This is a personal diary about how the economy is affecting my family and I. I don't expect everyone to be able to relate to this for numerous reasons. First we are probably the prototypical "Upper Middle Class" family. My parents have been married for over thirty years and both work. My sister went to Kent State University and then to Case Western Reserve for her Master's. I went to The University of Toledo for my first degree in Financial Services (bad choice) and now I'm going to The University of Akron for a Bachelors in Accounting.
My dad has been working for over 25 years for the same company. He has done everything he was supposed to do to provide a good life for my mom, sister, and myself. He paid for our undergrad degrees. He's let us live in his house as we try and get ourselves on our feet. And he invested in his 401K since its been available to him. Now since this crisis started his 401K is down 20% (almost $100K).
My mom who has worked for a family owned business her whole life (My grandfather owned it, retired, passed it to my uncle, my uncle sold it to a nice woman when he retired). Well the store is on the brink now and my mom who is in her mid 50s is looking at going to community college to get either an associates degree or certification so she can find work. She just found out today that the store is closing at the end of October. So she's scrambling to find something so she can get back into the workforce as soon as possible.
My sister, is a social worker, so as you can imagine she isn't exactly making the big bucks right now. She works at a local agency and while she is in no risk of losing her job she's not really able to keep up with climbing prices.
Myself, I choose to go back to school after losing my job at a mortgage company. After months of not being able to find a reliable job, I decided to go back to school. I commute 30 miles each way to get to school at Akron. I've been going non stop since January and will have amassed an additional $20,000 in debt when its all said and done.
Now my family is lucky, we are pretty well off. So I can only imagine how bad things are going to get for people who do not have what we have. Neither my dad or mom have a college education. My dad was in the Air Force and then went to work for the same company. My mom has been at the store all her life. And now my dad can't plan on retiring and my mom needs to reinvent herself.
As I said we don't have it that bad. Things are getting tight and worrisome, especially for my parents, but they'll make it. But if things are getting like this for us, I can't imagine what things are like for people with less.
The state of America right now is quite sad. And I shutter to think how much worse it can be. But the effects of this economic downturn are real and already starting to trickle down.
NOTE: Early voting starts tomorrow in Ohio. (Golden Week of same day registration and voting from September 30 - October 6).