Laid-off workers growing desperate

Bergen Record ^ | December 7, 2002 | By KATHLEEN LYNN, CHARLES AUSTIN, AND ALLISON PRIES

[GailA]

The telcom industry is so depressed field trouble shooters with nearly 30 years experience can't find work in the field. Being 55 they send your resume to the circular filing cabinet.

[Publius6961]

partially because we have so many jobless people that still have kids to send to school and don't pay taxes themselves.

Welcome to the real world.
The fantasy world of 50%.

When more than 50% pay no taxes, yet are supported and don't have to work, guess what is the inevitable result?

Have you noticed that in times of high unemployment the leeches, the professional welfare families still continue to get full benefits?

It hasn't dawned on most feel-gooders that the government still cannot create wealth.

Not enough real workers and/or taxpayers, the house of mirrors collapses.

[Publius6961]

The people with money will then be those who create or own intellectual property

Yeah. Right up there with cheap solar power. Delusional.

And these robotic machines spontaneously appear?

A totally service society is a contradiction in terms.
That was true in the 60s when I first saw it coming, and it is still an economically fatal pipedream. Like cold fusion.

[laredo44]

Apparently he was reading from his Democrat talking points.

Bingo! The whole piece appears to have been written by DNC operatives. My guess is the Bergen Record is pretty left-wing.

[Bobby777]

It hasn't hurt them YET, so it's easy to sit back and laugh at the ones who are out of work and call them lazy.

yep ... you got it right ...

[laredo44]

The next stage will be robotic manufactoring, where computerized machinery will be able to assemble things more cheaply than even a third-world worker. Manufactoring then will happen where a factory can be planted, and where it won't be hassled by taxes and environmental and other government regulations. The people with money will then be those who create or own intellectual property

Beyond that, we'll find that nanomachines will be able to create most everything on-site, and at very low/no cost. We are no more than a few generations from the five hour work week for many people with most not working - in the traditional sense - at all.

[marajade]

Ever thought about working for the government... they always have positions available for technology information open...

[marbren]

I love President Bush, I don't blame him for the economy. It is a result of globalism. I'm glad the GOP is in control. Cutting taxes will go a long way toward keeping the USA competitive. The fact is even high tech work is moving overseas. Engineers in India get $5/hour. All the CAD software which I pay $5000 for here you can get in China for $12.

[Joe Hadenuf]

it's now aobut six percent of our GDP, yet we have the largest, strongest economy in the world. Go figure.

But what in the world are you comparing it to? Egypt? Argentina? Russia? Africa? Mexico?

The other poster was correct. Hundreds of thousands that used to make fairly good money, have been downsized and are now making peanuts........

[laredo44]

The fact is even high tech work is moving overseas. Engineers in India get $5/hour.

This is the sort of mis-information that causes blood pressures to rise and lead for requests for bad policy. I do a lot of software development business with India and we pay about $35/hr. Obviously, the developers don't get that amount, but neither do they get $5/hr.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

As always, there aren't jobs for people who posses skills that aren't in demand. There are plenty of businesses hiring. That said, I wish you the best of luck.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

An economy doesn't work without products to sell...unfortunately you seem to think that "products to sell" means that a nation must produce trinkets and such on an assembly line. Have you ever noticed that bankers, lawyers, doctors and accountants make a lot more money than assembly line workers? what exactly of "value" do these people "produce"?

Why should I have to spend my hard earned money on products that cost 4 times as much as a foreign produced product.

[marbren]

If the bulk of people make $7/hr, they won't need doctors, lawyers, bankers, insurance etc.

[marbren]

In my area there seems to be a boom in small ranch house real estate values. I wonder if the big houses sold in the dotcom 90's are increasing in value.?

[FITZ]

All the CAD software which I pay $5000 for here you can get in China for $12.

If free trade was really free then pirated software wouldn't be confiscated by our government. At the border into the US, they've been destroying truckloads of CDs and tapes and computer software. The government is for some reason protecting high prices for business, it it can't protect jobs for Americans then it should at least be consistent and allow us to buy the cheapest product we can find.

[marbren]

The bulk of $50,000 to $100,000 jobs used to be in manufacturing. not any more.

[marbren]

China should pay for its software. There is no way to enforce this however. If no one pays for software, no one will write it.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

The average hourly wage in the U.S. is around $13 per hour. My friend, if a person can't make it these days, there has never been a time when they could have made it. It's really that simple.

[Cvengr]

ping,....oh how rite you are! ;^)