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The space between a comfortable life, a nice home and a good job and living out of a campground is closer than most people could imagine. Lose a job, fall suddenly ill or end a marriage, and quickly the bills and mortgage payments start piling up high enough to bury an entire family."You get to a point where it's: Do you pay your house payment and not have lights and water and everyone sit with no clean clothes and dirty dishes and everything? Or do you keep the lights and water on and forgo the house payment for the time being?" Renault said. "And that's the way it went, until pretty much we wound up having to leave our home."
Things like this aren't supposed to happen to people like the Renaults, who work hard, go to church, take care of one another and look after their neighbors.
Renault was making a good living as an assistant project manager for Goodall Homes, which was building a pair of subdivisions in Lebanon. He and his wife, Tammy, and the boys — who range in age from teenagers to a 2-year-old — lived in a three-bedroom, 1,800-square-foot home in a subdivision he helped to build.
Then the construction boom went bust. The company laid him off. He started his own small business, Renault Construction, specializing in home renovations, home construction and deck building. But the market was glutted with other builders trying to do the same thing.
"It really hurts, but I know I'm not the only person out there that's going through this," he said.
That's why planning and saving when times are good is important. Many people who had decent incomes did nothing but go into debt and spend their money in an unwise fashion. Now hard times are upon them and they have no backup plan.
This is America, the wealthiest and self-proclaimed "greatest nation on earth".
What's your point? America provides people with the tools and freedom to succeed, and part of that freedom is the freedom to fail. If you don't save and plan for your own financial future, and you get caught flatfooted as these people in the article appear to have been, then that's not my fault or the government's fault or the system's fault. That's the person's fault who failed to plan.
BTW....with your sarcastic anti-American tone you appear to be saying the US isn't the greatest nation on earth. If so, then what is? If the US is so terrible, then maybe these millions of people who come here year after year, many illegally, could just divert to this better place that you know about. Please share.
That's why planning and saving when times are good is important. Many people who had decent incomes did nothing but go into debt and spend their money in an unwise fashion. Now hard times are upon them and they have no backup plan.
Could you tell me what the people in the article did wrong???
What's your point? America provides people with the tools and freedom to succeed, and part of that freedom is the freedom to fail. If you don't save and plan for your own financial future, and you get caught flatfooted as these people in the article appear to have been, then that's not my fault or the government's fault, or the system's fault. That's the person's fault who failed to plan.
BTW....with your sarcastic anti-American tone you appear to be saying the US isn't the greatest nation on earth. If so, then what is? If the US is so terrible, then maybe these millions of people who come here year after year, many illegally, could just divert to this better place that you know about. Please share.
I agree with you. The greatest nation on earth where everyone, I mean everyone is given the chance to become successful at something and many chose to be totally useless and poor.
Most of the people who are in trouble today are the same people who OVERSPENT their budgets ( Get the idea, we are doing that now under Obama!) and have went bankrupt or are homeless.
This is the land of opportunity and if you live in a tent then it is your fault.
Far too many jobs out there even at min. wage to live in a tent.
People choose to be poor instead of finding something they can do to help themselves.
If a 21 year old I know can make 500.00 per week every week making corn hole boards for people then why are people living in tents? Give me a break, the people need to get off their butts and do something.
Things are going to get worse in America, why? Because Obama had failed to help to guide those same people the right direction to get out of the hole they are in. Remember he promised to help those people and so far he has made them even worse off then they were.
Anyone who is anti American can leave, most of us will pay your one way ticket outta here. We have enough to deal with this lousy President and congress to have to deal with people who hate America.
What's your point? America provides people with the tools and freedom to succeed, and part of that freedom is the freedom to fail. If you don't save and plan for your own financial future, and you get caught flatfooted as these people in the article appear to have been, then that's not my fault or the government's fault or the system's fault. That's the person's fault who failed to plan.
BTW....with your sarcastic anti-American tone you appear to be saying the US isn't the greatest nation on earth. If so, then what is? If the US is so terrible, then maybe these millions of people who come here year after year, many illegally, could just divert to this better place that you know about. Please share.
America is the greatest. We're number one in many categories.
Making $6 per hour is better than $2 per day.
I'm on your side. These people lose their jobs and homes, so what!
This is America, the wealthiest and self-proclaimed "greatest nation on earth".
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Yeah...unless you ask us to help out other Americans who are less fortunate. The OP is right on...a family member recently had a quadruple bypass surgery. She's worked as a nurse for almost 40 years, her husband (a vet who flew jets in Viet Nam) held down two jobs for at least 20 of the almost 40 years, and this is going to make a major dent in their lives, even though they had obviously worked hard, paid extra for good insurance, and had (they thought) plenty of money saved. The surgery was $250,000. It doesn't take much to change your life forever.
The idea that we're seeing "tent cities" again is infuriating; those CEOs who ruined businesses yet left with hefty retirements and "golden parachutes" should be found and left with one home, 2 cars and a million bucks...and be grateful that they aren't in prison or living in a "Bush Burb," and have the rest be confiscated to help the economy. It isn't like they earned the money.
Well, if they have $3K they can buy a house here in MI (Ecorse). I know a cashier/college student who did just that as an investment. She plans to rent it out. Houses that were going for half a million five years ago can be snached up for $140K (W. Bloomfield).
It's different this time folks. It's not like any previous recession we've lived through.
Today you have both bankers and carpenters both lining up for that Wallymart cashier job.
In the past, companies did fire folks but they didn't offshore the work. The company cut back, cut the dividend, reduced production for a while. These layed off workers did side jobs and freelance work in more affluent neighborhoods (where the bankers lived) while they waited it out.
I had an uncle that did that.
This time though, companies are not slashing dividends, not to a great extent that I see and the jobs that can be offshored are. Other companies are just going bankrupt.
Big names are gone folks in all areas of the economy. This is affecting jobs in all industries.
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