Economic struggles

So many people are looking for work. People are getting laid off everywhere. It's pretty scary. Alex looked for work for 5 months in Portland and he simply couldn't find anything other than single-digit weekly hours at Hollywood Video... ridiculous. It's pretty scary stuff.

I don't pretend that I fully appreciate how scary it is - I've still got full-time employment. I'm in a precarious position, though. I bill the client each month and I'm keenly aware of how much they pay my company (who then pays me). The client has been downsizing and laying off. It wouldn't be very surprising if they laid off my position. My company would find another position for me... probably manning a phone somewhere. That's a horrible job, and it would include a serious pay-cut. Normally I wouldn't even consider working a phone, but things are pretty terrifying. Am I gonna be desperately hoping to get hired as a short-order cook or a gas-jockey in 2 months?

And yet, I can't help but be amazed at how overpriveliged everyone is that I see complaining about the job market. People smoke cigarrettes and drink beer while complaining loudly about how poor they are. We go out and pay for dinner at a restaurant so that we can whine about not being able to afford to eat. We're so used to a luxury-ridden lifestyle that we feel honestly impoverished when we can only afford the "bare minimums of survival" - things like a car with insurance, a nice place to live with internet & phone & cable, enough spare cash to go out to eat when we don't feel like making food from scratch. We buy drinks and smokes and go out with our friends. We live a lifestyle that's pampered and luxurious in a world where the average lifestyle is far below all but the truly poor Americans - the folk whom none of us actually know or associate with. We are convinced that our woes eclipse anyone else's woes - yet we can afford so much more than so many. It's eerie.

Part of me is glad that America's economy is tanking. I'm glad that people are actually learning what it means to not have enough. When people are forced to make sacrifices in order to meet their basic needs, they learn just how much they've been taking for granted for so long. I think that's wonderful. But I also think that we won't learn for long. If our economy bounces back so that we can afford almost anything we want, we'll quickly forget the lean times when we actually had to be strict with the money we blew.

Anyway, the moaning I hear is about "I can't afford to maintain my excessive and luxurious lifestyle" even though it's never actually presented that way. And while everyone's primary complaint is about how they can't afford as many luxuries as they used to afford... we're okay. Maybe it's best to let our economy continue to suffer.

But then I look at situations like Alex's. He earnestly & honestly looked for work for a really long time. He wasn't picky; he took what he could get. He worked as a video store clerk for months.

Still, he afforded whatever he wanted. Drinks, going out with friends to have fun, breakfast at a cafe whenever he felt the urge. Of course, he had money tucked away 'cause he's smart like that, plus his normal financial footprint is remarkably small. If he was a hand-to-mouth kind of person like most of us, he'd have been in serious financial dire straits.

I'm conflicted. I feel really bad for those who are struggling to make ends meet, even though "making ends meet" involves all kinds of luxury. At the same time, I'm disgusted by a society where "making ends meet" includes a well-tuned vehicle, dozens of square feet of living area, recreational chemicals, paying other people for the luxury of prepared food we don't have to clean up, cell phones, internet access, cable TV, and all of the other "basic necessities" that our society convinces us we're entitled to as a bottom-line standard of living.

I don't want to put my things in storage and live from my van again. I don't want to worry about taking care of my cats, how I'm going to visit my kids, and feel the mounting pressure of child support & student loan payments accumulating while I try to scrape together money for food. But I'm simultaneously amazed at how I can go out with friends and buy a few drinks and something to eat. And instead of saving money for a rainy day, I live hand-to-mouth, just like almost everyone else I know. We're so used to having a supply of money, that we can't seem to prepare for it to dry up even when we can see it drying up for others all around us.

One thing I've been really grateful for is that I don't have anyone to bail me out. I know a few people who claim to be experiencing terrible financial stress, but they have a parent or relative who will step in and pay for their vital things like rent or a car payment. They don't really have to be self-sufficient; when the really important things are threatened they know that someone else will save them. So they continue to spend money as they wish (cutting back here & there with much loud vocalizing about how much they're sacrificing) and then when "there just isn't enough left to pay for the important things" they call for help and they get bailed out.

I dislike that very much, and I hope I can avoid providing that for my kids & loved ones. I mean, I'll give people a place to crash, and I'll help them get on their feet. I simply won't give them money for that purpose. Giving money to people is a cruel thing to do. It never helps them - it simply bails them out and releases them from the obligation to take care of their own damn messes.

Despite having such snooty, lofty ideals, if my mom was wealthy I'd appeal to her frequently for money. I've got nowhere near enough self-control to limit my own reliance on others. That's why I'm glad nobody's around who can bail me out by throwing money at me. :)