I don’t care what ‘they’ say, this is Depressing

Lately I have been reading a lot of blog posts that start with; “I don’t usually talk politics but…” and then they go on some rant about the election, or the candidates or the economy.  I hate talking about things that I don’t really understand and trust me when I tell you, I REALLY don’t understand our financial system, but lately it has become just too big of an issue to ignore.  So, I don’t usually talk economics but…. regardless of the number of people who get on Fox News and tell me we are not in a depression, the following five things lead me to believe that we are pretty close.

1) Last night while driving on I95 I got a call from one of my friends saying 10% of her company had been laid off that morning.  This came just a month after 20% of D’s firm had be laid off.  These are well educated hard working people who no longer have jobs.  That is depressing.

2) After talking to my friend and giving her the best pep talk I could muster, NPR had this story about the number of homeless children attending public schools.  According to the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, districts have reported a 10%-40% increase in homeless children over the last year.  That is depressing.

3) My father is watching CSPAN non stop.  This may not seems strange to you because you don’t know my father but trust me, he is not a money guy.  He is a retired civil servant who knows as much about his financial picture as his adviser tells him and has never been one to really follow ’the market’.  But according to my mother, he can not go to bed at night unless he spends over an hour watching CSPAN to see “just how bad it is”.  That is depressing.

4) A friend of mine who is graduating law school this spring can not find a job…anywhere.  This is not a woman who is a middle of the road type of student.  She graduated college with a 4.0 (I know) and received an academic scholarship to attend law school.  She is on all the special mute courts and does all the things that are supposed to make her an attractive candidate.  When I told this story to another friend of ours, also an attorney, her response was “Sara, the economy is really bad”.  Good people can’t find work.  That is depressing.

5) Time Keown (a sportswriter from ESPN) recently posted this article about the ’upside’ of the failing economy and how it will bring to light the real cost for new stadiums etc.  So, the upside of the financial market reeling before our very eyes is that it makes us more aware of corporate greed and the high price tax payer’s ultimately pay?   That is depressing.

Someone, anyone….tell me I am wrong.  Give me some sort of evidence that it is not as bad as it seems. This one time, I don’t want to be right. *

* or- tell me I am right, I like to be right too.