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Jim

wrote:

I never said we were drowning in jobs, just there are jobs for people
who are qualified and willing to think outside of the little box they
have been working in.

That's always been the case, and for time immemorial people have been
able and willing to change occupations to put food on the table.
You're speaking in cliches.
"Qualified?"
The real unemployment rate is probably close to 20%.
Without connections it's very hard if not impossible to find work.
Many people don't have "connections" like your wife.
That's who offered her a job. A connection.
If she was unemployed with no connections you would be singing a
different tune.
Big mistake to take personal circumstances and project those on the
wider problem of normal people who can't find a job.
Everybody isn't you.

I agree there are lots of people who do not have the skills to find a
job in the 21st century but the answer to that is to retrain them, not
to just send them a check and hope the buggie whip business takes off
again.

Jobs are needed to target retraining.
I don't buy any of your BS about how special you were to make a career
switch back in the 90's when the country was flooded with work.
I did the same, and just considered it my normal survivor instinct.
It was easy as hell.
But if I was trying to do that today it wouldn't be easy at all.
Maybe I could, maybe I couldn't.
What I do know is now ain't then.

Maybe we should take some of that unspent stimulus money and fund
training centers that just concentrate on giving people job skills but
the real problem is what will they do if we are not making anything
here anymore.

That's the key.
If we don't get manufacturing back here get used to a welfare state.
One might think there is an American aversion to having a large class
of people not engaged in productive labor.

After all, the welfare rolls were killed back in the 90's.
Unfortunately, the welfare queens were replaced by the Wall Street
kings, who were no more productive and did far more harm to the country.
They have not yet been rejected, so a future welfare state is still in
the cards.

Then you have all the early retiree boomers, not producing anything, but
living off SS and the inflated returns of money they invested from
inflated salaries, which was used to offshore American jobs.

You have your SS disability scammers, many of them seemingly middle
class white folks of good repute from good families.
But plenty of them are just lazy bums who prefer gov money to work.

You have all those who barely did a lick of work but inherited the
proceeds of their parents' labor.

This country is full of welfare queens and kings.
They just don't live in ghettos and drive pimped out Caddies.
And they all say "I deserve what I got." "I'm special."

IMO, the best thing that can happen to this country is to offshore
current Wall Street practices into oblivion.
Allow 401k contributions only into equities of American firms who
produce in America, or into financial instruments which provide capital
to be invested in same.

How can America ever be strong when American investment capital is
largely used to destroy American jobs and strengthen our economic enemies?
It can't.
The country won't work when people aren't working.

So take your pick. Current Wall Street practice and welfare state, or
changed Wall Street practice and no welfare state.
That's what will play out.
I tend to think welfare state, because for many that's easier than
working, and from what I've seen, America is more and more loaded with
bums. Besides, the pols are owned by Wall Street.

You got your lib bums and your conservative bums.
Don't matter. A bum is a bum. And most think they're "special."

Maybe someone should start little regional businesses making and
installing something simple like solar water heaters. That would be
good for the workers and good for the environment.
Unfortunately the union plumbers, pipe fitters and boilermakers would
probably shut you down.

Right. The tremendous threat of the evil unions overrunning us here in
Florida - what is it, 5% union membership, third lowest of all states? -
will kill our spirit of entrepreneurship.
That's what killed Frogwatch's outfit.
Right.

Jim - "not making anything here anymore" was the only light here.