Krauthammer: "Middle-Aged May Never Get Employed Again"

realclearpolitics ^

[traumer]

"The problem is at the consumer level, confidence is low and that is because, as you showed, showed we had underemployment with one out of every six Americans. The worst element of that is that among the unemployed, against the American history, more than approaching half, have [been] unemployed for over six months.

[Codeflier]

Tort reform needs to be in the list.

[Max in Utah]

Back in the Great Depression, a lot of people understood how to grow food, make clothes, fix things, or do manual labor.

True, most people were less specialized and citified than now. And there were still plenty of family farms in those days, many people had relatives with land that could feed an extended family if necessary.

[ex-snook]

People want to act like it’s 1998, but it’s really 1933.

---

Then FDR started the WPA to hire older people and the CCC for the younger folks. But today there is work. Look at what you buy. It is work elsewhere. This is work that used to be here. Bring it back. Why isn’t it done? Campaign contributors owns both parties. Perot, who heard the job sucking sound, would be elected today. The alternative to private business not hiring people, is that the government will. Some call that socialism, some call it work.

[Nobel_1]

Old school unemployment charts which have not been tinkered with by Zero’s administration can be found at http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

Real unemployment has been above 20% for a long time

[Big_Harry]

When my business crapped in December of 2008, I fired up the resume machine and looked forward to returning to some type of manufacturing job. After almost two years of looking and hundreds of resumes sent out, I was told by a friend in the placement industry that because I was sixty years old, I should find a way to retire gracefully. It was providential that my sixty-second birthday was around the corner so we went ahead with an early retirement. I could not imagine being a few years younger and having to hand out smiley faces at Wally World to scrape by until retirement.

[Jonty30]

The fact is that the baby boomers got their education subsidized, got the government to give them all sorts of goodies, regardless of the damage they were doing to future generations.

The baby boomer generation could have stopped the debt from getting impossibly big, as they stopped Vietnam, but their subsidized living was more important to that generation than the consequences.

Would it be nice if the consequences of liberalism could fall on those who are liberal-minded? Sure, but the rain has always fallen on the good and evil.

Don’t call me jerk. I didn’t play a part in creating this mess to the same degree anybody 45 years or older played. I just get to live with the consequences.

[massgopguy]

What are you? A mamaluke? They’ll put a wire on your home phone!

[p. henry]

Agreed.

The net affect of the current tort system is to increase the premiums for liability insurance, in that it socializes individual losses and attorneys fees through the insurance industry. Tort reform, which would include class action suits, construction defect suits, ADA suits, and medical malpractise, and would resuscitate the concept of assumption of risk, would help the general economy through the reduced premiums that would result from causing some losses to be retained by individuals and not spread over society as a whole.

[haroldeveryman]

Pro-Obama 20 somethings don’t have feelings. They have thrills.

[Charles Martel]

Hello rooftop, hello rifle.

Yes, I think it's just a matter of time. It's hard to say exactly when this will begin, but trouble rides a fast horse.

[El Cid]

There was an astonishing fact posted on another thread about California recently. The State Budget was something like $26B in the hole, and they estimated that paying for illegals was costing about $23B. Even with the obvious answer staring them in the face, California's "leaders" won't do the right thing.

Yes - its amazing. We have a 'leadership' class that cares only about growing the size of their personal empire of bureaucrats - and not a whit for the State (or the Nation).
People have murmured on other threads how our Nation is adopting some of the characteristics of the old Soviet Union - with a "Nomenklatura" caste, and those closely associated with the Government, vs. the 'common worker' caste (aka, taxpayers; aka, bitter bible and gun clingers).

I suppose its human nature. You can take the best country and government devised by man (a Constitutional Republic designed to govern - but at the same time, limit the size and power of government) - and yet man's inherent sinful nature (pride and greed) will destroy that over time. Just cling to your Bible and the Truth -- we're strangers passing through a strange land.

[SVTCobra03]

"The fact is that the baby boomers got their education subsidized, got the government to give them all sorts of goodies, regardless of the damage they were doing to future generations. The baby boomer generation could have stopped the debt from getting impossibly big, as they stopped Vietnam, but their subsidized living was more important to that generation than the consequences."

[RinaseaofDs]

Do you live in a state where it is illegal to smoke in a bar?

Just wondering. If you are, it is a prime example of what we’re all talking about here with regulation. If you could smoke in a bar, I’d go to bars - period.

I smoke cigars, and prefer to do it indoors at times, near where libations are available.

WA state has made it illegal, and bars hither and yon are going out of business.

[RinaseaofDs]

It’s happening. Drudge had the body counts for the July 4 celebrations for the major cities in the East today.

That’s not a fluke, or good kids gone bad. That’s people who were told to expect one thing and got another taking it out on somebody else.

[FreedomPoster]

Do you have a link to that? I’d love the back up.

[nascarnation]

America’s “Food Stamp President” has added 17 million to the ranks since he took over in 2009. I’m sure the Baraqqis consider this a huge accomplishment.

[Fred Hayek]

Companies hiring the 20-somethings mostly for their cheaper starting salaries and ‘gambled’ on the technology transfer by the Middle Aged willingly and completely.

One major engineering and construction company did exactly that. Let go of most of the experienced engineers, and hired some engineers with less than 2 years experience to replace them (and likely some people with education degrees). This furthered that particular company’s reputation as a cookie cutter outfit.
It will go unnamed because I worked there at one time.

[sand88]

Bravo! I stand with you. Millions of patriotic Americans are on your side. We will not be defeated.

[Disambiguator]

No, I just remember reading it. I think Rush might have talked about it on one of his shows last week, too.

Even if the facts are not 100% correct, you still get the picture!

(Fake but accurate.)

[LibLieSlayer]

If we can throw off the dictator and return America to her Founding Ideals... American Exceptionalism will provide jobs for all skilled Americans... and no one is more skilled or educated more properly than America's middle aged citizens. Think Reagan and stop with the defeatism... We can do it... it was not easy to do it when Reagan was President... but we did it then and we will do again... we are REAL Americans... something obama and the dims will NEVER be.

LLS