"As I stated elsewhere, when you factor in people with temp jobs because they can't find real jobs the real unemployment rate is about 12-13%."That's a nonsensical statistic. For one thing, all jobs are temporary. For another, even "temp" jobs are jobs.
Can you comprehend the difference between a job with benefits and some expectation of stability barring gross incompetence and a job with no benefits, no expectation of a raise, and that almost certainly will be gone in a few weeks ? The people holding them certainly do.
You ain't unemployed if you are temping.
Is a temp going to buy a house or a car ? Is a temp going to make any major purchases on a highly provisional hand to mouth income ? Although a temp is statistically "employed" his status is so marginal that his outlook and behavior are "unemployed". And he will vote accordingly to bring some stability to his life.
Companies like EDS make a living throwing warm temp bodies to their customers like BellSouth, ...
Lovely for the company, but companies don't vote. People do.
and many a "temp" has found life to be just fine and dandy without getting a so-called "real" job.
What would you care if they didn't ? I knew lots of temps. None of them regarded it as anything more that hopefully a way station to a real job and a stable life. Does hand to mouth subsistence without benefits and the constant threat of termination for reasons having nothing to do with your job performance sound fine and dandy to you ?
"Can you comprehend the difference between a job with benefits and some expectation of stability barring gross incompetence and a job with no benefits, no expectation of a raise, and that almost certainly will be gone in a few weeks ? The people holding them certainly do."
Stability is an illusion. You can be the best telephone switchboard operator in the world at the largest, most stable company on the planet, and still be out of a job tomorrow when a new computer replaces you. Ditto for being a great Java programmer and getting replaced by a new HTML design package, or a newspaper corner salesman getting replaced by a new vending machine.
To get real stability, you need Soviet levels of control on an economy. Yes, Russians didn't get fired back in the USSR...of course, they're still earning only about $30 a month today, too...and making fewer things than Taiwan (which has a tenth of Russia's population) or South Korea.
Cubans and apparently North Koreans have "stability" too...but a lot of good that does them.
Even Europe's level of "stability" is being blamed for their own inefficient workforce and 10+% unemployment rates in France and Germany.
And for examples of "stability" close to home, consider how inefficient most government bureaucrats are...all of whom work for agencies that wouldn't know "re-engineering" or downsizing if it walked in the front door with a big neon sign on its head.