Are you affected by the current economic meltdown???
 

Just wondering. I mean every day the news is so dire you would think that the next thing will be riots in the streets!

Right now my wife and I don't see any difference. She still has a good job, I am still gainfully unemployed because I am self employed which can be sort of the same thing. We have enough funds for some vacations and things and we are still buying the same kind of groceries. We were actually worse off 2 years ago with a bunch of out of control credit cards that we finally just settled on and got out from under it.

Has it affected you or is it all hype?

It isnt hype for the thousands upon thousands that are losing their jobs .

I was trying to find a job. I went to the Disability Counsellor because I have "depression" on my previous claims and it was offered as a service. The day I went to see her I had been off anti-depressants for 4 days, thanks to the Byzantine method AVDC uses to get people registered with a GP.

She (someone employed to get people back into work - which I do want) advised me that in the current climate, I would probably be better served by being back on Incapacity Benefit. She felt that the demands imposed by the system to apply for and be interviewed for jobs would exacerbate my depression, given that so few jobs in my field were currently available, and the people going for them would be in a stronger position than I was.

I rejected her POV at the time, but talking it over with my parents and my GP I had to accept that I am not well. I suffered a major loss in losing my last job. I suffered an even greater loss moving home to my parents (although they have been marvellous - taking on a depressed 36 yo?! When they've retired? Beyond the call of duty!)

So I have been affected by the economic climate. I have been advised into inactivity. Next step is volunteer work. But a job now looks far down the line. I kinda don't mind... I accept I need a carer at the moment. But there is a part of me that hates myself for being in this situation, that wants just to be a normal person in a normal job, that wants a normal life. But then hating myself is part of the problem.

Sorry, as usual TMI.
TMI.
I have a doctors appt today.

Yea, hype wasn't the right word but I do wonder if media is driving the story to a degree. On the other hand, Houston seems to be doing better then other parts of the country.

Nothing to be sorry about. I wouldn't expect someone to apologize if they had cancer or a tumor and spoke about it. Depression is just as real as any other illness. But, like cancer used to be, it has a stigma. Hopefully people will get better educated about it.

And I've been there too. It's like being put in a very small space with doors and windows all around and you can't get out of it.

HUGS

SG, depression sucks! And the trouble is you have to wonder if you don't have a job because you are depressed or is that you suffer depression because you don't have a job.

I'm actually less depressed now then I used to be because now that my parents are dead and I'm not a fulltime caregiver I can get back on with my life and clean up my house or go travelling with my wife.

Unemployed, car repo'd, ARM mortgage, credit fucked. eBaying stuff to pay bills. Whaddya want to know?

Crazy is a pretty stable industry.

I was there too, SG. Did you ever look into that book I mentioned in a much earlier post? The Feel Good book by Dr. David Burns isn't a cure all but it helped me to get my thoughts in order when I was at my lowest. It covers a lot of ground between depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. Its hard to absorb it all in one reading so its good to go back to it often.

Amazon has it along with some of his other books.

BTW, sometimes a break, like the one you are getting is the best solution. If my mom didn't take me in after my breakdown, I don't know if I'd still be here today. You may feel guilty about burdening your parents now, but when you get back on your feet, both you and your parents will be glad that you did.

ETA: when I say 'glad that you did', I of course meant glad that you 'burdened them'.

Surprisingly (to me at least), so is higher education. A fair percentage of people who get laid off decide to go back to school, either to finish undergrad degrees, to get a higher degree in their field, or some to switch tracks to a new career.

In spite of the crunch, enrollment numbers at our uni are up, way up, for next fall. That's a reassuring thing.

In seems like a similar thing is happening on the music front. Budgets are shrinking, so sessions are only a half-day or so where before it might be been two or three days, a lot more work being done in smaller home studios, but overall there are plenty of projects going on.

I've been called on maybe a half-dozen projects for people who 6 months ago were making good money in finance or some other field, got laid off, and decided that they wanted to be 30-year-old rock stars instead of 30-year-old stock brokers, so they're funding projects out of pocket. That's kind of a new thing for me.

Must be nice to have an extra $50k kicking around to blow on a totally unmarketable vanity project!

Our enrollment is at a record high. We just had a town hall meeting with the president who told us, due to creative planning over a long period of time, our institution is very healthy.

It's good to hear in such times. Actually, at my old job, they had a hiring freeze and weren't even replacing open positions if that position was deemed something we could get along without for a while. We would forgo raises. We found ways to cut costs. I was in a job that should have been stable but wasn't necessarily so, and I was miserable, so I got lucky when my current job was posted and it fit everything I like to do and am good at.

I feel very lucky. I've struggled for years and now that I am in a good job, I look around and know how lucky I am. Being lucky is something I never thought I'd accuse myself of; I was in the right place at the right time.

Still, I see the struggles. My younger brother's company had a layoff...he was spared (I'm not surprised that if they could keep someone they would choose him because I'm sure he is a great worker and people like him) but the bosses felt terrible about the 60 people they had to let go. It makes me sad to see so many struggling.

I worry about my parent's retirement. Dad wasn't going to retire for a while....though he's 70...but when his cow orker was killed on the job he felt he had to get out. He worked hard for years. Mom and he were financially savvy, they invested for this time. Now I bet there's very little left. My older brother tells them they haven't really lost money until they sell, and to hang on for the upswing. I'm sure this isn't easy for them though they would never say as much.

For $50k spent the right way they could have their own record label.

My buddy Joe started one with his winnings from Who Wants to be a Millionaire. That was $125k, but still.

There was an article in the Houston rag that said most community colleges are doing well and enrollment is way up. It also said the public libraries are doing a brisk business with everyone going online to look for work.

Shush! You're in the business of making people feel good about their projects and cashing their checks. Don't talk down your own economy. :)

My company is scraping by. Last I heard, the state still had not paid us for the previous quarter. Pete's company values her skills and is keeping her on a project she is overqualified for until they decide if they want to continue the (most awesome) internal research and development project she had been on.

My wife and I did loose value in any kind of investments or retirement savings but since we are not in need of these I figure it's a paper loss and eventually it will regain from it.

Looking at our savings, we only lost what the market had added not the money we actually put in. Far from ideal but survivable, so far.

yup. we're feeling it.

Yeah, people aren't buying as many cars. Selfish bastards.

Weird. They don't seem to be buying as many stocks, bonds, and mutual funds either. I don't get it.:right:

Ah humans, you never can predict them.

(My Dad went on new brain meds this week and went out and bought a new car. This was a good series of events imho.)

Tell him I've got some very attractively priced mutual funds if he's interested.

Last May I moved into a rental house. It was the first time I've ever had my own place. I had a thriving daycare going and was easily paying the rent and bills, I was actually starting to be able to pay off my student loans even so that I could eventually get back into college and finish off my degree.

In late August, half of my families had to quit because one or both parents had lost their jobs and they couldn't afford daycare anymore. I advertised like crazy but by mid-September I'd lost the last few families as well.

I applied for unemployment (I hadn't made enough money last year to qualify). I applied for rent and utilities assistance, but was told that I couldn't be approved unless I got rid of my car and canceled my 'luxuries' (telephone, TV and internet...all three of which are considered a waste of money apparently).

I was too poor for unemployment and too wealthy for any other assistance. I could hardly pay my rent in October. I don't live near any family so for a while there I simply debated which alleys in town would be the safest ones to live out of my car in.

One of my daycare families heard about my circumstances and offered me a room in their house in exchange for watching their kids from time to time. I became their 'au pair' and here I am.

My business failed, I lost my house, I'm living in a spare room of my friends' house and the only employment I can find is part time retail.

Yeah, I'd say I was affected by the economy.

My husband survived a round of layoffs back in November. Don't know what is coming up, though. Maybe another round.

We just moved to a different town, so we are much closer to civilization. We are in a small town wedged between three larger towns. I just got back from a staffing company who seemed pretty upbeat about the possibilities for my finding some temporary employment. Temporary is better than noperary, says I. Anyways, yes, we feel it a little here, since everything is "because of the economic climate", etc. But it doesn't seem as dire as in some places. My husband still gets recruiter calls for jobs, but not as many and they are usually straight contract with no possibility for permanence. I count us fortunate, for now.

I am selling coffee. People will be able to afford it because not only is it cheap, sometimes we give lots of stuff away for free. Our regulars are broke like everyone else. We understand that.

:)
I was wondering how you were doing case. Thank you for the update.

Thanks, Cic. Feels good to know you had wondered. :)

I got lucky. I left Siemens about a week before they started cutting jobs. Now I'm working for a company that does movies and mini-series for television. This isn't affected too much by the economy because if anything, when people are broke, they'll stay home and watch more tv.

We are not unduly suffering ourselves, but the economic conditions are affecting many in our extended family, and therefore we assume additional responsibilities and obligations on their behalf. Also, we are fortunate that his job is in a field that is unlikely to be cut anytime soon (think along the lines of Homeland Security). Life is not as easy as it was for us before, but we are still able to have enough and enough to share, even if not as much as we want to do. I'd say we're lucky.

We're doing okay, but the housing market is making it a bitch to sell our place up in Jersey. We've had a lot of showings, but no real nibbles. Paying two mortgages is not fun.

I have friends who finally got out from under their old home in Philly. Now their morgage payment up here seems like a piece of cake. Hang in there.

Most self funded retirees over here are at least 30% poorer now thanks to the meltdown. In real terms, that means they have to survive on 66% of the income they were living on 6 months ago. That's a big drop to adjust to in anyone's books.

As far as we go personally, so far it's been pretty good for us because although Dazza's superannuation has suffered, he'll be in the workforce long enough that it'll have time to recover and the fact that interest rates are dropping and expected to drop by another percent next week, our mortgage repayments are at an all time low. It's good for us for that reason. Has been bad for many others though.

My friend in the movies says the economy is heavily effecting production, but not only the amount- the decision of content has been manipulated. Aaah maybe it is just locally they are seeing cut-backs and politics.

No, cutbacks are in this industry too, just not to the extent it is in other industries.

Our company recently laid off a lot of people. We got rid of 2 of our crews, a lot of our editing department, and we're considering closing our CGI department so we can outsource the work. It would be cheaper than constantly updating the equipment and having a bunch of overpaid primadonnas sitting around on their asses milking the clock all the time. We're getting leaner and meaner.

We're in no danger of closing, and as IT director, my job is secure. In fact now that we have more room, I'm moving into a bigger office today. No window though. :(

I'm working on next gen hip implants and business is good here, for now.

The mood is up here because this is supposed to be recession resistant at the very least.

Overtime and extra money for outside vendors and services is still available but requires much more paperwork.

Current national economic trajectory will bring even this very well run, cash rich corporation to cut jobs and shifts, IMO.

Until then life's pretty good. Once things slow down here I'll be taking another sanity break. That may be for a few years this time as the job market declines.

Do you work for The Faux Hip Company?

Hips-R-Us

Sounds like things are all Hip-itty do dah for you slang.

When my mom died last year I was tempted to ask for the hip transplants back from the crematory. I broached the subject and they said it wasn't too uncomon. Didn't know what I would do with them but I bet they would make great fishing weight for deep water fishing or a nice mantle piece keep sake.

Living in upstate NY, we don't feel the downturns so much, because we usually don't get a chance to experience the upturns. Businesses and people are moving out so fast, the job market is stable. I'm disabled, so the only thing that affects me is the inflation and tax increases.

No. Here's the Link.

Faux News is tuned in to every wide screen TV in the cafe as well as the coffee stations. I like that.

There are a few companies that make hip implants here as well as knee implants. This town might be named Hip-R-Us. That might be more accurate.

So far my life is not directly affected. That doesn't mean that it's all cookies and ice cream.

Most Americans would cringe at my overall lifestyle. It's low. I'm cheap. My temporary living arrangements here are not in a hotel or even an apartment. I rent a room in the (finished) basement of widowed woman's home who "did all the right things in life" but yet now is cleaning houses to survive until her home sells. That probably isn't going to be anytime soon.

At the end of the day at the office I come back to the room to sleep. There is effectively no social life. Social activities cost money. My goal in life is to collect money so that I can spend endless quality hours with my wife in the Philippines. No TV. No beers with friends. No hoarding guns and ammo.

Gold goes in this bag. Cash goes in that bag. Filling those bags are my reason for being here. To collect money to go back where my wife and friends are, Manila Philippines.

Before this money meltdown people would often cautiously make fun of my car. It's old and ugly as sin. That's precisely the way that I want it. Too ugly to fuck with. Worthless. Possibly even a bio hazard of sorts to a burglar.

People with nice cars with big payments don't hassle me much any more. In fact there is a steady cadence of people in the office here that come to me with items they would like to sell. Why? With very few exceptions everyone here is cash poor. Probably house poor and stock poor as well. Debt poor. That's more accurate.

So yes, while the checks are still rolling in and I'm working in a pretty cool environment, it could all turn on a diime today. I know that. Nothing in life here is guaranteed.



That's the first time I've ever heard of someone wanting to keep an implant of a loved one.

My first reaction is that those implants that we have installed into cadavers and brought back to the company here smell so bad you would never want to take it back.

These implants that you are talking about have gone through cremation though. That process would eliminate any foul odors or possibly creating new ones.

It's a very interesting question. How often to family members keep an implant of a loved one?

Let's see what the hips team here has to say about that.

My wife is the board president of a preschool. It had to shut down about a year ago for building problems and staff problems. It reopened 6 months later, just before the crash, and they have only about a 10th of their previous enrollment. The kinds of people who used to use the school now have relatives watching their kids or other arrangements. Each month, the school just barely makes it through. But it's holding on.

I still have a job, so I can't complain. But at my employer, we quietly instituted a hiring freeze last month. Also, a big part of my job is to bring in temporary employees and contract workers and then manage all the administrative crap associated with them. Since November, I haven't brought in a single new temp. We still have several temps from before then, but are slowly getting rid of them. In the summer, I was managing over 100 temps and contractors. Now we're down to about 20.

But I still have my job, and with 18 years under my belt here, I feel fairly safe.

Dazza reckons his company is going down the tubes. To use his words, it's too large and cumbersome to react positively to the changing environment.

The good news is he has a few private consulting jobs which he can take up if it goes belly up. We're thinking of going it alone anyway even if his company stays afloat. I think it'll be better for us in the long run, and next year he'll have the option of teaching at the local uni to suppliment anyway.

You asked me, I've asked the pros here.

The answer is no, they've never heard of any family member keeping an implant.

But the mortuary would be in possession of the body and the implant and what may happen to either is not any concern of the implant manufacturers.

Chances are good that someone might chose to keep the implant for it's scrap metal value although even that would be small. Say $25 on the high side.

Messy business to recover that small amount of cash too.

Any implant would be most valuable to the maker of that device or possibly their competetor. The wear characteristics of the parts might be of interest to either one.

I dunno, ZMH is getting crushed and SYK is only slightly better. I think lots of folks a putting orthopaedic surgery on the discrtionary list.

I am pretty safe.

Unemployed. This area is heavily reliant on retail and industrial manufacture, two industries heavily hit. Plus no-one wants to employ graduates. I know several places I can easily get a job, once management removes the hiring freezes, but until then...

However, realistically, this is just a chance for me to catch up on my reading. The world can come tumbling down, for all I care. If the complete collapse of the economic system clears my student debt, then I shall not cry too much over the end of easy credit.

The current downturn is going to affect me sooner or later as it will with most of the people working in Ortho products in Warsaw.

There was big talk last summer and fall that there would be an increase of jobs here because the market was up on the boomers need for knees and hips. I've not heard a single word of that boom materializing since Nov 08.

Within this local area there's a bit of arrogance about the stability of the demand for bio products through all economic downturns of the past. On the rare occasion that I'd bring up the reality of an impending depression....or worse, people would chuckle nervously and tell me that I'm crazy.

As we see the trillions of dollars adding up in one bailout after another it's becoming more possible in the minds of many here that they will indeed feel the great pain of the times ahead of us.

Passing through the town one sees much the same situation as the rest of the country. Hotel business is down, car dealerships have gone broke and moved out, there are "for sale" signs on the lawns of countless homes and there is a general downturn in activity here.

Will the demand for hip and knee replacements remain strong considering each costs say, $20k+ (implant and surgery)? I don't know. My guess is that it will not.

It's just me talking here though. Only time will tell us.

Seems like a good idea. There might be a good deal of people reading after everything crashes.

Very true. And with the amount of books I have right now (a good sized digital library), I don't lack for choice either. Chess, world mythology, political theory, history, economics, warfare, literary theory, philosophy and a buttload of fiction, of varying degress of excellence, from classics like Hyperion to rubbish like Twilight, which is best read either ironically or in an altered state, whichever makes it more fun.

If nothing else, I'd probably make an excellent copyeditor or literary agent.;)

Just make sure to keep an extra pair or two of glasses stashed away before the bow pulls up out of the water.