"Initially I Was Somewhat Worried When I Lost My Hedge Fund Job,
But Things Are OK Now That I Got My Welfare Check !!!!"
Rich Republicans Are Starting To Benefit From
Democrat Welfare Programs In Greenwich
fairfieldweekly.com
It takes more than just a little inflation and recession to put a scratch in Fairfield County's Teflon economy.
During the financial slump that lasted from 2001 to 2003, shoppers kept shopping, Hummers kept humming and McMansions McMulitplied, seemingly impervious to the hardships that many other communities across the nation faced. But it appears Connecticut's Gold Coast has finally begun to topple beneath the weight of the economic meltdown of 2008.
Social Services departments in our area have reported disturbing new trends since mid-September, when a death rattle could be heard echoing from boardrooms in some of the nation's mightiest financial institutions.
"We're seeing a different class of people coming in for help," says Dr. Adina Goldstein, deputy commissioner of the Greenwich Department of Social Services. "There's also a change in the numbers of people asking for assistance with food."
Neighbor-to-Neighbor, a private organization offering temporary emergency aid to Greenwich residents, reported 946 individual requests for food in September. That number rose to 1,062 in November.
"People have been losing their jobs since the economy failed and private businesses have also had to close," says Goldstein.
But not everyone asking for help receives it. Applicants must provide income and asset verification to prove they meet the standards for emergency aid. They are then referred to the state for further assistance.
The state form is lengthy and gets personal. It asks for details concerning age, health, living arrangements, employment, bank accounts, off-shore holdings, real estate, investments, retirement savings, assets of any kind, automobile mileage, cash stashed away, assistance received from family and friends and even expected inheritance......
Oh My Goodness, Look How Much Things
Have Changed In Greenwich:
Two years ago, Greenwich made Money Magazine's list of "Best Places to Live" with a median family income of $140,803.
According to Goldstein, many top earners were employed in the financial services industries or in real estate and are now out of work, but living above their means in multi-million dollar homes, with luxury automobiles and other pricey assets......
MORE GREENWICH NEWS FROM
THE FAIRFIELD COUNTY WEEKLY:
FCW Editorial
As Hillary Clinton slowly surrendered after a long, tense and emotional primary, Sheila Rao of Greenwich was apparently moved to lash out at her own employer as part of an appeal for others to donate to pay off the debt that Clinton had run up.
It resulted in a lawsuit.
According to the suit filed by Cenveo, Inc., a Stamford-based graphics communication giant with revenues of $2 billion, Rao, then the company's director of income taxes, sent out an impassioned letter to the Clinton campaign and "40 of her closest friends" as an attachment to an e-mail on June 10, three days after Clinton suspended her campaign.
In the letter, which the Weekly obtained with Cenveo's lawsuit, Rao accused Cenveo's former senior vice president of "surf[ing] the internet and play[ing] golf on company time," disclosed his salary and claimed that she was not promoted to his job when he left "for no reason OTHER than that I am a woman and the other men at the executive table would have been uncomfortable working with me."
She said of her current boss, "While I stop short of calling him 'lazy,' I do find him utterly incompetent." She continued, "I am sorry for the bitter tone of this letter. But I am having a visceral response to all of this so I hope you will write a check, no matter how small, even $10, to Hillary (forego your Starbucks)."
In the e-mail itself, sent to
info@hillaryclinton.com ,
Rao asked the Clinton campaign to "please let Hillary know how much I love and am inspired by her."
The suit claims the e-mail was sent from a Cenveo-owned computer over the company's e-mail system. Cenveo fired Rao on Nov. 24, and the suit claims the company lost at least $5,000 retaining a computer forensics expert and from "economic loss from Rao's defamation of Cenveo and its executives."
Cenveo is coming down hard on Rao, suing her for libel, misuse of company computers and disclosure of confidential information. It's asking for "all documents and information that she transmitted or removed from the premises of Cenveo" and "damages in an amount to be determined at trial."
A message was left for Cenveo chairman and CEO Robert Burton.
Rao said she could not discuss the matter and her lawyer did not return the Weekly's call.
According to the Huffington Post's FundRace 2008 database, Rao donated $250 to Clinton's campaign.
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