[Werewoman]

I think it will still get worse before it gets better. What's happening in CA and FL is happening elsewhere, and will continue to spread.

Sparrow, you work for a very smart employer. I don't agree with government bailouts by a long shot, but it seems to me that when President Obama bailed out those large corporations, he cut off our economic nose to spite our faces. Who does he think supports those huge corporations? It's small businesses like ours that are the real backbone of the american economy since most of the manufacturing was sent overseas back in the '80's. Since we were tied into the construction industry, it hit us hard and fast early on. It would have been smarter if we had bailed out at the end of 2008, but we thought we could ride it out, and we felt we had put too much blood, sweat, and tears into to just walk away. In the end, we had no choice. It was costing us more to run it than we could bring in. We maxed out our line of credit at the bank and couldn't pay it back. We'd go broke and file for bankruptcy, but we can't afford the attorney fees right now.

If the government did more to support small businesses, I think there might be a chance we can turn things around before half the population ends up in the same boat I'm in right now, but even if they start now, I think it's too little too late.

I don't mean to be such a pessimist, I believe I'm a realist. I know how the system works. If I were a single mother who couldn't keep her knees together, I could get all kinds of help, but because I'm happily married and well educated, I don't qualify. That's the reality of it, folks.

Wiglaf, you'll hang on, I promise you. You'd be surprised what you can do when you have no choice.