one in four families had been hit by a job loss during the past year

[phantom power]

Wall Street can boast about recovery all it wants, much of America remains trapped in economic hell.

It will take a monumental leadership effort by the administration and Congress to spark the kind of changes necessary to transform this wretched employment landscape. Ross Eisenbrey of the Economic Policy Institute has written: “By itself, the private sector is unable to create jobs in the numbers the United States needs to obtain a robust, full economic recovery.”

If that’s true, and I have long believed it to be the case, then we need to rethink our entire approach to employment. Conventional efforts to kick-start economic growth are dwarfed by the vast scale of the problem. Bold new efforts — creative efforts — are needed.

A recent survey for the policy institute found that one in four families had been hit by a job loss during the past year and 44 percent had suffered either the loss of a job or a reduction in wages or hours worked. Economic insecurity has spread like a debilitating virus through scores of millions of American families.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/opinion/14herbert.html?_r=1&hp

[virgogal]

1. And mine is one of them and I never,ever thought it would happen.

[Paper Roses]

3. Mine too. I thought it was my last job before I retire.

The retirement won't happen. Too much has happened in the last 10 months. I am still looking for a job. Things are not rosy here.

[truedelphi]

2. The last nail in the coffin of the Middle Class of America.

I have heard economists who say that the upper one percent is not "Smart enough to have brought the nation to its knees" as a part of conspiracy against the rest of us, but conspiracy or not, one does wonder how it is that a certain segment continually escapes any type of retribution.

Wall Street brings the Stock Market, housing bubble based-economy to its knees, and do they pay?

No, Joe and Josefina Blow have to pay, and if their Main Street enterprise collapses, they get no BailOut.

[democraticinsurgent]

5. hard times for sure

laid off last year, closed a retail business last year (separately), forced to start a consulting business this year (for lack of any job offers) which is sucking wind and i'm selling off my record collection on eBay in hopes of staying alive.

i know i am not alone in this.

[iris27]

4. Reduction in hours here.

My store is trying like hell not to lay anyone off, but in the meantime anyone who's not salaried has seen their hours cut more and more.

[lib2DaBone]

6. My house.. which I paid $350K for.. just sold at auction for $50K.

I had put on a new roof... put in new Air Conditioning.. put in a new lawn and painted the house. (All with my own personal money)


I would have bid on the house at auction.. but it is required that you have CASH in order to bid. You are required to put up a 10% downpayment and you have 10 days to come up with the CASH balance after auction.

I could not come up with $50K cash, needless to say. I would have made the payments and kept the house if I had any means.. but I lost my job. I lost a lot more than a house.. I lost 20 years of hard work and sweat equity.

This depression is the largest transfer of wealth from the working poor to Wall Street. It is NOT an accident.

Why does Obama surround himself with Goldman Sacs thugs? We the people could use a little help...

[barbtries]

11. i'm so sorry

:hug:

this sucks. i've always rented. my money was pissed into the wind from the get. but it just is WRONG that the banks are stripping people of something they have paid and paid and paid for like this.

[juno jones]

7. Restaurant hours used to be around 35 hrs a week.

Good luck getting more than 28-30 now.

[HughMoran]

8. On my 3rd job this year after 15 years at one place

I wonder what sort of new creative efforts are available.

[Yuugal]

9. Obama has it covered! Chill out!

His new nafta with the pacific rim will bring endless growth and prosperity.........somewhere.

[barbtries]

10. that is a HUGE number.

just in the past year?? this is depressing.

[pscot]

12. If you work in the building trades

the prospects are very bleak indeed.

[RubyDuby in GA]

13. I was laid off at the end of July

I had been there for 10 years and 8 months. I was the office manager for an architectural firm. No one is building because there is no money.

Still looking for anything. Can't even find part time work because so many people are out of work now.

[aaronbav]

14. I HEAR ya RubyDuby in GA - I am a residential designer with

many years in the profession here in Ga. - I live in Tucker BTW.

I was laid off from the architectural firm where I worked in Jan '08, and after searching for 10 months found a gig out in Dallas, Tx with another architectural firm. I was there from Nov. 08 to March 30 '09, but was laid off again when multiple BANKS pulled financing on multiple projects. In my entire working career, I have NEVER seen it as GRIM as it is now. Add to that that I am now pushing 50 and I'm really beginning to wonder if I will ever work again. Before this I NEVER, EVER had a problem finding a job - sometimes not the one I wanted exactly, but it was something to pay the bills. Now nothing like that seems to exist. I have a BA and LOTS of experience- not just with design/drafting condocs, but in technical areas such as network Admin, and I can't find anything there either.


Back in '95 I took a break from Architecture and got a support gig with a software company, though I had never done any thing similar previously - now even with expereince I can't find ANYTHING, and there is certainly noting like when I got the support gig by just being tech savvy and smart with tech stuff - I've always had a passion for computers from the first time I was able to use one in a lab my university set up for the architecture department WAY BACK in '84!!!

Now I have NO idea what to do, I send out resume after resume with no response at all - so discouraging!!!!