I know times are tough, but holy cow!

[houstonphotographics]

<p>Always a day late and a dollar short :( This person must have had a serious emergency to just give this away. What a shame.<br>

<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Hasselblad-500-CM-150mm-Sonnar-A12-Back-Chimney-Finder-/170679445919?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item27bd49a99f">http://cgi.ebay.com/Hasselblad-500-CM-150mm-Sonnar-A12-Back-Chimney-Finder-/170679445919?pt=Film_Cameras&hash=item27bd49a99f</a></p>

<p> </p>

[paulopires]

<p>With minor effort he could sell it for twice as much, but his feedback is beyond any question.<br />I got a mint Mamiya Pro TL with lens, back, ready to shoot for 400 euros. He just lost his job and he was raising as much money he could. I felt a bit bad and I ended up buying it and let him hold on to it for a couple of months more.</p>

[russ_britt3]

<p>Its a sign of the times we are living in now........</p>

[leicaglow]

<p>I can't speak for Texas, but a lot of people are living in cars. They estimate our real unemployment rate in Oregon as around 27%. Almost a third of all workers. I work with a lot of small business owners, and they've been gutted. With 25 employees a few years ago, they're down to just the owners. Many I talk with haven't paid their lease since the beginning of the year, but landlords are happy to have a business in a building that would otherwise remain empty. It's a full out depression here in Oregon, but the media likes to soften it by calling it a "recession". A $795k home, in a neighborhood I used to live in, sold for $54k. Talk about a hit. Yes, the economy is that bad.</p>

[dave_wilson1]

<p>Right on Michael, spell it out because that's what it is. Some of these cameras are paying for their next grocery bill. What a state of affairs.</p>

[paulopires]

<p>I'm from Portugal my friends and the "heat is on" around here in the most hard way.<br />Just to give you an example. Everybody is getting their final paycheck, in December, cut to half. Yes, 50% goes to the Government. They call it "another effort" to balance the Portuguese debt.<br />As long as I have my son and my health we will overcome this. Europe is bad, Portugal, Ireland and Greece are "garbage" level.</p>

[leicaglow]

Pualo, you have it exactly right. I haven't been hurt too bad because I diversified my

businesses, but I also got rid of all my debt years ago, and realized friends and family

are more important to me than the newest nikon or leica. I fell in love with cooking

from scratch again, and it has improved my health too. I don't see a way out of this

mess for our governments, but we can make our own lives richer.

[photo5]

<p>Today we saw a clean cut young man holding a sign "Homeless and Hungry" on a local street corner. We drove by an hour later, and another man, holding a similar sign, in the same place. Both were in their 30s and looked healthy and not mentally ill. It will happen more and more until there are hundreds on every block. </p>