The crisis
It's been nine years since the global financial crisis of 2008 when the US subprime mortgage sector collapsed due to the high number of defaults, and the collapse of Lehman Brothers and subsequent bailout of several high street banks. And now I'm on the receiving end again.
When the crisis happened we were in an unfortunate position. On the one hand, we both had good jobs and they were safe. On the other hand, we had just bought a house, and thanks to the crisis, it's value dropped dramatically.
All of a sudden we had a mortgage higher than the value of our home, we had negative equity. Imagine the feeling you get when the price of Steem drops. Imagine that feeling, knowing it'll be years before it ever returns to its previous value. It was gut-wrenching.
Luckily for us that was the extent of our damage. We could sit it out and hope for the best. We had an income and we could keep our home, which is more than could be said for a lot of people, but it's always been a ticking time-bomb.
Today
My contract expired at my current job and I have to leave. I found an incredible job that has a lot of hope for the future; however, it's in another city two hours away. To avoid putting a strain on our family, we decided it's time to move. It's time to defuse the bomb.
We live in an area that's not that popular. The estate agent informed us it might take up to a year to sell. Fine, we thought. That can give us some time to save up more to cover the debt. Our house sold in 6 weeks
Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise. A fresh start. A new city. But there's that lingering issue of how in holy hell are we going to pay off the €40,000 debt.
Yup...€40,000! It hurts seeing that number.
Those Bloody Bankers
You want to know what makes it sting even more. It's those bloody bankers. Time magazine created a list of 25 people to blame for the crisis.
- Richard S. Fuld Jr, the former CEO of Lehman Brothers is on the list. In 2015 he sold his 71-acre estate for just over $21 million.
- Angelo Mozilo, the former head of Countrywide, which also collapsed due to the crisis, received compensation approaching $470 million.
While I'm sitting here contemplating how the debt will be repaid. While I'm wondering what the future will be like for my family, the bankers that caused the crisis are living in luxury. They will never feel the effect of the crisis they share a part in creating.
Steem
Steem has been the light at the end of the tunnel. I was fortunate to join Steem in July 2016 and worked hard to create some quality content.
I've written a 13-part series called The Lies We Tell Ourselves, exploring the psychological biases that make us who we are. I've also written several posts exploring statistics on Steem activity: When do Whales Upvote? is the article that put me in the spotlight.
But with all the stress of the changes going on, I had to leave Steem behind. I had to power down everything to keep us afloat and while it's disappointing to have to do that, I'm grateful that I could. Thanks Steem!
The future
I'm positive about the future. I'm beginning to replace the feeling that The World's default is to make like difficult for you, and that you need to be lucky to make it, with the feeling that I'm in control of my future.
Although we're far from being able to pay off the debt, we have options and I'm hopeful it will turn out ok. In the meantime, I'd appreciate an upvote to make it even easier.
I'll be starting my new job soon and with that comes my official departure from SteemIt. I've been on hiatus anyway because...you know...life, and soon that's gonna happen again. Good luck SteemIt! I wish you well.