Prized possesions for sale in stressed economy
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My MPR News colleague Mike Caputo spent the last couple weeks asking people in our Public Insight Network about having to sell the things they love in this economy to pay the bills. He got back some great, heartfelt stories.
Mike was on All Things Considered talking about it this afternoon. You can hear it here. It'll give you a great sense of the challenges many Minnesotans face and the decisions they have to make.
He talked to Jonathan Stimes of Burnsville, who lost his job as a radio sales executive six months ago and needed money to pay the mortgage. Mike writes that Stimes turned to some gold coins given to him as a gift from his father for working on the family farm years ago.
"I was not prepared for the sense and the feeling of my dad saying, 'I'm here for you still,'" Stimes said, choking up. "He was an exemplary father and I'm appreciating him more and more each day. There is still a few more coins down there that my mom says I can come and get, if I want. I'll do everything humanly possible to keep those."
Mike also found folks who were happy for the chance to unload stuff they no longer needed. Collectively, it offers a look at Minnesota's economy from a different vantage point.
We're trying to a lot more at MPR News to tell the story of Minnesota's economy through your stories.
You can help. Tell us a story about what the economy is like around you these days. We'll map them here at MinnEcon. Check out some of the responses we've mapped so far:
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