10/3/2010

Jordan
Nimitz, Irving tx
Honestly, I have not noticed much if any difference in anybody's lifestyle around me lately. It probably has to do with the fact that parents fend for their kids no matter what, trying to hide hard times if they are going through them. Personally, I've noticed that sometimes my mom is looking for money for her own lunch, so her life is obviously affected, but it seems as though mine has yet to be touched. Sometimes hard economic times just don't show, especially in the young population and I have a feeling that that is the kind of hard time we are in. So, though I know the hard times are in store, I'm gonna keep living my life as if they didn't exist.

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9/30/2010

Kyle T.
Nimitz, Irving, Tx
Yes i have see many changes in my society since the ressesion has begun. Yet, my household life has hardly, if any, been affected. Yeah, my mom took a minor pay cut at work, but here at my house, we would have never known. Yet for the community surrounding me.The amount of homeless people, and amount of people walking from place to place is ridiculous. The economy has suffered a huge loss and decline, and places have been shuting down. Take the Irving mall for example. Once it was filled with a vast amount of widely known shops like dillars, JC Penny, and myrvins. Now that has all changed to these ghetto shops selling tall tees encompassed with an image of an iced out bugs bunny. The changes are evident that the economy is bad, and dropping quick

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9/28/2010

Destani
Nimitz, Irving, TX
I like this topic! The recession hasn't affected my family in any extreme, drastic, life-changing way; I've never had to go without food or electricity or water, like I imagine poverty would be. The only thing is that my family and I used to enjoy a great deal of leisure spending on frivolous things like going out to eat every weekend, or constantly buying fresh fruit from the Farmer's Market, or going to the IMAX to watch movies in 3D. Of course, we had to stop doing that. Now, for example, when we go to the store, we actually have a list, so we're not tempted to find ourselves at home with everything except what we intended to buy in the first place. Thankfully, there's only four in my household: me, my little sister, my grandma, and my grandpa. My Papa owns a newspaper printing company, so he's had plenty of job security, though he had to eventually merge companies with another press. When the recession hit, he wasn't able to work overtime, but that's about the only thing that changed. However, it did stress him out a lot because he's used to having an excess of money, so he's always busy worrying over things that he doesn't necessarily have to, or need to. Hence, I now support myself, so I'll be able to pay for those senior fees myself this year, as well as the cost of college applications, and purses and shoes and fun things like that, because I'd feel bad if I asked him for those things when he already seems so stressed out. I believe the recession has greatly affected our community as a whole. When my Papa couldn't work overtime anymore--which I think really bothered him-- there were probably other companies around Irving that faced similar challenges.

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9/27/2010

Sophia C
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
• I always feel like a little bit of a jerk whenever I think about poverty. I want the newest stuff, stuff I don’t need, all the time. I claim to need it and my parents get it for me, or I purchase it for myself. I groan about 7.95$ shipping rates when I shop online, but I’ll pay 7.99$ for an album on iTunes without thinking much of it. If my family has been hurt by the recession at all, my parents sure don’t show it. We’ve always gotten by fine, not taking too many vacations because we all have stuff to do in the summer, not for lack of money. We’ve always been pretty smart with our money (though I may not be smart with mine), so cutting back isn’t usually a problem. I would say the most expensive members of the family are our five cats, as they eat and poop so much we’re always buying cat food and kitty litter. The high poverty rate mostly affects me in the way that it makes me feel bad for being so frivolous when there are people out there that could really use, and would really appreciate, the 8.99$ I pay for Netflix every month. My school just built a new building, is in the process of making one wing bigger, and is putting the finishing touches on a greenhouse, and I haven’t seen any cutbacks with my own eyes, so I’d say we’re doing pretty well. Economists say the recession has been over for a while, and that we’re just reeling from the after-effects (some more than others, admittedly), and until it gets worse, I’ll let my Hoover blankets sit on my front porch, wrapped in their plastic bags and all.

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9/27/2010

Ben A.
Nimitz High, Irving,Texas
The recession has not affected my family drastically. Obviously we have become more careful with our finances but we have not felt financial pressure such as not keeping up with the bills, etc. We have everything we need and we are doing pretty okay. But when I look around my community I see foreclosures everywhere; People at church losing there Jobs; a lot of my friends who didn't have jobs before are getting them now to support their family. So even though the recession hasn't effected me personally I see its effects every where.

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9/27/2010

Jessica A
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
Because the lack of revenue coming into my city, the city officials to compensate have had to raise property taxes. My family like hundreds across the nation have had to cut back on luxuries. We use to go out to eat every other week and go to the movies at least once a month, but now, I'm lucky if I'm able to go see the latest flick. We stay at home more often because going out costs money even if it's just going to the park because you have to take into consideration gas money. But now that the city has decided to raise our property taxes, it's going to make our tight budget even tighter.

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9/27/2010

Ciara
Nimitz HS, Irving, Texas
Poverty is not something that really crosses my mind on a day-to-day basis. Sure, that's self-centered, but when it doesn't directly affect me, it's hardly noticeable in my life. I have a job myself and sure, my money doesn't stretch as far as it used to, but I still get by, buying all of my necessities and such. I live in an apartment with my step-dad and mom. My mom works for Wells Fargo, licensing people to buy and sell stock. She brings home a pretty hefty paycheck. My step-dad works for Charter Cable Company and although he isn't the one “bringing home the bacon”, it still helps. Because we live in a small apartment, have two consistent paychecks, and I support myself, money isn't an issue. On top of that, my mom gets child support every month and even that's a large chunk of change, because my dad is an accountant. So, all in all, my family hasn't been affected by the high poverty rate so I don't really notice it. I do know people that are affected by the poverty rate though, and it makes me feel bad for them, because sometimes I seem to take all of my fortunes for granted. I am glad that we have never had to endure the high poverty rate directly, and I feel sorry for others' misfortunes.

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9/27/2010

Monica A.
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
As a student whose only working parent lost his job this past June, the poverty rate does affect me greatly. I have been given the best that my family could provide to me and with the recent turn of events it has been getting increasingly harder to keep a household going. We get foodstamps and social securty once a month, but it barely gets us by with a house of five people. With this recession we have been facing a lot of issus with paying the bills and it's very difficult, my parents try to not let me see the struggle they're going through, but I do and we as a family have been drastically affected by this turn of events.

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9/27/2010

Andres
Nimitz High School, Dallas/Irving, Tx
For the past two years, I have never really understood the meaning of a recession. I may have learned a little bit of economics and learned the definition of a recession, but what I learned was only statistics and faces. I could never put a face to the high poverty or unemployment rate until I volunteered at a homeless shelter with my some of my friends in a volunteer organization called Junior Historians at our school. This experience of feeding the homeless truly helped me attach a face to the 14% poverty rate. I'm not too aware of how the recession is affecting my family. My parents aren't the most open people, and they're also not the most wise people with their money. All I know that a 55inch 3D TV hopefully means we're fine.(Unless they're buying on credit. Not another stock market crash!?) I look around my neighborhood in Dallas and so far there's been only been one foreclosure, so everything must be well off. My school in Irving is undergoing some planned construction, and after a recent City Council Meeting visit, the budget has no deficit, but 62 seats in the local government have been left empty so some cut backs have needed to be made. The long term effect of a recession is never good. Consumers lose confidence and unless there's some major sudden growth like WWII which stopped the Great Depression, the effects will last for quite a while. I may be a Republican and fight for balanced budget, etc; however, I do realize that the government may need to step up it's game in helping us out.

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9/27/2010

Donavon
Kelly, Irving, Tx
My family hasn't really been affected much by the recession. The reason we cut back on spending money freely is because my sister went to college and it became very expensive. As far as my school and community is concerned, I haven't personally noticed any big changes physically,. We have actually increased the size of our school and also upgraded many things around the city. However, after attending the City Council meeting I've learned that there has been an immense amount of lay offs and decrease in spending. The mall has basically died out, and neighboring cities are getting the majority of the money spent at their malls.

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9/26/2010

Lucy V.
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
When I think of the word poverty, I think of emaciated children in rags, laying on the sides of the streets, hands stretched out, eyes, somber and sad, looking up from underneath jagged bangs at people walking by, mentally begging for some sympathy. That is my definition of poverty and if I base my situation right now on my definition, then no, I’m not in poverty. However, if I base my situation on the U.S. Census Bureau’s definition, then yes, I am in poverty. Although I am technically in poverty, it really doesn’t feel like my lifestyle has changed any from before the recession. Perhaps the change was gradual enough in the case of my family that I don’t feel the effect of the decline of the poverty rates. Either way, I hope that I’ll never experience my definition of poverty.

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9/26/2010

Jovan
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
When I look at my family from before the recession started and now I do see a bit of change, but not a big one. We have low income to begin with, but luckily neither of my parents have lost their jobs so we manage to keep things going. I know we've been cutting back on things like traveling but other than that I think we are the same. Like before we used to go to Mexico as a family, but now we can't afford to do that. My dad doesn't like to talk to us about money too much, but we notice when things are running slow in our house hold. It might also help that I have a job now so I don't have to ask them for money when I need it. I'm really not sure how the recession has affected my friends. I don't like to ask about things like that too much. I feel like that's too personal.

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9/26/2010

Amber
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
My dad works 12 to 14 hours a day 6 days a week, constantly walking around, getting in and out of burning hot cars, negotiating with ignorant indecisive people who end up only wasting his time: our family has realized that working on commission is very difficult, especially during a recession, and that not very many people want a Mercedes at the moment. Seeing my dad come home every night exhausted and financially stressed out makes me feel bad whenever I have to ask him for money for school activites or to hang out with friends; that money could be used for the stack of bills that seems to grow on the kitchen counter. The recession has not necessarily caused my family to go into debt, but it has taken a toll on all of our stress levels. Because of the high bills and low income, I have no money for college, at least not until I receive financial aid and scholarships. Hopefully.

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9/26/2010

Maggie
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
I haven't been too affected by the recession, but that doesn't mean I won't be, or that my parents haven't been. The only major thing that I know has happened is that my college account dropped over twenty-five percent about two years ago and still has yet to reach its previous level. So, even though I haven't felt an impact yet, I know that I will in college. Even though my parents try to keep it hidden from me, I know that my dad has been really worried about his job security. He works for the City of Fort Worth, which just recently updated its budget a few days ago. Now he knows that his position still exists, but for the past year he and my mom have been pretty worried. I don't know how the recession has affected my school since it just added another wing, but I do know that it has hit all communities. A few days ago I went to a city council meeting where it was unveiled that taxes would be raised. Needless to say, everyone was pretty angry about it.

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9/26/2010

Giselle
Nimitz, Texas
I live in a decent home and food to eat everyday as well as clothes on to put on my back and a car, although the economy is really bad right now it hasn't affected my family much. Yes my dad still has to work really hard to make ends meet and he isn't allowed to work overtime because the company is trying to stay in business, and since he is the only other person (besides me) who works he can't buy us all the things he used to be able to. Since me and my brother are older now and we know better, we don't mad at him if we don't get anything for Christmas or our Birthdays, we understand. Although unlike my families case, not all of my friends and colleagues can say they're in the same situation. Many many people have lost jobs, or had pay cuts and have had to accommodate just to get their families by, and many of the students I go to school with have become homeless. Families haven't just been affected, our community has too. Libraries have been shut down, as well as thousands of small businesses, You walk into a clothing store or the mall and it will be empty because people have no money to spend. Even though our school is getting bigger and new buildings are being added we've still had to cut down on supplies and other materials, last year the homecoming tickets went up five dollars each week that it got closer to homecoming, this year the tickets go up ten dollars every week. Why? Because the school is trying to raise money, not just for themselves but the salon itself would probably cost about $20,000 to rent not to mention the food. The sad part is to see so many families trying so hard to find jobs and keep their families well feed. Obama promised he would do something to end this recession so far from my point of view I haven't seen much action done, my main worry is that this recession would get so bad it would lead to a second Depression.

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9/24/2010

Mackenzie
Nimitz High School, Irving, Tx
Surprisingly, I haven't noticed a change in my home-life from the recession. Everything is still basically the same. I know the recession has hit our community pretty hard but it hasn't hit home for me. I know the effects of the recession, but I work two jobs and have enough money to still get to go out and what not. While as for the community, I have noticed a few jobs being lost here and there. I don't really pay much attention to this sort of things, but after attending a city council meeting things were put into a clearer perspective. There is a large amount of homeless student in the area and many citizens were freely voicing their opinion. The topic was about a proposed budget and most of the citizens were against this because of the homeless students and building of unnecessary things. The recession was not a thing to joke about with the elderly people at that meeting. Peoples hard work and effort will be unnoticed after they lose their jobs, it just doesn't seem fair.

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9/24/2010

Quintin
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
For me personally the biggest difference has just been less luxuries. My dad, who does the taxes, doesn't really like to talk about some of the changes he's been making to accommodate the recession but I know he does, mainly by trying to log some extra hours. Just before the recession really set in, we got a smart car and he's been driving that more often to save on gas. For the community, I just attended a city council meeting and I know that as a whole, the city has lost a lot of revenue so had to raise the taxes. Not only that but there were also several people who got up and talked about how their small business was straining under the recession. Now I'm not entirely sure what the recession has done to the school but as we're undergoing construction it can't be totally in the dumps I think.

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9/22/2010

Kiev
Nimitz High School, Irving, Texas
My family has always done well within the community. Though we've had our ups and downs, the recession has hit us just as hard as it has any other middle-class family. On the bright side, my parents never lost their jobs, but that's not to say that their small businesses weren't affected. My mom, for the past six years, has owned a nail and hair salon that had been doing quite well (up until the recession.) Customers began demanding lower prices; More “bang” for their dollar bill. Let me say first, her prices have been set for the past six years, and she never once raised the price for a haircut. So why is it that now customers demand lower prices? Because of the recession. My mom's small business was doing just fine, but because customers refused to pay for a nine dollar haircut, she had to take action. It cost her more to run the salon than it did maintaining it. So, like many other small businesses, she had to resort to closing down the salon. That was six months ago. Why did I bring this up? Because my mom's hair and nail salon was part of the community. Now that the store is gone, part of the community has disappeared as well. Just imagine, my mom's store was only ONE out of millions that also had to close down because of the recession. This adds up. How many communities were lost? How many lives were drastically changed? My mom now has a stable job, but think about the ones who weren't as lucky. Think about the ones who weren't able to find that back-up job. It hurts more than just one family; It hurts the entire community, the entire country. The poverty rate has steadily continued to increase throughout the years and without any action, it will not stop. I will be truthful, I'm not quite sure if the government can do anything about it at this point. Increasing taxes will do no good. It will only plunge those who are in poverty deeper into poverty and those who are barely maintaining a stable income into poverty. Creating more homeless shelters will just be encouraging those who have no jobs to give up. They'll begin to think that they can just live off government revenue for the rest of their lives. This is not how we want our fellow citizens to think. We, as a community and as a country, need to work together to end the recession. But the question still lingers out there today, how will we do it?

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9/22/2010

Mary S.
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
Fortunately, my family wasn't hit too hard. Yes, we did have to pull back on our “leisure” spending, but my family has never been in the situation where we had to go without food or electricity. As for the community, I wouldn't say it's been stuck to the ground by poverty's brutal punch, but it's not exactly thriving. I have seen many new construction jobs in the past few years (a few took a little longer than necessary in my opinion), and Irving hasn't had to shut down any schools. We have lost a few jobs but that's life. My school doesn't seem to be affected at all by this economy, having almost completed a full face-lift on the building. I heard somewhere recently that the recession is finally taking a turn for the better, but its effects will still be around for a while. Jobs aren't going to be popping back to the community immediately, and everyone isn't going to suddenly receive a Publisher's Clearing House check for thousands of dollars on their doorstep. The bounce-back will be gradual. I feel the government is doing a pretty good job dealing with the economy, although I don't agree with the health care reform President Obama passed. I believe that will further hinder small businesses in the long run.

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9/21/2010

Jena
Nimitz High School, Irving, TX
The recession hasn't really affect my family or I, at least not that I can see. Nothing really seems out-of-the-ordinary. The recession has greatly affect my community and school, though. I attended a city council meeting a couple of weeks ago and the only thing that was discussed while I was present was the city budget cuts. Many things are going away, like the library that I used to go to all the time whenever I was little. Our parks are being closed, too. All of this is a result of the budget cuts, and many citizens are upset about it. My school is being affected because the classes aren't being able to get everything they need for the year. My anatomy class is even bigger than they planned for at the end of last year, so we don't have all of the materials needed to do all the dissections. It's a real hassle for band, too, because we need instrument repairs and new instruments and that comes out of the budget, and without much budget money, we can't pay for that, so our instruments are pretty much useless. The government needs to find ways to get more money flowing, so that taxes are paid, less people are in poverty, and budgets can be raised a little more to accommodate everyone.

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9/21/2010

Duyphuc
Nimitz High School, Texas
The high poverty rate hasn't hit me or my family that hard. We haven't made cuts in our budget because in the first place, we don't waste our money on heedless things. All this talk of the high poverty rate may affect my future with colleges, but that only means more money for me. What I am really annoyed by this is that those who live the poverty rate see it as excuse to not work. A family of four who makes under 22,000 a year isn't working at the full potential with only one parent working and the other too lazy to get a job. The rising poverty rate correlates to the declining work ethic that America has today. Why work when you get handed everything to you by the socialist well-fare state that the U.S has become. Other factors may affect the poverty rate but I only see the abuses of the system. Maybe the poverty rate wouldn't be at the rate it is now if the government wasn't just handing things out on silver platter, and expecting the rest of the society, the declining middle class to bear the brunt of increased taxation. Those who are at the poverty rate get money from the government and can live a more easier life because of their laziness. Those who work hard to be in the middle class see their hard earned profits taken away to serve the impoverished. I smell a socialist plot going on.

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9/20/2010

Judrick F.
Northeast High School, Philadelphia
The high poverty rate has affected my family greatly. My parents money spending habits have changed dramatically. My dad even show me his paycheck and how low the amount is. Also, a lot of people have been getting fired at both my parnets jobs and im just lucky they didnt get fired. In my school the poverty rate has consumed the whole school. It's that easy for you to notice it. Somes classes do not have enough chairs for students, the books are old and not sufficeint. I play for one of the school sport teams and the school suppose to be supplying all the uniforms and equipments but we have to take money out of our pockets and pay for it. All this is affecting the education of the students and will cause a problem in the future. How are we the future workforce, suppose to get America out of this economic slump if we can't get the proper education at the early state.

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9/20/2010

angela
northeast high school, philadelphia
The recession has made everyone's life harder including mine because prices and taxes has rise. Stuff like groceries,gas,andbills. People are affraid to even go spending their money in the malls because they live in fear that they would not have enough money to pay off their bills or even lose their job. Like other families, my mother has to work longer shifts because her company can not afford to higher more workers.My dad has slower business because people do not want to spend their money so they eat at home more than in a resturant. Luckly, my parents did not loose their jobs but my family has to cut down on spending such as going to less places so we can save some money on gas.I don't really see a change in my community or school. Both seemed to be the same before the recession had even started.