Many American families running on financial fumes

[Liberal_in_LA]

Many American families running on financial fumes

Jonathan Hanson and Katina Wright are determined to give their infant daughter a bright and stable future despite the cloud of uncertainty they face after years without steady work.

Once successful real estate agents making six figures, Hanson and Wright are now living on the poverty line.

"We made some good money," Hanson said. "But with new regulations in real estate and different laws and just the amount of foreclosures on the market, it literally took our business away."

The last few years have been a downward spiral, says the Atlanta couple, who have been living off their savings. They've sold jewelry and cars, and now they're trying to sell their home to survive. Every day, they are faced with a tough decision.

"You have to pick and choose what you want to do," Hanson said. "It's either eat that day or pay a bill."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/29/us/cnnheroes-usa-poverty/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2

[villager]

1. Quite fume-y here in the Villager household, of late...

Been a tough autumn, for sure...

[Fumesucker]

2. And yet no one "gets" my screen name here on DU...

:shrug:

[progressoid]

4. ...

:thumbsup:

[reggie the dog]

3. money grows on trees people

illegal trees yes, but still, fucking grows on trees

[progressoid]

5. I could use some extra fumes right about now.

[Vincardog]

6. TQI how bad will it have to get before a Majority of American take it to the streets?

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. I was wondering what that smell was in my wallet.

[Blue Owl]

8. Kinda like this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2398131

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. Dealing with it here too

My wife and I make fairly decent salaries but it's not enough anymore. The cost of everything keeps going up, credit card companies keep upping our monthly payments, gas is still expensive, and our jobs are not giving us raises (or giving us piddly raises that don't really help much if at all). Now, instead of being able to pay all of my bills- on time like we used to be able to- we have to put things off, miss due dates. It's becoming a huge mess and we can't figure out a quick way out of it. I'm working on a novel that I hope to eventually self-publish but it's not going to happen overnight. I'd love to have some kind of political writing gig but papers seem to only want journalists. Maybe my wife and I should do what that one couple did and start doing amateur porn for $$$ (ha-ha, yeah right)?

What are we all to do? This can't go on forever (for any of us). :shrug: It absolutely kills me to hear people earning 100K (or more) complaining about making ends meet (like certain Congressmen), particularly when I'd be thrilled to be making that much. If we kept our same lifestyle and had that kind of money, we'd be sitting pretty!

[LiberalEsto]

11. Papers don't want journalists either

They want corporate PR people who write what they're told to.

I was a newspaper journalist for 25 years, a marketing writer for 7, and unemployed for the past 3 years.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

12. Which explains the sorry state of our "media" nowadays

:puke:

[redqueen]

10. "It's either eat that day or pay a bill."

Indeed.