The Economic Downturn..

[RVR II]

Kind of a 'Cold Reality' topic, but it's to the point..

My wife and I have been involved with my Brother in law's immigration case since it began in June of Last year simply for over staying his Visa..
We've watched a hard working person living the American Dream, have his kingdom literally tore down over the last 15 months..
After a lengthy battle with his immigration case, he was forced to return to Mexico in June of this year and is banned from reentering the U.S. for 10 years.
He then decided to move his wife and two kids to Mexico in August and hence my purchasing of the 98 Ford F150 which was loaded up with as much of their personal belongings as they could fit in the truck and made the one way trip south in September.

We now have full Power of Attorney over his house which we have been trying to sell for several months now to no avail, but luckily we have found some people willing to rent it till it is sold.
They had a 2004 Nissan Xterra that had to be turned back into the dealer cause they were so upsidedown on it, and I wasn't gonna take responsibility of it. I have his 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo that we basically traded title for title for the 98 Ford truck that's now in Mexico. I've been trying to sell it also, but again no luck.. Mostly because of the economy, but also because it is too old to be allowed in Mexico; cars, mini vans, and SUV's older than 10 years are not allowed into Mexico, but trucks that are 10 - 15 years old are allowed into Mexico.. Yeah, it's an unusual law..
I'll probably wind up trading the Jeep in on another full size truck; 1995 - 1999 Full size Ford, Chevy/GMC, Dodge because those are the trucks prized by Mexicans to send south to their families in Mexico.
We also have their riding lawn mower that I have no use for cause my yard is not that big.. I may try to swap it for a 5000 watt portable generator cause I could use that..
Everything else is just cloths and misc kids stuff that'll eventually end up at the GoodWill..

Anyway, now that I've had time to reflect, it has been a sad process watching people's worlds fall apart like this first hand.
I hear about it all the time locally and on the news about the foreclosures, repossessions, lives just turned completely inside out and all I do is try to keep that from happening to us.

[RVR II]

I'm ressurecting this not just for my personal case above, but after hearing about other cases in the news like..

An investor working for a Fortune 500 company making over $70,000 per year, being laid off and is currently working as a Janitor for only $12 per hour!

Wholy Crap, Dude!! Has it Really gotten that bad out there now?!

As a small business owner, we've seen a major drop this tax season, and actually laid off another one of our part time girls, and we're looking after tax season April 15, what will we be limiting and/or doing to hunker down for surviving this economy long term??

[Compound]

Yeah, a couple of weeks ago on the news, they were doing stories on the troubled job markets. One of the people they talked to was a computer guy who handled servers at a Fortune 500 company, pulled in over $100,000 a year. He's been out of work for a year now, and according to him he wasn't even able to get a job waiting tables. (Personally, I think he should probably start his own business at this point, but they didn't ask me.) They also reported that some of the VPs and other higher-ups at the failed financial companies around town had been working at Walmart, but since they didn't actually show one of those people, I'm a bit skeptical.

Oh, and still looking myself. There's plenty of comission-only places hiring though.

[ebeth]

I went back to school because I can't find a job in my field (journalism) and now that newspapers are crashing and all the magazines I subscribe to are folding it looks like I won't be working in traditional journalism anytime soon.  Luckily my boyfriend is a professor and when the economy goes down the toilet, enrollment in colleges rise so at least he's safe.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Luckily my boyfriend is a professor and when the economy goes down the toilet, enrollment in colleges rise so at least he's safe.

Not necessarily.  Don't remember all the details from the story but.....they were talking about cut backs at a local college on the Charlotte, SC radio station I listen to at night.  They're cutting classes especially on the weekends because of lack of funds.  The report said that it was going to cause problems for anyone who were working on their degrees while working days.

Wholy Crap, Dude!! Has it Really gotten that bad out there now?!

Yes.  And because people like that are taking those jobs the people who would normally get them are really SOL.

Caught the end of Coast to Coast AM this morning and hear a lady who wanted to talk to the guest who was a medium....she was asking if he could tell her what was going to happen to her since if she went on living where she was, she was going to run out of money and end up homeless or should she move to another town...and either way it was breaking her heart because she wasn't going to be able to keep her pets.  My heart broke for her.   

[RVR II]

I mean.. WOW!

My small business has taken a hit as of late and we've had to lay off another part time girl, but Man! Luckily, we closed on our refinance yesterday and currently awaiting the distribution checks so we can pay off several credit accounts (credit cards, lines of credit, etc) which will save us over $800 a month, and then.. We're saving all we can that we make from the rest of tax season and then we'll prepare for the worst, but hope for the best..

[RVR II]

+Beware of new 'stimulus' scams..

Free money from stimulus? Are you kidding?
Web sites offering grant money from the government are bogus
 
Have you heard? The government is giving away free money! It's all part of the Obama stimulus package. These government grants can be used for anything: buy a car, purchase a home, start a business or pay your credit card bills. Even take a vacation. And here's the best part – because this is a grant, you never have to repay the money.

How do I know this? It's all over the web. Just search "stimulus" or "government grants" and see what comes up. You'll find site after site that promises to show you how to get your share of the "billions of dollars which go unclaimed each year."

Con artists are creating phony web sites with names like PresidentObamaGrants.com and FederalGovernmentGrantSolutions.com. "They're advertising them on search engines like Google and on social networking sites like Facebook. They're also promoting them in chat rooms," says Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America.

The scammers even create bogus blogs, to tout and drive traffic to their sites. I clicked on OfficialStimulusPayments.com which took me to "Jessica's Money Blog." Jessica, who does not give her last name, wants everyone to know how she got a $12,000 check from the government to start her own $5,000 a month business. She claims she learned how to get this free money from a site called GrantsForYou.com and she urges readers to get their share of the loot.

"Don't fall for it," warns Eileen Harrington, acting director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "There is no money in the stimulus package to send out individual checks to people."

The Grant University gets a failing grade
The Better Business Bureau has received hundreds of complaints from people across the country who took the bait. Instead of a grant, these victims got unexpected charges on their credit or debit card accounts.

In the past year, about 350 people complained to the BBB about a web site called The Grant University run by a company located in Draper, Utah. Tracie Oberlies is one of them. "I think they're scam artists," she says.

Oberlies wanted to buy a small farm in her hometown of Lugoff, S.C. She hoped the Grant University would help her get the money. The web site offers a 7-day trial membership for just $1.98. It gives you access to the company's site plus a disc called "The Grant Professor." Oberlies was unable to log on to the site, even when her disc arrived – 11 days after her order.

She called the company to cancel "and they kept giving me the runaround." They told her it was too late to cancel and they would not refund the first month's membership fee of $69.95 they had billed to her credit card.

In her complaint to the BBB Oberlies writes, "I have contacted them a minimum of ten different occasions and they continuously hang up on me and refuse to allow me to speak with a supervisor." Eventually Oberlies got her money back, but only after she told the company she was going to go to the news media with her story.

The BBB gives The Grant University an "F" rating, its lowest grade. Jane Driggs, president of the BBB in Salt Lake City tells me that rating is based on the volume of complaints and the failure to resolve many of them.

"They are preying on people who really think they are going to get the free money," Driggs says. "And there is no free money."

Just the tip of the iceberg
A company in Las Vegas called The Grant Instructor has generated even more complaints – 450 so far. The BBB says the company, which also has an "F" grade, runs at least two dozen sites with names such as: American Grant Club, Get My Grant, Grant Dollars, Grants Are Easy, Grant Resource Center and Your American Grant.

Christopher Gaffer of Mankato, Minn. stumbled onto one of their sites called "The Grant Search." Gaffer is on the board of a non-profit group in Mankato that helps provide affordable housing. Part of their funding comes from grants. Gaffer went online to look for new funding opportunities.

The initial cost was just $1.95 for seven days access to the Grant Search database. Gaffer paid but never got his access code. Seven days later, he found a charge for $49.50 on his credit card for "a recurring monthly membership." Gaffer tried to contact the company but could not find a phone number or e-mail address. "It was a nightmare," he says.

After complaining to the BBB and waiting a long time, Gaffer got a partial refund of $24.50. "It's a scam," he says. And he wants others to learn from his mistake.

I contacted both The Grant University and The Grant Search and did not receive a response to my request for a comment.

The bottom line
The Federal government does give out billions of dollars in grant money every year. Most of these grants either help students pay for college or are for clearly defined reasons, such as research or charitable work.

No one has to pay to get a list of government grants or to apply for one. More importantly, no company can "guarantee" you'll receive grant money. You'll find all the information you need at free government web sites, such as: http://www.grants.gov/, http://www.studentaid.ed.gov/, http://www.govbenefits.gov/ and http://www.sba.gov/.

One more warning: Some grant scams come in the form of an e-mail offering you the chance to get free money. These are phishing scams sent by identity thieves who hope to steal your personal information. NEVER respond to one of these emails.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Reminds me of the scumbags who were calling people with family missing in the World Trade Center - asking family for Social Security numbers and other personal information while passing themselves off as the authorities.

There are people out there who are just plain evil.   

[RVR II]

WOW! This Sux..

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/rF2tXl5-TcQ

[Bob]

Hmmmmm "Video no longer available".

Wonder what the video was.....

1.   People petting puppies?
2.   Kids kissing kittens?
3.   Sisters shelling shrimps?

[RVR II]

Hmmmmm "Video no longer available".

It's still playing from my end..

[RVR II]

I've adjusted the thread title to reflect the issue as a whole..

The first half of this year (2009) went better than expected:
1) We successfully Refied our house,
2) Payed off almost $30,000 of debt (cashing in our CD's and Money Markets),
3) Built our 3rd bedroom and 2nd bathroom addition, &
4) Went to Mexico and spent my 40th B-day in Cancun

Goals set and accomplished!

Now as August is approaching, the our slow season has hit Big Time! Since returning the 3rd week in June, we've had very few customers, and we've had to tap into our remaining savings to cover the bills..
We're already restrategizing our ways to bring in more income; like onsight services. Going  to different areas or towns and setting up shop for a day to see if we can drum up some more business and income to carry us through till December.
I'm actually looking at the possability of making another road trip to Mexico for a couple customers wanting to get their trucks to the Mexico border.. 

Otherwise, we won't make it to the end of this year..

[carlobee]

oh no. this is just sad to hear. hope things will not eventually get worse for all of us to the point that it will happen to a lot of us.

[Tripe]

Economists say sorry mum.

A British newspaper reported Sunday that a group of eminent economists have apologized to Queen Elizabeth II for failing to predict the financial crisis.

The Observer newspaper reported that a letter has been sent to the Queen after she demanded, during a visit to the London School of Economics last November, to know why nobody had anticipated the credit crunch.

According to the newspaper, the letter says that says "financial wizards" who believed that their plans to manage risky debts and protect the financial system were infallible were guilty of "wishful thinking combined with hubris."

Brenda was reported to have replied "Bloody right!" before turning to a footman and ordering "Wilkins, go and give them all Chelsea smiles."

[rebisaz]

I've adjusted the thread title to reflect the issue as a whole..

The first half of this year (2009) went better than expected:
1) We successfully Refied our house,
2) Payed off almost $30,000 of debt (cashing in our CD's and Money Markets),
3) Built our 3rd bedroom and 2nd bathroom addition, &
4) Went to Mexico and spent my 40th B-day in Cancun

Goals set and accomplished!

Now as August is approaching, the our slow season has hit Big Time! Since returning the 3rd week in June, we've had very few customers, and we've had to tap into our remaining savings to cover the bills..
We're already restrategizing our ways to bring in more income; like onsight services. Going  to different areas or towns and setting up shop for a day to see if we can drum up some more business and income to carry us through till December.
I'm actually looking at the possability of making another road trip to Mexico for a couple customers wanting to get their trucks to the Mexico border.. 

Otherwise, we won't make it to the end of this year..

I'm hoping for the best for you RVR II. 

I have similar anxieties. Friends in my field who were laid off have been looking for jobs for months. My contract is up at the end of the year and I'm not sure what will happen beyond that.

I really hope your business pulls through.