This economy has a face.

[SmileyRose]

Her name is Janet. She is 46 and her husband is in the same critical care unit as my husband. Janet's husband has been sick on and off for the last 15 years. In spite of his intellectual disabilities, he made a decent $18 hourly wage with decent union benefits, including sick pay at about 40% of his normal pay when working. Of the last 15 years he worked a total of 6 years when adding it all together, a few months here, a year there, before the next health crisis came along. This means that of the last 15 years, 9 were spent on severely reduced income.

Janet has not worked for the last 15 years. Early on in all this, she did work. After the 2nd crisis with her husband they decided she could not be dependable and let her go. Eventually she gave up trying to work, every time she got a new job her husband would have another medical crisis - and sure enough, by staying home, she was able to spend enough time paying attention so that several serious health problems were averted along the way.

However, there was a huge financial cost. They have more than $50,000 in credit card debt. Nearly all of this is accumulated over 15 years, groceries, gas for the car, co-pays and deductibles, medication, maintenance on the house. At each medical crisis along the way they thought this surgery, or that treatment would get him back up and running and they would return to full salary in no time, with plenty of money to pay down the debt. And they did pay off the cards completely once along the way, early on.

These people are not deadbeats, or greedy assholes. They have a very small house in a not the best neighborhood. Their idea of a vacation is to drive one state over to see his family. They rarely eat out. She has had to learn everything from fixing the roof to removing and rehanging a sticky window. The woman painted their house by herself with a can of paint, a ladder and a paintbrush - it took her all summer. They have one old car that's paid for, and the repairs are stacking up to where a newer car with payments will be more cost effective.

The husband is on SS disability now. She was working again but now this crisis, she took a leave of absence and has learned that because of the economy she will probably lose her job. They will not be able to carry the minimum payments on the credit cards if she does.

Her husband is critical but will probably recover. She is going probably going to lose her job. They are so eyeball deep in credit card debt that they are drowning and she has no idea what to do or where to start.

She is another face in this economy. None of the stimulus will ever help her.

[CountAllVotes]

1. it was not designed to help people that were responsible at one time

one bad turn and you are out. Tough luck is the message you will get. No stimulus money for you they say - deadbeat.

:grr:

:kick:

[SmileyRose]

3. Janet's story would not even change with single payer healthcare

there is no one to blame - this is just the unfortunate circumstances of their lives. They could really use a fresh start by having the debt wiped off the books, but I doubt that is likely to happen.

[CountAllVotes]

4. no it would not change with single payer

because there is no money for her to pay with!

These "plans" are a crock of shit IMO.

People need to wake the fuck up and look at what the hell is going on - $700 billion here, another $700 billion there and Janet and her deadbeat sick husband can simply rot in hell as far as the great "stimulus" goes.

It stimulates nothing but MORE GREED IMO!!!

:argh:

:kick:

[SammyWinstonJack]

2. K&R

:-(

[IndyOp]

5. Debtors Anonymous -- trust me, I am not saying it is her fault, I am saying there is hope.

I've never had a serious debt problem and I've learned a lot from people I know who've read "How to Get Out of Debt" and who've attended DA meetings.

"How to Get Out of Debt" and DA help people learn their rights, learn how to stand up to creditors, how to stop under-earning and how to earn to live rather than live to earn.

I have a friend who teaches art at a local public school who has saved enough money that she is about to take a year off and work on her art portfolio so that she can apply to a Masters in Fine Arts program -- she's saved up enough to live on for a year and has an emergency stash in case she needs it.

I started getting my financial house in order after the theft of the 2004 election -- when I downsized my house and started saving enough money to be able to pay my mortgage for a year, just in case.

The women you met sounds very industrious -- she might be able to earn more money with a stay-at-home job than she can earn by having a job at a typical place of business. There are online DA meetings if she lives somewhere that doesn't have DA meetings.

DA
http://debtorsanonymous.org/

How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously
http://www.amazon.com/How-Debt-Stay-Live-Prosperously/dp/0553283960