Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Personal Stories on the Recession

Obviously many environmental factors and situations influence how a family develops, as well as affects how families function. It’s been difficult for many families to ignore the financial crisis, because most families are facing or struggling affects from the financial crisis. In the last three days we’ve outlined how the financial crisis is affected social resources for families such as the housing market, healthcare, the job market, and obviously the inflation for the cost of education – as many of us are aware.

The Obama administration has tried to create incentives for people to spend money – such as the $8,000 dollars new home buyers received for purchasing homes in the last year, as well as stimulus checks, (which differ depending on if you are responsible for a family or a single person).

Below are links to articles that reference the issues listed above. We ask you to please read one article from an issue that you find interesting, and answer the questions at the bottom of this post. We have also attached a NPR interview that is aprox. 8 minutes long. It’s understandable that some people may not want to listen to it, but the interview is transcribed and you can read it on the link as well.



INTERESTING ARTICLES:


A very interesting article about how states are closing prisons because they cannot afford to keep them open, and pay for the cost of living of the inmates.
http://recession.org/news/no-money-for-prisons


This article is about how families are re-examining how much they have to live on, and what exactly they really “need”
http://recession.org/news/living-standards-recession



This article is about how the economy is affecting family relationships.
http://www.slate.com/id/2211594/


If you’ve ever worked as a nanny and dealt with internal whether of leaving the job, and the affects it has on both the child and the family – then you might be interested in this one.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/03/30/nanny.jobs/index.html


Families having to move because of financial circumstances.
http://www2.morganton.com/content/2009/may/28/recession-uproots-families-takes-toll-children/business/


How the recession is re-shaping the American Family – personal stories.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0614/p13s01-usec.html


This article discusses how personal the recession can get – the financial crisis crashed through a families door. They never thought they’d have to deal with something like this.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/11/eveningnews/main3703133.shtml


People turning motels into homes.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102050673


What were:
1) the salient themes that you could pick out from the article, in relation to families.

2) the changes taking places in family structure, function, or even the benefits of having a family.

3) examples that support your opinion on why, when, and how people might delay families during the recession.

4) We can look at the effects that the economic crisis has had and is having on families --- but what about on people looking to start families soon? Their dreams are going to be pushed back. What about people looking to buy houses soon? , etc. What might the effects be on these populations?

Ashley B, Ashley K, Zac B, Alyssa R

5 comments:

  1. I believe the economic crisis is making the role of the family even more imporant. People may be more finacially dependant on one another. They may also need to work more and labor division than becomes even more critical. It shows how beneficial a strong family can really be.

    -Kimberly Wabik

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  2. I agree with Kim. People who were financially stable before the recession are probably having an extremely difficult time adjusting to a new way of life to cope with the recession. People are working who have never worked before, people are working longer hours, more shifts to be able to make ends meet. The family unit should be a source of steady support in such difficult times, and a place to come home to and relax when you have been stressing about getting by. It should be a center for support and help, as well as a reason for working so hard.
    Cassidy

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  3. Also, the fact that prisons are closing due to budget cuts is a little scary. Although most of the inmates were sent to other facilities, there are a portion that were given early release. It is scary to think we are sacrificing our safety for the sake of the recession, and that some criminals are being put back onto the street because we simply can't afford to keep them locked up anymore.
    Cassidy

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  4. I agree with Cassidy that it is scary that some inmates have been let out on early release. I wonder who got these privileges? Drug dealers? Someone who committed assault and battery? Robbers? Even sexual assaulter s? And we hear about all these crimes being commited in the Lesley area, people being robbed or molested. Also with Kim and Cassidy that it takes a strong family and support to get through this tough time. I know my family has been very stressed out and have helped each other out.

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  5. Sorry the last comment was by ashley keating

    ReplyDelete