October 24, 2010 5:00 PM
Even after an extension of unemployment benefits to 99 weeks, many of those about to go off the program are in a quandary. Scott Pelley talks to some of them in Silicon Valley.
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See all 118 Commentshttp://www.danielodio.com/2012/04/01/how-to-get-a-job-if-youre-unemployed/
Hope it's helpful.
DROdio
All kinds of blame to go around - governments spending wildly... huge public debt.. but let's come back to personal responsibility.
I applaud the many who, with his son, started his own business. I would have avoided a franchise but that may just be me. Many of the people in the story were personnel managers; mid-level technology managers; finance mamagers, and the like. Not too many software engineers, designers, or folks where 'the rubber meets the road'. Still.. these people have skills.. and other companies - small and large - need help. Our company is a small one.. our debt has increased over the last years to a point that is worrisome.. but we're still an active business, deliving to companies large and small a service they need... it turns out it's software consulting, but that is, after all, what big companies buy - brain power.
A smart friend of mine tol sme years ago "Everythign you know, someone else needs to know; and they're willign to pay you for your knowledge". That is still true.
The is Silicon Valley, folks. Start a company. Decide what skill you have that other people need.. or other companies.. and start selling your skills. Do you know how many small companies like ours could use help with personnel matters? How about management help, part time? You find yourself a dozen companies that need 4 hours a week; deliver a great service for say $50 an hour, and all of a sudden you're bringing in $3600 week. Look on oDesk.com (with which I'm affiliated only as a customer) - they have hundreds of jobs listed.. maybe thousands.. and they provide health insurance from your first job. Maybe not the $175K a year you've been lucky to have had; but I think alot of folks are making $50-$100K annually.. contract by contract.
Go out and do it... come on Silicon Valley - read 'Bill and Dave' and 'The future arrived yesterday', both by Mike Malone. The start your own, and get working again.
Let me explain, since the age of 17 when my folks lost their business the option for me to continue onto a 4 to 8 year college to study science was effectively deferred and I had no way of knowing then that a college prep high school graduate could earn an average to above average income when a local real estate broker encouraged and mentored me into the business seeing that I had 'the right personality' for the business of sales. As a result, my plans changed from pursuing my original career path and the necessary formal education in the face of my successes. From 1984 to 2008 I worked in and around real estate learning from my mentor and doing relatively well through the S & L Crisis up to the closure of the mortgage banker/broker in 2008 that I was an independent contractor with.
Since my savings due to a prior failed business partnership were limited to 2 year's of modest savings that only allowing for below average income cost of living requirements and my husband has a small Veteran's pension with service connection within the year of my layoff (and burning up a printer in the process of printing out reams of resumes, huge waste of gas to persistently approach potential employers who are not hiring due to their own troubles as we all know) we found via Internet a better city and state outside of California where the local costs of living and opportunities will be more realistic for us. We moved to Nevada where we are 'central West' and the costs to do business is much less and we have excellent mobility for our business venture by Internet, Local Airport, Train, Car, Mail not to mention tons of very nice places to meet with clients or associates looking to join our business.
Simultaneously, on another front, each of us has to contact our elected US Congressional Representatives and Senators and demand that they quickly pass laws to tax the hell out of imports--all imports--to make them cost prohibitive, not just competitive. Other countries will threaten to respond in kind--to tax American exports in a similar fashion--but they will ultimately fail because, as I pointed out earlier, we have a distinct advantage in that we are one of the few countries that can truly be self-sufficient. Boycotts can work in other ways to. For instance, if you normally deal with a company whose employees drive foreign cars--especially if the company president, vice presidents, or management personnel are driving Mercedes Benz, BMW, or other makes that you know are not made in the United States--do not hesitate to let them know you will take your business elsewhere until such time as they buy American. Once their business begins to decline, they will get the message and acquiesce.
I mentioned earlier that this plan will require sacrifice. To this end, each of us must resist the temptation to buy anything NOT MADE AND SERVICED IN AMERICA. We must not give in to the temptation to buy foreign goods, even though most of them can be purchased cheaper than similar American-made products--NO EXCEPTIONS! Only after the companies that outsourced American jobs feel the pain they have caused Americans, will these companies bring American jobs back to the United States. This will take some time, some sacrifice, and perseverance, but American jobs will eventually come back home.
If we all work together, we can quickly pull ourselves out of this DEPRESSION--quickly, as in much more quickly than BEGGING the government to throw more money at it; quickly, as in much more quickly than SIMPLY HOPING to find another job when so many of our searches have been fruitless for 2+ years, etc. It is unlikely that any of us will be able to get back the lives we were living just 2 short years ago--we have lost so much that we can never recover (e.g., quality time with our children, missed opportunities that we might otherwise have had, diverted educational plans for our children, the loss of untold investments and savings, etc) and so much else has changed--but we can rise to prosperity once again! However, it will take dedication and a steadfast, concerted effort from each of us!
Sugar-coating the situation by calling it a "recession", did not, and does not, help the situation any. In fact, sugar-coating it caused immeasurable damage because it gave Americans the false impression that this economic slump would be short-lived--the US experienced several recessions in years past, but experience taught us recessions are typically mild, and they are over in a matter of months. Had Americans been told the truth up front that we were in a DEPRESSION, many more Americans would have made wiser financial decisions aimed at their long-term survival. For example, many Americans falsely believed they would be reemployed within a few months so they burned through their savings, 401Ks, etc, just to make inflated mortgage payments. If they been told up front we were in a DEPRESSION--meaning recovery would be YEARS AWAY (and not just a few months away)--they would have stopped making mortgage payments immediately upon losing their jobs, waited for foreclosure, then moved in with other family members or rented a cheap place to live or bought a mobile home to live in or made some other more financially sound arrangement for their family's future?any decision would have been better than to burn through their life's savings only to be kicked to the curb with nothing in under two years!!!! (Many of the 99ers fell into this trap--they told 60 Minutes they expected to be reemployed in short order so they kept spending, dipped into savings and cashed out their 401Ks in good faith to make their mortgage payments, etc, only to realize too late that they were headed toward a life of poverty on the street.) The bankers who engaged in shoddy, unscrupulous business practices and were subsequently and, in my opinion, wrongly bailed out by American taxpayers, ended up being the true beneficiaries of the "recession lie"--these bankers bled so many Americans, particularly homeowners, of their life's savings, then, when there was nothing more to get, foreclosed on them anyway. [[[For those who do not know, and as a matter of record, it was George W. Bush who bailed out the banks, NOT Barack Obama--if you comment back, please do your research so you will know the truth and PLEASE DO NOT comment on this single point of fact.]]]
To get America out of this DEPRESSION, Americans need to realize a couple of things and need to initiate positive, corrective action. First, realize that the United States is one of the very few countries in the world that has the natural resources necessary to be truly self-sufficient! In other words, we have all of the necessary resources within our borders to build everything we need and to feed ourselves. Most other countries, even other world economic powers, MUST import many raw materials and manufactured goods just to survive. Realize also that the United States possesses many of the raw materials and manufactures many of the goods needed by other countries so, while our exports will suffer to some degree, rest assured our exports will continue to be in demand--in other words, we will not be an isolationist country because other countries need what we have so trade will continue and our economy will grow. The need for American products will also restore the value of the US Dollar (USD)--currently, the USD is worth less than it has ever been when compared to other world currencies and this is not good for America. Last, but certainly not least, our government has thrown trillions of dollars at this DEPRESSION on many fronts and have driven us, the United States, trillions of dollars in debt with absolutely nothing to show for it--as a matter of fact, this DEPRESSION continues to worsen. Our only hope is to follow the recipe below.
First, the problem is that we are in a DEPRESSION--terribly high unemployment for a prolonged period of time is the telling factor here. Poor fiscal policy and extremely bad judgment got us here and each of us must shoulder the blame because we (collectively) made it happen, either actively by voting for bad decision-makers or passively by not voting at all. Many people are quick to point to our "Government" as the problem--some to the Democrats and others to the Republicans--but since we are a Government "?of the people, by the people, and for the people", that finger rightfully points directly back at each of us.
An understanding of very basic economics is needed before we can intelligently discuss the cause of this DEPRESSION and, more importantly, the way out of this DEPRESSION. In a well-functioning economy, people have jobs; people pay taxes; people spend money to buy all manner of goods/services, thereby funding companies to create more goods/services and to keep their employees (these same people) working--this is a never ending circle. Said another way, in a well-functioning American economy, Americans have jobs; Americans pay taxes; Americans spend money to buy all manner of goods/services, thereby funding American companies to create more goods/services and to keep their American employees working--this is a never ending circle.
At some point, Company A realized they could get labor cheaper in foreign countries, thereby increasing their profit margins--this came to be known as outsourcing. American jobs were moved overseas and given to foreigners who work for far less money. Except for the relatively few Americans that lost their jobs when Company A outsourced, nobody noticed. However, Company A soon realized they could now sell their product much cheaper in the United States and "steal" customers away from Companies B, C, and D--so they tried it and, sure enough, more Americans started buying from Company A. Companies B, C, and D said, "***!" To be competitive, Companies B, C, and D outsourced as well--more Americans lost their jobs. Consequently, unemployment rose and America's tax base shrunk--the taxes that pay for many things in the United States, not the least of which is jobs, were drastically reduced. With less tax being collected, budget cuts were instituted and some police, firefighters, school teachers, and other public servants were laid off, causing unemployment to rise further. Americans' income, that once paid salaries that, in turn, were used to generate taxes and buy goods and services that, in turn, were pumped back into American companies and ultimately America's economy, is now going to other countries--to be clear, THAT MONEY IS NOT COMING BACK TO THE UNITED STATES; rather, it is supporting other countries.
As this trend continued (and still continues today), America has all but stopped producing anything--thus there are no jobs in America anymore. Without jobs, Americans cannot pay bills, cannot pay taxes, and cannot buy goods/services. The companies that outsourced benefited greatly, right up until Americans were forced to stop buying goods/services because they lost their jobs and, consequently, have no money to spend. As a direct result of more and more unemployed Americans, even companies that did not outsource, that stayed in the United States and employed Americans, started losing sales and were forced to lay off more and more American workers--companies cannot stay in business if no one is buying their goods/services!
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