The Economy

*After writing and reading this post, I debated on hitting the publish button. It's not a happy post, and I'm sorry if I come across as woe is me. That wasn't really my intention. But it's how I'm feeling at the moment, so I decided to publish anyway. Hopefully I'm not the only one feeling this way and some of you will realize that there are still others out there struggling too.*

They (whoever they are) say the economy is getting better. I'd really like to know what world they're living in. Because in my neck of the woods things are as bad as ever. The story on the front page of our local paper was about a local drug manufacturer cutting 80 jobs in the coming weeks. (Of course, just before Christmas) And in the classifieds, there were a whooping 8 job listings, 2 of which I'm pretty sure were scams (one for 'movie extras' - there are no movies being made in my tiny town, the other promising $200 per job for a work-at-home book keeper - if that's legit, sign me up!)

My community relies heavily on manufacturing jobs and they've been shutting down left and right. The few plants that are still open are working on cut-back staff and laying off the entire facility for weeks at a time. My brother-in-law currently works 2 days a week (and had to take a pay cut), my step-dad has been laid off 3 times this year for month long stretches. Not to mention that both my mom and my father-in-law have been without a job for almost a year now.

A lot of people think that because N owns his own business we're immune to the economy crunch. Nothing could be further from the truth. N installs flooring. People that don't have jobs aren't going to be replacing floors, new construction is at a near stand still and there are so many flooring companies out there without work at the moment that they're all trying to undercut each other just to get a job. And unlike those that are employed with a company, if N doesn't work, there's no option of drawing unemployment.

The stress of N not having work, our bills falling behind, and Christmas looming in the near (VERY near) future has become almost more than I can bear. The stress is taking it's toll on my body, and my frame of mind. I'm trying to look on the bright side and look for the light at the end of the tunnel, but it's becoming unbearable.

Obviously those that say the economy is rebounding are the ones that are looking in the classifieds for jobs, struggling to pay their bills and wondering how they're going to "pay Santa" this year.