So yeah...

Am I too young for a mid life crisis?  I never had to question life too much before and now I'm always questioning it.  Or maybe I did wonder about some stuff but not as hard as I do now?  I don't know. 

So here's my thing.  I called the housing crisis and the start of the recession.  I mean, I didn't say, hey there's going to be a recession, but I kept on asking every one I knew, how are people affording these $400,000 houses?  That's and executive priced house and most people I know are not executives!  And then boom, turns out people really couldn't afford them and ta da, the situation we're in today.

So I try and use my so-called reasoning skills now, trying to figure out the best way to use the rest of the life that I have left to maximize my earnings and protect my family as much as I can from any disasters.  No, I'm not building a bubble around my house.  But I keep a stockpile of water.  I'd like a weeks' worth of non-perishable food.  I guess some people might scoff but if there's a big earthquake or hurricane, shit can go south very quickly. 

Anyway, so here's what I see, gather around kiddies.  I see an economy still struggling.  I see a lot of empty stores and yet new buildings going up.  That tells me, there isn't the money for new businesses, not good, and that the local chamber of commerce is more concerned about collecting money from issuing building permits than working on developing business.  Seriously, go to Zion's Crossroads and look at the Louisa County side (Walmart, Lowes, multiple restaurants and gas stations), then look at Fluvanna's side - crickets.  No seriously, there's a big field, I'll bet it's full of crickets.  Oh and there are also still a lot of empty houses.  What does that tell me?  My property value is likely to go down.  The number on your property assessment is just a number it's not what people will pay in the real world.

Where does that take us from there?

Well, if people are losing value in their homes, that means their retirement plans could be in jeopardy.  Which means they could work longer, which could affect some of us waiting for the baby boomers to retire already. 

Geez there are so many variables, it's easy to get sidetracked.  Anyway, I guess it's batten down the hatches and ride it out.  Sigh.  And Lily just came in here to explain her Littlest Pet Shop game to me and well, there's no escaping.