Father gave you.

Remember the simple things: If 10% of the people are out of work...90% HAVE A JOB.

Bad things happen somewhere every day. That means good things are happening too. The rain falls upon the just and the unjust alike.

These are tough times, but not SO tough. Ask anyone who lived during the Great Depression. They knew tough times.

Above all remember this: God is in charge. Not Satan. Not the Illuminati or the Tri-lateral Commission or George Soros or any of the other boogeymen that people try to scare you with. G O D.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day.

[Isaiah 6:8]

Dave Ramsey states as much here

[other one]

Bold, we would be one of those people running around like crazies, and it may seem to others that we really are nuts. Fact is that we worked for nearly 50 years to get to a point where we can retire.... and we set aside a good sized some on cash besides our retirement income to play for a few short years while we're both still physically able to do so. My wife has MS and we never know from day to day if she'll able to walk each day, or tomorrow or for the rest of her life.

So we happen to fall into a short time period where it's possible. We also know that the economy could completely fall apart tomorrow and the cash we've set aside might not be worth anything at all..... so we joined a travel club a couple of years ago to save on the cost of a couple of cruises we wanted to take and part of that is being able to stay in some really nice condo's for a couple of hundred dollars a week.

So if you see me driving around in your area with the Winnebago just remember that it only costs me about $30 to $35 a night to park and that includes electricity water sewage and trash. Yeah it's a bit expensive to fill the beast up with gasoline, but you only need to stay a couple of weeks longer to make it pay off.

And the condo's.... we spent a month in Vail Colorado this summer for about $800. A 4 star Marriott with all the living needs and a hot tub..... indoor/outdoor pool and the weather was awesome..... back home temps in the range of 110 to 115 and the air conditioning at home was set to OFF. We spent three weeks in Virginia in the Williamsburg Plantation and two other places in the area...... all for less than $200 a week. That's $28.42 a night.

So don't necessarily think we're all spending huge amounts of money when we come driving through your area for many many of us are not Our Gas and electric bills are about $50 a month less from us bing gone during peak usage times and averaged out for the year will pay for 2/3rds of that month in Vail.... A large number of people that we see while we're on a travel are people our age, and they are doing much the same as we are...... getting in some quality time before it all falls apart.

It may all fall apart tomorrow, and if it does, we'll deal with it just like everyone else.

......... but till it does..... watch for us and we'll wave as we go by..... either in an old Winnebago or a little Chevy Aveo...... or both.... little chevy tow's very well.

But also keep in mind that most of the people my age have worked and saved all our lives.... My wife and I together have close to a centruy of not living above our means and putting back for either emergencies or play whichever comes first. And we're not really by ourselves, almost everyone I know our age is about the same.

[artsylady]

I'm sorry Bold Believer. I am not sure of your point. That people shouldn't go on vacation? That people shouldn't believe in the doom and gloom prophets?

The people you say that are dumber than a fencepost are the tourists or those who believe in the prophesies?

[Bold Believer]

My point is that some people out there are trying to make Americans believe that things are particularly worse than they really are in fact. Don't fall for it. Those folks coming to my area (and other tourist areas) are coming because we as Americans still enjoy the highest standard of living on the planet. They drive their motorhomes and tow their cars and drive the gas-hogs because they can. There are probably a select few who spend wildly above their means depsite the fact that they know better, but the vast majority of Americans are really doing pretty darned well.

There are those in the world who would like to see Americans all driving little egg-cars, hauling our motorhomes and SUVs to the scrapyard, and believing that our Western ways are all about to come crashing down just because theirs are. America is not Greece or any of the other poorly managed socialistic one-world desiring nations. Do we have our problems? You bet we do. But they are nothing that can't be handled by a proper administration of the resources we have. A decent President who fears God and walks in his ways and a people who do the same will come a long way in regaining the blessing of God overall in America.

We are still a shining beacon to the rest of the world, otherwise they wouldn't be coming here.

[mizzdy]

My point is that some people out there are trying to make Americans believe that things are particularly worse than they really are in fact. Don't fall for it. Those folks coming to my area (and other tourist areas) are coming because we as Americans still enjoy the highest standard of living on the planet. They drive their motorhomes and tow their cars and drive the gas-hogs because they can. There are probably a select few who spend wildly above their means depsite the fact that they know better, but the vast majority of Americans are really doing pretty darned well.

There are those in the world who would like to see Americans all driving little egg-cars, hauling our motorhomes and SUVs to the scrapyard, and believing that our Western ways are all about to come crashing down just because theirs are. America is not Greece or any of the other poorly managed socialistic one-world desiring nations. Do we have our problems? You bet we do. But they are nothing that can't be handled by a proper administration of the resources we have. A decent President who fears God and walks in his ways and a people who do the same will come a long way in regaining the blessing of God overall in America.

We are still a shining beacon to the rest of the world, otherwise they wouldn't be coming here.

People still go on vacations all over the world despite the economic woes of the world's economy. Normal average people go skiing, go on cruises and all those things even if they cannot afford to go, others save for years to go on long holidays. And those people that travel throughout our country to 'tourist' spots fuel the economy whereve they go. Also there are many people who will always continue on in life doing what they wish even while the whole world crashes at their feet.

The only way we can bring this country back to what it was is if the majority of the people in this nation, including those elected to lead turn their hearts/will back to God. We know that it could happen we even have Ninevah as proof it can happen, sad thing is people will get a reprieve and return to their ways and we will find ourselves right back where we are.

For those who seek forms of freedom we have come here only to find that we are also on the road to decline they have seen in thier own countries. We forget we are not on our time line but Gods and if we are truly at the end of this age there will not be a thing we can do to stop what is ahead all we can do is pray to Him for protection and guideance as well as how we can help those around us.

shalom,

Mizz

[artsylady]

Bold Believer:

Okay, I do get your point now.

Are some of those doom and gloom prophets you are referring to economic strategists? I do hear quite a few of them lately talking of a crash etc. With what's going on in Greece etc, I tend to think they may be right. I also hear a LOT about upcoming food shortages.