Economic Woes

Man, aren't we all feeling the wonderful effects of our economy lately. My girlfriend Christi has a daughter who is 7 years old, very cute and smart little girl. Christi and I were talking and she told me a story the other day about when she and her daughter were driving in the car about a week or so ago. It was quiet and her daughter began to talk. She said "mom, 2009 has sure started out bad and our economy is just not doing very well". Reminder, she is 7! Christi didn't even know how to respond. Even our kids hear and feel the wrath of what is going on. Pretty scary.

Each time we do anything even as simple as turn on our TVs we are reminded of how horrible things really are. It's like every commercial I see lately is geered around "economic stiumulous sale, or bailout deals on all items". I even saw a Hundai commercial the other day that claims "if you lose your job, bring your car back"! WHAT IS GOING ON PEOPLE?

Nick and I work for UnitedHealth Group. About 6 or so months ago they laid off about 4,000 people. Everyone was in shock. Now every day you hear about a different company closing down, laying off, cutting salaries. It's madness! Our company announced the other day that we are not going to be receiving any sort of anual increase (raise) this year, and the way it looks possibly next year as well. Bummer. As bad as that sucks, I thought really hard about it, and you know, I really am just happy to have a job at this point.

I hate thinking about it, or worrying about it, but how bad will it get before it gets better? Will it turn around in time for our kids to miss it? Can it still get worse? Have we not seen all of the effects yet? Hopefully a new year, a new president will help. Who knows.