Everybody Knows, Death Creeps In Slow Till You Feel Safe In His Arms

The economic crisis is starting to hit our everyday lives. My night job asked me to stay home because they didn't have enough work for all of their workers. I told them it was fine. Most of us who work there have two jobs.

Home mortgage rates took a major jump this week and I think people are really starting to feel the pinch. One of our credit card companies sent us a letter that said, "We're lowering your credit limit $500 and even though you're still $200 beneath the NEW limit we still consider your balance to be TOO HIGH."

I told my wife that this probably means that the credit card company probably just wants to raise our payment to increase the cash they have on-hand and reduce the amount of money they have loaned out. "They're scared," I told her.

To be honest, I've noticed that rich people tend to be the most figety, jumpy, paranoid people I have ever encountered. One time we were painting for a business and there were some expensive computer servers in the next room. We made a wall of plastic, then there was the wall with a closed door, and then we made another wall of plastic on the other side of the wall and the owner of the business was still spazzing out for fear that paint particles would still magically penetrate our three barriers. I know that there is big risk with big money, but like that t-shirt says, "If you can't run with the big dogs then stay on the porch."

A guy that I work with struggles with drug problems. It is hard to watch because his current lifestyle is hanging by a thread. He goes to Narcotics Anonymous but is always on the verge of losing his wife and family, his home, etc. He complains about money all the time. He says to me, "Why do I have so many money problems. I make twice as much money as you do!"

I try to give him good financial advice. I said, "Why don't you take a month and write down every single thing that you spend money on? Then at the end of the month you can figure out where your money is going and what can be cut out from your budget."

See how my list says things like: House payment, Car Payment, Credit cards, food... and your list just says: Heroin. This may be an opportunity to cut unnecessary things from your budget.

That guy got an idea that he could sell his house and save money by buying a pre-manufactured home. He said, "There's a Modular Home lot close by... do you want to go look at them with me during break time?"

I went with him and you should have seen how happy and hopeful and joyful he became for the next few hours. At the end of the day, his mood swung down again and he started getting upset and swearing at me. I just looked at him and said, "It looks like somebody needs another trip to the Modular Home lot."

I had a different co-worker talk to me once about the price of drugs. He said, "Gas isn't the only thing that's doubled in price... you should see how much a bag of weed has gone up in the past five years."

It's hard times for everyone. Check out this old man and his grass problems: