Things are getting ugly here in Michigan, and Detroit is the epic center of the state's economic plight. Nearly half of the Detroit's workers are now unemployed. The situation is so bad that state welfare workers are protesting the state's lack of staffing for welfare offices. About 50 Human Services employees rallied in Sterling Heights to warn Lansing that the situation was reaching critical mass.
If you have time, please view the articles below. As for myself, I don't need to read the articles to know how bad things are here in Michigan. I am currently living in Flint, MI, and I can verify how hard it is to find a job.
I have a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and sociology, three years of office experience at a university and two years of experience working with at-risk youth at two high schools. When I went to the University of Michigan-Flint, I envisioned myself providing guidance for at-risk teenagers as a juvenile probation officer. Now, I'm looking high and low for any job that I can get. I've applied for jobs as a clerk, assistant, receptionist, cashier, maintenance, bagger and just about any service job you can imagine.
Some of my friends have spent so much time looking for work that they've simply given up. A lot of people are not only discouraged, but depressed. I haven't lost hope. I believe in myself, but I have to say, it's getting hard, very hard.
Welfare Workers
http://www.freep.com/article/20091219/NEWS06/912190445/1001/News/Mich.-welfare-workers-protest-low-staff-levels
Detroit Workers
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091216/METRO01/912160374/1409/METRO/Nearly-half-of-Detroit-s-workers-are-unemployed
Have you heard of the Free State Project? Come to New Hampshire, things are better here! We'd like to see you.
ReplyDeleteFree State Project? Yeah, I've heard a little about it. Tell me more.
ReplyDeleteReginald, its been pretty damn hard to find a job in california for the last 10 YEARS. I don't know how its been in michigan, but California lost quality jobs years ago, long before the recession hit. So people having trouble finding jobs, welcome to what I had to experience years ago while everyone was living it up.
ReplyDeleteReginald do you regret turning down those job offers you got in alaska?
ReplyDeleteNo, because I don't want to be trapped on an rainy island when the s&*% hits the fan.
ReplyDeleteThe 10 dollar a hour job did not justify the risks of being one of the few black guys on an island during a time of crisis. Especially if people were angry and blaming black guy in the White House.
Plus, I don't want to be in any place that I can't walk out of in one hour.
Reginald that is the main reason why you left? That seems based on paranoia. First off obama is not black (hes half) and second no one is going to come after you. Third there is not going to be no collapse anytime soon and being the black guy on an island would be the least of your concerns at that time, trust me.
ReplyDelete"First off obama is not black (hes half)"
ReplyDeleteWho cares? People will view him as the black guy who screwed everything up. It doesn't matter if he's half black.
"second no one is going to come after you."
Unless you've been a black man on an island in surrounded by whites, you really have no idea what you're talking about. You're never been called a "n@$%#r", so you don't get it.
"Third there is not going to be no collapse anytime soon"
I'm not willing to bet my life on it. When people lose everything, they lose it.
Free State Project - main site is http://www.freestateproject.org - I'd suggest looking at the forums, too: http://forum.freestateproject.org/
ReplyDeleteWe're a bunch of true libertarians - of several stripes. Left, right, Objectivist, voluntaryist, etc.
Also, check out Free Talk Live - http://freetalklive.com/
I feel like I know you from your online persona - and I think you'd like it here. It's not nervana, and it's not free - yet. But, it's the only place I know that is trying.
We moved here to New Hampshire from Oregon in 2005.
On the topic of somebody wanting to kill you ... of being in a surrounded situation.
ReplyDeleteIn my lifetime there have been two kinds of people who attempted to kill me:
(1) "blacks" when I lived in Philadelphia (example: for being in a "black" south philly bar where my shade of skin was considered a territorial challange)
(2) muslim arab terrorists when I was living in Israel.
In case #2, we fired back.
In case #1, well at that time in Philadelphia, the population was 30% "black" and 90% of the people in the county jail were "black." What do you expect in a situation like that?
Before you jump out of your chair...
My buddy Ed McCain ("black") once pointed out that only time _he_ could walk alone on West Queen Lane (my street and 90% black) was Sunday morning because that was church and truce time. That's right, he wasn't from that neighborhood and yes the kids were packing (they were proud to show me). As Ed observed, being a "white" guy living on that street was no "threat" to the gangs, but he was.
Another interesting stat from back then ('60s): 85% of the _reported_ rapes were "black" female victims. Ed's astute observation was: when you consider how much "black" women HATE COPS, it's amazing that so many would actually report a rape (it was a big number).
On the other hand, a "black" lady I worked with chased a guy out of her house and shot after him in her back yard. It was her husband: she didn't like his attitude that day. When the cops came around neither one were cooperative. :^) (False report, must have been a car backfire.)
I look back on it as adventuring time of my life: kind on like living in Dodge City after the Civil War.
Final Thought: I am a believer in full-employment because it underlies how well people get along with each other on all levels.
Reginald, it appears that you and I share sort of the same background. I have degree in Psych and have worked with probation and mentally troubled youth. I was going to work as a probation officer when they did hiring freezes. I passed the testing only to find out that happened. Oh well.
ReplyDeleteMy co-workers who were laid off are still jobless. Many psych center and placements for youth are being shut down. The facility where I worked lost its funding from the state.
I worked at my past workplace for nearly eight years. Never have I seen anything like I am seeing now. I don't know about those people saying that California has "always" been this way. This is not true at all. I've lived here since I was nine or ten and I've never seen anything of this magnitude before.
As I said, everyone I have known has been laid off. Those still working are losing their hours.
Sorry about any typos or grammatical errors; I'm typing fast while laying in bed (yeah, I know it sounds lazy).
ReplyDeleteMondlicht,
ReplyDeleteWhat makes me laugh is when people tell me to go to graduate school. What is that going to do? Nothing, but put me in debt. I know people with graduate degrees who are out of work.
Ive lived in california all my life. My point was that its always been hard to find a job in california because of illegal aliens, high taxes, and imported foreign visa workers. Just because you didn't notice it before doesn't meant it wasn't happening.
ReplyDeleteMy brother in law had tons of retail and other experience and it took him 6 months to find a job (a fairly good management one in retail only because he had some college education). He was applying like crazy and this was back in 2005. I never could find an entry level job in computer science after I graduated in 2005. They all wanted years of experience in many complex things and there weren't many job openings. And this is supposedly near the so called silicon valley.
This is all during the boom years, but in actuality california never was in a boom for a long time. 500,000 people have fleed the state since 2005.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it devil worshipper girl.
Being unemployed myself and over 50 I fully understand the space we find ourselves in. Why our lawmakers haven't followed or incorporated a discount prescription program into any of the health bills is way beyond me. There are many programs out there already that could be modeled after. The League of Cities has a program. One third of the counties in the US have a program. Even some United Ways offer a program to their members. Using Canada as a conduit could be feasible also. I will say, not having prescription insurance really bites when you need it the most. I was so happy to find that I could save big $$ on my maintenace medications at www.nationalprescriptiondiscounts.com. Its free to have and free to use. Just print your card up and use it.
ReplyDelete