Time to steal some butter packets

Right after September 11, 2001, I thought the U.S. was a scary place to live. For about five minutes. And then I went out to the Junction and drank a beer and had some sort of blue-colored vodka shot, and I wasn't that scared anymore.

If I could talk to my 21-year-old self now I would say: "just wait...you ain't seen nothing yet. And by the way, drinking doesn't fix it."

September 11th was scary, but it was also distant. It was so random, so out-of-the-blue, that it never felt to me like it hit close to home (even though my then 88-year-old grandma lived three miles from the towers).

Today is different.

Is anyone else as f**king scared as I am? Did you follow the news yesterday about 55,000 jobs being cut in ONE DAY? Are you watching your monthly 401k statements and house prices in your neighborhood drop drastically each month? Is it just me, or does anyone else wake up in a panic from a nightmare that involves stock tickers and severance packages?

Maybe it's just the fine people of Michigan, a state that currently ranks #1 in unemployment at just over 10% (the map above is a month old). Yes, more than ten percent of the people in this state are without jobs. And those remaining 90% either are scared, or should be.

Now, Brad and I are gratefully employed. I did lose my job two years ago last week, but thankfully, it was during a time when unemployment rates were slightly lower and I was able to find another one. But each week now, it seems I hear about another friend or family member who loses their job. And I just keep wondering who's next, how long it will be before we reach the 25% unemployment rates of the 1930s, and what we will do when it's our turn to lose an income (we've already decided that our first move would be exactly that -- to move).

I'm just hoping that our new prez is able to turn things around. I know it's not going to happen overnight, and things will likely get worse before they get better. I know Barack Obama inherited this disaster and he's only been in office for a week -- but out of desperation, I still find myself saying fix it NOW or I will honestly mentally re-vote for John McCain.

Finally I'm starting to understand why my grandma, who lived through the great depression, stole butter packets from restaurants and spent 6 hours a week clipping coupons. She lived through a time when her family couldn't afford to buy butter, let alone their next meal. And who knows...in a few years we could end up being the next great butter-stealing generation.