wsj.com:
Carlos Araya used to order lobster, filet mignon and $200 bottles of red wine at the Palm Restaurant in midtown Manhattan.
Now, he seats customers at its Tribeca branch.
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There is a sub story here- and that is how financially illiterate most Americans are. In large part due to the so called financial experts who have counseled people to have a mortgage because of the "tax deduction". How many people are out there who have a mortgage and a stock portfolio. Many of those people would never consider purchasing stocks on margin - viewing that as "too risky" but never seem to realize that they are doing the functional equivalent by having a mortgage and stocks.
Perhaps (although I doubt it since our Commander in Chief is urging the opposite) people will realize that a house is a place to live in and bring up a a family- not an investment and certainly not an ATM. That paying down your mortgage as fast as you can is the smartest thing to do and if fortune favors you do that as quickly as possible and defer the vacations and $200 bottle of wine until you have done that. Was crying in the bathroom and your daughters grief worth the vacation!?
Good. I don't say this because I'm gloating either or trying to be smug. I just don't know any other way some of these people are going to get it unless they get a taste of the real world for 95% or more Americans. He was making $200,000 and buying $200 bottles of wine, living large, and never saved?
Amazing, isn't it, when folks find out that working in the real world pays less than the fantasy world of finance? It's no wonder our currency has lost so much value when people are paid millions of dollars for doing nothing more than shuffling paper from one hand to the other.
From the WSJ article:
""It was a hard reality at first," he says. "I used to see unemployed people and think they were lazy, that it was all on them. Now it's happened to me.""
Conservatives are now trying to reframe empathy as emotional instability [in relation to Obama's comment about future SCOTUS appointments].
I dare say that the young man quoted above has experienced what ALL those suffering the mental disorder of a conservative mindset should experience: FORCED EMPATHY.
Conservatives [the majority of them] cannot or refuse to entertain the fundamentally necessary perspective of inhabiting another's misfortune, and instead judge all who find misfortune
And so Mr. Araya has discovered empathy, even though it was forced upon him; question is, will he retain that perspective should his fortunes change for the better? Regardless, he should value that sense of empathy now, since sympathy will likely be short on supply, all things considered.
Good post. I read a lot of comments at the end of articles on health care and job loss, and it is amazing the lack of empathy. If you don't have health care you just have made the right decisions, why should I pay for someone who isn't responsible -- and it goes on. Are they grateful for what they have? It sure doesn't sound that way.
The test indeed will be if this guys retains his new perspective, should his fortunes change.
heh....I recall, back just before the Reaga/Bush recession, Greenspan declaring too many people had jobs and he began raising interest rates. Meanwhile rethugs like Ann Coulter complained that unemployed people should get off unemployment and welfare and just go out and get a job.
No doubt, Mr. Carlos Araya and his peers cheered Ms. Coulter's brilliant solution.
"It was a hard reality at first," he says. "I used to see unemployed people and think they were lazy, that it was all on them. Now it's happened to me."
This is a sad story. The above quote seems to be the view of many people lucky enough to have stayed out of financial trouble in the past. This kind of thinking has let to the dismantling of our governments social responsibility, corporate social responsibility and a culture of extreme greed.
It’s easy to think Mr. Araya created the situation himself , however he is just another victim of our “economic culture” (use-em, abuse-em and spit-hem out).
Mr. Araya will eventually recover and hopefully remember the true meaning of the word compassion. I hope he helps others not for a tax deduction or any other self-serving matter but out of compassion and from the heart.
I wish the Mr. Araya, his family and all the other Mr. Araya’s out there all the best. Maybe, just maybe they will help turn things around.
No, Mr. Carlos Araya is personally responsible. By viewing unemployed people as being solely responsible for their condition, I expect he voted hard rethug.
Mr. Carlos Araya should not assume his job as a waiter now gives him the right to look down at others, one "slip and fall" and he might not be able to stand on his feet for eight hours, or bend over a table to pour wine. I have several herniated disks due to an inherited defect in my spine.
after suffering horribly in the recent financial meltdown, i went from retirement to starting a small service business that is letting me pay all of my bills, and allow me a modest lifestyle. you have to do what you have to.
Regardless of how richly Mr. Araya used to live, I wish him and his family the best of luck with their circumstances. I've been there more than once, worried sick about what would become of me and my family during times when I found myself without any means to an income. All I can do is be grateful it never came to being on the street. I'm not going to kick a man when he's down, and trying to keep his family's home and hearth together.
I wish he and his all the best. Having said that, it's a good lesson for him to learn to face the real world like the rest of us.
I wish he and his family all the best. Having said that, it's a good lesson for him to learn to face the real world like the rest of us. (Corrected)
I hear the world's smallest violin.
Araya: "I used to see unemployed people and think they were lazy..."
... and now you know better.
He buys a a $960,000 condo on a 200K salary? That wasn't smart.
Besides, a $200 grand annual salary in NYC makes a person upper middle class, not wealthy.
I'm surprised at the mean spiritedness of some of the comments. He wasn't one of the decision makers, he was just an employee who was working and taking care of his family. He made some unwise decisions (not completing his degree, buying a too expensive house, ignoring the signs of the housing market collapse) but he seems like a decent guy who doesn't deserve to be villified.
No pity, no mercy
as you said: "He made some unwise decisions (not completing his degree, buying a too expensive house, ignoring the signs of the housing market collapse).
1. he chose a job in the quintessential Capitalist endeavor where you don't live or die, you live or are torn apart.
2. he was at ground zero for this mess WITH the experience, WITH the knowledge, and WITH the training to see it coming
3. he made some of the same dumb decisions that the "villified" Main Street made leading up to the housing bubble and still signed the dotted line
This post stirs my sympathy more than one 2 months ago about trophy wives feeling bad about not being able to afford boutique shopping sprees with their friends and just below the trader who quit his job, found a partner, and tried to open his own trading firm in Florida just before the bust only to run out of savings. That particular article made mention of his garage..."
No pity, no mercy...wh
Talk about irony. But I find it very hard to feel sympathetic to people who made $200k per annum yet apparently didn't save or invest anything for a rainy day and apparently spent it as fast as they made it on luxury living. Anyone with a salary like that should have been financially set for life in a few short years had they lived more frugally and saved and carefully invested.
Not for nothing, but they were very careful with their money and had five years worth of savings that they've now gone through. I'm not on one side or the other about this, but the whole article is worth a read.
"Ms. Araya diligently managed the family budget with Excel charts to ensure that they had no credit card debt, good credit histories even an emergency fund saved over five years that is now depleted."
Wall St. Unemployed Forced To Take Low-Wage Jobs
SO?
What, you're surprised that anyone would feel entitled? I was watching a show the other night (I won't say which one) and this one guy says "I'm a college graduate, I don't want to dig ditches. I went to college because I wanted a good job," or something to that effect. Basically he wanted to do something that paid well even if it wasn't in demand, and if it was necessary for the government to make sure that happened (i.e. subsidize said high paying job with taxpayer money or protect his trade by not allowing anyone to compete with him) than by golly they'd better get on it. I guess some people just think they're special and don't have to abide by basic economic fundamentals like the rest of us.
What jobs will our laid off factory workers find? Where are there any jobs except off shore?
Forced?
Wah.
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First Posted: 06- 2-09 10:46 AM | Updated: 06- 2-09 10:55 AM