Worried about economy?

[XUfan]

Posted by Chris2267 "The best thing for everyone to do and continue to do is lower your dependence on credit and have that emergency fund available. This whole thing started with people buying things they could never repay and banks that were greedy."

I realize that this is the general consensus, among people who still have good jobs, money in the bank, and retirement accounts that are thriving. But not everyone was greedy. Some people did the right things...but became victims of outsourcing.

3 years ago, my husband had a great job with a multi-national company, that had every benefit imaginable, and a wonderful retirement package. Then, they downsized to 50% of the workforce...and they're still cutting back. They've sent a large portion of the job to other countries.

We had savings, emergency funds, and we owed virtually nothing on credit cards. We do not have a car payment. We live in a modest home (much less expensive than most of his former co-workers' homes), which we had no trouble paying for, when there was a paycheck. We bought it 6 years ago, and although the realtor and the bank said we could afford more, we held our ground, and and stayed within our budget.

We cannot afford that house payment now...but property values have dropped so much, that we can't even afford to sell it and break even! My husband has not been able to find steady work, so even if we did sell it, nobody would rent to us with no visible means of support. The savings are gone, as is the emergency fund. We've dropped our health insurance, and sold one of our two cars.

So, while I agree that a segment of our population got themselves into trouble by buying more than they needed...not all of us did.

[chris2267]

I totally understand what you are saying and yes there were innocent people caught in the crossfire. My heart goes out to you and those that were innocent bystanders. All the more reason to "fry" those that did this to the economy in the first place and make sure that it never happens again. Your dh will find a better job in the future because of how great America is. Those companies that are thriving will step up and take the places of the ones that failed. This is just the way America works. Has he read the book "48 days to the work you love" by Dan Miller? It gives many ways to find a job that you really want to do.