Coping With Economic Worst-Case Scenario

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

ARI SHAPIRO, host:

With more bad economic news coming in almost daily, we wondered if Americans are making contingency plans. Here's how some folks in Los Angeles said they would cope with their worst-case scenarios.

(Soundbite of music)

Ms. LARA FUKES(ph): My name is Lara Fukes. I'm 38 years old. And if another Great Depression would happen, I would probably talk to all my good friends and probably all go together to a farm and, you know, start raising our own animals and vegetables, and we could survive together.

Ms. SONIA CHEY(ph): My name is Sonia Chey, and I'm 33 years old. If I lost my job and my home, I think I'd be stressed and then depressed. And then I would probably, like, pursue something I wanted to really do, which was move overseas.

Mr. AZIZ MEGCHI(ph): My name is Aziz Megchi. My age is 31. Me, that would never happen to me because I'm a financial analyst. So I usually see it before it comes.

Mr. DUTCH NAVARES(ph): My name is Dutch Navares. I'm 31 years old. You know, I dabble with it now, but medical cannabis, getting into it really big and like promoting it, that would be definitely something I'd be interested in.

Mr. JOSE GARCIA(ph): My name's Jose Garcia, and I'm 27 years old. I mean, that thought's been coming through my head a lot, especially when you have kids and you've got a mortgage. I don't have anything planned out right now, but I kind of rely on having two jobs. If I was to lose one job, I don't think I'll make it with the other job.

Mr. TERRY WATSON(ph): My name is Terry Watson. I'm 72 years old. I don't think it's ever been this bad. It's going to get worse. It's going to get worse before it get better. You just got to deal with it. You have to - peoples now going to have to cut down a little here and little there. They'll make it. Everybody, they gonna make it.

SHAPIRO: Those are some voices from the streets of Los Angeles.

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.