How is the economic downturn affecting your household?

It's hard to pay the bills and live to.

Our "minor" hit came at the same time I retired. Loss of income and living on SS while maintaining our savings account. We are ok. Some of friends and family have had a rough time.
Let us hope the current administration learns a thing or two. None of the nations gov. officials seem to have been affected. Reckon Why?

My family was hit hard when American Color shut the doors, and my wife lost her job there, which was supporting us since I was laid off. Then that happened, with American Color/Vertis, and we took a hard hit, right at Christmas time, with our 3 kids.

Her and I both have been collecting unemployment benefits, and my benefits started running out at the end of May, and as luck would have it, I found a TEMP job working the remodel at the Sylacauga Wal-Mart.
After working there for 3 months, and being promised THE WORLD by Wal-Marts corporate management people who came from Arkansas to do this remodel, they just up and fired me for no reason, saying my assignment was over, and I needed to re-apply mid-September for the holiday work. Companies shouldn't promise people a full-time position, and then use them for what they can get, then cut the cord like that, especially in the economic times we are in right now. Its no wonder Wal-mart is being sued by its employees for not practicing proper pay, and I wish upon Wal-Mart all the bad that has been brought upon me and my family because of them doing what they did. I never would've had hard feelings if they had not BLATANTLY told me, word for word, "I would have a full-time position when the 3-month remodel was over." Now, I cant re-file unemployment since my claim ended while I WAS employed, so I have NO income, my wife's unemployment is nearly drawn out, and we're wondering what we'll do to pay our bills and make it.

If something doesn't change, people are going to have to resort to living like a 3rd world country, and thanks to companies like the above mentioned, people dont make enough to pay many bills when they do work, and they get encouraged by companies like Wal-Mart to draw Food Stamps and Welfare benefits. Why doesnt a company pay people enough to live, instead of persuading them to live off the state taxpayers and forcing people to work AND be a burden to society. Someone who is working should NOT have a need to rely on things like Food Stamps, simply because the conglomerate they work for wont pay enough to live on.

Anyone who works for the above, or (my hopes) the local stores' management that reads this, I hope that I get to see "what goes around comes around" happening to some of you, the ones who make those promises, and then slam the door in a persons face for NO reason. I was a very hard worker, and there was NO reason for me to be used, promised a job, then tossed out and told to "please re-apply, because you are DEFINITELY eligible for re-hire."

There's my rant, and I should've never installed all those registers in that store thinking they would hold their end of the bargain when it was all said and done. Should've known a company is going to do what they have to do to get the job done, even if that does mean lying like scum to get that accomplished. I hope I made quite a few folks look really good, and you all got some decent raises thanks to my work and believing the lies you told.