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.