tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post979562483100817639..comments2024-03-28T21:32:41.763-05:00Comments on driftglass: Are There No Workhouses?driftglasshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09379167083253389153noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-59911654229240052812013-12-18T15:32:46.901-06:002013-12-18T15:32:46.901-06:00Driftglass -
I've been meaning to write to y...Driftglass - <br /><br />I've been meaning to write to you about this for some time. I'm an employer (I own a small manufacturing company) and I have a different perspective. Our company has found that when we hire older employees they require substntially less training, are, generally, vastly more reliable, have already established a strong work ethic and bring with them all kinds of outside thinking and processes which have improved our productivity, We pay a living wage, health insurance and a full benefits package. In the last three months we have filled three positions and all of them with people who were long-term unemployed because (and I REALLY can not figure out why other employers can't figure this out) the long-term unemployeed are happy to have a good job and come to work every day dying to make a difference and build the company. All the way around it's a win-win deal. <br /><br />Now, I understand that my company is the exception but I can't figure out why this is the case. Because we hire incredibly skilled, experienced people who show up every day with their brains engaged, we have been able to become dominant in our market, export more than 80% of what we build overseas and soundly beat back foreign cometition. As best I can tell, we have just been using common sense, entrepenurial drive and capitalism. Despite the fact that I am a progressive, we have not been operating as a social services organization. We are a business and our goal is to make money.<br /><br />Here is what I have been thinking lately however. I think that the Dems, as well as Netroots/DKos etc, need to speak to and organize small business. Small business NEVER benefits from the austerity-based monetary policies of the GOP. I listen to progressive internet-based radio all day (The Professional Left is my fav) and I have to say that the constant pounding by the left on "business" and "corporations" is off-putting. It is one thing for the left to be pounding on BIG business and BIG corporations. That is well-deserved and much needed but when we are all grouped together a serious opportunity is lost. When we, and by "we" I mean "progressives" fail to distinguish between my company and Boeing, we are failing in a variety of ways. We are failing to speak to a large group of voters, we are failing to dynamically promote and encourage "best practices" in a manner which will support the overall goals of the progressive movement, and we are failing to shine a light on and support those small companies who are doing right.<br /><br />Anyway, that's my two cents. I would love to hear your thoughts.Arliss Bunnyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03322714910166081973noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-76879328685632890332013-11-27T17:44:00.883-06:002013-11-27T17:44:00.883-06:00Anonymous,
we are here today not because of the ...Anonymous, <br /><br />we are here today not because of the natural order of civilizations, but because of an orchestrated takeover of our government by money. Decisions have been influenced by the opinions and philosophical belief systems that are paid for by large collections of money from very wealthy institutions and individuals.<br /><br />Our current predicaments are not "blaming social problems" on conspiracy theories or illuminati. Real people who are connected to wall street and to various politicians and various corrupt institutions have decided to pursue bad policy from which there is no consequences. Large corporations and their hired jackals are polluting without consequence, or monopolizing and eliminating competition from large sectors of the economy. This real. The result is a lot of unemployed and lots of social problems.<br /><br />So are we to all just go meditate and find are true inner self in a moneyless economy? Bartering services? Are country is being disentegrated because of the short-sighted foolish avarice of the oligarcy, and you want me to not worry about it? Empires go up and down, but you are mistaken in that application of Gibbons. We are not talking about America as an empire. Empire is never once in the entire constitution. What does empire have to do with anything? America is our country. It's not an empire. America as a nation, our country, one nation under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.<br /><br />Why are changing the words? What does your country mean to you? <br /><br />P.S: You gave yourself away with the false modesty in the first paragraph. You rarely leave comments, ... puhleeseAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14566300204471344249noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-5713996312610242362013-11-26T22:23:00.786-06:002013-11-26T22:23:00.786-06:00Tardy to the party but wanted to chime in.
Outtaw...<br />Tardy to the party but wanted to chime in.<br /><br />Outtaworko 18 months, dealing with a complex root canal that has required 3 visits so far to the endodontist, and just broke my leg. Badly. So, praying that the temp filling doesn't come out while I convalesce.<br /><br />Insurance runs out in 2 months. I have too much cash in the bank for food stamps.<br /><br />Yet, I will press on until my last dollar. After that, the Vicodan that I've been accumulating for my 2 recent medical conditions--ironically, the ONLY cheap part of my treatment--may need to be put to use with a bottle of vodka. <br /><br />I mean, right now, my fucking RETIREMENT plan is Smith & Wesson; I can't imagine not working again this early on.<br /><br />In the meantime, I see stupid young shiny know-nothings fuck up every place that I have ever worked in the past while the fatcats float above in their airships, immune to the chaos below...<br /><br />Happy Thanksgiving anyway.<br /><br />I sure do miss Gilly on days like this.<br />Jenonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08962447894888626302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-82203461383824377022013-11-26T09:54:17.788-06:002013-11-26T09:54:17.788-06:00I rarely leave comments or offer advise, but somet...I rarely leave comments or offer advise, but something made me go back to this page and share some thoughts. <br>After working for the same employer for 28 years, they finally gave me the pink slip. Now I'm 57, unemployed, divorced, and living off my dwindling savings. So I can relate to some of the posting I've read here. But, here's some information or knowledge I've recently come across. <br>1. We are not our jobs, careers, education levels, assets, etc. We are sovereign beings with a right to exist. There are a hundreds of conspiracy theories blame our social problems on alien agendas, the Illuminati, the 1%. They say we are being programmed to depression, despair, and hopelessness. You must realize that you are not your 'net value.' You have a soul, spirit, and physical body and you can make a difference in this world. <br>2. Be flexible and adapt. The United States was the top dog after WWII, but now it's an empire in decline. Don't worry about it, this is the natural order of civilization. Empires come and go, who needs them? <br>3. Become as self reliant as possible. I'm learning hydroponics, off grid living techniques, and will eventually have a mortgage free property. We can't expect the government assistance to last forever. The system is bankrupt and the generosity of our fellow man is waning. <br>4. Take a look at some of the new and exciting ideas being presented. People are putting together moneyless communities. Time banks offer work exchange opportunities. You can build a tiny home or live for free in a household that needs a care sitter. <br>Life is attitude. I admit my attitude has been gloomy lately, but I'm starting to make a shift. Much love to you. GB in FL.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-32667580096399590462013-11-25T21:06:42.168-06:002013-11-25T21:06:42.168-06:00Try the George Scott version. Very relevant.Try the George Scott version. Very relevant.robyn Ryannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-72702506564540854102013-11-25T18:12:18.011-06:002013-11-25T18:12:18.011-06:00I was unemployed and in my 50s from 1994 to 2001. ...I was unemployed and in my 50s from 1994 to 2001. At my son's suggestion, I applied for a job in Korea, teaching English, since I had a college degree. I've been here for 12 years now, took my SS at age 70 and live more comfortably than I can in the U.S. The job window here has closed, but there are many other countries who want English teachers who are native speakers. Turkey is the best, and (if you are a man) some of the Gulf states and Indonesia. ~ Sil in Coreahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07950258284505174877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-25152890676796190462013-11-25T12:42:43.526-06:002013-11-25T12:42:43.526-06:00Please don't go. We need you! Call me at 1-8...Please don't go. We need you! Call me at 1-800-273-8255Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-53154918467577800672013-11-25T11:55:49.359-06:002013-11-25T11:55:49.359-06:00@anon 2:26PM
Anarchism is where the workers themse...@anon 2:26PM<br />Anarchism is where the workers themselves control their workplaces and the conditions existing therein, the means of production if you will. Communism has been state sponsored capitalism since its beginnings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-3393476051831079032013-11-22T15:54:12.955-06:002013-11-22T15:54:12.955-06:00We have been living under an oligarchy since that ...We have been living under an oligarchy since that actor fellow became president and introduced the country to the system called 'Reaganomics'. The top ten percent have 81% to 94% of stocks, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and almost 80% of non-home real estate. Since financial wealth is what counts as far as the control of income-producing assets, we can say that just 10% of the people own the United States of America. The greatest transfer of wealth in history, facilitated by the Federal Reserve with it's endless QE and zero interest rate policy (ZIRP). Shorebreaknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-39519497336620955892013-11-21T16:01:34.066-06:002013-11-21T16:01:34.066-06:00@Anon@10:52
You need a place to stay I bet we coul...@Anon@10:52<br />You need a place to stay I bet we could put you up here. High plains desert ain't pretty, but it is prettier than a hollow point.<br />email at javadavis@hotmail.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-10712276493400890802013-11-21T14:22:30.001-06:002013-11-21T14:22:30.001-06:00Caveat: I have never seen GGR, so I may misunderst...Caveat: I have never seen GGR, so I may misunderstand what Mr. Roboto was talking about--but I assume he means the return of the USA to 19th-Century Social Darwinism.<br /><br />If so, it may have been completed in 1992, but I saw it begin in 1980, if not earlier.Monster from the Idnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-68068593061975166392013-11-21T11:16:13.284-06:002013-11-21T11:16:13.284-06:00One major problem with Geese Howard's "Ga...One major problem with Geese Howard's "Galt's Gulch" fantasy (putting aside for a moment that running an entire economy on renewable energy is something of a chimaera), is that a certain amount of economic activity is necessary to maintain all that automation. Yes, automation is the wave of the future and will put a hell of a lot of people out of work, but the very attempt by the randroid plutocrats to decouple from the rest of the economy is what will make the whole thing fall apart. This would be true during a period of sustained economic growth, and it will prove especially true in an age of contraction and energy/ resource scarcity.<br /><br />I would add to Jurassic Pork's critique that "captains of industry" such as Lloyd Blankfein engaged in much criminal acitivity that crashed the economy five years ago, and <b>nothing</b> has been done to bring these criminals to justice. But try feeding the homeless? Go to jail, go directly to jail. It was a fitting irony that the movie version of <i>Glengarry Glenn Ross</i> came out in 1992, because it was around that time (at least in my admittedly subjective perception) that the whole country turned into <i>Glengarry Glenn Ross.</i>Mister Robotohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08724938709642010624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-3685464827499483922013-11-21T08:07:06.411-06:002013-11-21T08:07:06.411-06:00Geese imitates a member of the callous elite too w...Geese imitates a member of the callous elite too well; he is being mistaken for one of them. <br /><br />I guess next time he needs to remember the [snark][/snark] tags. :PMonster from the Idnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-15287266573149743252013-11-21T01:02:08.355-06:002013-11-21T01:02:08.355-06:00In 2008 I was working 13 hour shifts that started ...In 2008 I was working 13 hour shifts that started at midnight for three straight months after the company I had finally gotten hired at was bought and relaunching under another name and new ownership. There was a lot of stress and pressure as we all sort of jockeyed for our positions in the new company. <br /> One evening I woke up having suffered a stroke. I haven't worked since. Nor will I again. <br /> In 2009 I got on SSDI, and it is the only income myself and my friend who takes care of me have. We are now in our 50s, and she has been trying everything she can think of for 5 years now to get work. When you're poor, 50, and unemployed NO ONE will hire you. My SSDI keeps us alive, but barely. We've had to move twice, this last time to a place where people aren't really supposed to live, the city took our car over parking tickets, and we're paying $800.00 in payments to regain access to our storage.<br /> I used to think of Social Security as one of the places that a quarter of my paycheck disappeared to, but now it is survival, plain and simple.<br /> Oh, and Geese: I don't know if you consider Oakland "flyover" or not, but I do know that nobody I know gives a rat's ass what you or your asshole friends think about us. We don't easily automate out of existence, and we re-elect Barbara Lee reliably every other year.<br /><br /> -Doug in Oaklanddinthebeasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12941071534250216503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-83681460796601368652013-11-20T21:06:34.427-06:002013-11-20T21:06:34.427-06:00Anon: It's obvious that no one here wants you ...Anon: It's obvious that no one here wants you do to anything you can't undo.<br /><br />Geese: Galt's gulch doesn't exist. And if it does, I can guarantee that the only thing you'll find there is the body of Galt, and possibly the idiots like him.<br /><br />The desperation of Anon, and the outright hatred of people like me, will make sure of that.<br /><br />So, hope hope hope away that the ultra elite NOVA/DC pseudo-liberals will get to have low taxes and social freedom, but man does that 2nd Amendment run both ways!<br /><br />Don't fear communism.<br /><br />Fear the hundreds of millions of people with guns who you've fucked over or let get fucked over.<br /><br />Have a great day!Cinesiashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14996950964848333121noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-68792272592996412952013-11-20T18:11:23.041-06:002013-11-20T18:11:23.041-06:00Anon@10:52
Talk to someone before you do that. Yo...Anon@10:52<br /><br />Talk to someone before you do that. You're not alone.<br /><br />-- Nonny MouseAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-44793381882947172942013-11-20T16:16:15.815-06:002013-11-20T16:16:15.815-06:00Anon@10:52
Depression is a horrible and crippling ...Anon@10:52<br />Depression is a horrible and crippling thing, but things can get better. There are people out here who care about you. It takes time. Depression isn't cured magically overnight but the first rule about being in a deep hole is stop digging. You can recover from this. There is help out thereAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-57564212824731597332013-11-20T16:00:05.979-06:002013-11-20T16:00:05.979-06:00As an unflinching liberal, it's incumbent on m...As an unflinching liberal, it's incumbent on me to tell others and myself, "You need to read this article." But since it could've been written by me, someone also in his 50's and unemployed for upwards of five years, it's heartbreaking and incredibly discouraging to read this, especially as I don't have DG's professional pedigree or an MIT education.<br /><br />Two weeks ago tomorrow, I sat at my last interview at a place to which I've applied three or four times since 2009. It's a couple of miles from my house, I have extensive experience in manufacturing. They said it would take them a week to make up their minds. Only five guys responded to their ad and one other consented to an interview. So I got rejected once again only this time I was competing with a very, very short list. And I did everything right, all the way down to the resume they've already seen three times and the nice shirt and tie.<br /><br />What Drifty could've also said is that companies have two great options: They can either outsource the labor overseas or to right to work states or, if they need homegrown help, they can always hire temps. The temp agency mill is one of the slimiest rackets this side of bestiality porn and payday lenders. More often than not, they lead you on with promises of regular employment, temp to perm, blah blah blah. But there's a catch: Right around the time of 9/11, their clients insisted on getting involved in the vetting process without actually taking the risk of doing any of the hiring. <br /><br />Now, they have the leisure to look at resumes sent to them by temp agencies and saying, "No" to virtually all of them. Prior to 9/11, there <i>were</i> no interviews. You applied to a temp agency and with a bit of luck you'd get sent straight to the job site. No more. Now their clients get first refusal rights on interviews.<br /><br />The place to which I'd applied 13 days ago is one of the very factories in MA that doesn't temp out. <br /><br />And DG's right: Being unemployed longterm makes you unfit for work. That big, 50+ month-long gap at the end of your resume is in itself a reason for them not to hire you, by their reasoning. And it's real easy, if you're a gainfully-employed hiring manager with an actual career, to look a such gaps as evidence of laziness, unhirability or moral turpitude. And, as Ms. Barrington-Ward points out, if those barriers don't trip you up, a credit check will after years of unemployment has sledgehammered your credit rating.<br /><br />I never had the slightest confidence that Obama would lead us out of this unemployment mess and I can say with some bitter satisfaction I was right. Mrs. JP and I don't know what will happen to us after the holidays, especially in light of the fact blog readership, hence donations, are drastically down and since we just lost our biggest benefactor.<br /><br />Meanwhile, unemployment is a reason to not hire. Some asshole state rep in Hawaii is smashing the property of the homeless with a sledgehammer and many major cities have actually made feeding the homeless a criminal offense.<br /><br />What we're seeing is a carefully, if loosely, coordinated attempt at economic genocide if not outright genocide. We have criminalized indigence, we have criminalized charity and altruism itself yet put the jiggling pusses of robber barons like Lloyd Blankfein on the cover of Forbes as a "captain of industry." These are now our values.<br /><br />Btw, drifty, unless your commenter above has a sick sense of humor, I think one of your readers is about to commit suicide.jurassicporkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01673461210301442978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-51247523747445353772013-11-20T15:19:47.076-06:002013-11-20T15:19:47.076-06:00Dear Anonymous at 10:52 AM: Please email Driftglas...Dear Anonymous at 10:52 AM: Please email Driftglass and call suicide hotline as Frobisher urged you to do. Trust me, I've been so depressed sometimes I have thought of taking my life so you are so not alone in feeling despair. But we cannot let these fuckers win. I am sending you good thoughts (I do believe in such things). And please reach out. There are people who care. Kathleennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-15043074352902060612013-11-20T14:26:42.414-06:002013-11-20T14:26:42.414-06:00It's true that the elites by and large don'...It's true that the elites by and large don't think the rest of us deserve to live. They do worship Ayn Rand and her gospel of selfishness, but that same elevation of selfishness is their undoing. They are constantly tripping over each other's agendas.<br /><br />For instance: Geesey talks up green power as what will allow the elite Randroids to finally break free of societal infrastructure for their own Galt's Gulch. I invite him to ponder the power of Big Oil in pretty much every place but China. The US could have been totally energy independent by 2000, but Big Oil made sure that didn't happen, to the detriment of all other industries. (Note that China, which ten years ago didn't have a solar or wind power industry, is now the world leader in producing both because the Chinese government has an actual energy policy that operates in the national interest. Most of it was for export, but recently, in the interest of providing price supports, China has taken the products of its solar and wind power factories and installed them across the Chinese landscape. This is a good thing, as it will accelerate China's weaning itself off of coal.)<br /><br />As for commnunism and socialism, I've yet to see an actual nation-state that did either. What Russia and China did, and still do, was and is state-sponsored capitalism, where the state actually has an economic policy and acts as if the national interest mattered. Communism is where the workers themselves control their workplaces and the conditions existing therein, the means of production if you will. <br /><br />What happened in Russia and China is that while the Russian boyars and Chinese mandarins had their huge estates taken from them and put into the greater economy -- and the injection of all that wealth into the Soviet and Chinese economies took these states from laughingstock to superpower status inside of twenty years, a status both still have today -- the workers and peasants themselves were not given any real measure of control over their own fates. All that happened as far as that went was that their boyar and noble overseers were swapped for commissar and party overseers. True, the general living standards of the mass of Russians and Chinese did improve dramatically, but they never were allowed direct control of the means of production.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-50160619672898747912013-11-20T14:15:51.898-06:002013-11-20T14:15:51.898-06:00Dear Anonymous commenting at 10:52 AM:
Before you...Dear Anonymous commenting at 10:52 AM:<br /><br />Before you use your new 9MM on yourself, please call the suicide prevention hotline at 1-800-784-2433. We don't need your death to help us make a point. We need you continuing to speak up to expose the fraud which is the corporate and government response to the financial disaster. At least talk to a counselor and find a caring perspective before you make an irreversable decision.<br /><br />Frobisher Frobisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11575250011171547613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-43424376310965245232013-11-20T14:07:08.873-06:002013-11-20T14:07:08.873-06:00Happy Holidays DG. Thank you for this. Unfortuna...Happy Holidays DG. Thank you for this. Unfortunately the "job creators" do not share this perspective.<br /><br />Normally i only submit comment on your humorous takedowns, but this essay hit close to home, very close to home.RoninMichigannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-59844435582186194682013-11-20T13:31:06.618-06:002013-11-20T13:31:06.618-06:00Anon @10:52 AM
Email me at driftglass99 AT gmail ...Anon @10:52 AM<br /><br />Email me at driftglass99 AT gmail dot com immediately and let's talk. driftglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09379167083253389153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-40358850519786340992013-11-20T11:48:41.223-06:002013-11-20T11:48:41.223-06:00DG, your writing is amazing and the fact that you ...DG, your writing is amazing and the fact that you have been out of work for so long is just more proof that "excellence" has no real value in the American workforce anymore, sadly.<br /><br />As to "Geese":<br /><br /><i>The dirty secret is... we don't need most of humanity anymore. Most jobs are bullshit and have now been mechanized, and the machines are coming for the doctors and lawyers as well. There's little reason for most of humanity to even exist, they just suck up resources. Once major cities and major corporations can get off the electrical grid through renewable energy, there is little reason for the major wealth centers to co-exist with fucks in flyover at all. That's one of the reasons we should push for green energy, we can finally have a two tier energy system and get away from the hicks. As someone in a major city of wealth, I have more in common and consider people in say Paris or Hong Kong to be "my people" that someone just dozens of miles away in hick land.</i><br /><br />Yes, truly. All you need is your magic energy source and farming robots and you can live free of those moochers off in Galt's Gulch.<br /><br />Piss off.<br />OBShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11290768768025981403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11363027.post-1489255302319353842013-11-20T11:09:25.834-06:002013-11-20T11:09:25.834-06:00This is the club to which you and I belong Mr. Dri...This is the club to which you and I belong Mr. Driftglass. Good and tragic company wer too.BlindRobinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10178683258724942700noreply@blogger.com