Wow! Anyone else listen to the Diane Rehm Show today?

[Anonymous]

I blame immigrants and socialists.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone think the economy will turn around at some point? 4 years, 6 years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I blame immigrants and socialists.

I blame the people who blame immigrants and socialists.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you should blame the current administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am completely depressed. My husband lost his job. We have looked at everything we can save money on - even down to me changing my hair style to one that doesn't need cutting as often. The only thing left to do would be sell the house, but all these cuts we've made were in the interest of being able to keep the house. Even though we bought in 2008 it has depreciated so much we can't sell it without losing lots of money, and there are now a lot of things that need fixing that we can't afford to do. And then where would we go? I'm in a job I hate and have been living for the day when I can leave, but I don't think that's going to happen now. I'm making decent money for someone in my field at my job level, so I need to stay here. In a few more months our savings will run out. All we talk about now is what else can we cut (there's nothing left at this point) and what can we sell? When this first happened I was really positive, we can get through this, we'll do what we have to do. But now I feel like crying constantly. Everything sucks. I can't talk to my husband about how I feel because that would just make him feel even worse than he already does.

Can you rent your house to cover the mortgage plus $200 and downsize into a rental and survive on one income? Does your husband have a graduate degree or professional degree, if not, can he go back to school? That is what our neighbors did.

[Anonymous]

Seriously? Immigrants?

PP -- did your husband lose a job picking fruit or cleaning hotel rooms or doing unskilled construction work? If so, then YES! Blame the immigrants!

As for the socialists, if we had more of them we'd all have health insurance and a retirement plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? Immigrants?

PP -- did your husband lose a job picking fruit or cleaning hotel rooms or doing unskilled construction work? If so, then YES! Blame the immigrants!

As for the socialists, if we had more of them we'd all have health insurance and a retirement plan.

You just wait until illegals get their education and start taking your jobs/children's jobs. Then you'll be pissed. For now, it doesn't affect you so you don't care. FYI, immigrants/illegals are everywhere doing all sorts of work, not just picking fruit.

[Anonymous]

OP here again! Ignoring the side comment on immigrants and socialists of course!

Thank you for sharing PPs. We too are perplexed and saddened at the fact that we truly will not be able to give our kids the life each of us had (one of us private school, both of us had college paid for fully by parents, lots of international travel when we were young).

We are stressed too. We don't have student loan debt, but that's because neither of us pursued advanced degrees. We also have a lot of medical expenses due to a child with chronic medical issues. And that child's necessary medicine just went up so much monthly we were both in shock.

I am amazed at how it seems things changed so suddenly -- everything I envisioned for the future seems now like a big joke. I have been suffering with such anxiety in the past three months, unlike anything I've felt before.

Good luck to everyone. The stories on Diane Rehm were heartbreaking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you should blame the current administration.

How about the administration that got us into this mess?

[Anonymous]

So what really lead us into this mess?

[Anonymous]

A panelist pointed out (and the other man agreed) that the U.S. is a completely different economy now. Post WWII the
U.S. was *the* industrial engine for the world. Today, we compete with Europe, Asia, and others. The West is also facing a demographic crisis. We just don't have enough workers paying into the system to support the large number of retirees. The math doesn't add up. That said, I'm not trying to minimize our financial hardships. I think today's show is the beginning of a national coming-to-terms with our
Inevitable lower standard of living across all socio-economic strata.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I blame immigrants and socialists.

you're a moron and a fucking simpleton.

[Anonymous]

I didn't hear this, but I'll have to take a listen. Thanks for posting OP. On the same topic, did anyone see this column in the NY Times Magazine this Sunday:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/changing-rules-for-success.html?ref=magazine

[Anonymous]

Thanks PP for this link! I had missed this article!

There was also a great story on CNN (Fareed Zakaria GPS) about a month ago called "Fixing Education" or something like that. A VERY sobering reflection on the state of American education and where we stand internationally.

A true wake up call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks PP for this link! I had missed this article!

There was also a great story on CNN (Fareed Zakaria GPS) about a month ago called "Fixing Education" or something like that. A VERY sobering reflection on the state of American education and where we stand internationally.

A true wake up call.

Can you give a quick synopsis?