On my way to somewhere the other day there were men standing on the side of the road with large signs indicating that Linens and Things were going out of business. A friend of ours who is in an executive position at a GM car dealership tells us he had exactly three people come in to buy cars this past week. The food banks are running out of food and the soup kitchens are overflowing. “Times is hard” !

Stores are closing rapidly and people without jobs in our area. Food banks are almost bare and the toy and food drives in our area say they have received few donations. When I took in toys the day before the Santa party, I was told there had only been 3 families that have donated and we all know why-everyone is in a financial bind. I share what I can and help where I can, but who knows when I may need to be on the receiving end. It’s the scariest time I’ve seen since I’ve been an adult. I remember rations during WWII but both my mother and father were lucky enough to have jobs. I worry about my children who are barely employed and holding on to the jobs they have.

The recession began in my hometown several years ago when factories shut down to relocate to Mexico or China, leaving people here without jobs. I had a good job working in an ad agency and was a victim of downsizing. The only job I could find, at my age (currently 55), was as library assistant at one of our local public libraries. The pay is half what I previously made, and the job is only part-time. When my car broke down I couldn’t afford to repair it and sent it to the salvage yard for $100. I’m now living in Section 8 housing after losing my family home, and either walk to and from work or take the bus. Sundays, with most of the stores closed in my area (near downtown) and busses not running, I walk or just stay home. I have prospects for a 12-week Continuing Ed. teaching assignment if a minimum of 12 people sign up, but the class will be located in an area where the bus won’t run past 5:30. I’ve sent resumes out, made phone calls, asked friends to help me find full-time employment but the few jobs that are available are going to younger people. I consider myself lucky to have a warm, if small, apartment. The computer I use is 10 years old and when it crashes or burns out, that’s it. I chose Internet over cable TV; couldn’t afford the luxury of having both, and the Internet helps me with the few freelance jobs I get. (I’ve written for a monthly local magazine for senior citizens for 10 years and only recently, within the past six months, have been getting paid—$25 a month—on a quarterly basis.) Things are tough everywhere, not just here, and my situation is by no means as bad as things can get. WOW is one the places I go to for intelligent, and sometimes inspirational, discussions on matters of interest to women of my age. Thank you for being here, WOW, and thank you to all the posters.

I am lucky that my son moved in with me , even so he is on disability he helps me a lot with the groceries and utilities. Medicare went up again and young people think that Medicare is a gift. Think again. For my husband and I , I pay well over 400.00 a month for Medicare and additional insurance needed. Then husband was in the hospital , we thought he had a heart attack . He had to be there 3 days because the heart specialist was out for the week end and could not read the results for his tests. I faught that but lost so we had to pay $1200.00 which was not covered by Medicare. I am paying them 25 dollars a month. The heck with them. Like I am going to worry about getting bad credit at this stage ?

I see a huge problem with people in their 50’s who are not being hired due to age discrimination. The hiring managers make a lot of assumptions about obsolete skills, etc. without actually checking the facts. And the idea that older workers are paid more, so will yield the most savings in a layoff is open to question - most jobs have a pay range regardless of years of experience, a 30 year-old with 5-6 years in the job may be paid as much as a 50 year-old in the same position. But then, in this economy, it’s a game of musical chairs, some workers will lose. Though I think it may be easier for the average 20 or 30 year-old to reduce their expenses.

Our food banks here in Central Kentucky are running low. My best friend is in a management at the largest Chrysler dealership in Ky.; she can only worry about it day to day. The state of Kentucky is always challenged, even in the good times. We are having one factory after another closing up shop. Cintas, the uniform company, is somewhere here in Ky. and they laid off the whole factory just the other day. Ford Truck Division is in Louisville, Corvettes are manufactured in Bowling Green, Toyota’s huge plant is the next county over in Georgetown. So, we have scads of related factories and car related industries scattered over the whole state. We also have third world conditions in Eastern Kentucky. Our coffers are running very short in State Government, and the governor is very worried. Our universities have a hiring freeze, and have been ordered to cut their budgets across the board. This is going to get worse before it turns around. It is much to huge to spend every moment in panic. I have stopped checking my retirement account because there is nothing I can do anyway. I will say that, as a Realtor, I had a contract accepted on Thanksgiving Day. I have no way of knowing how to plan for next year except to hold on and take it just a little at a time. Our real estate numbers are down, but not as bad as the rest of the country. At 66 years old, I just want to stay healthy and not injure myself being clumsy.

I live in a small rural town in Illinois. I noticed there have been a lot more “new” kids in school this year than ever before. Not many move here unless they have family. People are moving in with their relatives from other, more expensive locations, like California & Chicago. Rent & taxes are relatively low, so people move here to live more cheaply.

my heart goes out to all the people that are on hard times, but between the administration, we the people let this happen too, if the gays in California would focus on what is happening in the nation instead of there gay rights we might get something done, for the people by the people. people we have to stick together, and fight for our rights, American just don’t do that, we never stuck together on anything. this is how i see it at 64!

I didn’t want to come to this thread actually. I did I think… because I care about what’s happening to my fellow wowers. But i’m not interested in hearing about the bad economy anymore. and before anyone jumps on me… it’s because it’s something i can’t control. It reminds me of having a baby. once that baby starts coming… it’s coming. and you don’t get to stop it or control it… it does it’s thing and you just have to deal with the pain until that baby is born! That’s how i feel about the economy right now. it is what it is. I have to trust the people we’ve put in power like i have to trust the pilot flying the plane i’m in. and it would really help if the media would quit finding bad shit to talk about every single day and terrifying people. I can’t distinguish between what’s bad and what’s real bad or what’s not even that bad because the media is so damn hung up on getting out there and doomsaying every second of the day.

I guess that’s one way to look at it, just ignore the elephant in the room and maybe it will go away. Nobody likes bad news, but talking about what’s happening in every corner of America and how it’s affecting everyone may be the first step to finding a solution for the problem. Maybe together, we can find ways to fix or alleviate the financial problems facing all of us. It isn’t just people biting off more debt than they can handle, often it’s people who had stable well paying jobs, who lost those jobs and have exhausted all their savings and assets to stay afloat and now are down to living day to day instead of just paycheck to paycheck. You pay off credit card debt, cut out luxuries, private schools for your children, sell excess cars down to one or none, sell off assets, and when you’re down to living day to day and can’t find another job, then what? I know people in this situation and you probably do, too. Some are too depressed, ashamed, embarrassed to talk about it, but that dowesn’t make it go away. Together, we might be able to come up with some answers.

I’ve had the exact same experience as Irish Bell. I wake up in a good mood, open the paper, turn on the morning shows and instantly get a clutch in the pit of my stomach with the assault of the daily doom and gloom report. I spend the rest of my day worried. Perception is everything. I truly believe that if the major networks stopped their economic funereal drumbeat for even a few moments and injected a small dose of that Obama “hope” into the equation, the economy would start to turn around. Hope goes a long way. But the media is obsessive compulsive. Who can forget the endless Scott Peterson coverage? Like a dog with a bone they flog and flog and flog a story to death, sucking every last morsel of marrow from the bone. There is no doubt we face hard times. Thankfully some areas of the market are finally correcting. The gouging from the oil industry has temporarily come to a halt as gas prices have dropped back to realistic numbers. The trickle down effect hasn’t quite taken hold yet, but gouging from many other sectors are beginning to self-correct as well. (Although my newspaper had a full page ad this morning for a new resort with $700 a night rooms. Get real guys. The party is over.) Record profit-taking has ruined so many industries. Greed is not good, after all. My hope is that the Obama administration will impose severe, and I mean SEVERE fines on the corrupt oil industry that has been a major player in this collapse. Those fines should then be distributed DIRECTLY into the pockets of Americans. Not shoved into another line in the budget. But go right back to the victims of this greed. That’s the way to create a proper economic stimulus package without printing up a bunch of money. From $4.50 a gal to $1.69 a gallon in less than two months? Hello! How about doing some calculations there Mr. President Elect. That’s a $2.81 per gallon overcharge. A $20.85 gouge per fill-up. I figure each American is owed a minimum of $30 per week just from the oil industry. Around $6200 for the last four years of Mr. Bush’s reign. Cough it up, boys. No more bailouts either. NONE. It’s all fake profit-taking.