Ideas Needed
Now that the entire country is in a deep recession, what can we all do to help lessen the impact of the recession on the city of Youngstown?
One of the very first things is to recognize the fact that we must put our family first, by cutting back on extras such as frequent eating out, or going to every show that comes to town.
There are ways that we can entertain ourselves on the cheap such as subscribing to Netflick.
While in the short term this would affect restaurants and shows, but which is more important, them or our families?
A second idea would be to put off on unnecessary purchases, especially high end purchases such as high definition TV's. The cable systems will allow us to watch all our favorite programs on our current analogue TV's.
Keep credit card purchases to the minimum.
We're a first class example of how to minimize the impact of a recession on a community.
We've been living in one since the late '70s!!!
Here is some very serious food for thought, especially now.
http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/nov/13/gm-troubles-produce-worry-in-valley/
Would someone kindly explain how we are to support such things as the arts and dining out when the area has already been told we will be losing 1100 good paying jobs, and if GM goes belly up, even more?
You will know things are really bad when people start canceling their cable TV, cell phone service, internet service, and fast food restaurants start laying off workers.
Fast food workers are being laid off?
I really try to keep a positive attitude about our economy and not get wrapped up in all the negativity the media is presenting to us, but fast food jobs not even being available is pretty bad.
Personally, I am coping with the recession by going back to school to finish my degree. I made this decision after I lost my job in real estate due to crazy market conditions. I've got 2 more years to finish my undergrad work and then, hopefully, law school. I hope by the time I'm done with all of this there will actually be jobs again.
As a previous poster mentioned, my household has cut back unnecessary spending...but we've pretty much always been broke, so we did that LONG before the recession.
I met two friends for lunch today at a South Avenue restaurant. We were the only customers in the business between noon and 1:15 p.m.
A very, very, very, very GREAT answer for dining in hard times like this.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/business/15spam.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
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Wow! Great article. Full of hilarious phrases like "meat with a pause button". ROFL.
Maybe that is the answer to the Valley's economic woes...we need a SPAM factory.
I'm telling my age, but when I was a child, Mother served SPAM a lot, a whole lot in fact and reserved most of her meat ration stamps for Sunday.
She would put cloves in it and made a sauce to put over it that had pineapple in it and we enjoyed it just fine.
Back then, you learned not to be pickey about your meals, but Dad did insist on a real roast on Sunday.
We had a garden so there were plenty of fresh vegetables.
Spam is very popular in Hawaii.
http://www.viamagazine.com/top_stories/articles/hawaiian_food05.asp
People can start using the WRTA to really save money.
Did you ever calculate the cost of running all of the automobiles in your household for the year?
Hmm, an interesting suggestion but absolutely out of the question.
Lets consider my situation. I live in Hubbard Township. A little place called Coalburg. There are no buses here. I sometimes work in Masury. No buses there. I sometimes come to downtown Youngstown but I would have to drive half way to downtown before I could find the nearest bus stop.
I just don't see how WRTA is going to do anything for me.
I did ride the bus for 10 years to Niles Ohio and then the route was cut out, I was forced to take a drivers test , get licensed and buy a car, or loose my job, which I lost my job any way to the company closing up after I went through the extent anyway to become a licenced driver. Now I do need to find a job.
I often wonder how people that rely solely on mass transit in large cities manage to bring home groceries. Do they shop every day? Are they allowed to take filled rolling carts on buses and subways?
I often see people with packages take the WRTA to grocery shop in Youngstown. They usually confine their purchases to two plastic bags and then carry one with each hand. I believe a shopper could take one of those two wheel shopping carts on the bus.
From what I understand, they shop more often than we do and there are more stores, so I would assume many people walk as well.
I don't actually do this, because my mom visits every 3-4 weeks and we grocery shop then. But, if that's not an option, I would shop every week or so. Also, I have seen people bring the 2-wheeled carts that Jay mentioned on the bus.