In case you've forgotten, we are not alone

If this is Great Depression II, then the pain of Great Depression I has been vastly over-stated.

 

Tell me about 1982. Right in the middle of my college years.
Twice during my college days, my father ended up unemployed for significant periods (first as the result of his company being swallowed by a conglomerate, the second the result of a conglomerate selling off his company). He ended up in some shitty situations at that time - he had a temp job one summer that required spending about three hours daily on the road, and at one place that did hire him, he walked out the first day upon realizing the job would involve cooking his boss' books. Thank God BU came through with enough financial aid to get me through 3 1/2 years (and I killed a semester with AP credits).
The silver lining came after he departed. He took most of his severance from the first job he lost in stock, and it's left my mother pretty danged well off.

 

With the state our country is in right now economically, I don't believe anybody short of the Good Lord himself can solve our problems, much less a fresh and energetic new face. Whoever would have been elected was facing fourth and long with a second left to play (pardon the sports reference). It will be interesting to see just how long the "honeymoon" with our new leader lasts. And I would say that with whoever might have gotten the job. I hope he can do, but man, he's in deep shit like the rest of us.

 

The economy has, for quite a while now, been largely dependent on people spending money they do not have. Be it to buy a house, which is a legitimate reason to go into manageable debt, or to buy a flat-screen TV, which is not a legitimate reason to go into unmanageable debt.

If people really, truly start saving and paying off debt, and not taking on new debt, then I'm afraid we may be fucked. And, of course, since the alternative is people continuing to go into debt, which is what got us into this mess in the first place, it's entirely possible that we're fucked no matter what.

 

Just a thought about the headline on this thread:

I don't think anyone has really forgotten that we are not alone. It just doesn't matter that much, that's all. Misery does not really love company. Often, in fact, it doesn't even recognize it.

The fact of the matter is, when people lose their jobs, careers, livelihoods and, in many cases, their identities -- not to mention their homes, their savings, their future retirement funds, their good credit, and whatever else they've worked much of their adult lives to achieve, attain and obtain -- and when their own faith and confidence, and perhaps, that of those they hold dearest, is gone, too, they will feel like they are alone, and that will be all that really matters at the time.

It cannot be helped. What happens to a person is what matters most to them. It's the most basic tenet of survival.

 

I gotta concur with what DeskSlave offered: I believe, no matter, we're fucked.
I got to doing some soul-searching myself recently and looked back on some of the money I've spent on some things I probably didn't need at the time and put most of it on the damn plastic. it was money I really didn't have, but did it because i just thought i had to have whatever it was...
so now i'm really watching what i purchase and how i use my money. but, as he (DeskSlave) pointed out, is that really helping our economy? probably not. hell if i know the answer. i just hope the Prez does.

 

I'm sorry. Whom did Bush blame for what's wrong, almost until the final days of that administration? Hint: Twasn't Daddy.

 

no, we are not alone for sure.
but this week, it's been a major downer for the folks at our small daily. on monday, i had to call our outdoor writer of 35 years--you read that right, 35 years--and tell him he was being laid off. i fought a battle to keep him a couple of years ago, but lost this round to the Bossman, who said cutbacks are needed and he was one of them they decided had to go. i wasn't happy about it and, of course, neither was he.
then, today, mid-afternoon, our managing editor tells me that a writer who was less than one month away from putting in a year at our paper was being let go. and she had done a super job of handling the lifestyle section. then add on this out-of-nowhere news: a graphic arts' employee was let go after having been here since june and was also very efficient, dependable, etc.
i guess what makes these departures tough is that our Bossman had called a mandatory meeting less than two weeks ago and painted a picture of Paradise for the employees and that everything appeared safe for all hands on deck.
as you can imagine, the newsroom late this p.m. was a major study in dejection and disappointment. and, yes, intermittent bouts of puzzlement as to why such a positive picture would be painted a short time ago and now, boom, three key people are out of jobs.

 

Like somebody wrote on here not long ago: Being management means never having to say you're sorry.