[templar]

In recent years, the effect of widespread joblessness on consumption patterns in the United States has been tough to recognize, largely because so many people, employed as well as unemployed, have relied heavily upon credit cards, mortgage refinancings and other loans to sustain spending that might otherwise have been unaffordable.

This is where the problem lies. Our entire economy is funded by credit card debt and other easy money loans. This has been a growing trend for quite a while (since at least Bush I, probably before) and isn't much the fault of any administration.

Eventually, maybe soon maybe not, the bills will all come due. What'll we do then?

[KC_Conspirator]

Despite many on this forum calling these people lazy or bunko artists, I am in the same situation since my job went to India. Its been about 8 months out of work for me. I have done some part time work here and there, but you would be surprised at the reasons why one gets turned down in a interview. Numerous times I have been told that since I would be taking pay cut, I would most likely leave at the first opportunity.

[YankeeinOkieville]

The couple, both marketing professionals, worked hard and enjoyed a combined income of about $250,000 a year.

You'd think if they were any good at marketing they'd be able to sell prospective employers on themselves in 2 1/2 years. Looks like they weren't really worth 250K to begin with now don't it?

[ReagansShinyHair]

With combined yearly earnings of about $20,000, they have cut their spending to the bone and make ends meet with food stamps and credit cards. "We had about $40,000 in savings, but we spent that a long time ago," Ms. Sullivan said. "Now we owe more money in credit card bills than I ever would have believed possible. We don't spend money on anything at all that isn't a complete necessity. Your whole way of thinking changes. The other day I was so excited: I got a credit card offer for a new card that will give us a long period with zero percent financing."

How in the world are they buying only necessities? I think they don't know the difference between a need and a want, because I have lived on far less than that. Not that recently, but I have done it. Yesterday I "needed" a Gamecube because it came with all the Zelda games. I really, really "needed" it.

My husband was also laid off early this year. We were firmly in the middle class, and since we had bought our house only a year before, we had no savings. We sold our house and moved across the country to where he found a good job. It cost us large amounts of money to move. For about six months this year, one of us was out of work (I had to find a job after we moved). We racked up NO credit card debt, and now, since we have moved to a cheaper part of the country, we are financially much better off.

[Rome2000]

30 HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS EARN EIGHTH ANNUAL CONGRESSMAN PATRICK J. KENNEDY AWARD
FOR SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT AND LEADERSHIP




Cumberland High School – Brian J. Sullivan, son of Peter and Susan Sullivan, 34 Peacedale Road, Cumberland. He was a member of the Debate Team and placed fifth in the state debating tournament. He also participated in theater, is a National and Rhode Island Honor Society member, and received the Dartmouth College Book Award. He plans to attend Northeastern University.

[Ronaldus Magnus Reagan]

That is a question facing Richie Calladio-Nuzzo; his wife, Jenni; and their 13-year-old daughter, Michelle, of Newton, Conn. Mr. Calladio-Nuzzo, 34, an electrician, used to earn at least $30 an hour, with benefits, in union-covered jobs. But he spent nine months during 2002 unemployed and still could not find work in the winter and spring of 2003. In May, Mr. Calladio-Nuzzo received permission from his union to take a nonunion job, which pays $20 an hour, and offers no benefits.

Let me get this straight. The union couldn't provide him with a job for over a year and he actually had to ask permission from the union to get a non-union job? WOW!

It's a shame he got involved with a union in the first place. The homebuilders have been doing very well these past years. The industry is going gangbusters. Or, should I say "unionbusters"! I'm sure that those homebuilders use a lot of electricians to build their houses!

[radiohead]

Pam Shira Fleetman, 55, a technical writer ... has been out of work since July 2002

I don't want to jump on anybody who's having a rough time. I've been there, done that. However, when I was there, I didn't wait over a year to get a j-o-b. What is wrong w/these people?

[newyorkronin]

As much as I empathize with them, they are buggy-whip makers in the age of the Model T. I blame teacher's unions for blocking a full voucher system that would enable us to leap into the 21st century economy. Ever wonder why all these computer certification courses and tests are given by MS and Cisco? Because the average undergraduate in computer science isn't able to handle the work. We're also obsessed with making sure every child graduates highschool when it would be better to send low performers to trade school. College should be restricted to law, medicine or the sciences instead of Binge Drinking 101. Only a few with enough mental agility are able to make it.

Why do people need to make at least 30 to 50k to make ends meet? Look at the taxes taken out. Look at the cost of medicine skyrocketing from federally protected medical and pharmaceutical oligopolies. Look at the cost of real estate in zoning-restricted or rent controlled markets.

And people have to drop their taboos and do what it takes to put food on the table. When my company closed its NY office and I lost my management job, I temped for a year, making photocopies and moving furniture for $7 an hour. I patrolled housing projects in the dead of night in a security guard uniform for $10 an hour. It wasn't much but it paid the bills until I found something else. What's sorely lacking in our education system is discussion of personal finance and how make your own way in the world. Welcome to the post-modern economy. If you can't adapt to new technology, you're left behind. The US steel industry can't compete anymore because foreign steel uses more modern technology to make it cheaper. US steel companies didn't bother innovating because it knew the govt protected its market. IT jobs are going overseas because the market is correcting itself by seeking the lowest possible labor costs. On the other hand, some IT companies stopped outsourcing because we can't get the same quality, so the market is correcting itself again. If a Mexican illegal is making $1 an hour at a maquilladora on the border, that's the MARKET RATE of the job. I think we would eliminate unemployment overnight if we got rid of the minimum wage. Poverty is unfair but its NOT a human injustice that should be addressed by the government. In all societies, there will always be a bell curve of non-motivated under-acheivers at one end and a natural aristocracy of technical and financial elite at the other. We can't be a nation entirely of yeoman as some anti-federalists envisioned.

An economy of the future is almost impossible to contemplate. Look at how many people make a living through ebay. Look at how many non-existent weapons and equipment are sold for the Everquest online game in exchange for real cash. Holding a job is NOT the only way to get an income.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

How stupid do you have to be to kill your own market?

[mtbopfuyn]

Getting by on $20,000, Mr. Gill states, "By most people's standards, we're not hurting." Mr. Gill almost gets it. Not quite, but almost. As for the rest of them, there's virtually no hope. There has been unemployment since time began. The only thing that's changed is such a large percent are maxing out their credit as they try to live up to Tara's old glory chanting, "Tomorrow is another day."

[John Lenin]

Lets start a 12 step program ....

[Malsua]

I have no sympathy whatsoever for a couple that makes a quarter million a year.

At that rate, unless one idiotically buries themselves in a deep hole of debt, one can be debt free in a year or two.

I make "high 5s" my wife doesn't work(enough to matter) and I've got nearly a year's worth of living expenses saved up.

If these people were making over two and half times what I make, there is simply no excuse for them. With their kind of salary, I would have everything paid off inside of 6 months. Mortgage and all..and I live in New Jersey and Commute to about 6 miles of NYC. It's about discipline and not needing a 3500 foot house. My house is under 1000 Square and I'll be out of my mortgage in 10 years and I'm 36. These people are idjits.

-Mal

[Fledermaus]

Whine, whine, whine. First, moving to Worcester didn't help. It's still very costly anywhere in Mass with the high taxes.

Also, they obviously are too stupid to MOVE! I'm sorry, I don't buy a couple with a $250K income and their high value jobs going to only $20K a year between the two. A pizza delivery person can make more than $20K a year.

Why didn't they save more? Why don't they move to where they can get jobs in their fields? Only one has to really. One could move and make more money and send it home.

My dad did that in 1971 after we moved to Arkansas from California and my mom got apendicitis. He moved back to Calif and got a good job and sent the money home. Was it hard on us? Sure, we didn't have a car to use and dad was gone. I had to, at age 12, ride my bike 5 miles to buy groceries. I didn't care...at that age riding my bike was my life! lol

But we did just fine.