Sunday, July 7, 2013

The American Dream

Every month I hear the the giddy excitement in economists voices about the jobs report. This month was no less exciting. Stocks end higher on strong jobs report - Jul. 5, 2013
You know what gets me in that link? Stocks are high on the strong jobs report. Really? What kind of jobs? But hey, as long as stocks are high........
  Over at Zerohedge we find out. Obamacare Strikes: Part-Time Jobs Surge To All Time High; Full-Time Jobs Plunge By 240,000 | Zero Hedge
Now, I happen to think "Obamacare" has done a lot of good things. But what should have happened is a single payer system. Kowtowing to the HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY, yeah, it's an industry, was wrong and employers being responsible for healthcare is a bad idea, Zerohedge pretty much proves it.
Where I work they hired someone, that's a good sign, but uh oh, guess what? He's part time. There hasn't been a full time employee hired in over six years where I work. I don't know a single recently hired person with full time work.
 It's not only the part time jobs that's a problem, but the kind of jobs available, minimum wage crap retail, fast food, Walmart jobs. Check this out Top 10 Companies Hiring This Week - Careers Articles 
Macy's sales positions, how do you live on that paycheck? It's pretty obvious that politicians in Washington don't give a damn about the unemployed. They only care about corporations. We should have had an F.D.R. style jobs program by now, but that won't happen. What's worse are the millions of college graduates that can't find jobs and now the interest their Stafford loans has doubled. Interest rates on new college student loans double, but Congress could restore low rates later - Washington Post
What I like about this link is that hey, there's still hope! Congress might, MIGHT, restore low rates whenever they get around to it. WTF? Congress can't agree on diddly. I can't believe the Washington Post thinks anyone will believe that B.S. That's the worst part about all this. I don't believe any statistics the government puts out. I think Forbes might have it right, it's more like 14.3%. Why The 'Real' Unemployment Rate Is Higher Than You Think - Forbes
The guy they hired where I work was out of a job for 2 years, he worked at my company 17 years ago. That tells me a lot when you're handing in a resume to a place you worked at that long ago, and you can only get part time hours.  The kind of design work I do can easily be offshored to India, like almost every newspaper in my state has done. I am very grateful that my employer is really pro-America, the last thing he would want to do is ship our production department to India, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't happen.
 I see a lot of  hardship and suffering. People are unable to just pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Unfortunately, I think things are going to get a whole lot worse before any meaningful change will happen in this country. But hey, stocks are high, so it's all good.

4 comments:

  1. It's pretty obvious that politicians in Washington don't give a damn about the unemployed. They only care about corporations.

    Yeah, I figure when the Supremes officially declared corporations to be people the rest of us were downgraded to something far less.

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    Replies
    1. That ain't no lie.
      In fact, the Republicans don't see it as "We The People". No, they see things as "Us" and "Them" and we are the fucking "them"....


      Sarge

      Delete
  2. Where I work, the owner posts little status updates. Earlier this year he congratulated us on how the company did better this quarter, how due to our hard work the shareholders got a 50% increase in their dividends, and he exhorted us to work hard to do even better. SO motivating!!

    (me: minimum wage, part time, Master's degree)

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  3. Joe and Jane Schmo can't afford stocks, and if they could, the game is rigged to favor insiders.

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