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Well, I still don't have what one would call a Real Job. Instead I have mashed together a few small jobs to make ends meet. The job market here in this college town of 50,000 has always been slow, but it's never been this painfully slow. The newspaper's job insert, which they do quarterly, was only 2 pages this time, compared to the usual 4-5.
When I went to the substitute orientation for the school district, it was PACKED. It seems a lot of people are in similar shoes these days.
Most of the people I know are doing fine. It's easy to scale back on driving in our community, and food prices here have stayed relatively stable due to the prevalence of local produce. The few problems I do see have resulted mostly because of non-economic factors (ie unplanned pregnancy). My SO's family scaled back the family reunion this year to save money, and we're expected to bring and cook a meal, which is something we've never had to do before. We're making pancakes. They're cheap. If they want poor college students to cook breakfast, that's what they're going to get, and there certainly isn't going to be any expensive breakfast meat.
I haven't had a chance to really talk to my SO's parents about this in a while, but last time I did they had shelved a lot of personal projects due to economic uncertainty. SO's dad works for a major computer/printer manufacturer in the printing/imaging division, and his company is going through another round of layoffs. Because of what he does, he also has some money tied up in the markets, and it impacts how much savings and retirement they actually have, versus my parents, who were public employees and therefore have guaranteed retirement, as well as most of their extra $$$ tied up in two homes that are increasing in value compared to the rest of the market.
The other thing this is affecting that worries me is the ability to pass bonds and levies this fall in the general election. We have one bond issue up for a badly needed senior center remodel, new playground equipment, and field upgrades. In other communities these services would not necessarily be seen as vital or necessary, but here those are things that are heavily and widely used by all. My hope is that people look at the long-term instead of just the short-term and invest in our infrastructure. Such construction is also an investment in our economy, after all.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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