In This Together

I posted the other day on some possible benefits of people not being able to go out to dinner and the movies all the time. People having a game night, eating at home and getting to know each other; these may be good things for the new reality. Now I am not in the least oblivious to the pain and suffering to those out of work, without heat, without food and the like, and I fully support any government efforts to end any such suffering. Yet beyond that there are some side benefits to the situation. Our materialistic society is becoming a bit less materialistic. We may eventually resort to talking to each other for entertainment. And on a front I am looking at now, this may lead to family moving back in together.

I have been dealing lately with the prospect that my brother-in-law might move in with us. There are several factors in this, but a key one is that he has no job at the moment. I like my brother-in-law and look forward to the work he can do around the house. For the room and board, this may be a good deal. And I would not mind building a more extended family at our house.

We have a new economic reality in this country and need to get used to it. As the attached from Financial Armageddon notes, expect more families to move back in together, which is not necessarily a bad thing. We have over the past decade populated millions of McMansions with 3-5 people and there is plenty of room for more. Bring in your friends and family and let them pay for their keep through chores that you may or may not currently pay to have done, like garbage service, cleaning people, lawn service, snow plowing, dog sitting, baby sitting and the like. We with incomes are perhaps paying hundreds per month on these services that someone living at home, like a live-in relative, could do. So if they have no job, you can give them room and board and make it a win-win situation. The real win-win is family coming together. Bad times may lead to good outcomes. How is that for a silver lining?

http://www.financialarmageddon.com/2009/02/more-in-the-family.html

And After That Silver-Lining Break, Back to Reality

Another record bites the dust. Credit card delinquencies are at a record level, up nearly half a percent in a month, which is major when the rate is 3.75%. Keep those erasers handy as more records are in our future:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/02/credit-card-delinquencies-reach-record.html

And things otherwise are also sucking wind. Jobless claims are soaring to over 600K and factory orders are through the factory floor. I would give more detail but unfortunately I am quite busy and the linked article tells the tale.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/02/jobless-claims-soar-to-626k-factory.html

Disclosures: None