Has things changed BIG time in U.S !!

[XR8tt]

Went to Sema show this year in Vegas 4 Nov..
I drove down through Mexico boarder then up to Phoenix,
Pine top, Kayenta.. Sema show for two days in Vegas..
Then drove to Aspen Springs Colorado, Sioux city. Then Naperville Ill where my brother lives.. All done by myself and Mrs as "passenger"..
What I couldn't get over is the economy !!! Sheesh everyone
We hired a Pontiac G6 which wasn't too bad for economy and LONG reasonably high speed without costing too much to hire!!
I didn't do too bad considering I was driving on other side of the road and turning at intersections took some concentrating !!
Trip from Pine Top Arizona to Kayenta was interesting !!
The GPS said turn right down this metal road for 7 miles...
Went down this slope which went into a steep hill which I couldn't possibly drive back on !!
Then after 7 miles the GPS says, "turn right for another 155 miles!!
Anyway after driving through 3 canyons and 4 river beads we made it through ..Sheesh I was worried there for a while.. G6's are definitely NOT 4 wheel drive vehicles !!

What I was astonished at, is everyone complaining about the price of things... Yea I know there has been a massive problem with the economy !! But it really struck me just how bad!! When so called rich people just walk out there houses. Obviously dept is an issue there !!!

 

[Lextreme II]

The situation had changed alot of American way of spending money and behavior. I think it is also a good wake up call for all of us. As for most Asians, we tend to save and reserve for the raining days. My two brothers got layoff because they company closed down. We also have friends got layoff too. However, as for my family we are not much affected by it. Both my wife and I are in the healthcare industry and pretty much not effected what so ever. However, if our health care system change that will be another story. Obama Care going to really affect everyone. Good or Bad. Remember, there is NO FREE LUNCH.

 

[Smitherz]

It's not going to get any better either. It's VERY hard for me to visit clients or engage in any conversation without the other person wanting to go into the subject of politics! Seriously, I've seen people start to just rant about the economy, the president, congress and most commonly start to go nuts talking about our health care system and how it's all going to hell. You have to be careful what you say or you can set people off on a never ending conversation these days.

I wish I would have known you were @ SEMA. I'm sure you mentioned it here but I missed it! Glad you had fun visiting here. Talk about the economy!! SEMA definitely is different this year. They try to say that the market is "changing" towards "greener" vehicles. I don't know if they are green but they are definitely cheaper choices in vehicles I know that for sure! Not good for the auto industry profits. There were many differences in the show that I noticed this year including the number and type people that attended. I went to a few seminars and the speakers were definitely affected by the economy and they tried to give advice the best they could to their listeners. SEMA was still fun though.

Oh and the number of massive trucks on display was about 20% of what it was just a couple years ago when I last attended. Everyone missed the rock crawlers.

 

[XR8tt]

Yea I spent two days there and STILL missed some exhibits ...
Funny thing that happened to us there.. Talk about out of town'rs!!
We parked our car at a hotel car park about 3 miles away ...
Took the bus ... At the end of day we took a bus... Aha NOT the same hotel !!!
How do you explain to people that you left your car in a hotel car park some where in Vegas?? Hmmm ??
Then I remembered we got off on bus 2 ....
So we went back to bus 2 and took the bus BACK to the hotel car park...
Sheesh!! I noted the car park BUT NOT the hotel... Didn't think there would be other hotel car parks!!! Thought I was going through a belt of dementia ...
Haha quite funny now.. But not at the time...
Yea I doubt these cars are green?? But they warn't intended to be ??