Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Blog #8 - Economic Meltdown - How would you respond...?

In talking about the economic problems in the country today, we've mentioned a lot of different things:


1. Many people are getting laid off or fired (including all the Pontiac teachers and administrators);


2. Businesses are closing their doors - Circuit City, Trader Joe's, Barnes and Noble on Maple and Telegraph.


3. Homes are being foreclosed or their price has plummeted far below their mortgage price - there are FOR SALE signs littering neighborhoods like a bad headache.



4. The stock market has lost almost 45% of its value since the summer of 2008, families' retirement accounts and college funds have lost their value dramatically.




Blog: Pick two of the issues above and imagine how those two issues that you have picked would impact you and your family. For example, how would you and your family be affected if you suddenly lost your home? What would happen if your college fund was suddenly cut in half? If you had your sights set on Harvard, how would your college plans change?

Minimum 200 words. Due Monday, March 16th.

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

If my parents were to lose their job or our home was foreclosed then my family would be in a big crisis. We would probably be stuck out on the street or we would stay in a hotel. It would really hurt us for we really need our necessities. If my parents lost their jobs I would probably not go to college because we wouldn’t have that money. If I didn’t go to college then we wouldn’t get enough money to sustain a lifestyle and so we would be in trouble. If we didn’t have the money to live we would end up using food stamps and other free things. I might even have to go to a community college to get a job to help out. The job that I would get from community college wouldn’t be that great. It would probably be something like working at a restaurant, helping out somewhere really needy. The jobs would mainly be not to high paying. In order to really make some money my parents would probably go to work at some lower-paying job also just like me. This would be hard for my whole family and me and so I wish that it will never happen.
ben doozan

Anonymous said...

1. In the summer of 2008 my Mom owned a real-estate company, with this economic downfall as well as the housing market hitting almost rock bottom, she had to close down her business. She was not getting enough business to keep employing people who worked for her and also herself. Now the only person supporting my family is my Dad. Luckily he has a very stable job. Also, just yesterday I found out someone who was a close family friend just lost his job, and he has 5 kids and two of which are in college. I could not imagine what he is going through right now.

3. Foreclosure rates especially in Michigan are terribly high right now. I can personally relate to this. My Dad bought a house in Birmingham around 2004 when the market was constantly increasing; this was a “flip-it” type house. Later, almost completed, he could not keep paying the $1000’s of dollars for the mortgage payment. So the bank had to buy it back, thus being foreclosed on. That was a big lift off of our families back. It also hurts my fathers credit. Still to this day the house is still up for sale along with many other houses. At this point there is nothing that you can do.

Anonymous said...

If I had my eyes set on going to a very highly touted expensive college and my fund was cut in half it would affect my family and I very dramatically. Education is very important and if I couldn’t afford to get in then it would also affect my future. Since I’m not going to Harvard and I’m going instate the college fund cutting in half wouldn’t be that hard of a blow. Obviously I would want my college fund but losing a lot probably wouldn’t stop me from going to the college I want. My college plans would change to going to a much cheaper school. If I was a student in Pontiac the situation with the teachers would affect my education. All the kids from the high schools in Pontiac will probably go to one high school the next school year and this would result in much bigger classes, and because Pontiac is broke it would result in limited materials and a worsened education which is important for my future.

-Evan Fried

Anonymous said...

Andrew Sadler

Many people are being laid off and just a couple weeks ago, it happened to my step dad. When he got laid off, we had to return our two cars within ten days. That really sucked because we had to return our red mustang convertible and our escape. Also because he got laid off, we stopped looking for a new house down in Florida. Right before my step dad got laid off, we had bought a new seven passenger twin engine airplane. Luckily, my parents had paid it off in full and we are able to keep it. Since my step dad was pretty high up when he worked at ford, he got a very nice severance package. He still gets his old Ford pay for around eight months. Although my step dad had lost his job, he had been running his own business which he works at full time now. In the end, my family was able to stay strong even after we lost a huge part of our income. The outcome of my step dad could have been very different if any of my brothers or I had lost half of our college funds. If we would have lost lots of college fund money, we probably would have sold the plane to make up for it.

Anonymous said...

Many of these things could affect me and my family but the two that could affect us the most are the house losing their value, and being foreclosed. The other one that is affecting me is the stock market because my college money is invested in the stock market. The housing market is affecting me because my family has not yet paid the mortgage back so if the prices get to high we might have to sell our house and buy another. The thing is though it would be very hard to sell our house, I know firsthand because my neighbors have been trying to sell their house for 4 years. Also If the economy got to bad then I might not be able to go to a good college I might have to settle for a decent college because all of my college fund would have been lost in the stock market. For example we have family friends their son had all of the money that could pay for all four years of his college and when the economy started to go south he lost three years worth of that money. If the economy gets to bad then my future and my families future could be at risk.

Anonymous said...

Well if I worked for a company like Trader Joe’s, or circuit city and it I was let go of that job with the economy the way it is I honestly don’t know how I would react, because in this time it is so hard for people to find new jobs and business’s are closing left and right it would be stressful to compete for jobs and at the same time putting food on the table for your family especially in households where there is only one source of income. Also with the stock market the way it is to find out I lost all my retirement money or all of my college fund would probably send me into a panic because for people who are already 65 or 70 in retirement and to find out all your money you saved is gone and you’re going to have to leave retirement to go back into the work force where its already impossible to find a job and support a family it would be very hard to do and I don’t know how I’d be able to do it, and as a student to lose all your college fund’s would make me worry about how I’m going to make my dreams come true and how I’m going to be able to get a job to pay for my college tuition.

Jacob Silver

Anonymous said...

Kyle Dewald
3rd

Since the stock market lost 45% of its value. My family lost a lot of its money and money to get into college for me. If my family suddenly lost its home to the government, we would most likely move to Chicago because we have family there and the Chicago economy is much better than Michigan’s’. Since my college fund almost lost half I am still going to go to the same college, if I get in but I have to work much harder to earn money. If I had my eyes set on Harvard my college plans would change a lot. I would stay in state instead of going out of state. It would cost a lot less.
Since businesses are closing around us there is a lot less places to go to get items that we need. Making us drive farther and using more and more gas. Since places are closing their doors a lot of people been cutting back on going out to eat and getting items they only actually need. People been trying to save their money and not to waste it on things they don’t need to buy. People cut back on holiday gifts to save their money.

Anonymous said...

If my mother was to get layed off and lose her job I would be depressed and embarrassed, I would lose faith! All my hopes and dreams for the future would be shattered! Knowing that I would not have a chance of succeeding in life. My family would reject us knowing that this happened .But if my college fund was suddenly cut in have I would just give up on life! I would fall into a deep depression and then I’ll be in a coma  Knowing that I have been in school have my life and I finally graduate and so ready to go off to college I would be devastated know I can’t go to school and get a diploma so I can make a living for myself . My mother would die of a broken heart knowing that all the happenings are about. All my friends would know my problem and would laugh or try to help! While they are talking about dorms I have to think about where I am going to sleep tomorrow but I hope I would never be put in this situation. I think the economy will get better.

Anonymous said...

Businesses all over my community have been closing. Three stores have closed in the past two months were I live. I visit these places regularly so if has affected me greatly. I knew the people that worked in these stores and it is very sad to think that they are going to be out of a job. Another large change in my neighborhood is the houses that have been deserted or abandoned. The house right next to ours was owned by a man that rented it out to people but no one has put an offer on the house so he has ditched the wreak. Over the past couple month their property has gone down and is in very poor shape. There was one occasion were the grass on the property got so over whelming that my mom called the city and had them come out and mow it. After that the man that owned the house got a fee of 300 dollars for not keeping his house up to par. If my parents lost their job I wouldn’t be too worried because they have connections that allow them to stay in business. Right now they run a magazine and the only way that that would go out of business is if they didn’t get any advertisements in a couple issues. I do worry for many relatives and friends that could be facing these problems.

Ryan St. John/ 3rd Hour

Anonymous said...

blog one.
Two main points that would impact my family and I would be the issues dealing with homes being foreclosed and taken away from people, and how some businesses and shops are being closed down. If my family’s home were to be taken away from us, that would be a big problem. Everything would become difficult. We would have to find some place to stay and some place to put all of our possessions and the things that were in our home. That would be the worst thing I can think of that could happen if it ever will. Also, some stores and businesses are closing. This would affect me in a way were I would miss going to some shop that I used to like to but things from. However, it would not be a serious loss overall. It would mainly just be a disappointment. Due to the stock market, my Dad cannot retire for a while more than it may used to have been which isn’t good either. There are just too many problems happening now due to the economy and the economic problems.

Anonymous said...

Different companies are making the choice to lay off its employees because of cut production. This alone affects many families including my own. My brother in law works for a company and he deals with mortgages and because people don’t pay the money back he has little income now. Because he has very little income and my step sister can’t get a good job because she is a high school dropout they have to live with us because their landlords lost the house that they were renting. Because they live with us I have to watch their kids so our lives are affected even more by this.
The stock markets doing bad has affected a lot of other people as wells as me because their important funds are invested in the stocks and because they are doing bad a lot of the money invested in the stocks is gone and people are left with nothing. My college money was invested in the stocks as well and when it started to go down my dad took it out so instead of losing it I just have a little less. This really affects my future because I am not making any money for college now so I have to rely on the money I have to get me to college which will only cover a community school.

Eric Bruning
Hour 3

Anonymous said...

Mary Seymour
My family would be impacted greatly. i would have to pick a school that i might not want to go to as badly but i would have to go to because my college fund would be cut in half. My parents would have to work longer because they cant afford to retire as soon as they would have liked.If my home was taken by the bank, it would impact us because we would have to find a new home and we would lose all of our memories and everything that my siblings and i grew up with. i would be humiliated and sad if my house was foreclosed and hate that it wasnt private, but that it was out for all of my neighbors to see. I would be angry at the government for taking it away from me and giving me nothing but my family.I hope that banks stop foreclosing homes because its the last thing a struggling family needs right now.They should have never given out bad loans, because then we wouldnt be in this much trouble with the economy. Its just bringing the economy down even more becasue its ruining people's confidence and then they stop spending as much money so the money flow slows down a ton which puts more people out of business because their business cant afford to pay their workers.

Anonymous said...

Tim Tomaszewski
If my parents lost their jobs, we would have to find a way to pay off the mortgage and it would not be smart to move to a smaller house because then we would have to pay to a mortgage that is not a smart investment option. There would be many things we would have to get rid or downsize on the food we pay and we would have to cut down on water and the utilities. My parents would have to find a lower paying job. When the economy is like this people that have jobs rather have a job then get a raise and then loss a job in 3 months. My mom’s school district had to downsize and may of the young teacher are losing their jobs. When more business go out of business then the economy will get worse and then more people will lose their jobs and then people can’t pay goods and then there mortgages would default and loss their job. It hurts the young worker because the stores that are closing are where a lot of young kids go to work in the summer. The economy will get a lot worse before it gets better and there will be a long recession.

Anonymous said...

Melanie Eiten
A lot of the things that have been going on in the economy have been affecting everybody. The two things that have impacted my life the most is the struggling housing market and the stock market being down the tube. I’m not saying that I am going to be out on the street but I am saying I might have to move one day because my home is almost where we owe more on it than it is actually worth, and because we can’t afford the bills that have to be paid off. We do try though. Both of my parents work and maybe we won’t have to move if we can keep the payments up. Another thing that has impacted my life is the stock market because that is my dad’s main line of work. He helps make small businesses popular and gets companies to buy stocks to help the small companies grow you could say that he is a “publicity agent” for small businesses but since nobody is really trying to build up businesses and businesses are closing because of the economy he isn’t making any income. Because he isn’t making any money he has had to take on other types of work while still trying to run his own business of advertising small companies. Since my dad isn’t making enough money it is hard for him to pay the bills and still support and provide for all of us.

Anonymous said...

Jaz Cobb
One of the two issues that bother me in this economic meltdown is college fund. My family carries a college fund for me and my sister and to think that being in the condition that our economy is in now we can’t afford to lose that money. if we so happen to lose our college fund we would be forced to go to colleges that we don’t prefer. I would feel terrible if out of nowhere our money disappeared because I’m the oldest in my family and I can still help out and earn some money so my sister and I can afford to attend a college that we prefer. Another issue that worries me is the ongoing pattern of people losing their homes. I feel that this is a heartbreaking situation that’s needs to be fixed as soon as possible. losing your home is like a stand still point where you can’t figure out where you’re going to go and how are you going to make things a little normal and the same for your family. If this happened my family I wouldn’t know what to do I would hope and pray that my parents have a plan for us and that this problem that we are in won’t last for long.

Anonymous said...

Any family could be effect by this, a lots already have. If my family become in this predicament it would affect me badly. Well it would affect my whole affect. We could lose our home. Probably have to move to a area (neighborhood) that had cheaper houses. It might just end up being a poor city, low money income, high in crimes, and things like that. Going to a different school with low income. Teachers really don’t care about the kids doing well, here are just there to get paying not to really help the students. Not helping the students to learn to make it to college. The school might not have computer, enough books for everyone and things like that. I wouldn’t be wearing the clothes I wear now, doing the things I do now like going shopping, going to the movies, out to eat just hangout cause we would be in a budget. Couldn’t eat just when we wanted to. Only eat for breakfast. Lunch, and dinner not just going to get anything you want at anytime like is should be, not like old times. I would even want people to know that my mom or dad have got lay off. I mean it could happen to anyone but I would feel a shame. Some people may even treat you different and look at you different.


Tiara Dillard

Anonymous said...

If one of my parents lost their jobs it would be pretty hard on my family. This is because in order to stay in this neighborhood I need my parents combined income. Also some people had got pay cuts and are now working the same amount of hours as usual but are being paid half of their usual amount. My father had also recently took one of these pay cuts and made it a lot harder on my mom to pay the bills. My father has been taking this pretty had too because in January of 2008 he broke his ankle leaving work. Then after it healed a year later they laid him off for about two weeks so it hasn’t been that great. Now my mom has to cut back on lots of things because we don’t have the money for it. I think that it’s unfortunate that people are being kicked out of their housing by getting evicted or their house being foreclosed. When you see someone’s stuff out on a lawn it makes the houses around it look bad and you feel really bad about the whole thing. Though we can’t do much to help my mom tries to work as much as she can to afford our house.

Anonymous said...

*CHANEL JOHNSON
*3RD HOUR
*WICKERSHAM


**Many people are getting laid off or fired (including all the Pontiac teachers and administrators:

-If this were to happen to teachers of Groves High School I think that it would make the rest of Birmingham schools look bad. If teachers were being laid off then students would have to attend other schools that are probably far from where they live. If teachers were laid off there would be even more struggles in the economy because there would be more unemployed. My parents have good jobs and we would end up having to move back to Detroit MI. My parents would not take money out of my college savings but my shopping sprees would no longer be available.

**Businesses are closing their doors - Circuit City, Trader Joe's, Barnes and Noble on Maple and Telegraph:

-More people are losing their jobs because the economy is so bad and they are not able to make money. Too People are getting foreclosures on homes and they are not going to spend the only money that they have to be able to go to these places. If people do not have money then businesses don’t either. Businesses are closing and that is going to take away even more jobs for people who need them. People have children and little babies that they need to take care of. While prices are rising people are losing their jobs at the same time and that is going to be the biggest struggle of the economy besides all of the debt.


** Homes are being foreclosed or their price has plummeted far below their mortgage price - there are FOR SALE signs littering neighborhoods like a bad headache:

- From the time a person buys a house by the time they are ready to sell it and depending on how long no one no one buys the sales volume is going down but to the buyer the price is what they end up paying for a home anyway.


**The stock market has lost almost 45% of its value since the summer of 2008, families' retirement accounts and college funds have lost their value dramatically:

-As college application deadlines are coming for enrollment next fall, teachers at the community colleges anticipate tens of thousands of students who planned to attend four-year colleges will take an unexpected detour for one or two years in route a bachelors degree because of the

Anonymous said...

If me and my family’s house were foreclosed on I really don’t know what we would do. If I had my eyes set on a really good school but couldn’t go because of this economic college I would still go college just not Harford I go to a local school like OCC. Since Michigan has the highest unemployment rate and the highest foreclose rate in America. Both of my parents were really close to losing their jobs my mom worked for a private bank and my dad works for Chrysler. Fore closer in Michigan is really it toke my dad 2 years to sell his old house in Birmingham. Also if your credit score is bad that can affect you are able to buy a house. The banks aren’t giving people money to buy houses any more. Om my block there are 4 for sale signs that have been there for years and no one has bought them yet. I hope that Obama does something to help with the housing mess up. Devonny Bell

Anonymous said...

Today, all over the U.S. is in an economic crisis. People are losing their jobs, houses are being foreclosed, and many businesses are closing. Different problems affect different people. The issues that affect me the most are the stock market going down and people getting laid off from their jobs. Since the stock market has lost 45% of their value, my college money that my parents have put away has gone down significantly. This affects me because this lowers the amount of money I have to use for college tuition. I won’t be able to go out of state for college, or pay for an in-state college. A person getting laid off from their jobs also affects me, even though my parents haven’t lost their jobs. All around me people are losing their jobs and that means more people can’t afford to pay for their homes and businesses are closing down. This result in foreclosed homes and people having debt so large, they cannot afford to pay them back. This also means they cannot get loans from banks and they are running out of money to survive everyday life. This also takes money away from banks, because banks try everything to let people have loans, as long as they can pay them back. If people cannot pay back their loans then they get charged interest and the banks have no more money to survive, so they go out of business. This is how the economic crisis is affecting me today.

Anonymous said...

If my college fund was drained because of the stock market crash, then I would probably have to reassess my goals with my reality. I would need to work harder to get a scholarship to pay for the college of my choice, but that is very difficult with the failing economic system, fewer scholarships are available. Or another option would be to take out a student loan if I was entering a field with a large recruitment, so I would be able to pay it back. Even then it would be difficult because banks aren’t giving out loans as frequently now that we are in the credit crisis. So most likely I would need to aim for a cheaper college, that may not have the same programs as I want, and could affect my future. Another of the current problems that would dramatically change my life would be if my father’s business were to close. We would have a very small source of income, not enough to live on, and because jobs are difficult to come by now, we would be in a lot of trouble. This is a devastating reality because the economy is so bad, people are spending much more wisely, if spending at all, which is really dampening on businesses, especially small independent businesses.

Anonymous said...

My dad sometimes comes home and is shocked how many of his coworkers got fired again. He is under a German contract in the United Sates, so he luckily doesn’t need to worry about it. However, if my dad would work under an international contract and then be fired my family and I would be in a big crisis. Given that we would stay permanently in the U.S. my dad would have to find another job and my mom would have to start working. I think my brother and I would have to get student loans for college. Also, we couldn’t attend the colleges we really want to get accepted to, because they are more expensive than a Community College. One way to save money, of course, would be to apply for scholarships.
With my dad losing his job and my mom not working, because she is not allowed to work here as a physical therapist, we probably would have to move out of our house. Right now we’re living in Beverly Hills on rent. Without jobs my parents wouldn’t be able to keep up the standard of living we have right now. We would probably move into a smaller house and try to save as much money as possible. If there would be no other option left, we would try to safe up enough money to obtain flight tickets back to Europe. There, we would get help from our family.

Anonymous said...

1.)If my dad got laid off my life would be very different. He would have to look for a job but in this economy he would be hard pressed to find one. My mom would also be forced to look for a job but it would be nearly impossible for her to find one. My family would have to move to a smaller house in a different neighborhood. I would also go through everyday worrying about where the money to support my family would come from next. I would probably have to stop playing sports and stop everything else that would cost my family any extra money. It would also be a burden to my grandparents if they ever had to help support us.
2.)If my family’s retirement and college funds went down the drain it would be a huge problem. My dad would have to work until he was really old and my mom might even be forced to go back to work. It would also effect what college I am going to. Although I am already planning to go in state because of tuition I might not be able to go to Michigan or State even if I got accepted.

Anonymous said...

2. Many businesses are closing. If my dad’s business closed we would have no source of an income. My dad would have to find another job. Also my mom might have to go to work to earn enough money for our family to live. Still if my dad lost his job we might have to move in a smaller house that is more affordable. We might even have to change school districts because my family might not be able to afford a house in the Birmingham school district if my dad lost his job. I might even have to get a job if my dad lost his job so my family can have enough money to live on.
3. If my house got foreclosed on because my family couldn’t pay the mortgage my family might have to find somewhere else to live till we find a cheaper house we could afford. We might have to live with a family member or in a hotel temporally. We also might not be able to be approved for a new mortgage to get a new house so we might end up staying with a family member or in a hotel for a long time till we could get approved for a mortgage.

Anonymous said...

1. A few of my friends have parents that have lost their jobs and I can only imagine how horrible that would be. Thankfully, due to the current jobs my parents have, that is not likely. However, if it did, I would probably try to get a job or earn money the best way I could. Since I’m 15 there aren’t many job opportunities available for me, but I could babysit neighbors or find a job that would allow me to work at my age. My family and I would also have to cut back on a lot of things like buying clothes, technology, etc. We would also only buy food that was necessary for our nutrition. We also might have to sell a lot of the things that we have that we don’t really need.
2. If my home became foreclosed, my family and I would find relatives’ homes to reside in for the time being. My grandparents, who are currently retired, would probably be able to offer us a place to stay in Huntington Woods, where they live. Hopefully, we would find something to do with our furniture, or at least the things that we really liked. We’d also find a place to keep our two cats, Midnight and Groucho.

Anonymous said...

If my parents were both laid off work it would be very difficult for us to life our daily lives because, we wouldn’t be able to afford our bills or food so we would have to sell our stuff like our big screen tv’s we would have to eventually sell the house if work conditions just weren’t going to turn out alright, and I would go CRAZY without my video games so if my parents lost their job we would lose everything that we need or use or otherwise take for granite. I have experienced the reality of businesses closing down already an example would be at my old job Busciemie’s they had to close because they put too much money into their new building and couldn’t pay off their mortgage so the bank closed them and sold off all the food, grills, and computers off at an auction. Another experience would be at my Mom’s boyfriends work they had to fire a NUMEROUS amount of workers some experienced and some new at clear channel radio station. They said that they were firing people all across the stations areas from marketing to advertising and cutting off some commercials from their broadcasts.

Anonymous said...

1) So many people are losing jobs right now. If one of my parents were to lose their job my life would change drastically. My dad has his own business so that would mean we are just getting the money from my mom’s job. If my dad were to lose his job and my mom were the only one working they we wouldn’t be getting nearly enough money to pay for our lifestyle. We would have to cut out a lot and possibly take out a loan so we could pay for the wedding this summer for my brother. We would probably have to cut out poms for me as well as camp in the summer and my future with college would be unbelievably different. I would no longer have as big of a choice for college and would possibly have to look into a smaller college or community college.
3) The amount of houses that are being foreclosed right now is ridiculous. People are realizing their neighbors are disappearing and they don’t know why. If this were to happen to my family I don’t know how it would be possible to leave our home. I think that we would take out another loan to help pay for it until we could get back on our feet and cut some of the unnecessary things out of our life which our costing us money.

Anonymous said...

1.If one of my parents suddenly lost their job, I think that my life would change a lot, and in a short amount of time. We wouldn’t be able to do anything extra like going to the movies anymore, or go out to dinner. We would have to use generic brands and other cheaper things to cut back on the price. My family would have to cut back more than we already are. I think that it would be harder to save for college education or to buy my first car. Any extra money we had would be put towards the stack of bills each month and we would only buy the necessities to live. I might also have to get a job to help pay the bills each month.
3.Our home getting foreclosed would also change our life a lot, too. We would have to find a place to live, most likely a relative’s house, or a shelter if things get really bad. This would also make it hard to have a car because if are home was foreclosed we probably won’t have enough money to pay any other bills either. We would also have to find a way to get some income, so I might have to get a job to help pay bills, or my parents might both have to get a job or multiple jobs to support us.

Anonymous said...

In talking about the economic problems in the country today, one of the problems is that many people are getting laid off or fired. In my personal experiences, my dad was already laid off from his job in 2006. He worked at a television company called GTN for about 25 years. While attending Eastern Michigan University, he got offered a job a GTN. So GTN was all he knew what to do. But after 25 years he got laid off. My mom had to get 3 new jobs just to support our family. But, my dad decided to go back to college to finish his teaching degree. Three years later he finally got a full-time teaching job at Academy of Oak Park, which isn’t the best job but at least he has a job in this economy. Another issue in this economy is that homes are being foreclosed or their price has plummeted far below their mortgage price. If my family and I were to lose our house, I don’t know what we would do. We’ve been scraping money just to pay our house mortgage ever since my dad lost his job because we had to pay for his college funds, so it’s hard enough to pay for our mortgage already. But if we lost our home I don’t know where we’d go. Our lives would be crushed. In conclusion, if the economy gets any worse, we’ll all be screwed.

Anonymous said...

The economy now is in very hard times. Things are changing all around us. Innocent people are losing jobs and homes. So what would happen if one of these things happened to my family? I can’t imagine not being able to go to college because all of a sudden my college fund no longer existed. My family put away just enough money for me and my siblings to go and now we can’t. I would have to stay home so I can help my family earn money so we can stay in our house, but what about my future. I wouldn’t want to stay home forever and I don’t think anyone would. My dad already got laid off from Ford and luckily found another job. My mom had to get a job and I would too if I wasn’t able to go to college. We need to be able to keep our house so my siblings will have a place to call home. If we ever did lose our house we would probably move out of Michigan so my parents could find some sort of work. It wouldn’t be the same though. All of our friends and family is here. Our whole lifestyle would be turned upside down. Luckily this hasn’t happened to us, at least not yet. You never know what will happen in our economy these days.
Allison Smart

Anonymous said...

1.Many people have been getting laid off and many families are suffering from it. If this happened to my family I think that there would be problems. My mom does not work so this would mean that no one in my family would be working if my dad got laid off. If no one in my family would be working then my family would not be making any income. If my dad were to get laid off there would be many different results and issues in my family. The money that we spend on clothes, gifts, food, and school vacations would have to be taken down. The house that we have in Florida would have to be sold. And just the all around things that we spend money o0n would have to be eliminated. Also the college I would want to go to would possibly have to be changed. Also the school sports I participate in would have to be taken away.

3.The amount of home foreclosures right now is sky rocketing. People in the neighborhoods keep leaving and getting kicked out and it is bad. If my family was to not be able to pay the rent on our house and we were to get kicked out of it many things would have to change. If this happened to my family we would possibly take a loan out so we could stay there until we couldn’t afford it at all. We could use this loan while we looked for another job or a better paying job. This way we would be able to afford our house and we could live in it again.

Anonymous said...

If my parents were both to get laid off and our home became foreclosed we wouldn’t be in that good of shape. We would first off have to find a place to stay at which would probably be with other family members. If I were to have any dreams going to collage those would probably go down the drain unless I could be able to pay for something like OCC. If I didn’t go to collage my future wouldn’t be looking to bright for me unless I were to pull off a miracle. We would have trouble paying for food and things we need in order to just survive. All members in my family would have to get a couple of jobs to jus pay for these things if they were old enough and if they were able to find another job. We wouldn’t be able to have anything to make our life fun or any wants. We probably would of lost all our cars and would have to take the bus to get around the city. It would be tough looking for a new house in a decent location to move back into. It would be a long time in order for that to happen.

Anonymous said...

If my mom got laid off I wouldn’t be too worried because we have many connections in the home building business so my life would not be affected too greatly. Also, if my dad got laid off my family would not be affected too greatly because he could go to another firm. In the situation where my parents were totally laid off and could not get a job then my life would be affected greatly. I would have to start looking for jobs and have to cut back on the luxuries such as vacations and going out to eat. My education is important to me and if I could not go to the college I wanted to my future would be affected dramatically. I would probably have to settle for a community college or a local college because my college fund has gone down dramatically. We would have to make a tough decision whether to take out a loan and go into debt or to go to a community college. Debt is usually a risky decision that no family would want to make. Also I would have to get a job and work so I would have money in college

Anonymous said...

Though America is a great country to live in, the economy is suffering dramatically. In this struggling economy there are many people that are getting laid off or fired. Also, homes are either being foreclosed on or their prices have plummeted far below their mortgage price. My family has experienced both of these major issues like many other Americans. My step-dad was laid off a couple years ago when the economy first started to plummet. His boss basically told him he was being paid too much and they could not afford to have him work there anymore. He worked there for more than ten years. Going from living on two incomes to living on one was a big change in all of our lives. When we first moved into our house, it was worth a lot more than what it is worth now. With the economy struggling we owe more on our mortgage than what our house is worth. As of right now we are not in any danger of our home being foreclosed. My parents would like to move somewhere that they can both have better and more secure jobs but since our house is worth a lot less now than it was when we moved in we cannot afford to at this point. In conclusion, if this struggling economy gets any worse, another depression could be in our future.

Anonymous said...

If my family lost its home we would be devastated, we would probably have to move to a crack house in Detroit. We wouldn’t be in a nice neighborhood and wouldn’t be able to get a good education like the education we received in Birmingham. I wouldn’t have good friends and they would probably pressure me into doing bad things like drinking and smoking, and I could possibly end up in jail. Our life would never be the same we would be scared everyday of loosing this house also. It would change our lives and many people are going through this every day. If one of my parents got laid off we would have to make a lot of changes. I would probably have to get a job to support the family, same with my sister. I wouldn’t be able to go to a good school Eastern Michigan or Michigan. I would probably have to go to another school like WCCCD which is Wayne County Community College District or Michigan Dearborn. We probably would have to buy less goods and lower quality goods. This would be a devastating thing to happen and I hope this will never happen to me or anyone else even though there’s sometimes no way to avoid it.

Anonymous said...

I would have a much harder time if my college fund was cut in half. I would struggle to find enough money to put myself through college. If my money got cut in half, I would have to apply for student loans. It would be very difficult to find enough money to replace what was lost. If I did not find enough money to put myself through college, I would have to change what college I want to go to. This would be difficult to do, especially if I had had decided on a college that I wanted to go to. If my dad was laid off from his job, my family would really struggle. We would have a tough time bringing in money, as my dad was the main source of it. My family might have to go on welfare to be able to support ourselves. We would not have any way to pay the mortgage on our house, and it would be very difficult to try to move to a different area because of all the extra costs that come with it. My family would have to reduce the amount of material things that we use. The economy is getting worse and I am not sure that my family would recover from this debacle.

Anonymous said...

2.If my dad’s businesses were to get shut down and he was unable to supply my family with the income that he does now, we would be forced to find new ways of living. The first thing we’d sacrifice is the trips that we take to places for vacation. My mother would be forced to get a full time job somewhere and spend much less. We would only buy the necessities. One thing my parents would never make me do is interrupt my school work and curricular classes to supply for the family. My father would find other places in the state to make money. He’s a very smart man who would find a way to avoid the ultimate low of affecting his kids lives.
4. As the stock market crashes, my family would of probably taken the money they have left out of the market because there isn’t a for sure chance that it will raise any time soon. If we were too late, and all the money was lost this close to college, I would be forced to stay in state. We would probably take a loan out of the bank even if it would cause a larger debt, over time it would get paid back and my family would know to never trust something that isn’t a for sure money maker.

Anonymous said...

If my family’s home got foreclosed I don’t know what we would do. We would probably move to Canada because my grandparent’s house is on sale there and they could give us a deal on the house. We might look around the area for an apartment to live in, or a cheaper house. I would have to get a job so I could help pay for the new home. It would be a rough, transition for the whole family. I would have to stop playing hockey because hockey would cost to much. We would definitely have to cut down on the spending majorly. A way we could do this is sign get medicade, food stamps, and other necessities to get by.
If my parents got laid off our lives would be very different. IN this economy it is very hard to find a job that will support you, and your family. My parents might have to apply for unemployment, and collect unemployment checks, get food stamps, medicade and other things necessary for life. I would have to get a job so I could help pay for the house, so it won’t get foreclosed. I would have to quit both football and hockey, so we could pay bills in time.

-Josh Cecile

Anonymous said...

Many people are getting laid off and fired from their jobs. If my own mother lost her job and had no way to support our family. All the thing that we take for granted day to day we lose. The internet, cable, heat, electricity, running water… but most important we would lose our house and we would have nowhere to go. Times like today are really scary because if my parent even had a pay decease it would change how we lived. Because of the job market and economy is doing so bad I try to help my mom out the best I can, and I’m seventeen years old I help pay the rent, and I think most kids my age should because after we move out on our own its only going to get harder to live. A month ago I lost my job and I find it hard to put gas in my gas tank and pay for my phone bill and so on. But I could imagine the stress and hardship of losing your job when your supporting a family because I cannot even take care of myself. those are my thoughts of the job market and economy.

Anonymous said...

Many People are Getting Laid Off or Fired

If my mom lost her job, she would probably have to get a new job. We would probably live off their savings with the bare necessities (food, clothing, shelter). My dad is retired so he would probably have to get a job too. My brother is a senior, even though his college money is set aside, he would probably want to stay home his 1st year to help out. Even though I am only 16 I would probably have to get a summer job, instead of volunteering. To save money, my cleaning lady probably would stop coming, so I would have to do a lot of the housework while my parents are at work. Luckily our house is already paid for so we wouldn’t lose that.

Businesses are Closing Down

If more and more families continue to lose money they won’t be able to buy Luxury Items at stores, forcing them to shut down. The remainder of the stores would probably take advantage of this opportunity, and raise their prices, to make more money. People would be forced to buy the high priced items because they would be the only ones available.

Anonymous said...

If my family lost our home it would suck! I would be forced to live under hoodrat conditions. I would most likely move with my closest family member which would be my uncle who lives about a half hour away in Rochester. It would be akward living with another family , it would be a total of 8 people in a 5 bed room home which will be uncomfortable and a lot less private. If I lost my home my parents will often argue and be stressed out which I would not like to deal with while im trying to sleep, eat do homework etc.


If my parents lost their jobs my living conditions would change dramatically. I would go from dinner out with my family to fast food and pizza. My style of clothing would change also from jeans that range from 150-250 dollars to about 20-40 dollars. I can forget about my cable, my cell phone, and my high speed internet. I would lose all my thing s that meant something to me because the important things that my family would need would come first before paying the cable bill or my cell phone bill. In conclusion if my family lost their jobs there would be many things in how it would affect my family.

Anonymous said...

If I lost my home due to foreclosure I would be absolutely devastated. You would be forced to move to a place that is cheaper and you may even have to move far from where you lived currently. I would feel as if I just lost a huge part of my life that would never come back. Not only are you affected physically by not having a home, but you are also affected emotionally from losing something that was bought out of hard work and determination. I know that if I had lost my home, I would be torn and not know what to think or do. Everything would be made worse if my college fun was cut in half or even lost. I would have worked so hard all these years in preparation for college and then it would all be taken away. Unfortunately in today’s society, education beyond high school (college) is not cheap. It is very expensive these days to go to college and if the funds are cut in half or lost, kids are not able to get that education. Not getting a college education would further affect their life by lessening their chances of getting a good job.

Anonymous said...

Melanie Eiten
The future generations should be taught multiple things about the Iraq War. The most important things that should be taught about the war is that foreign intelligence is fallible, we were fighting a group of people who we do not fully understand when we got involved, and that we did free people from a cruel leader. We entered the war with a belief that Sadam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but later it came to be that there were no weapons. We later found out that our intelligence was incorrect. If the U.S. had better intelligence, then we wouldn’t be in our currant predicament. Secondly, since we did not fully understand the religious extremist whom we were fighting against, or methods they used to fight, we were not prepared emotionally or in troop size. Lastly, many look at the war as wrong and we had no right being there. However we did free its people from a cruel dictator who killed thousands of his own people. We also brought democracy to the Iraqis in hope that they can be free to choose their leaders.
We will remember many things about the war including spending billions of dollars, and the capture and the death penalty to Sadam Hussein for his crimes. The price of the war is put our country severely in debt. By pulling out our troops as fast as possible, we will save billions and be back on our way to rebuilding our economy. Secondly we will remember the capture of Sadam Hussein because the U.S. had been searching for him for 9 months, and for those 9 months he was in a hole in the ground till we finally caught him. We will remember his death because it was something that the Iraqis and the United Stated had wanted for such a long time

Anonymous said...

Paige Peak hr-3
The issues in Pontiac with the teachers getting laid means that some schools would have to combine with others making them way over crowded. Local businesses being closed down closed is not good for the company or the community meaning driving further to get what you want form the store. Which is not good due to the price of gas. A big thing that is happening with homes is they are being foreclosed and people are buying homes to fix them up and sell them for a higher price. But lately the homes that no one buys are being sold for a much lower cost recently I saw a house that was originally about 170,000 it is now being sold for about 70,000. Which is less than half of what its worth. Since the economy is so bad that’s all the housing companies and the banks can afford to do. Many neighborhoods are flooding with for sale signs. With the stocking markets value decreasing effortlessly, the money invested in them is losing its value also. Which means many of the people getting ready to retire will have to works a few more years than expected and hope they soon reach enough money to retire. If my moms money was invested in the stock market that would not be a good thing if its values were to decrease because my brother and I are only one year apart so two kids in college and not enough money would not turn out well maybe a less expensive college.

Anonymous said...

Seeing all the economy problems causing a lot of stress to me and my family. Not only my parents have to pay for two college fund in the same year with the funds decreasing in valve it is going to be a real challenge to get into a high-valved college like Harvard or Yale. Things like ipod, new cellphones, etc. just by not buying wants will help save up for college. Some main problems for people who just don't get it, we are in a recession. We can't spend money all over the place anymore. It's just not there anymore. Some issues in Pontiac with the distract with barely no money what so ever. The kids who go to Pontiac will be greatly effected by this. Not only the high schools will be cutting back but the classes will be better. There will be limited materials for students, like books, pencils and even school lunches.
- Tyler Dewald

Jake Prosyniuk 3rd Hour said...

(Whoops, forgot you needed this from me, I know it's been a couple days since you asked.)
My college funds have already taken a huge hit. They were not big to begin with, but now it looks like I’ll be definitely working my way through college. I am not hugely concerned with this, but if my family loses our home, I don’t know what we’ll do. We don’t make enough money get another house in the area, so we’d probably end up moving away. If I wanted to go to Harvard, I definitely wouldn’t be able to, and I’d end up lowering my sights to an in-state school. I know my mom has told me she won’t be retiring for a while, because she is going to try and pay for as much schooling as she can for us. Other than that, we’ll have to get by on student loans. If I lived in Pontiac or Detroit, I would be much less encouraged to go to college, and if I did go, my high school would be regarded as lower than other suburban ones, making it hard to get into a good college. I’ve watched my neighbors try to sell their homes, and fail, there’s simply nobody that wants to buy them, or can afford to. I think if we tried to sell my house, we’d run into the same problem.

Anonymous said...

In today’s economy I feel that it is very important that every person who is able to work should be employed. I think that during these times it is harder for the ones who are not employed because they have families to feed and bills to pay. This economic situation is very important and should be handled as soon as possible. It is important that we as the people come together and try to brain storm on the many different things we can do to keep unemployed families in good conditions. It should also be known that when people are losing their jobs the crime rate is getting higher, because people are going out robbing and killing so that they can feed there families.
Another issue would be the foreclosure with the homes. Lots and lots of people are being thrown out of there houses because the state are not able to pay for the land that the people are living on. Families are left homeless due to this economic issue. Many families are put in shelters or either they are staying with family members which leads to over crowding. This is a very unhealthy and unorganized situation to be in and as people we should come together and try to fix the situation. And give these people who had homes an opportunity to have that back once again.

china wells 3rd hour

Anonymous said...

2. Businesses are closing their doors-


My family and I have shopped at Trader Joe’s, Barnes and Noble, and Tower Records a lot. They have products that can be hard to find in any other store of their specific genre. Now that they are going out of business, we are forced to shop online for records, CD’s, and books that would normally be stocked at their stores, but now the internet is our only option. Trader Joe’s is a place where our family shops at to buy many products such as jams, cookies, and things of that nature. Now that Trader Joe’s is gone, we are going to have to shop at stores where it is a more expensive just because of the products “brand” or “company”. Which becomes a hassle.



4. The Stock Market has lost almost 45% of its value since the summer of ’08-


My family and I also have a lot of money invested in the Stock Market in companies such as General Electric (GE), General Motors (GM), and Apple (AAPL). Apple for example, was at 201.00 a stock in the summer of ’08. A month ago, it was at 99.79 a stock. Our stock went down by 50% in a half of a year. Along with hurting the consumers, it really hurt the people’s wallets who had invested in AAPL.

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