Songodina Ifatunji believes all elements of life seek a natural balance. The economy of this nation, viewed through his dual lenses of faith and intellectualism, is no different.
A university professor, a traditional African Ifa priest, and a longtime Maywood homeowner, Ifatunji sees the fiscal chaos of the last two years settling down.
“The flooring is now in place for recovery,” said Ifatunji, 60. “It’s just a matter of continued good management from here on out.”
Such optimism is rarely heard over the noise of partisan rancor, but a Tribune/WGN poll shows 61 percent of Illinoisans believe their financial situation is either the same or better than it was a year ago. Granted, very few think it has actually improved — 9 percent — while 39 percent think it has slipped.
But the free fall many feared last autumn didn’t come, and now about two-thirds of the poll’s respondents believe the economy will recover by the end of next year, if not sooner.
“I think we’re on the mend, but I think politics would have people remain frightened,” said Ifatunji, a professor of theater and African-American studies at Chicago State University.
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Though he has seen some of his savings shrink by as much as a third and has decided to delay retirement another couple years, Ifatunji has calmly navigated the economic crisis.
“The bottom line is food, clothing and shelter,” he said, attributing that spartan perspective to his faith. “With those things in place, I can be a happy person.”
His religion teaches that each person has a path in life that he or she is meant to follow. To determine if he’s staying on his path, Ifatunji occasionally casts a divining tool called an Opele chain and reads the results.
Signs indicate he is where he should be in life. And in the priest’s opinion, the country, economically, has climbed back onto the path it’s meant to follow.
Tough to envision turnaround
Deborah Sampson is among the 23 percent of Illinois residents who don’t think the economy will recover until after next year.
“My fears for the future are that things won’t improve,” said Sampson, a 55-year-old Head Start teacher’s assistant a resident of Salem in southern Illinois. “If we keep going down this path it’s just going to be horrible for my child, and his children.”
Her bleak view on the future extends to the executive office.
“I am tired of the Obama administration blaming the previous administration” for the nation’s economic woes, particularly the national debt, said Sampson, who voted for Sen. John McCain. “I didn’t agree with the bailouts. That was a total waste of our money.”
Lately she thinks a lot about making her dollars go further. She has cut back on vacations and eating out and now prepares “hamburger instead of steak.”
Sampson had planned to retire at 63, something that made fiscal sense before the bottom fell out on her investments. The rising cost for food, utilities and gas, coupled with the recent state tax increases have left her frustrated and angry.
“It’s completely out of control,” she said. “The people can’t continue to take it and take it and take it.”
Optimism abounds in long-term look
Never mind that McArthur Robinson’s retirement fund is a mess and the company stock he invested in for much of his working years is nearly worthless.
The 66-year-old Maywood grandfather’s dismal portfolio doesn’t color his long-term optimism. “I think down the line it’s going to be better, but it’s going to be a long time,” he said. “At least five or six years.”
Robinson retired in 2003 after 37 years with United Airlines, where he worked as lead ramp service worker. He and his wife had dreamed of retiring to rural Mississippi, where he spent his early childhood, but the economic downturn scrapped that plan. Robinson now works part-time as a custodian at his nearby church, Broadview Missionary Baptist. He and his wife rarely eat out these days and have cut back on travel.
He was among the 26 percent of Democrats who said their family’s financial situation was worse than it was a year ago. (Among Republican and independents, about half claimed to be worse off.)
Robinson doesn’t fret much about his economic state.
“Some things you can’t worry about,” he said. “When you have your health and your strength, you have to count your blessings.”
Inside the four-bedroom home he and his wife bought in 1978, the smell of green beans from Robinson’s vegetable garden fills the air. He’ll freeze this batch for winter.
He said his attitude in lean times comes from growing up on a farm: “You know how to live with less.”
Lack of change, source of frustration
Tracy Kuramoto has learned the true meaning of poverty. From his home in the Old Town neighborhood, he donates time and talent to a Texas-based group Discover Hope Fund, which gives “micro-loans” to women in developing countries who live on less than $5 a day, helping them start small businesses.
“A chain is only as strong as its weakest link,” said Kuramoto, 45. “And I’ve really come to see how we’re all in this world together.”
After years of owning a Web development company that worked with advertising agencies, Kuramoto decided he needed more fulfilling work. In 2004, he became an independent consultant. He would work with paying clients enough so he and his wife, a Realtor, could pay the bills, but spent as much time as he could helping charitable groups.
“I got very cynical and jaded about advertising,” Kuramoto said. “My perspective changed, I guess. I wanted to do more to help.”
The economy, however, hit Kuramoto’s wife’s realty business hard, and has forced him to focus more on work that pays. It’s frustrating for him, and stifles his desire to do the kind of work he now believes he’s meant to do. While 86 percent of Chicagoans approve of the way President Barack Obama is handling the economy, Kuramoto — who voted for Obama — does not.
“To me it’s like the rich get richer and the president is putting guys from Wall Street in charge,” Kuramoto said. “I feel like he ran on the platform of change, but we’re not really changing.”
Health and a job among blessings
If you ask Heidi Randhava how the economy is affecting her, she’ll swiftly turn the topic around to those on the bottom rung of society.
“A lot of people are struggling,” said Randhava, 49, of Evanston. “They’re talking about literally not having money in their checking accounts.”
The survey bears that out. About a third of Illinoisans report that a member of their immediate family had lost a job in the last year, up from 24 percent in October.
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As a wife and mother of two grown children, she believes she’s fortunate enough to have a stable job in public relations for Evanston Township High School. Her husband owns a technology business, and when they sold a business 10 years ago, they made enough on the sale that they could build up their kids’ college savings accounts.
“I feel fortunate to be in reasonably good health, to be employed,” she said.And she hopes the economic crisis gives Americans some perspective. Perhaps, she said, the country should avoid a return to the rampant commercialism of the last couple of decades.
“I don’t know if we’re going to go back to a place like that,” she said with a smile. “I think there might be a shift.”
Taking a long look at what really matters
Melody Keith said she’s just an average American.
Though luckier than some — she has a secure job as the office manager of a nonprofit agency — she said she erred with her 401(k) and failed to take her money out of high-risk investments. Now, she’s trimming the fat from her budget and planning to work even after she can collect Social Security.
Like Keith, 67 percent of Illinoisans say they’re either not making ends meet or making just enough to get by.
“I can only blame myself,” she said. “I’m suffering from my own mistakes.”
Keith, a widow who said that she’s in the “50-plus” age category, forgoes pricey coffee drinks and brings lunch to work. She has put off buying a new car, instead making do with a 9-year-old van.
“We’ve all seen, even the mighty can fall,” Keith said.
She believes the country’s U.S. leaders haven’t done much to help, and she disagrees mightily with bailouts and government-supported industry.
“I’m worried about we’re becoming a socialist country,” she said.Within her family, Keith said, the recession has led to more conservative attitudes about spending.
“I think it’s drawing families a little bit closer,” she said, musing that perhaps the nation learning to economize is for the best. “We have to take stock of what’s important. There are more important things than going out to dinner every night.”
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Health care and Olympics: Read more from Tribune/WGN polls at chicagotribune.com/polls