Ala. Family Of Four Struggles In Economic Climate

[one...two...tree 2,762]

by Debbie Elliott

Public-sector jobs were once considered a path to a comfortable future — a steady salary, good benefits and the promise of a pension. But that's not so certain in the present economic climate.

When Darryl Pendergrass arrives home after his 28-mile commute from Montgomery, Ala., it's time to play. He scoops up 20-month-old Ian from the bed, where his wife, Kristina, has just changed the toddler's diaper. Three-year-old William wakes up from his nap, and the family heads to the screened-in front porch to enjoy the early autumn evening.

The Pendergrass family lives in an older home in Tallassee, a town of about 5,000 in east Alabama. Darryl, 39, is a biologist with the state health department. Kristina, 32, is a researcher who is now a stay-at-home mom.

They live on Darryl's $43,000-a-year salary, which is right about the median income for Alabama.

Because of state budget shortfalls, he hasn't had a raise in five years.

"We've been frozen, but each year my insurance co-pays and my insurance rates have [gone] ... up, and our coverage ... went down," he says. "So I've been actually losing; my salary has been decreasing."

Kristina, who is in charge of the checkbook, says it has meant giving up some of the niceties they once enjoyed.

"We made it work — a lot of beans-and-rice kind of dinners," she says. "We don't go on vacation, and we got rid of cable. No eating out. No traveling. No buying $900 chest-of-drawers."

Entertainment consists of reading books and playing make-believe with the boys.

Darryl Pendergrass says the boys have simplified their lives.

"We've had to ask ourselves what's really important," he says. "And that's our family — our kids and each other."

But they acknowledge that it's easy to lose perspective when money is tight.

Kristina says that last month, their bank balance touched a low.

"That makes me stressed, and he gets the brunt of me dealing with my stress," she says. Her husband says it can be frustrating.

"She'll say we don't have any money, to not buy things, and that will go for a couple of months, and then I'll come home and then she's bought a whole bunch of plants or something like that," he says. "And I was like, 'I thought we didn't have any money.' "

But the couple says they are doing better than many of the people in this town, which has seen its textile industry disappear. At least they don't have to worry about going hungry, they say.

They stretch the food budget by growing a few vegetables in the yard and buying in bulk when they can. They bought half of a pig from a local farmer and stored it in the deep freeze.

Both of their cars are paid off. And thanks to a family loan, they don't have a mortgage on the house. Darryl still owes about $28,000 in student loans.

The struggle is saving for retirement and the boys' college.

"You feel like you should have some money to save, and you think you have maybe pinched pennies, and then at the end of the month you realize there's nothing to put into savings anyway," Kristina says. "It just all disappears somewhere."

Unexpected household expenses are always cropping up. This week, the heating element in the stove went out. That cost $40.

They have $300 in their savings account, and around $7,800 in Darryl's retirement account. He says he is not counting on his Alabama state pension because the program is already in the hole.

"What it meant to be middle class before — as far as the 2.5 kids, and the home in the suburbs and the car and everything — it's not the same," he says. "It seems to me we have to be running faster and faster just to maintain where we're at.

"And we're not maintaining. We're slowly going down."

He says if the economic recovery depends on middle-income families like his increasing consumption, it will be a long time before things turn around.

http://www.npr.org/t...130382016&ps=rs

[Obama 2012 1,714]

zero sympathy for the taxpayer paid employee who doesn't get a raise.

[lostinblue 1,989]

They are an average middle class family in america today. So is the point of the story that in these economic times average america is standing still in the economic department? Or is the story about a sucessfull american family that is not on welfare and not homeless. He has a good job and is happy to be working.I commend him for that.His children see a daddy leave for work everyday. A great example for his children to look up to.

[Heracles 417]

zero sympathy for the taxpayer paid employee who doesn't get a raise.

So you hate on and pay government workers ####### and then complain about the service, but never use common sense to realize why the service ends up being #######.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

So you hate on and pay government workers ####### and then complain about the service, but never use common sense to realize why the service ends up being #######.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

So you hate on and pay government workers ####### and then complain about the service, but never use common sense to realize why the service ends up being #######.

One Word: Unions

[one...two...tree 2,762]

One Word: Unions

You'd be working 16 hours a day for $1.25 in a packed warehouse with poor ventilation if unions never existed.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

You'd be working 16 hours a day for $1.25 in a packed warehouse with poor ventilation if unions never existed.

nope. try again.

[Heracles 417]

One Word: Unions

Of course, certainly cannot be the shitty pay, shitty conditions, or the shitty attitude towards them in the US.

Like I have pointed out many times before, even under these conditions, I have been happy with any government service I have used. Sure there is stuff I disagree with on various levels, but that has a lot to do with ideology, with the lack of investment or modernization in the country.

[Wayne and Claudia 40]

You'd be working 16 hours a day for $1.25 in a packed warehouse with poor ventilation if unions never existed.

Unions are for weak people who can't negotiate a pay for their own skills.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

OMG now we are hearing the violins play for government workers. There is gonna be a whole lot more of them out of jobs. Especially in the Global Warming industry.

You'd be working 16 hours a day for $1.25 in a packed warehouse with poor ventilation if unions never existed.

Seems like a good reason to make union membership voluntary for everyone. D'ya think? I bet everyone would want to join.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

So you hate on and pay government workers ####### and then complain about the service, but never use common sense to realize why the service ends up being #######.

I don't want the service either and I do not complain about the service. The more government workers out of a job, the better. Let's lay them ALL off and then go back and carefully determine which ones we need.

[Staashi 371]

I don't want the service either and I do not complain about the service. The more government workers out of a job, the better. Let's lay them ALL off and then go back and carefully determine which ones we need.

Yes, let's, do that...and all the poor motherfvckers on VJ who have further immigration issues can just have a foot shoved right up their azzes and you can tell 'em all to go ** themselves because of your brilliant idea to have laid off all government workers. That's the ticket right there. Brilliant!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Unions are for weak people who can't negotiate a pay for their own skills.

If you get paid overtime, have vacation and sick pay, health insurance and a pension, you can thank a union. None of those perks would exist without the power of collective bargaining. And to insult millions of hardworking Americans who have no negotiating power outside of union really shows why the Right Wingers are out of touch with most Americans.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

If you get paid overtime, have vacation and sick pay, health insurance and a pension, you can thank a union. None of those perks would exist without the power of collective bargaining. And to insult millions of hardworking Americans who have no negotiating power outside of union really shows why the Right Wingers are out of touch with most Americans.

no it just shows how weak and pathetic most people are if they need a union to speak for them. Union workers are filth for the most part. They act like they don't have to do a certain job because their job description doesn't say they have to. They don't act like part of a team and they don't really give a damn about the company. All they do is drag business down into the dirt (see: auto and airline industries. See local governments. see federal government).

Illegal immigrants are more worthy of the jobs they do than some pathetic union loser.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Paul and Vanessa