A Sign There Are Bumpy Times Ahead

I just read this morning that the automotive dealers here in Southern California are refusing to accept thier lease vehicles back when the contracts are expired. Another news item a week or two ago was about Dodger Stadium. Thier parking lot is full of vehicles that the lease is expired on. This tells us a LOT. No vehicles being leased. No one driving to work. No new vehicles being sold. The price of new and used vehicles dropping to next to nothing. Defaults on auto loans. On one hand, I am glad to see the auto industry get whacked. They have been putting the screws to the pubic for DECADES. But on the other hand the economy looks pretty grim. I own all my vehicles outright. I am glad for that. I am also glad I am retired. As long as my pension plans hold together, and Social Security stays together, it will not affect me much. If something happens to them, I''ll have to "wing it". I wish everyone the best out there. ...JD.

 

Well oil just went to -$37 a barrel Don't ask me HOW you do that.
But I WILL say I saw this crash coming several years ago when the US
started pumping shale oil and putting it on an already overcrowded market.
All it needed was some trigger to make it crash. Covid-19 provided that....J.D.

 

As someone said, the prices have not yet dropped. Here in California, we pay some of the highest gasoline prices in the US. Funny, because we have our own refineries in the state. It is a very manipulated industry, for sure. A little more on what we are being told here is that the problem lies in storage. So little fuel is being used by the consumers that the supply.chain is being flooded with surplus. I haven't been out on Main St. to see what our fuel prices are, but I doubt they have come down much yet. The retail stations alway try to hold the price up as long as they can. They can only keep the fuel in thier tanks so long. They have to keep it flowing. If they do not sell fuel, they cannot refill thier tanks to make more money. ..J.D.

 

The lease situation has to do with the issue.of what the virus situation has done to the economy. Not that people are worried about being infected. We have lost tens of thousands of jobs. No one is buying or leasing automobiles. The streets are empty because no one is going.anywhere. This is also causing the fuel situation. All none essential businesses were ordered shut down by the governments, both federal and state.. NOW the govenment is starting.to say they need to "open up" the country, but the damage is done. It will take some time before.this situation returns to normal. You cannot.just tell.everyone stay home from work without it hitting the economy hard. ...J.D.

 

I have resorted to staying in. I'm older than dirt, and my heath is not so good. I bought me a tower PC and connected it to my flat screen TV and communicate by video conferencing. I hope this passes soon but I am not taking any chances. ...J.D.

 

Nothing that drastic with me. I grew up in a oil refinery town and.spent the first 40 years of my life working in garages, machine shops and factories, so my lungs are not so great. At 74, I have learned to take care of what you have left. I have been able to get 11+ years in to retirement, and want the stretch that as far as I can ...J.D.