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Bread and Circus by TRiver, on Flickr
While I was surfing through the various news sites this morning (Friday, March 18), I came across this story from the Los Angeles Times about the apparent suicide of a maintenance worker for Costa Mesa, CA. It seems that Costa Mesa is laying off nearly half of its employees and intending to outsource the work. Of course, the layoff notices have gone out, even though the city is still trying to figure out exactly what they are doing.
Costa Mesa has sent layoff notices to nearly half of its employees in a dramatic austerity program being closely watched by other cities struggling with ballooning pension obligations.
The move was sharply criticized by union leaders, and it stunned city employees, one of whom apparently committed suicide by jumping off Costa Mesa City Hall hours after layoff notices went out Thursday.
City officials said the cuts were the first step in a plan to outsource many services to the private sector and significantly reduce the number of workers at City Hall.
…snip…
The man reported to have committed suicide, a 29-year-old maintenance worker, was expecting to receive a layoff notice, authorities said. His identity has not been released pending notification of relatives.
Employees were shell-shocked upon receiving the notices Thursday, even before news of the suicide spread.
This article is on the heels of this one from Wednesday’s NY Times on the unemployment rate in El Centro, CA:
For two years, El Centro has struggled with the highest unemployment rate in the country. The latest official figures put it at 28 percent, an improvement from the peak of 32 percent last summer. At unemployment centers, often the most bustling places in town, it is something of a competition to talk about how long a job search has lasted.
…snip…
California’s agricultural heartland has been hit particularly hard in the downturn — 8 of the 10 metro areas with the highest jobless rates are in the state, in central inland cities like Fresno, Modesto and Merced. But the only area that comes close to El Centro’s unemployment rate is Yuma, Ariz., another border town about 55 miles east of here.
…snip…
For some people, the unemployment numbers are more of a nuisance than anything. Some relatively well-heeled residents say they do not know anyone without a job. If anyone is not working, they say, it must be because they are not really looking. They point to the large hiring banner in front of the International House of Pancakes.
There has long been a promise that the heat and sunshine will provide work. Local leaders speak excitedly about geothermal plants and solar projects bringing more jobs. Several training programs offer courses to develop skills for that kind of work. But Jesse Aguilar, who completed such a class last year, said that of the 30 in his class, only two have found jobs. Both of them are at fast food outlets.
Those last two paragraphs are really quite telling. As I pointed out in this post (and others), it is not a lack of skills, even though that is a perceived conventional wisdom, usually coming from individuals and organizations with a vested interest in either not recognizing or not admitting where the problems actually lie.
The Washington Post had this article on Tuesday on the people who have given up their job search out of frustration and how they impact the “recovery”:
Overshadowing the nation’s economic recovery is not only the number of Americans who have lost their jobs, but also those who have stopped looking for new ones.
These workers are not counted in the Labor Department’s monthly unemployment rate, yet they say they are willing to work. Since the recession began, their numbers have grown by 30 percent, to more than 6.4 million, amounting to a hidden labor force that could stymie the turnaround.
Adding these workers to February’s jobless rate pushes it up to 10.5 percent, well above the more commonly cited 8.9 percent rate.An even broader measure of unemployment, which includes people forced to work part time, stands at nearly 16 percent.
Of course, the Post also promotes the idea of a mis-match on skills but as I’ve cited before, this is just not true:
Structural unemployment – unemployment stemming from a mismatch of workers’ skills and job requirements – has been cited in mainstream media as the main cause of current, high unemployment. Data from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), however, suggest that structural unemployment is not what is ailing the economy. The graph below draws on data from the NFIB’s monthly survey from December 2007 (the official start of the recession) to January 2011. Each month, the NFIB asks its sample of small businesses to state the single most important problem facing their business today. Since the recession began, respondents overwhelmingly have cited “poor sales,” suggesting that today’s unemployment is primarily due to a lack of demand. “Quality of labor,” the factor most consistent with structural unemployment, barely made the list.
One move that may help matters for some (though probably not) is a recently introduced bill from Rep Hank Johnson, (D-GA) to block discrimination against the unemployed. From Yahoo:
Over the last year or so, America’s jobs crisis has been accompanied by a troubling trend: discrimination against the jobless.
…snip…
At a time when long-term joblessness is a record high, the practice puts what some say is yet another obstacle in front of Americans who aren’t working–often through no fault of their own. It’s not illegal to discriminate against the unemployed. But Rep. Hank Johnson (pictured), a Georgia Democrat, wants to change that. This week, he introduced a bill that would extend the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act so that it bars discrimination against the jobless just as it bars discrimination on the basis of race or age.
Johnson’s measure stands little chance of passing the GOP-controlled House. …snip…
And what about that Republican controlled US House? The Washington Post reported Wednesday that they were trying to “steer the focus back on jobs” though I’m still trying to figure out how requiring the IRS to audit abortions creates jobs. But then, these are the same people who are working three weeks in Washington then spending the fourth week at home doing their fundraisers. Today, Politico also offered their view of the Republican Senate’s “struggle” to get their message out on jobs.
Jobs strategy has been the subject of closed-door GOP meetings and strategy sessions. At the request of GOP leaders, freshman Sen. Rob Portman, budget director under George W. Bush, circulated an internal roadmap this week that is intended to serve as a launching pad for a more sweeping economic agenda, which senior Republicans say must include a sharper message and a more aggressive legislative plan.
As a reminder to talk up the connection between spending cuts and jobs creation back home during next week’s recess, the Senate Republican Conference distributed a series of talking points on pocket-sized cards to the 47 GOP senators.
Ah yes, it’s always in the marketing and never a fault of the actual policies. In this case, it is linking budget cuts to jobs creation. This of course, comes after all the years of tax cuts not creating jobs. Of course, they also want more tax cuts as well.
I wonder just how many suicides we’ve already had over the last few years from lay-offs, unemployment, and underemployment and how many more we’ll have while the elected officials of both parties dither and preen and say nothing?
And because I can:
Cross posted from Just A Small Town Country Boy
27 Comments
Let’s share. Sharing is good. Sharing takes away the pain. It makes it possible for people not to commit suicide, not to sit in the dark, not to worry where the money is going to come from. Sharing takes away the pain of having asked for a real response to a real request, not a form letter. Sharing takes away the pain of seeing a form letter that’s addressed to someone who just lost their job, when you know you aren’t eligible for anything like unemployment or COBRA anymore. Sharing takes away the real pain, after all the political talk is done, of knowing deep, deep down.
That they really, really don’t care about you.
Here’s my letter I got back from Barack Obama, bless his little pointed head.
*****************************************************
Dear Friend:
Thank you for writing. I have heard from many Americans who are losing their jobs and struggling to pay their bills. Every day, I meet with my economic advisors to make sure we are doing all we can to create good jobs and to help Americans support their families and pursue the American dream.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was the first step to spur job growth and ease the pain of unemployment. This landmark law has saved or created millions of jobs here at home in industries such as alternative energy, health care, and construction. By extending and increasing emergency unemployment compensation and increasing access to health insurance, the my Administration has also provided relief to millions of unemployed Americans, and has helped improve our Nation’s economic outlook. Additionally, I signed legislation that will help small businesses — the engine of growth on Main Streets across our country — thrive, grow, and hire by providing them with tax breaks and better access to credit.
However, many Americans are still struggling to find employment and provide for their families. To assist workers looking for jobs, I signed into law the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act, extending unemployment benefits beyond what existed in the Recovery Act. To restore desperately needed assistance to Americans who lost their jobs in the recession, I also signed into law the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2010, as well as an extension of COBRA benefits.
My Administration is also helping Americans return to work by emphasizing job training in industries that cannot be outsourced. Recently laid-off workers receiving unemployment benefits have new opportunities to pursue higher education and job training programs, including easier access to Pell Grants. To encourage job creation in the United States, I am replacing tax laws that send jobs overseas with new incentives to create them here at home. Available assistance can be found online at http://go.usa.gov/aU7 or http://www.Opportunity.gov.
Together, we can help more Americans find and keep good jobs and enjoy a healthy standard of living. To find an employment center near you, select your state at: http://www.dol.gov/dol/location.htm. For information on benefits and opportunities for those seeking employment, I encourage you to visit: http://go.usa.gov/aUA. For career resources, call 1-877-872-5627 or visit: http://www.CareerOneStop.org. While it will take time to turn our economy around, I am confident that, working together, we will emerge from this crisis stronger than before.
Thank you, again, for writing.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
Oh, good grief!!! Being dispassionate may have its place somewhere… but surely this is neither the time nor the place for it.
“The Labor Department says the unemployment rate last year for young Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was 20.9 percent.
“Veterans ages 18 to 24 have had a particularly hard time finding work. In comparison, non-veterans in the same age group had an employment rate last year of 17.3 percent”
From here:http://www.sctimes.com/article/20110313/NEWS01/103130027/1002/Jones-leads-the-Orioles-over-the-Twins–11-2/Iraq–Afghanistan-veterans-have-hard-time-finding-jobs
The link to the LAtimes story gets a blank page BTW.
Here’s another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVXMDKAHMZ0
A murder-suicide of an unemployed couple facing foreclosure.
thanks, the link is back in there now.
I don’t know why there aren’t millions of people out on the streets.
We have people right here at FDL that are suffering the consequences of bad government policy, callousness and indifference?
I just found out one of us, Mason, is eating out of a dumpster! That is unacceptable.
I’m sorry, {{{{ondelette}}}}.
Just awful.
More people talking about how there shouldn’t be public schools on youtube.
….
Add in the minnessota “can only have $20 at any one time!” law and I don’t see how this crap ends without bloodshed.
Thanks Dakine01.
This bit from the WP article irked me:
“a hidden labor force that could stymie the turnaround.”
How would hiring people not counted in official unemployment statistics stymie a turnaround? It wouldn’t. What it would do is slow the rate at which the official unemployment statistic goes down.
In otherwords, the WP thinks the problem is the statistic rather than people without a job. If the hidden labor force stayed hidden and the unemployment rate went down then… yay… they can celebrate a statistical recovery while ‘hidden’ folks numbering in the millions suffer, commit suicide or starve.
Given the state of our establishment, I should probably be thankful that the WP at least acknowledges that there are millions our there who are not included in official statistics. Much of our establishment won’t even go that far.
And yeah, the establishment narrative of ‘skill related barriers’ to hiring people is complete BS. We’re dealing with class warfare in the form of neoliberal economics. And these folks are doing it on a global scale. Any pain we feel is being felt many times over in other nations. The time for Nuremberg 2.0 is fast approaching.
here’s another suicide
Wisconsin Teacher in Apparent Suicide, “Distraught” Over Walker’s Cuts
Jeri-Lynn Betts, an early childhood teacher in the Watertown, Wisconsin, school district, died on March 8 of an apparent suicide.
A colleague says she was “very distraught” over Gov. Scott Walker’s attacks on public sector workers and public education.
Betts, 56, was a dedicated teacher who was admired in the Watertown community.
more at >>>> http://www.progressive.org/wx0317b11.html
Everyone focuses on cutting spending because of right wing propaganda pounding home the ludicrous message that the rich “earned” their money and should therefore not be taxed heavily.
The problem is that money flows around a system which is in fact a closed system. In a system designed to enrich the few and pauperize the many, like ours, the money is systematically drained from the pockets of everyone except the rich. More and more money accumulates in their pockets. The idea that they then use that money to make jobs is PURE fantasy. No, the majority of the money is “invested” in the stock market casinos. This “investment” does not produce jobs. Venture capitalists and initial stock offerings fund startups, not buying and selling pieces of paper.
So, as the laws become increasingly favorable to the wealthy and as they give themselves increasingly lucrative tax-breaks, the money piles up in the pockets of the rich, further impoverishing the poor. That money is effectively out of circulation. So, if you cut more “government” by either giving the rich more tax breaks (more opportunity to hoover up the loose cash) or cutting services which would have resulted in money circulating through the hands of the non-rich, it all leads to more and more money being locked up the hands of the rich. This is a downward cycle.
Therefore, the answer is to unlock that money from the death grip of the rich and get it back into circulation. That means taxing the rich. A lot!!
Now, before you get all weepy-eyed and lamenting that these people have “earned” this money, be sure to ask for their time card. Who ACTUALLY earned this money? Thousands of people, if not tens of thousand of people who do actual work who then are TAXED by the rich through “PROFITS.” In other words, all profits are actually taxes levied without representation.
If we are going to tolerate leeches on society, we must insist that some mechanism exist that extricates money that has accumulated and become stuck in the smelly folds of the corpulent rich and return it into circulation deep into the economy. We will, of course, have to wash the money to remove the stench of its owners.
So screw yourself getting “new skills” and a new bankrupt proof debt ,that without work will be impossible to repay, chump.
Are you speaking French?
Raising taxes a Diebold impossibility.
The rich own the voting machines and their programmers.
Secret stuff, you know.
Maaaaybbbeeeee /innocent whistle.
I wrote him a note asking why, if he was serious about creating jobs, the only day of the year one could apply for grants to start a business based on a new invention was January 15th. I got back a form letter telling me…well you can see what it told me.
Anybody read Krugman this morning? Us people who haven’t had a job in a while aren’t looking for a new place to sit and read listings, we know nobody’s going to hire us. We’re either out, or we’re trying to create our own jobs. And that guy in the White House doesn’t have a clue on what would help us do the latter. Not one frigging clue. Patents cost money, he makes them harder for us. Grants are hurdles, he skews them towards “round tables” of pre-selected corporate “captains of industry”. ARPA-E promises money, he hands it all to “flagship universities”.
So you’re saying we need to repurpose stuxnet before anything will change?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/opinion/18krugman.html
I expect suicides to rise. Among other family, personal and job stresses a firing induces is the stress that comes from knowing that you’ve lost your job to a false economy.
Savings from outsourcing public services are often false. They come at the expense of doing less, sometimes much less, and not doing it as well. Private companies routinely “automate” them, meaning they outsource “customer service” functions to customers. They hire workers with less training and experience, who turn over so frequently that lower levels of service are guaranteed.
Companies cut corners unseen until larger, much more expensive problems arise that will remain the liability of the local taxpayer. If push comes to shove and the company can’t cut enough corners to keep the cash coming in, they’ll declare a strategic bankruptcy and walk, leaving local citizens high and dry.
Counties, cities and towns don’t generally retain enough expertise to bring the jobs back in-house, so they bid the work out to another private company at a higher cost.
States that have been corrupted by or fallen prey to investment bankers’ carrots, who have sold off their public resources too cheaply, rarely see the I bankers’ big sticks that come swooping out of nowhere before the champagne toasts are finished at the deal closing. Ask Chicagoans about their parking meters or Hoosiers about their toll road or Alabamans about some of their local water treatment works.
Losing your job is hard enough. Losing it when you know money won’t be saved and your employer knows it is ego destroying. It can be lethal when local un- and under-employment remains well into double digits. It is extraordinarily high in California’s Central Valley and has been for more than two years.
Guess what. Suicide prevention hotlines and counseling services are among the first things local politicos cut or outsource. They are a tad less effective when you call hear, “Please hold, your call is very important to us” message that repeats and repeats.
Expect to hear the same about librarians in Ohio.
As you point out, a major obstacle to re-employing the long-term unemployed is that employers now routinely screen out candidates not currently employed. That was always something of a hurdle, but it could be cleared with a good resume, reference or interview. These days, the computer spits out the unemployed like Donald Trump.
Employers have no fear that such practices will cost anything at all. They’ve been operating for more than a decade with virtually no enforcement of age, sex or race discrimination suits being pushed by the feds. They’ve had a green light for so long, whole management teams know no other operating environment, which creates the proverbial vicious circle.
That’s one more chain and lock box for Jacob Marley Obama and his refusal to resurrect the DoJ from the ash heap it had become under Dick and George, and John, Fredo and Mikey.
As long as labor costs can be suppressed through fear of job loss and outsourcing (incl. via H1b visas), and as long as foreign sales keep the Corporate coffers full, American workers will continue to be overworked and the unemployed will suffer.
I am just such a victim of the systematic discrimination against unemployed candidates. The recruiting agencies have a policy that isn’t revealed until you’re selected for the job: you must provide documentation of recent employment in order to qualify. In my case, it was a contract job for Google that I was extremely qualified for. I complained to the EEOC, but they said it was not within their authority.
Corporate Fascism has taken over, and inevitably I think there will be another civil war. Exorbitant food and fuel prices may trigger this, on top of continued high unemployment (especially among African-Americans) and other neglected ills of our society and infrastructure perpetrated by the Plutocrats. Fasten your seatbelts…
I have written emails to Obama until my fingers are sore, and yet have never received a reply at all. I then started requesting replies, predictably there were no replies.
I began stating that I no longer believe that anybody reads any of the emails the citizens send, and to please let me know that I am wrong in assuming this – no reply.
I did receive a vague, nonspecific reply from my House representative, actually a written letter received through the mail.
You guessed it, he thanked me profusely for my interest, and requested a generous gift to his campaign fund, so that the Democrats will be able to continue to fight for us. I have to admit at this point I almost fell off my couch laughing.
Frankly I have considered suicide, merely because we are constantly being told that being old does not entitle us to receive social security and Medicare, and that we selfish greedy old people are taking the future from our children and grandchildren. I did tell my daughter that perhaps if all of us who are too old to work should kill ourselves in order to give the younger generations a chance. My daughter, however, is very dubious that even if we relieved the burden on Medicare and social security in this manner it would actually “trickle down” more wealth on the remaining, younger middle class. Also she believes that the family may soon need my services to take care of the family, as I am a nurse, and she does not believe that any except the rich will have access to medical care much longer.
As the Republicans want to defund even warning systems for tornadoes and tsunamis, it is clear they don’t care how many people die.
Our only hope is that somehow the insanity that has taken hold of so many of our countrymen will somehow mercifully reach an end, and people will wake up to realize that all our politicians offer us any more is nothing but BS, you know the stuff that has been trickling down on the lesser people ever since Saint Ronald Reagan.
The news man said there was another way out, another way than suicide.
He failed to offer any specific way out.
I suggest creating a 3rd party to destroy the CRIME FAMILY Americans keep electing. If the Clinton Bush Obama “globalization” trade policy isn’t stopped there will be many more suicides.
Being out on the streets won’t do anything. We need to boycott the media and Walmart. Watch C-span if you want to know what the government is doing. There are hearings on C-span or watch them on the C-span website.
The only remedy is to create a powerful 3rd party. We should take over one of the parties that currently exist.
They read my email and replied. To see it click here.
http://overthecoals.blogspot.com/2011/02/obama-reply-to-my-email.html
Well, a hundred thousand people at the Capitol in Wisconsin was not nothing. I think a million people in D.C. might be something too. But, I like the USUncut idea, going after the people who are working their will on Congress and the White House.
As to your other point, yes.