Homelessness grows as more live check-to-check

USA Today ^ | 8/12/03 | Stephanie Armour

[Gothmog]

Homelessness in major cities is escalating as more laid-off workers already living paycheck-to-paycheck wind up on the streets or in shelters.

As Americans file for bankruptcy in record numbers and credit card debt explodes, more workers are a paycheck away from losing their homes. Now the frail economy is pushing them over the edge. With 9 million unemployed workers in July, the face of homelessness is changing to include more families shaken by joblessness.

[New Girl]

Off the direction of this thread... But what about some birth control here? I don't think a couple already raising four kids in an apartment should have another baby that they obviously cannot afford. Geez, stop having kids already... Obtaining birth control in this country is easy and often FREE.

[Conservative til I die]

You get my point about classes in training. Yes, the responsibility for learning lies with each of us.

[new cruelty]

A democratic republic operates by direct majority vote of the people. A representative republic differs in that the general population elects representatives who then pass laws to govern the nation.

[Old Professer]

This from Google and sanfrancisco.areaconnect.com:

SAN FRANCISCO STATISTICS, San Francisco Population: 776733. Male Population: 394828. Female Population: 381905. Households: 329700. Median Age: 36. ...

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Here are some reasonable steps the government could take that were presented by harpseal in another thread on the economy:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/961608/posts?page=15#15

[Chemist_Geek]

One time we were talking about something (some slackers at work or whatever) and she said, 'They're not as bad as the damned lazy Chinese!' I looked at her and said, 'Uhm, honey, you're kind of Chinese.' She just fired right back -- 'I was there, I had to work with 'those people,' their lazy, ignorant, etc, etc... they do nothing all day but sit in their offices reading the paper, etc., etc.'

Whoa! Must have been different Chinese than the ones with whom I went to grad school! Those people were in the lab or library around the clock...

[jjm2111]

Are you kidding me? The Bush family is so in w/ the Saudi Royals it isn't funny. The Dems would give him a run for his money if they picked up on that line instead of whining how ousting Saddam was "illegitamte"

[dfwgator]

Here's complete MS Office training, free of charge. Press F1

Of course, if the software is designed properly, you shouldn't even need to press F1. The First Law of Help Files: People don't use help. The second rule: People don't read manuals.

[Jamten]

Try the Communist Manifesto rather than the Constituion.

[mediawatcher44]

yeah,im just pissed....the one thing im glad of,is that my bush vote counteracted a "gore" vote,and it was close...while i do get mad at the repubs,i shudder to think what the last 4 years would have been like under al"woodenhead"gore...

[jjm2111]

"Bush is not sending jobs to India and China. "

A lot of Tech jobs have been outsourced to China and India and as far as I know, the Bush Administration has been quietly pushing the house not to block this.

[Tokhtamish]

Your problem is that there is a gross disjunct between your values and reality.

You need to believe in a Dale Carnegie peptalk kind of world where anything can be solved by your own strength and resolve. History tells us that this is delusional. There is such a thing as just plain being on the wrong side of history and there is nothing you individually can do to change that. History is full of Hannibals and Yamamotos and Robert E Lees who for all their courage and genius were just plain on the doomed side. In a "free trade" world of globalization fantasizing that you can just go somewhere where globalization does not exist, as if you can just ignore what is going on in your country, as if you can just flit from career to career is believing that you can tread water forever, not facing the fact that workers in the industrialized world are on the wrong side of history, facing net downwards social mobility. You can't win a fixed game.

The only response is to fix the game right back, only this time in your favor. History is only changed when people work together to change the circumstances of their lives. The alternative is imagining yourself some Ayn Rand ubermensch who will personally overcome a pervasive reality of net downwards social mobility in this country. I don't find that very realistic.

[Jamten]

Well come to Silicon Valley and take a look and then discuss with my American friends with Master's degrees in Engineering that are clearly underemployed. E.g. Al in Danville. He could do DSP assembly programming all day long had it not been for the invasion of ppl from other countries.

[samuel_adams_us]

And those of the electoral college vote based on the majority vote of the people they represent right? They are not bound by law to do so, depending on the state, but they do.

[Chemist_Geek]

You can't hire someone to work anymore. Instead you've got to offer cradle to grave healthcare

Ah, yes, sick employees are so much more productive than healthy ones.

and retirement and

That's right, employees are to work until they drop dead, unless they managed to save some of their salary...

personal days

Yep, those employees need to be at their desks with their noses to the grindstone 24/7! That's what we pay them a salary for! If we wanted them to have a family or a life, we would have issued them one!

blah blah blah etc.etc.etc.

It's a good thing you don't need employees; no one worth anything would take the benefit package you seem to want to offer.

[new cruelty]

Were this a democracy, Gore would have won.

[KellyAdmirer]

Wow, I can sure see why you call yourself "old professor." ;)

[BMiles2112]

Of course, if the software is designed properly, you shouldn't even need to press F1. The First Law of Help Files: People don't use help. The second rule: People don't read manuals.
That's a huge IF.
Manuals?? Those are just another man's opinion. You're right, though, I learned everything I needed to know about the programs I use just by screwing around trying to get it to work right.

[Jamten]

This issue about unemployed software engineers is really disturbing especially since the damage from the H1-B program has not been reversed. That is something Bush could do something about. Halt H1-B and repatriate current H1-B holders.

[Gothmog]

My company over the past couple of years has hired -- and subsequently fired -- some older women with 'impressive' resume's (one had a Phd) -- because they just could not learn on the job how to use computers in a work environment.

I personaly spent weeks trying to help train them (it wasn't my job, I was just trying to help), but they were simply too stubborn. The one with the Phd knew how to put a pretty picture on her desktop background, but saving files to different directories? You mean like we did yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, etc. (for weeks) -- forget it.

Years ago I was training a young kid from UPenn w/ a 4.0 GPA. He was really bright, but he could never quite get the handle of scrolling. Seriously, every day he would have a problem and I'd come over and say 'remember that scroll thing we talked about?' I'm sure he's in some job now where his assistant takes care of that -- maybe he's even figured out email!

Meanwhile, my mother has been gainfully employed for decades as a nurse -- specializing in ob/gyn the past 10+ years. Now that's she's retired she's thinking about getting a computer and 'checking out this internet thing.'

There's jobs out there, people have to work on finding the right one for them. In the early 1990s I had a tough time finding a job. I did the same as you, went to the useless govt. job recruiting centers, etc.

Once, I applied for a third-shift (night) assistant accountant job at a Red Roof Inn. Thirty other people applied. I didn't get the job, but I was just looking for anything. Eventually I found a career.