anybody here suffering from the US economy?

[genocide roach]

not really. i only have 2 costs that really affect my pocket book and thats groceries and gas. all my other expenses are fixed. however, i have to renew my lease soon, and im guessing my rent is going up.
~gR~

 

[viewerfromnihil]

not yet, i'm only 16 so not yet but, the economy should start to improve in a few years so hopefully the economy will be great by the time i go out on my own

 

[IdolWarship]

I was about 90% sure that last post was going to end with the Fresh Prince song.

lmao! asshole.

Holy fuck dude, I'm sorry to hear that!!! Are you white? If you are it's much more difficult to get assistance.

i appreciate that. and yeah, we're white. but we're not dirty white, and that could be part of the problem getting help. i told my wife to bend the truth some during job interviews and when she applied for aid. she's very articulate and claims to have strong ethics and shit, so she refuses, and well, i hate to tell her i told her so, but i tell her i told her so. menial jobs she applies for tell her she's overqualified, and jobs she's qualified for aren't hiring. or least not her anyways. and she's got a great set of tits.

have you ever seen that episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where Dennis and Dee become retarded crackheads in order to get on welfare? well, it seems like that's the truth of it around here, except it works. crack is cheap, we just can't afford retarded.

anyways though, everyone here who is hurting from the state of the economy, keep your head up and hopefully things get better. those who aren't hurting, keep your head down and hope things don't get worse.

cheers, fuckers

 

[IdolWarship]

If true though it made me sad.

yeah, it's true, but if i didn't try and at least make light of it in some way, with a joke or 2, then it would be much more depressing for me. that's the only way i can get through sad times sometimes, is to laugh.

 

[cookiecutter]

Well best of luck.

 

[Tonka Time]

not too much yet, im 17 and for me its finding a job.
basically just worried about what im gona do after highschool when im outa my parents house.

Idolwarship, that sucks man, hang in there hopefully stuff will get better for you guys.

lol seriously this is a depressing thread, why couldnt it be about perfectly air drumming songs while on the toilet? lol

 

[IdolWarship]

i appreciate that, and am trying the best i can.

i actually find it easier to talk about this sort of thing with people i don't know, rather than people i do. me and my parents and siblings and friends are close, and they would help if i asked, but it's pretty embarrassing, so i figure keep it to myself and discuss it in a place where people are discussing it, rather than ruining someone else day by bringing it up when they're trying to talk about something less harsh and real.

and yeah this thread is depressing, lol.

 

[Death Aflame]

Not really I suppose. My dad just recently got laid off (he was an upper end manager at an industrial/commercial construction firm) but he is confident that he will be able to find related work very soon (apparently that industry is still thriving in Southern Ontario). At least the company has a good severance package for him though (18 weeks pay, benefits continue until the end of the year, etc.).

For myself, I live on my own while I finish up my undergrad (last year). By the end of it I'll have around $20 000 in student debt, which is significant to be sure, but reasonable based on what I have heard from others. I do have a job (part time) as a writing tutor that helps to offset at least some of the costs of living (rent, tuition, and sustenance mainly). So for now, I am okay, but I am worried about getting a decent job when I graduate (arts degree) do to the unstable economic conditions.

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

i dunno, whatever, at least i still have internet, and that's all that matters.

Haha, before getting to this line I was only going to quote the following sentences and ask if the internet was one of those things

we live in a meth ghetto, we get about 175 a month in food stamps, but goddamn gas, food, kids clothes, and stupid shit we don't need has got us behind big time.

it seems like i'm teh only one making sacrifices, my wife and kids are constantly buying stupid shit, and fast food and all-around bullshit.

 

[IdolWarship]

well my wife tends to think she can't get a job if she can't get online. lolllll
i give her shit for that. i wonder how people used to do things before the internet? she also says the kids need it for educational purposes, but i've never seen them use it for anything but gaming and youtube and cartoon network.

i used to use dial-up, so if i had my way it'd be no thing to either have a shitty connection, or none at all. but since i'm paying for a somewhat decent connection, i'm going to use it. i'd rather have a beer right now though.

moral of the story, don't get married and have kids.

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

Honestly, if I had the option of keeping my fast internet connection, I would do it too. My parents have dial up, which I can't stand and most of the time I can't really distinguish much of a difference between dial up and no internet at all, because the majority of the sites that I visit won't load on that slow of a connection, or they take so long that I'm simply unwilling to wait. I don't drink though, so it would certainly be easier for me to justify the expense of better internet, but I also think that facebook and AIM have too strong of an influence for me to be able to give it up without a fight.

 

[AchrisK]

Ok, I was wrong when I said I wasn't affected. I do have a 401k that I have been paying into my whole "career", which is probably tanking. I haven't looked recently. It's all just numbers at this point, so as long as the whole thing doesn't fall through, that should recover, I guess. But it's not something we feel right now.

Sorry to hear about your situation, IdolWarship. It reminds me a little bit of this couple we have as renters in my wife's dad's house (now hers, since he died). They actually were interested in renting my wife's grandma's house (which we are managing for my wife's mom, who lives out of town), but they had zero references and neither of them were working. So we let them move into her dad's place, which is in the more poor part of town, and the place is a bit of a dump (though not unsafe or unsanitary). Based on the condition of the place and the yard, we are giving them really cheap rent. They are a young white couple with two kids.

Also, sorry to hear about anyone else who is being hit harder (Cythraul).

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

Not really I suppose. My dad just recently got laid off (he was an upper end manager at an industrial/commercial construction firm)

OK... So... You're not having trouble... But your dad just got laid off from his respectable job, despite the fact that you didn't get a reason. 18 weeks pay is sweet & all, but they laid him off because they were likely losing money for having him on the team, FYI. It's happening EVERYWHERE dude. I only make $11 an hour & I'm going to do everything in my power to hold this shit job. I live alone & support myself 100% with that below medial $11 an hour.

 

[Jreg]

It's sometimes hard to tell in my case since the union I'm in offers a bit of security and protection for now. Everyone at my job was unexpectedly given an $0.85/hr raise in August, but that was after a year of cutting everyones' hours and raising the monthly union dues that come out of my check each month. The raise more than makes up for the difference in union costs, but certainly not for all the hours that have been cut. It's the courier business, so inevitably the rising fuel costs are gonna take a toll one way or another.

Money's been particularly tight as of late, but that's partially due to having to axe the second job because of school obligations. Been trying to work in another job recently since I'll have a bit more free time in the next two semesters before I get my degree, but hours will pick up in a few weeks when holiday season kicks in as well.

 

[Lotus-Eater]

What Union you in? I'm in the CWA - Mailers Local #6 on top of owning my own business. Right now it's a horror show. We've been without a contract for over a year. Our president is a corrupt motherfucker.

 

[Death Aflame]

OK... So... You're not having trouble... But your dad just got laid off from his respectable job, despite the fact that you didn't get a reason. 18 weeks pay is sweet & all, but they laid him off because they were likely losing money for having him on the team, FYI. It's happening EVERYWHERE dude. I only make $11 an hour & I'm going to do everything in my power to hold this shit job. I live alone & support myself 100% with that below medial $11 an hour.

I don't think it is a result of the economic crisis, since I live in Canada, and believe it or not, things are still pretty stable around here unless you work in manufacturing. The company he has been working for has been in financial/mismanagement trouble for years and recently began orienting their focus to the types of jobs that are not what my dad does best (hi-tech industrial). He has continually made money for them on the work he has done, so I think it is more the result of 'retooling' or what not, as opposed to purely economic terms (though I don't deny that played a part as well).

 

[Life Sucks]

I'm only affected by the economy in that things aren't as busy at work as they used to be. I work for the only trademark company in the northeast US, and the most widely used one in the world at that. Companies aren't as rapidly developing new products and services as before, and new companies aren't forming as much as before, so therefore the total volume of trademarks we research is less. I'm one of the top three people on my team (one of the three out of about 20 promoted to the senior position last March), so if there should ever be layoffs in my department, I most likely won't be one of the ones to go. I'm wicked smaht. j/k

 

[cookiecutter]

Canada is still doing pretty good because the housing market has not completely collapsed.

 

[BlackMetalWhiteGuy]

Sorry for the confusion, but does this mean that houses are impossible to buy because they're suddenly too expensive, or does it mean that no one's buying them and the price has gone way down? If it's the latter, I don't see this as a problem

Also, my parents already own their own home and aren't too happy with the idea of me moving out after college. I'm happy that they like me enough to keep me around and definitely like the idea of saving all that extra money, but the area that they live in is just not for me and (while I still love them) I don't particularly want to stay with my parents at this age anyway.

 

[The Ozzman]

I recommend living with your parents for a while after college and saving up the cash. I don't regret doing it.