The Recession, it's personal

Yes, we're still have lots of fun, still wringing every last bit of sunshine and fun out of summer that we can. We're having a unique summer so far, we've only used our AC one week, the rest of the time we've been treated to moderately hot temps and low humidity. It's been fabulous.

Unfortunately, something's happened that's really throwing a damper on all the fun. My husband is in charge of commercial sales for a local company. One of his salespersons has been working on a dream sale, over a million dollar job. Unfortunately, in early May, trouble surfaced on this job, all of the contractors were served with a stop working order. The past two months there's been plenty of rumoring and speculation, but no concrete information. Finally, this week the mystery cleared. The bank foreclosed on the property the work was going on at. There will be no more work, there will be no payments for the work that has been done. Lots and lots of people have lost and will lose jobs through no fault of their own. The construction company that has been in charge of the job will probably have to close it's doors. Many small businesses will also be shuttered--dry wallers, elevator installers, all kinds of people who do an honest days work, depending on the people who have hired them to pay them what they're owed. The fallout at my husband's job is unknown at this point. Again, there are rumors, troubling rumors, but I'm clinging hard to a wait and see approach. It's hard for me to understand how this could happen, the money was there--it's an $90 million loan that's been foreclosed. This recession is definitely not just some economists euphamism around here. It's real. It's prolonged. It's scary.