Your normal is history

[Devlesko]

Ok, I can understand that many have either not lived through, or been affected by a recession before.
But do people really expect the past normal, before the virus, to become the normal of the future. AINBU to say wake up and start preparing to maybe lose your job, income, home, and get used to living without the luxuries, as recessions have proved in the past.

Or AIBU and this isn't going to happen and we'll all live happily ever after, just with thousands dead, no recession at all.

There's managing expectations and there's "your normal will be history" , you'll lose your jobs and homes, doom and gloom with some added sneering about "luxuries" . Except the poor ofc, they don't have anything to lose.

Not much will change for us. I am putting more effort into self sufficiency re. Growing fruit and veggies and more thought in helping friends and neighbours and planting way more than we need to ensure we can all eat. I can't see me ever wanting to go back to 'normal'.

Marie

Yes, we have lost a lot of our business, and it hasn't had an impact yet, and yes we live frugally.
I'm hardly likely to want the squeezed middle to be squeezed anymore as these are the ones that buy our services, and we'd like that to continue into the future. They are unlikely to do this if they have lost their jobs as our services are those they'd cut back on.
It has nothing to do with wanting people to lose their jobs, but everything to do with people being realistic that it may happen.
As I said before, if it doesn't apply to you, fair enough.

Ok you’ve back tracked a lot op. Suggest you read your own opening post again.

It has nothing to do with wanting people to lose their jobs, but everything to do with people being realistic that it may happen.

What form is this ''being realistic'' going to take OP? I don't understand what you want people to do/stop doing. Say/stop saying.

Exactly what do you want? Folk rending their clothes publicly, out on the street, wailing about ''what may happen'' to show how ''realistic'' they're being?

Stop trying to spread panic, no one really knows what will happen. We have recently been through a recession, we have experience.

@DrinkSangriaInThePark I live in Ireland and it's most definitely not true to say MOST of us suffered one of the events you mention. 20 percent maybe ?

Cheery thread

What a load of rubbish. Of course things will go back to normal. Obviously the grief of those who have lost loved ones will never leave them but in 5 years time these circumstances will be a distant memory. Life carries on whether we want it to or not. The world has been through many horrific pandemics before and it will again. Eventually things always go back to “normal”.

I think the OP needs to examine why she’s so desperate for people to be fretting and suffering about this. That’s quite disturbing to me.

This will be the mother of all recessions - in fact, a global depression with the greatest loss of wealth the world has ever seen. Hopefully, that will be as bad as it gets.

Well this is cheery.

Seriously OP why would you post this? You don't have a crystal ball, and your catastrophising is bloody irresponsible considering how many people are already deeply afraid for many reasons.
Not cool.

FoodieToo Well in November 2011, the unemployment rate was 15.9%. Add to that the 300,000 public sector workers who had their pay cut, which is almost 10% of the population. Then in 2009, 340,000 homes were recorded as being in negative equity. Again, 10%, or close to it. So you're right, not most people, but an enormous amount of the population suffered very badly...
That's not to mention the homeless crisis which was triggered and we are still in the depths of. I am a teacher and took a big pay cut, my husband lost his job, our house was in massive negative equity which we have just emerged from last year, 12 years later. Every single one of my friends suffered one of the above, but it hit my age group (first time buyers etc) worse than others so maybe that's why you didn't feel the effects as much?

My point was that when the OP said most haven't lived through a recession, I can't state firmly that many in Ireland absolutely did. And most survived. It's not insurmountable. So no need to scaremonger!

I don't know why people want this thread deleted. It's something we all have to think about, lile it or not

Of course we won't return to 'normal', and there will be both good and bad about that.

People are living in fantasy land when they moan about 'just wanting to get back to normal'.

Recessions and depressions change the trajectory of individual's lives, and the trajectory of each society. Add in a highly infectious disease for which there may not be a vaccine, and of course things will be different!

Some things will stay the same. Many things will change. They would have changed anyway, but now we're off on this unexpected (not really) path. Oh well.

You are not BU, OP>

It’s really going to depend on individual circumstances isn’t it?

If enough people's individual circumstances change, that changes things on a larger scale.

YANBU. Normal is gone.

However, if a lot of people are willing to go to Evesham ? to pick asparagus, and wherever else to pick strawberries, etc etc, then we may have a varied food supply. Think about the basics: our hand picked crops will rot in the fields. I know that sounds like scaremongering but really, who is going to pick the crops???

For those people saying What a load of rubbish. Of course things will go back to normal, how does that happen? If we don't make a plan for feeding the nation, how does it get fed? Unless, of course, there IS a magic money tree. These questions have to be asked. The government does not seem to be asking or answering, though. They must get on this.

I have read that this virus will cycle for two years without a vaccine. A vaccine is not expected for at least 18 months. We've got to face the new reality, surely, and come up with solutions instead of thinking "oh well, all will be back to normal soon..."

YANBU

It seems like some people aren't getting it, at all.

Yes

OP you are not being unreasonable. It's just hard for some to face the reality of this. It's too massive to contemplate. I'l just be happy too get safely out the other side of this.

To. Not too.

Will I go back to work - yes.
Will my child go back to school - yes.
Will we visit family and clean the house at weekends - yes.
Will we go out for family meals for birthday’s and Christmas - yes.
Will we take an annual vacation - yes.
Will we still eat far too much crap and not enough fruit & veg - yes.

For some people life will sadly change more than for others. But for many, like me, life will simply go back to how it was.

That’s assuming I don’t fall severely sick and die

Recessions come and go, epidemics come and go. It won’t be exactly like it was before. The lucky ones will loose their jobs or find themselves in negative equity. Those less fortunate will have people missing from their lives. Nothing can stay the same forever but it’s over dramatic to act as if a recession signals the end of an era, it’s just a normal part of macroeconomic cycles.

@vera99 how do you know?