Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Recession Tales

Narrator: America is considered to be one of the most powerful nations in the world. Many people aspire to come to this country because they believe their dreams will be fulfilled here. ‘America the land of opportunity’. However, lately things have become difficult in this dreamland. In recent years America has been going through some turmoil. Its economy has taken a turn for the worst; America is experiencing a recession. Dozens of company have had massive lay offs by the thousand. There are job freezes in careers in education and also in hospital work. Recent collage graduates are having trouble finding jobs as well. The real estate market is one area that has been hit in a massive way. Many homes across the country have been foreclosed. Also, many people have downsized by moving into smaller homes. Another group that has been affected greatly by the recession is middle class middle aged Americans. As a result of all the lay offs many of these people have been left jobless. And though they have search far and wide for new careers they have been unsuccessful in finding one. These are only some of the ways Americas have been affected. These leads to the question; How can anyone find a positive light in the mist of all these negativity? Well meet Antoinette..
Antoinette is one of the many middle class middle aged Americans whose life has been transformed by the recession.

Antoinette: Hello my name is Antoinette and right now I am a student. I’ve been unemployed for about ten months. The job search has frustrated me simply because I am qualified; I have many years of experience, I have an education I think I meet all the requirements and I still cannot find a job. And at times I do believe because of the number of years that I have put in, employers can actually tell your age and I do feel that age has something to do with it even though it shouldn’t.

Narrator: Although life has given Antoinette lemons she has decided to take the lemons and make lemonade.

Antoinette: Since the recessions I’ve learn how to plan my life a bit more I’ve learn how to relax. I was able to go back to school which I wanted to do for so many years but because of very uh demanding job with long hours I was unable to attend classes again in the evening.

Narrator: Antoinette is not the only one that had to adjust.

[phone ringing, somebody answer]This is Janet GM New York Realty how can I help you?

Narrator: Janet is a realtor that had survived the recession. Though she survived things are not as they used to be in the real estate market.

Janet: A lot has changed; one primarily is the way people spend their money and uh even whatever the product is and my industry it’s buying a house or selling one, for buyers they have revised the amount of money they wanna spend on a home thinking that uh they will always pay less money now because of the state of the economy. The customer now dictates more less you know how the transaction goes because we want to make sure that we do close the transaction, because there are so many homes out there their just as many realtors out there and having so many buyers and all the choices when you do get a buyer that is really willing ready and able at this time, you wanna make sure you close that transaction.

Narrator: Although these changes have been rough for Janet she still keeps a positive attitude.

Janet: It makes me appreciate more of what I do have when I met other people I realized that I’m blessed in a lot of ways to be able to get up in the morning, get dressed, go to work, drive my car to work. And when I met family sometimes I realized it’s not that simple. Uh I guess I’m a little more appreciative of what I have and what I’m able to do for myself and give back to others as well.

Narrator: So, there you have it, even though we are going through some stormy times, this shows that after the rain the sun will eventually shine.