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The government pacifies the unemployed with Unemployment Extensions and COBRA subsidies, that are paid by the taxpayers who are still working at the moment, while the corporations that offshore American jobs and bring in too many unnecessary foreign workers get off totally and completely scot free with their fat profits intact!
How long are we going to let this go?
The government also pacifies us with "the recession is ending because we are losing less jobs than expected." Woo hoo! So what? That's still half a million jobs lost in a month and no jobs replacing them! Really, are we this dense? Our economy runs on consumer spending. When the average consumer HAS NO JOB what is going to happen? If we don't care who will? Certainly not the big corporations who built their business and fortunes using the INFRASTRUCTURE created by our tax dollars and getting the CORPORATE WELFARE TAX BREAKS made possible by our tax dollars. Certainly not the politicians who are allowed to take money from corporations, PACs, etc., and who naturally advance the causes of those with deep pockets, not the causes of everyone else in America.
When offshore outsourcing and abuse of L/H visas became apparent a few years ago, the corporate-owned media tried to hush it up with outright lies, such as:
"Only the low level jobs will go offshore and these jobs will then create better and higher paying jobs for Americans." Ya, right. First of all, when asked, "What are these better and higher paying jobs that are only for Americans" the answer was "We don't know." It looks to me like existing "better and higher paying jobs" are increasingly being offshored, so what would stop new ones being offshored as well?
"Just like we switched from a farming economy to an industrial economy, we are now switching to an information economy, so it will take time for the new better jobs to be in place." So when they are asked, "How long will this transition take?" they answer "We don't know!" The transition from farming to industrial took at least 50 years. Are we supposed to wait 50 years for a job? Also, the good paying information technology jobs are being offshored and visa'd in just as swiftly as the offshoring of entry-level jobs like call center representatives or computer-related jobs like medical transcription.
We are being eaten alive here! What do you think will wake up Americans or will we never wake up or will we wake up too late? You may choose more than one option in this poll!
Last edited by I_Love_LI_but; 10-09-2009 at 04:21 PM..
I'm been trying to start a thread like this, but just couldn't find the words. You put it so well!
I hate to be negative and pessimistic, but I really do very much fear for our country and our society's future! We seem to shooting ourselves in the foot as a country and creating an ever more vicious circle of a greater and greater group of long-term unemployed who are going to soon be (or at least seem to be) quite "unemployable".
Another post in this forum involved a recruiter basically saying, "if you're over 40 and you can't get a job within your current career, you're screwed!". Well, that's going to be a BIG problem! I noted in the other forum, what are we as a society going to do about this, lower the Social Security age 25 years? The UI extensions indirectly do this, and I'm scared of the day when people en masse lose their "safety net", but at the same time, I can't see the gov't being able to afford to do this for years and years.
Not only don't I have the answer, but the extreme polarization of America that has come from all this is making it more likely that we won't really look for one until our back is really against the wall. Sad and scary.....
I'm been trying to start a thread like this, but just couldn't find the words. You put it so well!
I hate to be negative and pessimistic, but I really do very much fear for our country and our society's future! We seem to shooting ourselves in the foot as a country and creating an ever more vicious circle of a greater and greater group of long-term unemployed who are going to soon be (or at least seem to be) quite "unemployable".
Another post in this forum involved a recruiter basically saying, "if you're over 40 and you can't get a job within your current career, you're screwed!". Well, that's going to be a BIG problem! I noted in the other forum, what are we as a society going to do about this, lower the Social Security age 25 years? The UI extensions indirectly do this, and I'm scared of the day when people en masse lose their "safety net", but at the same time, I can't see the gov't being able to afford to do this for years and years.
Not only don't I have the answer, but the extreme polarization of America that has come from all this is making it more likely that we won't really look for one until our back is really against the wall. Sad and scary.....
If we start pushing the politicians, we can FORCE them to make big corporations who offshore jobs and who bring in visa labor chip in towards the social safety net.
PS: As for what I bolded, take that with a grain of salt, because I believe this person is not a recruiter, but pretends to be, and has been kicked off C-D several times already but keeps coming back under new names.
We should be marching on Washington, DC with torches and pitchforks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by 7 Wishes
I'm been trying to start a thread like this, but just couldn't find the words. You put it so well!
I hate to be negative and pessimistic, but I really do very much fear for our country and our society's future! We seem to shooting ourselves in the foot as a country and creating an ever more vicious circle of a greater and greater group of long-term unemployed who are going to soon be (or at least seem to be) quite "unemployable".
Another post in this forum involved a recruiter basically saying, "if you're over 40 and you can't get a job within your current career, you're screwed!". Well, that's going to be a BIG problem! I noted in the other forum, what are we as a society going to do about this, lower the Social Security age 25 years? The UI extensions indirectly do this, and I'm scared of the day when people en masse lose their "safety net", but at the same time, I can't see the gov't being able to afford to do this for years and years.
Not only don't I have the answer, but the extreme polarization of America that has come from all this is making it more likely that we won't really look for one until our back is really against the wall. Sad and scary.....
Thank you for your thoughtful post!
Judging by the lack of responses to this post, it appears even the always opinionated C-D posters have their heads in the sand too.
It's a crying shame. At least I definitely can escape to another country that is a social democracy and actually protects its citizens against being ruined by the greedy corporations. When the time comes, can any of you?
Here is the scorecard:
10% of the US own 80% of the wealth in this country.
The other 90% of us have to make do with their scraps (20%).
And as the wealth owned by the 10% elite grows exponentially to our shrinking employment rates, we will be scrapping against each other for even less.
It's a crying shame that a country that fought so hard for its independence is so apathetic when big corporations are taking away citizens' livelihoods every single day.
It will happen to most of you too if we let them get away with it.
Remember, Hitler didn't start with the Jews by any means, and he certainly didn't end with them:
Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was an ardent nationalist and prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last 7 years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
Niemöller is perhaps best remembered for the quotation:
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.
To I_Love_LI_but: believe me, my head is not in the sand. I am so frustrated after this week that I could not write a cohesive response. This week has been one step forward and two steps backwards. Believe me, your post has been in the back of my mind since I read it. Hopefully tomorrow I can share some thoughts. If I wrote right now, it would be a rambling vent of frustration. Thanks!
This is the media/politician lie that gets under my skin the most!!
A nation with 300 million people and over 3 million square miles CANNOT depend solely upon an "information economy" (whatever that is)!
And when I watch the news and hear about how our economy will live or die based upon how many "Made in China" 32" HDTV's folks purchase at Best Buy or how many "Made in Mexico" light fixtures sell at Home Depot, I get sick to my stomach...
An economy that depends WAAAYYY too much upon shopping (i.e retail industry), waging war in the Third World (i.e. defense industry) and getting sick (i.e. healthcare industry) is a house-of-cards waiting to topple!!!
Most people are sheep and only wake up to 'social issues' when they get personally affected.
As long as it's not in 'my backyard' (the OP is fro Long Island, so you understand this), or as long as "I" and my "job" are okay and I can still live my life 'undisturbed' who cares about 'vague' issues like outsourcing...?
Yeah, "we're gonna know stuff so we don't have to make stuff anymore."
The problem is the "information" jobs are some of the ones most shipped offshore and most visas are brought in for that purpose.
And if someone tells me one more time, "Well India is bringing jobs to the US because they are opening offices here," I got news for them. Mostly they bring SALES offices and that is where they hire Americans to go out and get more business because they think the businesses will be more comfortable with a well-spoken American. So, for the few sales jobs they bring to the USA, they end up getting thousands of other jobs shipped out to India when their American sales rep makes sales. They also will hire as few Americans as they can for other jobs in their US offices, instead choosing to bring people from their Indian offices in on L visas. Unlike H-1B, there is no limit on L visas and they get them fast. All a foreign company has to do is say, "We need some of our employees from our home office to come and work in our American office" and they can get L visas almost instantly. I have seen it happen in under 2 weeks from L visa application to Indian employee arriving in the US. It is not restricted as to "how important and high level" a job is either. They will get L visas for secretaries and file clerks.
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We should be marching on Washington, DC with torches and pitchforks!
