Barbara Ehrenreich: 13 million Americans have accepted joblessness with nary a peep

[ColbertWatcher]

From the Los Angeles Times
Opinion
Trying to find a job is not a job
Keeping the unemployed busy is an exercise in denial -- and social control.
By Barbara Ehrenreich
May 3, 2009

(...)

Is it any wonder there's no time left over for lobbying for universal health insurance or reading Marxist tracts on the "reserve army of the unemployed"? It's all a person can do to keep up with the relentless pressures of an imaginary job.

The blue-collar unemployed are subjected to gerbil-like exercises of their own. While white-collar layoff victims are encouraged to polish the "brand called you," blue-collar people are told they have nothing to offer unless they start all over with "retraining." Hence, in part, the current surge in community college enrollments.

But in his 2006 book, "The Disposable American: Layoffs and Their Consequences," Louis Uchitelle raised the obvious question: "Retraining for what?"

(...)

But the first step, as in any 12-step program, is to overcome denial. Job searching is not a job; retraining is not a panacea. You may be poorer than you've ever been, but you are also freer -- to express anger and urgency, to dream and create, to get together with others and conspire to build a better world.

(more at the link)

Los Angeles Times

Link for Uchitelle's book at Powell's: http://powells.com/biblio/1-9781400041176-3

[Blue_Tires]

1. k+r

[patrice]

2. Expecting things that aren't going to get better to get better.

[billyoc]

3. Americans are taught from birth that poverty is a moral failing.

[virgogal]

5. Good Lord,do you really believe that? Unbelievable !!!!!

I grew up poor in a Boston neighborhood and we thought poor was normal.

Sorry you grew up in a place with a different outlook on poverty.

[ColbertWatcher]

13. I don't think anyone on DU agrees with that statement.

However, I fear too many Americans do agree with that.

Polling suggests there may be 21% of Americans who are likely to agree with that statement.

That's too many as far as I'm concerned.

[Orrex]

68. As a matter of fact, DU has several vocal members who do indeed believe that

Their belief takes a number of different forms, but the most common manifestation is the eagerness with which they attack anyone desperate enough to post a rant about the burdens of credit card or student loan debt.

[Pacifist Patriot]

75. Calvinism

and the new pop-psychology theology of prosperity. You're darned right way too many Americans hold the belief that affluence is directly correlated to moral worth.

[marions ghost]

82. Totally agree

I encounter this everywhere...not having money is shameful in America, never mind how you got that way. The only place you are shielded from it is among others who are not so well off.

yes even in "liberal" circles.

[Retrograde]

88. Believe that they're taught this or that it's true?

We're definitely taught this, however subliminally. Think of the American heroes we learn about in grade school: Abe Lincoln rising from his log cabin origins to become our greatest president, the penniless immigrant who becomes a captain of industry - we're fed the whole Horatio Alger rags-to-riches line from an early age. Even in the last presidential campaign, how much did we hear about a certain candidate's early life being raised by a single mother, or another's humble, unpretentious small town lifestyle?

In reality, success is a combination of many factors, one of which is luck. In today's economy, that seems to play a bigger role than before: you can work your rear off and do a conscientious job only to find come Monday your entire department is getting the axe because of low sales (been there) or you can work for an obscure company that suddenly fills a vacant niche and do well (been there too).

[JI7]

15. but this is how many Americans feel, Boston is more liberal than other areas

look at the shame people attach to being on welfare and getting stuff like food stamps or living in the projects.

but it's all ok when corporate whores go to congress asking for millions to bail out their failures and then give themselves bonuses despite having failed at their job and bankrupting their company.

[CTyankee]

29. I sure did. In Texas. Thank god I live in New England now. I don't believe it.

nt

[Stellabella]

48. Many Americans do think that, especially if they are well-off.

Even worse, some people think that it's a punishment from God if you are poor or destitute; that you did something wrong.

I don't think there are many things worse than adding revenge from a deity to the stress and pain of poverty.

[okieinpain]

90. there is some truth to that. at least in the USA at this point in time

It doesn't take much to get by in this current setup. but you do have to be really disciplined in doing things.

[knitter4democracy]

4. She makes a good point--retraining for what?

That question's asked a lot up here in Michigan. Even so-called guaranteed white collar jobs aren't so guaranteed up here. So, you spend all the money and get a degree to do what with it?

[JI7]

8. there are many businesses that form "schools" to train people for jobs

these are not schools are much as just corporations marketing the idea that if they take that course and pay hundreds or thousands they will be able to get some great job. this is not always the case.

i do recommend community college over these private phony schools though.

people would actually learn a lot more if they took a few history, political science, and economic courses.

[knitter4democracy]

19. I'm all for education, but at what cost?

If we had grants instead of loans or free college, then I would totally agree with you. It just saddens me to see women who've lost their jobs (their kids go to school with mine) racking up piles of school loans on the hopes that they might be able to find a better job. That's a huge risk in this market.

[NBachers]

47. Amen to that. It's the same shit over and over and over andover

I did some microfiche reading in our library yesterday, back to early 1963. In the course of looking up what I needed, I, of course, checked out the rest of the news. It bore an eerie similarity to today's news- Cuba, Iraq, filibuster rules, Kennedy's news conference, Dems refusing to back Kennedy up; Republican treachery, organized labor . . . I'm beginning to think everything's permanently stuck in the same place, and people are too stupid to learn from the mistakes of the past and present. They just keep repeating them out of ignorance.

[cabluedem]

58. Human lifespan adds to some of those repeated mistakes. Most of us

were not of age during JFK's time much less during the GD. We think this reccession will end soon, which by all my readings it will not. Add 6.4 Billion people into this mess, all compeating for the same jobs and resources and you have the makings of the "Long Emergency" or as I like to think of it, "Solent Green" come true. We are in this mess for the long haul, period. No shortcuts at all.

[Deja Q]

12. What to do with it? "Fantasy Gifts" sells them as "orgasm rags"...

:(

[SoCalDem]

20. "Medical".. "hospitality".. "service" "industries"

That's how the "experts" define the "what to train for"..

Medical?...You're not gonna be a doctor .. Most will not be able to become a nurse (it takes a special person to become a nurse)

Hospitality?... translation: reservations agents, competing with prison labor, or working at a hotel/resort (which is probably hemorrhaging guests like a slit jugular)..

"Services"... Phone-work mostly.. Enter a low-paid world of angry people telling you to go F-yourself while you call them relentlessly, offering to "extend their car warranty or to get a low low interest credit card".. There's also waiting tables, for tips, from people who feel ripped off by the ever-rising dinner prices..

The real "re-training"..
.......................................................
Congrats (former) Middle Class !

Posted by SoCalDem in General Discussion
Mon Feb 23rd 2009, 06:02 PM


Wall Street Experts & Bankers have a plan for your future


That comfy well-paying job you still have or may have recently lost, or fear losing, is no problem to worry your pretty mind over anymore.

You need Re-training™ for the " NEW Service Economy™" .

Yes, that's right, folks. That degree that you slaved to get, and are still paying for 15 years later, may no longer be part of the globalization plan. It just is not practical or profitable anymore..

Outsourced jobs are just a fact of life in the New Age™ .. it's nothing personal.

You may start salivating when you see ads for Fancy Feast on tv, but don't worry, the Chinese assure us they have removed the melamine.

The beauty of the plan is that while you are "Re-training™" you use your Visa and or Master Card to make that house payment, car payment and other bills (until they reduce the limit to $500.00, or cancel it).

When you are though with your Re-training™ , you can sell that house to the many entrepreneurs who will be eagerly buying up houses in this bargain-housing extravaganza. Maybe one of them will even hire you to distribute flyers to other soon-to-be sellers.. In a NEW Service Economy™ there are many ways to make money.

If you give him/her a good enough "deal" on your former house, you might even be able to rent it, and never again have to worry about the upkeep on it. It's a win-win.

The job you originally trained for may have come with a health care benefits program and some paid vacation, but surely your "new career" as a "sub-service worker" will afford you adventurous living like you've never experienced before.

Multiple part time jobs offer you the opportunity to get to know a wide variety of new people, and the experience of learning how MANY businesses do their business. It will definitely cut down on the old one-job/one-career stagnation that so many Americans have suffered from for far too long.

You may have the opportunity to learn to cook..(and, in some restaurants they even give you a discount on food for your break), or to make reservations to exciting destinations.... or to discover the inner workings of a developing child's mind and personality, as you do daycare,....or you could become an environmentalist as you carefully test automobile emissions...you could bridge the generation gap while you tend to the needs of the Greatest Generation™ ..(imagine the stories they will tell you as you change their diapers/bedding)

Like to work outdoors? The NEW Service Economy™ offers you opportunities too...School children will always need to cross streets carefully... commune with nature as you do leaf removal...cars need TLC too, and that cool water on a hot day feels pretty good... Lawn care is a highly sought-after job, and by taking one, you are doing your part in "Border Security™"..(Every anglo who washes cars & does lawns, eliminates the need for a guest worker to come here for that job)

Fruits & vegetables are good for you, and as a fruit extraction engineer, you will have easy access to many nutritious foods, all day long.(be sure and wipe them off before you eat them as you pick them, though)

Even our former-president values manual labor, and he works in the great outdoors, cutting brush, as often as his busy schedule allows.

This is an opportunity... a challenge..a widening vista.. It's an adventure..so embrace it without fear.

Money is the root of all evil™, and downsizing is good for the soul. That big house you used to fret about, and struggle to keep the lawn mowed, and to keep the house maintained..? well fear not.. A nice tidy, personal-sized apartment is the wave of the future. You will be on the cutting edge of the "new way forward".

No more need for those wasteful gym memberships.. Take an apartment on the 3rd floor.. Who needs a Stair-master™ when you can climb those stairs for free? (add groceries and/or laundry, and think of the pounds you will lose)..

An apartment also has other advantages.. It will encourage those obnoxious kids to finally move out on their own. They can surely find a service job , and an apartment of their own.

Younger kids will thank you, since they will now get the opportunity to really get to know their siblings, by sharing a room, and by spending quality sibling-time as they prepare meals together and wait for you to come home from one of your jobs. They will be so happy to see you, and will hang on your every word, as you recount the vivid experiences of your day.

Apartments also are often conveniently located near medical services. When you look for your apartment, be sure to look for signs that advertise their services. They often say "Clinica Familia"..

Which brings me to the best part. Diversity.. You too can experience the excitement of living abroad as you downsize.. WITHOUT EVER HAVING TO LEAVE THE GOOD OLE US of A.

It's a well-known fact that the most recent immigrants to our country , tend to cluster in apartment-zones, so you can even learn a foreign language, and never have to pay high prices for those Berlitz™ tapes..

Apartments are also usually located near bus routes, so you can get rid of that pesky car, too. Your new service job providers will be happy to work with you to accommodate your new exciting schedule.

The transformation to the NEW Service Economization of America™ will be like nothing we have ever seen before, and you will be a pioneer on the brink of the future..

The New Sub-Middle Class™ is lean, and fit, and hungry for the New Success™ that awaits them.

Congratulations!.. You've earned it

[knitter4democracy]

22. Exactly.

When hospitals are cutting back (with more uninsured, their costs are going up, and they have to cut somewhere), when hotels are cutting back from lost business, and when so much can be outsourced, where the heck are you going to get a job?

[leftstreet]

50. +1 I remember when you posted that

Excellent.

[cpompilo]

73. I like how you trademarked New Success

Welcome to U.S.A. Inc.

[DollyM]

81. I had that conversation at the doctor's office recently . . .

I had to go in and get my shots for my arthritus (covered by the medical card thank God!)and expressed my concern to the nurse that I had not been able to find a job and medical condition didn't help any. She turned to me and said, "well, you need to go back to school" You should have seen her jaw drop when I told her I had a Master's degree and the last thing I needed to do was go back to school! I am amazed that people still think the answer is going back to school. The bottom line is that there are no jobs out there, period.

[knitter4democracy]

93. I've heard that too often, too.

I'm a stay-at-home mom who has to get back to a paying job, and I've had all kinds of people tell me that I should get a teaching job easily. Um, no. I wish I could. There aren't many out there. Then, I've had people tell me to go back to school, and as much as I'd love to get my master's, where will the money come from? I can hardly pay the bills as it is.

[JI7]

6. i just finished reading her book Nickel and Dimed a few weeks ago

while heard about it for years and had an idea of what it was about it was still worth it to read it. her experiences are consistent with what i have tried to talk to people about.

people like us are actually in the minority , even among all voters. people like us who pay attention so closely to what is going on in the world and what is going on with the corporations and our politicians and why the laws are the way they are.

but it's because as she says, people are so busy working long hours for so little pay. there are many more of us who are not wealthy, if we wanted we could get something passed giving us higher income and more benefits.

also the few minutes of news people watch is taken up by the corporate lines, blaming failures of businesses like the auto industry on the labor unions. ignore the execs who made the horrible decisions on making crappy cars but still get paid millions.

and of course there are the people who think they can be millionaires some day so they don't want to do anything that will make the wealthy pay their fair share.

[destes]

62. "and of course there are the people who think .........

..........they can be millionaires some day so they don't want to do anything that will make the wealthy pay their fair share."

Excellent observation, an incredible bit of fact/fantasy.

1. The fact is there really is such a mind set within the general public.
2. The fantasy is the odds that any of them will ever be wealthy.

[DemReadingDU]

7. anger will come when people get hungry

and there is not enough food in the pantries

[RufusTFirefly]

9. Yes, but when it does, it will be directed at the wrong people

Look for immigrants to be scapegoated while corporate culprits will get off scot-free

[JI7]

11. exactly, blame labor unions, immigrants, affirmative action etc

[Deja Q]

16. Isn't "scot-free" a derogatory term aimed at the Scotish?

:hide:

[Jim Lane]

27. No, it's perfectly kosher

The scot was an old form of tax, dating from medieval times. Someone who managed to avoid paying the tax was said to get off scot-free.

Some links:
http://books.google.com/books?id=r0YVMbmbnk4C&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=%22pay+the+scot%22&source=bl&ots=S6FIX5bigt&sig=qW-lbVy5jqpCVpW-kvVER2T7rsw&hl=en&ei=gCz-SbOOOeiwtgf_nu2iDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/c-eight/constitu/parlrep.htm

[RufusTFirefly]

42. Ach, did ya think it 'twas a slur against niggards?

I heard your mother was a thespian and your father was a masticator.

[pokercat999]

67. So true, as always the media controls the thoughts of the

masses and the media along with our govt is owned by the corporations. It's time to ban these symbols and all they represent from America: Inc, LLC. It's time to put responsibility into the business sector. It's time to hold the owners of businesses responsible for their actions, not pay off reckless and stupid CEO's with million dollar bailouts and golden parachutes.

[marions ghost]

85. yes

misdirected anger will make a great distraction from the real issues...

One of the psychological problems at the heart of this is that people just do not want to believe that things are as bad as they are, too scary. Too scary to understand that you have been ripped off by "legal" corporate raiders.

Pretending is easier.

[JI7]

10. but they wont go hungry when they can get cheap , unhealthy crap from dollar menus

at fast food places.

[DemReadingDU]

37. they might not have any money to go to fast food places

if unemployed, no savings, unemployment used up. Then what? Well food pantries help, but they are overloaded now. Who is going to feed all the hungry people? The government? Maybe soup lines again? If hungry people don't get food, they are going to be very angry.

[LooseWilly]

52. They can always turn to "urban foraging"

... or, as the police refer to it, "shoplifting".

And, as a side benefit, such behavior will increase the need by food stores to hire more security, a job which can't be outsourced! (And, if you are security, then you can always assure yourself a little something in the way of "five finger discounted" food for yourself...)

I once found a book about the criminal world of Elizabethan England. Pick pockets, roving bands of thugs and brigands, gypsy con men/"carnies", snake oil salesmen, prison yard black marketeers... all because there was rampant poverty and no social welfare "safety net". Good times... a capitalist dreamscape...

[Raksha]

57. I thought "urban foraging" was dumpster diving! n/t

[TorchTheWitch]

74. no, dumpster diving is called "garbology"

Foraging for stuff others throw away mistakenly believing to be garbage is an actual science as it requires a special skill to decern what is actual trash and what is a necessary or desired item.

I have a masters from the School of Hard Knocks and a Ph.d in Living on the Leavings of Others and have been a successful practicing garbologist for decades.

;)

[Raksha]

86. That's pretty impressive...

I guess I'm an amateur garbologist. I do it kind of spontaneously as the opportunity presents itself.

[Retrograde]

89. The Victorians had better names for it

There were "mudlarks", usually young children who waded out onto the Thames' banks at low tide to collect whatever they could find to sell, "toshers", older versions of the same, "dodgers", who did the same think in sewers, "pure collectors" who collected dog crap to sell to tanneries - why, a good, impressive title makes all the difference.

[Hannah Bell]

14. not if they've been conditioned to believe it's because of "too many people,"

"not enough oil," "not enough arable land," or the rest of the bull the ptb send out to explain away the shortages their money shenanigans create.

[stray cat]

18. and anger will create jobs how? Do you have the funds to employ your neighbor if he is angry enough

[AllentownJake]

23. Dream of a French Revolution

Bankers heads in the guillotine and all is I think where the angry crowd is going.

[JVS]

31. Meh, worse things could happen.

[Hannah Bell]

59. only riiiiiiiichhhhhhh people can give us jobbbbbbbbs, mustn't criticize themmmmmmmm

[indigo32]

87. oh God

how many times have I heard that :eyes:

[ColbertWatcher]

28. Here's a few images of the "Old Europe" anger the GOP must be afraid of ...

They were taken two days ago during the May Day protests; the top picture was taken in Berlin, the one on the bottom is from Paris.

The last time I heard of anything that big was Seattle.

And that was 10 years go.

[anonymous171]

46. Exactly. Monsanto and Company might actually be a blessing in disguise.

Once the elites start fucking with our food supply, we starting fucking with them.

[stray cat]

17. So what is the appropriate cure all response to unemployment besides trying to find a job

posting on web sites or complaining to congress - how does that create a job? :sarcasm: People were hungry during the great depression - did that happen because they were too passive and if they would have gotten angrier jobs would have appeared?

[Hannah Bell]

33. right, nobody protested in the Depression, they just lined up meekly to look for jobs.

bonus marchers

http://www.hull.ac.uk/women-of-conviction/women_of_conviction/Hunger-March-
(Police attack a Hunger March organized by the Unemployed Councils in 1931.)

"Carl Winter, Communist leader of the Unemployed Councils in NY and one of the organizers of the National Hunger Marches of the 1930s"

http://www.economicdepressionsite.com/images/Unemployed_marching_to_see_Mitchell,_1931.jpg

unemployed marching to see mitchell



neighbors gathered to prevent an eviction



protesting eviction

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_rLCJTAuKc-o/SUR_uGI-sfI/AAAAAAAAADo/x5uwgxiovqo/s320/great+depression+photo.JPG

demo

[ColbertWatcher]

36. Don't forget those passive San Francisco socialists ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_General_Strike

[DemReadingDU]

39. I don't think people are going to be lining up waiting meekly for jobs in this era

Too many people have grown up feeling 'entitled' to whatever they want, and they are used to getting whatever, now. If no cash, they use credit cards. Gotta have it, now. Many people feel like they have worked hard at their job, and 'entitled' to buy the biggest TV, the newest cell phone, the best clothes and shoes, his and hers SUVs, and kids get all the toys. It's going to be very hard for people to wait quietly in a line, for a job, or even for food. It's going to get ugly.

[RagAss]

49. Let it get ugly...It's way past time that things get ugly !

[Bluenorthwest]

71. They did not line up meekly in the Great Depression

either. That was the point of that post, I think.

[readmoreoften]

34. Do you think are jobs are disappearing because of some mystical dilemma?

The wealth--OUR common wealth--everything we've designed, built, serviced, grown, tended--has been taken from us for less than its worth by bankers and board room execs who have more power than any politician. First they had slaves. Then they invented wages. They funded worked, workers created the world, they skim a little off the top. But that wasn't enough--they wanted more off the top. And since they can't raise the price of the things you design and manufacture because they have to compete with other wage plantation owners, they design other ways to separate you from what you deserve: they hide charges in your credit cards (and you need credit cards because they've taken so much off of the top of the value you created); they add fees to your bank account; they tell you that you live in an "ownership society" and pay you in stock (which they have the power to issue for free and which may have no value at all) and now they take the taxes you pay for education and sturdy bridges and they put more of what is rightfully yours into buying politicians to protect their interests and union busting so they can take more of your labor, of your ideas, of your value. And what do they do with all your wealth? Piss it away on stockpiles of toxic crap, obscenely large houses that take up obscene amounts of natural resources. They piss on the common wealth that belongs to everyone: natural wonders, lakes, the air, whole species, whole ecosystems. And then they blame "the consumer"--and who's that? Why that's you, the worker. It's not their fault you're on medication for depression, that your kids get beat up for wearing the wrong clothes, that you need a computer to survive, that your interview suit is outdated, that your car reveals your low status, that all your food is full of high-fructose corn syrup, that you couldn't afford to pay twenty grand a year out-of-pocket for college, that you have to pay for a monthly gym membership to keep up appearances. After all, you should be carrying around charts and graphs of all the corporations who buy out natural foods companies and use their logos, who bust unions, who destroy the environment, who use "cause marketing" to cover up their crimes, who hire rightwing militias to execute foreign protesters. And if that's too daunting a prospect, you can always pay 50% more for food to buy locally and cook from scratch after a 40 hour work week after your weekly regimen at the gym and your "family time."

It's really not that complicated. We don't need these assholes to give us jobs. We don't need them to "fund" us. We need them to get out of the way because we're taking back everything they've stolen and we're going to fix everything they've broken. It's time for the people on the subway and on the commuter routes to take the world back from the people in the yachts and black towncars.

[DemReadingDU]

40. It's called a revolution. It's going to take time,

when many people are jobless, homeless, pennyless and hungry. When they have nothing further to lose, and it sinks in how corrupted everything is, then there will be a revolution.

[leftstreet]

51. Where the FUCK is the Left?! n/t

[Occam Bandage]

55. They're where you are right now.

Bitching about how nobody actually does anything in between linking to Kos posts, tweeting Counterpunch articles, and K&Ring DU threads.

[Hannah Bell]

61. there is no "left" - just a disorganized mass of people with left-leaning views

waiting to be organized.

[rucognizant]

72. Or............

My Grandfather created his own job. Earlier, He had hardware stores, one in Phila. one in Atlantic City where they lived and he commuted back & forth by train.
Boy I wish I could sit down and talk to that man now. Back in the 50's early 60's, adults didn't confide their innermost thoughts ( struggles) with their teen age, young adult children/Grandchildren.
He had consolidated into one store in South Jersey by 1915, I am guessing that local business fell off with the depression. So he began a mail order business selling cheap wallpaper, ( keeping the local paint & paper store)( Did he switch to paint & paper to fill a gap?) His biggest customer base was here in Maine, Aroosta & Washington Counties, conservative, thrifty, still living off the interest from clipper ship & lumbering fortunes................but proud, wanting to keep up an image ( cheaply).
( I have peeled off at least 4 wallpaper layers in my kitchen, that I remember from the lines being sold when I was young!)
There are So many gaps that need filling today in this one size fits all mass market, find one & start your own business to fill it instead of a waiting around for someone to hire you!

[Hannah Bell]

92. so, let's see, your grandpa owned two stores before the depression & using capital from those,

started yet another *business* (not job) during the depression.

now, where do you suggest the person who doesn't own two hardware stores already & working for <$15/hr, like 1/2 the population, get the *capital*?

[Coyote_Bandit]

21. Retraining for what?

To take me, my family, my asets, my rather extensive education, my work experience, my inheritance (if any) and my newly acquired skills to another country - a country promising greater opportunity and meaningful access to health care - where I can start my own little business and earn a livlihood.

My first loyalty and obligation is to provide for myself and my family. I have no reason to act in any way that does not further that goal. That is exactly what I hope to do after my aging parents pass. There are far better opportunities elsewhere.

[sallylou666]

24. Turning to Crime

Many people have turned to crime. Robberies and burglaries are out of hand in my large city.

[jxnmsdemguy65]

84. yep, get on a 'dating' site...

and all you will find desperate housewives offering themselves for prostitution, trying to pay the house note or put food on the table.

[conscious evolution]

98. Or go to the Publix

I am seeing housewives trolling the local grocery store parking lots in Solid upper middle class nieghborhoods.

[debbierlus]

25. The media doesn't spend much time covering actual people, just charts and graphs

And, they are positively orgasmic that the banking sectors are turning a slight profit due to the government borrowing of trillions of dollars on the tax payers back....

Hallelujah!

It is just flat out gross.

[ColbertWatcher]

26. I'm suspicious about those "slight profit[s]" myself. n/t

[bluesmail]

30. The phrase you are what you eat pops into my mind

:tinfoilhat: What's in the food we eat? Or our water...not everyone can afford to eat local and/or so-called organics.

[madrchsod]

32. been retraining since 1980...

so nothing has worked out so i decided to retire at 62. right now i`m waiting for a chance at a part time job

[Coyote_Bandit]

38. Since 1980

I've earned four degrees and two professional licenses. I am now pretty much unemployable - though I have a responsible work history. Too young and too broke to retire early. Too old to change careers and find an entry level position. I'm a throwaway. I'm thinking of going back to technical school to learn a trade that compliments some of my other skills and interests. Maybe can eek out a few bucks working for myself. I dream of leaving this fucked up country and making a life elsewhere.

[LooseWilly]

54. That's the worst irony.

When you've retrained one time too many, and now you're overqualified for all the jobs available....

[madrchsod]

60. i was "overpayed"....you know those good union jobs....

that obama has decided are expendable

[madrchsod]

35. give the american people universal heathcare

and you`ll see a hundreds of thousands of people starting small companies and more employement across this country.

[Dulcinea]

63. That's why it won't happen anytime soon.

The fear of losing their health insurance keeps a lot of people in jobs they don't like. I know of many people who would quit their jobs in a heartbeat if they didn't have to worry about health insurance. That would ruin corporate America's business model, and we can't have that!

[Kitty Herder]

41. K&R

[Baby Snooks]

43. Retraining for what indeed...

I have been told that quite a few times the past several years. I have a real estate license I can't afford to keep active athough I wouldn't bother in the present market and have 20+ years experience in PR and have a very solid resume. But am told I need to "retrain" for something. I'm never told what exactly. Just that I need to "retrain" for something in order to "compete" better in the job market.

Of course when I point out I can't afford "retraining" I am offered telephone soliciting jobs and other jobs that only seem to be offered to people who are either uneducated or too old to place in anything else.

The age discrimination is what bothers me most. All the retraining in the world ain't gonna make me younger. And employers like young. And stupid to be honest. I am amazed by several "bimbos" several non-profit organizations have hired instead of me and several others I know interviewed for the same jobs. And believe me there are just as many male "bimbos" as there are female "bimbos" and I have no explanation for it except perhaps they simply will work for less money. That or they "put out" which I probably would if someone asked. No one asks.

My experience should mean something. It means absolutely nothing.

Reality is some of us are not disposable. We have simply been disposed of.

[northernlights]

64. they want young and stupid because

young and stupid will do as their told and don't think twice about lying to people or breaking laws or physically hurting someone in the quest for a couple more bucks. They'll happily destroy other people's lives in order to add a nickel to the bottom line.

It took young and stupid to watch me drink company tap water they knew was contaminated, watching me vomiting, watching me struggling with diarrhea for weeks, afraid to miss time at my new job that it took me a few years to finally get after I was layed off. All while they knew there was poland springs water upstairs. All to "keep me in my place" struggling, sick and afraid.

[Baby Snooks]

77. The old and smart do that too...

"They'll happily destroy other people's lives in order to add a nickel to the bottom line."

Our children sadly are a reflection of our society and of our supposed "Judeo-Christian" value system which values only money.

"I have, therefore I am." And by hook or by crook everyone wants "to be" in this country. Which is why this country is collapsing.

[Wednesdays]

44. K&R

:kick:

[bbgrunt]

45. soon the only opportunities will be in the military......cannon fodder.

[MedleyMisty]

76. I saw a banner near an army recruitment office the other day

It said "We're hiring."

[Bigmack]

91. Problem is....

we can't afford the freakin' cannons these days! Maybe a complete re-tooling of the military, with an emphasis on Defense (there's a concept!) and protection/recovery from natural disasters.

[Occam Bandage]

53. Shockingly, when people have no money,

they spend their time trying to get money rather than acting as footsoldiers for sheltered Internet jockeys hoping for a socialist revolution. When you're facing foreclosure, you're concerned about saving your house, and about feeding your family. You aren't thinking, "hey, great, now I can leave my family and spend all my time as a homeless Marxist organizer!"

[Orrex]

69. I agree

To refer to the terrifying, stressful condition of sudden poverty as "being freer" is patronizing and foolish.

[tomreedtoon]

70. Exactly, Occam Bandage! And so does the OP.

We should get involved in social work. But to do that, we have to have a place to live, food to eat and care when we're sick.

The OP (I read her entire article) is hoping and dreaming that all the unemployed (of which I became a member last week) will become a shambling mob, cannon fodder for a socialist revolution, who will gladly face the bullets and tear gas of the evil government to bring about Da Revolution. While she and her well-off people direct us with Twitter posts as they drink cappucino at a damn Starbuck's, far out of the way of danger.

Screw that. I worked 33 years and lost my heart and soul to a bunch of bosses who betrayed me. I'm not looking for a new boss who wants to enlist me in a suicide mission, even if she did write a best-selling book.

[brentspeak]

78. Wrong.

She's saying that as long as job-seeking is a futile exercise, people might as well also use their unemployed time to do what they can to take back their nation. Who else is going to do it - the tooth fairy? And I don't see where in her article she wants to be anyone's "boss".

[tomreedtoon]

97. Would-be Marxists are always looking for their crowd.

A revolutionary never sets fire to the capital by himself, you know. He never gets his hands dirty. He needs a mob behind them. And the most important research project for a Leader of the Proletariat is how to rouse the rabble - after he finds the rabble, that is.

I've observed that most topplers-of-the-state on the left try to argue from intellectual principles. The ones on the right use primitive emotions, which is a far more successful method. This seems despicable and dirty to the people who would create a Worker's Proletariat, who often try to make workers philsophically brilliant geniuses like themselves. This is too much for most real-world workers; they just want themselves and their families to live, not think about living. This is the problem with the OP and people like her.

[brentspeak]

79. Isn't that what Ehrenreich just said in her piece?

[slampoet]

56. I haven't stopped job searching since 1997. Having employment doesn't curb it ever.

[ColbertWatcher]

65. Morning kick. n/t

[Mari333]

66. my oldest son is a soldier

hes almost out of the military, but hes trained now to be a lab technician, EKG tech and a phlebotomist. we are in Michigan. I told him, get health care under your belt. Thats probably one job you can get in this country. He agreed. There isnt much else out there. His wife is an exec. chef at a cushy restaurant, so thats one other job out there. the top 1 percent like to eat out. Otherwise, there isnt much in MI. I meet people everyday scraping by.

[krabigirl]

80. Americans are so afraidof everything nowadays, that anything can happen without a peep.

It is fucking sad.

[Echo In Light]

83. The M$M instructs them to peep, or not to peep - usually bass-akward, and favors corporate power

[windoe]

94. There are a lot of peeps,

from the unemployed, the bankrupt, the evicted, but most people are not empowered enough to act. And how can we act? How can we effectively stand up for ourselves? The recent change in status of the middle class came on relatively sudden.

Most people are still plugged into media one way or another, there are wars, murders, torture memos and health care crises, and the psychological effect of watching this news is to think that the powers that be are gargantuan, the problems of the world are so burdensome that they outweigh the problems of the individual. It's like, with so many 'crises' going on, what is it now- a plague? Well, perhaps my little life's problems (of survival and livelihood) will just have to wait....

Even here on DU, the supposed 'left' are still under the influence of the divide and conquer, distract and derail, intimidate and scare tactics used to interfere with any organized movements. Then of course there is the surveillance and high tech methods used against people--that are 'somehow' worked into all the popular movies, TeeVee shows and saturate our subconscious.
We have to overcome our conditioning, because we have been conditioned to be sheep, even when we are starving.

Yes, we have to take back what is ours, because we are being robbed. I have hope that everyone collectively decides to stand their ground, and say 'enough'. Collectively.

[earth mom]

95. As usual, Barbara Enrenreich nails it!

:thumbsup:

[Raksha]

96. K & R, bookmarked