Sep 30, 2008 10:39 am US/Central
Viewer Comments: Impact Of Economic Crisis
We asked viewers how the economic crisis is affecting your family. Here are your responses: Our income has dropped 60% within the last 2 years, we have cleaned out our IRA's, cashed in Life Insurance policies, and drained our savings accounts. We tried to sell our home but there are so many foreclosures around that we couldn't come close to getting just what we owed. And the worst part is we are not alone! There's nothing left yet the CEO's on Wall Street are still getting their huge bonus checks and paychecks. What's next? - Claudia
My son is trying to buy his first house and it is impossible to secure a mortgage because of the economic crisis. People can't sell their houses, people can't get a mortgage to buy a house. The price of gas and food is outrageous along with the prices of everything else. We cannot afford to do the essentials to survive and it is getting worse every day. – Jean
I have to stretch my check to cover higher cost of gas and everything else. I think for the bailout they should give every person 21 and over a million dollars. We could pay off our mortgages and credit cards and any other debt that we have, in turn this would put money back into wall street, the banks, travel industry and the service industries. Congress would not have to worry about mainstreet and it will be alot less then 600 trillion dollars. Just think of it as another stimulatiom plan for the taxpayers, but this tome it would be enough money to REALLY make a difference, not 600 dollars. – pam
In August I had to make a choice to buy my medication for my diabetes or pay my mortgage. It is a real shame that it has taken this long for Mr. Bush to realize that we are in the middle of an economic disaster. the people have know it for the past 3 years. It is a shame that our president didn't seem to notice 3 years ago when the housing crunch started, ya see he was too busy making money on his oil investments, he was doing good, so everyone must be too! Shame on Mr. Bush for being so out of touch with the american people. I blame Bush and his ignorance for the problems like the price of gas, the housing slump, the price of food, etc... Bush didn't seem to care until now, he should go down as the worst president in American history for not caring about the American people and our economic future until it was almost too late. – Lois Bentley
Stessful alittle....but I can not control what is going to happen........concerned yes...again to be honest this does not surprise me...may be this a by product of a "Global Economy"...all in the name of profit and screw the middle class. – Roger Hildreth
The crisis is affecting my family in that I have lost my job just over three months ago. I have agressivley been pusuing new opportunities, without any light at the end of the tunnel in the IT market. We will be using our savings to stay afloat and maintain our motgage. However, I don't expect that to last very long. :-( - Bob
People keep raising prices on food, gas, electric, water and anything else they can; therefore making it harder for people to make their payments. The government keeps letting things go higher in price, hurting those who pay taxes, which is the majority of the nation. Once prices get so high, how do you think people are going to keep paying to just live in their homes? and to eat? Since prices have gone up on gas and food and everything else, we barely pay our bills now and have little food, even though the salary is good. I have to decide which bill money I am going to use to buy gas. Plus I do not have enough gas to go sit with my neice off and on which is terminally ill and needs my help. Even the cost of a doctor is so high for those that do not have insurance, it is pathetic. And the government still thinks that it can keep squeezing money out of the nation's people, no wonder we are in the mess we are in today. That is my opinion. While they are sitting up there in their luxury, the nation's people are suffering and has been for awhile. They need to lower things again to where the family's of this nation can breathe and be able to buy food for their family without going behind on their bills. But as long as they keep raising gas, electric, water, food, and anything else we need it is going to get worse not better. Government is totally blind to how all this has effected the people, but now it is hitting hard. – Cheryl
Why does the government feel the need to support the system that is driving us to ruin? Shouldn't we revamp the system and get rid of those companies and people? No need to reward the idiots that have taken us as fools. The people are now the ones that have to pay for believing in a economy based on a credit pyramid that has now failed. I personally have lost so much that I also have stopped totally many of my old spending habits. I work two jobs and my husband has learned to cope with home repairs himself. We no longer hire out labor nor intend to spend anything on frivoloty. We had a substantial income but it now is shakey due to a flooded job market. We are preparing for more economic collapse since we now believe that the government cannot stave off the problem just by printing more money..We do not know what to do,but, like 911 it will never be the same again. – Mrs. Wolfe
It's sad when you have to choose between Academics, sports, food, gas or bills. We need to get out of this recession – Laura Doestch
We are lucky - we have saved and paid off our mortgage prior to this crash. I'm certainly concerned about my retirement. But I can't help but be irritated at the mortgage broker complaining about how hard it is now. He certainly wasn't complaining when the real estate market was booming. – catie
I'm a working stiff who HAD and I mean HAD a retirement fund diversified with several companies. I lost so much, so fast my retirement is now not going to happen. I've had to stop completely any vacation,travel,entertainment expense immediately. I am also not driving unless I can combine these shorter shopping trips to the essentials. All but the essential buying has stopped. I hate the idea of a bailout because it will not be me that bailed out- just the multi milionairs that got us in trouble to begin with.. – Dave B
I want to know why the goverment is willing to bail out the big guys but wont help the people who really need it? Also what kind of punishment are these big wigs in since they made this mess to begin with, it is really bad that i have to decide to either pay for gas or feed my children. This is not a problem that popped up over night it has been in the making for quite a few years long enough for those ceo and upper management to stuff their pockets, aint no way we should help them out of this mess, especially if they are not going to do anything but sit on their big butts and get richer at our expense.They shouldnt get any salary until the company straightens out again.So these guys with 7 mansions 2 yachts and endless numbers of cars let them worry about if they are gonna feed their children or put gas into the car to get back and forth to work let them realize it is our taxes that are going to help them and as I see they wont care as long as some of those dollar bills are going into their pockets.You gotta realize a lot of us already live paycheck to pay check so if the economy goes to hell it wont hurt us much,when you dont have money to spend on stocks and bonds or put extra money in your savings account alot of us live that way everyday. – Deb
It has devastated my family. We lost our home due to a lost of income (about 80%). We lost our savings fighting to save our home. It saddens and angers me that there is no bail out plan for the American citizens. Washington only seeks to bail out those who have orchestrated and profited from this crisis (aka scam)no matter what they may claim. Who cares about us? What can we do to fight skyrocketing costs of living at every turn? There is no relief for the middle class and the poor. While Congress argues over how to split the $700B pie, millions of Americans, like myself, will be greeted by the sheriff any day now. I thank God that I still have a job and somewhere to go. God has blessed me. Many of my fellow Americans do not have even that. Enjoy your windfall Washington and Lenders. - Claudia R. Palos Park
Im only a sixteen year old kid and live with my single mom. Currently we are just scrraping by (due to gas prices) i just got a job and i'm waiting for my first pay check to help pay bills. – Kevin
Despite being totally conservative and not even taking a vacation in 7 years or or going to a movie in 5 years, and with no raise at work for 3 years, I've used up all my savings and I've had to dig into my cash value of my life insurance to prevent from losing my house. My car has 113,000 miles on it and I can't afford to fix it up or buy a new one! Other then that things are great! – Scott
We are a military family trying to sell our home in IL because of a required transfer. With the down fall of the market we are currently unable to sell and are now facing additional hardship with my husband returning from deployment and not being able to afford a place for him or us to live in his transferred state. We will not be able to see him until he is able to go on leave from his current duty station. Thanks America! – Patricia
I have already run up all my credit cards just trying to pay for my gas and groceries. I cannot afford anything. I lost one job, barely got any raise at my other job, certainly not enough to cover the never-ending increase in the price of everyday things. I don't go anywhere but work and college anymore. I have no money for anything other than living expenses and that is getting increasingly hard. I pulled my 401K to pay some bills and because it was losing money hand over fist. It is a terrible time for the country and those who caused it should pay for it, NOT those who it is affecting. Why don't these bigwigs give up their salaries to pull us out of the problem they created instead of putting it on the backs of us, our children, grandchildren and their children...this administration has created a terrible situation. It needs to be fixed and soon!! – Carolyn
My husband is a mortgage consultant and is unable to close loans. He is stressed about our household income if government doesn't do something quickly. – Christine
We watch for sales. Fill our cars with gas when we see prices low. We are also trying to put some more money aside for savings in case things get worse and we need the extra money. – Rhonda
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