Living on Less in an Age Where Banks Are Thriving on Excess

Ferol Wagner of CCI talks about the criminality of payday loans

Ordinary Americans from all over the country will be coming to Chicago to protest a banking industry that has committed massive acts of fraud and corruption and manipulated the political process to obstruct the passage of any kind of financial reforms that may prevent them from posing dire risks to the average Americans.

Wall Street doesn't want to be told what it can and cannot do, but at the Showdown in Chicago, folks like Ferol Wagner, who have lost major portions of their retirement savings, will come out to “demand responsibility, accountability and restitution for their greed and fraudulent acts.” This will take place October 25-27.

Wagner, an 81-year old member of Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) from Des Moines, Iowa, lost 30% of her retirment savings to the economic collapse. She explains her current situation:

“I have to be real frugal with these savings cause I have no other source of income and I am a widow---I am 81 years old. We never know how long we live. Now, there's longevity in my family. My mother lived to 101. If I should live that long or even close to that, my savings will have gone down and been depleted long before that. Of course, I'll have Social Security. That's what I think now, but there may be a problem with that and it won't pay all the bills. And if I go to a nursing facility, I don't know where the money will come from. I should not be forced to be a burden on my loved ones. “

No one should have to be a burden to loved ones but more and more Americans are becoming just that. A public policy and research organization, Demos, published a study in January of this year that shows, “3 out of 4 senior households lack the economic security needed to sustain them through their lives.”

An AP News story on October 22 reports, “58 percent [say] they don't believe Social Security will be available when they retire, up from 47 percent in last year's survey.” When asked if she thinks she was robbed, Wagner hesitates. After considering the nature of the word “robbed” and the action of robbery, she concedes that it may be a harsh word but one could say she was robbed. Money was given to bail out banks and little to nothing was given to ordinary folks to survive or recoup savings lost in the financial collapse. According to the January study from Demos, 1 in 3 senior households have no money to meet essential expenses. Forty percent of senior households spend more than fifteen percent of their income on healthcare. Like other American seniors, Wagner and her husband saved up for their children and grandchildren who would be coming along. They both worked hard to be independent and live as they wanted during their retirement years. Neither expected that they would lose what they had worked for and have to worry about problems created by banks or financial institutions. As a member of the “Greatest Generation”, Wagner's story bears a striking poignancy:

“I grew up during the Depression and we worked hard and we were frugal and we were responsible. Our thoughts were we're going to make life better for our children,” says Wagner.

Her grandparents lost their “beautiful home” during the Depression. Her mother was a single parent and couldn't find a job so she and her family lived on a rental farm with grandparents.

Wagner's mother, managed to find a teaching job thirty-five miles away, but in that era, a person didn't drive back and forth like people do now. Her mother stayed at her job so she could earn money to take care of her family.

Farmers didn't have good crops during this period. People were doing what they had to do to keep families and communities together. Many were working hard, sharing, and living frugally so they could survive.

Wagner talks about how the “Greatest Generation” learned many lessons from the Depression. They didn't expect to become millionaires like today's generations. They lived frugally, were happy, and that was life.

During the Depression, Wagner's grandfather said remember, if you don't watch and keep that fox away from the henhouse, this will repeat itself again.

When Wagner thinks of today's economy, she says her grandfather was a wise man. What he said was true, it's what happened, and perhaps, she says, we're all guilty in not keeping our ears and eyes focused on what was happening all around us.

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