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Edited on Wed May-07-08 06:35 PM by LucyParsons
I think we are in SERIOUS trouble, folks. While I don't want anyone to starve to death or lose their homes, I think a depression would improve American culture immensely. We seem to have gone totally off track, and have no sense of community, frugality, solidarity... There are few good jobs, and almost no job security. There is a massive gap between our "leaders" in politics and business and so-called culture and the mass of the rest of us (95% of the population). Basic livings costs are climbing out of reach, nevermind the American Dream (tm) of owning your own home and giving your children more opportunities than you had.
Background
I am almost 29, have a master's degree, 14 years total working experience, 7 years postgrad working experience. The jobs I have held, in chronological order, are:
(US) record store clerk convenience store clerk/deep-fryer tour guide
(UK) waitress bookseller literary events manager freelance proofreader temp secretary secretary residential construction project planning assistant project planning manager-in-training
(US) bank teller freelance proofreader library assistant higher ed admin assistant
My parents attended but did not graduate from the local junior college. One was a state employee and Army reservist, and the other is a secretary (who currently has no retirement, no health insurance, and no savings). My grandparents on one side were a TV repairman and his stay at home wife, who managed to support four children; on the other side, cotton sharecroppers. I am not from a privileged background, but I am white, had a comparatively decent public education, and a mother who was willing to sacrifice so that I could have access to opportunities she didn't, such as childhood piano lessons. So I recognize I did have some advantages.
I graduated from our large state university with a useless liberal arts degree, then went to Europe (for cultural and political reasons, as well as the fact that an MA program is short there, so, all things considered, at the time, it was financially comparable to doing one here in the US) and completed a master's in the same useless liberal arts subject. I worked 20 hours per week the entire time I was in college. I had $24,000 in loans after my BA and $43,000 in loans after my MA.
I went through a very nasty break-up with my partner and moved back to the US with no money and, despite living with my mother for nearly a year and saving most of my money, couldn't accrue the capital to finance a move to our state capitol, where the "good" jobs, as well as the more liberal political culture, are. So I moved here without a job in May 2006. I ended up working two part-time state jobs far below my ability (thus earning no health benefits) for a year. During this time, to make ends meet, I had to use credit cards for unexpected costs (as many, many Americans do). Since 2005, my student loans, which I had previously paid about $4,000 on, have been in "hardship forbearance". Last fall, I entered a debt management program to pay off my credit card debt, realizing that with Bank of America's arbitrarily-raised interest rates and fees (at 33% when I entered the debt program!), I would literally NEVER get out of debt.
Ten months ago I finally landed a full-time admin job at the same state university from which I graduated eight years ago, so I now have health insurance and retirement, although, like many Americans, I put off going to the doctor because I can't afford the office visit fees unless I am really sick. I also live in a very small apartment (with a TV from 1980 and a stove from 1955), walk to work, have no washing machine or dishwasher, do not subscribe to cable TV or internet service or landline, only have electricity to pay (on my lighting and window AC unit) in the way of utilities, am vegan, and buy local/independent whenever possible. I can't really downsize my life any further. By all expectations, or to listen to lying GOP assumptions, I should be middle class. I am not. I am worse off than my parents, and cannot forsee being in a financial position in which I would choose to have children, nor could I under any circumstances even THINK about affording a mortgage on even the most modest home in my county.
I am not whining. I've made mistakes: choosing to study a subject I loved rather than a lucrative subject; choosing a partner with the type of personality to defraud me and leave me with nothing to show for four years of putting 100% of my income into the shared household; moving to this city because of feelings of cultural claustrophobia, knowing I might not be able to get a "good" job and avoid resultant credit card debt; etc., etc., etc.
As far as I can see, particularly for those of us under 30 or so, the middle class is something from history books. And if I am in this much trouble, and feel this hopeless, with all the advantages and education I have had, I cannot imagine how people with two kids, working low-wage jobs can make it AT ALL. If people in my position, or double-income households in a better position than myself, feel like we are spiralling head-first into poverty, what's going to happen to the working poor? The ignored people who actually drive our whole economy?
I have $250.00 in my savings account.
Here is my budget for this month:
1804.28 salary after tax
550.00 rent 50.00 electricity 175.00 car payment 82.49 car insurance 45.00 cell phone 15.14 netflix 20.00 laundry 30.00 gas 335.00 debt repayment* 3.00 bank fee 51.31 medications 250.00 groceries 50.00 household/miscellany 108. dental work (with insurance)
1764.94 total ougoings 39.34 savings
I hope I don't need another filling, or have car trouble, or want to go out for a beer.
*if I wasn't in a debt repayment program for my credit card debt, I'd be paying $308/month toward student loans, so this still wouldn't be savings.
edited for spelling
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