To see who’s been hit hardest, we ranked metropolitan statistical areas by the number of jobs lost through layoffs involving more than 50 employees during the first quarter of 2009. Separation had to be for more than 31 days, so as to exclude temporary furloughs.

Where’s it worst? Detroit, where 57 mass layoffs snuffed out 14,781 jobs in the first quarter of 2009. Much of the pain came from the Big Three carmakers: General Motors, Chrysler and Ford Motor. The area has the highest unemployment rate in the country at 14%.

Chicago runs a close second with 13,647 jobs erased in mass firings. Construction-heavy Los Angeles, also hurt by the Golden State’s financial crisis, wiped out 10,594. Finance-focused New York lost 8,688 during the first quarter of 2009. Houston also made the list with 7,184 job losses; Dallas had 4,784.

Larger cities were bound to get singled out: They attract big corporations with big payrolls that require big cuts to make meaningful differences to their bottom lines. At the state level, California had the most mass layoffs with 115,014 workers let go, followed by Michigan with 46,817, Illinois with 41,887 and Texas with a more modest 33,005.

Mass layoffs put even more strain on a city’s economy than gradual job cuts. Local governments have to quickly find a way to help newly unemployed workers. “You really don’t want to get hit with mass layoffs because you now have a large number of people who need resources and it really tends to overwhelm the public sector,” said Joel Naroff, an economist at Naroff Advisers.

By Maurna Desmond, Forbes.com

May 20th, 2009

Although gas prices have dropped somewhat, nothing else has.  Food prices continue to climb as do the utility rates.  It seems there is no relief in sight.  I know my budget is stretched farther than ever before.

Most Americans are feeling the same way.  Many of us are having trouble handling our debts and they continue to worsen.  If you feel you need help to get your finances back on track, a Credit Counseling program will help ensure a healthy financial future.  Don’t let your debt leave you feeling hopeless.

The high interest on credit card debt alone can be scary.  If you only make minimum payments which many people do, you will never pay off your balance.  Of course, that is how the credit card companies make their money.

DebtGuru.com has many options to choose from to get your finances back on track.  They offer consumer credit counseling, a debt management program, and credit card debt consolidation services.  They even offer a free debt consolidation quote. 

I cannot stress the importance of having as few debts as possible in this economy.  No one knows what the future holds for this economy.  I definitely do not want any new debt.  We are working to pay our auto off as soon as possible.  We have no credit cards now thankfully.  We choose not to use them at all; it reduces the temptation to use them.

Check out DebtGuru’s website and then relax.  Don’t let your debt control you; get control of your debt quickly!

I don’t know about you, but I would not balk at the thought of getting a second stimulus check.  I just hope that this time it is enough to actually make a difference.  I mean come on.  If you are in a financial strain, are you going to take your check and blow it? No, you are going to be like most everyone else and either hold on to it or pay on a bill. 

If they had started on this sooner, Christmas would have been a great time to send out stimulus checks.  Who wouldn’t like to have some extra money to spend on gifts?  I wish these guys would get their act together and actually do something to help us. 

In my opinion, if you want to stimulate the economy so people will actually go out and spend some money on something besides absolute necessities, give us a substantial amount to where you can pay some on bills but still have a little to blow if you feel so inclined.  I would think somewhere around $5,000 for a household would be a nice sum.  Instead of sending all our money overseas to help all the countries who despise us, why don’t we help our own citizens for a change?  I want CASH in my hand; not a supposed tax cut.  Money talks.

I have certainly decreased my driving unnecessarily.  I am getting back into using coupons and watching for sales before purchasing anything.  We walk whenever we can to cut down on our gasoline useage.

 The Wall Street situation is more than worrisome especially for someone like me who uses stocks and money markets to try to increase their retirement savings.  Now that stability is gone.  I am thinking of going back to saving my money in mason jars and burying it in the backyard somewhere as some of our ancestors did.  Seriously! 

So, it means for we have to call the person who handles our retirement fund and put it in a no risk account.  I think I will just leave it this way.  Too much risk for me to have it otherwise.  I cannot afford to lose it all.

Grocery shopping is so depressing.  I am thankful we had a garden this year and were able to can and freeze a lot of vegetables for the winter months.  Of course, we still have to purchase things weekly like milk, bread and the staples.  I find myself trying to time my trips to get the marked down dairy and meat products.  I often plan our meals around what I can find on sale or marked down.  Many nights we just eat veggies due to the high cost of meat. 

We definitely do not eat out like we used to.  Gas money takes away from any funds we used for eating out or doing anything spur of the moment. 

Difficult economic times has caused the crime rate to increase significantly too.  I hate even hearing the news about all of the local shootings.  Most are drug related.  As the economy worsens, this will become more and more common as drug abusers need to steal money for their fixes.  Of course this makes the walking more dangerous for all of us.

I would love to hear how others are making changes to cope with the declining economy.