It was my husband’s birthday yesterday. He was born in 1974, at a time when the country was experiencing steep job losses. Apparently, job losses this November were the highest they’ve been since he entered this world. More than 600,000 jobs were lost according to the official number. And that doesn’t count everyone without jobs, including those who gave up the hunt long ago.

Never in my life have I worried about losing and finding a job until this year. At my first work holiday part in 1998, I remember some co-workers swapping tales about the horrible job market of the early 90’s and thinking to myself, “‘Hmmm…that’s so interesting that I’ve got to get back to the open bar.’”

This year, I’m wondering if anyone will mind if I stuff treats from the holiday dessert buffet in my purse? (more…)

On Friday, I filled my tank with $1.89 per gallon gas. Did you ever think you’d see that by year’s end? It’s a perfect lesson on why you don’t let your emotions make your  financial decisions. If gas prices can go down, stock prices can rise.

That same day, I opened my proposed property tax estimate for 2009. Not surprisingly, my tax bill will be 8.2 percent lower next year.

Granted, there’s a negative side to both of those numbers. Demand for gas is down because the people are concerned that the economy’s going you know where and my property taxes are down because my house is worth less than it was last year.

But since I’m still driving and have no plans to sell my house, these developments mean more monthly cash freed up for buying stocks, or Christmas gifts while they’re cheap.

My family even purchased the biggest-ticket item that we have in years this weekend.

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Here’s a question from the CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted over the weekend:

Q: As you may know, the U.S. went through a depression in the 1930s in which roughly one out of four workers were unemployed, banks failed across the country, and millions of ordinary Americans were temporarily homeless or unable to feed their families. Do you think it is very likely, somewhat likely, not very likely, or not likely at all that another depression like that could occur in the U.S.?

A:

• Very likely 21%

•   Somewhat likely 38%

•   Not very likely 29%

•   Not likely at all 13%

While I think that things are going to be tougher economically in this country for months, if not years, I have trouble imagining 25 percent of the population out of work and millions of Americans in soup kitchen lines and on the streets.

How would you answer this question?

A letter went out from several consumer groups to Congress saying that if Wall Street gets bailed out using taxpayer dollars, the ailing consumer better see some assistance too.

The letter’s below. Do you agree Joe homeowner should see some relief? Do you think the government is doing the right thing? A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. found 62 percent of respondents feel the government acted properly by stepping into the financial crisis. But 44 percent oppose the millions they already contributed.  “Dear Member of Congress:

The undersigned organizations strongly urge you to include court-supervised mortgage restructuring for American homeowners to allow them to save their homes in any legislation that would use our tax dollars to bail out the financial services industry from its self-imposed crisis.

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My family is doing just fine financially compared to many others and I’m grateful for what we have.

But I can’t help but think lately with our rising expenses, my pay freeze and my husband’s slow-growing wages that this might be as good as it gets for us.

We’ve discussed our dreams, (moving to a different neighborhood and taking the whole family to Mexico) and our needs (a new car or two in the next few years, unless we decide to go down to one car and then we’ll need to replace a single vehicle). And if incomes or expenses don’t change, it could be tough to make it all happen.

So lately we’ve been talking about how to figure out if we’re sacrificing too much today to save 15 percent of our income for tomorrow.

Anyone else have those thoughts? If so, what did you do?