Saving money

This one Sunday morning, I realized that the owner of my apartment was still at home. It was quite strange to see him sittig at the kitchen table and still eating his breakfast as late as 9 a.m. I did not question much about this bazzar event at the time. I thought maybe he was off work.
For the last couple of months, he has been telling me about how slow his restaurant got . He told me who got laid off every other week, but also told me confidently that he would not be the one who will be in the same situation because he was very close to the restaurant owner. He trusted the strong bond and business relationship over ten years with his boss at one of the expensive restaurants on the 5th avenue.
However, he was not special to the owner as much as he thought or wished to be. He lost the job that previous Friday.
He has a family to support three little kids and his wife who just bore a baby. He used ot have a pretty decent life-style. He brought tons of crabs and ripen fruits to the table every weekends,go out to play grounds in different areas by his SUV and for some reason, he is still able to do the same, after losing his job.
I believe that he had been saving money for their kid's education, and now he is spending it little by little to survive this current situation.
It was just nothing but impressing to know the power of preparing for the big changes in life.

Japanese kill themselves, while Americans strive to survive.

Every single day, we are reminded that we are in one of the most economically- challenged times in history. Conversation about lay-off fill offices and fear employees minds. TV morning reports start from the escalating number of unemployment rate. Soon ten out of one person will be jobless.

In these times, people’s true nature comes out. Especially among races. There was a study conducted by my9 in NY. Its report said that Asian American are less willing to ask for help, where as black receive various type of federal aids.

So what do Japanese people do when they face predicaments? According to Kyodo, a Japanese news paper, over 30,000 people committed suicide last year, which is the time when the economy started to disfunction. In January, 2645 people took their lives.

Meanwhile, in America, we rarely hear about the financially related suicide that will appear as a headline on the front page of the paper. Instead, we hear about the efforts that ordinary citizens and governments are making to reboot the economy. People are aware of unemployment benefit, food stamp and shelter programs and try to utilize as much as they can.

It is interesting to see how two different races react to the same situation. Some allow themselves to get defeated by the overwhelming fear, and the other strive to get back their live and keep on trying.