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| Current Replies for Terrified |
| Terrified (wordsmithy) Posted: 1:19:25 am on 1/30/2009 Modified: Never |
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| For more than 26 years, I've applied myself, worked hard, gotten excellent performance reviews, and otherwise "followed all the rules." At 50, I should be enjoying the fruits of my labor and starting to plan what I'll do in retirement. But instead, I am now frighteningly unsure about my entire future and what it might bring, having been just laid off yesterday, January 29, from my professional-level job (as a copy editor) of five and one-half years. Some of you might remember my ten-month 2002-2003 search, chronicled on these boards, that resulted in this job. As I've gotten older, each job search has become harder and longer. I worry I might not have the wherewithal to make it to the next job, and even if I do, that it will not be sufficient to support even my accustomed modest lifestyle. Why has wanting the reality of a good, stable, long-term job with decent benefits, a real future, and a secure retirement somehow become so unreasonable in the "minds" of so many in power these last 28 years or so? Ever since the days of Ronald Reagan, how is it that middle-class and working people have become "special interests," while the rich and powerful are not? After whatever severance pay and insurance coverage I get runs out, so also might my ability to afford and access the health care and medications that, for me, can literally mean the difference between sight and blindness, between having both feet versus one or none, between life and death. At my age, I can testify firsthand that age discrimination among many prospective employers is rampant. Far too many prefer the young, the gullible, the malleable, and the cheap, not necessarily in that order, while rejecting anyone with any measure of real intelligence and experience out of hand as--repeat with me--"overqualified." The way in which so many of them act so viscerally--almost sexually--threatened when any job applicant dares to question such "wisdom" would be amusing were its results not so unjust and injurious, not only to our economy and its potential, but to an entire generation of eminently well-qualified American workers who've been deliberately cheated of their birthright by those who've engineered our job-scarce, pay- and benefits-stagnant Reaganized and Bushed economy. I'm not only afraid of possibly not being able to afford my (relatively affordable) apartment some time later this year, possibly not being able to meet all my bills, possibly losing so much of what I've worked for all my years. Having been diagnosed in 2005 with type 2 diabetes, I know that most if not all insurers would not issue me any sort of affordable individual policy that covers the health care I need most. I doubt I can afford COBRA coverage. And the proposal by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to extend Medicaid to all workers drawing unemployment compensation remains far from enactment. I am deeply worried about being unable to afford the medical care and the five medications--all of which together, even under my former employer's health coverage, still cost me over $1,300 out of pocket last year--without a job. I certainly could not afford these, or COBRA premiums, on unemployment compensation--or on the $10 or $12 an hour that many employers now seem to think is somehow acceptable in our (supposedly) civilized society as some sort of pay level suitable for full-time, experienced, college-educated professionals. Left untreated, I worry that my diabetes, up until now under good control, could make me lose my eyesight or my feet or legs, or even give rise to a heart attack or a stroke, possibly shortening or even ending my life. Health care and good, stable jobs with good pay, benefits, and futures are not luxuries or privileges, but fundamental human rights. Government has not only the duty to protect such rights, but to actively provide for their realization by positive action and, if need be, steeply progressive taxation. If that means a relative handful rich and powerful people who have profited obscenely from the status quo must learn to make do with less, good. Let them consider it a fitting "national gesture of thanks" for all the tax breaks, all the unearned profits wrenched from middle-class workers' wallets and living standards, all the special privileges, all the bailout money they've enjoyed from our "contributions" and "sacrifices." It's long past time they returned the favor, and then some. Recovery might indeed be coming, but what so many of us, myself included, are now worried about is that for many of us, again myself included, it literally might not come in time. In America, so supposedly enlightened and free, in 2009, supposedly part of an era of progress, we are literally losing our jobs, our health care, our homes, our futures by the day. President Obama and Congress, we need health care, decent jobs and guaranteed minimum incomes, affordable housing, and other fundamentals of a decent society and life now. For many of us, our lives are now at stake. What is happening to us is not a game. We "ordinary" Americans are America. When do we get our own much-needed bailout? I, for one, am not sure at all about what this year might now bring me. I am terrified. |
| Re: Terrified (DudeWheresMyJob) Posted: 5:00:52 pm on 1/30/2009 Modified: Never |
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I agree: this situation has gone well beyond critical mass. We have lost over 100K jobs this month alone: where in God's Name are they going to find jobs for all these people? And there is more to come in May...when colleges hold their graduations. I wonder how many livable wage jobs the graduates will manage to find.
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| Re: Terrified (new_wave_princes) Posted: 5:32:20 pm on 1/30/2009 Modified: Never |
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| Is this LMEM? Yes it's terrifying. This whole economy is scary, I'm about to lose everything, have to pay taxes, and my unemployment is almost gone. No one is safe. |
| Re: Terrified (DudeWheresMyJob) Posted: 9:19:18 pm on 1/30/2009 Modified: Never |
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| Don't they have an extension in your state? |
| Re: Terrified (WorkEthicDropout) Posted: 8:16:04 am on 2/1/2009 Modified: Never |
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Wordsmithy wrote (posted: 1:19:25 am on 1/30/2009): "At 50, I should be enjoying the fruits of my labor and starting to plan what I'll do in retirement. "But instead, I am now frighteningly unsure about my entire future and what it might bring, having been just laid off yesterday, January 29, from my professional-level job (as a copy editor) of five and one-half years." Though it is of little consolation, I can sympathize and empathize. You are exactly right: at this stage we should be enjoying the fruits of our labor and realizing the benefits of our work life experience. To have to face the job market at this stage in life would be difficult in any case, but under the present economic conditions it cannot be anything but frightening. Although I am working now, the anxiety and frustration from years of job hunting in 2002 - 2006 have hardly diminished. A friend recently told me, "I think you've got post-traumatic stress disorder from this job situation." Yep, that's as good a diagnosis as any! |
| Re: Terrified (DudeWheresMyJob) Posted: 9:39:21 am on 2/1/2009 Modified: Never |
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Five and a half years? That's a hell of a good run you had. It's a sad sorry case of sh!t happens. Look what happened to a great many 401Ks that people had -- most of them lost what they had in them last year. How many of last month's 200K plus people who lost their jobs last month even saw that coming a month ago? I will bet you nobody did.
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| Re: Terrified (wordsmithy) Posted: 2:11:27 pm on 2/1/2009 Modified: 2:31:21 pm on 2/22/2009 |
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| new_wave_princes: The answer should be pretty clear! :-) DudeWheresMyJob: Yes, they do have an extension of unemployment benefits in my state, currently from the normal 26 to 32. But in today's job market, that's not much additional time. And as you know, UC, while helpful, does not completely fill the gap. Five and a half years might today be a good run, but I remember firsthand the days when if one did one's job well, one often had it for life, or at least until retirement. As you might have discerned from my postings, I feared this coming for many months, long before almost any other of my co-workers did. But as you know, I have this strange way of discerning subtle signs and becoming aware of trends long before most other people do. My former de facto supervisor, the day before it happened, said all else equal, she thought my chances of being laid off "low." Many others with whom I worked said at least as much, many thinking and telling me that I was vital to the company and that they saw it as inconceivable that I might be among those laid off. Far from being just a "sad sorry case of sh!t happens," the layoffs we're seeing today are ruining people's lives. Yes, I, too, have experienced signs of PTSD. As I noted above, I am terrified of becoming unable to access the medical care I need. This could have serious effects on my health--even shortening my life. My finances are likewise at grave risk now, as is my entire future. There is no excuse for what is happening here to you, to me, and millions of others in this "richest country in the world." When Congress rubber-stamps over $750 billion for greedy, incompetent bankers, why has it been having such difficulty over much of these last 28 years or so in appropriating anything for us "ordinary" Americans in need through no fault of our own? *Where is our bailout?* I've several times lived through what BE describes in _Bait and Switch_ (I could easily have given her plenty of firsthand information confirming that all she there writes is true, and then some--but I've never fallen for the useless "counseling" she describes). I now fear ending up among those she describes toward the end of that book, those who fell out of the middle class into poverty. |
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Re: Terrified (Elyssa Durant) Posted: 6:07:48 pm on 2/4/2009 Modified: Never |
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| --repeat with me-- "overqualified." "overqualified." "overqualified." I am with you sister! Thank you for coming forward. Elyssa Durant, Ed.M. Nashville, Tennessee E-mail: ed70@columbia.edu |
| Re: Terrified (Whippersnapper) Posted: 1:56:26 pm on 2/9/2009 Modified: Never |
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| [i]"We have lost over 100K jobs this month alone: where in God's Name are they going to find jobs for all these people?"[/i] --------------- It's worse than what the media reports. Because our nation is also suffering from population explosion, we need about 150,000 new jobs each month just to keep pace with population growth. So even if we have a month where 70,000 jobs are created, we've still lost 80,000 jobs relative to population growth. Our nation is entering the Second Great Depression or perhaps an outright transformation to second- or third-world status. This sort of thing can happen to you when you send your manufacturing jobs and knowledge-based jobs to India, China, and Mexico, when you import foreigners on H-1B and L-1 visas to work knowledge-based jobs, and when you allow mass immigration. Thanks to Global Labor Arbitrage our nation's economy, labor market, and standard of living are merging with that of the third world, creating an economic holocaust. Are you ready to join the third world? |
| Re: Terrified (pmpodhorzer) Posted: 6:39:03 pm on 2/10/2009 Modified: Never |
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| Sell everything and come to Argentina. With USD 1000 per month you are settled. Medical Insurance costs USD 60 per month. Yep. Young people all over the world are doing it. Buenos Aires is full of those. Pablo Podhorzer - Buenos Aires - Argentina MA Sociology (Tel Aviv University) - Now working and well! |
| Re: Terrified (DudeWheresMyJob) Posted: 2:17:56 pm on 2/11/2009 Modified: Never |
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when you import foreigners on H-1B and L-1 visas to work knowledge-based jobs... I saw this way back in the Seventies, when allied health care a plenty was coming from the Philippines to work here as med techs, nurses and more. As I recall, nursing and medical technology were two of the biggest majors in the Seventies (at least they were in this neck of the woods). And most of the Filipino nurses and med techs I knew had two full time jobs -- or at least one full time and one part time job; they'd send a good chunk of their earnings home.
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| Re: Terrified (wordsmithy) Posted: 2:32:28 pm on 2/22/2009 Modified: Never |
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| Thanks, Ms. Durant, but I'm a "brother." :-) |
| Re: Terrified (kitty33) Posted: 8:47:32 pm on 2/24/2009 Modified: 8:58:09 pm on 2/24/2009 |
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| in a word: Canada=healthcare, if you can get a visa and a job. I've been unemployed over a year, never got unemployment because I worked contract. My agency lost all their contracts in this state and any near by to importing foreign workers. I also have major health issues, and haven't had labs in two years. I can no longer afford my meds, which were hard even with insurance. I am 59. Welcome to the asylum! "Don't look for hope here, for hope has deserted these lands." Lord of the Rings. We are on our own. Be inventive, be bold. Forget how things used to be or how we expected them to be. It's gone and won't be back---EVER. This is not a Depression, it's a complete change of how we live. Ask your doc to help you with supplies. They are usually good about things like that. And speaking of nasty layoffs--I was laid off from the job I planned to stay at forever in 1998. They didn't even have the decency to phone us. As each shift went to work (hospital) we were held in the supervisor's office, lined up, pointed to, and told, "you're laid off, you're offered a job or you're fired' according to how much they liked us. I was offered a job, but the staff was cut by exactly 1/2 and we were already working with 1/2 a staff. The nurses were supposed to scrub the floors and we had so few supplies, even TP, we were raiding each others units. There certainly is age discrimination. I couldn't even get an $8 job campaigning for Obama. the college kids doing the hiring took one look at me and rolled their eyes in horror, as though the mummy had just waltzed in, dragging bandages. They never even looked at my resume. That has been the response everywhere I've been all year, so I am moving..somewhere. While I still have enough money to move. There is no excuse for Bush and the bankers not being prosecuted. None. |
| Re: Terrified (disenfranchised_) Posted: 6:05:30 pm on 2/26/2009 Modified: Never |
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| I hear ya -- I came to Houston back in 1980 with a Bachelor of Science in Geology, expecting to make it in the Oil & Gas business, but only got to work from 1980-84...then as a temp in 87-88, again a few times over the next few years, only briefly, always temporary, until 1991 or so...I had one really good job from 1998-2002, managed to escape the first few years of layoffs, but finally got axed in 2002. As a result of this, having found only menial, low-paying jobs in between, I am the oldest of seven children, well over fifty years old, and the only one who never married...never owned a house...and today, after losing my apartment of 13 years, am living in my brother's house. I have very low self-esteem, am frequently suicidal - there's a good hanging tree in the backyard, I may use it at some future date... I have attended a networking group that's supposed to help us find work, but it's all bull****. Rewrite your resume, target other skills - I've been doing that, and nothing works. These books, Nickel and Dimed, and Bait and Switch, they're telling my story. I have been trying to tell relatives and friends what's going on in this country, but they don't seem to get it. Two of my brothers have union jobs...another did really well in sales...I don't understand how some people can stay at the same job for decades, but I can't...And it's NOT MY ATTITUDE, either -- THANK YOU, BARBARA ! ! |
| Re: Terrified (cbravo) Posted: 1:01:44 pm on 3/10/2009 Modified: Never |
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| I am a journalist at FLYPmedia.com and we are doing a story for our next issue about the unemployment crisis. As I am sure you are well aware, the unemployment rate in the US is the highest it has been in 30 years. As part of our story, however, we know that numbers do not tell the personal experiences and perspectives of the people who are directly affected by the layoffs, cut-backs, etc. We are asking people to record themselves, via web-cam or camcorder, talking about their situation; how you got where you are, specifically what are the problems you are facing now, what resources are available to you. Basically, we want to hear anything you want to say. If you would be willing to share your story, thanks! The easiest way to get me the videos is via yousendit.com. But if you would like to participate but prefer another method, please get in touch with me and we can work it out. Thanks, Chris Bravo cbravo@flypmedia.com |
| Re: Terrified (DudeWheresMyJob) Posted: 5:47:23 pm on 3/10/2009 Modified: Never |
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I am a journalist at FLYPmedia.com and we are doing a story for our next issue about the unemployment crisis. As I am sure you are well aware, the unemployment rate in the US is the highest it has been in 30 years. As part of our story, however, we know that numbers do not tell the personal experiences and perspectives of the people who are directly affected by the layoffs, cut-backs, etc. Good luck with this -- considering the bottom's long fallen out and all of us are in free fall, you should be stomred with phone calls and emails from now until 10 Superbowl Sundays from now. |
| Re: Terrified: Advice (Yellowbird) Posted: 2:03:01 pm on 3/20/2009 Modified: Never |
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| My family suffered the same degradation when my husband turned 55. In fact for the last 10 years, everyone I know over 55 has lost their job, and that's a lot of folk. I turn 57 tomorrow, and my husband made it to 62. Now if he gets laid off from Home Depot, he can get social security and there is enough time to get by on initial unemployment until the checks start coming. In other words, we made it over the hump. Our current health insurance cost is $1300 a month for PREMIUMS, we must pay our pharmacy which is about $150 a month, because the $1300 premium does not have pharmacy, dental, or eyeglasses, both of which we carry additionally on top of that cost. We are forced to pay this fee because employers will lay off anyone who has a chronic illness or a dependent with chronic illness. They will throw you in the street sick rather than pay your increased insurance premiums. So to get the job, hide the illness. Insure outside of your job and once you get a program, KEEP IT UNTIL YOU RETIRE. You can do that by sticking with your own doctor and needing him. My sincere advice is this: Take these steps before you go broke. Do not sit there and spend down your savings trying to hold on to your current lifestyle. You can't make it 10 years. If your home is not paid for, sell it. Take what ever equity you can and get a house that is foreclosed at auction. Anything to get the monthly cost of living down as far as possible. Sell your excess chattel and bank the money. Then set up your new kitchen and garden for depression era home cooking and growing your own victory garden. You will have gone a long long way toward ensuring your survival without becoming homeless this way. Research your state insurance commission for laws regarding health insurance in your state. Get the best product you can find and skip the Cobra scam. You can tell your insurance commissioner the premiums for COBRA are too prohibitive and that allows you to buy BC or Kaiser on the open market. Make new friends, hunker down to withstand 10 years of this. After you have done all this, THEN go look for work. my signature: Gore: ... I fear that I’m losing my objectivity where President Bush and Cheney are concerned. Not much surprises me anymore. I have a lot of friends who share the following problem with me: Our sense of outrage is so saturated that when a new outrage occurs, we have to download some existing outrage into an external hard drive in order to make room for a new outrage. 02138 (Harvard Alumni Magazine), Sept.-Oct. 2007 |
| Re: Terrified: Advice (DudeWheresMyJob) Posted: 5:00:11 pm on 3/25/2009 Modified: Never |
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I'm still trying to figure out where this is at. I'm the only one that seems to be unemployed. Nobody else I know is encountering this problem. I guess I'm the only lucky stiff.
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