Occupy Main Street: Desperately Seeking Democracy

That was an excellent read.

Jobless_in_Ma wrote:That was an excellent read.

It was a great article. Did we really have it better? Were all the material things worth it? We got caught up in the greed and didn't pay attention to what was happening around us. In a way, we are partially responsible for the world we live in now.

I agree to a certain extent, we didn't cause the financial collapse. Yes, we all like things, but things were attainable without going totally overboard, which we all agree has happened in the last decade particularly.

I will share this with you, not making judgements, but about one made on us. When we moved here in August, we left a big old rented house nearby, bills were getting ridiculous, and we are too old to keep up with a huge property that we don't own. Through the USDA, we were able to get a nice townhouse because Rich is still working. We now have our own home for less than the rental with all it's expenses. for the last year Rich has taken care of me, financially, I mean everything. I receive food stamps and $120/mo for medical from the State of NJ. Simply put, the burden has all been on him and he has never once complained.Since being laid off, we have been as careful as we can regarding finances, if it isn't broken, it's not replaced. If we can't pay cash for it, without robbing peter to pay paul, it doesn't get purchased. everything I had is gone. We have all of Rich's things here with us. Thankfully, the computer.

One moving day, the kids in the neighborhood, who are so cute, were outside "helping" me and the movers. Everyone of them was appauled that we don't have new furniture and flat screens. Please know, not one of them is a bad kid, they are all adorable and I love them being around, but my point is, THINGS. We have pushed this attitude of things into their minds. This neighborhood, while nice, has it's share of unemployed, single mothers with children and parents living with them for support, tough times have been seen by this neighborhood, they aren't exempt. I had a big lump in my throat for lots of reasons that day, what I couldn't help with financially, how much longer with no job or no benefits and hardest of all to swallow was these cute kids having the attitude that we didn't have what we should have, because things matter at any cost.

So I have to agree with DIRI, we didn't pay enough attention to what was happening around us, but we weren't alone. What really hurts is that no one seems to want to fix the problem. So we continue to wait and hurt and hope that some help will come.