Economic Reality: A Voice in the Crowd
My name is Joe - not Joe the plumber, or Joe Six-Pack - not even Joe the Biden, just Joe. I work in the technology sector. Supposedly what I do is so specialized that my job is pretty much bullet-proof in any economy. I have a wife and three kids, pay my mortgage and my taxes, go to church and vote. I'm a regular guy, just like most of you - I play by the rules. I am productive. I don't play fast an loose with my money or my time. I live within my means, or at least, I did. If you're not in my situation, you know someone who is. This is my economic reality.
Up until the economy caved in last August, things were going really well. Like I said, I have a good job that isn't making me rich, but it pays well and I enjoy it. My wife was in education and also making a comfortable living. We did what you're supposed to do and worked hard, saved and bought a house in the suburbs of Los Angeles. We got a bargain on the house. Rather than go for one of those low interest ARMs or any of those questionable mortgages, we followed my father's advice and got a 30 year fixed rate, at a pretty good rate. We bought new furniture for the new house, and for the most part paid cash. We consolidated all of our credit card debt several years ago and were paying it down comfortably. There was "enough" money to pay for our necessities, and get some nice extras too. I'm not talking sports cars and designer clothes, but a vacation now and then, and passes to Disneyland. It wasn't an extravagant lifestyle, but it was nice.
When the financial crisis hit, we re-assessed our situation and found that we were in good shape. The 401ks took a big hit, but we're not retiring any time soon. There would be time for them to recover. Our jobs looked secure, and like I said, we were meeting all of our obligations. My only real complaint was that my family was ponying up $30,000 dollars of debt to pay for Bush's bank bailout. That money went right into the pockets of the banking execs, and they locked the rest of the cash into the vault never to be seen again - but it looked like the bad part was over.
Then the foreclosures started hitting - my neighborhood alone had 5 families lose their home. We again looked at our situation and felt a bit of relief. The families that lost their homes either overpaid for their property, or took on those teaser-rate or interest only home loans. In our minds, if you don't read the fine print and educate yourself on the terms, then it's pretty much your own fault for signing the loan papers. As the foreclosures increased, it was eating into the value of our property, but we weren't planning on selling anytime soon. We have young children, and we really enjoy our community. We were in for the long haul.
Disaster hit our household when my wife was laid off. The economic meltdown hit her in her "secure" position, and her position was eliminated for budget reasons. She was given a small severance package. The hit for us was in the cash. My job provides our health insurance and the other benefits. Still, having our income slashed by 50% required a lot of adjustments. We looked at our situation again, and felt pretty sure that we'd get through, and my wife would be working again soon. That was 9 months ago.
Since then, or lifestyle has changed dramatically - no more going out to dinner, or the movies. No more picking things up at the store without really thinking about it. No more just fixing things when they break. In a matter of 9 months we have gone from a nice lifestyle to every penny counting. Mac and cheese is a big dinner item now. Hamburger instead of regular meat. Chicken is a special treat. That's with food as the number two priority behind keeping the house. The house is the first priority because it's cheaper than the rent in apartment big enough for the five of us. It's actually cheaper than the rent in an apartment way too small for us. We can't sell the house either. Even if there were buyers, it's lost enough value that we'd still owe money on it. The extras are gone.
We've gone through the severance, the savings and I've just cashed out what was left of my 401k. My wife's unemployment is what keeps us from going under, but that isn't going to last forever. It won't even last until she gets a job again the way things look right now. Without it, there's no way to make this work.
I'm trying to keep my cool writing this down. I know that I'm not as bad off as others. I don't want to sound like one of those hysterical screamers who show up at political events and rant craziness. Still, I am frustrated beyond belief and I can't help but wonder what in hell is going on? Bankers get bailouts, people who had no way to afford a mortgage are getting to keep their houses. The president sold us a bill of goods with his stimulus - there's not a job that's been created around here other than more bureaucrats at the welfare office. Friends of mine have lost their homes and their businesses. All I see coming out of Washington is who can throw my money (I work for it, they take it in taxes) at the silliest idea fastest. Green jobs - WTF? Maybe a couple of hundred engineers will get work designing this stuff that may produce some manufacturing jobs in 10 years or so. Even then the electric bill will go up. Electric cars - have you seen these clownmobiles? They won't seat two adults, what family will buy one? The government goes through all the trouble to prop up GM only to kill it off making cars no one will buy. Which will be more lost jobs. Healthcare? My healthcare is fine other than losing it if I lose my job. It is the one thing that keeps me from losing all hope. If my family needs medical help they can get it. I don't know anyone who wants some new government agency running the medical system like they run the DMV. Oh, and more lost jobs as the insurance companies are run out of business by the "public option". I don't doubt for a minute that will happen. The company I work for will gladly pay the 8% penalty in the healthcare legislation to offload the 20% cost in providing me healthcare. So there's more unemployment and my family gets the same crappy care that my uncle gets at the V.A.
There is a program out there to keep people in their homes who should have never gotten a mortgage; who can't pay the mortgage they signed on for; who are on welfare; and those who bought a bunch of homes to flip them. For me, a tax-paying citizen who plays by the rules there is no help. I asked a friend who works in the loan department of his bank if there was any program out there to help us keep our house. He advised me against asking around because my wife being laid off might red-flag my current mortgage. All three of our credit cards have raised their interest rate, and we've always been current on them. More robbery from the financial people.
President Obama - if I had the chance to tell you something directly I would say this. I have never asked anything of my government other than to keep my family safe, and to let us live our lives and prosper as we could. I'm thankful for the unemployment check - it helps, but it doesn't offset the money that I have to pony up in taxes to pay for programs that help everyone but me. You haven't done jack to help me or my family. You have added enormously to my family's burden with the two trillion dollars of debt you have run up to finance your pet projects. You haven't produced 1 job isn't paid for directly or indirectly by me, and the rest of the taxpayers out here. What you are doing is killing the rest of us off. I don't think that your plan is to have all of us on welfare, but it's not hard to connect the dots from my everyday experience to the loons screaming on talk radio. What you are doing is NOT working, NOT helping, and is causing harm to millions of Americans struggling to hold onto what they have worked so hard for. You want your green jobs, and that's fine. You need to get us some now jobs. Hell, even George Bush managed to do that. Maybe give Bill Clinton a call - even when the dot com bubble burst his policies didn't tank the rest of the economy. He figured out ways to get people OFF welfare, not make more people sign up. It's good to take care of those in need, but it's better to prevent people from falling into need. I don't want a handout, or a bailout. I want the recession over, and to have what I worked so hard for restored to me. Every day the news reports that we are moving farther away from that goal. This steady "change" for the worse is making "hope" pretty hard for me - and others in my situation
Mr. President, My name is Joe, and I vote, and you need to know that I am not alone. There are millions just like me and they vote too. You should consider that as you craft policies that bear directly on our lives.
Joe wants to remain anonymous. We at TPP have agreed to that in order to allow him to freely state his opinion.
Categories: The Economy
Tags: economy stimulus plan
Amen, brother. Nothing being done for the middle class. Anyone who bought into Obama's sweet talk is feeling pretty stupid about now. That's why, no matter how bad the candidate is, I still vote for the more conservative one. At least then you can usually count on sane economic policy.
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Wasn't it Bush II who spent us into most of this big hole beating up on Iraq? I think he was a Republican.
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This is way too much like my own life right now. No relief in sight either. Had I known I never would have voted for Obama. All he wants to do is take care of organized community. He forgets that it's us paying the bills. I won't make that mistake again. He likes being president to the po'folk - and to increase his popularity he thinks making us all poor will help.
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Obama is just trying to ease the suffering of those who have had need the longest. It's not that he doesn't care about the middle class - he's just trying to help those in the most need first.
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I agree that's what Obama is doing. It's even a noble thing. The problem is that by ignoring the middle class going down the toilet, there will be no one left to pay for all of the aid to the poor that he wants to deliver. If this is economic triage, you need to save the cash cow first, or everyone is out of luck.
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I've got to agree that makes sense. If it's tax dollars that fix the problems, you need enough taxpayers contributing. The fix needs to be less on handouts and more on jobs.
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Speaking of handouts - did you see that farce that went on in Detroit? Thousands of people lining up for stimulus cash (wasn't that supposed to be used to create jobs?) - and calling it "Obamamoney" - seriously - check the tape from WJR on Youtube. A reporter is asking about who is giving them the money, and the people say Obama. When the reporter askes where Obama got the money, they don't know or say it's his "private stash" like he's some drug dealer buying good will. This is absolutely serious - check the video. Well, I have news for all of those people who want Obamamoney - ITS MY MONEY!!! My tax dollars that are going to you instead of to paying MY bills, and buying MY family food and clothes. No offense, but I don't have enough to support my family right now, let alone your welfare ass. At least thank the right person.
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I saw that clip too - it would be funny if it wasn't so sad and so maddenning. I hear 60,000 people showed up for applications and only about 3500 will actually get any money. And they thought Detriot only burns after they win sports championships. Wait until 57,000 people find out that they aren't getting any money. There won't be a Detroit left.
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It drives me crazy as well - he's spending money like an ex-wife running up credit cards out of spite. Out of what he's spending, it's all going to questionable programs, the poor or political friends. There hasn't been a single thing done to help the actual "taxpayer" except hit him harder. The 2.5 trillion dollar debt he's run up might have been useful if he funneled it into job creation in the current economy rather than bailing out failed businesses and people who made stupid financial decisions. A lot of people who played ny the rules are hurting - and you're right Joe - there's nothing for those people, except the promise of a bigger bite out of their paycheck. If they are lucky enough to still have one.
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Like the story goes - you knew he was a snake when you picked him up, you can't blame him for biting you.
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So to go back to Randi's point - since the economy is bad, we're just supposed to tell the poor that they are on their own?
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It's too easy to just take the bait. I'll go for the better answer. A conservative (not Republican necessarily, but a true conservative) would address the issue by creating the conditions for more jobs to be created. This isn't done with stimulus plans, bailouts, or government takeovers. It is provided by providing an environment where people are rewarded for doing well. By doing well, they are able to buy more, expand their businesses and that creates jobs in all sectors. I know that it sounds tired, but the key to this is low tax rates for everyone. The more money that stays in the private sector, the more that revenue producing jobs can be created. Lets do it this way. A government worker and a private sector worker each make $50K. Let's be generous and say that they both pay $10K in taxes. All of the private sector worker's salary comes from the private sector in the form of customers paying for goods or services. The taxes are $10K profit for the government. In the case of the government worker, the worker pays $10K in taxes (essentially to himself), and the government needs to find another $40K to pay him the balance. That would come from 4 more private sector workers making $50K. Bigger government, and more government workers is a huge drag on the economy. It is the private sector jobs that make it possible for government to exist at all. Creation of private jobs is the key to economic recovery and will provide the funding to do all of the cool little projects that Obama wants to try. Expanding government dries up the well of money available to do these things. He's cutting his own throat doing what he's doing.
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But most poor people don't have the skills to get a $50,000 per year salary job.
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-Sigh- The $50K worker was an example to do the math. If the economy is structured so that people are encouraged to do well, then they have money to spend - at the car dealer, the WalMart, the supermarket and the movies. All of these places can hire more workers at all salary levels, and they can probably pay them more. If the lower level workers want to aspire to higher wages (and they will when they can do it) then the key is education. That's another issue though.
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Obama hasn't done anything for my family either. We're not in as bad a shape as Joe is, but there's not a lot of extras anymore. We were doing fine but I guess with all of the regulation coming down the pike, what credit cards we had got their credit limit cut and the interest jacked up. It's not even like we were behind or maxed out. They just grabbed the loot while they could because they knew these new regulations would take place over the next few years. That's a sweet deal to - Obama promises consumer protection and congress passes a law that doesn't go into effect until 2011. Talk about giving the fox plenty of warning to raid the chicken coop. Thanks for caring, Mr. President.
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While you all complain that Obama hasn't done anything for you, you have to remember that he has helped many people and families. Just because he hasn't gotten to you yet doesn't mean that he won't.
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I don't want his help - I want him to stand back and stop mucking up the works spending into my grankids generation. The communists tried a government managed economy and it didn't work. If he gets out of the way, it will fix itself, and with a lot less pain for a lot fewer people.
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crackerjack has a point - a blunt one, but true in a lot of ways. Unless the market is allowed to correct itself, a lot of the bad behavior that brought it on will continue. If banks and GM can make bad business decisions and don't bear any risk (because of government bailouts)then they will just expect the bailout after the next set of screwups. The same for those who unfortunately were given bank loans that they should not have received. If the government bails these banks out they will continue to make bad loans,and the customers who should not get the loans will still take on more debt than they can afford. Of those families "saved" from foreclosure, a huge amount are back in foreclosure again because they just can't afford the house. I don't think it's the function of government to buy everyone a house. It's up to the individual to work and save - traits that should be encouraged.
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I think a lot of this falls on the boomers as a generation - everything has been what's good for "ME" - drug use, promiscuous sex, draft dodging, inside trading, gotta have it now attitude. "You shouldn't have to work so hard" seems to be the mantra. Then all of these anti-establishment types become the establishment, and stick it to the man. In this case, it's the taxpayers. You don't see this in the previous generation, and you don't see it in today's kids. Both of those generations have an understanding of personal responsibility and hard work. I was hoping that Obama was more of the younger generation and less a boomer, but we'll have to wait a few more years to get a responsible grown-up in charge.
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Let's bash the boomers again. Hey - as a generation the boomers created more opportunity and equality for everyone in this country than any generation before. We are healthier, freer, more educated and more tolerant than at any other time in history. We took what our parents gave us, and increased it for our children. Corporate greed tanked the economy - not the boomers.
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Sounds like someone missed his Oreos after his morning joint...
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This is so NOT a generational argument. There are boneheads and geniuses in every age group. Boomer, Gex X, Greatest - they all have an image attached to them, but the label does not summarize the generational ability to lead. Leaders always rise, and lead. Sometimes in the wrong direction, but it's not a question of how old someone is, it's a question of leadership skills and character.
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That was an impassioned defense of a generation that brought us rampant recreational sex and drug use. The image has held true for the boomers - unless it is gratifying and self serving, it doesn't get done. You can say that for Clinton using the White house as a brothel or Bush using the military to go after the bad guy who tried to kill daddy. Obama is more of the same. He's just spreading the cash to his favorite people. We used to call that behavior corruption. Now it's called service. Bring on a legit Gen Xer - then we can get on to fixing things for real. Just in case you couldn't tell, there's been no economic recovery in my neighborhood either.
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