My father lived through the Great Depression. That was what we noted whenever he cheered when somebody got a job with the Post Office. “It’s a steady job,” he’d say. “The Post Office doesn’t lay people off. They have good health care, and a pension.”
That was then. My father died in 1988.
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(The Life of Reason, vol. 1: Reason in Common Sense)
Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
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Retired teacher of law, economics, history, AP government, psychology and science. Former speechwriter, press guy and legislative aide in U.S. Senate. Former Department of Education. Former airline real estate, telecom towers, Big 6 (that old!) consultant. Lab and field research in air pollution control. My blog, Millard Fillmore's Bathtub, is a continuing experiment to test how to use blogs to improve and speed up learning processes for students, perhaps by making some of the courses actually interesting. It is a blog for teachers, to see if we can use blogs. It is for people interested in social studies and social studies education, to see if we can learn to get it right. It's a blog for science fans, to promote good science and good science policy. It's a blog for people interested in good government and how to achieve it. BS in Mass Communication, University of Utah Graduate study in Rhetoric and Speech Communication, University of Arizona JD from the National Law Center, George Washington University
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Oh, absolutely, Scott. Still — now? At a time when internet access is shrinking, at a time when the mail is more critical?
It’s part of the spiral into disaster, the vortex, the whirlpool that everything gets sucked into.
Things are dire, folks.
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It’s bad when I call my mortgage lender to inquire about the Housing Assistance Program a day after my husband is laid off. Instead of assistance, they send my call to collections! Three times I’m transferred to the non-friendly lawyers in collections, three times my calls are recorded and three times I’m asked the same three questions, to be recorded. I felt intimidated and harassed, so I called Senator Boxers office.
Senator Barbara Boxer’s office was quick to assist. They gave me three immediate solutions. They told me to call Hope Now (888) 995-4673 for FREE consumer credit counseling and for Hope Now to TALK with the lender on my behalf. Sounds like the US is giving me the equivalent of a free lawyer, because Hope Now will argue with the lender on my behalf. Next, then gave me the number of HUD (202) 708-1112 to qualify for a different mortgage with better terms. Finally, they told me to file a written complaint against my lender, and once they get a written complaint, they will investigate.
The call to Hope Now reassured me that my finances are just fine. I learned my credit score was almost 800, not to worry. I was told NOT to close any credit cards, because it would lower my credit score if I close an account that is 10 years old. They gave me assurance that I will survive the job loss, and that if things get too tight, they will contact my lender or I can refi with an FHA loan. With 50% equity in my home, my lender wanted me to foreclose and my govt wanted me to keep my invested savings. Now I see the problem of corporate greed.
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It’s awful to see government agencies falling over themselves to throw yet more people out of work; about the worst thing you can do at a time like this.
In the case of the Post Office, though, I have to suspect this would have been coming down the road anyway, what with so much mail moving electronically nowadays. I think it’s a case of a crisis accelerating an already-existing trend.
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