What Happens To Kids When Layoffs Strike

My parents were laid off at different points in my childhood. Though both managed well enough, watching my parents search for work was extremely depressing.

Children like to think of their parents as larger-than life and perhaps, in my case,
"Cosby-esque." Finding out that they were not immune to economic strife was an unwelcome introduction in to the real world.

My father was laid off and unemployed for 2 periods during the 80s. Each period lasted for 2 years of desperate, relentless, hopeless job searching. Despite my mother's continuing to work full time, and their efforts to hide even the knowledge of it from us kids, I remember it very well.

Not only does the illusion of invulnerability shatter. Real economic hardship means that you are unable to have or do any of the things that your peers could, from music lessons to going to the zoo. You realize that the work world is incredibly unjust...that it does not matter how skilled or dedicated you are, or how concientious, only how well this person or that person performs in office politics or a few dollars on the stock market report.

The economy is in a tailspin. The stock markets have plummeted, and America, and most of the world, is embroiled in a recession. It is getting harder and harder to tell just when or if it is going to come out of it. It doesn't help that so many workers have been laid off, especially when AT&T, one of the largest communications companies in America, has just laid off 12,000 of its workers. It seems like the worst thing to do, at the worst time, but it is the lesser of two evils since it would be worse to let the company fall into bankruptcy. The Treasury has stepped in and pledged over $700 billion in taxpayer dollars to save the banks and Wall Street. The banks have even begun their own measures to weather this downturn, by making credit harder and harder to obtain, even to those with good credit scores. They've even stepped up their fee structure, on ATM's, overdrafts, and late payments, in essence taxing those who paid to keep them employed. Just remember, if you experience a sudden gap in your finances, and you need a bailout of your own, payday loans are at your disposal should you choose. Click to read more on payday loans.