Posts tagged as:

economy

Because michigansucks.com Was Already Taken

June 10, 2009 · 12 comments

I actually wrote this post on Saturday when I was a little cranky. I was also kind of  angry. I didn’t hit the publish button right away.

Here’s some bloggy advice. If you write a post when you’re mad, refrigerate it over night before dishing it up. You might find once you’re chilled, that you really didn’t want to put that out there on the Word Wide Web forever.

I almost didn’t publish this at all. But while I’d like to hide behind my computer and pretend that I am always happy and at peace regardless of what life doles out, that wouldn’t be honest. I know we’re not the only ones this happened to this year. Maybe it will make somebody else feel better to know she’s not the only one who flipped out.

So here’s the edited, slightly less bitter version of my original post. But I had to keep the title, because, well, it’s just funny.

Warning: This post contains anger, sarcasm and even some political commentary you may not agree with.

Dave got laid off from his job at a Michigan auto parts supplier Friday. Surprised? No. It’s been touch and go for a while. GM filing for bankruptcy was the proverbial last nail in the coffin.

A big thank you goes out to the US Government, Financial Institutions, US Auto Makers and all the other morons who messed up our economy, and brought us to this point. And you know what? Republicans, Democrats — you’re all pretty much at fault.

This fiasco crosses party lines.

It wasn’t enough to make a disaster of the banking industry? You had to take an already messed up auto industry and screw it up even more?!

In Michigan we’re suffering the brunt of this. You can’t imagine the number of foreclosed homes and empty businesses. They say our unemployment rate will hit 20 percent before it’s all said and done. The population is shrinking because people are fleeing this black hole. We’ll be right behind them if any of the out-of-state job leads Dave has pan out.

To add insult to injury Michigan’s gas prices are the highest in the country right now.

I seriously looked to see if michigansucks.com was available, but someone else snapped it up already. And .net, and .org. Even michigansucks.wordpress.com is taken.

I guess I’m not the only one feeling that sentiment.

I listened to the press conference where the GM bigwigs tried to make it sound like everything was going to be fine. I got that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. The kind where you know things have irreparably changed for forever.

We’ve come to a crossroads in this country, and I’m really not sure we’ll ever be the same.

My generation will be the first to not do better than our parents. Even the depression era generation managed to pull it out in the end.

I also listened to Obama talk about how we all had to sacrifice. With what? Our jobs and financial well-being? So that the government can carry out it’s plan to fix the economy?

Government is not the answer. Letting them control every aspect of our economy, and relying on them to provide for us will not fix things. Only hardworking, individual Americans and good old-fashioned ingenuity will get us there. So how about the government stops tying the hands of business owners with ridiculous taxes and regulations?

Instead of “Take this job and shove it,” I say, “Take this government and shove it!” (O.K. I almost deleted that too, but again, just too funny.)

You want to talk about sacrifice? The owner of the company my husband worked for has done all he could for months to keep the doors open, and people working. I don’t know if you could find a better person to work for.

Which just makes this all the more sad.

We’re better off than a lot of people. We have a safety net to fall back on. Dave is back working full time for the family business. As long as it can survive in this lousy economy. Our biggest loss in all of this is our health insurance. Dave is self-employed again, and we can’t afford the hundreds of dollars a month private health insurance costs.

But that still doesn’t make me a proponent of nationalized health care.

Oh, Lord, please don’t let the government wreck that industry too!

Speaking of the Lord, I know he’ll take care of us and provide.

I’m just mad right now, and sometimes you just need to be mad for a while.

I’m pretty O.K. today.

But I still think Michigan sucks.

Just a little.

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Future Hope

February 23, 2009 · 5 comments

I can hardly stand to watch the news anymore.

Every time I turn it on all I hear is…

The economy is tanking, and everyone is loosing their job, and everyone is loosing their house, and  no one has health insurance, and this company and that is closing it’s doors, and my generation will be the first to do worse than our parents, and will the war ever be over, and there are bad people who don’t like us and want to hurt us, and climate change is going to kill us all, and the world is coming to an end and the sky is falling, and, AND, AND!!!

After 10 minutes of news I can feel the fear and panic and doubt rising inside of me. I just want to crawl into bed, pull the covers over my head and wait for the inevitable end to come.

It is bad.

Especially if your are one of those people who lost their job or their home.

But all this 24/7 pessimism being spewed across the spectrum of  news casts makes it even worse. According the pundits, the rest of us who still have jobs and homes are just barely hanging on to the edge of the cliff .

Who will fall next?

You?

Me?

It’s just a matter of time they say.

But what about hope?

It can get better.

It will get better.

It has to get better.

When the anxiety starts to set in, I remind myself that in the midst of all the wreckage from the walls that seem to be crumbling around me there is hope.

My God is bigger than our government, he is bigger than our economy, he is bigger than any problem I could ever have.

He is bigger than all of this.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Oh, how I cling to that promise these days!

I trust the Lord to care for my family. He will not leave us alone to cower in the dark under the covers. He will provide and keep us from harm.

And I know no matter how bleak it may seem down here, my eternal hope and future is secure with him.

When the bad news is starts gettting to me I stop looking at the television, and start looking up.

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This Economic Downturn is Really Starting to Affect Me

December 15, 2008 · 2 comments

In the last six months the Starbucks, Krispie Cream and Cinnabon closest to me all closed.

I used to drive out of my way to the farther Walmart just so I could go to Starbucks afterward. I needed that Mocha after and hour of grocery shopping with a whinny three year old.

And Cinnabon… Oh those ridiculously huge, sticky, warm cinnamon rolls. I could always count on Cinnabon to pack back on the calories I burned after a long day of walking around the mall.

But I’m especially sad about Krispie Cream. See, the Krispie Cream once saved our lives.

Seriously.

I’m physically unable to drive past a Krispie Cream without stopping. So on a hot August evening after shopping, my family and I were headed home when I spotted KC. I talked Dave in going through the drive through. I think we were the only people there, but they were really slow that night. We must had been stuck there for 15 minutes.

As we sat waiting, we noticed the skies to the west getting dark. We finally got our delicious, glazed, cream-filled goodness and pulled away as it started to pour buckets of rain. Sitting at the stoplight waiting to turn toward home, the wind piked up and started to blow the lights around so violently I thought they were going to fall off and land on our windshield. Lightening flashed and thunder cracked all around.

We made it to the freeway, and by the time we got to our exit the storm let up. But as we drove down the back roads that lead to our house, we came across downed power lines and trees everywhere in the road. At one point we had to stop while the fire department cleared a tree from the road so we could get through.

Were it not for those 15 minutes waiting for doughnuts at KC, were would have been driving on those roads while all that debris was falling down.

So you can understand why I’m kinda sentimental about that one.

Who says pastries aren’t good for your health?

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