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This is a thread where you can do anything recession related. You may whine about how your work is doing horrible things to you in the name of the economy. You can post your resume*. You can talk about doing that thing you always meant to do but couldn't because you had your job to worry about. Or heck we can combine forces and start our own hatrack business venture, and go forward like time into history!
----- Seems like every two years I lose my job, the only thing that makes me feel OK about it is that the last two places I've worked at are, or are likely to be, going out of business. I cause businesses to fail by just being there. I should get that officially listed as a disability and then go about coercing companies into giving me protection money so that I don't seriously attempt to work for them. In the interest of full disclosure I've sent applications to the State Department, National Security Advisory, Central Intelligence Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If I am granted employment at any of those places at best, a branch of the federal government will fail, at worst the union will dissolve.
I went to sleep at 9:30pm and woke up at 2:30am, apparently I can't even sleep full time.
And unemployment benefits, how does it make any sense to tax unemployment benefits?! It's like the government is saying to me, "Here's a paltry sum, now give us back a chunk of it!"
Folks seem quick to point out that Utah's unemployment rate is much lower than the national average. Of course it is, any fool can get a job for the price of their soul here telling rich employed folks how they ought to be spending their money and then get a sales commission. "Hey there Mr. Millionaire, why aren't you investing in a security system, real estate, time shares, oil futures?! Of course I myself would be investing in all these things if I had your money, so hand over a chunk and watch me go back to night school!"
I'll be going to the plasma clinic twice a week until I find a job, I'll make a cool $60 a week doing that. Of course occasionally my arms will look like I laid them on a railroad track as the train ran by, but hey maybe somebody will see my arms and buy me a drink because they think my wife beats me up. Of course I don't drink in the first place but at least I'd get free peanuts.
Whenever I eat now all I'll be able to do is think about how much it costs. If I turn on the heat I think of the utility bill. I'd cancel my cellphone if I didn't have to shell out $200 in fees. If I drive especially carefully can I just forgo car insurance?
Do I get another hourly wage job, or do I take out the largest student loan I can get and try to ride out this recession in grad school? Why can't I get paid for the hours I will spend everyday looking for a job?
Is it sickly ironic that the Utah Department of Workforce Services reported increasing its' staff by 150% over the last year? -----
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I would prefer to be doing well while my friends are all doing well; instead, most of my friends are eating street and selling plasma. I have recently caught up with a long-time friend who is living in a house in westminister, with no power nor heating. 17 friends have moved back in with parents. In fact, so many are, that it has lost its stigma among my peers. When you're slumming by, driving on fumes, life imparts different lessons and is fundamentally different. Coffee is a luxury, going to movies a significant investment. Concerts cease to happen. Drinking becomes untenably expensive as a habit. You look at your cat and realize that as much as you love him/her, they are an unforgivable luxury. If they got sick, you can't take them to the vet.
Then the more serious realities kick in: you can't get sick. Hell, you can't even get dental work. If your glasses get broken, you can't even get them fixed. You just weld them back together inelegantly and wear them crooked and scuffed. Access to reasonable cooking facilities becomes limited. Your diet starts getting replaced with heavily processed foods. Your dinner options are the several various fast food joints within walking distance that have dollar menus. Paradoxically, a recession is a great time to gain weight. J used to work in mortgages and is now unemployed. She goes to bars in the hope that men will buy her drinks as its the only vestige of her previous jet-setting life she can still cling to. M has sold two cars, including his boxter, in order to stay afloat. Solvent friends see couches filled up with insolvent friends. L is a graphic design artist who will take anything and will be happy to get back into employment at $20k. S is seriously contemplating becoming an escort. Excusing my french, PayDay loan centers have begun gleefully ****ing my friends in need. So desperate is the workforce in the neighboring towns that my overhead has reduced significantly; I can simply exploit the desperate, either directly or through day labor centers like LaborReady. For reasons like these, I am lipstick economics, and it's bizarre. When the real estate melted down, I started making real money. When the commercial paper market ground to a halt due to the CBL's and MBS's, acting as the harbinger of a worldwide depression that would last for years, things got even better for me. It's like being a demolition specialist after a hurricane hits the ninth ward. Disaster fills your plate for years to come.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I feel very lucky these days. I work in an "idiot-proof curries" shop - buy one of our sachets, just add meat and water! My bosses have actually seen revenues increase this month (not counting the Christmas sales). Our theory is that people still want the treat of takeout but can't afford it, so they come to us. Either way, I'm really glad my job is secure.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to be a student right now. With any luck, by the time I get out and start looking for a real job, the worst of this will have blown over. A fantasy, I know, but it keeps me hoping.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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Maybe Lisa wasn't talking about the economy, but just her mood.
A lot of public school teachers are getting more and more concerned about how state budget shortfalls will affect our program budgets. This is particularly true for teachers (like me) who teach elective subjects. When my budget gets cut, it puts more of a financial burden on those wishing to participate in band, which definitely limits access to a portion of the school's population. And this assumes that they even retain my position. I haven't heard either way if my school is looking into cutting positions, and I think given the current size of my band program I wouldn't be the first on the chopping block, but it is still a concern.
I keep trying to reassure myself that it makes good business sense for the district to retain my position, even if they perhaps cut my budget. I mean, I see have 300 student contacts every day, which means that, if students were scheduled for other classes instead of band, it would take two or three teachers instead of just one. But still, it keeps one up at night.
Posts: 1099 | Registered: Apr 2005
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My husband is looking for a job. Which is very difficult. I look at the news and see companies cutting huge amounts of their workforce and think, dh applied there. I bet if they just let go thousands of people, they aren't going to hire him. I am trying to avoid reading the news and thinking happy thoughts. Afterall, he did one interview that would have hired him if he could start now (he is finishing his masters right now). And when it didn't work out, they went on and on about how hard it is to find someone with such an impressive resume and a great interview to go with it and on and on. Called him and told him about other openings in other departments since they hated the thought of the company missing out on him. Of course, none of the other departments have called back and he still doesn't have a job lined up for when he graduates...
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
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The more I hear the more I'm cursing the fact that I graduate in May. I'm applying for Teach For America, but all my friends who've applied -- and have better grades than I -- have been rejected. I'm pretty much riding on the fact that I'm a double major and better yet, a double major in two sciences, to carry me in. Not likely. I'm looking at other service options but I don't feel like a good candidate for any of them. Right now I'm wishing I'd taken less risks in college. I'm wishing I'd tried for that bloody 4.0 (or hell, even a 3.5) rather than trying to take as many interesting classes as possible.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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The more people that get laid off, the fewer people to buy stuff, the less product that companies can sell, the fewer employees that they can pay, the more people that get laid off.
It's a pretty scary cycle. I'm in a relatively safe place for now, but who knows where the bottom of this thing will be.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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My husband has been out of work since November. The two jobs in his field that have been available since then both had over 100 applicants. He's starting an IT training program next week - he worked IT until about 7 years ago, so just needs updates on new systems and certification.
The crazy thing about unemployment insurance (at least in Hawaii) are the stringent, yet extremely vague rules they have. For instance, you have to be "actively looking for work". I'm cool with that, but they define that here as making 3 job contacts a week. Which we've been told means 3 applications a week. Well, there have been two jobs in my husband's field since November, so he's been scouring the internet and the classifieds for anything that's remotely connected. Most of the jobs he's applied for he's extremely over-qualified for and they pay less than his unemployment pay. And if he accepted a job, he'd lose the chance to go into the training program. But if he turns down "suitable work" (don't even try to get that defined. No one knows what it means), he'll lose all of his benefits.
He was actually offered a position from one of the places he applied for and had a mess to clean up from that so he could keep his benefits and go to school without "refusing work". The DOL employee handling his case basically told him to apply for jobs he's not qualified for and cannot hope to land, just to meet the requirements and not to worry about getting an offer.
Once he starts the program next week, he won't have to apply every week, but it's been a frustrating experience.
My job is being eliminated in July. So I'm looking too. Of course, I'm also moving to Oahu around then, so there's lots of change coming. It's a frightening time to be looking for work, I'll tell you. Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: This is a thread where you can do anything recession related. You can post your resume*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *Don't actually post your RL resume.
Personally I hadn't been worried at my job for a long time because people are still going out to eat, they're just doing it more infrequently and in smaller numbers, but a couple family members have lost their jobs recently, and my best friend's dad, who is an electrician, lost his job at a hospital. Now I'm a little worried. My hours are already fairly small, and I only work on the weekends, but they rush me out the door faster and faster and for the first time in awhile, money is really becoming tight, and I ALREADY live at home. Thank God I paid my car off last year or I'd be in some serious trouble, and for that matter, thank goodness I crosstrained so much last year at the restaurant or I'd already have been let go. If I get fired, I don't know what I'll do. None of the local restaurants are hiring (not the back of the house anyway), and I don't think you get unemployment if you work part time.
I work harder now than I used to, so the value of my work will stand out more in case someone does have to be let go. Next month I'll have been at my job for 5 years, and I only have to make it one more until I plan to quit when I go to either grad school or law school. There's a rumor going around that one of the managers is being fired to save money, but I hear lots of rumors. I like to think that things here in southeast Michigan are already worse than most every other place, and that they can't possibly get any worse, but I know things can always get go further down hill. I just hope things hold out long enough to get me through.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I noticed yesterday that my tax-preparer was booked solid until next week. Good times for that industry, at least until April.
Posts: 496 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Achilles: I noticed yesterday that my tax-preparer was booked solid until next week. Good times for that industry, at least until April.
Yeah, haven't noticed much of a slowdown in my husband's workload. Although they have had a harder time selling their "tax maintenance program"-- basically insurance in case you have questions or get audited. If you don't buy it you get charged for your time if you call to ask questions about tax planning during the year (although they don't usually charge on a call for a quick question, if they have to do any research and it takes more than 10 or 15 minutes they will) or if you get audited and they have to defend your return you get charged for that. If you buy it a certain amount of their time and any work they do on an audit is not charged because you paid for the TMP. It's a tougher sell this year.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I got called this morning and was told that I do not qualify for unemployment benefits. I mentioned that I am in school and that I cannot drop that specific class but that I could still work full time if the shift starts around 10:00am. Apparently they can only give me benefits if I am not in school or completely able to work any shift available. They are going to review my application again and I'll know by Sunday if everything is green. If not I'll have to talk to an appeals judge over the phone and perhaps he/she will have the latitude to say I qualify for their cheques.
So I went to school to qualify for a loan, since I'm a senior I could get upwards of $7500 subsidized. But no because I am only taking one class, (the last class I need to graduate) and not the minimum of 6 credits, I cannot qualify for a loan. I could go to my bank but I am paying back a short term loan there and it was a nightmare to get $1600 out of them in the first place.
Too much school for unemployment benefits, not enough school for a student loan.
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Wow. Tough call there. I think I would go ahead and say you can work any shift so the checks can start coming. Express your preference for later shifts to potential employers, but state availability for any shift in your application. If you get an offer and it's only for an early shift, decide at that time if you need to drop the class.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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quote:Originally posted by scifibum: Can you add credits to get the loan? (Maybe it's finally time for that bowling class?)
I was just thinking that too. Sign up for a couple weekend fluff classes. The fitness class is like an expensive gym membership.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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Yeah, I'm an energy market consultant, and my division hasn't had much trouble finding contracts. When things are so variable in the market companies need analysts all the more. My husband works in the financial industry, but he's in product management, which isn't an area you really want to lay people off from. In fact, his group is looking to hire more people because they're badly understaffed.
Really, the recession hasn't affected our lives in any significant way. It means I probably won't be job hopping this summer, and we might stay in the DC area a year or two longer than originally planned until we can sell our house at a profit (we could currently sell & break even, except for closing costs).
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Mattp: I'll probably just say I can take any shift so I can qualify and also state that on applications. Hopefully I'll just snatch up a good part time or full time job in the near future.
I can't add credits as it's too late in the semester, unless I get a note for my teacher or sign up for a class that starts second block. I don't know of any classes I really could take second block. But I'll look into it just in case. But perhaps a loan isn't the way to go.
Also apparently if I get unemployment and donate plasma, the plasma money is deducted dollar for dollar from my cheque. I'm going to check with my center to see if they report individual payouts to the IRS.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Our workload is increasing. We are still hiring people every month. We have an online application system and jobs that used to attract 10 to 20 applicants now have well over 100. I'm sure that if they looked at a map there wouldn't be as many. But recruting is a lot easier than a year ago. My issue is on the other end of a career. I have been planning on retiring this year and my 401(k) account has morphed into a 201(k). I am still planning on it but am getting worried.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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Artemisia, that's where the recession has hit my family the most - my dad didn't move most of his retirement egg out of eBay stock (that's where he works), and it got hit really hard. He's in his mid-55s, and I think this, coupled with the housing market, has pushed back his planned retirement by a few years, if not more.
I've been trying really, really hard not to say "I told you so," since I advised him to move his money into safer, lower-returns investments years ago. So far successful - I love him, but he was really an idiot about this, and his ranting now doesn't help anything.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Also the epicfail blog has one of the most concentrated levels of hilarity I have ever seen on the internet.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Mine's even worse. Two years ago, the lady that administers our plan told me that she had heard me give dozens of briefings to new employees in which I had advised them to remember to move their funds to a more conservitive investment several years before a planned retirement. She wanted me to do it right then. I promised to do it within the week. I just kept putting it off.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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As long as we're talking retirement savings sob stories...
My company switched to a new 401k plan and rolled all of the investments into a cash account with the new plan. I had decided to leave the cash there until I had a chance to look into things but after about 30 days of inactivity they helpfully auto-invested the entire sum into a some catchall "you're retiring in X years" plan about a month or two before everything started seriously heading south. This would have been the one time where my procrastination and lazyiness would have paid off.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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This is a good time for employers to get rid of the dead weight. The downturn is mostly mental...
Posts: 571 | Registered: Mar 2001
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A lot of the things exacerbating the downturn are mental (though many of those are instigated by policy), but the effects of the downturn are definitely being felt by real people. Nothing like the great depression, but there are a lot of people to hurt before it gets anywhere near there.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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And even if true, that doesn't really change anything about how it affects individuals and businesses. Decisions need to be made based on who will buy what then. This affects personal finances as well as business decisions. Regardless of whether it's all mental or not, people are still not buying things, still getting laid off, still losing their retirement savings, and no one has any clue when that will change.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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Oh, a lot of people have some clues about when that will change. There are a number of models and heuristics pointing to the overall economy starting to head up again in six months to a year and a half (there would be more certainty, but this is an unusual situation). Some sectors will probably remain in difficulty for a while past that, as they're not only typically lagging sectors, but are being particularly hard hit (commercial construction, for instance).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Do you see gas lines? Do you see lines at the food kitchens? Do you see massive unemployment?
I HEAR lots of doom and gloom though...
The difference between this and other down-turns, is that the media and politicians keep saying the sky is falling. Consumer confidence is low. The fundamentals are not.
Posts: 571 | Registered: Mar 2001
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quote:Oh, a lot of people have some clues about when that will change.
What I should have said is "and this won't be over very soon" but I was feeling a bit dramatic.
Also, I'm not putting a whole ton of stock in any particular forecasts at this point. I know several people think they have a clue, but still...
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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Even if the gas supply became very low (and it isn't right now, because gas isn't an issue in the current recession), there wouldn't be gas lines until the gov't put in price restrictions, just higher gas prices.
And unemployment is both quite high (and increasingly rapidly) in comparison to most of the last couple decades, and probably underestimating some parts of the effect, as the underemployment rate has also been climbing steeply. It'll probably stop somewhere above the rate in the early 90s, but below the rate in the early 80s.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote:Originally posted by lobo: Do you see gas lines? Do you see lines at the food kitchens? Do you see massive unemployment?
I HEAR lots of doom and gloom though...
The difference between this and other down-turns, is that the media and politicians keep saying the sky is falling. Consumer confidence is low. The fundamentals are not.
Your questions lead one to a conclusion concerning the scale of the down-turn, not to the conclusion that the down-turn isn't real (as against mental).
Posts: 644 | Registered: Sep 2008
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I am not saying that the downturn is not real. The scope is what I am talking about. The politicians and media would have us believe that this is on par with the great depression.
Posts: 571 | Registered: Mar 2001
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There is a difference between saying that a down-turn is over-hyped and saying a down-turn is mental. After 5+ years of living in a bubble there are very real economic reasons for why this down-turn is happening.
Posts: 644 | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by lobo: I am not saying that the downturn is not real. The scope is what I am talking about. The politicians and media would have us believe that this is on par with the great depression.
They are actually bending over backwards to try to convince the more pessimistic among us that it has not fallen to that level and they will do everything in their power to avert the possibility.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Stray: What field do you work in, Samp?
I'm a subcontractor. I primarily work on huge projects making gargantuan mansions and ranch homes for absurdly rich people. What makes it lipstick-economics-ey is that the opening of the recession caused a flurry of dudes on the top end of the socioeconomic stratum to just go 'whelp, this looks like a good time to quit and settle down' so the construction of giant homes out here simply accelerated.
The houses also get cooler as time goes on.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by scifibum: Can you add credits to get the loan? (Maybe it's finally time for that bowling class?)
I was just thinking that too. Sign up for a couple weekend fluff classes. The fitness class is like an expensive gym membership.
Be careful. Technically, only credits that count towards graduating can be used to calculate eligibility for financial aid. Not every school is diligent about checking, but many are -- and the likelihood increases if you are adding the class after the usual deadline.
We have a student in a similar situation. Personally, I think a graduating senior should be able to get a Stafford loan even if they're only taking one class (with certain caveats, like having been enrolled the previous semester full-time). Now we just have to convince Congress. Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:Originally posted by scifibum: Can you add credits to get the loan? (Maybe it's finally time for that bowling class?)
I was just thinking that too. Sign up for a couple weekend fluff classes. The fitness class is like an expensive gym membership.
Personally, I think a graduating senior should be able to get a Stafford loan even if they're only taking one class (with certain caveats, like having been enrolled the previous semester full-time). Now we just have to convince Congress.
From your lips to the presidents' pen.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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We bought back the same house we owned from 2003 to 2006. It was much cheaper than it had been in 2006, but still more expensive than when we bought it in 2003. It falls about 1/3 the way between the two amounts. Just a bit of perspective there. In terms of the market, I think we are in reality about halfway between the 2003 and 2006 amount.
Now we just have to sell or rent our house in Maryland. We've been carrying the two mortgages on it and the Utilites for 6 months now.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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