"There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."
FDR's speech to the Democratic National Convention, January 27, 1936
The economy has never really concerned me. Call me an irresponsible product of the baby boomer umbrella, but I never saw the economy as being anything more than a bunch of high-maintenance drama. Sure, I thought it was important. And I understand its relation to our entire way of life. But it was never personal.
For the first time in my life, I see the economy. I see it on the face of the man in his mid-50’s who went from white-collar management to blue-collar beginner. I see it in the eyes of the child who didn’t get fed yesterday and is eager for his school lunch today. I see it in the buildings, which were once thriving businesses and now are cement cemeteries. And I see it in the neighborhoods, once teeming with children playing amongst their homes, now just vacant houses.
The first week in January, at my company meeting, our CEO asked anyone who had an immediate member of their family lose their job to stand up. About a fourth of the room stood. Then he asked those who had an extended member like an aunt or cousin lose their job to stand. Over half the banquet hall was now standing on their feet. Then he said, “Finally, anyone who has had a close friend lose his/her job, please stand up.” The entire room, our entire corporation, was standing.
In 2008, a total of 2.6 million jobs were lost… the largest loss since 1946. The Unemployment rate is around 7.2, the highest since January of 1993. Obama considered it “a stark reminder of how urgently action is needed.” Many people have gone back to compare our current issues with those faced during the Great Depression. Is the recession largely based out of fear and thus the larger our fear, the more fuel to the fire?
A professor from a local Nevada university made a reference very similar to this when he said that unemployment is a self-fulfilling prophecy. When people are constantly fueled by the fear-ladened prophesy of a recession, they ultimately bring it about. They spend less due to the fear of losing their jobs and thus create a more defined problem. I am as guilty as the next. Ultimately it’s the lack of confidence. Fear. The majority is a powerful machine once it gets the wheel spinning.
Nevada has had the highest foreclosure rate in 2008 at 7.3 percent or roughly almost 78,000 homes. 8.9 percent of Vegas homes were affected. The little cul-de-sac I live in has 8 homes for sale right now. A buyer’s market I suppose.
The hardest part for me is the family that can’t provide for their kids. Joel and I have had our rough patches financially but we always made it out okay. There was a period of time where I was only bringing in about $600/month but we ate ramen and budgeted everything… and I mean EVERYTHING, and we made it work. We also went through a period of time where we didn’t have any running water for about 6 weeks. We showered with babywipes, I washed my hair every couple days with bottled water, and learned the fast food restaurants who had the best bathrooms. We made it work. Thank the Lord we didn’t have kids to look after.
It honestly breaks my heart to see it affect children. This past week, I had several eye-openers. While getting gas I noticed a grandma and a little girl about 8 years old walking into the gas station. She was wearing a blue, women’s skirt suit. It looked like a suit you would have seen a lawyer wear in 1982, but it swamped her little body. The little girl was just thrilled to be going to the gas station and you could tell this suit was probably one of the few clothing items they owned. For my job I’m in and out of schools all day. At one of the schools there was a little boy that was just sitting in office for hours. He was only in kindergarten and had been waiting for someone to pick him up for over 2 hours. The office called his parents, and with all the needs for jobs, they just couldn’t leave to pick him up yet.
The economy has become personal. I see it everyday in my neighborhood, at my job, and even at dinner when a middle-aged college grad comes bearing resume, begging to be hired as a waiter. Is FDR’s great statement true? “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” Change is coming… may take a while but I believe it is. I have to.
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.”
-FDR
