Third World America by Arianna Huffington Page B

had enough.
    In April 2007 all that changed. I worked hard at my job, I’d never gotten in trouble, never been late. I got praise from my supervisors. I was working double and triple shifts and taking on new responsibilities, so I asked for a pay raise.
    A month later I got called into a meeting with the program director and the director of nursing. I was told I’d done nothing wrong, but they would have to let me go. They would not tell me why, but just said I should file for unemployment.
    So I did. The checks were enough to cover the rent, but not utilities and food. We rented out our office and our daughter’s playroom. But one day the renters both suddenly left without notice. We applied for food stamps and welfare. My unemployment was too much for us to get welfare but we did get food stamps: eighty-two dollars a month. My car got repossessed but we were able keep my wife’s car. June came and we didn’t have enough for rent. We were served eviction papers. At the end of July we put all our stuff in storage but had nowhere to go.
    Our county worker was able to get us a voucher to stay in a motel for a week while we looked for a place to live. That weekend, I went to a gas station to get something to drink. I asked the lady there for a job. She told me to come back tomorrow. I started working the cash register—two graveyard shifts a week and the other five days the swing shift. Thursday we found a one-bedroom in downtown Modesto. It was very small in a pretty bad area—the stove and heater didn’t work—but it was a roof over our heads.
    In February our car broke down. I called the gas station owner to tell them that I would not be able to make it in time for my shift. When I got home, there was a message—he had hired his brother-in-law to take my place. I went back on unemployment.
    Money is still tight. Our food stamps aren’t quite enough to buy food for the month. So in order to make sure there’s enough for our daughter, my wife and I usually don’t eat during the day. I’ve lost almost forty pounds.
    I recently found out that I will receive my very last unemployment check at the end of this month. I applied for welfare when my unemployment was temporarily stopped, and it was not enough to cover the rent on even our small apartment.
    I spend around thirty hours a week looking for work. But there just is not work available. I have offered to work off the clock and overtime. But no offers.
    I used to consider myself middle class. I have some education and I have a wide variety of skills and experience, but almost every company I talk to says the same thing: Until the economy gets better, they are not hiring.

MATT STAGLIANO
    I never thought I’d say this, but last week I lost my home. Despite my best efforts, on January 5, 2010, my house was sold at the Bexar County Courthouse (for less than I paid for it).
    In retrospect, 2008 wasn’t exactly the best time to start a new career as a Realtor. I was a guitarist in a touring band. It paid well, or at least allowed me to squeak by when it didn’t.
    But I had a plan for my life and wanted to follow it, instead of spending time regretting it. I wanted to focus on something tangible (like real estate), something I could be passionate about again.
    It wasn’t easy building a business in 2008. Many of the seasoned agents were struggling. As a new agent, I was told time and time again to be prepared to have some very lean months. And I certainly didn’t make a fortune that year. Instead, I slowly ate through my savings, trying to hang on to what I had as tight as I could. As the bank accounts dwindled, my royalties from the band also dried up. With little coming in other than my wife’s salary, we conserved everywhere we could.
    And we did fine—until 2009. That’s when we began to get behind. We’d get a month behind, then pay two, get two months behind and catch up. It was a constant cycle of getting behind and getting back. And each time, our credit