For the prior eight years, I have been using the phrase, "when the revolution comes," referring directly to the concept that at some point, the greed and shortsightedness of the extremely wealthy in the United States would have to come to an end; the people of this country could only tolerate it to so many lengths.
After this economic collapse, many people are now questioning their priorities.
Image a couple in suburban America; let's call them Harry and Louise. Harry was a successful financial securities worker, Louise had a successful job in telecommunications. They live together in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and work in Manhattan. They have two children currently attending a private High School; one is preparing to graduate this summer, and the other will graduate in 2010.
In the Summer of 2008, Louise was called into her managers office; a merger that the executives committed to a few years earlier was failing, and they needed to cut staff in order to maintain "windfall profits". Louise was shocked, she thought her job was secure, she asked what happened to the executives to committed to the failed merger, and why some profits weren't good enough. She was told, "well the CEOs are very stressed, so they were given $52 Million in bonuses. We have to improve profits so the CEO can get a bigger bonus this year; he has a house next to Martha Stuarts to pay for, after all."
Louise was despondent and stressed; how would they survive when they only had one income, and where would she find another job? Well, jobs are a dime a dozen, even in a recession. That evening, when Harry and Louise discussed the situation, after a brief moment of domestic abuse and Louise covering up her bruises with some blush she had purchased the week earlier at Nordstroms, they sat down for a frank discussion about the next steps.
They decided the next step was for Louise to begin looking for another job. She wouldn't accept any less than $125,000 as a starting salary, and she would begin her job search the next day. At least they a six month savings, the college fund was well funded, and so there shouldn't be any major problems.
They continued to live a lifestyle of typical suburbanites; eating out frequently, children remained in private school, and they went to weekly performances in Manhattan; only the best seats, of course. The health insurance was switched to Harry's employers; Louise had much better coverage, but at least with this 'life change', they would still be covered by their HMO.
In October 2008, Harry and Louise made a large donation to the compaign of John McCain; their primary concerns were taxes and healthcare; they didn't want to pay for the healthcare of the poor if they, according to them, 'couldn't be bothers to find decent jobs with good health benefits." Louise still has not found employment, but they felt between all of the national issues, plus the gay marriage issue facing Connecticut, they needed to act to ensure that Republican leadership continued to maintain their lifestyle.
In November, 2008, Barack Obama was elected President of the United States. The next day, Harry was called into his manager's office.
"Harry, you have worked here for fifteen years. However, with a Democrat now in office, we decided that rather than dealing with possible regulation, that we would just sell the firm to a competitor. We apologize, but there simply isn't any money in the budget to provide you with a large severance."
Harry, confused, said "what happened to the
TARP money that was given to the company to bail us out?"
Harry's boss chuckled, "well, after the executive compensation plan, that money is gone. After all, $234 million in bonus money can only go so far."
Harry took the train home to his 5200 Square Foot home in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and again they were faced with the discussion between Harry and Louise on what happened to them, and their next steps. After some loud arguing, and a quick trip to the ER to set Louise's broken arm after she "fell down the stairs", they thought about what their next steps were going to be. Louise has had no luck finding employment; she was offered a few jobs but they only paid $75,000 or so, and that simply wasn't enough.
On November 15, Harry and Louise received a letter from their bank. It read:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. American,
Effective January 1, 2009, your Adjustable Rate Interest Mortgage will now be placed at an Interest Rate of 14.6%. if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call our customer care center at 866-GET-LOST, and one of our care representatives will be happy to help you from the call center we outsourced to in the slums of Mumbai.
We would thank you for reading this letter, but it isn't like you have a choice at this point.
Sincerely,
Dewey C. Howe
Executive VP, Customer Care
Harry and Louise began to look at their budgets, and Louise began to feel dizzy. "Harry, I don't feel well...." and she collapsed on the floor.
At the emergency room, the doctor came out, looking slightly distant, "Harry, we need to talk..." he began. "Louise is very sick. We believe it is cancer." Harry sighed, thinking everything was going wrong, but he was still positive it would all work out.
On December 5, 2008, Louise was officially diagnosed with breast cancer, which had spread to other organs in her body. The only think Harry could think was, "thank god for Cobra. It is costing us a fortune, and has drained the savings and college funds to pay for it, but at least we have health insurance."
On December 15, 2008, Harry received a call from the hospital, informing him the administrator needed to have a word with him. When he arrived at the administrator's office, the speakerphone was turned on; Harry could tell by the light and the muffled sounds in the background. "Harry, your insurance company is on the line. They have declined to cover Louise's medical bills because it was determined, based on how far the cancer had spread, that it was a pre-existing condition." Harry was shocked, "but we've had medical coverage for years."
On the speakerphone, the voice spoke up, "yes, but that was under Louise's coverage until recently. Because you switched to another contract plan under a different employer, that coverage reset, and is no longer valid."
Without being able to authorize further expenses, and the doctors unwilling and unable to do anything outside of basic treatment that the insurance company would authorize, Louise died on December 25.
Now a single father with two children, one of which about to graduate High School, Harry had to figure out what to do; his mortgage payments were going to sharply rise, and he only had $650 in all the bank accounts; the financial crises wiped out all of their investments.
After Christmas, Harry had to pull the children from their private school and move them to a Public school. Unfortunately, because the Private school had not been teaching to proper academic standards, the youngest child was told she would have to remain in school one extra year; the graduating child was in before the school went to a 'creationism based science model' and therefore could continue to graduate from the Public school.
As the months progressed, Harry was unable to find work. His mortgage payments were several months late when the foreclosure notice came; he could not afford the house he was in. He couldn't afford it before, of course, but with a two income household, and home equity loans, they were just waiting it out until the price of homes went up. He put the home on the market, but his debt of $1.2 Million far outweighed the homes $325,000 current market value; and even then, homes in the neighborhood were taking 6-9 months to sell, if not longer.
In late February, Harry took his two children and moved from their home to New Haven, where they applied for government assistance, and subsidized housing. They were turned down; a state senator Harry had supported from the 2006 election voted to cut funding to aiding the poverty stricken.
Harry is now a single father with two children, homeless. His oldest child, with excellent grades up until Christmas, and the fact that she was a legacy, was a sure acceptance to Yale. Instead, they walk around the the Yale campus, knowing that the opportunity will never come. Even if accepted, Harry could never afford to send his child there; the tuition was too expensive. As a matter of fact, with no income, no savings, and no home, Harry couldn't even afford to send his children to Public College.
His daughters began soliciting themselves for sex on Craigslist; they had clothes to buy, and if their father wouldn't buy them all the things they wanted, then they would find a daddy who would.
On March 5, 2009, Harry sold his daughters' prostitution business to a gentlemen in downtown New Haven for $250, took the money, and dropped it off at the Republic party headquarters before jumping into traffic merging from I-84 to I-91 North, and being hit by a semi-trailer truck, ending his life instantly. He had lost everything, and he would not be a drain on society; the money he gave would help in the fight against the rights of the poverty stricken; Harry's final words before the truck struck him, "damn lazy people, why can't they just go get a job."
