Is the recession affecting your fishing

I don't know about other folk but the recession has definitely affected my fishing. In fact it seems to have affected everything.

I remember about five years ago when the cost of fuel started to fo up, posting a thread about it on a forum because it was noticeable at that time. Since the cost of fuel has gone up everything seems to have just snowballed. Food prices started to rise and gas and electricity got more and more expensive. Then the recession hit, work became harder to come by, so I adapted to try and get more work. This was ok for a little while then that started to dry up so you adapt again, working for less money just to pay the bills.

It is very difficult to stay positive at times. I am what I would consider to be reasonably clever person, fit and able but I can't keep myself in work. The jobs that are coming around are getting smaller and folk are wanting everything done for less and less probably because the squeeze is on them too. But, a point is going to come when it is time to say enough is enough. I'm already working for less than half what I was getting 3 years ago and people want you to work for them for  what they consider is a fair rate. Well, I'm sorry, but it just doesn't work that way. Every business has overheads and costs that folk don't see. I'm entitled to some holiday time, I don't have an office or premises but it's getting to the stage where I can't keep my van on the road. I'm not looking to rip anyone off but it works both ways. No one should be out to exploit someone else but it is going on and it is getting worse.

I heard a story the other day that came from a major contractor whose policy was that it was cheaper to employ cheap immigrant labour and have them screw up 30% of the job then get our skilled tradesmen to fix the problems than it was to get  the job done properly in the first place. You've got to take stories like that with a pinch of salt but then again, the way things are and the way rates are being cut I can quite believe it.So what do the guys who are having their rates cut do ? They start working for people directly for less than they should be and it all just carries on from there.

More and more I am seeing guys on jobs who are driving beat up old vans but they are still working for themselves. What happens though, they soon find out they can't live on the rates they are charging and decide to go back to working for someone else but everyone loses out in the long run. You lose because they won't come back to fix their shoddy work, they lose because they are working for less than they should be and I lose because I could've done the work for you.

So, if you ask me the question, is the recession affecting my fishing ? The answer is yes and that means it's not only me it's affecting. It's affecting the garage owner I would have bought fuel off of, the grocer I would've bought my pieces from, the fishing shop I would've bought tackle and bait from, the newsagent where I would've bought a book or magazine and the fishery or land owner I would've bought a permit from.

What's the lesson here ? The lesson is that when you think you're getting a bargain, chances are that you will end up paying for it in the long run.

Vote for politicians who are going to protect your standards of living and make it a requirement of their manifesto to say that. It's all going too far, never mind the expenses scandle, I don't know about you but I want a politician to work for the money he is getting. These guys you see on the news and read about in the local paper are not doing it for the love of you or me they are drawing a wage and a very good one by todays standards.