You know how your initial reaction to hearing your recorded voice played back is, "That's me? I really sound like that? Well, for a real shocker, trying watching yourself on national television. Yup, that's right, I was on national TV tonight, on Wolf Blitzers' "Situation Room," to be exact.
It all started about a month ago when CNN Money.Com posed the question on its Web site, "Are you better off today than you were eight years ago?" Silly fool that I am, I dashed off a response and e-mailed it. Later that day, I got a replay saying they wanted to post my response. I told them it was ok, and sure enough, the next day my little story, "Our Golden Years Have Turned to Lead," was one of a dozen or so individual profiles on the CNN Money.Com site. It's still there the last time I checked. I e-mailed my friends and family, and quietly enjoyed my 15 minutes of being as famous as I'll ever be - or so I thought.
Then last night, just as we were about to sit down to dinner, I got the scariest phone call of my life. "Hi, I'm Shirley Zilberstein with CNN. Do you have a few minutes?"
It seemed Mary Snow was doing a segment for "The Situation Room" and wanted to know if I'd consent to being interviewed. I said didn't mind. Since I live in Tampa, and their nearest crew is based on the other side of the state, we set a tentative time for the next day. Then the phone rang again. As luck would have it, the crew was in Tampa for another story. Could we do this now?
"Um, yeah, I guess so," I heard myself say. Then it hit me. I was going to be on national TV! Like a flash I was in the bedroom scrubbing paint off my face and arms (I'd be painting doors and trim all day), smearing on some makeup and trying to do something with my hair, while my husband furiously shoved dishes into the dishwasher and odds and ends into any cupboard where they would fit.
Senior Producer Richard Phillips and his cameraman, Mike, arrived a few minutes later. I joked that at least it wasn't Mike Wallace at the door. "Oh, he wouldn't have called first," Rich deadpanned. They were totally professional, and really nice guys. I was dumbstruck by the amount of gear they unloaded from a Suburban that barely accommodated two people plus their "stuff." It took an hour or so to set up the lights and cameras and microphones, which they were meticulous about positioning just right. They called Shirley, who got Mary Snow on speakerphone. Mary asked me questions while Mike filmed, and I kept my eyes on Rich, who was standing where Mary would have been, if she hadn't been in New York at the moment.
The questions Mary asked were things like "How have you felt this week about the developments in the financial crisis and the bail-out? How has this affected your 401k and other investments? How has your financial situation been?" I told them what I had said in my original e-mail. We've both lost our jobs, can't find new ones, and are living off our savings. We'll have to start dipping into our 401k's pretty soon. Am I concerned about the economy? That's an understatement. Am I uncertain that the bail-out is the right thing to do? You betcha. I'm also just generally angry, frustrated, anxious, and sad (not necessarily in that order) most of the time.
When George Bush took office, my husband and I had jobs, owned two homes that were appreciating rapidly in value, and were looking to retire at 55. Then in March came the tech stock crash, and our investments dropped 50% in a few days. We shrugged it off, and set our sights on retiring at 62. But the economy under Bush has done nothing but get worse. First, I was laid off after almost 16 years with IBM. Try as I might, I could not find a job even at half my previous salary. I got certified in a new career, teaching, but haven't been able to land a permanent position there either. Then the value of our homes started dropping like a rock. They are now worth one-third less than they should be, but we haven't been able to sell them, even at that price, since the foreclosures in the area have driven down prices even farther. In May, my husband was laid off. Then gasoline when through the roof, and everything else jumped too. The diet Coke my husband favors instead of coffee for his morning caffeine jolt has gone from 99 cents to $1.90 in just six months. He buys the store brand now.
I was happy to do the CNN interview and "vent." I hoped that others might see it and realize what a crime it would be to put another Bush clone in the White House. But, the end result, which I just finished viewing, was about 30 seconds of me talking, and a few background shots. Not enough to really make a strong point. Still, I'm glad I did it, even if it does make me look much older and fatter and less attractive than I am in real life (I swear!), and all of America now knows we are broke. If it convinced even one person not to vote for McCain, it was well worth it.
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