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For the Unemployed Over 50, Fears of Never Working Again
The New York Times ^ | 09/19/10 | Motoko Rich

Posted on 09/20/2010 8:55:39 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX

Patricia Reid is not in her 70s, an age when many Americans continue to work. She is not even in her 60s. She is just 57.

But four years after losing her job she cannot, in her darkest moments, escape a nagging thought: she may never work again.

College educated, with a degree in business administration, she is experienced, having worked for two decades as an internal auditor and analyst at Boeing before losing that job.

But that does not seem to matter, not for her and not for a growing number of people in their 50s and 60s who desperately want or need to work to pay for retirement and who are starting to worry that they may be discarded from the work force — forever.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: boomers; business; insurance; jobs; obamacare; obamanomics; unemployed
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This is so incredibly sad, and do you think this might be related to health insurance? You bet it is. Now with Obamacare mandates causing drastic increases in the cost of insurance and health care, companies will be even more likely to get rid of their older employees and shy away from hiring anyone over 50.

Government policies are destoying people's lives, but our elected officials don't give a rat's whisker. They have almost guaranteed lifetime employment with generous benefits.

What a bunch of immoral tools.

"These men (government officials), in point of fact, are seldom if ever moved by anything rationally describable as public spirit; there is actually no more public spirit among them than among so many burglars or street-walkers." ~ H.L. Mencken

1 posted on 09/20/2010 8:55:51 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX
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To: Pining_4_TX
idiot headline of the century alert.

Sure, people over fifty, so feeble and decrepit, are just going to slouch in thier hovels and count the moments until they die, 20,30,40,50 years later.

Does the times fire everyone who's past puberty?

2 posted on 09/20/2010 8:58:19 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand
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To: Pining_4_TX

A good reason to be self employed if you can find a profession in which to practice. You may not get as many clients as you want, but you will not be unemployed.


3 posted on 09/20/2010 8:58:45 AM PDT by henkster (A broken government does not merit full faith and credit.)
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To: Pining_4_TX

oh, let’s not forget the “marginalizing the mature” alert.


4 posted on 09/20/2010 8:59:20 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand
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To: Pining_4_TX

I’m 57. If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve got my own small business, I’d be out in the cold without a prayer. Things are very tough for us right now, but somehow, we’re managing.

Had I not taken the risk to start my own business in my mid-forties, I’d be at even greater risk now.


5 posted on 09/20/2010 8:59:50 AM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: henkster
A good reason to be self employed if you can find a profession in which to practice. You may not get as many clients as you want, but you will not be unemployed.

Exactly. It's as if the only accepted form of "employment" is with a corporation. That's more like servitude. On the other hand, they oughtn't b*tch, as I know some corporate people who get 6 weeks of paid vaca a year. It seemed they were out more than they were in.

I haven't had 6 weeks vacation in my life, paid or otherwise.

6 posted on 09/20/2010 9:01:41 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand
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To: Pining_4_TX

That’s where I am, sort of. Majorly underemployed and feeling trapped. Not sure where to go.


7 posted on 09/20/2010 9:02:26 AM PDT by madison10
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To: Pining_4_TX

ObamaCare is going down.I forsee that if it doesn’t, blood will run in the streets. I won’t say whose blood, but I suggest that the ones who authored this abomination will not get away unscathed.

Older Americans will not just sit there and allow themselves to be attritted by lack of opportunities to work.


8 posted on 09/20/2010 9:02:26 AM PDT by rahbert
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To: Pining_4_TX

Well, thank you, New York Times, for this said story, which is now all too common.

Do you understand that you, and the rest of the left-wing media, are largely responsible for this miserable economic decline? This is what you at the New York Times have been working for, since the days when you were busy sticking up for Uncle Joe Stalin, and Fidel Castro, and Mass Murderer Chairman Mao, and all those union bosses and Democrat politicians who have brought us to this state.

How’s that Hopey Changey?


9 posted on 09/20/2010 9:02:35 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius.)
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To: Pining_4_TX

I’m 50 and a disabled veteran and just went back to work as a recruiter for a mortgage bank. We hire people 18-70+ who call potential borrowers from a home office and facilitate loans. Is it rough in this economy? Sure, but what isn’t? Is it hard to learn to do this? No harder than most jobs, and it has the potential to pay better than many. No job is for everybody, but people over 50, the long-term unemployed, the disabled and stay-at-home parents might want to look at positions like this.


10 posted on 09/20/2010 9:02:41 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I don't need a newspaper to know the world's been shaved by a drunken barber.)
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To: Pining_4_TX

If you’re over 50 in today’s America, and lose your job/career....

For the most part, you’re screwed.....Done....


11 posted on 09/20/2010 9:02:52 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: henkster

“A good reason to be self employed if you can find a profession in which to practice. You may not get as many clients as you want, but you will not be unemployed.”

Right - and when no customers come, or the customers don’t have anymore money to spend, you will be unable to ever COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT since you were self-employed.

That’s the plight of many and my family.


12 posted on 09/20/2010 9:03:48 AM PDT by George from New England (Escaped CT in 2006, now living north of Tampa)
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To: Pining_4_TX

Take a look at what jobs are going to be hot in 10 years and retrain is one option. The second option is to start your own business. And so on .....


13 posted on 09/20/2010 9:04:56 AM PDT by Citizen Tom Paine (An old sailor sends)
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To: Pining_4_TX
"Government policies are destoying people's lives, but our elected officials don't give a rat's whisker."

You better believe it --> PACT Act, effective July 1, 2010, put hundreds of Internet cigarette venders and their staffs out of work.

Repercussions from this: postal workers are now sitting on their butts while still getting paid.

Latest ... New York State just told the Indian business owners that they MUST collect the $4.35 per pack tax from ALL non-Indians. Same thing happened in Rhode Island.

14 posted on 09/20/2010 9:05:03 AM PDT by xtinct (The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you..Be Strong Patriots!)
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To: Pining_4_TX
"Government policies are destoying people's lives, but our elected officials don't give a rat's whisker."

You better believe it --> PACT Act, effective July 1, 2010, put hundreds of Internet cigarette venders and their staffs out of work.

Repercussions from this: postal workers are now sitting on their butts while still getting paid.

Latest ... New York State just told the Indian business owners that they MUST collect the $4.35 per pack tax from ALL non-Indians. Same thing happened in Rhode Island.

15 posted on 09/20/2010 9:05:16 AM PDT by xtinct (The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you..Be Strong Patriots!)
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To: Pining_4_TX

I can relate. I am also 57 and was laid off from Wells Fargo Auto Finance along with the whole division in Dec 2008. I have applied for 100’s of jobs, interview for many. No one is interested. I was at the very top of my profession. Does not matter. No one cares. I am not requesting pity I am just saying I understand. Never in my wildest imagination could I see myself in this position. 22 months and NO prospects.


16 posted on 09/20/2010 9:06:58 AM PDT by carjic (Laid off since Dec 08...HELP!)
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To: the invisib1e hand

Did you read the article? These people want to work but cannot get hired. There is a definite bias against anyone with gray hair, and government policies have a lot to do with that. In fact, I blame government policies for all of it.

Perhaps many will start their own businesses. I hope they can, even though times are tough for embarking on any venture. However, the high cost of health care and insurance make it difficult for older workers to go it alone. Once again, government interference in the market hurts the very people it purports to help.


17 posted on 09/20/2010 9:06:59 AM PDT by Pining_4_TX
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To: the invisib1e hand
“Sure, people over fifty, so feeble and decrepit, are just going to slouch in thier hovels and count the moments until they die, 20,30,40,50 years later.”

It doesn't much matter if they slouch in their hovels, or run 20 miles every evening after searching for work all day.

With the way Insurance is today, no employer will hire them.

18 posted on 09/20/2010 9:08:35 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Free Republic -- One stop shopping ....... It's the Conservative Super WalMart for news .)
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To: Pining_4_TX
And when ya turn 50 and your company dumps you like a bad habit, sending your job into Mexico or Red China, ya better think fast and make no mistakes, because they'll be line up at your door ready to confiscate your home, car, and used furniture.

The American dream is just that for most today....

The young people? They don't have a chance in this meat grinder. They'll spend their days wondering if they'll eat or have a roof over their head each month.

19 posted on 09/20/2010 9:09:49 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: Pining_4_TX

That would explain Lisa Murkwoski.


20 posted on 09/20/2010 9:11:28 AM PDT by Question Liberal Authority (Worst. Post-Racial President. EVER.)
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