While surfing the Nostr Universe this evening I came across a post that reminded me of something that happened in my life during the 2008 real estate bubble. This information may help you make decisions during the upcoming recession. Long story, but in the end, banks for fuck you.

I was a six figure income earning Realtor for several years leading up to the 2008 bubble. Between August, 4 2008, when Wall St. decided to stop buying subprime mortgages and a year later I made less than $15,000.

At this point I had to prioritize my bills. Food, electricity and water because kids like to eat. Car before house payment because I need to drive to work and I can always rent. Credit cards last.

Then it happened, I was about three months behind on my credit cards, but still had a few months of reserves to pay my living expenses. The credit card companies contacted my bank and emptied my account! Without notice! Apparently credit card distributors have agreements with banks where they can take all of your money!

I thought I had it all. When I drove my Porsche to my yacht from my big house, I thought I was on top of the game even though I was $1 million in debt.

We were destitute overnight. We ended up moving from a 3500 square-foot house and having everything one would think they always wanted to living in a single wide trailer on a hippie commune 90 minutes outside of town. There were days where we could only afford to eat once or twice a day. There were several days where if I didn’t garden, hunt and fish, we would’ve gone without food.

Welfare and food stamps are based on your previous years income and because I had made so much money the previous year we were ineligible. I was self-employed, so I was ineligible for unemployment. Imagine telling a two-year-old and a four-year-old. “Let’s skip lunch because we have work to do.” it was an excuse to distract them from their hunger.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad experience, my young children had to share a bed, but they never complained about being cold when the 40 year old heater went out because they had plenty of blankets and sleeping bags.

My oldest son, now 20 years old remembers his fourth birthday. We were working outside when I heard a quail call in the distance. I taught him what a quail call sounds like and we ended up getting nine in a couple hours. We ate like royalty that evening. Even from such a young age, and so many years later, he still remembers that day.

I could go on and on about my tribulations. But that’s not the point. My point is that big business or banks will fuck you and they don’t care about you or your kids. Be careful because there’s a lot of fine print that will get your bank account sucked dry overnight.

My other point is that kids are resilient. Make them work, it’s healthy for them. I’ve been hunting buddies with my son for 16 years since that day. They don’t complain when I ask them to put the chickens away at 9:30 PM on a long summer night. It’s just part of life and leading a sustainable lifestyle.