Subject: Poor to Rich, Rich to Poor
Date: Tuesday 9/19/06 3:22:00 PM
Music: Ein Kavod-Shabbak Samekh-Canaan 2000
Poor to Rich, Rich to Poor
So I called my father on Sunday to thank him for the birthday gift that they sent me and mostly the conversation ended on my end in aggrivation; and on my father’s end he just thought everything was fine however my Dad basically said (in no uncertain terms) that we’re “dirt poor at the moment.”
Now, normally when he pulls this crap it’s either a) right after he’s purchased, I don’t know…his second Condo or after my state university bill comes in (I’m not going to Harvard folks…people who are truly dirt poor have managed to find ways to pay for UB…this shouldn’t in theory be a problem for anyone to afford).
I called my Mom on Monday to confirm and it turns out that because my Father’s business is cylical (and he sucks hard core at planning…why he’s allowed to be in charge of anything more than a nickel, I don’t know) apparently the family check book is in the red and everyone’s a little tense. Well shit the bed.
Our house on The Island is worth a few million, my father’s shares in the corporation he owns is worth similar (all accurate figures as I’ve always been the other family member to sit in with the financial planner and I’ve reviewed all the paperwork) so it’s not like we don’t have assets, just apparently the cash reserves and the coffers are dry and then some. Okay, fine so now we know where we stand as a family unit.
So on the phone I told my Mom to have my broker call me and I’d give them three grand from my investment account to get their checkbook back ino the black and told her to inform my father to write a letter to the IRS and tell them that I’m no longer a dependant (that way I can get work study at University, because as long as he claims me as a dependent when he files his taxes I can’t get financial aid because he makes too much money). He makes 20,000+ a month (after taxes). Now I’m hoping that his ‘pride’ doesn’t get in the way because if the checkbook is in the red (and this isn’t something my mom would lie to me about) he needs all the help he can get.
I honestly don’t have the patience for this shit…you make 20 grand a month – that’s more than most make a year, why it’s such a foreign concept (knowing that your business is cyclical and you go from highs to lows) to bank that kind of cash, I have no idea why he feels the obsessive need to buy new cars and a giant flat screen television the SIZE OF A WALL (no…seriously, it’s the SIZE OF A WALL) and condos and to randomly redo sections of the house over and over and over again at the expense of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I’m not worried about me: I always land on all fours. I have my national certification in pharmacy and I have my certificate in paralegal studies and if I had to I’m good enough and I’ve lost enough weight that I can honestly just do drag for a few months (as it is, when I did it this summer I made 80.00 a set working at the older drag bars) and there’s no job that’s beneath my dignity, my grandfather had a word for washing floors: opportunity and I’m pretty sure that if things went from where they are now (bad) to worse that I could always grab a piece of couch somewhere.
My Mom’s sure that we’ll bounce right back and that business will pick up again and everything will be just fine but I prefer not to rely on that leap of faith because that puts trust in my father and I haven’t trusted him since day one.
I’m making a surprise trip home on Yom Kippur and hitching a ride with Kim and Eli and if my father doesn’t accept the three grand when my mom talks to him about it tonight, I’ll get it in cash and give it to my mother.
My father can make his own choices and dig his own grave, but I’ll be damned if my younger brother and mother suffer because he can’t get his shit together.
This is some fucked up shit right here. Steve (stevenh) I have some financial questions to ask you when you have a minute.
moocowinthecity