Just Get a Job!

This one made me laugh, but there is sad truth in it---The Squawker

Throwaway People

Throwaway People

We have too many in this society.

What does one do in a society where you are told YOU DO NOT BELONG and ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE A LIVING for the most minute of differences? I faced this when I got sick, said illness denied me high paid enough, sustainable employment which made the health problems worse. I have seen so many talented people set aside via the bean counters. It's a travesty. Right now we have a growing underclass of all kinds where they know they do not belong.

Sure, I am disabled myself, but I am thinking of past days, where one wanted a community to have some loyalty and you were willing to give the same loyalty back. Where has that gone? If you are a little different, too smart, too slow, too old, too young, not conformist enough, not thin enough, not mainstream enough, today they don't seem to want you. I suppose some of us become experts at finding outside niches but I wonder at a society where it seems that out there only a growing number of people are being deemed "acceptable" for employment. Sure, they will make the "everyone needs education" claims, but we have the most educated society ever, no what is happening is a new class structure where only those who are already well heeled, connected and have the right looks and attitudes need apply. The "owning class" [see below] is tossing the rest out the door.

Both I and the Reckoner have pondered the reality of how many soul-less minions behind desks have determined our reality with the very economic foundations of our lives determined based upon their whims.

The other day I saw this quote:

"The problem is not work. Work is FUN when you do it for yourself. Work can be rewarding and you feel proud of your accomplishment. Nothing feels better than taking a well deserved bath after a day of hard work and then eating a comforting supper.

No, the problem is employment and job hunting. There is no dignity for the worker and job seeker in the process. Work has been hijacked by the owning class and has been rebranded as “employment”. They are not job creators, they are work usurpators.

If the capitalists, the owners and the rulers were not in the way, anybody could immediately pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. The fact that you need to be hired before you can do any kind of productive work is the problem that must be ended. Nobody should have to sell himself or herself before he or she can contribute to society."  

One thing I ponder is how much human potential is being thrown out the door, as these employers tell endless lines of people they are not a good fit. Some may contribute via writing or volunteer work and unpaid activities, but how many are being denied decent livings out there, because of the blockades put in their way? When did human beings become mere commodities?


I find the whole hiring process to be more about weeding people out rather then finding the "best"or allowing people to contribute. The other day I was talking about this with a friend when people lived in communities lifelong and when there were family and other long-term ties; things were far different, in terms of business decisions. One's community was taken into account, the extreme "free market" types will never discuss how those farmers they praised for so much self-reliance, worked together to raise barns and more. People worked together, and I am not talking about the controls of Communism but SPONTANEOUS relationships and interactions, ones formed by God's creation not directed from above....

I tend to think people were seen even differently. It wasn't all about fitting in and SELLING yourself to those who may NOT BUY. It was about being alive and being part of a community.--The Squawker

Note To The Long-Term Unemployed: "You're On Your Own, Kid!"

Imagine the scene: you're attending a local school board meeting.  During the announcements, the management team notes that a much-loved employee is retiring after 37 years on the job.  Just two days later, you're observing a similar scene at a different meeting, where one of  the key administrators is retiring after four decades in the educational trenches.

Either way, you find yourself surrounded by people with equally extended tenures -- with the average hovers between 15 and 30 years.  The atmosphere is breezy and jovial at both meetings. Between raids of the nearby brownie table, the conversation focuses on summer vacation plans: what books they plan to read, which grandkids they intend to visit, what kinds of tasks they'll finally catch up on.

You sigh to yourself, and wonder: how'd everybody else get to stick around for so long, and what the hell did I do wrong?  Why am I still playing the same never-ending game of 19th-century-style musical chairs, of insecurity as a permanent condition?  How'd we get to this pass, anyway?
For most Americans today, the reality is starkly different,.  If you're a part-timer, or self-employed, you already find yourself parked right behind the eight ball -- with no benefits and no health insurance -- plus the knowledge that, if you're a contractor, you'll be expected to cough up about 25 percent of what little you actually do take home. 

In a month where you often don't have a tenner left over to buy anything more radical than Ramen noodles and Carl Budding lunch meat, you still have some small matters to address...such as quarterly estimated tax payments.

But Caesar's not particularly bothered about whether you have anything left for such fripperies -- as you'll find out next year, when he'll whack on enough penalties and interest to keep you working for him...well, more or less indefinitely. 

Like the Bible says, Caesar still expects his due, and by God, you'll pay, pay, and pay until your wallet turns black and blue. The scary thing, of course, is that your situation could be worse -- as the long-term unemployed are finding out.  By next month, the federal Extended Unemployment Benefits Program will phase out in most states that have used it, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP).

This assistance -- which the federal government has fully funded since 2009 -- amounts to 13 or 20 weeks, depending on the unemployment rate in each state.  For many folks, this latest onsalught of cuts -- imposed, remember, by Congressmen and women with full benefits, like taxpayer-funded health insurance, and pensions -- amounts to the final kiss-off from a government that seems permanently stuck in voodoo economic mode.

Don't worry, though, the voodoo priests are making out like bandits -- as ABC News reported, in noting that the four living ex-presidents billed taxpayers $3 million for various items last year.  The amounts included $15,000 for Jimmy Carter's postal expenses; $579,000 for Bill Clinton's office rent; $830,000 for George H.W. Bush's expenses (hopefully, they were itemized!); and $80,000 for George W. Bush's phone bills.

Now, considering how much money these gentlemen heist on the rubber chicken circuit -- which amounted to $10 million for Clinton, and $15 million for George W. Bush last year -- it seems strange when the feds claim they can't find more money to help those who need it most. 

Remember this factoid when your far right coworkers start ranting about "bums on welfare."  These ex-presidential perks amount to welfare of a different sort, but apparently, they prefer to call it something else to ease their blackened, blinkered consicence -- albeit one that's shrunken and shriveled from too many years spent lapping at the public trough.

As NELP director Christine Owens notes, it's not like everybody who was relying on these long-term unemployment dollars suddenly found a magic bullet to cure all their ills: "These cuts are coming faster than the economy is improving, which means more workers will have to survive without any jobless assistance and families will have less money to put back into the economy."

But that doesn't bother anybody, apparently.  The government remains stuck in full passive-aggressive mode, hoping that the bad economic news will finally go away, so that all those people grubbing underneath them will stop yammering about their needs...and they can look good.  Fat chance.

For those trapped in this permanent morass of insecurity that devalues their lives, their dreams and their hopes of meaningful social change, the message is simple: "It's sink or swim.  You're on your own, kid." 

If there is a hereafter, Darwin and Nietzsche must be slapping each other high-fives: "You see? You see?  I told you so!"