MSNBC host and former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that third-party candidates like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are a “huge, huge, huge problem” for President Biden’s reelection ca…
first, I think you missed the part where the pandemic was literally just starting four years ago. the shitstorm was just starting to build in March 2020, the Pandemic wasn’t at full stride yet, and the devastating consequences didn’t start coming home to roost until the summer. that said:
I managed to keep my jobs. One is a side gig company with about twenty employees I started as a retirment investment. That was growing nice and steadily and controlled before the pandemic. When the pandemic hit, I had to restructure our services to try and protect revenue; I made the decision to continue paying staff regardless of if they had hours or not… part of that was to protect their healthcare… which, very nearly bankrupted me. I did not get to have PPP loans because I didn’t have in-house lawyers that helped write the damn law (aka I and my lawyer had to read the terms and stuff.) and that cash was gone by the time we felt it was reasonable.
We haven’t recovered from that. we’re out of the woods, but that’s a hit to our growth that will set me back three to four years. I feel I did the right thing on many levels, but it wasn’t without cost. I don’t want a medal or whatever, but I need you to understand that that company is my retirement savings. as far as small businesses, a very large number of them have shuttered and won’t be coming back. I was lucky in that I could minimize overhead and get to where I wasn’t bleeding money like the Black Knight; but it still wasn’t good. I probably lost around a year and a half of growth, and the the pandemic stalled me for another three or four years.
My other job I’m a manager for contract security, our employees are essential; and in that respect, so was I, since it was my job to keep them in uniforms, supplies, current on their training; and make sure we had coverage when people got sick, etc. Another aspect of that job is reviewing new hires before sending them to clients. one of the things we look at is debt. I can tell you first hand credit card debt has gone out of control.
but don’t take my word for it. Credit card debt has been skyrocketing since ~2021- around the same time significant aid has stopped going out. Evictions are also on the rise and skyrocketed after the moratorium expired. Housing costs are also ridiculous.
Take home wages are still down 3% from four years ago, too, when you adjust from inflation. This means, on top of massive economic hardship, they’re spending more just for basic necessities like housing, food, child care; as well as the massive death toll. this means people are saving less, and people that were living pay check to paycheck (which is roughly half of americans.)… they’re tappign what savings they had (which, to be blunt wasn’t much for most.); while stacking on debt to pay for things like car repairs or medical bills.
So yeah. People are doing worse. much. much worse.
Yes. Financially? absolutely. emphatically.
first, I think you missed the part where the pandemic was literally just starting four years ago. the shitstorm was just starting to build in March 2020, the Pandemic wasn’t at full stride yet, and the devastating consequences didn’t start coming home to roost until the summer. that said:
I managed to keep my jobs. One is a side gig company with about twenty employees I started as a retirment investment. That was growing nice and steadily and controlled before the pandemic. When the pandemic hit, I had to restructure our services to try and protect revenue; I made the decision to continue paying staff regardless of if they had hours or not… part of that was to protect their healthcare… which, very nearly bankrupted me. I did not get to have PPP loans because I didn’t have in-house lawyers that helped write the damn law (aka I and my lawyer had to read the terms and stuff.) and that cash was gone by the time we felt it was reasonable.
We haven’t recovered from that. we’re out of the woods, but that’s a hit to our growth that will set me back three to four years. I feel I did the right thing on many levels, but it wasn’t without cost. I don’t want a medal or whatever, but I need you to understand that that company is my retirement savings. as far as small businesses, a very large number of them have shuttered and won’t be coming back. I was lucky in that I could minimize overhead and get to where I wasn’t bleeding money like the Black Knight; but it still wasn’t good. I probably lost around a year and a half of growth, and the the pandemic stalled me for another three or four years.
My other job I’m a manager for contract security, our employees are essential; and in that respect, so was I, since it was my job to keep them in uniforms, supplies, current on their training; and make sure we had coverage when people got sick, etc. Another aspect of that job is reviewing new hires before sending them to clients. one of the things we look at is debt. I can tell you first hand credit card debt has gone out of control. but don’t take my word for it. Credit card debt has been skyrocketing since ~2021- around the same time significant aid has stopped going out. Evictions are also on the rise and skyrocketed after the moratorium expired. Housing costs are also ridiculous.
Take home wages are still down 3% from four years ago, too, when you adjust from inflation. This means, on top of massive economic hardship, they’re spending more just for basic necessities like housing, food, child care; as well as the massive death toll. this means people are saving less, and people that were living pay check to paycheck (which is roughly half of americans.)… they’re tappign what savings they had (which, to be blunt wasn’t much for most.); while stacking on debt to pay for things like car repairs or medical bills.
So yeah. People are doing worse. much. much worse.