Speaking of sending an economic message...

[FirstLight]

I don't have any big purchases planned that I can think of. Stocked up on a lot of houe stuff since my recent ex was a little bit of a hoarder...lol

Currently I have a Kia soul it's a 2024... I'm thinking of trading it in for something a little more rugged...any suggestions as to good car companies?
If I do it it's going to happen before January.

Also...
What about everybody striking on income tax next year? Has that idea grown legs yet? If that's the case then I will cash in some chips and prepare even more...
Though I don't make any actual money and I've been living off my savings for a while...so no real income to report. I don't think the IRS is going to be looking for the likes of me ..

Thoughts?

[magicarpet]

1. Subaru vehicles are very rugged.

Might be worth a test drive.

[FirstLight]

2. I think they're a pretty wonderful company too

At least that's the image they seem to project. And I want something rugged enough to tow something so that's a great idea

[gab13by13]

3. I buy Subarus because of the Boxer engines

The engine sits lower in the engine compartment and thus the car handles better.

Daughter had a Mercedes and her next car was an Ascent which she likes better.

[Qutzupalotl]

4. Not paying your taxes would be a big mistake.

Claiming it as a form of protest will not protect your from prosecution. Why give them an excuse to go after you?

[FirstLight]

5. I had read the idea here and a couple places

Just wondering if that had grown legs that's all. I like the idea of crippling them in that way if there was only enough of us to do it LOL the IRS is so overblown right now and so fucked up there like 9 months behind so I don't think any of us are in any danger at that point...

But yeah otherwise I guess be a good citizen and all and pay my taxes 🤪

[roamer65]

7. Bingo.

The best way to cripple Dump is to deliver him a Great Recession 2.0

[Morbius]

15. This is dangerous.

The right wing have their own media apparatus. A recession, if it happens, will be blamed on Democrats and liberals, whether justified or not. Real people, American people, will suffer far more than the rich crowd who hang around Trump. The majority of the country live on the margins; more than 100 million of us are THISCLOSE to poverty. Do not root for another Great Recession. The bad guys will weather the political fallout and way too many good people will undergo real hardship.

No, no, no.

(Edited for spelling.)

[roamer65]

16. It's coming next year.

Prepare for it.

The business cycle cannot be stopped or repealed.

[roamer65]

6. Pay off debt as rapidly as you can.

I fully expect a severe economic crash next year as China and Germany continue towards their hard landings. The contagion will come to the USA.

[tgraf66]

11. Agreed

I'll give it until March for the economic signs in the US to start coming to crescendo, until June for the unemployment and interest rates to skyrocket, and I expect we'll be in a full-blown recession/depression before fall, end of the year at the latest.

[roamer65]

14. I'm expecting a deflationary recession/depression.

At least during it.

No telling what the unlimited QE will do longer term.

[CentralMass]

8. The Kia Soul is actuall a pretty decent car. The hatch back and fold down seats give it some utility.

[FirstLight]

9. It's okay for City living...

And with studs on I'm even impressed how it handles in the snow here in Tahoe.

But if I'm bugging out and going to have a contingency plan I think I need a all-wheel drive and something a little rougher so I'm willing to go for something older and tougher 😆

[CentralMass]

12. I had Jeep CJ5 when I was younger. A Jeep Wrangler would'nt be a bad choice.

[cachukis]

10. Never thought to hoard.

But as I think.
Need a new refrigerator. Have to beat tariffs.
50lbs of flour, KA, in freezer.
Yeast.
Vegetable, olive oil.
Tinned fish.
Beans, canned, dry.
Rice.
Canned tomatoes.
Toothpaste.
Soap.
And...

[2naSalit]

13. I have...

A 42 yo Toyota 4Runner that I'll keep until I die. Take little to maintain and runs on regular gas.

Over all, Subaru is good and older Toyotas. Or new ones.

[JI7]

17. I don't want to send an economic message but it's more about what is to come

and to prepare as much as possible for it.

The whole tariff thing just seems like a way to make corruption in govt easier.

I think we need to do something about excessive consumerism anyways for environmental reasons. On a personal level we can all try to change our lifestyles in a way to protect the environment.

[DFW]

18. Not much I could send from here.

Between local (German) taxes plus taxes I still have to pay back in the States, I get hit for about a 73% tax rate on most if my income. The only things the Germans and the IRS agree on is that the Germans get to tax my Social Security benefits (50% with no deductions) and the IRS gets to tax whatever interest income I get. I have no German income, but they tax all my American income, including what the USA taxes as well.

Fortunately, my wife and I are fairly conservative in financial matters, and will not live beyond our means. She didn’t quite grow up in poverty, but rural post-war Germany was no life of middle-class bliss, either. Her mom sewed her clothes, and they had no refrigerator, TV, car, clothes washer or dish washer. We live better than that now, of course, but she has never forgotten what it means to make do with less. As a social worker, she had a life-long job of working with people on the edge.

The Germans do not play around when it comes to tax collection. I once sent a quarterly estimated tax payment to the “wrong” account (they found it a week later), and it took them about three days after the due date to send us a threatening letter telling us to prepare for them to seize our house. Heil Honecker.

As for cars, we tend to buy new ones, and then drive them until they fall apart, so it has been quite a while since we even checked out what they cost these days. Mine is well over ten years old. Sales tax is 19% here, so it’s never cheap. We buy locally-made (German) cars because it’s less of a pain to get parts if they are needed. We buy sturdy cars because the Germans drive like maniacs, and accidents on the Autobahn look like a demolition derby. It is the only reason my wife is still alive.