A story from the front lines of the depression

Jeff from Fredericksburg, VA
February 21st, 2011

First to give you a little background on me. I graduated college in May 2000 with a Bachelors degree in Broadcasting/Minored in History. I have worked for major corporations as an Enterprise Sales Consultant selling Servers. I was a Network Engineer for Qwest Communications. I even worked for the Federal Government and held a Security Clearance for 4 years. I also won Dell Small Business Sales Consultant of the quarter as well. But since I don’t have an active clearance anymore no one wants to hire me in D.C. I lost my job in 07/2010 and from 07/2010-Present I have been unemployed. My food stamps were also recently cut off last month since the State of Virginia decided that for a household of 1 you can’t make more than $1178 a month. I make $1250 a month in Unemployment compensation before taxes so according to the Government I am too rich to receive Food stamps now. My Rent, Gas and Car insurance is $1000 a month and I am holding on for dear life. I am currently in the process of declaring Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and using my tax return to pay the attorney $1500 to file. That leaves me with only #250 a month for food, water and cell phone.

I have a list compiled in my Google email with approximately 784 applications I have filled out for every government agency, defense contractor and job available in the Washington, DC area. I even applied to Carmax and my old job in college waiting tables at Red Lobster and the moving company I used to work at during the summers in college. If its bad for someone like me with over 10 years of Sales, Server/computer experience, Investigations and Network Engineering than I can’t imagine how bad it is for people that just have a high school diploma. I have been on one interview out of the almost 1000 jobs I have applied to(It takes about 2 hours to apply to one job). The one interview I went on offered me less than my unemployment gives me at $8 an hour. I can sit at home and make more money on unemployment than 80% of the jobs that I have applied too and even those jobs don’t call me. Is this what America has become? Is this what I sacrificed 5 years of my life in college from 17 years old to 21 years old and spent $40,000 to get a worthless degree that won’t even get you hired? Every email I get from a recruiter asks…

• “Where are you working now?”
• “Are you unemployed?”…..”
• “Do you have an active Top secret clearance?”

I also am afraid that because of my Credit and my financial situation that is causing employers to not hire me. Once I let the employer do a credit check on me I never hear from them again and I even send Personal Hand written Thank you cards! So I am going back to school to get my Network+Certificate. I hope this will make a difference in my job search. Its hard out here but I keep the faith. I mean what is it going to take? 24 masters degrees?….PHD’s? Do I need to go to law school too?

I even sent my resume to my state senators, My congressman and my senator asking to intern or do anything in their office! All I get are form letters back! The only good politician that actually writes me back is my Virginia Delegate Mark Cole. All the rest ignore me. If our government doesn’t do something soon then there will be riots in DC and in every major capitol.

I Also am going to add my two cents on the topic of Food stamps since I actually have been on food stamps from 07/2010-Present(Yes I know I know since I am a Libertarian I shouldn’t even accept government assistance is what you are all thinking). Well my answer to that is that I am not going to go hungry so I can prove a certain political philosophy or be a burden on my family or friends. I Thank god every day that I have food Stamps. If it wasn’t for Food stamps I would be in REALLY bad shape. Maybe that doesn’t make me Libertarian but when reality hits you in the face and you have to do what you have to do to survive politics go out the window and not starving to death is a MUCH higher priority. I get $200 a month on the Virginia EBT card. I usually run out of Food Stamps at about the 25th of every month but usually I have enough food to survive that last week until the 1st when the EBT card gets re-loaded.

From my 6 months of observations and shopping on food stamps here is my normal shopping list, what I eat, etc.

Pretty much you always eat at home and prepare all your meals at home. Going to Chick-Fil-A is a once a month treat for me and so is Starbucks. Other than that I haven’t been to a Restaurant like Outback. Red Lobster, Chili’s in about 4 months. Rent, Gas, and Car Insurance take up about $750 a month in expenses just to put a roof over my head and have transportation. I can only afford the ghetto $40 a month no credit check phone from Best Buy which I pay ahead every month. And believe me its definitely not a Smart phone and there is NO Internet on the phone…

I brew my own coffee every day and always buy the big canisters of Folgers since Maxwell House is Nasty. When you are on SNAP benefits(I love how the Government renamed Food stamps to the wonderful euphemism of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program……hilarious!). The only place that you can really afford to shop at and be able to afford protein is Wal-mart. I tried Wegmans one month and I was out of food stamps by the 15nth. I eat a lot of Tostino’s Pizza’s, Peanut butter sandwiches and eat a lot of cereal and spaghetti that I freeze in containers. You HAVE to go to Wal-mart at the beginning of the month because that's when the sales are for bulk items. You have get their early on the 1st because usually all the bulk rice, bulk sugar, bulk coffee, and $1 loaves of bread are hoarded off the shelves by the big families that come in with $1000 EBT cards.

FORGET about purchasing anything Organic! Let me stress that again if you start buying anything organic like Milk, eggs or organic vegetables or fruit you will starve by the 20th of the month. I know because I tried. You can survive off of Food stamps for one person but the only protein I get is from eggs, peanut butter or hamburger meat that is 70/30 thats in my spaghetti I make. Forget about buying any lean hamburger meat or ground turkey which is $4 a pound now at Wal-mart. I make sure I take daily vitamins and minerals. If you don’t take Vitamins or minerals on the food stamp diet I would be really worried about major vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The Folgers bulk coffee cans used to be $6.99 and now they are $9.99 which really sucks if you are a coffee drinker like me. The biggest expenses I have is for frozen chicken breasts and anything that is a protein item. I can only afford to eat fish once every two weeks(I wish I could eat fish, shrimp or crab more often) I have gone a week without any protein since the EBT card ran out and let me tell you that my body is not a happy camper eating just frozen pizza’s and noodles. It is much harder than I thought it was going to be as well. I really hate Wal-mart but I am forced to shop there since its all I can afford. I wish I could eat the Yogurt too but if I purchase a 14 day supply of Yogurt its almost $40 now. One of the best ways to survive I haver found is Instant Quaker oatmeal and cheerios and Milk. I eat that almost every day. I also lived a week off of cheese hot dogs and corn dogs as well.

I hope this helped explain to people that $200 a month isn’t shit. You will not starve or die but I have gained like 15 pounds from all the transfats, white flour products, corn sugar products and processed foods. I also have found that one main thing that is important is make sure you dress in shitty clothes when you whip out that EBT card. One day I made the mistake of buying food with my EBT card with my suit and tie on coming back from a job interview and I received many really shitty, condescending looks from people.

Finally let me add that I have a wonderful family that invite me over for dinner. My brothers take care of me and so does my Mom by making me feel like a normal person. They make me feel Human when I eat home cooked meals that are delicious and healthy. They are all I have in this world and without them I would really struggling right now.

I really hope someone from congress or the President reads this.

I keep the hope though that America will be stronger coming out of this. We need strong leaders. We need strong men and women of integrity. Without my faith in God I would not be where I am. Things will turn around for me. I know it. I want to give you all hope to not give up. But do some research on what is really causing all this. I buy silver, I buy MRE’s and storable food, water filter and a solar power flashlight AM/FM radio and a good military grade knife.

ANOTHER

My mother is unemployed. She is 61 years old, has 25 years of experience working for a major telecommunications corporation, and has a four-year degree. I watch her send application after application to employers with no response. I watch her get contacted by recruiters who say she is a ‘perfect fit’ for a job and never deliver. I watch her slide into depression and staying in bed many hours of the day.

I am 38 years old, I have mental illness, and I recently lost my job as a delivery driver because the owner sold his business to a competitor.

I don’t believe that either my mother or I will ever be employed again. I am beginning to feel that I am permanently in the world of the unemployed. I feel as trapped as I did when I spent weeks in an in-patient clinic for the mentally ill where you could never leave and you know that there is a world out there just beyond the locked doors.

`They are Man’s,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!” cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. “Slander those who tell it ye! Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse! And bide the end!” “Have they no refuge or resource?” cried Scrooge. “Are there no prisons?” said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words. “Are there no workhouses?” Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, 1843

It's going to be a rough ride....