The Recession and Layoffs Thread

[LizzieMaine]

Does the cat work?

She's on Feline Security.

 

[Foofoogal]

Lord. Forgot all we were discussing when I saw Gramps.
I suddenly morph into digging into box mode when I see anything that remotely looks like piles where I may find a treasure or goodie or 2. :eusa_clap lol

 

[Decodence]

Lord. Forgot all we were discussing when I saw Gramps.
I suddenly morph into digging into box mode when I see anything that remotely looks like piles where I may find a treasure or goodie or 2. :eusa_clap lol

Boy the items that must be in that basement/attic/etc. Grandmother had some sort of mental condition where she would go and just buy and buy and buy stuff from garage sales. Being that my entire family are penny pinchers to the absolute extreme (and we NEVER throw something of possible value away), she must have gotten all that stuff for a steal, expecially when she never learned to drive, and in her later years could only get around on a tricycle bike thing with a basket on it (on foot before that).

 

[Decodence]

Same here, Lizzie. So frustrating to have so many good, honest hard-working people typecast.

I only know what I see. People making far less than I enjoying luxuries I cannot justify affording. Priorities I guess. I'd forgo quite a bit before I'd freeze to death.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I only know what I see. People making far less than I enjoying luxuries I cannot justify affording. Priorities I guess. I'd forgo quite a bit before I'd freeze to death.

Have you seen all of the people in Maine to whom I was referring?

 

[Decodence]

Have you seen all of the people in Maine to whom I was referring?

Of course not. Maybe I am a bit jaded.

 

[Foofoogal]

Just don't give out any info about whereabouts of gramps though anywhere.

After working in a food pantry for 4 years believe me when I say it runs the gamut. Desperate senior citizens who can either buy food or medicine, single moms, and of course addicted folks but some others that are just flat lazy thieves.
I have had them chatting on the cell phone while handing them bags like they are at KFC ordering takeout. These make me mad as I see it as them taking food out of the childrens mouth.
Ok. better get back on track and be nice.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Regardless of your prejudices and presumptions about people you've never met and their circumstances, it's not intelligent to base arguments upon such baseless but convenient stereotypes and generalizations.

Thuggery spans all classes. For example, the sub-prime meltdown. All of those people borrowing/loaning more than they should have...

 

[pgoat]

ok, NOW I'm depressed.....

A lot of people back in the good old days just suffered.

we just did our taxes last night....we owe about $1200 more than we did last year - oddly enough, the exact amount of this life-changing stimuli check we are supposed to receive later this year.....

 

[Marty M.]

While true, I bet most getting assistance have cable television, cellular telephones, etc. I'd rather be warm than entertained. It is all about choices. Even the worst off in our society are better off than the low/middle class 5-6 decades prior.

I'll also add this. My grandfather of 94 has enough $ to heat his house with the windows wide open for the rest of his life. He CHOPS, STACKS, SEASONS his own wood to this day, and heats his house with it. He's a tough man, lived through the depression, 2 world wars, etc. Takes cold showers to save the cost of heating water. Most people should take a lesson from him, and STFU when they have insignificant problems like being a little uncomfortable. They should be glad they have a roof over their heads.

Gramps sure doesn't seem to mind.....

I love people like Gramps. They are the sole of our Country. God bless him.
Marty Mathis

 

[Brad Bowers]

we just did our taxes last night....we owe about $1200 more than we did last year - oddly enough, the exact amount of this life-changing stimuli check we are supposed to receive later this year.....

That's exactly what happened to us this year! It was a sickening moment when I realized how much we'll owe. So much for our economic stimulus, but at least we'll break about even.lol

We live paycheck to paycheck, can't afford to buy a house, drive 20-year-old cars because they are paid for, have trouble paying off the medical and dental bills, and are starting a home-based business. Makes me wonder how many others out there are in the same boat with us. I'll bet it's quite crowded.

Ah, but that's life in the middle class, right?


Brad

 

[Justdog]

Taxes

I understand that to be eligible for the tax rebate you have to be a registered tax payer.

Therefore GWB encouraging all people to register and file to be eligible.

Seems like a small investment for the Gov so you will incriminate yourself.

They will let loose the dogs of the IRS for all of those who come out of the underground for messly 600 dollars.

Hmmm just a thought

 

[jgilbert]

Lower taxes! Why should people send money to the Fed and then have to apply for assistance to get it back? That is just stupid! I am sorry that just does not make any sense to me.

Before anyone does the "luxuries" you should have 6 months or more in savings just to handle any oops that will come along. Pay yourself first!

Please folks do a budget, put each and evey dollar on paper and then follow it out the door. The only person you can blame for your money problems is the person in the mirror.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Before anyone does the "luxuries" you should have 6 months or more in savings just to handle any oops that will come along. Pay yourself first!

That's only possible if you earn enough to have something left over after all the essentials are paid -- in my case, the entire month's income is taken up by rent, heat, utilities, past-due medical bills, and food, in that order. Try living on $1300 a month and I doubt any of the "it's all their own fault" crowd would be singing the same tune for very long.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

The only person you can blame for your money problems is the person in the mirror.

(Trying to picture you saying that to someone in the hospital with an expensive condition not covered by insurance [even when they have expensive coverage.])

Try stepping out once in a while. Read the news. Read some books. Get to know people other than the person in the mirror.

 

[Patrick Murtha]

That's only possible if you earn enough to have something left over after all the essentials are paid -- in my case, the entire month's income is taken up by rent, heat, utilities, past-due medical bills, and food, in that order. Try living on $1300 a month and I doubt any of the "it's all their own fault" crowd would be singing the same tune for very long.

I agree. The attitude is baffling to me in the extreme. Of course there are poor people who make some of their own problems, just as there are rich people who do. I don't see what that proves one way or another.

One of the interesting things about white-collar layoffs (pulling back a little to the thread topic) is that a laid-off manager's relation to certain economic mythologies frequently changes drastically with the change in their circumstances. They can become more empathetic, for starters, which is not a bad thing!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Exactly. It all goes back to what I said earlier about class privilege -- too many Americans don't have a realistic picture of what it means to actually be working poor because they've never actually had to experience it first hand. We've become a society so rigidly divided among class lines that we've lost the ability to understand that not everyone has that same privilege.

The old line about "never judge another person till you've walked a mile in his shoes" would seem to be due for a revival, I think.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I want to add that I am very much a pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps kind of gal, having done it myself, but I am not so arrogant to think that it is always possible.

 

[scotrace]

We live paycheck to paycheck, can't afford to buy a house, drive 20-year-old cars because they are paid for, have trouble paying off the medical and dental bills, and are starting a home-based business. Makes me wonder how many others out there are in the same boat with us. I'll bet it's quite crowded.

Can you scootch over a little? Your elbow is digging into my side....

 

[Miss Neecerie]

Can you scootch over a little? Your elbow is digging into my side....

Wait! if he moves over...you will stop stepping on my foot.....its gonna hurt since its been numb for days now.....move slowly folks