Posted on 12/27/2002 11:50:30 PM PST by SheLion
Plenty of jobs in communist China and Mexico. Former President Bush was on C-span the other day crowing about how great NAFTA has been for the country. You can thank democrats and republicans for all this.
I said socialists buy votes with other people's money. I also noted Daschle's spewing of venom at the Republicans. Can you cite a similar spew of venom by a Republican that is directed at the Democrats? Daschle was doing it several times each week while he held his position of power in the Senarte. The Democrats and Republicans are both trying to pander to senior citizens with the prescription drug boondoggle. The degree to which the Democrats engage in purchasing votes with taxpayer money via a wide variety of "social programs" far exceeds any similar behavior on the part of the Republicans.
Try harder. I could make the excuse that there is no work for me in Pocatello. There are no employers in the area that have need of my services. Solution? I'm doing work for people all over the country. Linux based weather servers in Santa Barbara, CA. Telematics work for major auto companies in concert with another organization in Dayton, OH. Railway safety hardware/software systems in association with a group in Mclean, VA.
If you can't find work in your local area, then go somewhere else where there is work that you can do. The classified ads are the absolute worst place to look for a job. You need to target a company that does something of interest to you. Find out what problems they are facing. Put together a proposal to fix the problems and offer your services to get the job done.
You know I might have given the Republicans the edge on that moral high ground until this administration. Let's see - illegal immigration (which is pandering the the hispanic vote as well as pay offs for campaign contributions), either way it is vote buying with taxpayers money. The education bill - The Farm Bill - I don't know - I think the Republicans may be fairly new at this - but they seem to 'take to it real well.'
Call it the Baldacci Plantation.
What did disabled people do before there was social security? What makes them entitled to money from the taxpayers? What enumerated power in the constitution allows for disbursal of taxpayer funds to special interest groups? The politics of need and socialist compassion seems to trump the limits set in the constitution. Part of the answer is that churches and individuals and families cared for the disabled before the iron fist of the government enacted confiscatory income taxes. Before FDR screwed things up, my grandfather was exceptionally generous in tithing and helping needy families in the community. When heavy income taxes stripped him of the disposable income to act in charitable fashion, he ceded that responsibility to the compassionate socialists in the government.
BTW, I see plenty of people labeled "disabled" that are perfectly capable of doing productive work. They talk a doctor into writing them up as disabled so they can qualify for government social programs. Many of these people CAN work, then just WON"T work. Collecting government benefits is so much easier.
I do have some practical experience in the matter as well. My 22 year old son has had 4 open heart surgeries. He has two artificial valves, one banded valve and a pacemaker. He had ADD so bad at age 5 that his kindergarten teacher kicked him out of class on the second day. Last week, he completed his first semester as a geology major at Idaho State University with a 4.0 report card. He's still too inattentive to put into a car on a city street, so my wife and I take turns providing his transportation. Should he be dipping into taxpayer funds just because he can't drive a car or pick up anything heavier than 10 pounds? I don't think so. I expect to attend his graduation in 2 years with a geology degree. Maybe even a minor in paleontology. I expect he will be 25 before he can get a productive job with enough income to be off the nest. He will need to find a job to cover the cost of a PT test every 3 weeks at $40 and Coumedin prescriptions at $70 a pop to keep the stainless steel valves from gumming up.
I reread the post as I did not want to misquote you - and it certainly reads to me as the Republicans don't buy votes.
You leave the family in place and the best breadwinner in the family hits the road to find work. I was only home 69 days in 2001 after we relocated to Pocatello, ID in December 2000. I was home 10 days between Jan 1, 2002 and April 12, 2002. The paying work was a contract in San Diego. I paid my parents for a room. By January 2001, my wife was picked up as a dispatcher at the local police department. It is only $24K/yr, but it covers the ongoing cost of keeping two kids in college.
My company laid me off in June. I had 377 hours of vacation accrued. It took 6 weeks to track down $3 million is now work. I resumed full time employment with 280 hours vacation on the books and a nice backlog of work in Detroit and Dayton, OH. In September, I was able to wrap up a contract that was in the negotition phase for 18 months. Another $1.1 million in work for the company. 492 hours of direct contract coverage for me.
From mid-August to mid-November 2002, I was "on the road". I'll be back in Dayton again starting January 12th. You go where you can find work.
Probably so in TExas also - but a large part of them are HIspanic. Now the corporate welfare doesn't buy votes as such but it gets campiagn contributions and in exchange we taxpayers have to support big agribusiness workers.
Idaho state budget is grossly slanted in the direction of education. It is an "untouchable". It is also a big time white collar entitlement program. Every county as a separate school district with a full complement of administration... no matter how big or small the population of students. The school system needs a MAJOR overhaul to be more efficient.
Texas seems to be top heavy in education with 60% of the state budget going for education, according to a speech by the Governor. So that means a lot of people are interested in educational aid - and not just teachers or school employees. Think of all the people who do business with the schools - it is quite large.
Also we have 254 counties in TExas, but few, I am guessing but maybe 10 would have only one school district. Some have many, many districts. All with a full complement of administrators - no school funding is not a small thing. It carries a lot of votes.
Not bitter. Just responsible for things that are my responsibility. I am resentful of having nearly 50% of everything I earn stolen in taxes. Only a very small part of that covers benefits that I share in common with other taxpayers...police, fire, roads, courts, jails and a military to protect the borders. The rest is disbursed as social spending. Most of that social spending is redistribution of wealth to those who have not earned it. The abolition of slavery in 1865 has been incrementally replaced with a new slave master...the government. Pay the taxes demanded, or face fines and imprisonment.
One possibility: Buy cigarettes at an indian reservation and resell them on the streets of New York for $5 a pack. Don't take more than 300 cartons or you'll be prosecuted. Turn your hobby into a full time job.
Another possibility: Strike up a deal to deliver room service to guests at local hotels. Put together a menu from different local restaurants.
Ok. Now it's your turn to think up a few. The value in a capitalist system is that you have the freedom to cultivate ideas. No single person holds the solution for everyone.
I spent 18 months working at a real cash cow for my company. They billed my time at $250/hour. I replaced 4 Java programmers, 3 C++ programmers and a EE. When Ford closed that company down in June 2002, my company did the expedient thing. They mailed me a layoff notice. The also laid off 10 other people whose wages were dependent on cash flow from my contract. It took me 6 weeks on forced vacation to develop and market new ideas that my customers were eager to buy. I also found people who had 40 hours worth of work that they could not cover with their available employees. I finished the work in 20 hours. Now I have cultivated another source of "short term" coverage with a new customer.
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