Funny how so many of us are either unemployed or UNDER employed. Funny also how the press seems to sidestep the latter more often than not. People who lost their jobs have ran out of unemployment and have, in desperation, found jobs doing things they are over-qualified for. I've noticed people in their 40's and 50's working fast food jobs or waiting tables, leaving the teenagers and young adults who would normally fill those jobs without options.
I notice that the job ads are for temporary health care jobs, and high-tech jobs like writing software, and very few jobs for the manufacturing and construction trades. I also see the same jobs posted over and over, because they want to pay near minimum wage for something they are requiring certificates, degrees and years of experience for. All this while taxes go up, prices go up, and government salaries in high places continue to be sky-high. I say we cut the fat at the top, discontinue the guaranteed retirement and health care benefits for the already overpaid senate and other offices, and spend that money creating jobs by letting the small businesses do business without being overtaxed.
Retail is failing, and unless we are working at decent-paying jobs, we sure as hell are not going to be out buying anything except things we absolutely need. The circle begins with a paycheck that pays for a honest days work with an honest wage, not the kind of wages we made at our first job babysitting or mowing lawns. Soon all those illegal immigrants are going to be out of a job too because the rest of us have taken them. It's much more productive to hire someone legal at the same wage because they won't be deported, they are desperate, and because the economy sucks (and will for a long time), they will stick around.
