Category: The View From Your Recession

A reader writes:

Last September, with $10k in the bank, I quit my stressful-but-profitable paralegal job, moved out of my parents' house in Connecticut (the poor half) for the third time and got an apartment in New Hampshire, to be closer to my girlfriend.  I spent three months being mostly unemployed, tutoring a few kids for $15 a week, and sending out resumes for office positions.  I even got a few interviews, but nothing panned out.  For Christmas, I got a seasonal retail job, where I still am today, at federal minimum wage and 20 hours a week. 

My savings are gone. Of all the things I lost in this not-too-smart move, I miss my health coverage the most; my year-old eyeglasses are

pretty much useless, and since running out of Lipitor in October, I get

weekly angina attacks. 

I'm 28, by the way.

And my girlfriend?  She's still living with her not-quite-ex, since they can't afford court fees to divorce after two years of nominal separation, and they can't sell the house either.

She's worried about her job (marketing) because advertising is the first thing to go when corporations have to cut costs; she's got seniority, but that also means she makes the most per hour, and they can hire a kid out of college for almost nothing compared to what she makes.

Her transgendered wife loses jobs regularly, and we know it's because she's transitioned and still definitely not passable, but what can you do when legislators keep quoting the Bible instead of the Constitution?  Their daughter will be going to college in two years, hopefully on soccer scholarships, but who knows?  Right now, they've taken on new car payments so she'll be able to drive herself to practice if Mama gets the opportunity to work overtime.  We're talking about me moving in with them once my lease is up; the almost-ex is resistant, but it's not like the McMansion doesn't have enough room… especially once I sell all my books, spare computers and shoes.

All that said, I'm actually feeling pretty good still.  I'm good at a lot of things, I'm using my "downtime" to learn new skills (anyone need a Drupal programmer?) and brush up old ones (I'll crochet you a sweater!), and I'm not nearly as spoiled as a lot of my peers.  I'm thinking about taking my tutoring to the extreme and offering "catch up/get ahead" summer school in a few months, if nothing else turns up before then.  And I may finally lose that last stubborn 25 pounds by doing all my cooking at home!  I am still looking forward to having enough money for a huge wedding in a few years, and if we're really lucky I'll be able to have it in NH instead of Massachusetts.

(Photo from Cluster Balloon via Environmental Graffiti.)

A reader writes:

I have a parallel career as a professional musician and as a piano teacher, and the difference between the two couldn't be more pronounced.

As a musician, I've gone from playing maybe five or six gigs a week, and frequently playing two or three gigs in one day — in restaurants, bars and at weddings, as well as the occasional jazz club and concert hall — to doing one or two a week at most. It seems to be getting worse too; not counting holidays, last week was the first time in 7 years that I haven't played a single gig all week.

On the other hand, with my teaching, I've never been so

busy.

I've lost one adult pupil — he works as a plasterer and lost his job when the construction industry tanked last year, so can't afford lessons at the moment — but apart from that I've had more inquiries from parents to teach their kids than I can deal with. Interestingly, I've found a lot of musicians (myself included) are taking the extra time they suddenly have as an opportunity — to practise more, to record, to work at promoting themselves and their bands or to compose, i.e. to do those things we put off when the diary is full of work. Similarly, the plasterer I mentioned above has spent his spare time doing up his house and studying jazz theory.

I imagine I'll come out of the downturn in a much better shape musically, and with a lot more energy (gigging 6 nights a week is quite draining).

(Photo: a ground-floor look at a job fair by Spencer Platt/Getty.)

A reader writes:

Within academia (or at least, for graduate students), this recession has been brewing for a LONG time.

I received a Master’s in political science (Dean’s Citation, no less) from a big state school in 2007, with hopes of either getting into a PhD program or going to work for the US government or an NGO.  I was turned down from every school I applied to, despite a 1500+ on my GRE and a 3.9 GPA at my Master’s program.  Moreover, no one was hiring for entry level positions anywhere.  I took to temping and part-time teaching to get by.  I tried to be frugal and keep out of debt, but it was very difficult with a wife who was unwilling to hold on to a job.

A divorce later, I’m deeply in credit card debt and accruing more student loan debt (at a professional Master’s this time) …

… but I’m more confident than I’ve been since graduating last time.  My credit card debt is getting paid down, lowering my overall debt interest rates, and I’m learning the skills I need to get a career started.  Of course, I’d be foolish to ignore the trouble everyone else is having, so I’ve also made a backup plan.  Just 25 more pounds down, and I’ll be ready to join the navy.  (That’s 10 kilos for your int’l readers.)

Despite my misgivings over the idea, I’m more comfortable and satisfied with my life now than I have been since 2000-2001.  Come December, I will gladly say “au revoir” to academia forever, and begin my professional life, one way or another. 

A reader writes:

I'm a professional dating coach for men (if you've seen the Will Smith movie "Hitch," kind of like that). I take guys out to bars, night clubs, malls, bookstores — wherever they want — and show them how to meet women, talk to them and get dates.

Business is good. In fact, business is better than ever. And it keeps pouring in. I'm booked through the end of April coaching guys in four different major cities, sometimes making four figures in a single night out on the town. Then I go home, sleep until 3PM and do it again the next night.

But what surprises me more than the fact that all of these men are turning for help in their love lives, is HOW DESPERATELY they're

turning for help.

Guys have been paying me with the last remnants of their bank accounts, deferring rent and bill payments, digging deeper into their credit card debt, even asking me to set up monthly payment plans for a single night out — a night that typically nets a client only a few phone numbers and maybe a date or two.

I talked to another coach in the industry about it. And we agree that it's gone beyond the simple tripe of "sex sells." These single men who have become demoralized financially are seeking their solace not in some sort of economic recovery, but in the arms of a woman. The loss of financial security drives them to seek emotional security. And meanwhile, I'm cashing more checks than I even thought possible a year ago.

A reader writes:

I read yesterday's comments about opting out of social security;  I understand why this may be an extremely appealing option for those below a certain threshold age, but I hope you can understand why there are many who have reached an age and have contributed for sufficient years that your solution is not so appealing.  My own experience may help illustrate this point.

I am a 57 year old male who has been self-employed for quite a while. I have worked very hard and done reasonably well over the years, and I have never been without at least one job, with usually two or more sources of income.  I work in the high end niche of the consumer electronics industry, which has been among the most hard-hit of industry segments over the past 6 years.  When this natural downturn was combined with recent economic slowdown, the results have been devastating.

I have seen drastic reductions in my business earnings over the course of the past couple of years, which has in turn forced me to use my savings for daily living for a total of the last 6 years, despite what had been a fairly reasonable nest egg some years back. I now have depleted my nest egg and am making ends meet from month to month.   

I am working harder than ever before (currently contracting with four different manufacturers for commission income, and spending on average 12-14 hours of working hours for at least six days each week), but my irregular income means that I am always "robbing peter to pay paul."  I have contributed faithfully to social security since I was 16 years old, and because of my recent experience, I am surprised and saddened to acknowledge that social security is now my only retirement fund. I don't blame anybody else for my situation, but I have to honestly say it will be extraordinarily difficult for me if my social security savings are not available for me a few years from now. I simply don't have another mechanism for saving at this point.

I have a good education (Masters Degree from Yale) and have been active in sales distribution in a total of 59 countries where I have traveled and made very good contacts over the years,  but many different efforts and inquiries have proven that my education and experience are not really helpful for job seeking at my age—-my experience and focus has been in too narrow a niche market for most companies to find interesting and useful.  Nobody (except perhaps MacDonalds)  will hire a 57 year old, so I remain convinced that my self-employment with social security at the end is my only option.  I believe that somebody (probably Mr. Roosevelt) was sufficiently smart to know that there would always be folks like me, and they wanted to create a formal system that understood how there are some things that cannot be predicted or known, even among folks who are reasonably smart and work very hard.  The social security solution only works, however, if everybody (regardless of need or means) is able to contribute through a lifetime of earning, despite his or her confidence in finding better savings mechanisms for their individual retirement.   I am not smart enough to have predicted my situation, and I would have sworn that it was not possible as recently as 8 years ago, when I was a youngster of 49.   I am amazed and awed by the wisdom of those who created this system that I never expected I would need, other than as a minimal supplement to my retirement nest egg.   Perhaps I am missing something, as  you seem to think otherwise.

A reader writes:

I own a small take-out restaurant here on Oahu, Hawaii. Over the past few years, many of the restaurants in our neighborhood followed the then-current national trend of making their restaurants more "upscale". That meant "fancier" ingredients and higher prices. Now that the recession has hit, guess what? Folks aren't going to those upscale places anymore. They're opting for simpler food and lower prices. The result? The other restaurants in our neighborhood are struggling to survive. Yet our business is up 20% over last year! (We had to hire more employees to handle the rush of customers. Really.) This recession is working out pretty well for us.

A reader writes:

Your post of the website developer's story and subsequent comments hit a nerve for me this morning.  This evening my beloved, brilliant, sweet-natured, marvelously entertaining favourite cousin will come to my house hoping to borrow money.  He is defeated by this crisis and trying to find the strength to fight for his very life.  About a year and a half ago he borrowed money and started a small business, and everything has gone south. This past weekend he came over and I lit a fire.  We sat and talked and he held his head in his hands and told me he hadn't enough money

for food.

He refused a meal when I offered one, but of course I went ahead and made him something anyway and put it on a little table in front of him by the fire, and he wolfed it down.  I went to the closet and slipped some cash into his pocket.

Together we played out a Dickensian scene that we must each have been aware of, and stuck to our assigned roles.  I am the "wealthy relative", female of course, and my cousin, a crushed man, is begging for hope.  He says he fell in love with the future, and it broke his heart.

I cannot be as apathetic as your website developer.  I love my cousin, and to see this superb and extraordinary man stripped naked of his pride and dignity hurts my bones.  And yet, I have not decided yet if I will lend him the money he needs, and which I do have.

I am afraid.  I am afraid for my own future–having lost so much that I no longer am sure that I have enough to last if things continue to get very bad.  And I am afraid of who else will come to sit by my fire, and how much they will need.  I have nieces and nephews, a mother, and friends.  One by one, some of them will come.  How do I rank them–who do I help, and how much?  How do I balance their terrible need  with my need to save and prepare for a long severe economic storm?

I keep in mind the pharoah's dream of the seven fat cows that were eaten by the seven lean cows. Somehow we must all find our way through this maelstrom–but I really don't know how.

I only know one thing: Rick Santelli can go to hell!

A reader writes:

As a 25 year old married veteran recently out of the Navy, I actually am hopeful for the future thanks to the "21st Century GI Bill" that starts in August. It will pay for my tuition outright if my grades remain good and provide us with a living stipend that is enough for rent, utilities, food, health care and a tiny bit of savings for emergencies, enabling me to work just a part-time job to pay for my wife's tuition and books at the community college.

Without this new GI Bill, going to school this fall as a junior at a state university would have left me with far less money per month to the point that I would have had to seriously consider student loans to cover our living expenses. Thanks to those who successfully pushed for this last summer, a lot of post-9/11 veterans can look toward the harsh economic times with a lot less fear, at least while we are in school.

A reader writes:

I work in heavy/highway civil construction as a project and quality control manager. My company focuses primarily on concrete paving, but we also perform mass excavation and earthwork, roadway building, and underground utilities (water, storm, sanitary, etc.). Most of our work takes place at one of the major airports in the DC/Baltimore region, but we've also done numerous projects over the years for the military, state DOTs, and various private owners.

I got laid off yesterday morning.

I had worked for my employer for 4-1/2 years. My boss told me that I was the first of several cuts he was going to have to make over the coming weeks. A few hours later, a fellow project manager who had been there nearly 10 years also got laid off. More layoffs are coming, for both salaried office staff like me and for the hourly field workers. Work has simply dried up. We can't compete. And it's not just us. Some construction companies, including the biggest names in the D.C. area, have reduced their workforces by over 90% just to stay afloat. Others have gone bankrupt.

With the collapse in residential construction, and with commercial construction struggling badly, contractors have directed their focus on government projects. For instance, my company bid a small ($600,000) project to demolish an existing government building, haul the material offsite, and restore the work area with new topsoil and grass — a two, maybe three month-long project. How many contractors bid for this project? THIRTY-SIX! THIRTY-FRIGGING-SIX! Three years ago there probably would have been no more than six or seven bidders, because everybody was so busy. My company cut our bid to the absolute bone, then cut some more. I think we came in 7th or 8th place.

Every bid for government or public authority work we've submitted as a general contractor over the past year has been at cost, meaning break-even. Right now, as my boss told me yesterday morning, we can't even buy jobs (i.e. bidding contracts) at a loss just to keep revenue coming in and the field guys busy. One proposal we got recently was to rent some of our off-road trucks to move dirt at a project in Northern Virginia. The guy wanted our trucks at a monthly rate that was almost $2,000 less than monthly payment alone! Like I said, we just can't compete in that type of environment.

On a personal level, I'm fairly well-equipped to ride out the storm for a few months. My boss will pay me through the end of this month, I'll be able to draw unemployment if I choose, and I have personal savings in the mid five figures. That should be enough to pay the bills for a little while — at least a year, if I still can't find any work.

I'm optimistic that I'll land on my feet and find a new job at some point over the next few months. But I was unemployed earlier this decade for nearly two years, so I'm preparing for the worst.

A reader writes:

I am a civil engineer in a small firm (10 engineers).  We specialize in a particular area of chronically under-funded public infrastructure.  Right now, we are so busy that we have hired another engineer, and would hire two more if we were confident we wouldn’t have to let them go a year from now. The reason that we are hiring is because of the infrastructure bill – two of our clients recently got word from the feds that they can accelerate ‘out year’ projects if they have construction bids in hand

within four months.

We are working overtime to get these projects ready to bid so that our clients don’t lose the desperately needed funding.  The engineer we are hiring was part of a mass layoff from a local firm that did mostly private development work (residential subdivisions and shopping centers) in our formerly booming region. 

Construction contractors are really hungry – for projects where we would usually get 2 or 3 bidders, we are now sometimes seeing in excess of 20.  Contractors are coming from out of state to bid on relatively small jobs they wouldn’t have touched a couple of years ago.  I hear rumors that contractors are bidding jobs with no profit built in just so they can make payments on their construction equipment.

I can tell you with complete confidence based on my years of experience that more public spending on public infrastructure is long overdue.  I was amused to read an op-ed last week by the publisher of Forbes magazine who characterized the stimulus bill as “backwards looking” because the bill is “overwhelmed by ‘shovel ready’ projects aimed at school-building improvement, road repair and so forth…”.  He asked “Is a shovel the right symbol for the 21st century?”   

How utterly clueless can you be?  Just wait until the 19th century sewer main in your town fails and  raw sewage pours into your creeks; or a piece of crumbling pavement on the 40 year old runway you are landing on gets sucked into a jet engine; or another bridge fails during rush hour traffic because minimal maintenance funds have been available for years.  While 20% or so of our GDP was going to the financial services sector, the ACTUAL STUFF that we walk on, drive on, live in, work in, drink from and put our waste into has been crumbling. 

The reason that there aren't more failures is because engineers are historically damn good at including a ‘factor of safety’ in their designs, so that public facilities like these last beyond their typical useful life.  (And also because competent people with actual shovels have helped to build them well.)  The arrogance of people who have done nothing for their livelihood but move other people’s money around is simply breathtaking.