Unemployed at 62, his plight may be a sign of the times (Barf alert!)

bostonherald ^ | 3-11-03 | Margery Eagan

[F.J. Mitchell]

Age bigotry in hiring, is not the problem here-going through life with one's head up their anus is.

[cynicom]

$2000 bucks a month rent??? On a 65K salary that is a tad upscale.

[Tacis]

The guy is SOL! The worst discrimination in the country is against applicants over age 50 and even the federal government does it. With Microsoft, it's age 35. This guy has millions of folks in the same boat. Most, however, of that age purchased homes and his paying rent here, just doesn't ring true.

This is where you start an eBay business operating out of the back bedroom.

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

North Easton is a pricey town. Probably can't buy anything with only 65k a year. I don't know how he lived in that area when he was working. 65k is peanuts. I'd bet property taxes are at least twenty bucks or more per thousand with an average little house being over a quarter mil. So just RE taxes would be 5 grand.

I don't know how or why anyone still lives in MA.

[RobRoy]

Frank Loydd Wright was "finished" every 20 years or so. Yet every time he went on to top all his previous achievements. His last great project was the art museum in New York, if memory serves me. I believe He was in his 80's or 90's at that time.

I'm 49 and plan on changing carreers soon, just to keep things interesting.

[clamper1797]

Most, however, of that age purchased homes and his paying rent here, just doesn't ring true

Hard to make a mortgage without a pay check. Don't make that payment ... foreclosure and voila ... you're a renter. I will grant that $2,000 a month is a bit steep BUT it depends on where he lives. You can't touch a single room apt in Silicon Valley for much less than that.

[jayef]

Actually, I have enough savings to pay my bills for 2 years. I work in one of the most competitive and downtrodden sectors of the economy and have never had difficulty finding work. I pray and give thanks to my God every day for what I have and I pray that others do not suffer. If I'm due for an attitude adjustment, it won't be because of a layoff.

[RightWhale]

one layoff notice from a complete attitude adjustment

Even 6 months worth of salary savings can run out. Making car payments and paying rent and maybe other financial commitments is a style of living wealthy while being merely affluent. Affluent means there is income to cover expenditure at a high rate. Doesn't mean there is any wealth at all. When the income stops, the affluence stops. It's cardboard bungalow village next. Maybe a room in an old Buick if you're lucky.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

This is where you start an eBay business operating out of the back bedroom.

Amen! Started mine last year and was able to make the down payment on my new house within 6 months. Hope to go full-time with it in the next year or so.

[jayef]

Why would anyone who is unemployed need to live in Silicon Valley?

[dfwgator]

Technology is responsible for much of the change. There is simply not as much need for human brain power as before, as computers take up most of the slack. Plus the emergence of talented labor pools in India and China and the ability of technology to make their distance transparent has also had a tremendous impact. Make no mistake, we are witnessing a disruption as great as the Industrial Revolution, and we are all going to have to adapt to it, like it or not.

[matthew_the_brain]

Boo Freakin Hoo, let me get out my viola. There are tons of jobs, TONS, in the insurance industry, it is one of the few industries still hiring.

This doofus wants another coffee drinking, 35 hour per week memo producing job. He is a dinosaur who needs to learn to walk again.

[Ga Rob]

Well now we wouldn't want him to actually take care of himself now would we?? It's always someone else's fault with these stories.

Someone posted earlier..."maybe he lost his 401k in the stock market",blah, blah.....diversify!!! Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate...jeeeezzz. Wooo is me.

[ThinkDifferent]

I invested in a "top of the line" portfolio for 20+ years

That sucks, but you must have had spectacularly bad luck. I was unfortunate to start investing at the height of the bubble, but I'm only down around 30% thanks to dollar cost averaging.

[RobRoy]

My contract ends in a few months. I'm ALWAYS a few months or less from "unemployed." Of course, so is any real estate agent.

Americans who work for the same company for over 20 years never get the opportunity to reach full adulthood or responsibility for their own future, and the freedom that brings.

For them, it feels almost as though life has ended if they get laid off.

[clamper1797]

Well congrats ... with the high tech industry unemployment figures in the 30%+ range ... I have a number (lrge number) of VERY qualified people who are NOT that lucky. Incidently, I had enough saved in the market to live VERY well for 20+ years .... before the crashes. So did a LOT of my friends

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

I used to temp in southern new england just to get out of the house. All of the temp agents and most of the agencies I knew are out of business now.

If you sell a house your first day as a RE broker, you don't get paid for three months. Can't just become a Broker anymore, takes like three years.

I know an astonishing number of over forty men who are out of work and out of luck. There's nothing going on. Factories are closed, the tech industry has all but vanished. Even the service industries like insurance have moved.

People will have to get new ideas going.

That said, this story by Margery Egan is intended to be a sob story and to hurt this Administration.

[Ga Rob]

Speak for yourself.....I have been laid off. When I could not get one job that made me enough, I got 3. Don't speak for the rest of us...I got my attitude adjustments when I was a child..."Son, as long as you work you will eat" GrandDad.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Dick was pulling in $65,000 per year and couldn't manage to open a Roth or two? Or perhaps get a portfolio of mutual funds to invest in?

Reminds me of what my Old Man used to say:
"Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part."

[RobRoy]

In 1970, during the big Boeing layoffs, the father of one of my class mates was one of the last to be laid off (20+ year experience as a Boeing engineer). He became an insurance salesman, made SUBSTANTIALLY more money, and never looked back.

Fear is the killer.