The Age of Anxiety

[sirpurpleduck]

A little unscientific survey, who's feeling the economic downturn and how? (This is for you lurkers too)

Here, Jobs seem secure but I have 5 days unpaid furlough before July. My neighbor got laid off from his 100k job with 3 hours notice. And everyone has a slightly worried look about them. How about you?

Comments

[auroraselene]

I'm feeling it, but I don't know how much is economic downturn and how much is just the time of year. Historically for me, January is slow and February is the slowest month of the year for me. Business picks up in March and goes fairly steady until school is out. Then I run slow all summer until right before school starts up again, and I stay busy through Christmas

[sirpurpleduck]

Waco is so strange too, your so reliant on Baylor and higher ed is so weird in bad times.

Both hand firmly in the air.

[must_obey_me]

Pretty much had a meltdown since the first of the year. My job is supposed to be secure but I don't get paid squat and my stock back up is down significantly. I am refinancing my house for a full 1.25% less hoping that will help me keep it for the next ten years. And I am hoping to find a better paying job this year.

Brown bagging and shopping only when necessary.

Re: Both hand firmly in the air.

[sirpurpleduck]

We are trying to refinance for a percentage point less just to improve our overall outlook, but the loans that we are seeing aren't that great, so we aren't sure if we'll do it.

[socmomx3]

we are living that. They have laid off people twice from the hubby's company since december, now the company is at the bare minimum. But at the moment he is still employed but that could change on feb 18th. They are waiting on one project and it resolves around Federal Voting machines so who know.

[sirpurpleduck]

This is scary, Jim has always been about as employable as they come and seems to move pretty effortlessly from one thing to the next, if he's feeling threatened things really aren't good.

[socmomx3]

I know and Francheca hubby is in the same boat, he works for microsoft. It is crazy, it seems everyone i have talked to lately is affected.

[kalidascopeeyes]

My husband works in R&D for the Navy. Last week they had to stop working on the project and sit on their hands because they ran out of budget.

Everyone I know who works in IT with less than five years tenure has been canned. And this is an IT town, nearly everyone has been out of work at some point in the last few months. One of my sons in Autistic and I care for him in the home. I'm terrified of trying to find some to look after him and his little sister while I work.

[sirpurpleduck]

This is actually symptomatic of what really disturbs me, it seems like its really everybody who are facing these crises, not just manufacturing or government or whatever.

[brigid23]

Umm, actually looking pretty good here. I just got my mutual fund notice for the year and lost about 40%, but that's the only real hit and, for once, I'm glad that we don't have much invested.

We, too, are looking at refinancing the house at a lower rate. Mostly to cover the (hopefully temporary) pay cut I'm taking at the new job. Ironically, my job gets better as the economy gets worse. People who might otherwise have worked through whatever medical issues they had are now out of work and figure it can't hurt to apply for disability.

However, the future is looking a little scary. Mark depends on construction for his work. So far, Texas has avoided the worst of the construction hits, but it's bound to hit here eventually.