I lived for many years were this kind of situation was the normal life, and worse. Sometimes we got our paycheck only 2 months later, sometimes there were no groceries on the shelves to shop, even if you got the money. We never paid for someone that we didn’t know at the cashier, because it can be embarrassing for people, you never know… But with the families next to us we always helped each other out - can you lend me a quarter of milk until tomorrow? Of course, and here are some eggs and some oranges too, from the trees in our backyard. Next week we run out of oil, no oil at the store either, went to the neighbor - would you lend me a cup of oil? Sure, but come in for a coffee and tortillas, and here take some home for the kids. It was also common to cook a little more and give it to the neighbor – take, so you don’t need to cook today. Or to share the tokens for the bus to go to work when we run out of money. This way, what started being a deficit evolved into a very kind and supportive neighborhood community.

See what I mean? 2nd largest bank failure in us hisory

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-indymac12-2008jul12,0,6071779.story

yeah, llama, it was a surprise. It was just the last thing in the world I was expecting… same feeling when I signed onto netbank that day and found no bank.

Rkkggg - what about 10 families? Will you spend everything you have until you have nothing or is there a point where you would hunker down with your resources in an attempt to have your family survive?

I am not attacking you. We were just discussing this last night, asking ourselves these exact questions which may actually become relevant.

I wouldn’t spend on others before making sure that my family survives. If I neglected myself and my family it wouldn’t be responsible at all, because I cannot expect others will take care of my family while I’m helping others. I think there is always a range and a limit to our responsibilities too. But I’m a Leo, so others may see it very different. And in the case of this man, how can I know that he didn’t just leave his money at home thinking there was still enough on the card? It happened to me, I had to leave what I shopped there in front of the line… and come back later. It’s not funny, now I always check before.
Let’s hope this was the case.

i sure as hell hope it doesn’t get to that.

i’ve only recently crawled out of the flat broke space where $5.00 made or broke our grocery run….

i’m doing what i can, giving away what i don’t need. but, food? i’ve shared food. handed an apple to the guy begging at the front of the gas station on a cross country trip. bought dog food for a homeless girl’s guard dog when it nearly cleared out my bank (but i had more money coming in.) this isn’t a new feeling… but it hasn’t been a constant, prolonged drought, either. i just don’t know. if i have more thna i need, sure. but how i figure that is really hard to explain….

i’ll say more people should can food for winter/spring. it tastes so much better than the stuff in the stores. but canning takes forever….

I understand what you’re saying E, even if you can and do help, at what point do you have to say “I can not do more?”. In my case it was with animals, I worked for a vet and took home all the misfits, the ones who could not find a home but whose heart shined in their eyes. I had 17 cats, 11 dogs, a ferret, plus I was a busy wildlife rehabber. One day I realized I lived in a zoo. I looked up and said, “No more.”

Now, I try to help who or what crosses my path, when it is possible.

The bank situation will get worse. Whose money do you think they mismanaged? Bad debts, mortgages and fees? It was ours and now when we want it back they lock the doors. They have not been good stewards of our money and trust. Mayhaps we should have taken their fingerprints and birth data at deposit.

I’ve run into this sort of situation this past week, my husband’s last 2 paychecks bounced, our washer broke, and my son had to have surgery. We managed the copays, but my mother-in-law brought food from the food pantry where she works. I spent an evening at the laundromat, and I had exactly $1.25 left at the end of my cycles, so I left that on top of the washer in for the next person. I figured I’d been blessed, so why not pass it on…it wasn’t much, but I was glad to have it to give.

My philosophy is the airplane oxygen mask rule, if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of anyone else. So I would make sure my family was okay and I might hunker down a bit. But I definitely want to help where I can.

On CNN this am a large bank (indymac) went under and people are not able to get their money at a branch from this bank. It’s just crazy! It was also saying that another six banks closed this year alone and another 90 are on a ‘watch’ list….

I probably would have given a few dollars if I had it on me..but times are tight right now. We definitely question running certain driving errands and try to tackle the one’s that are closest together in proximity and attack the other one’s if we think we might be in the vicinity later in the week if possible.

Gas is over $4 a gallon so it’s just hard.

I have Leo/Aquarius on my 2nd/8th axis, so I like to give as much as I can but I will still take care of me and mine first. In my family, there were times that my mom was so involved helping others that there was nothing left for us and I’ve vowed to not let that happen under my watch.
My hubby and I have no children, no debt, and live in a condo, though, so our needs are pretty easily met. Even though we’re technically under the poverty line, we haven’t wanted for much in the past year, although it’s been close a few times.

Mudlike I love your attitude. Thank you!

I agree goddess it’s good to have it in sequence.
I’ve seen the bad results of people putting other people before they’re family and those they are responsible for and it is not good.
It’s easy for me to be poor because I have people who love me, I’m capable of work, I have no children who depend on me for their survival, and I’m young and healthy.

Light side to Saturn and Pluto. Er… fuck no.
::smiles wide::

Positive way to use the energy? Yes of course but it ain’t “light” by any stretch of the imagination.

wow, I don’t know… I’d definitely get the one guy’s groceries, but three or four? I can’t do that; that makes me feel insecure about taking care of my babies.

almost a week ago I had a friend bring me four bags of groceries. it was hard to be the one on the receiving end, but I tried to remember that being a bad recipient diminishes the joy the giver experiences. so I decided to to receive it in the way I would like to have my gifts received.

wow, I would feel SO honored if someone offered me their home produce! pooh to them! :p

yup, well my tomatos may be misshapen but they taste good and so I’ll eat them myself. I had this feeling it had more to do with the fact that this person hadn’t really ever seen anything less than a perfectly red tomato (with no flavor) at the supermarket. I was offended but then felt really sorry for the person that they didn’t know what the real thing looked like or tasted like and so couldn’t take it and eat it. It just made me really sad in the end.

I meant “light” as opposed to “shadow” - not as opposed to “heavy” or “serious”. But understood.

I don’t know enough to make a guess that’s likely to be very accurate - but I have a sense that there may be some part of our souls are yearning for some discipline. That it may be tied to a slimming down (and wanting to do so) of this overconsumption of resources, potentially learning to take only what we need - since we’ve gone so far in the other direction.

Which may lead to hunger and come in part in the form of recession; but overall, seems like there are many who could benefit from clear motivation and training in understanding the value of resources, their limits, and how to use resources mindfully and strategically. Feels to me like a lot of us have been consuming resources willy nilly, as though there is no end. I kind of wonder if pluto in capricorn coming out of sag is sort of like waking up early the morning after a great party where there was lots of “throwing cares to the wind” and booze, with a big hangover and being asked to go directly to church or school or work. (Kind of like that Jimmy Buffet song where he says, “There’s a fine line between Saturday night and Sunday morning.”)

I feel like we need Pluto in Capricorn to get our heads back on straight. Maybe at the end of it, we could have things like a government that we are more likely to believe in again, a better sense of managing resources (including sharing them with others who need it), and maybe even a better sense of how great it is to be able to wake up every morning.

I guess I kind of feel - like the way that sometimes people with a lot of money (i.e. few limits), are sometimes STILL not happy. There is something happy-making in limits - I guess because they bring awareness.

And so I’m thinking - that even though pluto capricorn is probably not going to be much fun to go through, it’s probably going to be (overall) worth it; it’s probably going to help us learn to respect ourselves. And thinking about it that way - at least for me - can make the hard parts easier to bear, because they are for a cause.