Sell outs azz, I'm lookin forward to everyone else stayin off the water so I got more spaces and open water to enjoy!!!
Ask Neal, Andy and Jeffro... I've gone the last 4 trips out in my XB21 and still have 1/2 a tank of fuel left. That 225SportXS MAKES gas. :beer: I'm on cloud nine with this thing. The Direct Injection 150 Brude on my deckboat get surprisingly good mileage as well. I cussed those DFIs at first, but now that I got 2 of em and have put them through their paces I wouldn't take a farm in GA for em!
I've said for the last 2 summers that FINALLY high gas was gonna keep people off the lake. Then I'd stand in amazement at the boat ramp and wait my turn to launch!
It's like my uncle who was a marine dealer in the 70s usta say, "Folks GONNA find a way to pay for their fun no matter WHAT!"
$4 gas crashin the economy? NAWP get used to it, it's COMIN. Maybe even by rally time. There's a "new excuse" each day for high fuel prices, but the Euro vs the dollar is one REAL problem right now and that's NOT goin away anytime soon. We're paying $100 for a barrel of oil. The Europeans only hafta pay $50-$75 Euros for that same barrel of oil because their currency is so much stronger. That's partially why the ragheads are wanting to quit basing their oil on the U.S. dollar. BUT on the flip side that cheap U.S. dollar keeps foreign investment into the U.S. strong and keeps U.S. export demands strong globally. So it's all a trade and wash in the end. Pay now or pay later...
I saw diesel today at $3.58. Our nation RUNS on diesel, if that don't kill it first then $4 87octane aint gonna kill us either. The ones taking it on the chin are the "extras" retailers like Starbucks ($4 cups of coffee) and frivilous things like low end "luxury" items bought by the middle class. Those kinds of businesses are getting HAMMERED right now. But what are most of us gonna do, quit goin to work? NOPE we'll just cut elsewhere to make up for it. My wife will have to use the kitchen ALOT more in a weeks time versus the drive-thru and eating out before we give up playin in the boats this summer.
My biggest fear is domestic credit card debt, the debt owed on those is about to come calling once this housing "crisis" washes out. Folks just chargin and chargin like no tomorrow. A fall out of the credit card debt is what will take the banking system down faster than the housing/real estate market. The mortgages were half way solidified with real estate backing the loans and single digit interest rates to being with. (A bank might've loaned $300K on a house now worth $250K but their loss is $50K. If they have $300K in credit card debt that goes south they are STUCK with $300K in bad debt!) Double digit interest credit card profits is what has kept banks going this far. Remove that profit center and it's "KATY BAR THE DOOR"!!! :cuss
See ya in Savannah in June!!! :at the bar
RA
ps
DON'T fall for the "Asian commodity demand" crap either. China and India both are slowing down considerably. OUR economy drives the globe, plain and simple. Once our cash spigots are turned off you'll see those countries economies HEMORAGE as a result. WE ARE STILL THE 800# GORILLA and the global "powers that be" know it. They just hope no one realizes it before it's to late. China and India went "up" fast because of our senseless spending and standing in line at WalMart to buy container loads of their garbage. Once we're putting that money into our fuel tanks the dotheads and rice patty waders will be holding their breath and hoping we don't get wise...
