In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.

well, I guess times aren't THAT tough

mlincolnmlincoln Member Posts: 5,039 ✭✭✭
edited November 2008 in General Discussion
Today's paper has an article about how the recession has hit middle class folks. As always, there's a human interest angle, and the fellow profiled is an IT guy who was raking the bucks in from Disney, but is now on hard times. The paragraph below, though, reminds us that hard times is a relative thing.

Although his wife has a good job an executive assistant, it comes nowhere near paying their $8,500 monthly expenses and the debt they have racked up. He had to put $10,000 of his daughter's college tuition on a credit card after he lost his job, followed by almost $5,000 to pay for lung cancer treatment for their dog.

Comments

  • quickmajikquickmajik Member Posts: 15,576 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    -$5,000 to pay for lung cancer treatment for their dog

    my prefurred treatment would be[xx(]
  • ManygunsManyguns Member Posts: 3,837
    edited November -1
    $8500.00 in monthly expenses? Boy, am I living cheap!
    Tom
  • aramisviaramisvi Member Posts: 4,589
    edited November -1
    if only they would read my "bad news" thread....they'd see what REAL hard times are like. they always profile a "well to do" family that always over extend themselves...what about people like me who bust their azzez to make ANYTHING and still lose????

    not to be mean, but those of us who make less than $20,000 are forgotten about. makes me sad.

    he has training and skills to go anywhere with a resume that could get him in, unless he did something bad to lose his job. I love my pets too and would do what i had to to save them, but if the have something like that, i would have them put down. I would rather have them sleep safely in the hands of the Lord than watch them suffer while I hung on to them longer....
  • Old-ColtsOld-Colts Member Posts: 22,697 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:followed by almost $5,000 to pay for lung cancer treatment for their dog. Poor little doggie; must have been a victim of second hand smoke!

    If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!

  • kristovkristov Member Posts: 6,633
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by mlincoln
    ... followed by almost $5,000 to pay for lung cancer treatment for their dog. [/green]


    The damned dog should have quit smoking years ago, or at least switched to a low-tar brand.
  • dan kellydan kelly Member Posts: 9,799
    edited November -1
    there was a story on tv here a couple of nights ago about how the "poor rich people" are suffering...it went on to say that the top of the line cars like rolls royce..ferarri porche etc. are flooding onto ebay...might be worth a look soon...i`d look great turning up for work at the `ol zinc refinery in a rolls [}:)]

    especially when i jumped out of that and got in my old vac truck and srarted sucking up crap [:D][:D]..i can just see the look on my bosses face when he saw me driving a rolls and i ask him for a pay rise!![:D][8D]
  • spasmcreekspasmcreek Member Posts: 37,717 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    reminded me of years ago when a little downturn hit wichita & local TV had a dude on standing in the driveway of his brick home with a new car, new pickup in front of new boat & trailer complaining how they had to eat hamburger cause they couldn't afford steak any more...like i really give a snit
  • KSUmarksmanKSUmarksman Member Posts: 10,705 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by aramisvi
    if only they would read my "bad news" thread....they'd see what REAL hard times are like. they always profile a "well to do" family that always over extend themselves...what about people like me who bust their azzez to make ANYTHING and still lose????

    not to be mean, but those of us who make less than $20,000 are forgotten about. makes me sad.

    he has training and skills to go anywhere with a resume that could get him in, unless he did something bad to lose his job. I love my pets too and would do what i had to to save them, but if the have something like that, i would have them put down. I would rather have them sleep safely in the hands of the Lord than watch them suffer while I hung on to them longer....


    hell, knowing what I know about lung cancer now I would probably blow my brains out if I was diagnosed with it (or maybe pick a fatal gunfight with some neo-nazis or gangbangers)...more often than not they can only extend your life a year or so...then you die anyway
    (and all this with having to suffer through chemo/radiation treatments for a lot of that time)
  • joshmb1982joshmb1982 Member Posts: 8,228 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    and here i was think it was just my state that was populated by idiots and arseholes.
  • KSUmarksmanKSUmarksman Member Posts: 10,705 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by spasmcreek
    reminded me of years ago when a little downturn hit wichita & local TV had a dude on standing in the driveway of his brick home with a new car, new pickup in front of new boat & trailer complaining how they had to eat hamburger cause they couldn't afford steak any more...like i really give a snit


    a$$hats! believe it or not but there ARE malnourished children in the US...and Mr. new everything is bitching about burgers instead of steak! [:(!]
  • CaptplaidCaptplaid Member Posts: 20,298 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Next they will say "This is the first recession that his white collared management."

    They always say that one.

    Personally, I would have quit giving the dog Lucky Strikes years ago. That is their own fault.
  • AnonymouseAnonymouse Member Posts: 4,050
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by aramisvi

    not to be mean, but those of us who make less than $20,000 are forgotten about. makes me sad.



    Not to be mean either, but why do you only make less than $20,000? That is minimum wage.
  • Da-TankDa-Tank Member Posts: 3,718 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    P228, how about a part time job. Say only 20 hours a week. Alot of people are lucky to get that. You are NEVER the poorest guy out there, look around.
  • l3tol3to Member Posts: 256 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Captplaid
    Next they will say "This is the first recession that his white collared management."

    They always say that one.

    Personally, I would have quit giving the dog Lucky Strikes years ago. That is their own fault.




    if the dog is old enough, its out of there hands.. and in dog years who knows, just saying
  • slipgateslipgate Member Posts: 12,741
    edited November -1
    Just to play devil's advocate here. There are circumstances that effect all walks of life. "Rich" people suffer as well in an economic meltdown. Until you've walked a mile in someone else's shoes you can't really understand their point of view.

    I would argue that a "richer" person would have to make much bigger sacrifices when faced with a loss of income than a "poorer" person.

    Would you suggest they live like paupers "just in case" they ever lose their income?

    Almost everyone lives at or beyond their means, no matter what their level (unless they make so friggin' much money that they can't possibly spend it all).
  • AnonymouseAnonymouse Member Posts: 4,050
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Da-Tank
    P228, how about a part time job. Say only 20 hours a week. Alot of people are lucky to get that. You are NEVER the poorest guy out there, look around.


    If as an adult a person is only qualified for a part time job, they did not plan their life very well. I grew up with nothing, joined the Army young, put myself through engineering school at Penn State, and now at 44 I make WELL over $100K a year. MY wife also grew up with nothing, Father left them when she was 4 and her Mother was a drunk. She started baby sitting at 12 and working at a DQ at 16. She saved all the money she made those years, bought a cheap car and worked her way through nursing school. Now at 44 she makes $75K a year. Unemployment is still pretty low historically, if a person can only find a part time job making minimum wage as an adult they need to move and they screwed up planning their life. Maybe not spend so much time on internet forums, get some training on something so they can advance their situation.
  • Marc1301Marc1301 Member Posts: 31,895 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It may seem extreme to spend that amount of money on a pet,........BUT,.....who are you to say that is not OK?

    Now if someone is crying poor because of that, which it appears is the case in this circumstance, then they need to make painful choices.

    I have spent thousands on my animals, and it is no other persons business, nor concern to tell me that is wrong. It is MY money,....., and up to me to choose what I spend it on.

    BO will change all of that soon BTW.[xx(]
    "Beam me up Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here." - William Shatner
  • ElMuertoMonkeyElMuertoMonkey Member Posts: 12,898
    edited November -1
    I'm laughing here...

    The very same people you all held up as martyrs about to be sacrificed to Obama's tax plan are now being pilloried for having extravagant tastes!!!

    There's no satisfying you talking points, is there?[}:)]
Sign In or Register to comment.