It is exactly this kind of report that frightens the life out of me. I am already overwhelmingly painfully aware of what the job market is like for individuals approaching age 50 and those over. With so many more in this age group rapidly joining the unemployed, it makes prospects decidedly grim. In most everyplace there are simply no jobs anymore for the foreseeable future for those wanting to be in the workforce that are over the age of 45 to 50 and up.
I hope I get called back to work in the coming weeks, but a concern exists in the back of my mind that it may not happen and possibly never; due to my age, as well as the extent the economy has collapsed. I certainly hope the worst case scenario does not happen, but once May arrives, I am done and out.
With the economy in a startling downward spiral, relocating even to an area I have a familiarity with seems to be a bad idea at this time and in the coming months. Thus I am increasingly resigning myself to having to spend at least another four to five months here in the wind tunnel of the continent, and the likelihood of being here well into 2010 is becoming more apparent.
I now need to purchase another vehicle which requires a $2000 outlay at a minimum and likely more in the coming weeks to months, as The White Knight is on its dying knees. Tonight when I went for groceries, the beast could not even climb a slight hill along the road and it stood there in the dark and fog, just revving as the drive train spun with no forward movement for about a minute until the gear finally engaged. Then I slugglishly crept along, well under the speed limit the entire way to the store and back. Hills are getting to be a no win option as the vehicle just has no life for them. And starting from a stop at a traffic signal is onerous at best and embarrassing at worst as other drivers are held up behind me as the truck struggles to establish any forward inertia over a span of 15 to 45 seconds. Reverse gear works as well as ever, but the three drive gears are impotent to an extent and sluggish at best except when going downhill or once I get going on a long largely flat straightaway. I have to think about the routes I am going to be on and I choose side streets whenever possible and shudder at the thought of having to be on streets where there is any traffic. Fortunately I only need to leave the apartment about 2-3 times per week: to get groceries, check the mailbox, or just go somewhere to get out and escape the cabin fever by sitting in the sun and reading.
For a relocation to occur I want to have at least $6000 in the bank to pay for temporary housing while seeking employment, weekly expenses of food and fuel, and money to pay for a deposit and rent for a new residence as well as for the storage of my belongings while in transition. I have to think it is going to take at least six weeks to find employment, whether I end up in Colorado Springs (the preferred alternative) or back in the Denver area, based on the west side of the metro area somewhere from Littleton to Wheat Ridge. I have an obsession for being able to use the old Boy Scout motto of "Be Prepared" when if at all possible. And having done this kind of relocation a number of times in the past, I know what makes it easier and less stressful, something which is absolutely essential for someone that is at my age and with the health concerns awareness.
To paraphrase a well known quote -Now is the winter of my discontent, and may the summer make me glorious.... please, please...
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Monday, February 9, 2009
Madoff Traps Former Great Deal Makers
Ozzie and Dan Silna were the final owners of the Spirits of St Louis, a short lived club in the American Basketball Association in 1976. That league was in its dying days and had successfully negotiated for four of its remaining clubs to attain entry in the National Basketball Association. The Silna brothers agreed to the demise of their ABA club in exchange for a $2.2 million cash payout and one-seventh of all future television and broadcast income and revenue in perpetuity from the four clubs going into the NBA. This fortuitous and omniscient agreement resulted in the brothers netting over $200 million over the next 33 years for doing nothing.=
Now information has emerged that the brothers were among the numerous victims of the Ponzi scheme constructed over a number of years by New York financier Bernie Madoff that was in excess of $50 billion. Sometime what comes around goes around....
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