When America Became A Boardroom Rather Than A Product Of The People

Imagine whats its like to live in fear for 3 years….Imagine having the feeling you have no control over your future or your kids future.  Imagine watching the world around you crumble knowing you are only the first of many who will experience this fate.  Imagine the world around you being judgmental and hateful only for them to realize their turn is coming.  Imagine when the government used to work for the people at least 20% of the time and now it don’t work at all.  Imagine watching people make decisions that effect your today and your tomorrow without a care in the world for how it effects people.  Imagine knowing you will be homeless and there is nothing you can do about it.  Imagine what its like to look at your children and know tomorrow is the day you will have to say goodbye.  Imagine the worry and pain a family goes through when your child’s says I am hungry and there is nothing you can do..THE 99ers don’t have to imagine this they are and have lived it for 168 weeks and growing.  They have taken the insults, the pain and the condescending attitude of people in America.  They have played by the rules even during a time where desperation has set in..They have waited and watched the wait n see game that everyone has asked them to do for so long now.  The anger the frustration and the desire for the light at the end of the tunnel they so desperately want to see that never comes.  WE THE 99ers didn’t create this mess.  But we have paid for it in so many ways that no one could understand.  We have paid with our savings, our health, our security, our hope and our dreams.  We don’t deserve the treatment of ignorance that is a common acceptance in America.  We don’t deserve to be ignored.  One has to wonder if playing by the rules didn’t work for them will it work for no one.  The 99ers know all about sacrifice…and its painful to watch others start to realize that the sacrifice is on their doorstep.  Its a painful reminder everyday.  That the ones who feel entitled in America are not the poor, the unemployed, the elderly but rather those that have taken and taken and only want more in a society that was once UNITED.  The same ones who would ask those poor people to have their sons fight wars to protect their investments, the same ones who want the profit margin to grow every year no matter the cost of the community around them..Those same people who have stopped running all those commercials for how they care about community and people in need.  When America became a boardroom rather than a product of the people its no longer America.  Its now just a modern day noble crowd looking to rule with power.  America was built on caring, understanding, acceptance and above all FREEDOM.  When not all citizens are living in the freedom then that country no longer exists…The 99ers have watched the America that their ancestors who died protecting has all but slowly disappeared.  The 99ers should be a reminder of what is coming to your doorstep soon.  Feeling defeated wont save this country…ITS just too bad that it wont be saved for all.  Wow imagine how that will be recorded in history…America played favorites among its citizens where you one of the lucky ones it recognized?  Or were you one of the ones that they deemed as not important….Remember where we came from….AND LOOK where we ARE GOING…America is United no More.

It’s Time to come out of the Darkness

 

How MANY MORE DO THE 99ers have to SAVE before AMERICA decides TO ACT?

Here is a email I just sent to the producer for CNN that I know…..
  I am running out of ways to help these people. I get at least one message like this a week. Some weeks worse than others.

  Here is the latest one….

  I have nothing left. Nowhere to go, no money to get there and nobody will hire me to do anything. I have always been hopeful until now. You are a wonderful friend and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your confidence and help but I have run out of options and do not know what to do…I have failed at everything lately…”

  How exactly are we poor people supposed to keep each other afloat when we barely can keep ourselves afloat…The suicide rates have shown that men over 50 are killing themselves at record rates….I can’t exactly condone the ignoring of the media on this subject any further. Something has to be done. This struggle for them has gone on for too long and many of us just don’t have to resources to keep going. It seems this country has left people behind and not given a second thought about the life that is effected.

  THIS HAS TO BE ADDRESSED….IT NEEDS to come out of the darkness and into the light. I have lost 99ers and saved some as well. Not sure how many more years I can go on doing this for. The world continues while so many lives fall apart. The government states things are getting better…BUT FOR WHO? Certainly not people over 40 who had so much to lose to begin with. Certainly not for people with no income and forced to be beaten down by the “Thanks but No Thanks” from companies. THIS HAS TO BE ADDRESSED…..It CANT CONTINUE!!!

We are Stronger…

This is a rant from one of our 99ers.  Many of our 99ers feel the exact same way.

It hit me today. I’ve been unemployed for 3 months shy of four years. I have a college degree that has taught me a lot, but the last nearly four years deserve their own degree.

Here is a simple fact that hit me today. Unemployment is not something to be ashamed of, in fact it is something to be proud of in its own twisted way. We are a class of people who have been abandoned by the system that we were all taught would always be there for us. We have struggled. Some of us have had families and friends help us out, others managed to string together little money infusions, or are still living off our savings. Others fondly remember the days of savings, bank accounts, and looking at a five dollar coffee and knowing if we wanted it, it was ours.

Why do I say I am proud? Because despite all of the crap, the shunning of the professional world, and the golden moments of hope that show up only to be crushed by the next inane scandal, I have survived. I have developed as a person, and grown. I am happier with the person I am today then I was four years ago. I have grown more compassionate, more hopeful, and for some reason, a belief in the human ability to do good as started to thrive.

I’ve learned to listen, to think, and to be myself. I have learned to spot the ‘fakers’ out there, and I have learned to see real opportunity, and know the difference between an activity that will help me pay the next bill, and the activity that will shape my life to come.

Most importantly, I have learned that the only person I need to impress is myself. I live my life, only concerned that I like who I am. If someone does not like me for who I am, that is fine. Changing for them in the past has not worked because most people see what they don’t like about themselves, not you.

Most importantly, I’ve learned patience, and optimism. I think that is the last final hurtle us long term unemployed are faced with. Optimism. It is the hardest for us to visualize, because our life is a life of loss. What we could do, could afford, a month ago, a year ago, are now today, out of reach, and we know the things we can do today, a month from now will be untenable. However, once you push beyond this, once you see the day for what it is, then you only have to apply everything you learned before.

You have to face the beast in order to see it is just an illusion. It is not about hard work, if that were true, most of us would not be in this situation. It is about belief, and faith, in yourself. It is about deciding everything is going to be ok, and not accepting anything less.

It is about no longer compromising your prosperity to please the stares of people you’ll never know. It is about ignoring the ‘advice’ that we get shoveled at us daily.

It is about not knowing where we will be ten years from know, but knowing where we are now, and knowing the direction we are going now. That revelation is life altering, and once you accept it, the darkness fades, and the road is laid out before you. There will always be storms ahead, and there will be low points, but there is also sun out there, bright glorious light, and there are high points to enjoy the sun from.

The sun set for me four years ago, and it has been a long night, but dawn is coming. With this dawn comes a new day, new hope, and a pride in myself I have not known before.

I am proud of my ability to survive, and I am proud of the journey I have been on, and I have faith in myself that I will move forward to success and happiness. No one can take that from me, and I will achieve no matter what.

Leverage

    We are six years into a jobless recovery.  Not much has changed in the fight for jobs in America.  We still have Congressmen and Senators either fighting for cheap labor or union labor.  Both sides have failed the people of the United States of America.  The labor Unions failed their members.  As I look back to when we started organizing in 2010 the predictions we had that have now come true are quite chilling as well as disturbing.  When you have a jobs crisis the most logical group that we as 99ers thought would work with us was Unions.  As we discovered this apparently should never have been assumed.  We predicted Unions would be hit next and the Unions laughed at us and basically told us to “Shoe Fly Don’t Bother Me”.  What the union leadership failed to realize is the big picture that was happening.  They were creating a whole pool of educated, skill employees who could in fact walk across the picket lines to do the jobs of the many strikers.  Unions call them “scabs” I call them desperate Americans who just want to keep a roof over their heads.  Why didn’t the union members notice that in 2010 when unions started getting attacked the standard reply to these companies was to threaten “strike”.  Your Union took more concessions through the last several years; more furlough days, higher medial contributions, raise freezes.  All the while besides a few side unions that went on strike the big Unions never went on strike.  Did you ever stop to think WHY?  While you all ignored the jobless the world was creating leverage against you.  You basically were squeezed so hard there was no room for bargaining.  There was a huge pool of educated, skilled people willing and desperate enough to step in to do the job.  The 99ers was leverage and the unions ignored the one weapon that was used against them rather than create some Unity with them. 

 

    Well we can’t go backwards now.  More people have lost their jobs; Union numbers are down because they exhausted their UI benefits and in turn can’t afford to pay union dues so they are now part of the 99er crowd.  The only jobs being discussed are jobs for HB1 and HB2 visa participants.  American jobs not on the agenda.  Now sure every once in a while you will see 1 politician mention in passing a jobs bill.  These bills would give Union members their jobs back or encourages low wages to benefit companies.  Apparently they really do believe their own lies.  What bothers me the most is how union members don’t see even if you get your job back?  You are still ignoring the LEVERAGE that exists in the millions out there.  I don’t enjoy being leverage but if I am going to be ignored Maybe that’s exactly what I need to start using is the leverage we wield as a group.  Maybe it’s time we start being selfish after all everywhere we look that’s all we see.  Unions wanting to save themselves, politicians wanting to save themselves, political organizations wanting to win their elections, corporations wanting to improve their profits, it certainly seems like the 99ers are not selfish enough.  Solidarity will never happen, less corruption is not going to happen and Unity is definitely not on the rise.  It looks like the next election has already been placed in the priority boxes and again the unemployed need to just wait.  

 Stop waiting for something to happen…

 Join with us and we’ll Make It Happen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCmoTyzUMWs

Another Record…HB-1 Visa’s hit annual cap in 5 days.

The requests for H1-B visas hit the annual cap of 65k in 5 days.  there’s so much volume/so many requests anticipated that they setup a lottery system.
 
“High demand for skilled immigrant workers led to one of the briefest H-1B visa petition periods in recent years, with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announcing that the number of petitions it received met or exceeded the annual statutory cap in just five days. The agency anticipated this before it began accepting petitions for fiscal year 2014, and it announced changes to its “premium processing” system to account for the expected high volume of petitions. In order to process the high volume of petitions subject to the annual cap, USCIS is using a lottery system to select petitions for approval. USCIS will continue, during this time, to accept petitions for current H-1B visa holders seeking to extend or modify their visas.”
 
http://www.newjerseyimmigrationlawyer-blog.com/2013/04/h-1b-visa-cap-for-fiscal-year-2014-reached-in-just-five-days-uscis-to-hold-lottery.html

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Watch Brutal Job Search Reality for Older Americans Out of Work on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

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Watch Brutal Job Search Reality for Older Americans Out of Work on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

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Watch Brutal Job Search Reality for Older Americans Out of Work on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

The 99ers have been screaming this for 4 years.  When are people going to start listening.  Its time you take the 5 minutes are learn that the unemployed in America are not Drug Addicts they are people who WANT TO WORK.

When will we address the jobs crisis?

Many of you are aware of the plight of the 99ers.  Many of you stay in denial about them and many more choose to call them drug addicts and lazy.  I will post a series done by PBS that is reminiscent of the 99ers stories of 2010.  Not much has changed just the numbers of people experiencing this plight of long term unemployment.  Many have gone  1825 days without a job and 1185 days without a UI check…..These people are being thown out of the economy and left on the streets…or at the will of family and friends.  When is America going to address the crisis?

 

 

The Pros and Cons of Being a Jobless Single Dad for 711 Days           

By: Paul Solman

More than 4 million Americans remain out of work for more than six months now. And for those 55 and older, it takes at least a year on average to find work, longer than any other age group. Fifty-five-year-old software developer Geoffrey Weglarz, who has been unemployed for two years, explains why being a jobless single dad can be a blessing, but a costly one.

There is no doubt: the economy is “recovering.” You see it in the GDP numbers, where growth has reached its long-term trendline: 2.5 percent. You see it in the housing market, characterized as “surging,” with prices up in every major city – on average, 9 percent higher than a year ago. You see it in the stock market, as high as its ever been.

With the release Friday of the job numbers for April, you see it in the unemployment numbers. For a change, both monthly surveys — of employers and of households — agree: the economy added at least 165,000 jobs last month and 114,000 more jobs than had previously been reported for February and March.

But then how is it, you may ask, that the official unemployment rate, known as “U-3″ in government parlance, barely budged and remains at 7.5 percent?

How is it that our own far more inclusive measure of unemployment and underemployment, the “U-7,” is down a tick but still weighs in at a whopping 16 percent?

U-7 includes everyone in the government’s U-3: everyone who said they wanted a job and had looked for one in the past 4 weeks. It also adds everyone who said they wanted one, hadn’t looked in the past 4 weeks, but had in the past year. (These people are included in the government’s most inclusive statistic, U-6). But we also add people who hadn’t looked in the past year but still said they wanted a job and would take one. Finally, we add people working part-time, but say they are looking for full-time work, like “consultants” I know, who may have worked only one hour in the week the government survey taker came calling, but are still tallied as officially “employed.”

Here is my Solman Scale breakdown of the numbers for April:

How can it be that, were we to compare today’s number to unemployment as reckoned in the past (by adding working age Americans who would probably be unemployed, but are instead drawing disability — more than 8 million, or in prison — more than 2 million) we would still be near historic post-World War II highs? (See our NewsHour report on the undercounting of unemployment).

How can it be that, that in a “recovery,” and by the narrowest (U-3) definition, 9 percent of Latinos, 13.2 percent of Afro-Americans, and 24 percent of teenagers are unemployed, meaning they looked for work in the past week but didn’t find even one hour’s worth?

How can it be, finally, that 4.4 million Americans continue to be out of work for 27 weeks or more and for those 55 or older, it takes a year, on average, to find a job?

That’s the topic of our segment on PBS NewsHour on the Friday evening broadcast as we introduce viewers to a range of capable, earnest and articulate older workers who simply haven’t been able to find a job. One of them, 55-year-old software developer Geoffrey Weglarz, who has now taught himself video production, has an especially poignant story to tell.

We met Weglarz at “The WorkPlace,” a cutting-edge job training center in Bridgeport, Conn. Weglarz told us he’d been unemployed for 711 days. How did he know the exact number? Turns out he keeps a spreadsheet tracking the 481 jobs he’s applied for in the last two years. In the top corner is a tally of the days since he lost his job in April 2011.

Weglarz spoke heartrendingly of the financial and emotional challenges of long-term unemployment, as you can see in the excerpt from our interview at the top of this post.

(We contacted Weglarz on Thursday to follow up and see if he had since gained employment. His response: “Still no job, but getting a little freelance video production work.”)

Tune in to PBS NewsHour on Friday for the full story on older workers searching for jobs. Watch a live stream of the broadcast at 6 p.m. ET on our Ustream channel or check your TV listings for your local PBS station’s schedule.

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