Hardwood Floors and the sinking Minneapolis Economy

It is happening. We are in a recession. But here is the funny thing. Gas prices are $1.67 per gallon, I just sold a very nice house in Northeast Minneapolis for under $100,000, and you can buy a brand new Chevy full size truck for under $11,000. So this is good, right? It depends on who you are. I like it. We were paying $4.00 per gallon a few months ago and three years ago I bought a similar house that I just sold for $98,000, for $200,000. My truck which is 12 years old and has 190,000 was $6,000, which is 54% the price of a new truck with zero miles. So, I am either a very bad businessman and bought stuff at too high a price, or prices are deflating. Well, I would like to believe the latter. What is wrong with this situation? I say nothing. My hardwood flooring business is more profitable now because of lower gas prices. Houses are more affordable now. We have more money in our pockets, if you still have a job. People can save money. Yes, people will lose their jobs. Yes, General Motors will go bankrupt, and yes people will lose their homes. But, we learn from this right? Isn’t this a lesson about managing money? We can’t get into too much debt, it is bad and this is the result. Too much lending, led to too much spending, and that led to too much speculation and not enough due diligence. It is like if you just try to read the cliff notes for your final test, but not read and analyze the real book: you never do as well. Right now we are trying to buy debt with debt and spend with debt to get out of debt. You know where this is going right? It doesn’t make sense. Don’t try to make it complicated. We need to take our lickings. We need to pay off our debts. We need to generate revenue and decrease spending. That is the only way out and will always be. This is what needs to happen before it starts happening again. Call me today for a free hardwood floor sanding estimate.