The news no longer talks about the number of people who have lost everything or the number of long term unemployed. Once in a while I will hear about the number of people who have been unemployed for 6 months or longer but not with any details. Also don't hear much about the number of "discouraged workers" either. How can they afford to stay discouraged is a question that is on my mind. No one talks about net new jobs either, plus do they include the number of new entrants into the job market like recent graduates or kids reaching the age of 16 so they are allowed to work not to mention the immigrants that enter the country plus the immigrants that are here on a visa. Yep Anthem (now part of Wellpoint) an insurance company (medical, formerly known as Blue Cross and Blue Shield) has many immigrants over here working for them on a work visa. Do all of those jobs count?
What's the number of jobs available compared to the numbers of people who wish to work? How many are low paying and part time? How does the government decide how much discretionary income people have? If you drive 40 miles to work and you make $10 an hour and only work 2 or 3 hours before being sent home for a lack of work, how much discretionary income do you have out of that? Even if you are getting 30 miles to the gallon that's still almost 3 gallons of gas not to mention the wear and tear on your car. So that's 3 times what? (depends on where you live and what point in time you are looking at, as the price of gas changes all of the time). I would guess around $10 or so, so you made $30 in three hours and if you pay local tax for the privilege of working in that municipality plus the gas alone you could be left with as little as $29 or for 2 hours left with $19. Well isn't that worth while? If that happens too many days can you pay your rent, utilities and repair your car and let's just forget things like food and clothing and really anything medical.
I really would like people who say they have 2 or more part time jobs to tell me where those part time jobs are and how they make them fit together time wise. All the restaurant and retails jobs advertise that they want you to be flexible with them, that means that you need to be available for work any time or any day that they may decide from week to week. Plus I have heard stories about how many applicants per job even McDonalds gets. Even the seasonal jobs at Kings Island are getting like 100 applications for every seasonal job they have open. That means there will be 99 people not hired for each of those jobs.
I know there are people who are angry about who is getting food stamps and who is declared as disabled by the Social Security administration. When I question these people it seems that what's behind their thinking is that they think they have it just as bad as anyone else and sometimes it seems like ego because people just love to tell stories of how hard they worked and how they were always able to find a job or start up a business. But funny thing is my neighbor who is one of these also told me he needed help paying for work he needed done on his teeth. I don't get it, how do you brag about how much income you make from a business you started and then in the next breath complain about how you can't afford things?
Yep people are a dichotomy and not many question themselves, not many seek enlightenment and too many love to judge. For Christians I remind them of the verse that says: take the beam out of your own eye before you worry about the speck in your brother's eye. I also have found that many religions share many of the same principles.
Yes I am a bit of a rebel and don't accept what others say as the truth no matter who they are. Plus I also question and research things to death as much as I can.
Well that's my rambling soapbox for today. Well actually this has been my rambling soap box for several years now.
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