non-persons. THe economic press has reminded me of what Cindy Sheehan called the Anti-Republican Anti-War Movement. THis sort of thing only counts as a scandal in a GOP administration.

Since the racism / sexism / ageism game in the marketplace is about played out, and the LBGT thing is getting more accommodated, the EEOC will soon need a new cause in order to keep their jobs. Discrimination against the long-term unemployed looks to be a perfect candidate for their next pogrom. I expect that even as we speak they are working out regulations along the lines of “First fired; first hired” requirements.

Cousins.
Both lost sale rep jobs vending at Home Depot. Good money.
Both started collecting unemployment.
One moved in with his parents and the other got a job laboring for some plumber that was sort of a jerk.
One was out of the house at 6:45 am and the second was sleeping till nine and filled his day with going out for cigarettes and smoking a bone in the park with his other unemployed friends.
One collected for as long as humanly possible and the other guy got a second job at night.

I’ve seen it. Unemployment ruins some people. They won’t take a job unless they think it’s worthy of their skills while other will do what they gotta’ do to pay their bills even if it sucks.
I have spent my fair share of time in that second group.

I know that sometimes there are people who are completely over qualified to work a cash register or be a laborer and could easily replace their boss but to a potential employer they look like someone who puts their own personal comfort aside and steps up to the plate fulfills their responsibilities.

The unemployed can pick up some bad habits.

With double digit unemployment across the country (not even counting the million plus who aren’t eligible to be counted anymore) and worse in places like Michigan and California, I’m pretty sure the victims of Pelosinomics spread accross the political spectrum. I’m glad for you that the long-term victims of the last four years of overregulation, hyperspending and economic uncertainty bring a smile to your face. The real question is why it seems the only thing discussed here is how much of a turncoat is for agreeing to 61 Billion vs 100 Billion in cuts, doing it week to week vs shutting down the government or whatever.

Is anyone here actually interested in fixing this economy? Again, counting on spending cuts to reduce the deficit with record low revenues (due to excessive tax rates and regulation) is patently absurd. If the GOP spent half the time and effort focusing on reigning in regulators and giving small buisnesses tax incentives as they did on spending, it would do more to help the deficit than 100 Billion or 300 Billion in instant cuts.

Oh yeah. And unemployment would go down as well. Leaving plenty of demand for low paying entry level jobs for former government employees.

I remember about 50 years ago, my uncle was newly married and had a baby on the way. He was only 19, and now needed a job to support his new family. So what did he do? He mowed yards and sold fresh eggs door to door. You know, those jobs that Americans don’t want. We have made is very convenient and somewhat lucrative not to take a job that is “beneath” us. 99 weeks of unemployment?? What a mess we’ve made.

I can guarantee Moe was not stating all unemployed voted for Obama nor was he taking personal glee in their situation. His post was simply a well written knock at all those who thought Obama would swoop down in his red cape, wipe out their poverty whether self induced or present because of circumstances, thought he would wave a magic wand and all would be utopia, etc. He as well as everyone else realizes there are plenty of staunch conservatives and other republicans who are been devastated by not only this economy but by Obama’s decisions as well. And if I remember correctly, A few years back Moe shared his own struggle with unemployment. It was one of the main mods, even if I am wrong that it was Moe.

What he said was right, and I promise it was not directed at you if you are or were long term unemployed or anyone else who did not side with Obama.

I currently employ about 120 technicians in my business. All I do is recruit, interview and put guys to work. Let me say this. I can’t find enough people. If I hired 20 people a week for the next 8 weeks I would still have trouble filling demand. (I am in Austin, TX)

That being said. If someone submits a resume to me and they have been unemployed for over a year, it goes straight to the trash. It’s practically an “unwritten” company policy.

I could talk at length about unemployment, but it is Friday night and I’m a few beers, in…

My daughter was active in the College Republicans in 2008 as her entire campus mobilized in frenetic energy to elect Barack Obama, while the CR’s endured insults, assaults and vandalism of their vehicles, posters and flyers. After the election, it felt like the opening scene in a horror movie as I watched all the happy young faces who didn’t realize the bad things waiting for them just around the corner. They had just helped elect the worst possible team to take us through a terrible economic crisis.

This is the worst economy in my lifetime. It’s even difficult to get the low-level jobs people are suggesting. I’m curious how college grads are counted in the unemployment statistics. My daughter has been looking for work for six months. Entry-level jobs are few and far between. With the glut of candidates, employers that are even hiring are looking for more experience. So for now, she has started to develop her own products and will try to market them. Hope and change.

I have never had a course in economics, But when Thomas Sowell speaks, I listen; when he writes, I read. I have watched every video and read every editorial I could find from the late, great Milton Friedman. I have studied the works of Arthur Laffer, especially the advice he gave Ronald Reagan, and one recurring theme runs through the works of these men, all PhD Economists:

Businesses don’t hire people because the economy is good; they do not lay off people because the economy is bad; they can’t be bribed into hiring someone. Businesses hire employees for ONE reason only: They need work done that will generate income, and there is no one in the company presently that can do this work.

The idea that government can do anything to stimulate job growth in the private sector is a fallacy. Products and services have to be in such demand that present staffing levels cannot keep up with the workload — and the demand has to be sustained. Then — and only then — will companies hire more staff.

As Thomas Sowell is fond of saying, the rookie in the White House has to learn to get government out of the way of the private sector in order for the private sector to grow. President Reagan knew this; apparently there are a large number in Washington who need to LEARN this.

   Having been out of work since my temp job got cut off back in October of ’10, I’ve been going through all the motions of seeking employment.  I’ve gone to government-funded job seeker workshops (funded by ’08 Stimulus money) to improve my resume writing, research and interview skills.  I’ve been to the state Department of Employment and Training to speak with a case worker on a monthly basis.  And I’ve even gotten training and certification in operating forklift trucks at their suggestion, as they expect the logistics and warehousing industry to be the first thing to start moving when the economy gets moving again.

   So far, all I’ve gotten was an interview from prospective employers on average of once a month.  Usually, without a follow-up other than a “sorry, but we’ve found someone better qualified.”

   I’ve had over 20 years combined work experience behind me, with hardly a blemish.  I’ve been up and down the scale, from machine operator, to pizza delivery driver, to office keyboard jockey, to scanner operator and warehouse order picker.  I can do all of these jobs, if they’d tell me to come do them.  I’m not caring right now if it pays me $8.00/hour or $30.00.

   One thing that did get my attention when it happened was that when I tried getting hired into the position that was opening at one of my earlier worksites (for which I was temping at the time), the managers who interviewed me said that my Associate degree in computer systems made me “overqualified”.  For keying customer data into a database and organizing paperwork to be filed.  I’d have moved up to something else eventually, but it seemed like that was what I was supposed to start out doing.

   I’ve started wondering if the “temp” worker thing did as much damage to my employment prospects as being unemployed for extended periods of time will.  Think of it: you’re being farmed out to various workplaces to fill gaps in their labor force until they don’t need you any more, just to keep their production going along, or to help finish off a big project that they lacked manpower to complete within a deadline.  I recalled someone telling me that a term, “nomad”, was being cooked up to describe people like myself who ended up as temp workers, implying that I wasn’t trusted to stay with a company for life.

   It may not just be the economy, or the attitudes being indoctrinated into kids in schools these days.  There may be some businesses that’re taking up practices which are actually harming more people than they were meant to weed out unproductive or counter-productive potential employees.

Well I’m not on unemployment since I graduated law school in ’09 and haven’t had a real job yet. I worked for a while just to say I was working, while actually losing money because I had to pay for daycare. So ultimately I had to quit and be a stay at home dad while looking for a real job. Most regular employers steer clear of law grads and the legal job market is horrible. I strongly opposed Obama in 2008 but I’m just as screwed as the dumb kids who supported him. I don’t find anything particularly satisfying about the situation. A lot of people who have always had a job seem to think you can just roll up your sleeves and everything will turn out fine, but that’s not the reality anymore.

And as bad as Obama is, the real problem originated under Clinton and George W. Bush, with the rise of various market and asset bubbles- most devastatingly in real estate.

Anyway, if anyone in the Washington, D.C. metro area needs someone with strong writing and analytical skills, I’d love to pitch myself. My email is the same as my redstate handle, plus @yahoo.com.

and “some” didn’t like when I said as a hiring manager I would NOT hire someone who sat on their tail for 99wks because to me personally it showed they had no ingenuity to get a job, even if it had been a job at 7-11 it would have shone a propensity to care. It is the last generation of lazy people that we are dealing with who somehow “felt” they should wait for the job that paid the closet to what they had made prior. I lived through the downturn in the 80s and the early 2000s and I nor my husband felt it was beneath us to one work at Arbys (I did in 85) or Pizza Hut (my husband in 2000) was beneath us. The Arbys job was a job, job the Pizza Hut job was a second job but no one would accuse either of us of being lazy or believing that we deserved more then what we had at any given time in our lives.

I can only hope that I have given that same work ethic to both of my children who are now in this downturn with one working full time and another working part time and going to college and neither in a job they like but both knowing they need to earn their way in the world.