Wow, predictions of change made to make things sound better. How crazy. Reality check, the economy, production of product, went overseas years ago, thanks to the government taxing process and minimum wages. What a joke. The government brought this whole mess on us while we were enjoying cheap Walmart products. Simple supply and demand. Taking some responsibility for our own demise is what will fix this. There will always be rich people and poor people, because that is what they choose. Being happy with something over nothing is better any day.

the government brought this whole mess on us while we were enjoying cheap Walmart products

Did the government force you to shop at Walmart? No, it didn't. If anything, it stood idly by while Walmart destroyed local economies and engaged in union-busting activities.

Speaking of hypocrisy, why don't you stand up and take some personal responsibility for your actions, and how they've affected the environment (yes, the economic one) you live in. You know, rather than blaming Tuh Gubbmint for your problems?

I wish they would design a wider range of the low end options.

Who needs a 30' RV? I would love to have something "better than a pop-up" less than a motorcoach.

Elkhart ? Is this the poster child for the current admistration ? The place used to be a major manufacturing center. So where did it all go ? NAFTA had a lot to do with it. Thank your government for stabbing the American worker in the back and passing this trade agreement. Goes to prove how disconnected our politicians really are from the realities working people are facing. Can you imagine what they will do to healthcare ? These clowns scare me. Have a great Labor Day weekend and ask yourself what does Labor Day really mean.

Less Jobs means less RVs. Bring back the Jobs! Start building things in the good old USA again. Increase taxes by increased payrolls. Not hard to see the problem but it's going to be tough to fix. Pointing fingers and being hateful, making snotty comments really helps! I hope this country can grow past the hate and jealousy that is present now. I hope and Pray my children and grandchildren will have the opportunity to live and work and be prosperous. My life is almost pasted and it's been good. I feel sorrow that I,m not leaving it in better shape than when I was born!!

Econ101: Elkhart is a center for RV production, RV purchases are almost always debt financed, RVs are high cost depreciating assets. From a bank perspective considering the rise in loan defaults across the board, one of the most dangerous loans of all is a loan for a large amount ona depreciating asset. Motorhomes are like cars...they WILL depreciate! This creates a greater loss in event of a repo. Additionally, RVs are a discretionary item, most people are coming to realize the difference between needed items are luxury items. People are also starting to realize the danger of carrying a lot of debt. Using a high amount of debt might raise the old FICO score but that will vaporize when there is a job loss and defaults follow. A wiser and more prudent approach is for people to save for a rainy day(s) which surely will occur in nearly everyone's life. Cut the budget to essentials only and build a fund that will pay the bills for 9-12 months. Unfortunately for Elkhart, RVs and other big ticket luxury items do not fit this model. Lesson for Obama et al: increase the savings level and stabilize the banks and control the interest rates. a GREAT economy has high savings, low debt and balanced government budgets. Anyone with low or negative net worth should be prevented from borrowing large sums of money for long time frames.

Idea

The RV industry should try promoting fractional ownership and rentals.

RV's do not decline in value as automobiles do. They stabilize in value. Go up a little bit and then start to decline in value over a period of time. The problem is at the initial cost of the unit being so high.

Then again, no new RV owner is going to be driving off the lot unless he can prove that he can pay for that new expensive rig. The economy feeds the rich, by the work of the poor.

"RV's do not decline in value as automobiles do" um are you smoking crack? yes they do and alot more then cars.

But really RV's and the generation that supports that industry "people in there 50's-70's" are the reason this country is where its at now. Most elderly are more concerned about getting that new super 30 foot RV then making sure their grandkids had some kind of college savings.

So next time you see one driving down the road give them a big thank you in the form of a middle finger

RVs. Yet another "want" that warrants gushing torrents of excess money to live like nomads without those "pesky" elements of nature. I completely agree that once we retire, we have earned the right to enjoy life as we wish and if we have the money, some extras are ok. Those days are dwindling, though. I just wish folks (like myself) had or would use more restraint and realize our lavish standards have already put a massive dent in our futures, the economy, and the environment. We're the laughing stock of rapidly growing economies now. I've been all over the world, and have heard the incredulous comments of those who read about or have heard of our internal conflicts, frivolities, and insane standards of living in the news. I've seen poverty so shocking it made my stomach turn and cried because I can't do a thing to help.

I'm not rich nor even above water financially, but I could be, if I'd only used my young brain for something other than a calculator to see how much more I could squeeze out of my pay for another toy. I've been living paycheck to paycheck for nearly three decades because I thought I had to have so much stupid stuff. My frivolous purchases weren't as big as some folks'--they were things like TV's, upscaled furniture I couldn't afford; elaborate skincare (snake oil) and makeup scams I fell for; get-rich-quick bauble or skincare selling schemes I invested money into a hundred dollars at time; looking for that pink Cadillac; a newer car with a bigger price tag rather than a reliable used one; clothing put on store credit cards because I thought (when I was young) that second-hand stuff was for "losers". My kids, up to age 9-10, had everything possible from the best stores around. When they really began to need a lot of stuff, there was no savings to buy it with (the divorce was paid for by a loan, also). I was paying bills on the stuff we'd charged for their early years, as a single mom. Don't scorn me. I'm remarried, buying all second-hand now, and feel horrible having been a financial "loser"--not saving when I could have! Had a couple of yard sales to get rid of the financed stuff so I could pay down the credit cards. Still have a long way to go. I'm building a slowly evolving cash pile to leave to my kids as I frantically maneuver to pay off the mountain of debt we so foolishly built. It's $18,000--pocket change for many, but it might as well be a million bucks to us. Serving our country doesn't pay a six figure income, but I do have great benefits because I did so. I don't know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck just to put food on the table and clothe the kids, or what it feels like to lose everything. Medical bills aren't an issue for me, but they are for my adult daughter. College fund? How about calling it a survival fund for our kids? Wish I'd done that. I do know what feeling like a fool in my middle-aged years feels like. Why aren't WE ensuring your kids have "college money," if it's the mantra of our age group? Is college the only thing that makes a person worthwhile, the only thing to be saved for? How many parents who consistently put their kids into the performance pressure cooker ("you'll be who I want you to be because the society I perceive expects this from you") have seen the precious college savings stored for naught, as their babies later stomped angrily out of the house to live a life they have chosen that contradicts the pressure to be perfect? Who among us has ever sat down and asked a six-year old what she or he likes? Many today, even in our own generation, know the emptiness and despair of having become someone other than who ourr parents wanted us to be, but never got the praise we deserved for our own accomplishments while growing up. When the final survivors of the Great Depression pass away and all their hard-earned estates are dolled out, the generation emanating forth during the Great Recession will have no more cash inheritances or assets to argue over. All of this excess will gradually be absorbed and transformed into hard, neutral ground for stronger, smarter (common sense!), wiser generations to build upon. Their ancestry will have left piles of debt behind for their children and state governments to resolve with whatever assets they possessed. Look in the mirror. We have GOT to get our priorities in order, people! You can't warm your butt on yesterday's sunshine.

Such a petty thought for so many--the environment--I'm not even an activist; but the recent coverage of how much destruction is being wrought on the planet's carbon absorbers (trees, rainforests) and the extinction of animal species is beginning to really affect my way of thinking. I never would have considered recycled or earth-freindly products before learning of the true toll on the future of humanity.

Were we (the U.S.) to be suddenly thrown into a state of long-term national emergency, would you be running around like Chicken Little or would you simply turn to your emergency stores? Do you know how to grow, process and preserve your own food? Or do you have links to someone generous who'd bail you out in such a situation? Do you really think your friendly neighbors wouldn't aim a shotgun at you for approaching their door? Countries without RVs, sprinkler systems, golf courses and toilet paper don't even know about our problems--they are trying to find food and water. And, they don't throw their disabled elders away into cash-sucking, lonely places where the younger generations (who consider themselves entitled to estates) rarely visit, either.

If anyone outside the United States flipped off an elderly person, there would be serious retribution from the family and, in some places, authorities. Dignity, respect and honor (instead of entitlement and ignorance) factor into the equation. There are no nursing homes in Ethiopia, China, or Mexico. Elderly family members have the dignity and respect for their wisdom and experience, and are cherished and treated as such, wihout regard for amassed wealth or the lack thereof. Sometimes there are three generations to a home that would fit ten times into our "minimum" sized home for a family of four. These folks don't get as sick as we do because they live on healthy food and rarely turn to processed or fast food. The elders live out their final years advising, leading and loving a family that surrounds them with love in return. This doesn't happen because there isn't enough housing--it happens because families respect every single generation of members and regard a home as a place to sleep and eat. Work is what happens between those events. There isn't any greedy, ugly grovelling over deceased members' posessions.

It grieves me to watch on a daily basis, a neighbor with substantial wealth and land has offspring waiting for him to die so they can sell off the farm, lot by lot, to crowded developments of huge houses filled with financially over-extended families who are waiting for their parents to die, too. What we didn't earn was never ours to claim, to begin with. When times get tough for those who have yet to experience it, who will we turn to?

piddly, I feel for you as I am in a similar situation financially. I concur with all you said and hope for you as well as myself and others that when we recover as a country that we all can apply more restraint in our indulgences.