The American Worker: Downward Mobility

All the indicators show an improving economy and, finally, the start of job growth. More than eight million unemployed workers see hope around the corner and re-enter the nightmare of job search with increased enthusiasm and the positive outlook they lost six months ago when they virtually gave up on ever finding a good position.

What do they find?

Service jobs: customer service, hospitality, tourism, food, travel, entry-level healthcare, retail. What are these jobs offering? 30%, 50%, 75% less income than the old manufacturing jobs which have moved to foreign countries. Where are the benefits, the insurance, the paid holidays, retirement plans? Where have the stability, seniority system and regular raises gone?

It is a new world, an evolving economy, a changed future. Everything will work out, government forecasters confidently predict. With tax reductions continuing, the economy will expand and thousands of high-tech, highly compensated positions will be created. Keep the faith, job seekers are advised -- this is the United States where innovation and entrepreneurship always prevail and life gets better and better.

Keep mouthing the platitudes and perhaps the 50 year-old former auto worker with an eleventh grade education or the 60 year-old dislocated engineer with outdated job skills and high blood pressure will actually start to believe it. At least until they return to active job search and encounter the real, not the hypothetical/political, labor market. That is when the true economic progression of twenty-first Century America emerges: an increasing number of millionaires, an increasing number of entry-level, low paid workers, and a great middle class vacuum.

The displaced worker is confronted with the choice of working at a level far below his/her skills, education, and abilities warrant, or staying unemployed. When the government reports that in the near future "Every one who wants a job will get one," the connotation of unemployment is that jobless workers do not WANT to work. This political myth leads to increased depression, diminished self-esteem, and the final conclusion by the legions of the unemployed that their personal fears turned out to be true: they are worthless, unwanted, redundant. The universal anxiety about not being quite good enough, not measuring up, not able to run with the big dogs has been validated and the mental health of the unemployed deteriorates further.

Virginia Bola operated a rehabilitation company for 20 years, developing innovative job search techniques for disabled workers, while serving as a respected Vocational Expert in Administrative, Civil and Workers' Compensation Courts. Author of an interactive and emotionally supportive workbook, The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a monthly ezine, The Worker's Edge, she can be reached at http://www.virginiabola.com

---

Ex-CIA Folks are Problematic

Those who are above the law or act as such... Read More

Silicon Valley Brain Drain; Bad Trade Policies, Why?

We have brain drain issues in Silicon Valley, we have... Read More

Spies in Seminaries - Stalin the CEO

The use of religion is well-documented as a social engineering... Read More

How Can We Elect Good Leaders?

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Men desire power. Give power to... Read More

Count Rumford

Why did FDR say Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Count... Read More

John Kerry as a Prosecutor?

Prosecutors with political ambitions are known to modify the truth... Read More

How Can You Have True Freedom if They Control Every Aspect of Your Life?

Freedom is in the eyes of the beholder. In Communist... Read More

NASA and the Crisis Aboard MIR

Some people say that we cannot put a colony on... Read More

The Dragons

I hope to provide a starting point for the serious... Read More

Slovenia - The Star Pupil

The most exciting event in Slovenia last week was when... Read More

911 Could Have Been Prevented, Was It Bush?s Fault?

September 11, 2001 could have been prevented. We could have... Read More

Is This All There Is?

In today's Rants from Lance session I address the question... Read More

California Power and Commodity Markets

Excess capacity occurs in many industries, such as power, electricity,... Read More

The Economics of Cloning Armies or Super Families

Let's put the religious part of the debate for a... Read More

Richard Nixon, the truth

Richard Nixon was by far a most fascinating and colorful... Read More

UAV Targets, Aerial Dog Fights, Interception, Future of War Intelligence

The UAV, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is hear to stay and... Read More

Victims of Child Support

"Similar to Medieval Inquisitions, judges have been given the authority,... Read More

Arson Neighborhood Mobile Watch Program for Summer Fire Season

Due to the bizarre weather patterns this winter California got... Read More

Counter Intelligence: Accurate Words to Describe Our Dealings with Islamic Terrorists!

Introduction:Although politicians and so-called "Intelligence Experts" are the ones appearing... Read More

Lets Make Some Things Clear about John Thune/Dan Nelson/MetaBank MetaGate

Let's make one thing clear: This Dan Nelson Automotive fiasco... Read More

Will They Sterilize Vagabonds and Drunkards in Belarus?

In Belarus parliament is going to struggle with degeneration of... Read More

Global Entrepreneurs, Mining and Raw Materials

There are many mines around the world, which are owned... Read More

The Truth About Power and Absolute Zero

Societies have always had a problem of what to do... Read More

Democracy, War and the Media - Uneasy Bedfellows All Round

Recent international wars and the often spectacular ways in which... Read More

Should the FTC be Allowed to Regulate Franchising?

Recently the FTC, Federal Trade Commission put forth a report... Read More

William Seward and the Alaska Purchase

Aren't you glad you purchased Alaska? You got a bargain,... Read More

The History of Trade and Using it as a Weapon for Peace

The Flow of Trade is a major consideration of civilizations... Read More

Hypocrisy of Over Regulation

All to often law makers and regulators create rules and... Read More

International Terrorists Have US Partners; The Federal Trade Commission

The Federal Trade Commission in their latest move to increase... Read More

Government Overregulation of Broadcast Content Could Backfire

Rush is right! The government's stepped up bid to regulate... Read More

Mother Russia and Poland

When Boris Yeltsin spoke about an experiment that 'they' wrought... Read More

Mr. Bin Laden: Tear this Wall Down

You say, you want to help the Palestinians, but most... Read More

Water at the Roots of Twenty First Centurys Conflicts

According to a postulate made by Ignacio Ramonet ecological resources... Read More