October
It’s Halloween season, and one of the reasons we should be scared is because seven out of 10 Americans are so broke they don’t have enough money saved to cover a $1,000 emergency. These Americans live paycheck to paycheck. They know that if they ever experience a short-term layoff or a medical crisis, they will be in big financial trouble. I meet people all the time in my law practice who are living this way. Most of them are decent, honest individuals who are dedicated to their families.
On October 14, 2017, a headline on a news website caught my attention: “As everything around him burned, one Napa man’s house somehow survived.” The headline — and the article that followed — was published on the SFGATE.com website, a sister-site of the San Francisco Chronicle. Here’s how the article began:
If you pay attention to the news, you know about the wildfires in California. I’m writing this article on Friday, October 13, 2017. There are currently several fires that are burning out of control in California. Firefighters have not been able to contain any of the fires. So far, more than 5,700 buildings have been destroyed and 34 people have died as a result of the fires.
If you pay any attention to the news, you know about the massacre that took place in Las Vegas on Sunday, October 1, 2017. The evidence so far indicates that there was a lone gunman on the 32nd floor of a major hotel who repeatedly shot bullets into a large crowd.