Topic: hail the Brits

[demon78]

I shouldn't, but in my experience if you're over 55, hell even 50 try and find a job if the economy is sour, whether you've got qualifications or not, whether the job is slotted to your expertise exactly, so what do you do? The days of our countries being based on a meritocracy are a myth from long ago and far away, now, unless you're part of an old boys network (old girls network) if you're past a certain age, fat #$%*ing hope of finding a job of any kind let alone one that allows you to use your accumulated knowledge, brings to mind the song "Brother can you spare a dime" and to the employers out there that say well the younger on can be molded to what I need, balance the mistakes the inexperienced will make and cost with the mature person that won't make those mistakes with attendant costs, God our systems are so screwed up! I have to stop thinking about this!
Bill the demon.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Hey Bill, are you saying us old guys know too much/have too much experience to have to put up with corporate bull #$%*?! I'd second that.

[demon78]

That too, Jerry but part of the problem us old guys have, we may have seen more than the people hiring us have and they hate to be reminded that that even they have clay feet, also there is of course the money thing. I find it sad, you want to work and you can bring a level of expertise to the job and you don't panic until it's necessary, but you are not molded, I've gone through it, it's one more step to dehumanize the worker and force an agenda on them, yes i know that sounds like a socialist scenario, but it's not. If you build a team it has to be well rounded with enthusiasm, expertise, knowledge and the ability to get along, that fact seems to  have been forgotten.
I could rant for hours, but hey.
Bill the demon.

[Brown Bomber]

I shouldn't, but in my experience if you're over 55, hell even 50 try and find a job if the economy is sour, whether you've got qualifications or not, whether the job is slotted to your expertise exactly, so what do you do? The days of our countries being based on a meritocracy are a myth from long ago and far away, now, unless you're part of an old boys network (old girls network) if you're past a certain age, fat #$%*ing hope of finding a job of any kind let alone one that allows you to use your accumulated knowledge, brings to mind the song "Brother can you spare a dime" and to the employers out there that say well the younger on can be molded to what I need, balance the mistakes the inexperienced will make and cost with the mature person that won't make those mistakes with attendant costs, God our systems are so screwed up! I have to stop thinking about this!
Bill the demon.

+1

[Duke McDukiedook]

In the US we also pay into unemployment insurance whether we want it or not. It is different than Welfare. I've paid my whole life and collected $37.00 unemployment once. Like the social security trust fund, the government uses that money for other things also.

Yeah, I have paid into this #$%* all my life, I got to finally use some of it a couple of months ago. Probably will get to use it again real soon. 

[donny]

Hey Jensen,  I think you are wrong when you say China is rich because of American and European tycoons.
It's the little people.
 I believe they are rich because the American population buys cheap Chinese stuff.

" Made in China" is what is killing the USA.

You are kidding right, its the rich  that organise and bring everything into the country in the first place because they make a fortune out of it, then little people buy it because they have little or no choice......Some people must live in a bubble....

Mick

wrong again guys......It ain't tycoons...

when athletic shoes from China appeared in the USA,  Americans bought them, the  cheapest.  When dress shoes made in China were sold, we bought them,  This destroyed the USA shoe manufacturing industry.  ditto work boots. Now, even many cowboy boots are made in China, nearly killing the boot manufacuting in Texas and Mexico. 
 We had a choice, when buying American or cheep Chinese goods, we voted with dollars, and now goods from China has eliminated jobs and businesses in the USA. No one was forced to buy anything,  There were choices to be made.

[supersports400]

Hi Donny,

I think both mechanisms are responsible for the issue with China and other cheap labor country's.
Always try to avoid buying something out of these country's like I mentioned earlier this thread.

Don't buy the newest electronic gadget, Japanese car (mostly made in China), because you invest in a new world order, a world order who's  refusing to let a Nobelprice winner collect it's price.

I try to avoid sponsoring the most powerful army for years now, and it's getting harder and harder,

Jensen

[rhos1355]

I got a feeling that Jensen is spot on. Free labour does'nt help the long term unemployed, and company owners/directors will try to exploit the situation very quickly.
Hmmn, they will say.......I got X amount of people here producing income for the the company(me) for free, why should I want that everybody can get a job?? Doesn't make economic sense. So what will they do? they will try to keep the unemployment as high as possible.
Cutting off the unemployed's benefits is also not an option; most of them will resort to crime, maybe through desperation.
My father in law had a small business in the early '60s, he said that full employment was the worst thing that can happen to a country's economy. I thought he was mad to say that, but then he said that workers, skilled and unskilled started pricing themselves out of the market. And companies began to look else where for their labour resources. The rest is, as they say, history.

[74cb750]

Well this is sure a hot topic.

Don't throw stones if you live in a glass house. It is very easy to denigrate the unempolyed while still pulling in a paycheck.

I actually pick up the trash on the side of the road, bring it home & pay to take it to the dump, even though I am unemployed.  I can't stand a dirty neighborhood.

Being over 40 I have found is detrimental to finding a paying job. WHY should I volunteer to drive a passenger vehicle for a company that has many fulltime paid employees? Would you? This is the only job offer I have had in 1 year. Somehow I rather doubt anyone would quit their job to do so. Be honest now, you wouldn't.

Locally 3 machine shops that employed 1,200, 1,400 and 800 people closed in the past 30 years. Those jobs were never replaced. The area economy never recovered. Now we're inundated with 'service' jobs that are temporary and low paying.

I would not be against working for unemployment pay, it would just be fair. BUT, the government would have to establish a whole new beauracracy to administer it making sure no 'real' jobs would be eliminated. This would benefit certain companies that give $ to political parties. The result would be higher taxes, but why not give it a try.

Until you have been in my shoes, don't critizie me.

peace,
michel

[rhos1355]

Read an interesting article about a year ago in The Economist where they described the rows and rows of empty, derelict factories in................Taiwan! Ten years ago this was the hot-bed of micro manufacturing et al. Then there was another player in the field; China. It's only a matter of time before another nation takes over by being able to offer even less operating/manufacturing costs to the client and therefore lower prices on the shop shelf (try saying that after a couple of beers).
My money's on India.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Don't worry, this is cyclical, in these cheap places to currently produce- China, India, Indonesia they are creating a middle class with money and clout- it eventually will get expensive to produce things there and corporations will be looking for the next cheap place to produce things. Give it time.
 

[Brown Bomber]

Yes, in time America will be back in the labor pool, but if I'm still alive, I'll be living under a bridge.

[Retro Rocket]

Hey Jensen,  I think you are wrong when you say China is rich because of American and European tycoons.
It's the little people.
 I believe they are rich because the American population buys cheap Chinese stuff.

" Made in China" is what is killing the USA.

You are kidding right, its the rich  that organise and bring everything into the country in the first place because they make a fortune out of it, then little people buy it because they have little or no choice......Some people must live in a bubble....

Mick

wrong again guys......It ain't tycoons...

when athletic shoes from China appeared in the USA,  Americans bought them, the  cheapest.  When dress shoes made in China were sold, we bought them,  This destroyed the USA shoe manufacturing industry.  ditto work boots. Now, even many cowboy boots are made in China, nearly killing the boot manufacuting in Texas and Mexico. 
 We had a choice, when buying American or cheep Chinese goods, we voted with dollars, and now goods from China has eliminated jobs and businesses in the USA. No one was forced to buy anything,  There were choices to be made.

And who do you think brings them into the country,,?   Yep, some rich prick that wants more of the bottom line, cheap Chinese labour makes it extremely attractive to the money hungry companies not interested in maintaining local jobs. There's just not enough profit to be made in having goods made at home. Your industries will die a slow death if this isn't sorted, not to mention the dangerous reliance on China and the power such growth is giving it. Go look for yourself mate, you won't see many consumers going to China to buy anything but your corporations are every where.....

Mick

[Duke McDukiedook]

Yes, in time America will be back in the labor pool, but if I'm still alive, I'll be living under a bridge.

I'll be in a van, down by the river- is that an address? 

[plug1]

 I'm a skilled tradesman currently laid off and trying to support a wife and three kids w/ an unemployment check and I must say you're an ignorant fool for posting this BS. This is the worst economic downfall any of us have ever seen. Millions of hard working Americans - college grads, skilled trades, and the like- have lost there jobs and are out there looking for work and you want to treat them like criminals by submitting them to cleaning graffiti and community service. It's close-minded idiocy like this that has gotten this country where it is today. Not everyone on unemployment sits around smoking crack all day w/ 12 kids. Wake up.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Unemployment is not welfare and is an earned benefit and there should be no stigma attached to it. I've collected once. Probably could now.

Welfare for able bodied people that can work but choose not to because they are lazy and mooch off us is a different story. There is nothing ignorant nor foolish about this.

[bikerbart]

Donny you are obviously living in your own lil world.It IS the american and european tycoons that caused it.The Rich decided to get super rich by sellimg out this entire country so they can pay less taxes and less labor,not to mention any and all regulations relating to the business(EPA,pension,workers comp,etc etc.)Why are you defending them,are you rich?Or are you a die hard capitalist?It is the super rich that are destroying the american dream,as well as everyone else's all over the world.If you can convince any of us otherwise,that is a monumental task.I would LOVE to hear it.

[Raef]

I don't know if it is true, but I read the other day, there are 6.5 billion people on the earth, that figure has risen from 4.7 billion in the last 15 years. Of the people currently living on earth 5 billion make less than $2 per day USD.

I am Bricklayer, for 15 of the last 25 years I have had a company truck and a lot of perks, for the last 2 years I have done what ever I can to make a living including draw unemployment on weeks that there has been nothing to do, my average income has drooped by about 50%

Mark