Economy, Week of February 5-11, 2006


Email From Readers




The Increasing Disparity Between Rich and Poor

by Ron Pondiscio

The disparity between rich and poor is increasing. The rich kept getting richer as the Industrial Revolution rolled into the Technological Revolution. As the rich got richer we find the Working Poor.

Working poor is a term used to describe individuals and families who maintain full-time jobs but remain in relative poverty due to low levels of pay and dependent expenses. Often, they have negative net worth and lack the ability to escape their situations.

Why can't people acquire wealth as past generations have?

I have personally seen the best and the brightest enter the workforce from top universities and find themselves struggling to make a living. Even industry veterans can't understand why they live pay check to pay check. The answer to this global dilemma is not a simple solution. The problems are complex and are not just socioeconomic or inflationary in nature. Fundamentally, they stem from the way we now consume goods and services, our present day buying power and more importantly, the way we have been conditioned to think.

Historically, people have worked, saved and trusted that if they played by the rules, they would have a nice comfortable life and there families would be well taken care of. That all changed and today's working poor and especially the ever shrinking middle class have more financial problems than any generation since the great depression of the 1930's.

Today we work harder than ever and the money seems to run out before the month does. This isnÕt because we are less productive then previous generations. In fact, worker productivity is at an all time high. The average worker is taking less vacations, working what is now termed a professional day (10+ hours), and more than willing to work weekends.

After the 1960's, the two income family came into vogue. After the 1980's, it wasn't just a luxury anymore, as high incomes became a necessity for most people just to keep afloat. Now with more and more single parents and the desecration of traditional families, most one incomers find themselves living on credit card offers and trading dreams for the bare essentials. The vast majority of divorcees find themselves instantly poor and wondering if they could have stayed married just for the money. Other unhappy couples now stay together out of the fear that life with two incomes is better than trying to be happy with one income.

Even the extremely rich are not exempt from the changing ways of the world. According to Raghuram Rajan and Luigi Zingales in Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists, the rich have to work harder just to get rich.

In 1929, 70 percent of the income of the top .01 percent of income earners in the United States came from holding of capital -- income such as dividends, interest, and rents. The rich were truly the idle rich. In 1990's, wages and entrepreneurial income made up 80 percent of the income of the top .01 percent of income earners in the United States, and only 20 percent came from capital. Seen another way, in the 1890s the richest 10 percent of the population worked fewer hours than the poorest 10 percent. Today, the reverse is true. The idle rich have become the working rich.

What people fail to see is that the present day economy forces the average worker to financially "march in place". The overall buying power is reduced to the point that we have become indentured servants. Just look at what money is worth using GDP as a comparison. (The GDP is the market value of all goods and services produced in a year. Comparing an expenditure using this measure, tells you how much money in the comparable year would be the same percent of all output.)

What $100,000 was worth to our parents and grandparents

2005, $100,000.00

1995, $158,620.92

1985, $278,044.21

1975, $716,248.55

1965, $1,631,803.64

1955, $2,828,905.50

1945, $5,259,659.35

1935, $16,008,594.82

Since 1990, the average educated worker's entry level salary has not increased to keep up with inflation. More shocking is that experienced workers reentering the workforce have only seen the average starting salary increase less then 30% in the same time period. Meanwhile on average since 1990, healthcare has increased 310%, housing has increased 240%, college tuition has increased 191%, and day care has increased 164%. Even trying to get away from the pain costs more hotel rooms have increased by 95% and alcohol has risen 76%.

Previous generations have never had access to easy money like we do today. Credit cards didn't even exist before the 70's. Store credit was given to customers based on good judgment and the fact that the store owner knew who you were and basically new your family or your ability to pay him back. Most of the time, the store owner had a vested interest in the lending process, after all it was his money.

Today, we have credit scores generated by computers tracking our buying habits. No one cares who the lender is and the lender doesn't care who is receiving the credit, as long as he or she has a 700 score or better. Credit has become a drug and the world has become addicted. Most people don't want to borrow money, they just do it because they have to.




The Working Poor

by Alan Hunt

I direct a social services agency for working poor families in Portland, Oregon. We see at least 15,000 families every year. Many, if not most, cannot find full-time work at a livable wage. So many of our client families are working two or three part-time jobs, at less-than-livable wages, with no benefits. Technically, they are "employed," but not at self-sufficient or satisfactory levels. At the same time, we have young professionals making very large sums of money in high technology, bio-tech, marketing, law, medicine, and finance.

Traditional family businesses (restaurants, clothing stores, home goods stores, etc.) are closing at an alarming rate. Replacement chain stores are notorious for paying low wages, offering limited hours, and withholding benefits.

Young artistic types seem to be making it by working in the underground cash economy, while creating in their art forms. They seem to flourish as they flaunt their rejection of conventions, laws, regulations, and taxes.

Regardless of where folks fit into the aforementioned categories, a surprisingly large number cannot access the healthcare they need or desire. Quite a few go broke trying to provide healthcare to one seriously ill loved one. The majority of the people I encounter have no idea how they will finance retirement ... or whether retirement will be possible.




The Real Estate Bubble, How Real is it?

by Dennis Cannelis

An interesting slant to the theme "I have perceived wealth but can I keep it" is concerning the U.S. housing market. The median price of a U.S. home has gained 47% over the past eight years, and in many markets, has increased even more dramatically. Before that, housing merely kept up with inflation. Spurring on this phenomenon has been mortgage rates reaching 37-year lows, with banks offering over this time period, many creative adjustable financing vehicles, requiring little or no money down and lax credit criteria. Despite the World Trade Center attacks and economy fears, there has been a tremendous surge in home sales (and prices) since the late 90's.

Many have envisioned rising home prices as a place to build their 'nest egg' from the appraised value in their homes, and in real estate investments. Homeowners nearing retirement are looking at their home as cashing in a windfall on the perceived value in their home.

As we have become more dependent on using credit in our society, we have also come to view our homes as a way to achieve the 'American Dream ', 'borrow' this equity to finance improvements, new furnishings, new autos, and many other desires for wealth.

Rising home prices wouldn't necessarily be a problem in all this, if incomes were rising along with them, to pay for this credit.

The question is: Can the average family today afford to buy that house, given what they earn and what the house will cost them?

Today, we are seeing two major factors in the hottest housing markets to support the view that a bubble (or the inability to afford a home) may be in the horizon:

A good example is Boston. As recently as 1995, the local median income was almost enough to buy a median priced house. But home prices have doubled in the past seven years, while incomes have barely budged. The average median annual salary of $65,000 cannot even afford half the monthly payment of a median priced home of 400,000.

Add to that, Home Equity credit lines, cash-out re-financings, and low down payments and we see that equity in homes is at an all time low.

So how does this hit 'home' and why should we be concerned? Total debt is at an all-time high, the national debt, personal debt, the debt held by the government for these housing loans (Ginnies and Fannies), the trade deficit due to the devalued dollar overseas. If there are increasing bankruptcies and foreclosures due to the fact that homeowners can no longer afford payments due to job slowdowns and increasing prices, then the demand for homes through new construction or re-sales will begin to slow, as is now beginning to happen in some regions. It will also impact the economy.

Some analysts liken these events to the stock market correction in 2000. One economist makes a strong case that current prices are not sustainable, and we could see the $18.5 Trillion dollar real estate market lose almost $5 trillion in value.

So, what to do?

If a 'bubble' does occur, it would probably be most evident in regional markets first, the hottest ones (ex, California)

It could make sense to sell your home if you could move to an area with a lower cost of living, or even a smaller home in the same locale, and recoup enough equity to use this to enhance your financial position.

You could also take steps to lock in a fixed mortgage rather than an adjustable, because the ARM's could rise to their limits as interest rates increase.

Pay down your debt by moving into lower lock in interest rates.

Look at alternative investments (like precious metals) to preserve some equity.




Wealth and Finance

by Rick Tobin

It is my opinion only that the methodologies of world finances and currencies are best left to great kings and great thieves. Independent, individual financial capabilities are the realm of opportunity and, in the case you have mentioned, piety in one's own thriftiness. Yes, I've seen also the wealth of a generation past now being garnered to a new middle class that has forgotten the bank scandals of the 1800's, the early 1900's, the Great Depression, and even (for whatever reason I cannot fathom) the great debacle of the U.S. Savings and Loan Industry but a scant 13 years ago.

While the Baby Boomers zoom towards their retirement crypts, less of their inherited wealth will be as widely distributed. Boomers are now feeling the gnawing anxiety of ending up in the nursing homes and trailer parks of their predecessors. They will become the penny pinchers of tomorrow...and forget everything they dreamed about in the 60's (for those who were either thinking or sound of mind during that tribulation of common decency).

There are always opportunities to garner income, albeit sometimes under the most horrific struggle and physical strain. True, independent wealth is another matter. Sometimes it comes of great risk and human drama. Sometimes it falls earthward like a shooting star, unexpected and unheralded until its appearance. However, many times it comes upon the suffering and corruption of business practices that would make a tyrant weep. Marrying into wealth for the sake of wealth is one of those despicable acts. The truth is found in the oft phrased maxim, "Behind every great fortune is a great crime."




The Economy Over Time

by Ben Erwin

In America, we have a very jaded view of the economy, because the success of our economy is largely do to the exploitation and plundering of the rest of the world. After World War II, much of the "undeveloped world" was still colonized, and the independence of many of the countries that were colonized by the Western European powers came about as a result of the Superpowers getting the leaders of these nations-to-be to take sides for the US or Soviet Union. In return, their revolutions were supported with weapons, and their natural resources were signed over in exchange for cash.

Fast forward 50 years, and though the Soviet Union is gone and democracy has spread, the names that we call our political systems by have become meaningless. The globe is littered with the debt-ridden legacies of brutal dictators who oppressed their people, sold off their countries and pocketed the assets before going into exile. China is still communist, but operates like a fascist. What we call neo-conservativism here, is called neo-liberalism in Latin America, both are a euphemism for corporate imperialism.

In 1886, J.C. Bancroft Davis a court reporter and (former attorney for the railroads) for a sick and dying Chief Justice Waite of the Supreme Court wrote into the headnotes of a decision regarding taxation of the railroads that corporations were persons under the law. Though this was not in the decision itself, it used the fourteenth amendment to the constitution intended to protect freed slaves to set a precedent that changed the world. Once corporations obtained the rights of persons under the law, the genie could not be put back in the bottle, because corporations have the financial power to hire lawyers to get their way, when average citizens do not.

After the Stock Market Crash, the depression and the New Deal, the protections restored to citizens have been frittered away. America has financed its growth on the cheap labor and natural resources of the rest of the world. The only things we still employ a truly large number of people to make are weapons, and has become the white-collar administrator of the planet.

So when it comes to today's economy, we should be grateful we have gotten this far in America on a truly unsustainable course. If we get our comeuppance economically, that is to be expected. We just don't have the right to whine about it, because the rest of the world will have no pity for us, because they still toil and suffer at our expense to this very day.

What can we do about it? Revoke the protections afforded under the law to corporations and reverse the precedents of 125 years. Then prosecute the criminals who loot pension funds, manipulate markets, privatize the commons and reap unreasonable profits at the expense of the common person, then reclaim the money that's stashed away their off-shore accounts. Corporations are not people, and they can be executed simply by revoking their right to exist under the law, when they abuse the public trust. Why does it take 4 years to get Enron to trial? Where is the money Ken Lay stole? Who reimburses those dispossessed by their deeds?




Global Financial Entropy

by Bruce R.

What I think we are seeing is a BIG PUSH to globalism. Oddly, Ross Perot saw this when he was running for President in 1992. Giant "sucking sound" of jobs being lost to other countries. Alas, he truly was an outsider with the best interest of our country in mind. What I think we will see is a tendency toward global financial ENTROPY. This law works in physics, biology etc and will bring our economy to a level of the new producers in the world [India China and others]. Makes life good in places where cost of living is relatively cheap, but as for here....? I have no ready solutions as to why those in a position to make decisions in this country would want to damage our economy, but I suspect the usual motives of greed and power consolidation.

A quick read about how our currency actually works is a must for all to understand how our economy can be controlled. The truth about the Federal Reserve and the scheme to keep US in control of ever expanding debt is what woke me up. Once people realize how their money is created, then the flood gates open!




The H1B Visa

by David Turco

I am a chemical engineer, one of the people Bush thinks is the answer to out economic future. Many of my fellow engineers, and scientists, have left those fields, partially by choice, but others driven out. Outrageous working hours (minimum 20 unpaid overtime hours per week to make the productivity increase artificially, standard policy at General Dynamics since the mid 1980's), stagnant wages, but most tellingly, with the advent of the H1B visas that allow foreign workers to come in and displace American workers, the all to common scenario in the electronics/technology industry is force the American engineer/scientist to train the foreign H1B visa engineer/scientist who will then replace said American worker.

Why do American workers go along with this? If they don't, they will never get their severance packages. The result is tens of thousands of American engineers/scientists displaced by cheaper benefit less foreign workers all orchestrated by the US government/Big Business with the creation of the H1B visa.

Sadly this organized destruction of the US economy has been going on since 1974 when average wages adjusted for inflation became stagnant and have now dropped greatly. My father, an engineer, on his salary alone raised a family of 10 (8 kids 2 adults) living in a middle class home (owned outright). For an engineer today to do that in coastal New England, where I live, is impossible! One would have to be a millionaire.

To know what the future will be, one must know the past and present. Historically, the great expansion of the middle class from post WWll to 1974 was an anomaly. The controlling government/power class was greatly weakened by the depression and WWll itself. With a temporary loss of control, the American middle class emerged. This lasted about 30 years. Since then the controlling class began to put their New World Order plans in full force. This is not just an American thing, it's global. This plan was first put forth in a public way by Zbigniew Brzezinski in 1974. To the credit of the NWO crowd and to the detriment of the world they have been on point since then. So you see the economy is just a reflection of the NWO people who are making a concerted effort to take over planet Earth. One of Brzezinski's main requirements of world take over is the downward harmonization of wages, to achieve this, lower US wages are mandatory. Sure enough, that's what happened, and not by chance.

So what do we have: suppressed wages, lower earning/buying power, out of reach real estate costs, record personal debt, record federal debt, a dumped down society, China and India growing rapidly, huge influx of illegal immigrants, entrenched government/Big business, it all adds up to a continuation of the downward spiral of the US economy, just a side effect of what has been called the "New World Order" attempt.




Economic Backbone, A4 Economies, Paper Thin

Narinder Singh Bains
Wolverhampton, England

From a personal perspective, I recently found out my job, along with around 60% of the workforce at the place I work, would be made redundant in the coming 3-6 months. Though saddened by this prospect after 11 years working for the company, and thoroughly enjoying the work that I have undertaken, and the people that I have worked with, I am optimistic and relishing the new challenges forced upon me. Brighter and better prospects lay ahead.

I'm less optimistic as far as the bigger picture goes, and my fear is that more and more economies are less reliant on the traditional backbone of economics such as manufacturing and becoming 'paper thin' economies the UK is one such. There is a growing trend of downsizing through redundancy and outsourcing manufacturing to cheaper labor countries, China and India etc. We seem to be ever more reliant on services sector and tax based economies particularly in western Europe. This trend will not stop and sooner rather than later there will be no manufacturing base for economies within the UK, Europe. This would be disastrous if ever recession reared it's ugly head or even worse if new conflicts arose as traditionally during times of recession and conflict strong manufacturing based economies tended to see you through the worst of times.

Will we be able to rely on legal sectors and supermarket shelf stacking to get us out of a future recession? Nothing against stocking shelves at supermarkets, my mom's been doing it for 15 years. I wouldn't want to trust a lawyer in times of hardship.

These are just my thoughts, keep up your good work. I look forward to your forecasts for the year ahead. With things unfolding the way they are in the mid-east, and over rated western economies, my forecasts are bleak.




Outsourcing American Jobs

by Terry Robinson

Thank you for your wonderful website, I have been a faithful reader for about 5 years now. Every day I hear people talking about the outsourcing of American jobs and I agree the trend is most alarming. This problem has been around much longer than the past few years however. Outsourcing is just now hitting those who thought they would not be touched; those with higher educations. The first round of out sourcing impacted those Americans who did not or could not attend college and get a degree.

These people graduated from high school or not, then went on to find a good paying job in manufacturing. I have been in the steel business most of my life and I can tell you most of our domestic steel foundry capability is gone probably for good. China and India can ship a machined steel part in to our country for less than it costs a domestic foundry to pour such a part.

The loss of steel foundries should concern our leaders however nothing is done to stop the Large Corporations from continuing to purchase from China and India. Now that the supply base of these Large Corporations are in India or China, the next step is to move their manufacturing facilities closer to the supply base and supplant good paying American jobs with lower wage employees. I am worried about my children more than myself. Not everyone can be in the service sector.




The Economy in Alabama

by Claire Evans

In terms of the economy in Alabama, things are very strong right now, and there are many people who think that the state is finally emerging from its dark history of abject poverty and, hopefully, racial/class iniquity. But it is the well-to-do who are in a position to see this. Many others still struggle to pay for their heating bills, etc.

Many in the state's business community are fairly progressive, at least in terms of realizing that the state must improve its educational system in order to create the next generation of workers who will attract more high-tech jobs to the state (we have a booming auto industry fueled by foreign-based manufacturers; a complete contrast to the news from Detroit these days). Still, despite job growth and a real estate market that never overheated and thus remains fairly stable, I think that the economy that state economists and politicians are trumpeting is nevertheless based on an economic system that ultimately cannot be sustained (reliance on fossil fuels, earth changes, the doomed nature of empire, etc.).

In recent days, I've been feeling very dispirited about my professional life, and in a larger sense, about my inability to fit into the our economy (in a sense far more profound that my lack of a retirement account). This feeling comes and goes with me, but it's been especially difficult in recent days; I find it very interesting that other people seem to be manifesting this distress, too.

In dire frustration, I went to see a social worker offered through my husband's EAP yesterday. I was talking about the total lack of opportunities/support for any work connected to the arts/humanities/soul/philosophical inquiry in the local community, and, in a larger sense, anywhere, except for a lucky few. She not only agreed, but I could see her own frustration that janitors at the local automotive plant earn more than she does as social worker and counselor trying to help people address issues in their life.

It seems to me that there is a huge aching need for such counseling, along with other such 'feminine' values, yet if we are living in a time of transition and/or awakening, why isn't there a place for those of us who've made the spiritual process and the search for enduring wisdom a central part of our lives?

Our society is so out of balance -- the whole world is so out of balance -- that it's very hard to function and remain true to the inner light. It would be so much easier to choose the blue pill, but, as my Teacher told me nearly 10 years ago, "It's too late for you to turn back." This is even more true now, but there also seems to be no place here for me.

"I" am not needed. Someone else could do my job. There is no inquiry, no interest, no market for anyone who feels energy or could speak of the initiate's life. Talking about this with friends, we agreed that we're ready for the spaceship to come take us away! But of course, that's up to us to create. To know that other people are also processing this right now is very interesting. Could it be the labor pains of the paradigm shift? Or am I once again grasping at straws?




Earning a Living, Doing What I Love

by Cindy Lindzy, Niles, Michigan

I feel lucky to be one of those who actually get to earn a living doing what I love. Every significant experience, both the negatives and positive ones, I have had thru my life has guided me to the point I am now at. The unpleasant jobs, difficult relationships, 16, 20 hours days to "make things happen", I feel like I can look back and be glad that I worked though those tough times to reach the point of awareness that has allowed me to create a living doing what I enjoy.

As an artisan, I have created things for people most of my life, and now I have taken those skills and combined them with many of my personal interests as well those of my business partner of 6 years, and together we have built a successful business that has been profitable, even in these strange times. Our idea of combining our talents to make jewelry and other 'artsy items', has evolved into a "new age, metaphysical, hippy, bead store" where we reach people from all walks of life who are searching, just as I have been for many years.

Over the past several years this has all led me to a tremendous awareness of metaphysical awakening that is occurring now. I have been able to heal many issues in my life based on information and interactions with other searchers. I have been able to get rid of negative beliefs and unbalanced relationships, which has made room for more positive things to happen in both my business and personal life.

Being self-employed, I still have a lot of difficulties with the "old ways", no health care or coverage for me or my 3 children, a struggle getting a car loan when I am labeled "self employed" (even after 16 years of that job title), no retirement plans like my parents had, high fuel bills, etc. But I wouldn't trade where I am for that type of security if I would have to pay the price of being unhappy or to not have had the opportunity to grow and learn what I have since opening our store.

I feel very lucky and blessed every day that I have been able to use the parts of my life that I enjoy most, to earn a living. It is my opinion that we all could reach the point of doing what we enjoy if we can create the social support of health care, living wages, etc, by shedding the consumerist, big business and big government ideals.

Things need to change to create balance on this planet, and most of us need to realize that we CAN make a difference and do what we enjoy when we stand truthfully with beliefs that are our own, not what we have been fed to believe. Just in the small ways of what we buy, or how we spend our time. Times are changing quickly, and the old answers don't work anymore. Jobs and opportunities, as our parents experienced them, don't exist anymore, and many people I have met realize that to be happy as well as earn a living takes you to a different viewpoint.

I had a motto during the time of our store's creation, "I Believe It". I could "see" that we would definitely succeed, but it has gone beyond my wildest beliefs even then, in terms of how happy I feel now doing what I love to make a living. "So Cool", in hippy terms. And I believe in it.




The Poor

by Virginia Castillo

I have been reading your site for about a year, and I have come to a conclusion that from your recent article on money, the poor are poor sometimes as a result of misfortune, sometimes because of lack of education, and sometimes because we are lazy. To be conscious of one's behavior is to surpass even the hardest and life trying situations. I read the comments from the people today and all I can say is that most of them are probable middle class people with outstanding degrees in education. I am poor but wish to come out of my circle so that my kids will not be in my situation when they get older. I have 4 children and I am a single mom, mostly due to poor judgment on the men I have picked and myself. Nevertheless, my approach is this I need to make time for money, kids, family and maintain myself at an emotional steady, because my sanity and poise is at this point what my kids will inherit from me. I wish so much I could afford to talk to you, but I can't. All the best to you and all those that surround you.


Earning a Living, Doing What I Love

by Cindy Lindzy, Niles, Michigan

I feel lucky to be one of those who actually get to earn a living doing what I love. Every significant experience, both the negatives andÊpositive ones, I have had thru my life has guided me to the point I am now at. The unpleasant jobs, difficult relationships, 16, 20 hours days to "make things happen", I feel like I can look back and be glad that I worked though those tough times to reach the point of awareness that has allowed me to create a living doing what I enjoy.

As an artisan, I have created things for people most of my life, and now I have taken those skills and combined them with many of my personal interests as well those of my business partner of 6 years, and together we have built a sucessful business that has been profitable, even in these strange times. Our idea of combining our talents to make jewelry and other 'artsy items', has evolved into a "new age, metaphysical, hippy, bead store" where we reach people from all walks of life who are searching, just as I have been for many years.

Over the past several years this has all led me to a tremendous awareness of metaphysical awakening that is occuring now.ÊI have been able to heal many issues in my life based on information and interactions with other searchers. I have been able to get rid of negative beliefs and unbalanced relationships, which has made room for more positive things to happen in both my business and personal life.

Being self-employed, I still have a lot of difficulties with the "old ways", no health care or coverage for me or my 3 children,Êa struggle getting a car loan when I am labeled "self employed" (even after 16 years of that job title), no retirement plans like my parents had, high fuel bills,Êetc. But I wouldn't trade where I am for that type of security if I would have to pay the price of being unhappy or to not have had the opportunity to grow and learn what I have since opening our store.

I feel very lucky and blessed every day that I have been able to use the parts of my life that I enjoy most, to earn a living. It is my opinion that we all could reach the point of doing what we enjoy if weÊcan create the social support of health care, living wages, etc, by shedding the consumeristic, big business and big government ideals.

Things need to change to create balance on this planet, and most of us need to realize that we CAN make a difference and do what we enjoy when we stand truthfully with beliefs that are our own, not what we have been fed to believe. Just in the small ways of what we buy, or how weÊspend our time. Times are changing quickly, and the old answers don't work anymore. Jobs and opportunities, as our parents experienced them, don't exist anymore, and many people I have met realize that to be happy as well as earn a living takes you to a different viewpoint.

I had a motto during the time of our store's creation, "I Believe It". I could "see" that we would definitely succeed, but it has gone beyond my wildest beliefs even then, in terms of how happy I feel now doing what I love to make a living.Ê"So Cool", in hippy terms. And I believe in it.




The Poor

by Virginia Castillo

I have been reading your site for about a year, and I have come to a conclusion that from your recent article on money, the poor are poor sometimes as a result of misfortune, sometimes because of lack of education, and sometimes because we are lazy. To be conscious of one's behavior is to surpass even the hardest and life trying situations. I read the comments from the people today and all I can say is that most of them are probable middle class people with outstanding degrees in education. I am poor but wish to come out of my circle so that my kids will not be in my situation when they get older. I have 4 children and I am a single mom, mostly due to poor judgement on the men I have picked and myself. Nevertheless, my approach is this I need to make time for money, kids, family and maintain myself at an emotional steady, because my sanity and poise is at this point what my kids will inherit from me. I wish so much I could afford to talk to you, but I can't. All the best to you and all those that surround you.





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