31% Can’t Pay the Rent: ‘It’s Only Going to Get Worse’

New York Times ^ | April 8, 2020 | By Conor Dougherty

[bricklayer]

“Usually it’s never been a ‘rich’ person that’s hired me anyway, just someone in middle management.”

Who’s paying the middle management?

[Monty22002]

I assume the company, never was just a rich guy handing out paychecks that I know of.

[Jay Thomas]

Just curious; when is an article from NYSlimes taken at face value and when is it fake news.

Seems kind of random to me.

[entropy12]

If you tried to guide the path for your children, you have done your job. My 2 kids are opposite of each other. One is detail oriented and greatly admired at her job. The other one is a lawyer and lives for the moment and has traveled to 40 countries and has more friends than any person I know. But I still do her taxes!

[entropy12]

You have to destroy the wealth first, only then it is possible to destroy liberty. Poor countries mostly have autocratic rulers and little liberty and dirty environments. Wealthy countries tend to be democratic, with more freedoms and have the means to create cleaner environment.

[entropy12]

Rich owners are not concerned very much about how their midedle manager’s prejudices, so long as the money keeps rolling in. I have observed that especially with very successful doctors who do not have time or desire to get involved how their office mangers behave.

[HamiltonJay]

This is where things get dicey... By end of April nation will be largely shut down (not everywhere, but a lot of it) 6 - 7 weeks.

Not only are a lot of folks not going to be able to make their rent, but all the other living utilities, and when the economy opens up, its not going to just bring everyone back overnight....

Once lockdown is over, it is going to be a real test to see exactly what and how it gets back running again... I know this much, I know Trump will know better how to get things moving than Hillary or Biden ever would have.

But if we don’t get things rolling quickly, it will get ugly.

[HamiltonJay]

Please, comments like this show absolutely no understanding of anything and just partisan hackery. I have no doubt some folks did buy things they could have put off before the lock down... But to paint a broad brush that all folks who are on the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum SPENT their way into problems paying their bills when the government MANDATED they not work is absurd.

Get out of your bubble, and actually talk to the people that take care of you on a daily bases, waiters, bartenders, delivery folks, store clerks... You’ll find most of them are NOT struggling to pay their bills because they are spending grotesquely more than they make on big ticket and frivolous items... (Yes, I am sure some do)... but most are just trying to keep their bills paid and food in their stomachs.

There are very few people walking around this nation who can honestly say they NEVER were in a situation, at some point in their lives, where they would have not had the rent check if they were out of work for month.

[hiredhand]

Oh my! Nobody beat me up for writing that?! Cool! :-)

NOBODY who follows Dave Ramsey's advice should be regretful NOW...at this time. I know four other people in my peculiar little circle who all manage their money according to his principles and we're all extremely GRATEFUL. I contrast this with a guy I know who lost his job last week because of this subject, and he's going to "suffer mightily" because of it. I warned him... numerous times. I helped him map out a plan a few years ago which would have put him and his family DEBT FREE within seven years, but he got a bad case of the "I've GOT to have..."... and he borrowed money and put himself in a position where missing a paycheck was going to be a very, VERY bad thing. Granted this guy is marketable in his trade area, and I doubt he'll stay unemployed for more than a few days. But it's still stress.

But those other four people... the ones who don't live in debt... don't live paycheck to paycheck. They're "walking through" this COVID "thing" (or whatever it is) like is was just nothing at all...unaffected... because of previous willful, GOOD life choices.

Ya know... back in 2008... I knew somebody who lost his job, had a new vehicle repossessed, defaulted on that month's rent for the "nice" apartment. I got a first hand viewpoint from this guy and it was NOT a good thing to go through! But once the economic scene looked better, him and 97% of the American public went right back to being up to their ears in DEBT!... like a dog returns to its own vomit. My wife and I were AMAZED! We were moderately vocal to those around us and were were told, "Oh! Things are GOOD now! Can't you SEE?!" The problem was that by this time we could SEE indeed! We could see that we have no control over the state of our broken/dysfunctional economy, and so therefore we ought to plan accordingly. For whatever reason, these others didn't SEE things that way. Apparently, they don't see things that way even now, because now they're complaining about conditions in their lives which they facilitated!... caused!... brought into being!

I think 2008 should have "taught" most people something about how to live responsibly. But it didn't. It DID however reveal where most people put their trust... and how is that working out for them now? Yeah... NOT SO GOOD. But they don't see it this way. It's baffling, but that's the way it is.

[econjack]

How does it screw them? It defers payments, not eliminates them. The short-term cash flow issues are affected in what way? If the landlord has mortgages on his rentals, those are forgiven. If business owners have no debt or employee expense, unemployment comp can be applied to them, too.

The Pork Package that was passed has all kinds of BS spending in it, so if you have a better idea, quit bitching and tell the rest of us about it.

[Fledermaus]

Where do get this crap. My mortgages are NOT deferred.

[econjack]

Where do get this crap. My mortgages are NOT deferred.

I didn't say it was. Perhaps you need to read my first post, rather than calling something "crap" without knowing what you're talking about. My post said:

Instead of trillions in pork spending, they should have passed a bill with no spending, but long term debt deferral.

[Monty22002]

The worst 2 small companies I’ve worked for had horrendous nepotism that made things a nightmare. I’m not saying ‘eat the rich’ or anything, I have nothing against anyone that’s made it big. I just don’t feel sorry for them either if they lose what most people make in a year but is just a small chunk of their wealth.