Monday, December 8, 2008

Economy

This news is horrible.

I went to Kohl's the other day with my friend and fellow Student Council co-advisor to purchase the rest of the items for the annual adopt-a-family service project. Needless to say there were a lot more people this year who needed help. And it's worse than you think. We had families who were asking for towels, sheets, and blankets rather than books, hair products, and toys. Anyway, the guy who was checking us out was pretty cranky, making snarky comments about how homeless people were treated better than he was. I basically ignored him, but then he told us that he was working at Kohl's because he got laid-off. He kept asking how we got the information on the needy families (the district liaison) and what experience one needed (don't know). I basically sussed out that he had a college degree, got laid off, worked at Kohl's for the holiday rush, and pumped people for job leads as he worked.

I remember a year ago when the bad economy seemed like playground rumors. Why wouldn't it? I haven't lived through anything like this before--at least as an adult. I am constantly worried that my husband will lose his job, after all he works in cabinetry. I get frustrated because he was put on salary and is making less, and they haven't given him a raise (and probably won't for awhile), but then I feel VERY guilty because there are people who would love a job. I no longer read about people this economy is effecting, I KNOW people who can't find a job, who have foreclosed on their home, who stand in line for public assistance, who don't have gifts for Christmas, and...

It isn't going to get any better any time soon, is it?

2 comments:

Jessica said...

We did a "secret angel" for a little kid that was Ken's patient. Dad lost his job, then they got kicked out of their rental cause it turned out to be a foreclosure home. Not really any notice, so they ended up in a shelter. We got a gift card to Walmart for them (plus some happy little goodies) cause Walmart is food, clothes or toys. It's got everything you need. It is scary. But at least by helping someone a little, we can show we appreciate what we have right now.

Koberna said...

We have lived through a couple of recessions and have made it through. This is just the first one that we are tuned into because we are working now. I think it was last week when they made it official that we were in a recession, that gov’t sure is on the ball. The organization that the gov’t relies on also said that we have been in a recession since last December. The good news, if history is any indicator, is that the longest recession has been 15-17 months or so. So if we stay close to history we should be coming out of it soon. The thing that scares me is that our gov’t appears to be doing everything they can to ruin our economy and make the recession last longer then it should.

The latest numbers for Black Friday was interesting, more then last year. I don’t know if Americans are just that insane, or maybe it means we are in better shape then what is reported. Hopefully we will be coming out of it soon, unfortunately it will not be till Bush is out of office and Obama gets the credit =P (If you think that is true and Presidents have some ability to control the economy then you are wrong, what ever side of the retarded bird you are on).