I was unemployed for 27 months and between all the job seminars, job fairs, "networking," attending vocational school with numerous other unemployed or underemployed people, I got a fairly good idea of what was happening in other people's lives. The stories, the difficulties, the situations. I've done quite a bit of observing and thinking about it.
One theme to many people's lives is that they seem to be "stuck." Stuck in the position they're in. Stuck in the house they're in, stuck in the lease they're in. Just plain stuck. One example is of a man I know who had a great family and a great career making great money. Now he's lost a lot of those things, but he's still paying the rent he paid when he could afford it. Well, why not move into a less expensive apartment? Because he can't qualify. You see, his life doesn't match the status quo for moving into another place, regardless of how cheap it is. But because he can make the payments in his current house - just barely with very little left over - that's the only place he can live. In other words, entrance requirements are much more difficult than requirements to stay once you're in. He already got in and now it's the only place he can stay even though he can't really afford it.
If once you're in something bad happens, you can't get out to somewhere else. You're stuck. The status quo is forcing a lot of people to be stuck and remain stuck. What can be done for this?
I'm not trying to be discouraging when I read your post it rang a bell. I think the only hope is to not let the stuckness keep one from taking action before ending up in this condition: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/outcasts-tonight-tens-of-thousands-of-formerly-middle-class-americans-will-be-sleeping-in-their-cars-in-tent-cities-or-on-the-streets
ReplyDeleteWalk away?
ReplyDeleteTwo questions: Does he still have a great family? And, why can't he qualify for the less expensive apartment? Is his credit ruined? Oops, that's three questions.
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