Unpaid Utility Bills Soaring As Economy Sags: Mass Shut offs looming

reply to post by mybigunit


No offense taken at all. I enjoy people who speak their mind and make a case from their thoughts. I think we even fought a war or 2 over that right of free speech.

Clinton's administration economic growth was the result of Reaganomics continued by Bush the Elder. There is no secret with that. Many people hated Reagan for this or that reason, but the economy flourished under him after he got rid of Carter's economic policies. People will even argue this point about Clinton, but any demoncratic monkey could have ran the economy without screwing it up.

Clinton started changes with his second term which affected Bush the Junior. This is the economy that he has adopted. IMHO, it has only gotten bad in the last several months. Bad being a relative term for high fuel cost which is driving up cost everywhere on everything.

I see the big picture. But when a person is saying prices have gotten so high I can't do this or that, we need to do something about lowering their costs. NO, the guy needs to make changes with their life. Get an education for a better job or get a better job. I'm saying this to anyone who is in this predicament.

Pulling others into poverty by taxation or taxing businesses into bankruptcy isn't the answer because the result would be worse than it will be now.

reply to post by hinky


Understand I hope you dont get the impression Im for higher taxes because Im for NO taxes. The fact is the government spends money like its going out of style and as long as they keep doing that we will and have to be taxed. Lets fix the FED while we are at it too. Clinton had the dot com bubble and bush had the housing bubble...I think the normal working class person made our better on clintons dotcom bubble than gws housing.
Let us not forget that Clinton set Bush up to spike the ball.. Nafta, Gatt, WTO, Dereging the FCC, etc, etc, etc... all Republican Wet dreams..

Bill Clinton goes down as the best 'Republican' President this country ever had.





[edit on 26-4-2008 by mybigunit]

I don't even want to talk about my electric bill. My old apartment house was being renovated so I had to move in November. Heat was included in the old place, in my new one I have electric base boards and drafty windows (its what you get when you're on a set income and can't afford the luxury of a new place) and between it and the rise in food costs I have my eye on an empty culvert nearby. Its looking better all the time.

I feel for all the people who are not able to pay their heat bills. Fortunately, my husband and I invested in an outside wood burner about 4 years ago. We live in the country and have a ready supply of wood.

Since this investment, we haven't had a heat bill in 4 years. I know some of our neighbors paid over 1000 dollars a month this winter

Getting an education isn't the answer either. I got two college degrees. The first college degree I got is worthless, and was soon after I graduated, because companies started shipping the jobs overseas, or they started lowering the standards to where they were hiring people out of high school instead of those with degrees. I was told I was "overqualified" and was refused employment, even flipping burgers. For the places that would hire me, they wanted me to work nights and weekends. I had a baby and daycare cost $4.30/hr. and had long waiting list to get a spot. Minimum wage was $5.15/hour, and after they take out social security and other taxes, you're making nothing after you pay someone to watch your kid. In fact, you're already in the hole. That is before rent, electricity, phone, etc. I had no one to help me with it, and my husband was an abusive person who refused to provide support and got away with it because he was buddy buddy with folks in the legal system. The day care also was only open 6 am to 6pm, thus leaving me with no one to care for my child on nights and weekends. I was totally uneducated about the real world upon exiting high school. I was sold the lie that if you "go to school, make good grades, you can get a job anywhere." That was what was told to me my days from grade school on up. I was also shown these charts about how you make so much more by having a college degree. So, I went to college because that's what everyone indicated I needed to do in order to get a decent job. My financial aid was determined by my abusive husband's income, so I had to get student loans in order to go to college. I qualified for zero grants. After making the honor roll for much the time I was in high school with the adults telling me all those lies I believed about making good grades and getting a job anywhere and that you got a scholarship for making good grades, I received zero scholarships even though I had 100 percent average in algebra for an entire school year. If obtaining 100 percent isn't good enough, nothing will suffice.

So, when I finally got out of the marriage and the state, I thought I could get a job elsewhere with my degree. I was now "overqualified". Well, I had no job and a baby/toddler to support, with zero child support coming in thanks to a corrupt government that not only refused to make my ex pay guideline child support (and still doesn't), but refused to enforce the order that was given. The only job offers required me to work nights and weekends, and there was no night and weekend child care available where I moved to either. So, I went back to college to get the financial aid money to afford things like rent, diapers, etc. The state paid for the daycare and I didn't even want to be in college. I just wanted a job so I could pay my bills. I kept getting the same excuses from employers. Either I was 1) overqualified, 2) not enough experience (try getting that without a job!), or 3) had to work nights and weekends. So, no job for years and I graduate with a bachelor's degree. Okay, so I'm thinking maybe I'll get a job with that. Well, not so fast says society. I either have to have so many years experience, a master's degree, or they had already lowered the requirements to some of the jobs in my field where I'm getting the "overqualified" all over again. So, I went back to college to go to graduate school. More student loans, and after you get a bachelor's degree, no more grants for you. So, now I owe going on $100k in student loans, most of which I wouldn't have if I'd been hired at a job for all those years I wasted time and gas money filling out job applications and going to interviews which resulted in no job.

People kept saying I was lazy, etc and that was why I wasn't being given a job. I'm like well I was told all through school that going to school and making good grades would make it so you could "get a job anywhere". I went to school, made good grades (honor roll), and couldn't get a job anywhere. I actually had employers who were going to hire me suddenly turn me down when they found out I made good grades and would hire a high school dropout instead! I would think that someone making honor roll and later dean's list in college would have proven that they weren't "lazy"... I even had a 4.0 and made president's list one semester, but the employers wanted to hire those who either had C's and D's or flunked/dropped out. What's up with that???

I ended up doing odd jobs in my spare time to get money. Basically, I was self-employed. I did ebay, yahoo auctions, flea markets, etc on the side. I wasn't sitting on my butt doing nothing during that time. I get bored easily and cannot stand not doing anything.

I ended up having to drop out of graduate school because of health problems and the rising tuition costs. I keep having internal bleeding from stress. Plus, graduate school wasn't challenging enough to me and I was bored. Criminal justice graduate school and I'm having to do 10 page movie reviews instead of dealing with criminal justice issues. I wasn't getting that for which what I was paying. The curriculum was so dumbed down it was beyond ridiculous. I get bored really easily. I cannot stand watching movies usually anyway because they're usually so boring or too vulgar. So I was taking out loans to pay over $3k a semester to sit around watching boring movies? And part of the assignment on our ten page papers was to pretend the movies (often science fiction flicks) were real life. Aren't those in the criminal justice field supposed to be professional and have their minds in reality instead of a science fiction flick? It's no wonder the government is so messed up!

I used my savings from the student loans over the years to buy a mobile home out of town and moved away from there. I received a job 2 days after I moved in. I was so used to getting rejected, I was stunned beyond words when I got hired. It's just a no where part time job though, but it pays lot rent and keeps the lights on. The electric bill shot way high during the winter though. I was paying around $250 range and dreaded getting that bill each month. I still do. I'm working 5 days a week and my kid is more energy conscious than I am, but the electric bills for this area are way high. With food being so high, I'm looking to applying for food stamps again, but I don't want to do it. Got to eat though.

reply to post by Divinorumus


Hey Divinorumus why all the negative feelings towards Americans? We may be in a tight spot right now but why the kicking why we are down? I personally would never take pleasure in someone facing difficult times - no matter what differences we may have. The United States spends millions helping other countries in need but yet you act like we deserve hard times financially. I will admit that we make poor financial decisions and place ouselves in debt because credit is/was so easy to get. I know... I have made some poor choices myself. I am not trying to bait you into anargument... I just want to know why all the hatred.

Jessica, I hear that, college is about worthless. I piled up loans for a supposed "education", but i ended up sleeping through class (and still getting 100%). The system was so dumbed down that i ended up TEACHING a couple of my classes when i discovered my teachers were complete idiots. In my Network Infrastructure classes, i showed up everyday with a lecture prepared. It took me 2 freaking days to explain to my instructor how asynchronous transfer mode really worked after he tried to explain it, screwed it all up, and ended up basically lying to the class as to how it worked.

Another instructor in my C programming class couldn't code his way out of a paper bag, he'd constantly make syntax errors and wonder why his code wouldn't work. I amazed him with a piece of code that i used to speed up the refresh rate to the monitor's max before we had all these killer 3d cards out that do that in hardware, he had trouble warpping his head around a concept as simple as fast "multiplication" by bitshifting the memory array.

If you depend on the "education" system, for education well, you're basically screwed. That expensive piece of paper might earn you a dollar more over minimum wage if you're lucky, but i've NEVER used any of my education credentials to get any jobs. I've worked in lots of technical fields before and after i went to college, all college did was put me well into poverty for a few years.

As a high school dropout though, i did get some of my best jobs that way, working in the telecom field, designing and installing infrastructure. I worked as a technician in cleanrooms, working with silicon maglev laser furnaces for "growing" the wafers that become Intel and AMD chips. I used to also engineer specialized telecom hardware. Another was working in overhead imaging, as an optical technician, ensuring that satellite imagery made it onto microfilm from sat feeds with no loss of resolution. I've worked in tons of other technical fields as well, without so much as a high school diploma.

Should i seek a technical job i'd be inclined not to mention any education, as i feel that having a college degree would get me less money than if i demonstrated skill. If i put in an application with college on it, i'd not get the job, but if i just listed my years of field experience in various fields with no education listed, i'd usually end up getting hired.

College has been one of the biggest wastes of time, and it's a trap. It gets people trapped in a situation where if they don't pursue a career in the chosen field of degree, then all that college is a waste of your life. Employers know this and will give you a job, as menial one, sitting in some small cube somewhere doing glorified data entry or something equally banal for just above minimum wage.

I found the best way to get a job is to demand one. Several times i've walked onto a jobsite, found the boss, and asked him what needs to be done, and got some of the best paying jobs by demanding that i be hired. One time, i stormed past the business owner's secretary, barged in the office, and demanded that i be put on the schedule. The next day i was on the team, and ended up being the team leader for the subsequent 2.5 years.

College got me nothing but even more impoverished and caused me to be dependent on the system of grants and loans for the years i spent wastefully.

A college degree just shows a company that you're committed to fulfilling useless tasks, and have proven to be a good drone, that's all it does, it says nothing about your knowledge or skills, because you probaly don't have any new skills, you just have a piece of paper that says you can sit still and listen to a line of BS for 4 years.

if things keep going the way they are i can see food riots and looting of super markets..people will rob and steal just to keep fed and warm...

Originally posted by fworkman
Hey Divinorumus why all the negative feelings towards Americans?

While I've always felt embarrased by how your typical hoity toity greedy selfish American acted and behaved and thinks (i.e. being a minority of the total world population, they seem to feel they are entitled to the majority of the world resources), it was how they acted and reacted to all those so-called illegal humans they were ragging on and trying to toss back into Mexico. I never felt so ashamed and embarrassed to be a US citizen when the majority of Americans wanted to toss them all back where they came from. And this, from a bunch of hypocrites, who's nation was started by annexing the lands of the native Americans, and built using slave labor too. Barf. Barfy hypocrite Americans. Flush, flush them all out to sea!

You shouldn't have tossed those hard working migrant Mexicans back over the fence, you should have tossed your own lazy piggy bottom feeder citizens living on welfare into Mexico. I know many think most Mexicans are criminals and such, but if Mexico is so full of so many yucky people, then why does America have MORE of its own citizens locked up in prison than Mexico or any other nation? 1 out of every 10 Americans are in prison today, a per-capita rate higher than any other nation on Earth. THAT alone should tell you who are becoming the scummy nasty dirty criminal citizens of Earth.

And, if that isn't bad enough, America is ripping off the rest of the world with their funny money trade imbalance. When the rest of the world wakes up realizes the con that has been perpetrated upon them, and the US dollar crashes and becomes worthless, it will be the poor nations that will suffer the most, and all because Americans wanted cheap iPods, iPods that would have costed 10+ times more had they been made by hoity toity overpaid American union criminals that drove jobs away with their wage and benefit extortions.

I can't wait until OPEC starts rejecting depreciating worthless dollars . . . and US citizens are trying to sneak into Canada or Mexico for a chance at a better life .... and then it's their turn to be catapulted back where their nasty asses came from. I'll be laughing laughing laughing on that (payback) day. Karma, and justice, is so cool, huh?

reply to post by Divinorumus


I guess the obvious question is "why have you not moved somewhere else, then?" I like your idea about tossing the lazy welfare folks over the fence, though. Let's also add the whiney, complaining buffoons that do nothing but talk about how bad America is and how they deserve nothing but the worst while we're at it, OK? That would go a long way towards bettering America right there.

reply to post by Divinorumus


Never mind. Just realized you haven't made a post in this thread that merits a response.

Your ignorance is simply astounding. Do you really think, that it's us, the American people responsible for the rest of the worlds pains? What has America done to you, besides apparently offer you a place to live?

I'll gladly take 1,000 illegal Mexicans for every shining example of ignorance like you we can get rid of.

[edit on 4/28/2008 by Unit541]

Originally posted by Charity
The problems in the US economy are just so vast we're all going to be dining with our old friend Austerity soon enough. No matter where we live on God's Good Earth.

Nevertheless it's difficult not to feel a little bit of schadenfreude when we look at the USA. I read a post on another forum a week or so ago from a US contributor whose utility bill was so high he didn't know how he could afford to heat his outdoor pool ... how I laughed. Outdoor pool indeed. My heart bleeds.

I'm sitting here typing away & the house is pretty damned chilly. That's cos I turned the heating off the 1st week of April. The hot water tank is just never switched on except when there's a danger of the pipes freezing. I'm sitting with one light on & that's a low energy bulb too. The only other thing switched on, apart from this ol' craptop, is the tv set. And if I could be arsed getting up I'd switch that off too. My home is all electric and I'm paying £22 pcm. $44. Perhaps the reputation Scots have for penny pinching is justified.

US folks face some really difficult choices, of that I'm sure. But some of us never had your choices in the first place. That's why folks overseas are rather indifferent to your current woes.

Charity? How ironic.

What absurd generalizations I've read here so far... a heated pool, indeed.

It's because of hard-working Americans that we have the choices we do. In fact, I think I'll go jump in mine now. After I crank my heat up to 80 degrees.

Originally posted by Unit541
reply to post by Divinorumus

 

Your ignorance is simply astounding. Do you really think, that it's us, the American people responsible for the rest of the worlds pains? What has America done to you, besides apparently offer you a place to live?

I'll gladly take 1,000 illegal Mexicans for every shining example of ignorance like you we can get rid of.

[edit on 4/28/2008 by Unit541]

AHAHAHA... this is exactly why everyone hates americans.. LMAO

"What has America done to you, besides apparently offer you a place to live?"
ignorance must be bliss I guess... what has america done to it's own people.. hhhmm... let's dwell on that for a moment.
I think the word we are looking for is "rape".

"Do you really think, that it's us, the American people responsible for the rest of the worlds pains?"

LMFAO.. uh, yeah.. a good freakin chunk of it my friend...

time for americans to wake up and stop feeling sorry for your self and your country.. america has been quite the empire for a while, stepping on all the small countries along the way.. telling others how to live.. then when america finally gets it's come-up-ins, we are supposed to feel sorry?
Funk that my friend...

when everything finally goes to pot in the US and people are trying to get into Canada for a better way, I will gladly be one of those canucks standing at the boarder with a gun, waiting. when I hear wheezing, I know americans will be close.

sorry to go off on a big rant, but when is this stupid american chest pounding gonna stop? your country sucks. (the idea and governments of your country.. and about 80% of all the people).

reply to post by pynner


No American wants any other people to feel sorry for them. Nor would we want them to, and we don't want any hand outs. However, nearly any American will take some amount of offense to anyone who blatantly attacks the American people with every sentence. We're (well, the type of American you're addressing here anyway) well aware of what our administrators have done to us, certainly to a greater extent than foreigners in most cases.

It's not Joe American's fault that our country has been marketed the way it has. Generalizations only lead to further generalizing, and just like any other country, American's are offended when we're generalized as a 90210 rerun. We go to work, earn livings the best we can, and try to enjoy a few moments in between. We don't all have overpriced luxury cars, bought with money we don't have, parked in the 6 car garage of a multi-million dollar home we thought we could afford on a $50k salary. Not to mention, most of us here have more problems with our own society than any non-American could imagine.

I'm sorry if anyone here is offended by Americans because they're American, and to anyone who is, I'm sure you'd change your mind if you gave us a chance.

Originally posted by Divinorumus
Funny, I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it. I truly enjoy these "downfall of the USA" stories and reports. By the end of this year, the USA could become the new Mexico of this continent, with US citizens trying to sneak into Canada for a chance at the good life. I laugh my ass off just picturing big fat overweight pompous Americans being hurled back over the fence. Arharharhar, he he he, ha ha ha! Teach! Karmatic payback for treating those other "Earth Citizens" as second rate humans during these last year when those pompous hoity toity elitist BIGOTS were tossing Mexicans back over the fence. I publicly put a super duper curse upon the USA when they started acting like that towards their fellow mankind citizens, and I said there will come a day when THEY themselves will be sorry for the way they have acted, and I'm so tickled with delight to see everything is proceeding AS PLANNED. Funny, funny, funny. Isn't karma WONDERFUL? Yup!

Do you understand what a vocal minority is? I've never lived anywhere but the US and I very rarely meet anyone with the hateful, xenophobic attitude you describe. Maybe you should get a reality check and understand the US is being run into the ground by a small group of people with all the power and the wrong ideas.

reply to post by Divinorumus


Hmmm... well i've been to Canada. Nice place but not somewhere i'd want to sneak into.
And Mexico well.....
Your a very funny person, you make me laugh.
In this day and time i needed that thanks.
Nope i'll just stay here in the good ole USA in a bread line before i would sneak into Canada.
Freakin unreal

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
I guess the obvious question is "why have you not moved somewhere else, then?"

If I told you, you wouldn't believe me ~ not for a good half dozen years. And if you did, you'd probably report me (ha).

Anyhow, if you all want to keep from freezing next winter, stock up on plenty of firewood, and make sure your neighbors do the same (least your home become heating fuel). And make sure you all have some means to heat your stockpiled frozen cans of survival food when you're all sitting in the dark and it's -20°F . . . inside.

Ignore these trolls.

Americans don't have to justify themselves to anyone.

Originally posted by pynner

Originally posted by Unit541
reply to post by Divinorumus

 

Your ignorance is simply astounding. Do you really think, that it's us, the American people responsible for the rest of the worlds pains? What has America done to you, besides apparently offer you a place to live?

I'll gladly take 1,000 illegal Mexicans for every shining example of ignorance like you we can get rid of.

[edit on 4/28/2008 by Unit541]

AHAHAHA... this is exactly why everyone hates americans.. LMAO

"What has America done to you, besides apparently offer you a place to live?"
ignorance must be bliss I guess... what has america done to it's own people.. hhhmm... let's dwell on that for a moment.
I think the word we are looking for is "rape".

"Do you really think, that it's us, the American people responsible for the rest of the worlds pains?"

LMFAO.. uh, yeah.. a good freakin chunk of it my friend...

time for americans to wake up and stop feeling sorry for your self and your country.. america has been quite the empire for a while, stepping on all the small countries along the way.. telling others how to live.. then when america finally gets it's come-up-ins, we are supposed to feel sorry?
Funk that my friend...

when everything finally goes to pot in the US and people are trying to get into Canada for a better way, I will gladly be one of those canucks standing at the boarder with a gun, waiting. when I hear wheezing, I know americans will be close.

sorry to go off on a big rant, but when is this stupid american chest pounding gonna stop? your country sucks. (the idea and governments of your country.. and about 80% of all the people).

Good to see that you have thought that out so well there my friend. It is obvious that you are either some thirteen year old with a rotten attitude or quite possibly the only Canadian with a suicide wish.

Ever stop to think of what will happen to your beautiful socialist empire Canada once the American economy tanks? You people will be eating dirt right along with us. Our two economies are so intertwined that one's failure would be catastrophic for the other.

And on a different note, I could just as easily say that Canada "sucks" and has been propped up by our expanding economy for decades. I could also easily say that your population must be made up of semi retarded hilljacks who wear flannel shirts and moose skin bats.. and I could also say that 80% of you smug, know it all Canadians must be simple minded snow buffoons who attack your neighbors when they are at their lowest.

Not saying I would be right in assuming any of those things, obviously I wouldn't, but based on your logic I figured what the hell. May as well generalize about an entire nation of people. With neighbors like you, who needs enemies?

And for the record, an American breaking into Canada for a better way of life would be the equivalent of fleeing your luxury home and breaking into a Port O John for an upgrade in living quarters. Wouldn't make much sense now would it?

reply to post by BlackOps719


Hey now, if it wasn't for Canada's fascist stance against handguns and the two disgusting, arrogant, liberal, filthy, redeeming quality-less provinces between Manitoba and Newfoundland, Canada would be an awesome place. I'm all for nationalism and basically feel that the rest of the world can feel free to suck the sweat from America's jock. But don't completely rip Canada just because of a few yambags. Now Mexico...