You have a credit card with a $25,000 limit.
Because you have a good job, you only have $6,000 on the card, and routinely pay the monthly statement and a little extra on the principal.
But then you decide you need a 52-inch high-def LCD TV screen to go into your "man cave," and your family rightfully decides they need a vacation. So, you add a few thousand to the credit card. But, it's all OK since you just got a promotion at work.
A couple of months later, your 2008 Honda begins puffing smoke. By the time repairs are done, it's another thousand on the card.
And then your boss calls you into her office. Your work has been excellent, she tells you. You have made numerous contributions to the company, she says. But her boss has figured out he can make even more money for himself and the nebulous apparitions known as stockholders, so he is sending much of the company's manufacturing needs overseas, where labor (and often workmanship) is much less of a financial burden. Besides, he won't have to deal with unions overseas. Oh, yeah, says your boss, you've been replaced by some guy in Pakistan who'll work for a tenth of your salary.
But there's good news, says your boss. Because of your long and dedicated service, you'll get four whole weeks salary--and health care benefits for two full months. You'll surely find work in that time, you believe.
Three months later, you're still unemployed. The mortgage is due. Bills pile up. But, you're optimistic. You have a good work record. You'll find another job. Besides, your wife (who had quit her job to spend full-time taking care of the home and raising the three children) just got a job at $7.80 an hour as a clerk at a big-box department store to help out. It's only temporary, the two of you believe. You'll get a job soon; she'll be able to quit her job. A few more months go by, and both of you are now working--she as a near-minimum-wage clerk; you as a part-time customer service representative for a hardware store at two bucks over minimum wage. That's all you could find. You don't have health benefits; hers, which cover the family, are significantly less than what you once had.
You're depressed, but there's no money for social workers or psychologists. You and your family are a bit testy, snapping out for no apparent reason; there's no money for marital counseling.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
1
1
