Is the recession making you depressed? Cranky?

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by aggieAXO

I am very depressed about the economy. We are starting to feel it here in Austin. It sucks when I have to euthanize an animal that is treatable due to finances (this is not new but lately it has been much worse). I have paid for some of the treatments myself and saved a couple of animals but I can't keep doing this. Sometimes I send the animal home with minimal treatment but I am always thinking about how that pet is doing and wondering-are they suffering?? We had 2 full grown cats dumped at our south location, they were so frightened and cold (a tech took them in thank goodness). More and more people have to give up their pets, the shelters are full. People get mad at me when I can't take payments even though I explian to them I do not own the clinic, I have no control over pricing. I had one lady say to me: "well I guess only rich people can have animals" in a vey nasty voice. It makes me hate my job and is very stressful.
All I can say is try and plan for the worse and hope for the best.
ok I am going to jump off a cliff J/K (maybe)

Do y'all do the CareCredit thing? We recently got one of our cats a P.U. (for non-vet-folk, it's basically taking your anatomically male cat and buying him a $2,000 vagina so he [now it, I guess] can pass bladder stones). The surgery wasn't that expensive, but we had a few post-op complications which resulted in about 2-3 weeks of hospitalization.

There's a 10% financing fee and it's zero % for 1 year (which we'll easily pay off). It's a decent deal though, I guess.

[SWTXBelle]

It's time to get more heartworm medication for my dog. I can't afford it, but I can't afford to NOT get it and have him get sick. I need my doggie more than ever now! ARRRGGGHHH. And it is a weekly debate at the grocery store - get the cheap yucky food for him, and save a few dollars, or bite the bullet, get the good stuff, and try to keep him healthy. So far, I get the good stuff. (Not the old at the vet good stuff, but the grocery store good stuff.) I never thought I would be in this situation . . .sigh.

[Benzgirl]

Am I depressed? No
Am I bummed out? Yup.

Due to the economy, my employer cut a total of 700 jobs this year and I am a victim of their quest to become profitable. Things that I never thought twice about buying and not even considered because the severance pay/package isn't that great and it will run out in mid February. My focus is on paying my mortgage, lease and utilities.

Others are taking it much worse than I. I'm keeping a positive attitude that I will have a job before February (ok, it doesn't hurt that I have a 2nd interview with a nearby company lined up for Tuesday), and I'm also not sitting in the house worrying about it. My focus is finding a job in a recession-proof industry.

My gym membership is paid through summer, so I am getting "my money's worth" right now. Christmas will be thin, but everyone understands including my nieces.

Our region is awaiting news on the auto industry, as well. Ford is the largest employer in my town and GM is the largest in my parent's city. That doesn't even count the number of ancillary businesses dependent upon the Big 3.

The UAW will hate me, but I think it's time for concessions. When sitting in my outplacement class last week, our coach, who is a labor-relations expert, outlined UAW wages plus benefits: it costs the companies over $70 per hour, per employee.

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

The UAW will hate me, but I think it's time for concessions. When sitting in my outplacement class last week, our coach, who is a labor-relations expert, outlined UAW wages plus benefits: it costs the companies over $70 per hour, per employee.

I agree that the UAW needs to make some concessions. I was floored when he said that they would not cut pay until the next contract. However, the $70/hr is misleading. That is taking all benefit/pension/payroll costs and dividing by the current number of workers. Older employees make $20-24/hr straight time. New employees make $14.98/hr. The older employees actual cost with benefits is about $43/hr. Few people actually know how much their employers are spending on their total package. Mine sends out a letter each year with the actual cost of our total benefits and pay. It's shocking how much the bennies cost. The $70/hr is inflated because of retiree pension and benefits. With fewer workers, that number goes up and up.

On the good news front, my next door neighbor who is losing her house because of her husband's death and her loss of seniority and full time status due to an extended medical leave (breast cancer) has found a house that she can afford to buy and is buying on land contract. I'm very sad that they will be moving because they are the best neighbors in the world, but I'm so relieved that she found a good place to live. Her laid off son (mechanical engineer) has found a job in Pittsburgh and her laid off daughter (single mom of two kids) started a job two weeks ago and found a condo to rent that she can afford. Her youngest son is graduating from college this month with a degree in advertising. He may not find a job in his major but he is currently working two other jobs (music store, teaching percussion and working with the school marching band teaching percussion) so he can cover his expenses for a while. Things seem to be falling in place for them. They are like my second family so it's a relief to me too.

[aggieAXO]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

It's time to get more heartworm medication for my dog. I can't afford it, but I can't afford to NOT get it and have him get sick. I need my doggie more than ever now! ARRRGGGHHH. And it is a weekly debate at the grocery store - get the cheap yucky food for him, and save a few dollars, or bite the bullet, get the good stuff, and try to keep him healthy. So far, I get the good stuff. (Not the old at the vet good stuff, but the grocery store good stuff.) I never thought I would be in this situation . . .sigh.

there is nothing wrong with grocery store food. Purina makes a good product. My cats love fancy feast and we feed that all the time to the patients at the clinic(it is sometimes the only food patients are willing to eat).
Yes- don't skimp on the HWPrevention. Heartworm treatment will easily run you 400-600$ if not more plus the risk of death.

[KSUViolet06]

It's sad that some people cannot afford to keep their animals right now. Thankfully, my cat is in pretty good health right now and doesn't really cost me alot of extra (besides food, litter, and other essentials).

As far as me personally, I wouldn't say that I'm depressed or cranky because of the economy. I just live the best way I can. There's no use in getting upset over it.

[AGDee]

60 Minutes totally depressed me tonight. They were talking about two new types of mortgages that were given out a lot that are just now starting to skyrocket with their interest rates. The expert said he didn't see an end to this any time soon.

[AGDee]

The Detroit Media Partnership (a joint operating agreement between The Detroit News, an afternoon paper and The Detroit Free Press, a morning paper) announced significant changes today... another sign of the times: http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...ETRO/812160419

...home delivery of The News and Free Press will end Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Delivery will continue on Thursdays and Fridays at both papers and Sundays at the Free Press. Both will still be available at the regular price at 20,000 stores and boxes throughout Michigan and through an electronic "e-edition" that allows readers to view replicas of the printed papers online.

[AGDee]

So we got a memo near the end of the work day yesterday outlining what my health system is doing to keep their heads above water in these "challenging economic times". I'm not happy, not happy at all. Here's the plan:
1) no raises this year (I was expecting this, not surprised, no big deal, can live without a raise)
2) Selective layoffs (probably not too many, probably an excuse to get rid of some people who are slackers anyway but tough to fire, I'm not worried about my position)
3) Hiring freeze (Could very definitely affect me because my partner/co-worker in computer support is leaving in May and they may not be able to replace her which is going to double my work if that happens, but I'm not going to freak out until it's for sure, our management could possibly justify the new hire)
4) Revocation of our two "floating holidays".. two days that they gave us to make up for taking away the Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve holidays. They are days off that we can take any time during the year. Ok, take two days off, that's ok, but I used mine already this year! Since I used mine this year, they are going to take 16 hours from my Time Off bank. I accrue my time off at a rate of 9.23 hours per pay period all year round. Are they just going to reduce how much I accrue? No. They are going to take the 16 hours in a lump sum out of what is already accrued. I only have 35 hours accrued right now due to two illnesses that made me use 3 days each time in the last two months. That will leave me 19 hours in my bank and I don't know if I'll have enough for the vacations I already have planned this summer, which sucks totally. If they just had me accrue at a slower rate for the rest of the year, this impact would not be felt, really. However, doing it this way, it's going to hurt. I guess the logic is that they want to make sure they don't have to pay people for those days if they are the ones being laid off (see #2). They didn't tell us when those hours will be taken from our bank or what will happen if you don't have 16 hours in your bank right now. My manager is trying to find out.
5) The one that really ticks me off: They are reducing the matching retirement from 2 1/2% to .25%. So, if they put in $50 per pay now, they will now put in $5. The way the retirement plan was set up, we contribute 2% and they contributed 2.5%.We had to choose to opt in or opt out ON HIRE. Saturday is my 15 year anniversary with this health system. I opted in on hire, 15 years ago. I cannot opt out yet, the way the funds are going, with them only contributing .25% I will be losing money way faster than I'm putting it in and I have no way to get out of it. It seems to me that if we can't opt out, they shouldn't be able to change the terms so drastically. If they have to change the terms so drastically, then we should get a one time chance to opt out. I might as well take my money and flush it down the toilet. Nobody said, when we had to choose whether to opt in or not, that the terms could change. This just isn't sitting right with me. I understand having to cut the contribution, but give us the frickin' option to get out of the plan! On top of it all, they changed which funds are available to us back in September so we had to move all of our stuff to new funds right when things started to tank. The new funds are doing MUCH worse than the old ones. We are able to change which funds we invest in and I did move all of mine to a bond fund, which is losing money less quickly than the "retirement age" funds (like 2030 fund, if you're planning on retiring around 2030). I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to retire. I don't think social security will be around and my retirement fund is dwindling daily, although not as fast as if I'd left it in the 2030 fund! I'm feeling so screwed. I want my money back and I want to put it in an FDIC money market. <sigh> I'm not as furious about this as I was yesterday, but yesterday, before I worked out, I was ready to bite someone's head off.

Yet, everybody says "Be happy you have a job" and I am happy that I have a job. It's a decent job and my immediate management has been incredibly good to me. However, I'm mourning my summer plans and my retirement fund. I think grad school has now become a necessity rather than a choice I was trying to make. It's the only way I'm ever going to get ahead and be able to put more into retirement.

[SWTXBelle]

The newspaper for which I write stopped being able to pay me in February. I continue to write my column, because 1.) I'd just as soon have 2004 - present follow that particular line on my resume and 2.) I teach writing - I figure being a professional (albeit one who is currently not paid) writer can only help, and might help me distinguish myself as I look for a full-time teaching gig.

I'm really tired of barely scraping by - sigh.

[aggieAXO]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Do y'all do the CareCredit thing? We recently got one of our cats a P.U. (for non-vet-folk, it's basically taking your anatomically male cat and buying him a $2,000 vagina so he [now it, I guess] can pass bladder stones). The surgery wasn't that expensive, but we had a few post-op complications which resulted in about 2-3 weeks of hospitalization.

There's a 10% financing fee and it's zero % for 1 year (which we'll easily pay off). It's a decent deal though, I guess.

yes we have CC. I remember about 2 months ago on one Sunday all of my clients had to apply for CC (8 of them that day) and no one was approved!! That is when the credit market was tightened. It has been better lately. I had a client today get 4400 on CC thank goodness. Still probably about 50% get declined for CC and then what do you do??? My boss is very generous for the most part and will let us give some injections for free (we make clients sign a promise to pay but only about 1% actually end up paying). Luckily all my clients could pay today.