bsrsharma: This is my third season coaching in Fallbrook. I attend coaches meetings every year and can recall seeing Mercedes C and E series, BMW 5 and 7 series and big SUVs the previous two seasons in the parking lot at the meetings. Not this year. Now, it’s more Chevy and Ford pickups and Toyota Camrys.
You get the sense of the air coming out of the balloon when you speak with folks, too. Previous couple of years it was this feeling of hubris (money to burn, house is appreciating) and now you get this underlying sense of anxiety.
I know a lot of folks that are buying groceries with credit cards, are not going on summer vacation to Disney World (or at all) this year or are pulling their kids out of private school.
I grew up in a pretty affluent area of the SF/Bay Area and went to Catholic school for 12 years. My dad was an aerospace engineer in Palo Alto. All in all, I had a pretty good life growing up, but it was nothing compared to the over the top, excessively lavish lifestyles that some of these families are enjoying (or were enjoying).
I remember seeing an H2 Hummer with an Xbox, DVD player (overhead) and video screens on the headrests for the kids in the back. The mom explained that her kids needed their “entertainment” and it was easier to spend the money on this gear than listen to them complain on road trips.
