The hidden statistics in my neighborhood...

[CoffeeCat]

Iowa winters can really make you lose touch with your neighbors. I live in the suburbs, where the houses are built so close
together, you can practically borrow a cup of sugar without leaving your kitchen. Just hand it on through the window!

Today was nice. There were many neighbors out watering flowers, mowing the lawn and trimming bushes. We all waved and said
hello and stopped to chat--and get reacquainted after the long winter.

The small talk quickly turned to a discussion about the economy. It was as if we were all dying to talk about our situations and one
by one--we shared our stories.

Quite frankly, I was shocked. Everything looks so normal and consistent on our street. The sidewalks are peppered with children
riding bikes and scooters. Riding lawn mowers still hum through the yards on the weekend. There are no "foreclosure property" signs
dotting the front yards. No major layoffs have been announced at large employers in the area. Everyone leaves early in the morning
and returns from work at dinner time.

Things may look the same, but they are not the same.

My neighbor to the left is in heavy-equipment sales, and his salary is mainly commission. He divulged, to our small circle, that
his salary has been cut in half and so has his 401k. The woman two houses down runs a daycare out of her home. She watches children for
double-income earners. Half of the children she used to watch, are now home with one unemployed parent who is looking for work. Her income
has been halved as well. I shared with our neighbors that my husband was forced to take a $1,000 per month pay cut back in
January, with no end in sight.

We're not statistics. Our situations won't show up in the unemployment numbers. We're the hidden statistics; with each of our
families profoundly impacted by this economy. We all stopped most non-discretionary spending and we're saving
every nickel. We're all trying to make up for lost income, decimated 401ks, disintegrated college funds and retirement plans
that have been indefinitely shelved.

You won't hear about my next-door neighbor, or the woman down the street or my family--but we're out there. There are
millions of hidden statistics just like us--trying to survive what has happened and hoping to hold on to what we have
as the future unfolds.

[slipslidingaway]

1. knr nt

[bertman]

2. Excellent post. Thank you, CoffeeCat. A friend and I were musing yesterday as to what

the effect on our economy and our "national psyche" might have been if we had let the Wall Street and Financial chips fall wherever their downward momentum took them, and if we had given $50,000 tax-free to every American household to spend, invest, save, or whatever they saw fit.

Just a fantasy.

[Richard Steele]

3. K&R

[Beartracks]

4. k&r I hope we all pull through this. n/t

[emilyg]

5. k/r Sounds like my neighborhood.

[Lorien]

6. I've only talked to three of my neighbors about the economy

One is a journalist with an international news group. He's had his hours cut in half and most of his coworkers have been laid off. He's trying to branch out into other areas to make up for lost income (voice overs, videography, photography) but so far nothing has worked out.

His wife is the news director for the local PBS station. She has been furloughed for a couple of weeks. 21 of her coworkers have been laid off.

Another is an interior designer. All of his larger projects; additions, kitchen remodels etc, have been shelved. He has one small $750 job on a bathroom and no other work to look forward to.

I have been unemployed since December 15th and have recently lost my home equity line of credit. I don't know how I will survive.

[NNN0LHI]

7. I found the resume of one of my neighbors who I thought was doing well online the other day

He is in deep stuff too. Been out of work for nearly a year. I thought he had been going to work every day.

Don

[barbtries]

8. enlightening

and very well written. you should send it to somewhere - huffington post, large newspaper? it should be widely read. thanks for sharing.

[Sherman A1]

10. Agreed

I would send it as a LTTE to the local newspaper and perhaps NY Times or USA Today.

[backtoblue]

9. K & R

Nice Post

[Soylent Brice]

11. another member of the hidden statistic right here also.

got a pay cut in January, looking at another one next month possibly.

hanging on and saving.

[santamargarita]

12. More wreckage left by by the Bush Crime Family

Sorry to hear that.

[pnwmom]

13. Really important post. K & R.

[flying_wahini]

14. Our economy is a national tragedy...

n/t

[grace0418]

15. I was meeting with a client today and we got on the topic of the economy.

I was laid off in December (although I'm really happy about it because I love freelancing and so far I've kept fairly busy). She works for a tv station that's actually doing quite well, but the parent company is in trouble. So they nickel and dime her to death and make her and the other manager do the jobs of 5 people each. It's ridiculous. She said that all their main competition operates with a staff 4x as large as she has but she's expected to beat them out. Of course she's afraid to say anything because she can't afford to lose her job.

I said it seems like everyone I know is either A) already unemployed, B) had their hours/salary/benefits drastically cut or C) being forced to do the jobs of all their coworkers who got laid off. It's insane.

There are so many hidden statistics in this mess.

[ckimmy57]

16. Sad but true

my husband and I are currently trying to make it on one paycheck. Luckily our children are grown but paying the bills are still tough on one paycheck and NO health insurance. It sounds like those families are trying to maintain as normal a life as possible for the sake of the children.

[OKDem08]

17. my husband's pay was just recently cut

by 10% and all company contributions to employee 401(k) accounts have been eliminated

[earth mom]

18. My neighborhood looks the same too...yet no doubt the same thing is happening here too.

:(

[OhioChick]

19. K&R

Here....foreclosed homes are all over and we hear daily about mass layoffs. I get your point though....everyone is feeling it.

[pleah]

20. K&R

[Jakes Progress]

21. We hear Wall Street is doing better.

We hear news that Main Street will soon be okay.

We don't hear the stories about Elm Street. Out here where we live, things are not good. Bush screwed us all. And those that helped rape the economy are now taking care of each other in their leadership positions.

Those who follow history will see this as the kind of society that produces upheaval. People get tired of taking pay cuts and watching their family and friends lose jobs while the Wall Street weasels keep their bonuses coming. i take a $500 pay cut so they can put gold plated fixtures in the guest bathroom at the lake house.

[Stephanie]

22. Wall Street is doing better except for the people that work there

We just had another round of lay-offs, from support staff to VPs, my pay was cut 15% in April. So many empty storefronts in my swell Manhattan neighborhood, I wonder if they will ever be rented again.

[Jakes Progress]

23. They will be rented

when the moguls take them over at next to nothing costs and can make a bundle on them.

That pointy thing sticking out of our bellies is the proof that we've been screwed.

[ikojo]

24. I live in a low-income neighborhood

in a medium size city. I KNOW my neighbors are having a hard time. One of the women in my building was forced to find another job closer to home after the route for the bus she used to get to work was cut.

Me, I was on disability for four months due to a scooter accident...I am recovering from that.

[BlueJazz]

25. I just came home from Sears, Target and Best Buy. Each of those stores were almost empty.

I felt like I was in a Movie where 95 percent of the population had died or had just vanished.
The traffic was almost non-existent. People just don't have the money to spend..not good at all.

(Ok..good for shopping but for how long ??)

[tomreedtoon]

26. In Japan they're committing suicide.

About 100 suicides a day during April, thanks to their economy.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3896216&mesg_id=3896216

You have to wonder whether suicide statistics are rising in the United States, in depressed areas, and nobody's talking about it.

[Grinchie]

27. What I find quite amusing is that 1 YR CD's only yield avg 1.87%

The banks get huge bailouts, and virtually 0% interest loans, backed by taxpayer money, but they can't even offer 2% interest for use of your money.

It goes to show what a huge fraud the system really is, as it basically forces one to invest it elsewhere, if you are brainwashed into thinking that saving money in a "Safe" CD is a way to save.

Since the Banks are flush with free money from the Treasury and Fed, the real cost of capital is ignored, and we get stiffed for fee's and charges by the banks, insurance companies and the government.

It was interesting to see IndyMac, prior to going belly up last year, offered the highest CD Rates in the country, but many economists already knew it was an act of desperation to build Capital. Recall the fact that the bailouts had not yet started in earnest, so IndyMac was following the normal procedure of trying to raise "Hot Money" by enticing more deposits. It failed, and when it did, that's when Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall and all the Kings men started jacking with the system.

The relatively stable vehicles such as CD have been eliminated, and we walk zombie like down the road of inflation.

I've held my meager savings in cash for the last 7 years, and the loss of a paltry 2% a year versus immediate liquidity have more than made up for the loss of a few hundred dollars. Once in a lifetime Opportunities have arisen that would be only possible with cash to avoid the bank middle man and the accompanying debt.

Over the past 8 years, I have seen more and more anger whenever I tender cash at business establishments. I get the strange feeling that they would like to see cash disappear, put every transaction on plastic or other means, and remove your choice of paying with cash or checks.

The only way to escape the Rat Race is to get out of debt. Zero debt.

[Jakes Progress]

31. Agreed

That should be a goal. Remember that the origin of the word "mortgage" is death pledge.

While the companies still charge no membership fees and give decent grace periods before interest begins, i use my credit cards for convenience. The merchant pays a fee and the credit card makes a few percent. All they have to do to show profit is stop giving our credit cards like business cards.

[proteus_lives]

28. Good post.

It's tough everywhere. Local freelance writing is freezing up and I have to damn near fight for hours at my night job. My friends that are graduating or still in college are scared to death.

[Riverman]

29. Same here! Company laid off a few and managers took a 10%

pay cut to keep from laying off more folks. One child post school (both of us paying off student loans)with a full-time job and no health insurance and another child in community college, worked last semester and no job this semester, fees going up, classes cut and overcrowded. Far more untold impacts in our family that I won't discuss here but the impacts are not measured, just one family after another, one individual story, one neighborhood, one town, one city, one metro region, one state after another - story after story after story - real facts, real news - not captured in the new reports based of the kept statistics that don't reveal the full story of "bottoming out." Yes, we are bottoming out and not bouncing up.

I am sitting here in a hotel in the center of a major university neighborhood. Just went for a walk and saw the unbelievable number of empty - newly constructed retail stores, restaurants, movie megaplex, Border's bookstore - all empty! Many people on the sidewalks with cardboard signs begging for money, food, housing, work!

Last night President Obama was in Beverly Hills telling the elites - we've ht bottoma nd things are getting better! WTF!

[Jakes Progress]

32. How loud do we have to shout to be heard? nt

[kohodog]

30. A few years ago things were going well

Then my wife lost her job and my salary was reduced by almost half (commission in a sagging industry, printing), so now we want to sell our house but the price has dropped precipitously, to the point we'll have trouble getting a new mortgage or affording a new place. Our two dogs, two cats and a horse don't make renting a simple option. It's a stress fest and I don't see the light at the end even though I try to stay positive. It's ugly out here and the politicians don't have a clue, living in their lobbyist bubble.

[Hannah Bell]

33. 2 laid off on my block - that i know of. considering that a chunk of the folks on my street

are retired, 2 laid off is a big chunk of the working pop of the street.