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Post subject:
 Posted: Jun 24, 2009 - 09:56 PM
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Member
Joined: Oct 13, 2005
Posts: 1745
Location: Lakeland Florida
Status: Offline
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While the top .5% of the country are getting richer by the minute...
I think it's excessive when the top dog of a company makes between 400 and 1000 TIMES the lowest paid (or in some cases the average paid) person's income. They lay off several of the lowest paid people and think they're cutting corners. They cut people's pay- and reduce the top person's pay by a pittance (if they don't find some way to raise it).
Oh, and the taxes don't go down- or go up for everyone below the median income.
(Oh, that's right- they're user fees and so on - not taxes. Riiighht!!!)
Meanwhile all those jobs that we're needing are being shipped to places where they can convince the locals to work for pennies a day in sweathouse conditions without any benefits.
And when we complain and talk about "living wages", they say they can't make a profit! (RIGHT- many countries around the world have a living wage and their owners don't charge more- and are still making a profit!) |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 24, 2009 - 11:19 PM
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Member
Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 7910
Location: New Jersey USA
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| windslipper wrote: | Here in upstate NY the economy continues to worsen every day...
Families and Children without food is becoming a reality for many...and welfare etc. is getting harder and harder to qualify for....
One can only imagine what the future may bring...
Dan |
Jersey's not faring much better. I just noticed on my way home tonight how many empty houses there are in my neighborhood. For sale signs everywhere.
You gotta wonder where those people went......
Sad state of affairs. |
_________________
Not an eye for an eye is the golden rule
Just leaves a room full of blind men...DMB
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 24, 2009 - 11:57 PM
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Joined: Sep 18, 2005
Posts: 4619
Location: Ottawa, Canada
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CITIGROUP which received $45 BILLION U.S. tax payer dollars to keep it from collapsing, is going to raise base salaries for traders and fund managers by as much as 50%, to compensate for the loss of performance bonuses. Is anyone feeling buyers remorse yet?
N |
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"Not bad .... for a human"
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 12:31 AM
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Joined: Dec 08, 2008
Posts: 77
Location: City on the Edge of Forever
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| CaptJTK wrote: | | windslipper wrote: | | Here in upstate NY the economy continues to worsen every day...<BR>Families and Children without food is becoming a reality for many...and welfare etc. is getting harder and harder to qualify for....<BR>One can o­nly imagine what the future may bring...<BR><BR>Dan |
<BR><BR>Jersey's not faring much better. I just noticed o­n my way home tonight how many empty houses there are in my neighborhood. For sale signs everywhere. You gotta wonder where those people went......
Sad state of affairs. |
It sure isn't, CaptJTK. I'm in Essex county. What part of Jersey are you from?
(no need to get too personal if you're uncomfortable to say exactly - county is fine... or even just "north", "central", "south", "down the shore", etc)
Our county has one of the highest property taxe rates in the nation, I just heard recently. We're becoming a ghost town here... less than 15 minutes into midtown Manhattan on the Midtown Direct train - but so many empty houses that it's starting to noticeably become a ghost town here. New Yorkers moved here for the 'better bargain' on real estate, but now that they've lost their jobs in NYC and there aren't any jobs here either - they're losing their homes... which are remaining vacant long enough for desperate people to break into them at night and strip them of ALL electrical wiring and plumbing copper and fixtures and window panes, and once that happens no one will buy and the town is just waiting for many to fall down enough to be demolished. It's terrifying to watch. What's my house gonna be worth in another 6 months, or a year, when it's one of the only few left that's inhabited?
A 2-sq-mile city with a population of nearly 40,000 ..... and it's fast becoming a Wasteland. Soon, we're beginning to fear, it'll be just like the parts of Newark that never were rebuilt after the 1967 riots -- just open fields in the middle of one of the larges urban areas in our nation! |
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dlvlady44 |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 01:47 AM
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Member
Joined: May 19, 2007
Posts: 153
Status: Offline
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| I hate to say it - but wasn't all that stimulus money supposed to make everything wonderful again? No jobs out here in Vegas either. I am only working because I have been at the same hotel for 10 years - seniority. Nevada has the highest forclosure rate in the country also I heard. Not good at all. I am sorry for all that are hurting over this. Hope things start to turn around soon. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 02:13 AM
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Joined: Sep 18, 2004
Posts: 7329
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I'd like to know where all those trillions of dollars are going. They certainly aren't going to education. They aren't going to local government. They aren't being spent around here on road improvement, or any other public projects.
I'd like to see the bank accounts of some of the special interest groups that helped elect the current administration. Perhaps a wee bit o' money somehow "mistakenly" wound up there?  |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 02:58 AM
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Member
Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 7910
Location: New Jersey USA
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Hey Stephanie,
Morris County here, and yea, it's appalling. We're an hour out on the midtown direct. They even put the high-low cars on the line and there's nobody on the trains. Everyone's out of work.
My brother was out for about 6 months last year, finally found a job, got married in the first week of May this year, came back from his honeymoon and was told to clear out. He was let go.
You gotta wonder how those people up in Bergen county are fairing, in Alpine, those mansions......poor bastards.
We have something in common, besides being from Jersey.
My given name is Stephen, Steve for short.  |
_________________
Not an eye for an eye is the golden rule
Just leaves a room full of blind men...DMB
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ASB |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 04:11 AM
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Member
Joined: Oct 13, 2003
Posts: 1754
Location: Country NSW
Status: Offline
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The good thing to come out of an economic downturn is all the inefficient businesses close and the efficient ones remain, once things improve the stronger businesses grow to fill the void taken up previously by the failed companies, the end result is a far stronger economy.
Unfortunatly this cycle happens to some degree every thirty years.
BTW did I mention Australia decided not to join the recession. 
I really feel for you guys my sister in OK is doing it very tough, I am almost embarased to tell her we are going to Japan again next holiday. |
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When Hell Freezes Over I'll Ski There Too
E=M'Ski Squared.
Ausi Ski Bum (ASB)
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 04:21 AM
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Joined: Aug 30, 2005
Posts: 16105
Location: Jaw Jah
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Here is the problem  Yes, I was an Economics major
The Economy runs in cycles, upswings and downturns, it's
the natural order of things...
But some adviser walks into the Oval and says 
OMG MR. President, we may have some inflation or unemployment
Well, being a politican, and PREZ, he thinks he has to act. He will tweak the Fed....etc
In the end what we get, instead of a lot of small bumps in the Economy,
like is supposed to happen, is one giant bump due to all the
Government meddling
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 02:32 PM
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Joined: Oct 13, 2003
Posts: 1754
Location: Country NSW
Status: Offline
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Actually this mess was caused by lack of meddling Gorman, to much attention given to the issues out of the country to notice the melt down happening at home. Sub prime was a disaster waiting to happen and boy it happened didn't it.
You have to wonder what the people in the finance positions were doing for the past 10 years.
Nothing could have stopped this recession once it started but at least world wide action seems to have prevented it becoming a depression, the US will take years to dig out of this whole, I hope you all have the means to ensure your homes and families are safe. |
_________________
When Hell Freezes Over I'll Ski There Too
E=M'Ski Squared.
Ausi Ski Bum (ASB)
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 05:22 PM
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Joined: Nov 08, 2002
Posts: 17681
Location: Upstate New York
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Sharice Williford travels to work each day from her home in Beacon to Chester, Orange County, where is employed as a safety clerk for a trucking company.
She often stays late, waiting for a cab or bus. Once, she walked across the Newburgh-Beacon bridge at night because her bus didn’t come.
On Wednesday, Williford and 21 other Dutchess County families received their own cars from Community Solutions for Transportation and Wheels For Work, funded by the Department of Social Services through an allocation from the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Division of Employment and Transitional Supports.
The families followed specific guidelines and took classes on topics like safe driving and budgeting their finances before the award ceremony at the Family Partnership Center on Wednesday.
After the ceremony, the recipient claimed their cars, which were parked in roped-off lot across the street.
Read tomorrow's Journal for the full story.
Sometimes the Goverment really does help...
D
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 06:01 PM
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Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 15102
Location: CA
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yes...and the cars weren't selling anyway...so a WIN-WIN 
What's that old song...BARE NECESSITIES-CLICK...yeah that's it.... |
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rdb |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 08:33 PM
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Joined: Oct 13, 2005
Posts: 1745
Location: Lakeland Florida
Status: Offline
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Some of my friends and others I've met had been forecasting the sub-prime mess long before it happened.
Deregulation was the culprit. If the rules had been left in place, the top people might not have gotten as rich, but the rest of us wouldn't be in the jam we're in as well.
Today I talked at a roundtable discussion on the medical industry and how it's failing in this country. I hope it does some good- makes some changes for the better. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 08:42 PM
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Joined: Dec 08, 2008
Posts: 77
Location: City on the Edge of Forever
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| CaptJTK wrote: |
Hey Stephanie,
Morris County here, and yea, it's appalling. We're an hour out on the midtown direct. They even put the high-low cars on the line and there's nobody on the trains. Everyone's out of work.
My brother was out for about 6 months last year, finally found a job, got married in the first week of May this year, came back from his honeymoon and was told to clear out. He was let go.
You gotta wonder how those people up in Bergen county are fairing, in Alpine, those mansions......poor bastards.
We have something in common, besides being from Jersey.
My given name is Stephen, Steve for short. |
We Jerseyeans always have stuff in common with each other. lol
Steve - I almost spit my teeth out laughing when I read your oh-so-true comment about the Bergen county folks in their mansions... Hubby also agrees with you. But he says he can't bring himself to feel too sorry for them, they 'worked the Wall Street system' for all it was worth, bought homes and bought into lifestyles they couldn't really afford and now can't keep - while we in Essex, Passaic, Hudson, & Union counties toiled harder and paid higher tax rates (if for smaller properties). I guess they're SoL now.
Disclaimer: The above ^, of course, is a very broad generalization, and while it's quite demonstrably true as a whole - it does not reflect individuals.
I don't know what's going to happen to us, personally, nor to Jerseyans in general.
Essex county has one of the highest unemployment rates - 9.9% - in all 21 counties in New Jersey! (Only Passiac, Hudson, Atlantic, Cumberland, & Salem counties are higher... and not by much, just a few tenths of a percentage point.)
NJ - as a state - has an 8.9% unemployment rate... but NJ has the highest statewide unemployment rate in the entire mid-Atlantic region. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 25, 2009 - 08:59 PM
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Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 15102
Location: CA
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I worry more about Stephanie,and her Family, eating Dog Food...I hope it had gravy on it....sorry, it's not funny  |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 12:52 AM
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Joined: Dec 08, 2008
Posts: 77
Location: City on the Edge of Forever
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| littlestar wrote: |
I worry more about Stephanie,and her Family, eating Dog Food...I hope it had gravy on it....sorry, it's not funny |
Then why did you make the gravy crack in the first place?
Do you think I'm the only person to have to resort to eating dog food?
I'm not and it's been done plenty of times in the past... and plenty of times today.
It beats going hungry entirely. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 01:06 AM
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Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 15102
Location: CA
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I was trying to make light of a serious situation...and YOU are not the only one on this Board to deal with People in dire straits....
Think you could curtail your attitude a little?  |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 11:54 AM
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Joined: Feb 12, 2003
Posts: 7746
Location: NSW -Australia
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| Stephanie wrote: | | littlestar wrote: |
I worry more about Stephanie,and her Family, eating Dog Food...I hope it had gravy on it....sorry, it's not funny |
Then why did you make the gravy crack in the first place?
Do you think I'm the only person to have to resort to eating dog food?
I'm not and it's been done plenty of times in the past... and plenty of times today.
It beats going hungry entirely. |
Many years ago (in the UK) when I was just 7 to ten. I had survived world war 2 but I was an invalid.,and hunger was a daily battle, we went to bed to keep warm and as we had no food it was the best way to survive, father was desperately ill from war wounds, and my mother was fragile. However thanks to Jinny Nonas. our dear neighbour, we survived, what she would do was go to the open market at the end of the day and in the bins were carrots potatoes all sorts of left over veggies that would not survive to the next day. she used to pick the best . and she had this HUGE pan that always had thick soup with legumes. at the end of the day she would give us what was left . and the next day she would do this all over again.
recently I watched Oprah and believe or not many people even some well healed were in fact doing this. Dog food BTW is sometimes animals that have TB and cancer , My daughter and daughter inlaw both worked when younger in a meat works, so be careful.
when dad got stronger he could make a meal out of scraps. mainly legumes these were always available after the war, this was an era of ration books and (thin people) people used to help each other to survive another day, until things eventually got better.
I feel for all those with hardships, believe me my friends I have been there. and hope is your only crutch
Take care . and good luck. I know several on this forum are doing it tough. as is my daughter in the US.
Daisy |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 05:22 PM
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Joined: Feb 04, 2003
Posts: 8812
Location: Planet Earth
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humans are hard wired to survive and adapt.
.JPG "Image") |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 05:58 PM
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Joined: Dec 08, 2008
Posts: 77
Location: City on the Edge of Forever
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| daisydownunder wrote: |
Dog food BTW is sometimes animals that have TB and cancer , My daughter and daughter inlaw both worked when younger in a meat works, so be careful. |
Like I said, it beats going hungry entirely.
I can't worry about cancer or any other disease over worrying about an empty stomach. If I must choose between a completely empty stomach NOW and couple of weeks before starving dead and possibly cancer or another disease later... and that's just a 'maybe' -- I will have to choose for the immediate survival and deal with other things later. Otherwise, there will be no later.
I never thought that - at the age of 48 - I'd have been reduced to this. I grew up solidly middle class and never 'wanted' for anything. I spent most of my marriage wealthy. Now, hubby at 63 and I at 48, are facing starvation. This is unbelievable. Just totally unbelievable.
| daisydownunder wrote: |
I feel for all those with hardships, believe me my friends I have been there. and hope is your only crutch
Take care . and good luck. I know several on this forum are doing it tough. as is my daughter in the US.
Daisy |
Oh, I'm quite aware that I'm hardly alone. Many of my immediate neighbors are in the same boat as I. We have pooled our food to make community suppers for us all that are better than what each of us would have been able to make alone. Yet, we still can't make ends meet and eat healthily.
Today I must make yet another tough choice: Do I buy my Tramadol or buy my husband's blood pressure medicine? I don't have enough to buy both. I can only have one until next Friday...
If his blood pressure rises, he could die. If I don't alleviate my chronic pain, I could make another suicide attempt, possibly, if I can't take the pain any longer. I've attempted suicide 4 times already, in the past 22 years. I'm not suicidal right now, but it's quite possible that, after a week of unmitigated pain, I will be. I'm all too aware of the potential consequences. How do I choose which med to buy?
I suppose it's gonna have to be hubby's blood pressure medicine. That's the more immediate threat, at the moment. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 06:10 PM
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Joined: Feb 04, 2003
Posts: 8812
Location: Planet Earth
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| A good argument for social medicine. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 06:50 PM
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Joined: Sep 18, 2005
Posts: 4619
Location: Ottawa, Canada
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| Stephanie wrote: | | daisydownunder wrote: |
Dog food BTW is sometimes animals that have TB and cancer , My daughter and daughter inlaw both worked when younger in a meat works, so be careful. |
Like I said, it beats going hungry entirely.
I can't worry about cancer or any other disease over worrying about an empty stomach. If I must choose between a completely empty stomach NOW and couple of weeks before starving dead and possibly cancer or another disease later... and that's just a 'maybe' -- I will have to choose for the immediate survival and deal with other things later. Otherwise, there will be no later.
I never thought that - at the age of 48 - I'd have been reduced to this. I grew up solidly middle class and never 'wanted' for anything. I spent most of my marriage wealthy. Now, hubby at 63 and I at 48, are facing starvation. This is unbelievable. Just totally unbelievable.
| daisydownunder wrote: |
I feel for all those with hardships, believe me my friends I have been there. and hope is your only crutch
Take care . and good luck. I know several on this forum are doing it tough. as is my daughter in the US.
Daisy |
Oh, I'm quite aware that I'm hardly alone. Many of my immediate neighbors are in the same boat as I. We have pooled our food to make community suppers for us all that are better than what each of us would have been able to make alone. Yet, we still can't make ends meet and eat healthily.
Today I must make yet another tough choice: Do I buy my Tramadol or buy my husband's blood pressure medicine? I don't have enough to buy both. I can only have one until next Friday...
If his blood pressure rises, he could die. If I don't alleviate my chronic pain, I could make another suicide attempt, possibly, if I can't take the pain any longer. I've attempted suicide 4 times already, in the past 22 years. I'm not suicidal right now, but it's quite possible that, after a week of unmitigated pain, I will be. I'm all too aware of the potential consequences. How do I choose which med to buy?
I suppose it's gonna have to be hubby's blood pressure medicine. That's the more immediate threat, at the moment. |
I write about this subject frequently but it's distant to me. Following this thread makes it real. Thank you for your honesty and a different perspective.
N |
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"Not bad .... for a human"
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 07:05 PM
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Joined: Oct 24, 2002
Posts: 15102
Location: CA
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Have you tried with the Pharmaceutical Companies to see if you may get a lower price or FREE Prescriptions?....Also in working with people in situations like yours...YES, I work in the field...a contact to Mental Health Services may yield help, because of the suicide threat. Have you already asked for generic types of meds, in order to get reduced price at Walgreens or WalMart ?
No churches in your area have funds for help?
See, I do care...my comment before was genuine stimulus to start discussion...and also, if I had to eat it...I would most definitely smother it in gravy...I found pasta to be cheaper than pet food...and during College I ate allot of pasta....plain, or if lucky, with butter and grated Govt Cheese.
Not good for blood pressure or fat, but it makes one feel full.... |
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rdb |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 08:53 PM
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Joined: Oct 13, 2005
Posts: 1745
Location: Lakeland Florida
Status: Offline
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We used to eat grits and macaroni and cheese (generally with tuna, sometimes without). Macaroni and cheese generally sold for 4 packages for a a dollar- and a bag of grits was also pretty cheap. Tuna back then ran about a quarter a can. Our food budget was $20 for a week OR LESS for two people for several years. Some days we only ate grits. Our splurge was to make a pot of spaghetti and stretch it out for a few days.
It's not a healthy diet by any stretch, but it does keep you alive, and I THINK it would be even cheaper than dog food. At that time, we didn't have pets.
I was interviewed yesterday as part of a round-table discussion on health care, and I shared my bad experiences with the health care system. Part of the interview was put on one of our local radio stations. I am very much an advocate for socialized medicine, because I've experienced the evil of today's system in this country. I've had problems with kidney stones (among many other problems), and I actually had a doctor punch me in the affected kidney because we didn't have insurance or an income so we could pay the hospital bill. Indeed- after waiting in the waiting room (and in an examining room) for over six hours- the doctor's first (and obviously only) concern when he came in was about our insurance and how we'd pay.
It was my word against his, and so I never pursued it. They never believe a poor person- especially when he's going up against a doctor.
That's only just one bad situation out of dozen's I've personally witnessed.
I've been forced to beg for food from the local homeless shelter several times, we've gone without power for three months because of health issues (I can't hold down a "regular job" and it's hard to make ends meet on one income), and we've been forced to choose between medicine and other needs (such as food on the table) several times.
No, the present system is badly broken... and it's costing the country far more than if they'd spend the money to fix it.
I think there are several people on this blog who understand going through tough times. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 26, 2009 - 09:16 PM
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Member
Joined: Feb 12, 2005
Posts: 14133
Location: Your daily life is your temple and your religion. Kahil Gibran
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I am just glad that our overall expenses are low. We don't have a house or car payment and we try to keep our utilities consumption down. We are able to grow some food and we can both get pretty creative in the kitchen.
When all else fails, there is Rhamon noodles for .17 a pack. Not the most nutritious, but can stretch out a small amount of meat and veggies very nicely.
What the Muskogee used to do whenever they had a gathering was to put out three baskets: one for vegetables, one for fruit, and another for bread. If someone brought meat, that was special. Everyone brought some sort of vegetable, fruit, and bread. The vegetables and meat (if available) were placed in a large pot and cooked into a stew or soup. The fruit provided dessert and the bread was usually fry bread cooked by the ladies and it was delicious. |
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