Has the economy affected you and your tractors?

[W7XYZ]

No, not yet. I'm retired so things are stable for me. This summer, I want to remove some trees and the stumps. After that, I may sell my JD790 as a package (FEL & BH). Depending on how things go, I may or may not get a replacement for it. Lack of storage space is my biggest problem.

 

[hitekcountry]

I'm retired and everything, cars, tractor, including real estate that I own is all free and clear. Back during both the stock market and the real estate booms when everyone else was caught up in the hype of the time, refinancing to buy more stuff they didn't need or to invest in the latest sure thing, I was paying double and some times triple payments on my mortgages. Back in those 'good days' I tried to warn people to be careful and be aware that things can turn around and bite them. People would either look at me like I was nuts or just laugh at me.

I've studied economics most of my adult life and all that is going on is no surprise to me at all.

People still laugh at me today. They want to believe what they want to believe.

 

[brin]

I'm retired and everything, cars, tractor, including real estate that I own is all free and clear. Back during both the stock market and the real estate booms when everyone else was caught up in the hype of the time, refinancing to buy more stuff they didn't need or to invest in the latest sure thing, I was paying double and some times triple payments on my mortgages. Back in those 'good days' I tried to warn people to be careful and be aware that things can turn around and bite them. People would either look at me like I was nuts or just laugh at me.

I've studied economics most of my adult life and all that is going on is no surprise to me at all.

People still laugh at me today. They want to believe what they want to believe.

Same here...people though I was crazy...wonder what they think now...LOL

 

[300UGUY]

Not a whole lot. I am buying a new tractor in the next week. I retired earlier than I planned from GM, but I am in pretty good shape financially. My wife has a small business, I help her with that, and I am doing more around the house. We eat out a lot, and it seems that the retired folks are the only ones spending money now. The social security set is the new middle class!! ( at least here in Michigan ). Everything is paid for, I get a pension, my wife makes a bit of money, and we are doing well. A couple things we have noticed: we don't see young familes in resturants much now. And when I talked about buying a new tractor, a couple of my friends looked a little uncomfortable. I had a personal finance class in college, that turned out to be the best class I ever had. I still remember the prof's name, pretty much the only one I can. I started saving for retirement in 1980. Life is good!!!!

 

[arrabil]

The few buyers tend to be sharks with cash and look to steal what they can for far under value.

I resemble that remark! Can't say I feel bad about it. Like a few guys above, both the tech boom and the housing boom were obviously short term, untenable situations to me. And I got called an idiot on a regular basis during both of them. Now I reap the rewards without shame. BUT I did lose at least one friend over it. Guy just couldn't stand that he made poor decisions while I did not. And he is so angry about it he decided he couldn't be around me anymore. Too bad for both of us I guess.

 

[MikePA]

The few buyers tend to be sharks with cash and look to steal what they can for far under value.

When did paying what something is worth become 'stealing'.

 

[MossRoad]

When did paying what something is worth become 'stealing'.

I think the real question is why should you pay what something is worth when you can get it for even less?

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been affected by the economy, and the direction our governement is taking the country. I'm self employed and work on my own for homeowners who hire me to remodlen their homes. I stay busy and havne't had to advertise in years, but I never know when the last job will be, or if I'll be without work for an extended period of time. It's a fear of being self employed that goes with the rewards of being your own boss.

I want to buy an excavator. I want one real bad, and have spent hours and hours researching them, trying them out and working out the numbers. It's something that would give me months more work time on my land, and speed up what I can get done. All in all, it's something that I really need.

My fear is that with all the new tax increases that are on the way, people being out fo work, and that number rising, that extra money to spend on making something pretty that isn't broken will become lower on peoples list of priorities. I'm terrified of taking out a loan to buy an excavator and not having the money to make the payments. I'm totaly debt free right now and can ride most anything if I have to, but going into debt right now just doesn't seem like a very smart move on my part.

I sure hope I'm wrong,
Eddie

 

[dmccarty]

I pretty much have what I NEED for the tractor. There is still stuff I WANT though.

The company I work for has made record earnings and profits even in these bad times. But they have been in stealth lay off mode for about 10 years. The company used to have about 300K employees with 200K in the US. Now it is 400K and 100K in the US. At least 100K jobs lost overseas but you don't hear a word on the news about it.

Many people I have worked with over the years have lost their jobs. I went to lunch with a guy this week who had been laid off last year. Good guy but in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is moving 17 hours away to work at a new job since he cannot find work locally. His wife and kids will stay behind while he sees how things go. After a YEAR they will see if the family joins him or if he will move back here. :confused2:

A while ago I was at the JD dealer buying parts and such. The sales guy I have known for 10 years and I were talking. Great guy. Great dealer. Nice to walk in the door and have people know your name. He told me he had sold tractors to seven people at my company since I had bought mine. I was the last one still employed by said company. The rest had lost their jobs.

I have discussed this with my parents but I don't think they understood how bad things were and are. My dad happened to be with me at the JD dealer and heard the conversation with the salesman. I think at that point my dad understood how bad things were.

The wifey and I have been seriously talking about selling off land. We could easily do so but with low prices and no many buyers now is not the time. We do not want to sell but if we did it would remove most if not all of our debt. Which would be nice. But we like our privacy. The quiet. If we sell we loose it. We also don't get as much money for the land sale since the capital gains tax rate is going up to pay for this huge debt these idiots in office have given us.

So we are hurting only because my company is offshoring jobs while making decent and record profits. The jobs out there have many people for each position at lower pay rates. There are MORE jobs out there today compared to last year. So things are getting better.

Later,
Dan

 

[LBrown59]

Not so much with the cost of operating the tractors but more yo do with the cost of materials to do or complete products with.