The job 'Have-Nots' - a brilliant examination of the GOP's cruel mindset-Drug Testing

[Bigblue1]

"I've been unemployed forever and I just got married, you gotta problem with that, you wanna take me on?"

[danielan]

"I've been unemployed forever and I just got married, you gotta problem with that, you wanna take me on?"

Well... I guess I lost this round.

When BB1 starts channeling the ghost of sage all debate is over.

[GoVegan]

There was a news article on Yahoo about this website that offers to trains citizens to be farm workers.

http://www.takeourjobs.org/

I was tempted to fill it out just to see what happens but I didn't.

[danielan]

Also, slightly off topic, but why are conservatives so eager to kill a jobs bill but so quick to finance wars?

I couldn't tell you. I gave up on the Republicans when McCain pushed to nationalize the banks right before the election.

I've never really been against either of the wars.

We spent a lot of money on them. Money that we don't really have.

But, I think the second Obama was elected we should have quit them both. I don't think you can win a war when you have a withdrawal time-line and now we are just wasting time/money/lives.

[Bigblue1]

Well... I guess I lost this round.

When BB1 starts channeling the ghost of sage all debate is over.

Me FTW

[Bigblue1]

Yayyyyy

[GoVegan]

What do you win?

[Bigblue1]

It's up to you guys, but I'd love a mink coat

[Bigblue1]

so I after posting in this thread like a million times, I just finally got aroud to watching the clip, well sorta, I ma it to like 1:43, all the while wishing *censored*

[WickedKitchen]

Sooooo, in your opinion dannie, a rocket engineer should go flip hamburgers for the sake of flipping hamburgers? I agree that there is work out there, but if the engineers and what not go and do remedial jobs, you will just displace the already underemployed whilst becoming under employed. Seriously dude think about it.....

Yes, yes, yes, A THOUSAND TIMES YES. Not for the sake of flipping hamburgers, but for the sake of putting food on the table. 2 years is a ridiculous amount of time to find a job. I got upset when it exceeded 12 months. It's the mindset that I have a problem with.

BigBlue1, I think this is the first time I have disagreed with you. The nation keeps pushing for this and it's the largest thing that is driving us into the ground. It has eroded our national pride. It has created generations of people that truly believe that if they have a skill then they should be paid at that level. People think that they are too good to do a service job. I applaud you for what you are doing to bring money into your hands, but from the looks of post #19, though you are fiercely supporting this idea, you seem to be working for cash, under the table. If so, then that is, in practice, spitting in the face of the program to begin with.

The weakest members of society should be at the bottom of the barrel and it should serve as motivation for the rest of us not to sink to that level. Yeah, there will always be people that need help but I suspect that number is FAR less than we are told.

Now, I think it's better to be productive and contribute to society than not. I've got a whopper of a mortgage and if I lost my job there would be a serious lifestyle change. I don't think that I'd have to sell the house, but if I did there wouldn't be anything wrong with that...even if I took a loss, which, right now, I would. Yes, people need to move where there are jobs. Nobody is saying that you have to pack up your family and move. Leave your family where they are and go make some money. Take a lesson from some of our Mexican immigrants.

People that say "I won't leave my home" or "But my memories are here" or "I don't want to drive that far" or "It's not enough money so I'd rather collect." are real gems, in the most sarcastic way possible. I say Go Screw. That's a big problem in America...we've become too comfortable with our lifestyle. I see this all the time with my commission salespeople. We pay out commissions on a sliding scale. These people will not write a deal sometimes if they'll only make a few hundred bucks because they want to make a bigger percentage...they feel they deserve it. I blows my mind because where I come from a half loaf of bread is better than no bread at all. So instead of gas money for the week they walk out with nothing but their pride...yeah, well that and $1.50 will get you on the T.

I understand the overqualified part. I ran into that a few times, but like others have said...if you REALLY wanted the job you could get it. Here in MA the dole pays you about $45K/year if you had a good job. I've got a friend who rode the dole the whole way because he didn't want to make less than $45K. Not even $100.00 less so he turned down jobs (even one from me) for 18 months. Well, what do you know...the week his "benefits" expired he landed a nice job. It's not what he'd ultimately like to be doing, but he's doing it.

When I think about this crap I always come back to: If this were a legitimate business then it would no longer exist. To me that's a bad strategy. We can't keep paying more people more money to produce ZERO. It's simply not possible. Not sustainable. We will be invaded if this continues.

If the benefits were rolled back to 1 year or pratically eliminated all together then bad things would happen:

More crime
More racism
More poverty
More sickness
More death

but eventually the weakest will be removed from the equation and there will be less of them in the future, and by that I mean 10 or 20 years down the road. It takes time to change the thinking of millions of people. The more I think about it, the government creates the scenario in which the problem will exist and fester under the guise of helping the people or stopping the bleeding. Well, sometimes it's better to amputate the arm than just stop the bleeding...unless of course you're the arm.

[tom502]

I think we as a nation are overpopulated, we have too many births, too many low-class births, too many illegals, the schools and trade schools are scams, and all the jobs are sent out of the country.

[lxskllr]

...Nobody is saying that you have to pack up your family and move. Leave your family where they are and go make some money. Take a lesson from some of our Mexican immigrants.

People that say "I won't leave my home" or "But my memories are here" or "I don't want to drive that far" or "It's not enough money so I'd rather collect." are real gems, in the most sarcastic way possible.

If you think I'm leaving home, and chasing jobs around the country like a gypsy, your ass is out. My daughter's 12 now, and every day that passes is a day I'm not getting back. I'm not chasing work out of state, missing my daughter growing up, only to be looking for another job once the company decides it doesn't need me anymore.

As far as taking money from unemployment... I'm going to take as much as I can. I have money taken from me under the threat of jail time for child support for another kid. Even when I was working, I didn't have enough money to support my daughter. AFAIC I'm stateless. I have no country, and no representation. This country is the enemy, and I'm going to take what I can from it. I paid into this for years, and got fscked as a result. I can't even leave this shit hole, because they won't issue a passport due to child support allegedly owed. I guess $210 per week isn't enough :^S

So yea, I'm not taking a job flipping burgers. I'm not gonna go to work to make nothing, and end up in jail for not paying child support for my efforts. I'll be looking for a job that pays a suitable amount, and I'll take everything I can from the government until I find one....

[WickedKitchen]

Problem is, you're taking it from your brethren. But I do agree with you that the government is a sort-of enemy though I'm not sure they had a whole lot to do with making babies. I don't know your situation so I really can't comment on it (besides, I shouldn't anyhow as it's none of my business) but the child support system is royally effed up. I've got a friend that pays in and two that receive it and my God, man it's ridiculous. The guy that's paying shouldn't be paying IMO and one of the ones that is getting it doesn't even need it (just happens to be a guy in this case). Well, at any rate I don't know enough about it, only what I see is egregious to some degree.

[lxskllr]

Problem is, you're taking it from your brethren...

Honestly, I'm not too concerned about that. First point, of all the things the government wastes money on, extended unemployment is a drop in the bucket. Also, there's one thing I've learned over the years. There's fsckers, and fsckees. I've worked since I was 14, and played it straight the whole time. You know what that got me? $210 taken from check every week that I'm TAXED ON, and not enough money left over to support myself, or my daughter. If I've learned anything, it's to take what you can, while you can; THAT'S the American way. I might take your point of view if I weren't playing with a stacked deck, but as it stands, I'll be looking out for my own interests, as nobody else will do it for me.

[GoVegan]

Problem is, you're taking it from your brethren. But I do agree with you that the government is a sort-of enemy though I'm not sure they had a whole lot to do with making babies. I don't know your situation so I really can't comment on it (besides, I shouldn't anyhow as it's none of my business) but the child support system is royally effed up. I've got a friend that pays in and two that receive it and my God, man it's ridiculous. The guy that's paying shouldn't be paying IMO and one of the ones that is getting it doesn't even need it (just happens to be a guy in this case). Well, at any rate I don't know enough about it, only what I see is egregious to some degree.

It doesn't have to work that way. We can start repealing some of the tax breaks that the conservatives such as Reagan gave to the rich and the corporations to help pay for some of this. Anybody making 20 million a year while laying off people deserves a 90% tax rate in my own opinion. Also, unemployment benefits do help our economy as people who are broke tend to go out and put any money received right back into the system. In a way, this helps stabilize the economy for those of us currently employed. I do not think that unemployment insurance benefits should be paid for such a long period of time under normal circumstances but the current economy is anything but normal. Are we ready for a double dip recession?

I just thought of something. Maybe we can start a new sin tax. It would work like this, if your an employer earning 250k or more per year and not providing any type of medical insurance for your employees, you will pay a sin tax.