We’re Coming Over in Five Minutes

Today a realtor was in the neighborhood and wanted to stop by with her clients to see our home.   She was five minutes away.   I wasn’t home but my husband was soaking his foot.   Now, I realize we don’t have to accommodate everyone, but when you want to sell your house, you do.  My bra was hanging over the door knob, aluminum foil was covering the couch to keep the cat from climbing onto it, there were clothes on the bed, shoes all over the floor, a bucket and a bag of salt, next to boots in the lower entry way, shovels and an ice chopper leaning against the front of the house, not to mention icy steps, which we didn’t even know were icy until later.   The Gods of Pain and Suffering spared us from anyone slipping and falling.  My husband had just enough time to empty the foot bath and passed the potential buyers going down the driveway as they were coming up.   This is only the preamble to an offer, negotiation and inspection issues.  I can only dread what lies ahead whether or not we can sell the house.   We are  “locked towards the future.”

Jobless Recovery

From Wikipedia.  “A jobless recovery or jobless growth is an economic phenomon in which a macroeconomy experiences growth while maintaining or decreasing its level of employment. The first documented use of the term was in the New York Times in the 1930s . . .   Depressions and jobless recoveries were common in the 19th century^{[citation needed]}, such as in the Long Depression; during the Great Depression unemployment remained high for years after GDP had returned to growing;^{[citation needed]} and persistently high unemployment (10% or more for decades) has occurred in many countries over the 20th century.”

If ever there was a spin on the economy, this is it.  How can you possibly have a recovery if there are no jobs?   So, one part of the economy is improving while another part of it is lacking?  Not a true recovery, ergo  “jobless recovery”.  That is the only way I can see  it.

For months, over 400,000 people a week have been claiming unemployment benefits for the first time.  First time jobless claims are up this week to the tune of 454,000 because of the weather.  Because of the weather?  Has the whole country been having snow? 

I have been reading that the recession is over.  Huh?  This is what the ubiquitous “they” are saying.  No one asked me.

The Company Men

Now playing at a theatre near you.  Ratchet the recession up a notch.  This movie is about being in a high level position, living the high life, and then losing your job; about selling your home and moving in with your parents; about MBAs and skilled labor; about charity and compassion; love and loyalty; hope and despair; encouragement and disappointment, insecurity and instability; arrogance and greed; stockholders and profit margins; all for some and none for everybody else.   Very much like “Up in the Air” another movie about becoming unemployed.  This will strike you to the core with its heartfelt depictions and characterizations of how some overcome, while others are overcome in this recession, which for some, is more of a depression.

Financial Advice

My husband and I met with a financial advisor.  He is the same person who navigated us through sending our daughter to college.  He has his work cut out for him.   As my husband once said, “When you live in the basement, you don’t have far to fall.”

Staging a Home

Our realtor recommended a stager who visited our home and made a few good suggestions.  She is also hosting our fifth open house since our home went on the market.   They say buyers who look at homes in the winter are serious lookers, like the client who wanted to see our attic and got smacked in the head with the ladder.  We are hoping for an offer before Spring.  

Cut and Run

Some people in this economy, anticipating that their pensions are going to become worth less or non-existent are cutting their losses.  They are leaving those jobs and taking their pensions with them before the pensions depreciate or disappear.  Who could blame them?  It used to be you were lucky to have a pension.  Now you are lucky if you can keep it.  How things have diminished.  Sell your house, move to a place where the cost of living is lower and find part time work.  The plan was to work and take your full pension.  Sorry, but those lifelong best laid plans are falling apart.   Cutting their losses and doing damage control is the mantra of many in the middle class.

The Perils of Selling a House

Our home has been on the market since August, 2009.  We have had a lot of traffic through here since then.  Our realtor is waiting with baited breath for an offer.  We have reduced the price twice coming down $23,000 from the original listing price.   Every time someone wants to look at our house we have to get it “show ready” and vacate the premises.  This week, a realtor brought a client in to look.  The client was interested enough to want to see the attic.  He pulled down the overhead attic door and the ladder came flying out, hitting him in the head.  Geez.  Hopefully, no serious damage was done.  If we had been here, we would have opened the attic door.  In any event, if he was at all interested, that more than likely, put the kibosh on everything.  We have lived with it all these years knowing how it operates but now we have to adjust it so that it is safe for anyone to open.  Our realtor tells us if one thing is wrong, buyers are going to wonder what else is wrong.  Oh my God!  Then go find a perfect house.

That client’s feedback was, “Nice home, but attic door needs to be fixed.” 

With all the snow we’ve been having, I was more concerned that someone would slip and fall.  There is not one patch of ice or snow anywhere on the driveway or stairs.   Then this happens.  What else can go wrong?  You just can’t anticipate everything. 

The Great Divide

The middle class is gradually being eroded in this country.  We are becoming either the rich or the poor.  Millions of people who have lost their jobs, their homes, their medical insurance, not to mention their self esteem and sense of purpose, are still, despite everything, trying to hold onto their middle class status without sliding into poverty.  Like a sinking ship, it has become a desperate struggle to survive holding on to whatever you can take with you or die trying.   It is a slippery slope trying to keep your balance without falling off.  No drama, just the reality for those who are living it.

A Recession of a Different Color

In the past, when my husband and I have been unemployed, after several months, we were able to obtain gainful employment comparable to or better than what we had previously.   In this recession the playing field is not the same.  Droves of people are looking for the same jobs, jobs are being eliminated permanently or being sent overseas and low paying jobs are being created.  Competition for any job is at an all time high.  It doesn’t take a lot of intelligence to understand what has happened.  We are operating within a broken system; a system where the  pieces are falling off into a deep well of broken humanity.  We need leadership that will restore, renew and reinvigorate the economy.  My hope is that it can be fixed by the powers that be, or will be, somehow, someway, someday . . . and soon.  But since it took a while to get into this mess, it will in all probability, take some time to get out of it.  In the meantime, we limp along.

New Job

My husband is starting a temporary, part-time, minimum wage, subsidized job at a local library.  He found this “band-aid on a gaping wound” through the National Coalition of Aging.   He is supposed to continue looking for a real job while he works.  It is better than nothing and I’m not complaining but merely stating the facts.   As mentioned in my previous post, the jobs that people are taking are subpar.  If you own a home, a car, a television, a computer, are educated and have put your children through college, how are you supposed to support yourself on minimum wage?  The simple answer is lower your standards; sell everything and move in with family or friends, or into a mobile home.   There are choices but they aren’t good ones. 

At least he can get back to being productive and useful. 

The New Normal

The news media are reporting that more than half of the people who have been unemployed long term and have found jobs have taken a pay cut of 50%.  One-third have taken a pay cut of 20%.    Keep playing the lottery and entering Publisher’s Clearinghouse Sweepstakes.

This article and the comments give me a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/13/new-jobs-in-2010-60-were-_n_808447.html

Networking and Taking Courses

The Department of Labor encourages the unemployed to do volunteer work while looking for a job.  They also suggest taking courses to update your skills and stay current to compete in the current market.   While being available to work, I have productively used my time volunteering and taking computer courses both in class and online.   Having lost my job over a year ago and attending job seminars, job fairs, outplacement classes, polishing my resume and cover letters,  applying to countless positions, absorbing and consuming any and all information I can get my hands on in an effort to land my next job has been a difficult, if not fruitless journey, to say the least.

Job Loss and Health

The cause of my husband’s stroke was undetermined after tests were reviewed by his doctors.  How about . . . it’s because of the prolonged stress of being out of work for almost two years and his wife also losing her job?

Click on the link to read about the devastating long term effects of chronic job loss. 

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/10/job.loss.toll/index.html?iref=allsearch

Commentary on the Workforce the Jobless are Desperately Trying to Reenter

The Myth of Multitasking

Research has shown that people don’t really multitask.  They go from one task to another and every time they do, their focus changes, losing something in the process.  You may be able to do many things at once, but you do none of them well.   Just think of the “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy is trying to shine Ricky’s shoes, type a letter and flick his cigarette ashes, all at the same time.  I rest my case.

Someone, somewhere, is finally getting it.  See link below.

http://blogs.forbes.com/work-in-progress/2011/02/15/why-multitasking-gets-you-nowhere-fast/

Angst and Anger

There are numerous postings on the internet by desperate people who have been deeply affected by this recession.  There are also articles and responses to these people telling them to focus on the positive, keep the faith, be creative, stand out from the rest in your job search and my favorite, get off your ass and find a job.   These responses are asking the chronically unemployed and underemployed to put on rose colored glasses, put their head in the sand and keep trucking in the face of some very harsh realities.   Their well meaning, well intentioned advice and sometimes, callous, insensitive remarks fly in the face of what the everyday stress and strain is putting on those unfortunate enough to have lost their  jobs in this economy.  

The Facts:  Twelve million jobs have been lost since 2008.  It will take until 2022 to recover those jobs.  To quote Ben Stein, “Unemployment is a real pain.”  Well, if that isn’t the understatement of the decade!!  Thank you Ben Stein.

The Realities:  the system is broken; most will never return to their previous economic status; the lucky will only have to lower their standard of living their lifestyles; the others will face foreclosure and bankruptcy through no fault of their own; many are depressed; many are angry and dejected finding themselves in a situation they never imagined; many have been left out and left behind.   All have been treading water thanks to the unemployment extensions.  Millions are underwater, way in over their heads.  Never say it can’t happen to you. 

Relevant Article

The article in the link below is right on point and aptly describes the plight of the chronically unemployed.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/01/07/vanhorn.unemployment.jobs.study/index.html

". . . and now to suit our Great Computer, you're Magnetic Ink . . ."

". . .'Cos out on the ocean of life my love
There are so many storms we must rise above . . ."

A Sad State of Affairs

What does it say about our economic system when big banks are bailed out of their unconscionable debt but the “little guy” with good credit can’t take out a loan?  When people are selling their homes because they have lost their jobs and can’t find comparable work?  When people can’t sell their homes because everyone is afraid of losing their jobs?  When housing prices are being set so low because foreclosures are flooding the market?  When appraisers are low balling the values of homes and killing deals?  When realtors are driving the market down by encouraging their clients to lower their sale prices?  When the jobs being created are minimum wage and not able to sustain holding on to your home?  When employers are doing more with less and employees are doing more for less?  What????  How did we get here?  And where are we going?  Anyone?  Is this the decline of western civilization?  

Life as we knew it no longer exists.   What is going to be the new normal?  The middle class is vanishing as was predicted many years ago.   The American Dream?  Gone?  Who can afford it?   The rich?  The bar has been raised above the middle class. 

It is a Dark Awakening.

Standing Still

Wanting to find some work in some capacity, I renewed my substitute teaching certification, fulfilling all the requirements and paying the fees.  I’ve applied to all the towns around me and have been told there is a glut of applicants.   The list of substitute teachers is so long that one town is no longer accepting applications.   There was a time when being a substitute teacher was a dreaded position.  Many people like me are turning to it in a last ditch effort to reenter the workforce.  Finding any job is like trying to win the lottery with much less return.   

Denied

When my husband became disabled he applied for temporary disability.  Since temporary disability in this state is paid by the employer, not the state, and since his employer as mentioned below, went out of business, he was denied.  That left him with no income whatsoever.  You can’t collect unemployment if you are disabled.   So we were down to one unemployment check, further reducing our already reduced income.  Eventually, he received a back to work note and reapplied for unemployment which is about to end.  The only other income option we have is to apply for early social security.  Oh, I almost forgot.  He also applied to the National Council on Aging, a government program which subsidizes temporary part time minimum wage jobs.  This is the definition of diminishing returns.

House for Sale

Once my husband had a stroke, the writing was on the wall.  He could no longer endure the stress of a full time job.  We had to face the fact that we would no longer be able to stay in our home and keep paying the mortgage and taxes.  In September, 2009 the house went on the market.   We have a basket full of business cards from people who have looked at our house.  To date, no offers.  The realtor tells us to lower our price.   And so we will.  If ever there was a best time to buy a house, it is now. 

Notably Unremarkable

There is nothing special about my situation.  I am not unique.  I am one of millions of people who played by the rules, lived within their means, paid their bills, earned an honest living and who is becoming collateral damage, if you will, of a broken system.  Factor into that, the reality that age discrimination is alive and well and you have a formula for failure to maintain what used to be your status quo.   It is a bad dream that you can’t wake up from, with no visible end in sight, no light shining through.  Just stay positive, upbeat, put on the face and go home to what is still your home and then wonder how much longer it still will be. 

Money and Happiness

We all know money does not equate to happiness.   But put that aside for a minute.  If you had a choice between being rich or being poor, which would you choose and why?  Are you the kind of person who would be perfectly happy living in a tent, off the land, with the clothes on your back and little or no possessions?  Or do you prefer the creature comforts?  A warm bed, a good meal. Clothing, food and shelter are necessities.  If we start to lose our grip on the bare necessities can we still be happy?  I submit that there is more to life than the bare necessities.   You need money to live.   Otherwise, you become a charity case.  Poor.  Who really embraces that?  Anyone you know?

In this recession, the left out and left behind are losing their grip on the most basic essentials one day at a time.  These are not people living the high life.  These are ordinary people living ordinary lives in a not so ordinary time.  And what is afforded these people?  Hope that it will get better if you just keep trying.  Just don’t stop trying.  Lower your expectations.  Then lower them again.   How about trying to walk ½ mile in those shoes?

When One Door Closes After Another

It happened early one morning in the Spring of 2010.  I was online researching  job opportunities when my husband suddenly fell to the floor in the bedroom yelling, “Oh my God!”  I ran into the bedroom and there he was, unable to get up.   Unsure of what had  just happened,  I tried to help him but it was useless.   I called 911 since this was clearly something we couldn’t deal with ourselves.   Thus, started another journey within a journey to top off our unemployment problem; a debilitating stroke.   I knew a permanent change was in the making but how drastic would it be?

A neighbor was driving by and seeing the ambulance in front of our house, she stopped.   I was frightened but she gave me some much needed comfort.  “Would you like me to drive you to the hospital?”, she said.   And so she did.   She stayed with me until immediate family arrived.  She was sure she was placed in that moment in time to be there.  I am not a religious person, but it was a force of nature that put her in place to help us get through the first phase of this life altering, traumatic event.  She was in the truest sense, a Godsend, just as she had been in a different way, many years before.

1-1-11 - In My Own Words

Learn from the past but not with sorrow.  Live in the present and find tomorrow.