Well, that IS a sad story you've got there, but....

When I am at work, I try to keep my internet surfing to a minimum, because the company deserves all my time and effort, except during lunch time...plus, I don't want to get fired for doing something dumb on the computers.  How do you explain that to your wife...'Sorry honey...I got fired because I couldn't stay off Survivalblog at work today.  Actually, the amazing wife she is, she would probably forgive me for Survivalblog...but you get the point. 

While on the clock, I primarily limit myself to ESPN, Yahoo, Fox News, Wikipedia, and IMDB(mostly at lunch) and....yeah, that's really about it.  Not risking my career on anything too offensive or game-like.  If I need a facebook fix, I have my phone...and as for my blogging habits?  I reserve them for at home...I can't imagine trying to type a major rant on my cell-phone keyboard.

While enjoying my lunch  today, I was bored enough to click on this story, about a Nevada family 'Fighting for survival' in down times.  I thought maybe it was some kind of Time Travel story about a family being thrown back 'down' in time.  But no...it was a piece focusing on a family in the Las Vegas suburbs, where they  'epitomize the dreadful economic situation these days in Nevada'. 



I'm not sure what the objective of the original article was...I suspect it may have been written as a fluffy/teary story...but it hit me quite the opposite. 

The wife in the article is proof positive that things don't happen in a vacuum.  She dropped out of high school at age 14, she got married, got divorced, got a job making $9 an hour at a Victoria's Secret in California, and then after hearing about how there were well paying construction jobs in Las Vegas, moved there.  Once in Las Vegas her first Union Construction job paid $22 an hour, installing fire retardant insulation.

Let's stop right there...Mom is currently 34 years old...only one year younger than me, so, let's try to piece some things together.  Dropped out of school...the article never says if she went back for a GED or not.  At some point, she got married.  The article says she has a 14-year old daughter...nothing about any attempts to better herself in the 6 years between she dropped out of school and had the first kid.  There is also an 8-year old daughter and 5 year old son.  No detail is given about when the divorce happened, but we can assume it was prior to 2004 when she moved to Las Vegas...that means it is likely that both girls are from the 1st husband...timing on the son might be suspect, but it is prior to meeting the guy she married in Las Vegas.  The details aren't important per se, just establishing a pattern.  What did she do to better herself during the 6-years she only had one kid in the house?  My wife completed all her prereq's for nursing school in half that time while raising our first daughter. 

I'm also trying to wrap my mind around $22 an hour to install fireproofing insulation.  I have seen this done before...I'm pretty sure what she was running a blow gun to install insulating foam....at $22 an hour.  When I got out of the Navy and started in the Shipyard, I was hired at $20.50.  My wife wasn't working...we were able to live quite comfortably. 

Now let's meet her new, 2nd Husband, aged 24.  He was an iron worker.  Not sure what he made, WHEN he was employed, but they say the couples combined income was $75,000  At $22 an hour, she was bringing in $45K herself.  The story says the first time she brought him home, there was a 'Rent Due' notice on the door of the house.  He said he wanted to help, and that he wanted to be a dad. 

I know this guy...heck, I almost was this guy.  I went through a stage around 23, 24 where I ended up dating a string of single moms...and almost got trapped in a 'White Knight' phase.  I wanted to prove I could be a Good Guy, and help someone out in trouble.  Getting nookie for me efforts would just have been the icing on the cake...I was ready to contribute to the world! 

Luckily, I got greedy and selfish before I could cause any irreparable damage to my life.  It doesn't sound like this guy was so lucky...so desperate to prove to his mom that he turned out OKAY, he hitched his wagon to a single mom of 3, making $45K a year, who was struggling to make ends meet.  Oh, I'm sure there were feelings there...but, as I said, having almost been this guy, the feeling of being a Good Guy is not the same as the love I feel for my wife and kids, where I am still a Good Guy.

The couple got married in May 2009, the same month they closed on their house, $175 for a 4 bedroom, which doesn't sound too out to lunch.  From their, things went to hell, fast.  She was out of a job in October, he in November.  Over a year later, both are still unemployed.  Last year they earned 38K, from unemployment and racked up $22K in student loans.  He was going to nursing school, she was taking accounting classes, and paying a 'few' months mortgage. 

Believe it or not, money problems are leading to tension in their marriage.  He has threatened to leave 3 times in the last year(Not even the 2nd full year of marriage)...it's got to be tough for him....waking up one day and thinking 'Holy Crap, I am flushing my life down the toilet...what was I thinking!?!?!?!?!?' 

Let's see...a few other specific things about the article which sparked my ire.  About two-thirds of the way through there was this gem: 'There were no more trips to Disneyland' implying that at one point there were trips to Disney.  As a supervisor in the Shipyard, my salary was higher than their stated combined salary...there were no trips to Disney for us either...guess we were busy preparing for a time when things might not be as bountiful as they were then.  

 Then there was the final paragraph:

On a recent morning, she was yelling at Logan to take a shower when the car insurance company called. Mounds of dirty and clean clothes teetered near the laundry room, stacks of textbooks decorated the master bedroom and Logan ran naked through the house, barreling toward the television.
 What does any of that have to do with being 'poor'?  Sounds like a Thursday night at our apartment, when I'm sorting laundry in preparation for a Friday trip to the laundromat, and trying to get get my 5-year old in her bath.  That is life...

I am not trying to belittle how bad things are economically in Las Vegas.  A lot of hopes were put on the boom continuing...which is an unrealistic expectation.  One can somewhat expect slow, controlled growth to keep going, but the record growth the were going through is Vegas was bound to hit a painful ceiling at some point.  

The greater the climb, the higher the fall.