NYT: The New Poor - Millions of Unemployed Face Years Without Jobs
By PETER S. GOODMAN | New York Times
February 20, 2010
BUENA PARK, Calif. — Even as the American economy shows tentative signs of a rebound, the human toll of the recession continues to mount, with millions of Americans remaining out of work, out of savings and nearing the end of their unemployment benefits.
Economists fear that the nascent recovery will leave more people behind than in past recessions, failing to create jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the record-setting ranks of the long-term unemployed.
Call them the new poor: people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.
Yet the social safety net is already showing severe strains. Roughly 2.7 million jobless people will lose their unemployment check before the end of April unless Congress approves the Obama administration’s proposal to extend the payments, according to the Labor Department.
Already there
Two years and counting. Didn't even bother to file for unemployment. At least there always is school. Ugh!
Note on California rent prices
$1385 is a pretty reasonable rate here, so if they want to lower their rent they only have a few options. Move out of the state, move to a higher crime area, or move to the central valley where unemployment is even higher. Moving out of the state may be an expense they can only afford by selling or ditching everything they own.
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In Torrance CA, you can find a nice
one bedroom apartment for 1000 bucks a month. That's a good area & you can find that rate in many decent neighborhoods in the LA area.
Okay, wow
I just ASSumed rates in Socal would be the same as here in the SF Bay Area. Although $385 makes a big difference at low income levels, that is still extremely expensive relative to most of the rest of the U.S.
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Well that only invites the
Well that only invites the question, why would a disabled person collecting barely enough to afford an apartment move to California in the first place?
Did you read the article?
Did you read the article?
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This article
This article does a great job of highlighting the absolute senselessness of the typical baby boomer.
It is talking about this woman who used to have a job "selling beauty salon equipment." First off, that line of work is an obvious bubble project that could only exist in times of high prosperity. Why do people think that all jobs are created equal? Does this woman really think that selling beauty salon equipment is as necessary and important of a function as something which is productive and contributes something meaningful to the world?
"She has learned to live without the prescription medications she is supposed to take for high blood pressure and cholesterol." There is a picture of her at the top. She is heavily overweight and obviously does not exercise or care for her health. Maybe if she had starting being concerned about her well-being 30 years ago, she wouldn't be such a whale of a person, and she wouldn't have high blood pressure or cholesterol.
So, you might have thought I was a little bit harsh there, but this next one is just ridiculous:
"She and her husband now settle their bills with only his $1,595 monthly disability check. The rent on their apartment is $1,380." GET A CHEAPER APARTMENT. My rent is $400 a month. I don't live in luxury because I know it would be unwise to do so. Do these people honestly believe that an unemployed couple shouldn't move to a reasonable, modest apartment that accurately reflects their income? $1,380 apartments are gigantic. $1,380 is how much high-quality 4-to-5-person apartments cost.
Needless to say, I have no sympathy for these people, as they clearly believe that their standard of living is way higher than it would be in reality.
And I'm only on the first page of the article, maybe it gets better, but sheesh. It sounds like unless these millions of people don't get their government checks taken away, nobody is going to take the initiative in getting their acts together.
Actually in Southern CA, that price for an
apartment is typical of a 1-2 bedroom in a very nice area. I would never say that is a "gigantic" apartment in SoCal, but your point remains: when your income is decreasing, why would you continue to stay in an area you cannot afford? Move as soon as you lose your job & realize you'll be unemployed for 6 months or more. This woman has been unemployed for years & her husband is on disability. Leave SoCal & you can find a place in another state for 500-600 & you can live off of the disability check alone. Lunacy.
You might want to do some more research into the Baby Boomer
experience, (and don't believe that Tom Brokaw BS).
The freedom movement and anti-establishment movement in the 1960's was 10 times larger than the current liberty movement and much more passionate and widespread. In fact, many families splintered because of the whole anti-war/individual freedom movement. War protests, riots in the cities and combat footage from Viet Nam were a daily occurance.
Comparatively speaking, this is just a small echo of what took place then.
I will be the first to admit
I will be the first to admit that i was over-generalizing an entire generation of people. I'm sure there are a few good people still walking around.
My statements only come from my personal experience with the hordes of 50 to 70 year olds out there who are in poor health and are shockingly ignorant about anything that matters, yet seem to think that their age has given them some great wisdom.
When I posted that, I was also thinking about this hilarious George Carlin clip:
http://www.videosift.com/video/George-Carlin-doesnt-like-Bab...
(The part about baby boomers starts at 4:18)
You and Carlin both touched on the idea that the boomers used to believe in freedom and protest important things. But, as he mentions, they seem to have sold out those beliefs a long time ago. I worry every day that as my generation gets older, we will become the same shadows of our former selves, and begin electing our own versions Rudy Giuliani.
Beliefs don't matter much if you throw them away the minute you hit 30 years old. Maybe the baby boomers did stand for something 30-40 years ago, but honestly, how many of them are left fighting for what is right? I submit to you that it is a very small minority of what once was.
This rising up of the individual in the liberty movement
reminds me very much of the 60' revolution. Back then it was so confusing but it was in the music and the musicians made political statements at concerts, it was of the same intensity as 911 except it went on for years. Fighting the establishment is what both movements have in common, but it was much more pervasive and prevalent back then.
The kicker comes at the end
“I’ve got 10 bags of pinto beans,” she says. “And I have no clue how to cook a pinto bean.”
That part is really sad.
I noted all of the things that you mentioned above as I read the article as well.
The thing about people of that older generation is they grew up during a period of rising prosperity. Everything was growing. It wasn't hard to find work, and to advance when you did. They didn't need to learn how to scrap and scrape.
This is a complete contrast to the generation I (and I take it you) grew up in. I graduated from college into the recession of '91-92. Most of the jobs in my younger days were dead end jobs, no real prospects for advancement.
I learned to scrape and scrap, to make do. My father grew up in the Great Depression. He was 50 when he had me, so his acquired wisdom and frugality had a big impact on me. We were never poor - which is to say we always had enough to eat, and had nice clothes to wear.
But my father always shopped at second hand stores and was always on the lookout for useful things on the street, things that could be reused or recycled. Believe me - he knew how to cook pinto beans! (The directions are right on the package). My grandparents were immigrants. What my father used to always say is, "We'll do what they do in Norway - Make do!"
Here in Boston, I managed to furnish nearly my entire apartment with found items on the street. Every June when all the Harvard, MIT, Tufts, etc. students leave town, they leave a bounty of useful things behind on the streets. TVs, CD players, bookshelves, desks, lamps, chairs, brooms, snow shovels - you name it. They don't care - their parents are paying for it, or their student loans are paying for it. They haven't yet learned the value of money.
The thing I always remind myself of now is that we're in a depression. Living in a depression means that you adjust your living standards accordingly.
But to be honest, my entire life has been lived in depression-like conditions.
I think this is what has saved me in these
tough times. My father abandoned my family when I was a very young child & my mother raised my brother & I on *one* not-so-great income. We always were wearing hand-me-down clothing & we rarely bought anything new. My mom used birthdays & Christmas as an excuse to buy us things we needed. When we were growing a lot, our clothes had to come from thrift shops & yard sales. Lots of people knew our situation & gave us their leftover things. We had lots of yard sales for things we didn't use anymore & we always made money. That's just the way it was.
But today, (I'm almost 30) I still practice the same methods. I rarely buy myself new clothes or consumer items. Half of my home is furnished with furniture found discarded, which I painted or refurbished, or found for very cheap on craigslist. We don't have tv or stereo equipment, we just use the the computer for everything. My bedroom furniture is used vintage, found at the last day of an estate sale going on down the street from my in-laws'. The entire thing cost us 100 dollars & it is beautiful. I know people who have paid 2000 for something similar of lesser quality.
Christmas comes around & people ask me what I want, I always tell them to get me something I need, never just buy me something simply because it's Christmas. If I don't use something anymore & it's still usable, I sell it. I try not to let anything go to waste & I have managed to stay afloat on low-income jobs, unemployed (without collecting benefits) or partial-employment. I do it while living in one of the best neighborhoods in Texas, in a very nice apartment, with a pool & gym & amenities that just don't exist in Southern CA apartments. I left Southern California simply because living there was a "bad investment" for me. Why would I participate in the rat-race there just to give all my money away to landlords & the tax man?
It's about finding your way regardless of the circumstances. The world can be crashing down around you & you can still remain standing if you know how. That is what being an adult is about. Most Americans who look like adults, are in actuality, still children. They never learned fiscal (or any type of) responsibility.
The part about the pinto
The part about the pinto beans only reaffirmed my beliefs that this woman does not deserve any help from us.
If I recall correctly, the steps would be:
1. Remove plastic
2. Boil water
3. Put beans in water
4. Take beans out of water
5. Eat beans
I mean, are you kidding me?
We are paying to give this woman some free beans and she is just throwing them away because in 50 years she hasn't figured out how to boil water.
The Baby Boomers experience numerous recessions.
In the early 80's after the energy crisis, the Fed raised rates where mortgage rates were 21%, it killed the economy and was much worse than it is now.
Plus Boomers came up in a politically charged time much more so than today. Kennedy Assassinations, MLK, John Lennon, Watergate and massive war protests on college campuses and in the streets, people burning draft cards and fleeing to Canada as well as the national guard killing war protesters at Kent State. The level of resentment toward the government was much greater during the 60's and 70's than it is now.
So if think the boomers had a free ride, re-think!
You may want to re-evaluate your broad generality and
definition of the "typical baby boomer".
That generation produced millions of activists and protested for years and finally brought an end to the Viet Nam War. No generation has been able to do that since.
In the words of Thomas Woods,
In the words of Thomas Woods, it was just a rhetorical flourish. Of course there must be at least five to six decent baby boomers out there fighting the good fight. I just haven't met them.
Different Circumstances
The real opposition to Vietnam came after the draft was heavily employed. There hasn't been a draft since, so war opposition has been basically the same as pre-draft Vietnam.
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one of the first things that happens--
when people (however hard-working or well-educated) do when they hit unemployment (once or twice or more)--
is that people who feel secure pull away from them.
There is a tendency among those who feel secure to look at those who are unemployed as having 'erred'.
True, unemployed people vary as much as any other human beings. There are unemployed people who have lived very frugally and generously, sharing, saving, etc.--
and there are those who have lived constantly on the edge and have been greedy with others--and all sorts in between.
But the general response is one of, "you did this to yourself; why should I associate with/help you?"--
This causes what might be considered a class division--
The fact is that $1300 plus dollars for renting an apartment is immoral, and shame on those who grew rich while allowing housing prices to get so high--
It's not always possible for people to move, but there are options--
I know many people who would find it extremely easy to live comfortably on $1500/month disability--
it's hard to be awake; it's easier to dream--
Hi
Eventually, the article states that 2 years ago, this couple had a savings of $24,000. Her excuse for not renting a cheaper apartment is that they need 2 months of rent plus enough to open utilities accounts. Her husband was disabled 6 years ago and they are now $15,000 into credit card debt.
Lets do the math:
Their rent is $1380 a month.
If they got a $450 apartment (quite reasonable for a small one-two bedroom, and yes, they are all over the place), then it would cost AT MOST $1200 to cover two months rent and to open accounts at the power and water companies. (But probably very likely less).
This number is almost $200 LESS than what they pay for their current rent every month.
They had two years and nearly $40,000 to make this decision. The husband was collecting disability the entire time, and the wife has had low-paying transient jobs for her entire working life. Why wouldn't they move two years ago? Why wouldn't they say, honey, we can't afford this, we better move before its too late?
Sure, there are problems beyond their control, but come on. This is a perfect story of a situation that was entirely the fault of the people. They decided to continue living in luxury for six years after her husband was disabled, never once stopping to think that one day it was going to be a problem.
All of us know that the government's decisions are the ultimate source of so many people's misery, but we shouldn't let people off the hook when the writing is right there on the wall.
I'm on Tier 2 Extended Unemployment-
It will be a year come April 3rd. I don't need a newspaper article to describe how I feel. Bail-out the banksers & SCREW the middle class. Hello NWO!!
truxtonc
As government grows the private sector contracts. We have de-industrialzed this economy over decades with the illusion the US would become a "service" economy. We need to make things again. End minimum wage laws, end the income tax and replace with a flat sales tax after 2 years. Allow for "micro" lending for small start ups and end all zoning laws and regulations that prohibit home based business. Cut government spending 50%. Would be a start.
What a sad lesson for us all;
the loss of entrepreneurship and family farms/self sufficiency has left so many vulnerable and dependent.
that is true, but . . .
the choice to sell the 'family farm' happened several generations ago for many who now would love to work that hard and have that sort of life--
many in the recent massively unemployed generation grew up with parents who had mortgages--
several generations ago a mortgage was a thing of shame--
it's hard to be awake; it's easier to dream--
Sadness is the only way to describe what is felt while ..
reading this story.
Anger may be the next emotion experienced by these millions of people.