Example of Supreme Stupidity That the Unemployed Must Endure
Florida's Idea Of A Job Hunting Uniform
If you have a job, treasure it. If you’re been unemployed recently, this story about red capes handed out to the unemployed in Florida will help you explain to others how the process goes and the types of government employees that you’re dealing with.
Unfortunately, I went through the Ohio unemployment process lately. I’m not going to tell you my unemployment woes because I would just sound bitter. I’d sound bitter because I was and had more than a right to be. Enough about that though, you just get on with it. The thing is, I wouldn’t be as bitter if I had not have visited Ohio’s unemployment services nicknamed “One-Stop”.
I’ll summarize the newly-unemployed’s visit.
- You sign in.
- They talk to you like you’re a child and show you around the place.
- They explain how to use a computer and a telephone and show you stack of jobs that either pay $10/hr or require a skill set that nobody on the planet would have.
- If you’re a Vet, you get to talk to another Vet who tells you of a grand scheme he’ll work on to show that your Infantry experience actually means something special if you attend his class.
- After this, they disappear. If you have further questions, sign into the book and they’ll be more than willing to talk to you like you’re a child again. If your questions are anything more complicated than, “Where’s the restroom?”, they’ll refer to the telephone and give you instructions on how to used it.
- They will make sure that you have a packet that tells you how to beg for government handouts.
After all of this, you leave really depressed that these folks have work, but you don’t. You wonder which wrong turn you made in life that has denied you the opportunity to make money showing people how to use a telephone.
Florida has gone all out. They’re going to tell you that you’re a superhero! They’ll even give you the cape to prove it! Wow! What an insult. I couldn’t believe it when I read it. Now, the unemployed don’t just have to settle with the stigma currently given that you were just let go because you were not performing, they also give you a cape to pretend that you’re a cartoon hero.
This how it works. Whether you get a cape or not, it’s a demeaning and ridiculous situation. Do anything and everything to keep yourself away from these morons. You do not want to end up here. If you’re doing ok, get a backup plan. If you’re already in a bind, get out of it any way that you know how.
Related articles
- “Your Tax Dollars at Work: Florida Agency Gives Superhero Capes to the Unemployed” and related posts (dougpowers.com)
- Labor officials probe capes for unemployed (upi.com)
- Problem Solved? Florida Agency Spends $14,000 For Superhero Capes For the Unemployed (jonathanturley.org)
- No Joke, Government Gives Unemployed Superhero Capes (caseyhendrickson.wordpress.com)
- Officials Say “Capes For the Unemployed” Plan Not Super (idle.slashdot.org)
The Great Real Estate Myth
I spent part of my day going through areas of blight. There’s a lot of it these days. Grand old houses that are falling apart, empty strip malls, and a huge number of “For Rent” signs on industrial properties. On the radio, I hear an advertisement telling me of the riches to be found in foreclosures! Really? They must be talking about stripping them out and making money from the scrap.fd
Don't put all of your money here.
So what caused this? According to what I’ve been told, the economy. Yeah right, I’ll believe that. Rent is still high and the prices on real estate are not as low as a bad economy would dictate. If the economy was the cause, the prices would drop as demand dropped. So how can the economy be in the tank, but not be a part of the real estate market? An aging population is the only reasonable explanation.
Currently, the baby boomers are aging and sadly, even dying. Their demand for housing and every product except medical goods and services is decreasing. They fueled the rise in prosperity and that fuel is starting to run low. As they began to withdraw from participation in the economy, real estate investors are left holding properties that they fully expected to keep appreciating in value. They invested with expendable income and they’re holding onto the dream that someday the market will return. If I’m right, I don’t know what they expect to occur to make that happen.
When I suspected that the aging population’s low demand was the problem with real estate, a Google search for “aging population’s effect on new housing” returned a wealth of information. The ignored warnings have been out for many years. Long enough that everyone should be been considering the effects that the situation would bring. When I listen to the news say that the housing market is unexpectedly still down, I’ll no longer wonder what is going to reverse that trend. It’s not going to reverse in my lifetime.
Related articles
- Are You Considering Getting Real Estate (pro2sell.com)
All of Our Jobs Going to China? Really?
Don’t you hate it when you believe something just because it’s easy to take news outlets at their word. I can’t say that I’ve heard it on Fox, but I’ve watched and read numerous stories on mainstream news and I’ve even seen an entire documentary on PBS telling me that all of the jobs are going to China. I’ve talked to friends that explained that they designed processes at companies where they worked, only to have it all shut down and shipped to China. I don’t spend days pouring over what goes to China, so I just accepted this as at least a little bit factual. All of that changed when I found this graph.
Production Output Of The U.S.
I started looking for facts on China after listening to an unrelated story on the radio. There was a gentleman from the Reagan administration era who said he was a member of the intelligence community. I didn’t catch the exact info on the guy. He was stating that Russia was never much of a threat at all. He claimed that they could barely feed their people and had been teetering on collapse for a long time. It’s certainly believable with Communism. Of course, all that Reagan had to do was call them out on it and the game was up. My suspicion is that any leader we had before could have done the same, but it’s always handy to have an enemy if you’re in the defense business.
I thought, “Maybe history is repeating itself. Isn’t China supposed to be our competitive threat? Maybe even a potential military threat?”. If all of our jobs are going to China, how are we producing more now than ever before in history? There could be reason for this that I don’t understand. I’ve read that the bulk of this industrial output is military, but I’ve found no stats to support that.
So why is the output higher than ever? I’ll make my bets on technology and population. More technology and people than ever would certainly explain it to me. It would also explain why the output is through the roof yet unemployment is too. If the military output is the major part of this high output and we’re buying it all on borrowed money, we’re in a for a hard fall.
Signs of the Times at the Horse Auction
Friends of mine wanted to buy a horse, so I borrowed a horse trailer and went to Sugarcreek, Ohio to a livestock auction with them. There were some sad folks there selling their horses. More than a few times, the auctioneer would say,
Young lady sells her horse due to financial situation.
“This is a good sold horse used for trail riding. The people just can’t afford to keep it anymore.”.
I don’t know much about horses. In fact, they scare the crap out of me because they’re 1500 pounds of animal with a mind of their own. I’m sure lack of knowledge is the problem here. The people here did know and love everything about horses. Equestrian pursuits are expensive, but I can see where people would fall in love with these noble beasts. Seeing these good people losing their horses was like watching someone parting with a loved one. I seen beautiful horses selling for $500.
On a less emotional level, this is where where start to see the effects of long term unemployment and a down economy hits everyone. They’ll sell the horses and no longer buy feed, riding gear and clothing, trailers and trucks to haul them, riding lessons for the kids, excursions to other places where they would buy lodging and food, and everything else that goes with the horses.
How many other worthwhile enjoyable pursuits are being foregone and the same effects further crippling the economy? Is this just an adjustment from a previous time when people were to lavish with their spending on things like this?
Here is a picture I found humorous. A pony and cart next to Amish buggies.
Pony with cart next to Amish buggies.
Rainy Day. No Bike Ride.
Why do you want to ride motorcycles the most on a rainy day? I wanted to head out, thought I might be able to, then the rain came. Since I can’t ride, here’s some rainy day photos.
Persistence Hunting
This was a little bit National Geographic style boring, but still interesting. I never thought about how tough it would have been to hunt down food before effective weapons. As it turns out they relied on intelligence, imagination, and persistence. If you think you have it tough, look at a days work with these guys!
We’ve still got it in us today. Consider that there was a cameraman that had to keep up with these guys to get the footage.
An Economy Based on Breaking Windows and Fixing Them.
I found a post by Scot Locklin on Cultural Offering.
You can’t run a nation whose economy is based on breaking windows then repairing them—not for long anyway.
This profound statement is obvious, but I think it explains a large part of our economic disaster that we’re stuck with.
For an example of his observation, let’s say a kid breaks a window. When all are following a moral code:
- The victim reports the damage to police and/or parents.
- The child is paddled and punished and there’s one more notch in his lesson about being an asshole.
- Damage is paid for with allowance.
In our current age of “enlightenment”:
- The victim reports damage to the police and insurance company to get a new window.
- The child’s parents don’t understand what to do. They told him not to do it last time?
- Child is taken to the doctor for meds.
- Child commits more wrongs at school. Bully classes set up, psychological evaluations, etc.
- Parents go to doctors for their fix because their depressed about the situation.
- Counselors for everyone.
- Pharmaceuticals are improved to stop violent window breakers.
- Government starts after school programs for the ever-growing population of trouble-makers.
- The list keeps growing.
Look at how many people must be involved with simple moral codes are not followed. It’s an entire industry! All of these folks are removed from productive endeavors to fix what some simple discipline could have solved.
Budweiser Wheat. What Was I Thinking?
When I heard that Budweiser was bought by foreigners, I was crushed. I’m not a big drinker anymore, but when I do, Budweiser delivers something that I like and I know exactly what to expect. I know exactly what type of buzz will happen at what point and I know what it will taste like. I was afraid that foreigners would do to Budweiser what they have done to other fine American companies. They did.
The standard Budweiser hasn’t changed. That’s not the problem yet. The problem is that they don’t want you to buy that and there are marketing tricks to make you think they have something better.
I never fell for Bud Lime, that was an obvious trick. They did get me with Budweiser Wheat. I was told by a gas station attendant wearing an alcohol monitor that this was good beer too!. Dammit, when someone drinks to the point that they have to put an ankle bracelet that sends off alarms when someone drinks alcohol and a Ghestopo to come snag him when he drinks, you know this guy is a professional that you can trust and he even steered me wrong.
Budweiser Wheat is horrible. It might have wheat in it, but all that you can taste is the coriander and citris peels that they brew it with. I don’t even know what a coriander is and they’ve snuck this into my Budweiser.
I’m no expert beer taster. I don’t even think they would consider me for the beer focus group. I do know that you don’t toss anything extra into the perfection that is Budweiser. Whoever is responsible for this needs to be written up with a poor job review or something that will alert him to what he’s done.
Did Something Happen to Football Fans?
I’m not much a football fan. I don’t dislike it. It just bores the hell out of me. However, I will watch some of the Superbowl if out of curiousity from all of the hype and the commercials have so much money poured into them that they are usually entertaining. The commercials seem to take more time that the actual game anyhow.
I didn’t find any of the commercials to be good this year. When you put them together as a whole, they just had a downright odd message to them. I mean really odd. Given that the majority of the audience is male, I found all fo the commercials about immasculation just odd. I sat in a basement bar full of guys that just seemed dumbfounded at what they where watching. When I came into the room, there was Oprah setting on a couch in a commercial. Oprah?
Then it got worse. There were men chasing each other around in European style underwear. What in the hell? The end of the commercial revealed it was for Dockers. Nothing good has happened at any job I’ve ever had requiring Dockers. I’ve quit everyone of them. The management requires you to put these pleated(guys should never wear anything pleated) flimsy pants on and go sit in a little gray box that is usually in a basement. I don’t know if a sashay is required, but most guys seemed to do it if they were wearing Dockers. I pray to God I never did. I don’t think I did. From there, the company heaps the abuse of solving all of the company’s problems they created by making outrageous claims in their sales pitch, while the people who recieve the credit make about 4 times your salary. You’re supposed to do this for about 30 years and die. I didn’t. I got the hell out of there. I don’t care what the cost is. Now, I’m watching the Docker guys chase each other around in their underwear in a field. What’s the point? Are they saying that all they’ve taken all of the pants from these guys? Are they saying the economy is that bad?
Then it got even worse. A guy reads off a list saying he’ll do everything his wife demands from him, if he just gets to drive a Dodge Charger. Not a good 1969 Charger, a four sedan new Charger. What in the hell? You don’t have to give up your manlihood to drive a four-door sedan. What’s the alternative, a VW Bug or a mini-van? If I did that list he read off, I’m getting something and it’s not going to be a car. It’s not going to have a damned thing to do with a car.
As I sat in the room with a bunch of guys that a year ago were happy, they were all disgusted. Half of us are laid-off. Obama is President and Hillary is Secretary of State. Barney Frank, a guy that runs male brothels and can barely speak from some sort of mouth disfunction is on top of the world. Half of the football players seem to be wearing hair extensions. If you want a job, you have get it from a “stimuls package”. Nobody even seemed to care who won the game. It’s just a screwed up world in the year 2010. Things have got to get better soon.
Secret to Living Past 100 Years Old
Did you ever have someone come up to you out of the blue and just strike up a conversation? I’ve always wondered if it just happens to me or if there are other folks that get hit out of the blue with a stranger’s tales that they feel you need to know. Usually these converstations turn out to be a sales pitch or a creative beggar’s way of entertaining me before they ask for a dollar. This one was an exception. I’m quite certain the story I’m about to tell you is just an old man looking to torment my sense of reason.
My friend Howard is a people person. Me, I prefer to know a person before I get involved with any conversation of length. I think it is a protective reflex to save me from aggravation. Howard and I were eating lunch in a McDonald’s parking lot when an elderly man came out nowhere and struck up a conversation.
I forget what the old man’s angle was to get things started, but it didn’t take him long to ask us to guess his age. I guessed about 80, Howard somewhere close as well. He swelled with pride and showed us his driver’s license to prove that he was 101 years old! He was getting around on his own, fearless to strangers, and seemingly ok with his faculties. It was amazing – that he had a drivers license! 101! There’s not a set of eyes and reflexes that can make it to 100 and still be safe on the road. Common BMV, get them off of the road!
I wanted to end the conversation, but Howard is amazed with his age. He starts asking details about life before cars, electricity, and other conveniences. I had a Grandpa and I already know. There were horse turds everywhere, houses smelled like kerosene from burning lamps, and life largely consisted of hard labor to survive. What more do we need to know?
Some of his life was interesting. He was a baker at the same company for most of his life in Akron, Ohio. He had a wife and a son that had died. You understood why living to 100 is not all it’s cracked up to be when you seen his expression as he talked about loved ones who had passed. The part of his story that really hit me was when he told me he had a twin brother that died at 75 years old.
Wow, identical twins and one dies more than 26 years before the other. Certainly there is some useful scientific informaton that the medical world could use. This man’s story should certainly be revealing! Whatever he was doing compared with his brother would reveal useful health information that all of us should know. Now, I’m interested.
Howard asked the inevitable question that every 100 year old should just wear the answer to on their shirt, “What’s your secret to living so long?”. The answer is always luck, clean living, and a good genes. You can only hit 1 out of 3 by choice, so trying to be 100 won’t work. This man’s secret was different. He pulls out a baggie for of onions and claims that onions cure all that ails you.
Howard asked if he carried them with him all of the time. He didn’t, but this was a special occasion, his 101st birthday. He wanted a McDonalds hamburger with real onions on it. A real special treat.
He said he could afford any hamburger, but he loved McDonalds. You see, when you’re 100 compound interest can really work wonders on any investment and this man claimed to not have a financial worry in the world.
Then Howard asked the question that we didn’t want to ask, but just had to, “What happened to your brother? How did he die?”. The answer should reveal what will take over 25 of years off of your life. We had to ask. His reply, “He ate a jar of jelly everyday.”
There you go! Any man that would take a jar of jelly a day away from everyone else and consume it all himself had to be on a bad guilt trip. Can you imagine a family with one member who eats all of the jelly when it was a rare luxury? Imagine loading the furnace with wood or coal, lighting the kerosene lamps, going out to warm up the horse, and then after that coming in to make toast on the fire, only to find that your brother had ate of the jelly – AGAIN! I bet he took a few beatings to add to his untimely demise. Oh, and all that sugar might have been bad for him too!
Howard asked, “Did he get diabetes from it or something?”. No. He was healthy and didn’t have any problems. “Then how did he die?”, Howard asked. “He fell off a roof.”
I’m furious. All of this talk and the only thing I find out is that a 75 year old’s “untimely” demise was caused by falling off of a roof! Here I am thinking of ways to always ensure that I have a stash of onions on hand and all of my health problems are solved. The magic bullet that we’re all looking for affordably accessible at the grocery store everyday. How handy would that be?
Go ahead and enjoy your jelly to friends! Eat the entire damn jar if you want. It doesn’t make a bit of difference. Go ahead and crack a second jar if you’re still hungry. Just stay off the roof and you won’t die a day to soon. Go ahead and have those onions too. They’re best with McDonalds burgers from what I understand.
