Economy also takes toll on middle class
By McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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Published: October 21, 2008
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After the hairdresser’s husband lost his job, they sold one car and took their son out of private school. She figured they’d get by on her income and her husband’s unemployment checks until he found work. Six months have passed and he hasn’t found a job.
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‘Don’t use my name’
"Please,” the hairdresser said, "don’t use my name.” She lives in a beautiful house near Charlotte and most days she makes a point of putting on make-up and a nice outfit, hoping no one will notice the cracks in the picture.
"You have so much pride,” she said, "you don’t want people to know how low you’ve gone.
"Or,” she added, "how much lower you might go.”
She is 50 and has tried not to get all worked up and worried. But she made no money two weeks ago, and only $100 last week, because her customers are hurting, too.
‘It’s getting scary’
Paul Bellin is 46 and single, one of the few people who didn’t mind his name in the newspaper.
He said he lost his job as a claims adjuster in the insurance industry in April, and has been living on unemployment checks and savings, without any health insurance. He thought for sure he would find another job by now.
"It’s getting scary,” he said. "A lot of employers say I’m over qualified and they’re concerned I won’t stay long, but I’m willing to do anything.”
‘God help us!’
The hard part for a 63-year-old Gastonia man has been telling his three children: "No.”
No, they can’t afford to buy that. No, they can’t afford to go out.
Even though he has a good job, earning $100,000 a year in a consumer and commercial finance company in uptown Charlotte, the family is in trouble. He said he and his wife bought a $199,000 home with one of those balloon mortgages that have been the undoing of so many families.
They put the house up for sale three years ago, and they still haven’t found a buyer.
"God help us!” he said in despair.
‘Don’t have a choice’
"People are having to decide, ‘Do I pay my mortgage or do I pay my medical bills? Do I pay for gas or for food?’ And in some instances they don’t have a choice,” said Johnson of UNC-Chapel Hill. "There are so many people out there who are hurting.”
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