Part of the problem is that a bunch of rich people moved into our safe poor traditionally cheap neighborhood and raised rent exponentially for our 1 bedroom apt. I can’t feel sorry for foreclosed people, you at least get to rent. Where do renters go then? They become homeless… which me and my mom are about to become.

Another problem is that my mom had breast cancer and her medicine is something like $100 a month and her health insurance was raised (it’s something ridiculous now: $700 for her only). We can’t change the insurance because we have experience in the past with her slipped disc and no other insurances taking her up (yes it does happen despite what companies say). My mom can’t get a better paying job with a large company because they discriminate against her English (she’s lived here for 20+ years and she has 18+ years of experience and is extremely competent). I am a linguist and I can understand every word… she usually has a bunch of mean uneducated unworldly coworkers that make fun of her accent even in the lower paying jobs.

I’m a student so I pay for my own expenses from financial aid and I’m doing my best to help her out but I’m still having trouble. (Funny… my dorm is the same price as when I will move out, pay my mom’s rent and commute an hour to school every day.)

It makes me incredibly angry that society forces people into this class-lowering cycle. If we become homeless, people will get angry about parking our car/living in our car in a parking lot or street… people get angry if we use public showers… if we can’t use those we can’t get jobs and thus become even poorer! Cardboard box time!

People keep saying to cut costs… but how can you cut costs like food or medicine? Are we supposed to starve or is my mom supposed to let her cancer run amok? My mom’s essential expenditures (rent, food) exceed her income. My mom rarely buys things like clothes, etc. I’m close to putting a gun in my mouth at this point.

What we didn’t do was: take out a home equity loan, have any credit card debt, get a complicated “no interest now” mortgage loan that had the incredible increasing interest rate, make risky investments or get involved in “get rich quick” schemes.

The result? We have paid off our mortgage, I have retired from my job early and am going back to college for a masters degree, we will never have to take out a loan for anything ever again and we are doing well. And we still live beneath our means, because you just never know what tomorrow will bring.

I graduated in 2006, and now I make more than three times what I was making before I was in 2001. I took a huge chance quitting a decent-paying job and changing careers, but it paid off for me.

But we perservered, and now that business has grown from $50k in sales to $20 million. The American Dream is alive and well my friends, but it takes risk- and I’m afraid that too many people don’t want to take it and then blame the government when they don’t make it themselves.

Let’s say you currently have 10 years experience as a widget maker. The real question is if you would have been better off in 2001 as a widget maker with 10 years experience, or in 2008 as a widget maker with 10 years experience, after adjusting for inflation. I am willing to bet that you would be better off in 2001, where at least you could afford food and gas.

I just wish I could go back in time to a couple of years ago. I would change my purchasing decisions on about 99% of what I bought.