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09/13/2010 2:02:00 AM
Back in the early 80s, as a prep school student, I applied for jobs at several McDonald's. Like many kids my age, the idea of working there seemed cool. Not a one McD's would hire me. Though I had no clue of my "status" and tracking, the managers there were quite aware. This same thing applies to the laid off IBM middle-manager applies for a job at Safeway. The hiring manager assumes 1) this person won't fit in and 2) they'll leave as soon as a better job opens up. Furthermore, if you mortgage payment, etc., is in line with your previous job, it may not be a responsible gamble to work at Target. If two months at Target, with the burn rate continuing increases the time it takes to get a "real" job, the person and family may be in a worse position than if the worker devotes full time to getting a more appropriate job.
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WenG 08/30/2010 9:30:00 AM
Oh Brother. Mr. Dark posted up some inferior bait, and is to eager to troll, he posted it twice.
I think anyone out of work for over a year is painfully aware that the 1:5 ratio is true. Lots of businesses continue to post job openings even when they're not hiring. I'm sure Ms. Bell remembers the flurry of Starbuck's ads that went up after they gutted their Sodo HQ a few years ago.
Americans, for the most part, suffer in silence. The only time we've seen direct action is during times of false prosperity aka the Clinton Years and N30. What does it say about our leadership when Obama truly has become a punching bag for Dan Quayle's kid? (Worst. President. Ever.) He's listening to Clinton cronies, failures of the first and second order. Robert Rubin brought down B of A. Fat Fingers Summers? Just Harvard. Geithner is an errand boy. We have nothing to lose when all Mr. Change can summer is petulant irritation at the fact he's criticized not by Teabaggers, but by his base. If you disagree with him, you're worthy of drug testing. Wait for it! What a brilliant idea. Why, a senator thought it up, because people on TANF and unemployment are kicking back watching cable with a bong.
FTR, I will surmise that Ms. Bell isn't paying a Comcast bill. Her housemate is. Really, that's pretty basic. If you're in pain, you pay your premium and bit torrent cable from your working neighbor's FIOS connection.
2nd recession? Don't worry about it. Timmy Geithner says "welcome" to the recovery. It's a mind fuck, like all the other mind fucks. They hate us for our freedoms. Fight them there instead of here. Tax cuts for the rich equal job creation. Post your favorite.
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Fearful 08/28/2010 8:09:00 PM
Where is the upswell of anger? It's got to be coming - you just can't crap on people like this forever and not expect them to fight back. The republicans have hornswaggled folks into believing that the priority should be deficit reduction when in fact we should be pouring money - yes 'govmint' money - into job creation activities. The republicans would keep us fearful and divided just to get themselves re-elected. We need to focus on jobs and get our representatives focused on jobs, and stop the fighting and political shenanigans.
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tenrec 08/28/2010 8:35:00 AM
We are in the second great depression.
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Gettin' By 08/28/2010 4:43:00 AM
Thanks, Blue Light, I noticed that, too. People, when you are running out of money, turn of the damn cable! I haven't had cable since 1999, and I don't find I'm missing anything.
OTOH, Blue Light, health care and/or insurance costs waaayyyy more than premium cable a month. So--cutting the cable frees up a nice hunk of cash each month--say, enough for your electricity (especially with the TV off)--but not enough for health care in the USA.
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sgt_doom 08/27/2010 11:15:00 PM
It would great if the reporter, Ms. Onstot, could follow up and report on how our two senators, Cantwell & Murray, were strong supporters of the offshoring of American jobs, which has greatly whittled down the jobs base.
Likewise, it would be wonderfuly if she could look into the great number of former Patty Murray staffers who went directly from Sen. Murray's staff to highly-paid and lucrative jobs in the American jobs offshoring industry.
Yes, and expansion of this article enlightening these relatively ignorant people as to why they can't find any employment might be advised.
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Bill Jones 08/27/2010 3:46:00 AM
Mr. Dark You are without a doubt living in the DARK AGES as your name indicates. There are so many companies letting employees go so they can hire others at a much lower wage and double their profits. The owners are living (high on the hog) at others expense, and now with a clueless president in the white house things will only get worse. I do hope someday you will become pennyless and see the pain others endure.
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sgt_doom 08/27/2010 1:11:00 AM
A major problem with this article is the repitition of that simpleton phrase, "There are 5 applicants for every job."
Obviously, when one factors in all those jobs being offshored, all those foreign workers being brought in under a multitude of worker visa programs, those illegals from all over the world in every major city, and those poor souls smuggled in by those Human Trafficking Networks, the real number is closer to 10,000 applicants for every 1 job.
Back in the early '00s, when Brier Dudley of the Seattle Times Biz section actually wrote a socially pertinent article, he informed us how the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with its allied organization, the Trade Alliance, was giving seminars to local corporations on the easiest and most efficient manner in which to offshore their jobs.
Now, those seminars were financed by tax payer funds through the Department of Commerce at that time (the Bush administration), but that sort of thing has been going on for years.
Why any Ameritard doesn't fully grasp that there is no longer any American economy (or American media), since it has been offshored and today the only thing is the Fantasy Finance Sector and war spending.
This nation is over.
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Blue Light 08/26/2010 10:45:00 PM
"On her television, John Cusack is trying to save his family from a Mayan-predicted apocalypse in the movie 2012."
And since, 2012 isn't playing on network TV we can assume the poor soul still can afford HBO, Showtime or movie rentals. Just not health care.
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DBSea 08/26/2010 8:02:00 PM
I don't see knocking off banks and casinos as the answer, nor a hail of bullets at Westlake. Unless of course you're just being silly.
What we need are more JOBS and if anyone needs to look down the end of torches and pitchforks it's our elected reps. in DC. We need jobs in America. Not American firms making everything in China and Mexico etc. etc. We need the jobs here and it'll never happen unless it's legislated. Which, of course, is anti-market and all that. But without the jobs we're sinking.
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Steve Paul 08/26/2010 7:50:00 PM
My name is Steve Paul, I'm the Career Coach Ms Onstot quotes in her article. When I read Mr Dark's comments, my hope is that his goal is to be satirical, but as the comments following his demonstrate, finding a sense of humor when you've been looking for most of 2 years is pretty difficult.
As the comments by Representative McDermott point out, we've also gotten to the point where we have so completely politicized legislation that it's easy to find commentators saying equally outrageous things who aren't being satirical.
At the risk of being seen as political, I think we should start by asking every candidate, "Would you vote for or against the extension of unemployment?"
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Jenny 08/26/2010 9:40:00 AM
This is a good snapshot of the situation in this city right now. I lost my job during the recession of 2001 and it took me 12 months to find something. I applied to everything I could, dumbed down my resume for things beneath my skill level and still, nothing. As sympathetic as the author seems to be, they used the phrase, "On the dole." This is usually associated with drug users in Great Britain and shouldn't be applied to people who really want to work. A suggestion might be "accepting assistance."
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Hollie 08/26/2010 6:14:00 AM
What's lazy about Mr. Dark is his inability to open a newspaper or book, to have the guts to be willing to understand a problem and articulate an intelligent response that's based in reality. You shouldn't have kids unless you can take care of them? What empty rhetoric. As if anyone with a good job will never have anything bad happen to them, will never experience a life change that could lead to being unemployed.
Equating unemployment with laziness is false anyway - we all know people who have a job but are lazy as hell, and we all know people who don't work for money but who volunteer their time for the benefit of others. Whether or not you're getting a paycheck has little connection to laziness. I feel sorry for someone who has such a narrow view of the world, as Mr. Dark does, but I'm glad that we have the public forum to disagree.
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Evan T 08/26/2010 5:05:00 AM
I watch and wait with a certain amount of excitement and anticipation to see what happens next in this economy. In the 30s, Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger, Machine Gun Kelly and Pretty Boy Floyd arose from unemployment and poverty to try and make something of themselves. Thanks to the expanding scope of our 2nd amendment rights, virtually every "99er" in Seattle should have access to an assortment of firearms. Will they have the "balls" to get out there and start hitting the banks, liquor stores, and casinos or will they stay home and cry about their expiring food stamp benefits? Will my kids and grandkids be reading novels about the criminal exploits of these folks, and how they were cut down in a hail of bullets in Westlake Mall? Or will we just have more boring statistics about people filing bankruptcy and going on relief?
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bella 08/26/2010 4:59:00 AM
I've been turned down by Target, Safeway, and Home Depot (along with many others) because I was "too skilled", "too educated", and "too technical". So don't even TRY playing THAT card.
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Lisa 08/26/2010 3:28:00 AM
Um, really? So all 59,000 people about to run out of benefits are lazy? Seriously? Are you high or just stupid?
I actually know several people who are going to or have already run out of benefits, and they're not lazy by any stretch. Nor are they stupid; at least one is one of the smartest people I know. In some ways, that works against her...corporations won't hire a person with a high level of education and work experience for a low-level menial job if they can get someone who matches the job level better, because they know when conditions improve, they will have to replace the high-level person anyway. But they don't want super-low level people with no experience either, because they often need more training and may not have developed their work knowledge/ethic yet, so teenagers and recent grads are hosed too. I know, I was in Human Resources for years. Also, people who are older with more experience and education tend to be used to making a certain salary, and it's not easy to drop from $20/hour to minimum wage, though of course it can be (and frequently is) done.
And yes, there are jobs available, but when there's one job opening and 500 applicants for the job, that still leaves 499 people not getting the job. Are they all stupid and lazy too? Pretty sure not. One job here recently in my town closed after *4 hours* posted on the internet, because they already had 700+ applications. In four hours.
As for your self-righteous crack about reproducing... I'm a big believer in zero population growth, but your only concern seems to be whether or not they can afford children. What does a family do when they have a couple kids already and the wage earner loses a job and can't find a new one? Or the head of household becomes sick or injured? "Are there no prisons? No workhouses?" Didja miss the whole point of A Christmas Carol, or are you one of the humbugs who thinks it isn't about him?
Get off your sanctimonious high-horse, get your butt off your computer, dump the cynicism and walk out and take an actual look around at your fellow humans. They're not the evil lazy leeches you seem to think they are. Count your blessings, because believe it or not, no matter who you are, someday you could be on the other side of the fence.
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Mr Dark 08/26/2010 3:15:00 AM
I see plenty of job openings going unfilled. Target, Safeway, Home Depot---- are all hiring. Most of these people are lazy. And for the love of god..... please stop breeding if you do not have the ability to care for your offspring. The world is populated enough, your not doing anyone any favors by perpetuating your genes. Sorry, no sympathy here. I see plenty of jobs available for everyone.
