First person accounts are the most interesting thing on this forum - except for
the great pics and video clips and interesting perspectives (that don't get
mired in articulate nonsense). I liked the post that said that the versions
that are posted here are only first drafts. Too true and too funny.
I'm with you on the paradigm change. I'm 48 and honestly, worked a lot of
labor jobs in my 20's so didn't get going on a family and career until my 30's
- so I always figured I had a decade to make up - which I did. How does one go
about starting a revolution? What are the values as a society that we are
going to forward as the agenda...it all seems to break down in the "how." We
should not be fear-based in our decision-making process as a country. "It's a
short trip from the cradle to the crypt"...we won't be conscious of our past
lives in our future lives - enlightenment or no enlightenment - whaddya we have
to lose by taking a stand in this one? Oh yes, blacklisting....
I just am learning how to cook...my kids want a home-cooked meal...eating out
is hum drum for them. I am loving the basics. I cleaned my house...so
satisfying....no more housecleaner. My life as a corporate slave was a
personal disaster and fraught with family sacrifice and I don't want to go
back. I may have to rent the house out is the irony in all this..never did
get to enjoy it.
Yes, it is the lower-income, fixed-income seniors and our/my generation, in
particular, that are going to face a tough future. We have no pensions - I
have little savings. I tell my daughter who is heading off to college -
"Honey, it is up to you to save the world"..."no pressure"..."expect that I
will live with you." Tee Hee.
Read the big article today about how much money the CEO's are making in 2011?
And we want to give that category a tax break? Seriously?
I just attended my first class in XHTML - $329 for the very basics - way too
much money for such basic info. Easy, breezy. I have decided that I should
have gone into the programming industry (yes, I know XHTML is not real
programming).
You got into an industry that is currently relevant and therefore, pays well.
Learned a little on the history of the Internet and Web - fascinating. I
always wondered who was running the show.
--- On Mon, 7/25/11, Bhairitu <noozg...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
From: Bhairitu <noozg...@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] One in five American men don't work: Where's the
outrage?
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Monday, July 25, 2011, 12:30 PM
You are lucky to have chosen a profession that kept you employed for so
many years. The first part of my adult life I was a professional
musician. Not necessarily a starving one but never hitting the jackpot
of playing with a group that paid very well. I'm well trained and some
opportunities did arise with name groups but never came though. But
also since I was a kid liked playing around with electronics and in 1983
bought a cheap personal computer. I took to programming like a duck
takes to water because to me it was like writing music. That took me on
a much better paying career path.
My only in-house experience was with a company which I began contracting
for and then they brought me in-house to run programmer management or
what is sometimes referred to as "herding cats." I left on my own
accord as the company got to be too big and it's direction unclear. A
few months later it was gobbled up by a much larger company. Many were
laid off but I've always figured I wouldn't have been as the larger
company was always trying to hire me away. I just wouldn't have liked
the commute to their main headquarters. The commute to the company I
worked for was all of two miles.
I went back to contract programming to pay bills and mortgage. Because
of my experience of creating software for early personal computers many
clients figured I would be better at developing products for embedded
systems (like PDAs, handheld game devices, etc) than a young
inexperienced programmer. Nowadays I am developing products for Android
devices which is very cutting edge. If I were to work in-house again it
would be for managing programmers unless it was a tiny company that
really needed an experienced programmer.
Frankly the suits sometimes don't get it but in my experience betting on
young inexperienced programmers can destroy a company. They have no
idea of what it is to make a deadline or how to do it. We put the comp
sci grads into junior programmer roles making tools, etc. to see how
they did first before giving them a position on a critical project.
I'm 64 but can pretty much take risks where people with families can't.
But we worked all these years and now they want to take away any
retirement from us. Worse yet because of the banks betting on
derivatives, losing and wanting to pass the bill on to us rather than
going out of business (which is what should happen) seniors can't sell
off their homes to downsize to a retirement condo or townhouse as maybe
they had planned. Seniors have plenty to be angry about and should not
be timid and must scare the hell out of the establishment. Same for
young folks as they are seeing they have no future either. Let's ditch
the establishment paradigms that have created this and replace it with
one for the people instead for the obscenely rich.
Damn, I wrote too much. Maybe Barry's bug is catching. :-D
On 07/25/2011 10:04 AM, Denise Evans wrote:
> This article does a poor job at trying to blame unemployment and disability
> programs for exacerbating our economic situation. There are always those that
> get into the system and stay there - those are sad situations - but they do
> not represent what is going on today.
> For the large majority of the unemployed today, thank god for unemployment is
> all I can say - and it doesn't come close to paying the bills. Unemployment
> is keeping us from full on collapse. I have never been laid off in my life
> and have worked since the age of 14. Most professional people I know are
> finding it takes 1-2 years to find a job and many of those are at lower
> levels or lower pay (which may not be an all bad thing - we need to reset our
> lifestyles). Those of us who are middle age are absolutely experiencing
> ageism...why hire us? Who cares about experience in the ever- and faster-
> evolving and innovative tech industries for example?
> Yes, for many that have been laid off and who are hitting middle age....a
> skills upgrade is necessary. Technology has evolved tremendously and is
> evolving ever faster..for those of us in different lines of work, we are eons
> behind. The manufacturing sector has been given to other countries, the
> service sector which is where many millions of jobs resided (and I mean all
> services) and which sold many intangibles is dependent on consumerism (in all
> forms). No jobs, no consumerism, no consumerism, no jobs. This foundational
> piece of our economy is no more, in my view.
> I was very good at what I did....however, by becoming good I was given
> projects in my specialty and I was a senior level employee...I didn't need to
> diversify and join the tech revolution that started after I graduated from
> college...I needed to become good at my career so that I could buy a house
> and support my children in the American Dream.
> Now, until the economy returns, my specialty is not in demand - it was tied
> to the housing industry and commercial development and infrastructure. I am
> competing with younger, more attractive people when I do look. I'm no longer
> willing to work unlimited hours. I no longer can. Corporate america has laid
> off thousands of us middle-aging, experienced workers. Yes, we need a skills
> upgrade, we need to shift careers....who is going to pay for that...corporate
> america?
>
>
> --- On Mon, 7/25/11, Bhairitu<noozg...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> From: Bhairitu<noozg...@sbcglobal.net>
> Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] One in five American men don't work: Where's the
> outrage?
> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Monday, July 25, 2011, 9:17 AM
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> On 07/25/2011 04:07 AM, Tom Pall wrote:
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>> http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/25/unemployment-job-skills-training/?iid=HP_LN
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> Welcome to the new leisure society, Thom. You're working too hard. ;-)
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> > From the article:
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> "The longer a worker is unemployed, the farther he or she falls behind
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> in sellable skills in a fast-paced global economy." The term "sellable
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> skils" (probably should be "salable skills") tells it all. In a
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> capitalist society everyone has to have something to sell. IOW, we're
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> all basically a prostitute. The trick is to find something you enjoy
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> doing that someone or everyone wants. Either buying your time or your
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> As for "any old job" we're probably running out of those with a world
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> population of 7 billion people. Apparently the majority aren't bright
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> enough to figure that out so they'll just keep pounding their heads
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