In regards to that oil comment that slipped in, Ya that was a Fuck up and a half, Being from the keys I have a good idea on how even the scare of it can effect ones economy.

Far as work goes It realy isnt a quick and easy or in some case even possible situation to fix. My own situation for instance is I’m not built for the heavy lifting type jobs, Not that it would nmatter when most of those companies are going out of buisness on a daily rate any how, My means of travel are lefty andd righty, find work when ya gotta walk almost an hour to get anywhere sweat is not a saught after trait when meeting a potential employer. I have recently agreed to push myself on the job site with a relative to fundcontinued searches however this is only a temperary fix and with a busted knee im sureas heck gonna have issues, But rather that get the violin treatment I’ll get to my point.

What ever the cause Illegals, Companies moving out of country, or STUPIDITY on an almost catastrofic level The economic situation we are in is all the dangerous as it has been claimed to be and we cannot depend on UNCLE SAM, play the blame game, or pull the well times are softer thanwhen i had to walk 15 miles in blistering sun up hill with bare feet card.

Options to fix this is to unite/cooperatte localy, this means let small busnesses focus on hireing local workers (scroll up for eample) or simply kwwp your ears open and when you hear potential job openings dont keep it to urself ,assuming ur working, but if u have work pas the intel on to someone else weather you know them or not.

CAPITALISM [yes I know I badly misspelled that] works or can work but it has to be doin properly, after all capitalism reqquires the establisment of well capital. Now I’m an anime/ kungfu movie person myself so im not saying dont import, but if you have a branch here hire locals AND LEGALS. But I’m done putting in my two cent. cant wait to see ya alls responce

@jim
My point was many people would prefer to collect unemployment than do hard labor. Please do not misread, not all but many.

The problem is our current unemployment is a complex subject with many facets but most people take the easy way out instead of engaging in complex discussions. To explain just one facet is that we, the American consumer, are also to blame for our desire for cheap and non-American goods. It gets frustrating that people complain about problems and explain how there are ‘no’ alternatives but they really have not done their research, they refuse to see how they contribute to it. Unless it is put in their lap with a label that says ‘American Made’ they’ll just sit on the fence and bellyache. A couple of examples related to this point: tools and food. I buy quality tools for the most part and try to buy Snap-On because they’re mostly American made but how many people on this forum buy crap at the big-box stores made overseas? Another example is farmer’s markets, individuals complain how things cost more which is partially true. They fail to recognize how the reason things are cheaper at the store is due to the massive government subsidies to big-ag. So do they spend the time to drive to farmers markets….not a chance. If more Americans would really reflect and _really_ look at themselves they would see how they’re partially responsible for our current situation. We really can’t have an immediate impact on our political or U.S. unemployment situation but we can change our buying habits n-o-w! Imagine if everyone reading this blog went to the farmers markets this weekend and only bought their produce from them. They would clean them out and next growing season they’d have more than enough product to support the demand _and_ prices would drop some.

The construction industry may have 25% unemployment but based on my experience with construction people 25% is a good start of getting rid of the boneheads. This is one reason I started learning to do most of my own work. Two family members have had their bathroom/kitchens done in the last 12 months and the people who did them were sub-par, in one case the nice walk-in shower has to be completely ripped out and redone due to the contractors being idiots. Problem is that some of the boneheads stay employed and some good, hard working people need to get creative and get their foot in the door.

I don’t really understand your argument. America has lost million of of good manufacturing jobs over the years. Thats a fact which has nothing to do with the amount of hard labor I may or may not do. Do you think there are tons of hard labor jobs out there just looking for workers? The unemployment rate in the construction industry is 25%. DO you seriously think that is due to laziness or something?

He has done some training classes, but still in his field

But if he were to attend college to get retrained in a new profession, unemployment will not support him. in general, I don’t think people should be able to collect unemployment while in college, but it an economy such as this, maybe it is time to rethink this.

He has been considering an all out career change/shift, but all that is really available at this time is work in the oil fields. Which he could and will do if needed. But he has worked in the electrical field his entire life, and it isn’t like electrical work ever will be obsolete. Let me say this: he would far far prefer to be working than collecting.

Perhaps they also should look over lifetime earnings and collections. Someone who has worked 35+ years, never collecting a dime, suddenly needs to collect for nearly 2 years should be looked at differently than someone who is collecting every couple years, even for shorter times.

(PS- i’ve heard mixed things on whether or not you can attend school and collect. Perhaps it varies by state? )

Re SS/taxes: Funny that it requires and illegal immigrant to do this. You could pay anyone cash under the table legal or not. If a business is going to dodge taxes, why would they care if the worker is illegal or not?

The right wage is whatever is agreed to between employer and employee (as long as it meets min. wage requirements).

I feel the problem with illegal labor is with 3 groups:

1. The employer that is knowingly breaking the law
2. The illegal immigrant that is knowingly breaking our laws by living and working here illegally.
3. The government that won’t enforce the law

Because I agree with you that illegals themselves aren’t the cause of unemployment. I will conclude that we are now way off topic.

Personally I enjoy the work and have saved thousands in gym fees and associated ‘health enhancing’ supplements by working hard and eating well. I appear to be slightly overweight but can outwork many consistent gym attendees as well as having a much better tan

Restaurants, lawn services, housing (including all categories mentioned before), cleaning crews. The list goes on. All of these are jobs that any other US citizen would be willing to take but illegal labor is cheaper. The government just looks the other way. Blame should be placed on companies that higher illegals and the government for not enforcing the laws that exist.

Using the argument that “these are jobs that no US citizen will take” is nonsense. You have to qualify that statement with “for the wage that an illegal alien will do it for”. There will always be a legal citizen willing to do a job for the right wage.

“Evil” employers? Lol. Here we go again with that mess. If you think companies and rich people are evil then go work for a poor person.

Joe,

I’m not sure you’d get very good help at 9/hour using a manual driver. For 80/hour you can get it all done in 1-2 days and spend the same amount of money while watching someone else do it for you with a bobcat post driver.

For example, I THINK unemployment benefits typically last 6 months (correct me if I’m wrong) under normal circumstances…however due to the extension, they now last up to about 2 years (99 weeks), right?

Let’s say a person currently employed today becomes unemployed tomorrow and also assume that there are no more unemployment extensions of benefits. Will that newly unemployed person only get 26 weeks of unemployment, or will he get 99 weeks of unemployment?

It will be about 4-8 days of solid work outside in the sun putting in fence. It will pay $9/hr cash and I, the property owner, will be working alongside you. We will be driving t-posts with a manual t-post driver and sweating and most likely bleeding some.

Looking forward to hearing from some of you.

Good day.

No time limit, and benefits for kids? That sounds like a recipe to encourage slackers and living off unemployement.

I know people that are unemployed, receiving unemployement checks and are happy with it. Granted these people are young 20 somethings living at home, with little to no bills but the lengthing unemployement only encourages them to not work. The flip side is people who legitimitly can not find work, have bills and a family and need to subsidize there small emergency fund with unemployement checks. Than there are people I know who made out very well with getting laid off, severence package and collecting unemployement and than finding a job right when there severene stops and doign rather well with building up some savings. Not saying this is right, but it sure is a nice way to benefit from losing a job.

It’s a tough decision on what is the right decision, to extend benefits or not. Seems they decided to extend benfits and put us in further debt, and I have little faith in Obama getting us out of this thing. Didn’t he promise to create jobs? I guess census worker was the only job he was able to increase.

Mid-career, mid-level, middle age professionals like us are a glut on the market. We both want to work, but there simply aren’t the jobs for our field.

My brother did retrain before he got laid off to be a teacher, but this year, finding a job in teaching is nearly impossible, so hope he will find something to tide him over until that market improves.

As for me, I keep looking and I have finally gotten some interviews the last few weeks.

But if I don’t find something by fall in my profession, I start retraining.

My experience with the overwhelming number of job seekers I have met is we want to work.

I for one can attest to this for they not only break our immigration laws, take our jobs, but also take badly needed social services that are desperately needed for our American citizens now.