{"id":12754,"date":"2015-09-29T06:10:55","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T11:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=12754"},"modified":"2015-09-29T06:10:55","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T11:10:55","slug":"the-baby-boomer-survival-guide-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=12754","title":{"rendered":"The Baby Boomer Survival Guide (Part I)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baby Boomer Survival Guide (Part I)<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Yellow Machines Go Silent<\/strong><\/p>\n

PARIS \u2013 What should you do if you are running out of time and money? This is the question we get from readers over 50\u2026 over 60\u2026 and sometimes over 70.<\/p>\n

We baby boomers were famously \u201cna\u2026 na\u2026 na\u2026 live for today.\u201d Now, it\u2019s\u00a0tomorrow. And many of us \u2013 often through no fault of our own \u2013 are having trouble making ends meet.<\/p>\n

At the\u00a0Diary<\/em>, we write about the world of money. About economic policy and how it affects you. But what if, in\u00a0your\u00a0world of money, you are running short? What should you do to get more? Check under the seat cushions? Rob a bank?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll come back to this question in a few moments. First, let\u2019s take a look at the big picture.<\/p>\n

It appears that the world economy is headed for recession. An economy makes and takes. Whatever you make \u2013 whether it is an apartment building or a plastic toy \u2013 you have to begin by taking dirt out of the ground.<\/p>\n

\"Fleet_830X240\"Caterpillar-made fleet of mining trucks
\nPhoto credit: Caterpillar<\/p>\n

You need to dig a hole before you can put up a building\u2026 or even make a parking lot. And you need to scrape up raw materials \u2013 copper, iron, oil, etc. \u2013 before you can make anything at all.<\/p>\n

This requires machines. Yellow machines. When economic activity goes down\u2026 so do sales of these machines. Yellow machines move dirt. They are used in construction, mining, and every sort of resource industry. We\u2019re talking about backhoes\u2026 tractors\u2026 forklifts\u2026 excavators\u2026 bulldozers\u2026 and loaders.<\/p>\n

Ominously, demand for these machines \u2013 along with the stuff they move \u2013 is collapsing. Two of the biggest suppliers are Caterpillar in the U.S. and JCB in Britain. Both report catastrophic drops in sales.<\/p>\n

Caterpillar says its sales have fallen three years in a row. And it expects a fall of another 5% next year. This marks the first time in its 90-year history that sales have fallen four years straight.<\/p>\n

\"CAT<\/a>CAT\u2019s worldwide sales have been declining for quite some time (via Zerohedge<\/a>) \u2013 click to enlarge.<\/p>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Baby Boomer Survival Guide (Part I) The Yellow Machines Go Silent PARIS \u2013 What should you do if you are running out of time and money? This is the question we get from readers over 50\u2026 over 60\u2026 and sometimes over 70. We baby boomers were famously \u201cna\u2026 na\u2026 na\u2026 live for today.\u201d Now, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5728,1801,6190,5939,9373,366,536,1264],"class_list":["post-12754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","tag-acting-man","tag-baby-boomers","tag-bill-bonner","tag-caterpillar","tag-economy-policy","tag-global-economy","tag-money","tag-recession"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12755,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12754\/revisions\/12755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}