Rand Paul to long-term jobless: Just go back to work

reply to post by muzzleflash


As much as I don't like most of your posts you definitely speak very straightforward and I just couldn't help but agree with nearly everything you said in this thread.

It seems this thread has become more about Americans whining that their standard of living is going down to... gasp.. we are going to have to live like the Europeans! More than 1 generation in a household? Unheard of.

As a student I've managed to live on very little income myself. You know where to cut corners and make the most use of your dollar. I bought 6 pairs of pants last month for a whopping $25. That's less than 1 pair would cost at any of those stores at the mall.

You could definitely live well off $12,000 a month. Just get a room mate, or two. Don't buy that brand new car on CREDIT. For a 22k car you end up paying something like 26,000 or more before you pay it off. A used car that's a couple years old is the best bang for the buck imo.


We'll be seeing a lot more of this over the next year.
People who made $50,000, $75,000, $100k+ losing their jobs and going to lower paying jobs if they can find any at all. Then having to declare bankruptcy because their bills come out to $2000 a month just to pay creditors not including utilities and such. The standard of living as we know(knew?) it will start to go down.

muzzleflash I'm going to sign up for elance.com right now! I just been laid off from my summer job (it was only 18 hours a week but still it would have paid my rent for many months to come)
That and guru.com has some nice options.

It does seem though that a lot of these jobs are in India? I have very basic coding skills so I'm not sure I could do anything complex than a simple script.

Cheers

Is anyone here surprised how much rand paul changed? and not to mention all th promises he made to the followers, i guess the lobbyists must have gotten to have him.

I want to take a slightly different look at this here from the one we've been discussing and ask why Rand Paul said this? To me it seems a little fishy.

In journalism school we were told to always look for a political motivation for statements, what would the effects be if Paul's request came true? My thought is that real unemployment in the United States is far higher than the reported unemployment, so the rush of all of these long-term unemployed citizens coming back into the workforce would clog the system, the real unemployment number would not change but the reported unemployment number would jump massively. This in turn would be used as a political weapon against the Democrats, and could lead to a huge loss of any remaining consumer confidence which would doom any potential recovery the United States has this year.

So I think the better question would be: Is Rand Paul playing really dirty politics with our nations' unemployed citizens?

Edit: I'd like to note here if I was unclear the plural "our" in the last line, because it brings the point up that as goes the United States so does the world economically, the partisan games that your political officials play have a direct impact on nations such as the United Kingdom and many others too.

[edit on 21-6-2010 by ProjectJimmy]

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
reply to post by muzzleflash

 

Okay, so you have a car. Assuming you drive at least 30 miles a week that's about $5 a week for gas. That leaves you $47 dollars a week to feed a family of 4. That's about $6.70 a day or $1.67 a person a day. And you say you eat chicken and beef? Do you raise the chicken and beef yourself? Because if you do, you would have to feed it and make sure it was healthy...but I'm betting you don't.

And what happens if you do get ill? Or if you hit someone or cause damage with your car. Do you just let others pay for it? Yeah.

When you are poor, here is what you do when you get ill.
3 options.

1) Take government free money.
2) Try to solve it yourself.
3) Die from it.

About no car insurance. Here is the way I see it.
1) I drive very well, probably one of the best.
2) My car has been hit by 3 people in the last year, and NOT ONE OF THEM paid for it; they all Hit and Ran, and I had to even call the cops and make a report. *And still I have no compensation*.
3) Insurance companies will only pay a portion and then force me to pay the rest anyways.
4) It's cheaper to not get insurance and save whatever $ I can to pay for emergencies like a car wreck.

Why would I pay out 1200$ a year for insurance "just in case", when I can SAVE that 1200$ "just in case"???

If I sank it into car insurance, than I wouldn't be able to use it for OTHER types of emergencies. It's just good strategy when you are in my position at the bottom of the totem pole.

And 6.70$ for food each day is a lot.
For example, this pound of ground beef I got only cost 3.75$, but it will last for 2 huge meals for the family. So that's 2 days of dinner for HALF of my daily expenses.

And did you know that you can live on just rice or ramen noodles? You can, and it's super super super cheap. We are talking 30cents a day for a family of four. But we eat better than that. So I am VERY THANKFUL and appreciative of my good fortune.

It could be way worse...

Enough.

I know people love to slander those on unemployment because of it's crazy socialism...but this is BS.

The same people who are starting jobs and quitting them are THE SAME ONES THAT WERE DOING IT BEFORE THIS RECESSION.

You want to blame someone...GO BLAME THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY...GO BLAME OUTSOURCING. There are MILLIONS of Americans that want to work but cannot...and the jobs that are available have S'y wages because WE HAVE FAR TOO LOW OF TARIFFS ON IMPORTS.

We don't protect our economy or our industries...and we sure as hell don't protect our workers!!!!!!!!

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE BLASTING THOSE WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE BECAUSE THEIR IDEOLOGY DEMANDS IT....when in many cases....YOUR IDEOLOGY HAS HELPED PUT US IN THIS SITUATION.

Originally posted by LOLZebra

muzzleflash I'm going to sign up for elance.com right now! I just been laid off from my summer job (it was only 18 hours a week but still it would have paid my rent for many months to come)
That and guru.com has some nice options.

It does seem though that a lot of these jobs are in India? I have very basic coding skills so I'm not sure I could do anything complex than a simple script.

Cheers

Cool Zebra.

A lot of the people on Elance are from India, this is true. But do not worry, because the quality of their work is horrific and terrible. Most buyers-clients find out quickly that most Indian workers are not great English speakers and are also not informed about things in the Western World.

So competing with them isn't a big deal, ignore them and don't let them bring your wage down. I ignore them.

You don't have to do just coding either.

For example, my wife had a project where she wrote for a Travel website about places to go for vacation.

Another job, was writing about birthday party supplies.

Even another we did, was writing and promoting this guy's exercise videos and workout regimens.

The best jobs IMHO, would be video game or conspiracy topic related.

For example we wrote many guides for a popular game, World of Warcraft, and it made us good money. And it was easy (playing a game for cash yeah thats awesome).

We even had a job for like 8months writing nothing but about conspiracy theories. Anything and everything.

There are so many options, anything you can imagine writing about, there is a job for it available.

Oh and heres another Net job for ya.

Examiner.com, sign up there and become an Examiner. You get paid a small % off how many hits your stories /articles get. You get more % for local area content as well. So go sign up for examiner and start spamming articles!

Also, you could even write your own ebooks and sale them for a few bucks each. And promote them.

Endless possibilities to generate income in todays economy.

reply to post by Agent_USA_Supporter

He is not his father. That's for damn sure. Not even close.

reply to post by muzzleflash


I'm curious as to what state you live in that allows for survival on such wages, without government aid.

-----

As for living like a chump. People do the things they do, in our society, because they don't wanna live the way you do. Logically speaking, for people to jump through all the hoops that the media and the authorities(in our lives) told them they should jump through ... and then end up in situations where it seems as though they ended up in ruin anyway; it is very disheartening.

-----

I've lived solely off hand me downs and low income. I have to admit, if I subscribed to the whole "go to school and you'll get a great job" practice and came out with losses, I would be pissed.

Especially if I could be in the same place without having invested so much time in the matter.

I would feel robbed of time and effort.

While the matter of "acceptance" might work for some, it won't work for everyone. Just because you're well enough in your situation, does not mean the same can be said for others.

The things you have mentioned are only vague approximations of your own situation, which, just so happen to be enough to satisfy your needs.

-----

I believe it is ridiculous to want things in excess. But I also believe that if you play by the rules of the game, you should be rewarded accordingly, even if the rules are ****ing stupid to begin with.


-----

As a side note, if I were in your situation, and was doing something I didn't really mind doing in order to get by, I'd probably be very content with my situation too.

Originally posted by David9176

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF PEOPLE BLASTING THOSE WHO ARE LESS FORTUNATE BECAUSE THEIR IDEOLOGY DEMANDS IT....when in many cases....YOUR IDEOLOGY HAS HELPED PUT US IN THIS SITUATION.

My ideology is that of a very poor person who scrapes by day to day.

So of course I will criticize some rich dude complaining to me about how poor he is. I will LAUGH all day long.

I am glad they are being forced to figure this out.

I grew up hearing nothing but this tough talk-no nonsense "get a job" BS all my life.

Now that push comes to shove, they HATE hearing me the poor guy tell them "flip burgers get a job".

Hilarious!

Irony is delicious.

Originally posted by muzzleflash
No he's right.

Everyone has become lazy these days expecting hand outs.

And they are "too good" for the crappy jobs.

I am not blind or a liar.

Here is what I see everywhere I go.

Every single Fast Food joint has a "help wanted" sign, because their turnover rate is so high.

Every Gas Station has a "help wanted" sign because their turnover rates are also very high.

Grocery stores have "now hiring" signs because they also have high turn over rates due to the pools of workers they usually deal with.

When people say there are no jobs, it's BS. What they mean is "There are no high quality jobs". That is what they mean. And it is pretty true.

However in reality, there are thousands of openings in the crap job world.

I see these signs everywhere I go. From Texas to PA. There are plenty of jobs available.

But are you too good for them?

Oh that's real intelligent, go pick up a near minimum wage job so you can no longer afford housing or living expenses and eventually wind up in the street. Someone's has no concept of reality. Enjoy the ivory tower.

Unbelievable. You know there was a new grocery store that opened up in town, 100 jobs and all..... I tell ya that definately got alot of raised heads. You know how many people turned up? 2200. These were not your average high schoolers or stay-at-home moms. These were for the most part older experienced men and women lining up for grocery jobs. I felt down right sorry for them, but respect at the same time because they were willing to take anything to provide for their families. Engineers, electricians, you name it. They were in line, waited for over an hour just to go through an interview for a what? $8-9 an hour job? These are not lazy people, they are not snobbish, they were prepared to work almost anywhere.

This comment shows how disconnected Rand Paul is from reality. BP made and accident in the gulf so they should not come down hard on... and everybody who is unemployed is probably lazy. Seriously, this guy knows whos backpocket he is in.

Originally posted by TheAnswerMan

Oh that's real intelligent, go pick up a near minimum wage job so you can no longer afford housing or living expenses and eventually wind up in the street. Someone's has no concept of reality. Enjoy the ivory tower.

And not getting that job, and just complaining about it, really pays those bills huh?

Who is living in the ivory tower?

Keep those excuses rolling in.

reply to post by muzzleflash


You just sound bitter to me.
Just because you have a crappy job, you want everyone to have a crappy job too. seems like you are very class oriented. Did it ever occur to you that people might deserve to make a lot of money?
That they have worked hard? That they have valuable skills?

Originally posted by muzzleflash
I see these signs everywhere I go. From Texas to PA. There are plenty of jobs available.

But are you too good for them?

I think that the unemployed do not think they are too good for the crappy job it is more that with the unemployment benefit being as much if not more than what the crappy job pays, why give it up?
STOP extending the unemployment benefits that we, as a country cannot afford and the crappy jobs will begin to look not quite so crappy.

edited to add: I just read the article and it seems that Rand Paul agrees with me and I we are both absolutely correct. It is time to get off the government teat and start getting back to work.
Remember all those jobs the illegal aliens used to have in Arizona?Well there you go mr. and mrs. unemployed!

[edit on 21-6-2010 by Just Wondering]

I'm telling you guys, the only decent honest trade in this #ed economy and wholly corrupt country is crime. I honestly don't know why people even make an effort with these lousy jobs that couldn't even support a 1/4 of their living expenses. If people want to make it, they need to turn to the black market and they need to completely disregard the system until it finally collapses and we can start over.

reply to post by muzzleflash


Not as long as the government picks up the check. And quit your crying. I mean honestly, if I could get prime rib for free over here or burgers through several grueling hours in a #ty job that doesn't cover my living expenses, gee... what am I going to choose? But keep blaming people for doing what's best for them while you continue to sit in a situation you could improve while having some bizarre superiority complex about it.

Originally posted by kozmo
Rand must have been spending too much hitting the pipe! There are NO jobs - anywhere! Not where I live at least. Heck, I have 3 college degrees and applied for a job with Lowes - didn't even get a call for an interview. A friend who works there said that they wouldn't interview people with college degrees because they're afraid those people will leave when the economy improves and they don't want the expense of hiring and training again.

Apparently your three degrees have not served you well amigo. I am not being flippant. When one applies for a crap job, said potential employer would like to believe he/she is giving you an opportunity. I assume and understand that maybe your ego got in the way. Crap job = GED max.
That is what you put on the application. I've done it.
I have no idea why folks are bitching about Rand Paul. He played no hand in creation of our current economic turmoil. If anyone believes another career politician is what America needs, then there is NOTHING to complain about. You got what you voted for. Always vote for the incumbent. They need jobs too. ENJOY !

reply to post by muzzleflash


Be honest. It's not your ideology. It's what you appear to have settled for or accepted for whatever reason. You're not fooling me. And for the most part, we're not discussing you here. We're discussing people who did work hard all their lives and had ambition and got qualified and got educated and then found themselves in a very different world seemingly suddenly (though we all know this has been at least three decades in coming and a lot of these very same people scoffed at the early identifiers, but that's another topic).

Oh, and by the way? if you're online on paid-for phone service that's another at the very least $15 a month, leaving you with about $6.20 day for food...or $1.55 per person.

That's not even enough for 2 Pepsis a day, is it? I don't know where you live but hamburger here is at the very least $1.99 a pound, but a pound would scarcely last a few days for a family of 4. Do you grow your own vegetables or anything?



[edit on 21-6-2010 by ~Lucidity]

reply to post by muzzleflash


I'm sorry, but I don't buy your math, unless you are not counting government hand-outs into your equation, either in the form of direct welfare, WIC, EITC or some other government spiff.

At regular prices, a pack of smokes a day would cost you roughly $2,500/year, or 10% of your income.

With your rent at $400/month that leaves you with roughly $500/month for food, clothing and other discretionary items such as gas.

Now you may be doing it, but if you are feeding four people, including two kids on that coin and still see fit to spend money for cable, internet and video games you are too irresponsible to have children.

For those who feel like the "Pauls",
I have a few questions.

Is it just because it is a "Paul" who said
these things about us lazy whiny Americans
just looking for handouts, or did you
actually feel this way towards your neighbors
before he said this?

Back in 2002, I had a great job doing graphics
for about $46,000 a year. My father became
ill so I moved back home to help out. I went
from that $46,000 a year to around $12,000 a
year so no, I am not afraid of taking a pay cut.

I realize that will deflate your over sized belief
in the infalibility of your savior but his concept
of decency (as well as yours) could really use
the modification.

I also like how someone living in one part of the
country knows what the job market is in another
part of the country and then has the unmitigated
gall to tell a resident of that area they are full of
crap.

And for the record; McDonalds usually hires high
school kids to work for them. That way they won't
have to pay fulltime wages, overtime, as well as
other things. I am sorry, I forgot it is different where
you live and should not have lumped you great people
together with the rest of us freeloaders.

While most of that was both heartfelt and yet
sarcastic I do have one bit of advice for some
of you die-hard Paul lovers out there. If you
get that nose any further up his backside, you
will be able to wink at him in the mirror.