Did your financial priorities change over the weekend?
Mine did. Like most homeowners Mr. Pandora and I have ongoing projects. Some are still in the planning stage, but others (like the 3rd floor master bedroom suite) are underway. Not anymore. This weekend we implemented a spending freeze.
Anyone else making these sort of decisions?
We implemented a spending freeze back when Bush told us to “go shopping…”
I went shopping for a tent this weekend. For the inevitable tent cities we will all be living in…
I suggest you hold off on that spending freeze for a few months.
You don’t want to make rash decisions at a time like this.
Not really. In fact, we just paid an unemployed friend of a friend to tile our kitchen floor – we’ve had the tiles in the basement for a few years now, but I was a bit gun-shy about it after the less-than-stellar job I did tiling the bathroom floor myself. Anyway, the guy did an excellent job, and we’ve already referred him to another friend.
Call it trickle down still at work, if you will.
Wow, synchronicity!
Yes, I’m no longer paying my mortgage or any other bill, so I can save money for my move to Sweden if McCain is elected.
Von Cracker, please save a aisle seat for this big boy.
Dear Pandora’s Hard Wood Floor Installer,
We discussed this. Love you.
VC – sorry, you are an indivdual; therefore, you do not qualify for a bailout. The company you screw, however, will qualify, based on yours and others refusal to pay.
Seems fair, right?
Good fortune abounds. My house is paid off. My spending freeze began a year ago. I still have my economic stimulus $$.
I keep thinking about this onion article from back in July.
WASHINGTON—A panel of top business leaders testified before Congress about the worsening recession Monday, demanding the government provide Americans with a new irresponsible and largely illusory economic bubble in which to invest.
Me and the Mrs. are going to get us one of them ARM mortgages. 😉
My money is still being automatically dumped into my IRA, mutual fund, and megasavings account, so no change there. Got a job last week, so no change over the weekend on that count. Idly considering purchasing one of those positively gorgeous Mustang Bullitts that they have down at a dealership in town. So, no, no real change. The only partial change is that we have slowed down our house-hunting, simply because neither of us are comfortable with the government holding the pink slip…
Ummm… putting off buying a house seems like a pretty big change.
No, I did that four years ago when the bankruptcy laws written by a democratic Congress and signed by a Democratic President took my pension and 38% of my pay.
Compared to that nightmare, this week is a yawner.
Mike, you might want to try and gain some recollection. It is 2008 and four years ago was 2004. At that time we were under the rule of republithugs and not the democrats. I understand that you want to grab on to the blame Clinton flag but at least do the basic math before you post your idiocy.
A strong foundation in math might be helpful if one wants a brighter financial future. Just sayin’.
And of course, the Masters of the Universe who were running Delta who failed to fund that pension plan properly are completely without blame. As are the union heads who failed to make sure that manging the pension fund was just as important to an employment package as pay, work rules and insurance co-pays.
Bet that both the Delta execs who shorted the system and the union heads who looked the other way got their slice, tho.
Sorry to hear about your bankruptcy, Mike.
Not really that big of a change, Pandora, considering we were not really looking. We have just moved to the area, and are not comfortable with all of the various neighborhoods and regions. We were not really going to buy for at least another year or so, so a postponement on that schedule is not a significant change.
Now if I can only stop stopping at the Ford dealership…
Skip the car, Linoge. Depending on how this goes you might need a really big down payment on that future house! 🙂
BTW, what area are you looking in? If you don’t mind me asking.
The bankruptcy law which affected us was written during the Carter Administration not the Clinton adminstration and it was signed by Carter when the Dems controlled Congress.
Our union heads did not and were not responsible for managing our pension plan. It was administered by the Company within the very loose guidelines dictated by the Feds.
Our union heads did attempt to have the pensions put in our name and not split as qualified and unqualified. That attempt was made during our 1996 contract but the ruling from the Clinton administration denied our request.
This week still remains a yawner compared to the recent past.
Eastern TN is about as close as I feel comfortable narrowing it down :). The prices out here are positively beautiful, especially given that we moved here from San Diego, we are just having a hard time finding something we want. Different tastes, insufficient choices, etc.
Hey, it is a nice car… and Better Half and I have more than enough for a 20% downpayment on a midrange house already saved, and I could pay for the car out of paycheck alone. No worries on that front :).
Mike the dem’s didn’t take you pension the Repuks did when they deregulated the Air lines. The outfit you were with went the way of TWA Pan Am and others. god i am so glad Lee beat you ass because i didn’t realize how really dumb you are. besides losing downstate to a guy who would give driver licenses to illegal aliens is really stupid.
The deal with PBGC taking over certain pension funds during bankruptcy is a feature of the law that created PBGC. And that law was signed by Jerry Ford. Courts over the years have weakened the PBGC so that the pension plans are not among the first to get payouts.
Your union heads were certainly responsible to get Delta to stand and deliver on the health of the pension plan. They — like other union heads — let adequate funding of the plan go in favor of making sure that there were raises and benefits. Shame on them for not looking out for your interests for a longer horizon and shame on you for creating your fairy tale of how the government screwed you out of your pension. Delta did that — extraordinarily bad management paid for by the salaries and pensions of the people who make it work.
Geez ,you guys need facts. The CAB was ushered out by Alfred Kahn under Jimmy Carter and not Republicans.
The PBGC has nothing to do with how my pension was aborogated. The law was changed by Carter to create a class of super creditors who had first rights in a bankruptcy. The law also reduced employees to the bottom of the pile when it comes to addressing claims. When you are at the bottom there is nothing left.
Cassandra , you are dead wrong. Our union did indeed attempt to get the pensions in out name but a ruling from Washington would not allow it. Delta funded the pensions according to the very weak standards allowed by law and of course that pension fund was 82% funded when it was cancelled in bankruptcy. Delta elected to drop the pensions despite being 82% funded and federal law backed them up 100%.
There was never any slackening of pension funding for raises and benefits. Our company complied with Federal Law. Take a look at the number of underfunded pensions. I seriously doubt anyone in the private sector will have a pension in 3-5 years.
You guys need a fact checker.
I’m f*****g scared about where we’re headed. My company just went through layoffs last month (it’s a national publishing concern with operations in Delaware), and more are widely rumored to be coming down in the next six months. We’re close to the edge as it is.
* Socking as much as possible into savings.
* Eliminating fast-food purchases and convenience foods. Doing a lot more cooking and brown-bagging.
* As finances permit, stocking up on non-perishable staple foods – canned soups, meats, chili, beans, rice, spaghetti, mac & cheese, tuna fish, powdered milk – in preparation for extended period without a job.
* Repeatedly crunching family budget numbers, over and over and over and over again to figure out possible areas to cut in worst-case scenario.
* Retooling resume and cover letter for variety of situations – job in current professional field, job in new professional field, job at Wal-Mart, temp job.
* Searching the classifieds daily for new opportunities in advance of layoffs.
* Familiarizing myself with information on unemployment benefits.
* Praying…