Speaking of letting stuff out...

[StillSearching]

We are, right now, a family at the end of its rope. We are approaching the 5-year anniversary of the beginning of a period of sporadic employment and financial decline, and things have gotten about as bad as they could. Since my wife got laid off at the end of September and I lost a contract gig a couple of weeks ago, we've been slipping deeper and deeper into a state of financial despair. The bills are piling up and we have no income. My wife has applied for unemployment compensation, but it's been almost three months and a "decision is still pending." I'm not eligible for unemployment since I left my last job voluntarily, and this latest gig was contract work. I'm doing side work as much as possible, but it pretty much puts food on the table and gas in the car. We have no health insurance, and it's only a matter of time before the bank is going to start tapping their foot. We're sinking.

My wife and I are looking ferociously for work in our respective vocations, but the employment situation is not good here in Florida. One company that I managed to get on the phone told me that it was going to take them two or three weeks to simply sort through the resumes they had received. I'm competing against candidates who are younger and cheaper. Employment has come down to a crap shoot.

The worst part is that the beginning of my employment problem is of my own making. Five years ago, I walked away from a good job that I would probably still hold, if I hadn't decided to chuck it to try to start my own business. Let's just say the timing on that was unbelievably bad and it didn't work out the way I had planned. Every day I feel the responsibility for that disastrous decision around my neck like a millstone. I had the world on a string and I cut it.

I'm not asking for your pity. In fact, I feel a bit sick even putting all this into words and posting it here. It feels like whining - ungrateful and pointless. In spite of our situation, we are still enormously blessed. We have a lot of family and friends around us and I do not fear that we will end up on the street or hungry. We have so much more than so many other people have.

I'm just incredibly sad and angry, watching all the dreams and plans we'd made, smoldering before my eyes. It's so incredibly frustrating and depressing and I needed to vent.

Any prayers, well wishes, karma, thoughts or whatever are appreciated. Thanks for reading.

[gary_s]

SS, this is what community is good at, support. You shouldn't feel the least bit bad for airing out these difficulties. Would it be too imposing to ask you what type of work you are qualified for? I'm sure relocating isn't among the activities you dream of doing each day, but it's possible that someone with your skills may be better valued and in demand in another location. This recession hasn't hit all parts of the country evenly; there are parts that have relative prosperity and maybe you aren't as far away from that prosperity as you think. I can certainly relate; I've been at the mercy of unemployment before and it absolutely sucks and I have two well qualified friends who have as well. So you are certainly not alone.

[StillSearching]

Would it be too imposing to ask you what type of work you are qualified for?

I have a BA in mass communications, 15 years of graphic design and print production experience.

I'm sure relocating isn't among the activities you dream of doing each day...

I wouldn't necessarily mind moving around Florida, though in our current situation it would be challenging. Wouldn't like to move too far away since the aforementioned family support is almost entirely in this area. It may come to that however.

Thanks for your comments.

[Rian]

I'm so sorry, SS - this stupid economy just stinks!!!!! You have my prayers for you and your family. Don't worry about sharing it - I'm glad you did, because I'm hoping that our responses will give you some comfort. I know that a lot of deep heart issues get worked on in these difficult times, but that doesn't make them stink any less. I wish that Psalm 23 said "even though we walk around the valley of the shadow of death" instead of walking through it but having had a bucketload of sorrows in the past 5 years, I know that God is deeper than any sorrow. Please keep us informed. I wish I could help, but I don't know that field at all. But at least keep us informed and let us help comfort you and support you in any way we can. You are one of my favorite people here - I think you have a lot of wisdom, and I admire you a lot. I'm sure you'll be a good leader for your family in this time. But let them help you, too.

[gary_s]

I truly wish I could say I had some personal contacts in that field, but I don't. I hope the other members here have seen your post. Perhaps there's a contact somewhere around here. Hey, are you a member on Linkedin.com? I have been a member there for some time and I've gotten numerous job inquiries, many of them quite viable and reasonable opportunities.

[Keep The Reason]

SS, I'm sorry for your troubles and you should feel no shame in sharing it-- in fact, you never know when this sort of thing might lead to work. For what it's worth, you have substantial fortitude trying to do your own business-- nothing at all to task yourself over.

It's my understanding that such graphics work is often farmed out to work-at-home people. I know some people in florida who do TV stuff and may need graphics (no idea if they do, just saying they might). if you PM me some info, I can reach out to them. But you should be able to scare up work remotely. Do you promote yourself on a website?

[StillSearching]

Got a verbal job offer today. Written, official offer to come. Yay!

Thank you all for your kind words.

[Rian]

Hooray!!!!

Thanks for the update!

[Keep The Reason]

Got a verbal job offer today. Written, official offer to come. Yay!.

W00t!

[mitchellmckain]

I'm not asking for your pity. In fact, I feel a bit sick even putting all this into words and posting it here. It feels like whining - ungrateful and pointless. In spite of our situation, we are still enormously blessed. We have a lot of family and friends around us and I do not fear that we will end up on the street or hungry. We have so much more than so many other people have.

I am also unemployed at the moment, but I have no debts, my expenses are small and I will do fine on savings for quite a while so I am hardly desperate. My wife is still working and my two older sons also have some part time employment too. With money saved up for them from both of my parents they are set fairly well for college if that is what they want to do -- certainly far better off than I was at that age. Me and my wife have no heath insurance - that has been beyond our means even when I was working - another reason why I am far from impressed by the American medical establishment.

[StillSearching]

Me and my wife have no heath insurance - that has been beyond our means even when I was working - another reason why I am far from impressed by the American medical establishment.

It's shameful that we don't have universal health care.

[Dr Mundo]

Me and my wife have no heath insurance - that has been beyond our means even when I was working - another reason why I am far from impressed by the American medical establishment.

It's shameful that we don't have universal health care.

It's not an easy fix. With the state of our political parties and overall government productivity it might be longer than we'd like it to be before these issues are addressed appropriately.

[mitchellmckain]

It's shameful that we don't have universal health care.

It's not an easy fix. With the state of our political parties and overall government productivity it might be longer than we'd like it to be before these issues are addressed appropriately.

My wife being Japanese is of course used to the free medical care in Japan and frankly I have heard no complaints from any of the other people I have known from countries with national health care. But I am not complaining really because modern medicine is just too open ended as far as what we can spend trying to keep people alive and/or comfortable. We are bankrupting ourselves because we don't accept any reasonable limits. Every single human being is going to die sooner or later and it seems utterly ridiculous to me that we would spend more money than a person has made in their whole life just to keep them alive for a few months longer. Thus I don't see much validity in the argument that people have a right to health care. I am perfectly satisfied to wait for the American people to decide what they want to do about this mess and how much they are willing to spend public money for it.

I guess I would support some sort of minimal national health care. But I can also see the advantages of allowing some operation of the free market in medicine also, and so perhaps some combination of both would be best. We may not figure this out for a while to come yet.

[StillSearching]

Every single human being is going to die sooner or later and it seems utterly ridiculous to me that we would spend more money than a person has made in their whole life just to keep them alive for a few months longer.

Totally agree with this. We have to accept some limits. We're not going to be able to keep everyone alive and healthy. Nonetheless, I don't see how this precludes us from providing basic health care to everyone.

I am perfectly satisfied to wait for the American people to decide what they want to do about this mess and how much they are willing to spend public money for it.

Much of what we spend on health care in this country is due to the bureaucratic and profit-driven private health care industry. My view on it is this: Health care is going to cost me money, either through premiums, copays and deductibles in a private system, or through taxes in a public one. I'd rather my money go into a public pool that allows for some sort of accountability over how it is spent. Also, we can achieve a greater return on our investment by centralizing the administrative work and pooling the risk to include both healthy young people and sick old people and everyone in between.

I guess I would support some sort of minimal national health care. But I can also see the advantages of allowing some operation of the free market in medicine also, and so perhaps some combination of both would be best.

This is what Canada has, I believe. Private health care providers, public health care insurance. I have no problem with that.

[gary_s]

I'll put my two pennies in on this topic. I agree that we (collectively) can't afford a never ending spiral of extending life for a short time with little real quality, and this is now what is eating our lunch. More people are living longer and dementia is beginning to consume the lion share of Medicare dollars. This will only get worse in the future and we are woefully prepared for it with no solution in site. I think it's a shame that people of low income are denied quality care of completely curable or treatable conditions, and this includes everyone here, regardless of national origin. The way Republicans view the health of the poor is despicable to me.