I will start a company that will allow me to plug "China" into my GPS. I will sell the 2008 Impala and take the bus. I will move to a trailer or even share a house with another family (that is on a bus route). I will start a co-op where my wife will watch other kids while other mothers watch my kids when my wife does take a job as a temp (where she might become permanent and get benefits). I will work part time delivering pizzas to support my family. I will ignore the 4 inch thick pile of applications because I am the most reliable and safe pizza delivery guy in town. I will eat filet mignon once a week to remind me of what good food tastes like. I will eat beans and rice the rest of the time to keep me hungry.

Once I regain my financial footing, I will buy back my house, get a new Impala , open a pizza franchise and eat filet mignon whenever I want.

Anyone can do this. This is not impossible.

Totally agree.

I'm not building excuses for people not dealing with their situations. The simple fact is there are lots of situations and none are alike.
FRIEND #1 - is over $250Gs upside down on their mortgage. Bank will not consider a short sale and is dragging ass on refinancing the loan at a locked-in rate to keep them in their home and paying an affordable amount. They seem to want to foreclose.
FRIEND #2 - Idiot is about to be 3 months in arrears on his mortgage but just signed a lease on a new H3. He deserves what ever happens..
FRIEND #3 - Credit rating took a hit trying to get out from under. So far, two potential employers have rescinded their job offers after a credit check...

People are getting hit by all sorts of different circumstances. For some of them, it's not as easy as just walking away..

We, fortunately are in none of those situations. Sure I've been unemployed for 16 months but I'm not sitting on my ass in the meantime. Resumes fly out every week, applications to Wal-Mart, Target,etc I can recite verbatim and I'm going to school - at MY expense (student loans of course). We're moving into a cheaper, yet nicer & larger apartment once the lease is up here, switched car insurance companies, utility providers and cut the cable/phone/internet bill down. The new place will reduce my commute from 20 to 15 miles and my significant others from 25+ to 4.5 - reducing fuel & toll expenses by roughly $150 per month. So far, we've reduced out expenses by $3000 annually. Once we move, that will be another $3Gs between cheaper rent, less utility usage since the new place has newer appliances and commuting costs. We're doing our part.. :D

I understand, I just feel that everyone has to do the best that can with what they have. The lesson for the rest of us is to avoid putting ourselves in a situation where we are trapped by our "stuff." Having very little debt and some savings is a good start.

I heard a statistic on the radio news a few weeks ago that they are 5 to 7 workers for every one job opening. I can believe this.

In my industry the competition for new lines to represent is fierce. I lost out in March of this year repping an existing line of products that came with a small base of producing clients in part of the territory I travel. The manufacturer's expectation of sales growth in the territory I felt would not attain the commissions necessary to sustain their time and travel demands.

After some reflection and analysis for a couple weeks, I realized that the new line of products had an estimable commision cash flow - that would barely exceed the costs involved in repping the line. Once I back-constructed what the line would throw-off in annual sales commissions, I realized it was a blessing to not be representing them in this business climate at this time.

When you, (generically speaking) back engineer financial screw-ups people made & and may make again - it's easy to see how what happened to them did happen, and why they're in a ditch looking up, wondering; "how'd that happen to me?"

You are correct, there's some bitter people out there - however in my professional working career of 37 years - there have always been bitter people out there. Some will always blame their financial troubles on someone or something other than themselves. -Nothing new about that.

The best way to avoid being in that ditch, is to ensure by better choices and decisions - not to let yourself ever get in a position to be in that ditch.

Once someone realizes they had a lot to do with getting in that ditch, - the good news is that they may not make those sets of mistakes/choices again.

How does unemployment insurance work? I haven't been on it since about 1973 so I'm completely out of touch. I ask because an unemployed environmental engineer I know told me how much he was bringing home in unemployment insurance and my jaw dropped. He was getting more than I bring home in salary.
Is it a percentage of employed income? Is it a percentage of average pay for the profession? Is there an upper limit? Is there a minimum? I assume it is determined state by state.

My wife collected unemployment insurance in CO a few years ago. I believe it is based on your income with a fairly low cap.

Edit: Here's a link, it looks like the cap is less than $500/week:

http://www.coworkforce.com/uibestimator/

I thought the guy said $2500 every two weeks. Does that seem correct?

Yeah I call Bolshevism on this guy. According to this site the max amount he could get from Colorado was $487 or $483 depending on the formula the state would use for him.

http://www.coworkforce.com/uibEstimator/


Maybe his wife was also unemployed?

:( Ben, your suggestions and ideas are admirable but do you think your family would support all of your decisions like that? Unless my family was in dire straights I can't imagine any woman who would willfully go along with me on my decision to dump our house and move into a trailer.

Granted there is nothing wrong with living in a good double wide, but systematically down grading everything like that would

One of the many reasons why I refuse to consider marriage is this. I want to have the ability to up and go where ever and when ever I like without feeling stuck down to a particular place (kids, home, etc).

It's easier said than done. However you are right, there are many ways to get back on ones feet financially hence why I tend to ignore the various reports of "cutting back" unless that cutting back is the difference between water, basic food, and medicine.

One of the absolute largest issues in this country is people wanting to live beyond their means (and those who actively DO). If you save a fair percentage of your income and live cheaply...you can pretty easily make it through down times when you might be out of a job. People living paycheck to paycheck have no excuse unless they are at minimum wage or poverty. Even at 18k a year it is possible to save $$. People just expect too much and spend too much. And most will never learn. Those who are smart enough to not follow this trend are the ones who live, work, and retire happily.

I realized that while the guy resides in CO, the company he worked for was in DC. So it's possible that his unemployment benefits are coming from DC and not CO. Don't know how that works

I don't know either.

I think it is really easy to sit back, having a good job and criticize those who do not.

Sorry but I call "Bad form"!

I assume most of us have been unemployed at some point. Personally, I'm self-employed so I usually don't know where my next paycheck is coming from.

In the 30 years that I've been working I was unemployed for one day. I decided to not let anyone have the power to dictate whether I had a job or not. I've NEVER drawn one cent of unemployment. I started my own business at the age of 26. If you can work with your hands or your mind, there will always be a job for you. Way before the economic downfall I was preaching that all of the "Middle Man" jobs would disappear. Learn a Trade or get on Welfare, it's your choice. :rolleyes::eek: