Middle America Economic Reality
October 1, 2008 by Tracee Sioux
Filed under Parenting
I AM Middle Class America.
My husband has a job at a fortune 500 company.
I work from home as a writer/blogger.
We went to college, spend the last 4 years paying off debt, bought a house earlier this year with a fixed FHA loan.
We’re doing all the right things.
Here’s how OUR economics look:
* Groceries went up 20% in the last year.
* Gas seems to be on ever higher roller coasters.
* Health Insurance Premiums are rising in January – AGAIN.
There will be no cost of living increases, overtime or raises at the company as stock prices are plummeting down to earth.
This will effect what we eat, how often we can see our family, whether we can see the doctor.
I’m guessing that you’re getting similar news from insurance companies and employers. That you are wondering where to go from here.
I’ve got some ideas – but I’d love to hear yours.
Leave a comment and tell me if you’re discussing similar news over dinner.
Photo Source: Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me, my family during better times, this summer Chevy lent us this Tahoo. (I’m so relieved I didn’t finance one.)
We are lower middle class America.
We both work full time.
Neither of us finished college beyond an associates degree – yet we pay $300/mo in student loan debt.
I have health insurance, the kids are on medicaid, my husband is NOT insured..my husband that does manual labor for a living…who is 10 x as likely to get injured or wear out his back.
Either of us getting a better job would screw us out of the kids getting medicaid.
Even a $1/hr increase would screw us out of medicaid.
We also cannot afford to travel and see family.
Our plan b is the husband to go back to the oil field..be gone for weeks at a time..and do dangerous work. Maybe then we could afford the $700/mo it would take to insure us all.
We have no stocks, no bonds, no car payment, no house payment. We rent and own our beat up car. We were not one of the couples who foolishly financed beyond our means, we were not one of the people who profited when dirty finance companies’ stocks rose. We did not make this mess – but we will suffer from it. We will suffer from it either way, bailout or no bailout.
I DO NOT believe our tax dollars should bail out these companies. I want to see CEO’s and top share-holders brought before judge and jury. I want laws written to protect us, the middle class, from dirty business practices. I want pharmaseutical companies and huge oil corporations to be investigated, I want their gouging to stop and their profits capped. If our government has $700 billion dollars to throw into the wind, I want them to use it to pay off debt. I want them to use it to give people health care and Rx vouchers, I want them to use it to improve programs like Medicaid and Medicare and Social security.
I think what we are is now shareholders in these companies. We – the United States Government – own the mortgages now.
The $110 billion added pork barrels pisses me off – rum taxes for one Senator, a bridge for this Senator. We’ve got to pass laws against that – it’s how we’re always getting screwed as taxpayers.
I agree – we need laws that will protect us from this type of behavior. I’m in shock that Republicans are pretending it wasn’t their deregulation that caused this.
One mystery for me is where exactly is this money coming from if neither candidate says he’s raising taxes to pay it?
The US Government has no money – we have only debt.
Who is loaning it to us and are they friendly to our national security?
No, I heard on some news channel that a large chunk of our recent debt is to China..I find it very difficult to understand why we’re staying in Iraq to establish democracy(cue heavenly choir) while funding it by borrowing money from a communist country?
But see Tracee, I dont’ see it like that “We are now shareholders” I dont’ see my tax money as being mine anymore, because this latest vote proves that gov. officials don’t really represent the constituents – they do what they want. They’ve allowed corporations to run wild, do dirty stuff, that dirty stuff has come around and bitten all of us in the ass, then they take ‘our’ money and give it to these dirty corporations – instead of punishing them – against the wishes of the majority of American people. It sucks. It’s the opposite of Robin Hood.
My husband is on dialysis 3x a week and on disabilty (which took us over a year to get) I work 2 jobs one in the morning and one at night and on weekends. We have 2 kids a mortgage and car payment and still can not make ends meet do you think the government is going to help us out no, I have already ask no food stamps no TANF Nothing. Yes my husband is on Medicade but if he does not meet his spenddown which is over 700 a month then that is another bill. I have to work 2 jobs, I am just hopeing that we will not have to pay taxes on his diability if I make 2 much, but we will not survive if I do not.