Finding Work . . . End of an Era

The definition of unemployment includes only jobless workers who report that they are actively seeking work, the unemployment rate overlooks those who are “underemployed”: jobless workers who want a job but have given up looking, and workers who have a job but cannot get the hours they want or need.

Unemployment has been above eight percent for more than three years, and 12.7 million workers remain unemployed today.

The unemployment rate for college graduates—19.1 percent . . . The jobless rate for high school graduates is near 54 percent.

17 percent of high school graduates had no job or were not enrolled in college in 2011, up from 13.7 in 2007.

The long-run wage trends for young graduates are bleak, with wages substantially lower today than they were in 2000.

For the Class of 2012, graduating in a bad economy has long-lasting economic consequences. For the next 10 to 15 years, earnings will be less than they would have had if they had graduated when job opportunities were plentiful.

For the 2011–12 school year, the total cost of attendance for an on-campus student—including in-state tuition, books, room and board, and transportation expenses at a four year public school averaged $21,447. For a four-year private school, it was $42,224. The cost of higher education has been rising faster than family incomes, making it harder for families to pay for college. A majority of students and graduates take on debt to pay for college who then can’t find employment, or find a job with enough salary to pay it back.

The cost of higher education has grown far more rapidly than median family income, leaving students with little choice but to take out loans, which, upon graduating into a labor market with limited job opportunities, they may not have the funds to repay.

In economic recessions as well as expansions, the unemployment rate for workers (those under age 25) is typically around twice as high as the overall unemployment rate.

The unemployment rate for young high school graduates is 31.1 percent; the underemployment rate of young high school graduates is 54 percent.

The Class of 2012 will be joining a significant backlog of unemployed college graduates from the Classes of 2009, 2010, and 2011 in an extremely difficult job market. There has been a dramatic deterioration in job prospects for college graduates since the start of the recession. The unemployment rate for college graduates jumped from 5.7 percent in 2007 to 10.4 percent in 2010.

Among high school graduates, the unemployment rate for racial and ethnic minorities’ particularly young black graduates—tends to be higher than that of whites, in good times and bad. But on the flip side, unemployment rate of young college graduates who are racial and ethnic minorities tends to be higher than that of young white college graduates.

The wages of high school and college graduates have fallen over the last decade. Between 2000 and 2011, the wages of young high school graduates dropped by 11.1 percent, while wages of college graduates dropped by 5.4 percent.

During economic downturns the numbers of workers quitting falls, as outside job opportunities become scarce. This results in lost opportunities for all workers, as they cannot move on to find a better fit to match their experience, leaving them unable to increase their salary to match their skill level.

Entering the labor market during a severe downturn leads to reduced earnings, greater earnings instability, and more unemployment over the next 10 to 15 years. One reason for a decline in earnings is due to the fact that workers entering the labor market in a downturn often settle for jobs at less-attractive employers or accept lower-level occupations than they otherwise would have.

It may not happen overnight, maybe not to where it was before the recession, but the job market will get better.   All in all, there are job opportunities available for the right candidate, but no matter how you slice it . . . the trend shows the unfortunate truth in that the less-skilled that will have a problem in finding work or will limit their expansion for job growth.

The days of walking into a business looking for work without any job skills or experience  and getting hired on the spot are the bygone days of another era.

Freedom comes at a cost

Freedom does not come cheap. Memorial Day is a day of gratitude to be grateful to all who have served and the veterans who have passed away to secure our liberties.

Memorial Day is a day to remember those who died fighting for our country, a sad time for families who have lost someone.

To many families, it will be a day of prayer, a day to lay out wreaths, a day to honor those who served, a day ...for those who deserve to be thanked and remembered.

Memorial Day is a day Americans honor those who risked their lives to serve our country and protect our Nation, a day set aside in respect for all who participated or have participated in the military.

Our greatest national debt is a debt we owe to those citizens who volunteered to serve, a debt that can never be repaid, but it can be honored.

We all celebrate Memorial Day in their Honor. We are able to celebrate this day in peace, with our families because of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Take a little time during the holiday weekend to thank those gave their all, allowing us the good fortune to celebrate and enjoy the holiday with our families.

To those families who have current members serving overseas, may they return home safe.

I wish you all a safe holiday.

Student Debt and the Purchase of a Home

Student Loans Near $1 Trillion Hurt Young U.S. Buyers: Mortgages  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-16/student-loans-approaching-1-trillion-hurting-first-time-buyers-mortgages.html

An idea I had when running for NJ State Assembly was to help  graduates carrying college debt and help them purchase a foreclosed home. It would help or eliminate the student loan, generate tax revenue, reduce the glut of foreclosures, and help stabilize the prices of existing homes.

As an example, if a foreclosed home that was worth $450000 is now valued at $200,000 and a college grad has a debt of $100,000, perhaps combining the two into a $300,000 mortgage. Most banks would look at the student debt as an obligation against qualifying for a mortgage loan. But the student could only qualify for a foreclosed home, not a new home or typical mortgage. This would possibly help eliminate empty homes in foreclosure, help stabilize home prices and give a graduate the opportunity to own a home. By this method they would be able to pay down both loans at the same time.

By the time many students pay off their loan and qualify for a home, their kids would be going to college.

If the student defaults on the mortgage it does not eliminate their student debt. Perhaps it could be set up where a percentage of the mortgage goes toward the principle of the student’s debt. Another  possible option would be able to pay off the $100,000 student loan and carry a $300,000 mortgage.

If the college graduate can show some kind of collateral or promise or a job in a certain field...like a doctor, a lawyer, engineer, etc. .....a certain income level, it would be much better to have a family in the house than for it to stay empty in the foreclosure process.

They would not be entitled to any discounts or incentives, and still have to meet the same requirements any other homebuyer would qualify under. There would be no student loan debt forgiveness.

I have heard that some banks are thinking of selling their foreclosures to investors who would rent them out. That would hurt neighborhoods substantially, as the investors really don’t care about the neighborhoods and are only looking to receive a monthly income. Perhaps an idea like this would help prevent that from happening.

Countless foreclosed homes are being stripped of their copper pipes etc. while they sit empty, or taken over by those that don’t belong there. Numerous homes are bought by investors who live out of the state and rented out, and as long as the rent is paid they investors don’t really care who lives in them. Perhaps this could be a win-win for everyone. Many banks do not want to keep the growing list of foreclosures and are thinking of selling them off to investors who have no interest in the neighborhood other than monetary gain.

This may not be a perfect plan, but I haven’t seen any other solutions or ideas. This could be a starting point to help resolve the foreclosure and student debt issue.

"My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government." ~ Barack Hussein Obama

• After promising transparency during his campaign, the current administration is the most secretive and corrupt, non- transparent and unconstitutional administration as there ever has been. This administration has stalled over records about its own efforts to be more transparent claiming exemptions 70,779 times just during the nine months Obama was President in the 2009 year alone.

• A U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the secret service visitor logs should be readily available upon a request under the freedom of information act. The Department of (IN) Justice, led by Mr. Holder, filed a formal notice of appeal, saying that these records belong to the White House and are not public record. In a 2009 speech Obama stated that all records would be available. The “event” description in the logs is blank for more than 205,000 visits, including many that involved small meetings with the president and his key aides. Less than 1 percent of the estimated 500,000 visits to the White House in Obama’s first eight months (a time when the new administration was bustling with activity) have been disclosed. Logs include the names of people who never showed up, more than 200,000 visits with no time of arrival, an indication that the person didn’t enter the White House, as far as the records how anyway. How’s that for accuracy?

• An administration that tried to hide information about the gun used to kill Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was one of the several thousand that this Government had intentionally sold, illegally and unconstitutionally, to the Mexican Drug Cartels on operation fast and furious. Congressional investigators demanded answers, answers are not coming easily from this Administration or the Federal Agencies involved.

• This administration refused to release e-mails from Barrack Hussein Obama’s Blackberry, or any other White House internal messages, communications and papers etc relating to the Solyndra Loan. Information requested from the Congressional Investigation into the corrupt and illegal loan of $535 million of tax payers’ money to a so called ‘Green Energy Company’ that the previous administration had warned against. Investigators know that this entire deal was pushed through by the White House, despite warnings from several knowledgeable sources in the budget office and other financial institutions. The same transparency the progressives wanted from the Bush Administration does not pertain to them.

• 100 special force soldiers sent to North Africa to take part in a targeted killing, in an area and in a matter that has no bearing or threat on American Security. The “boots on the ground” soldiers, fully battle ready had already been in position over a day before this President decided to notify Congress.

I seem to remember hearing the uttering of words "We will continue to work toward an unmatched level of transparency, participation and accountability across the entire administration." We can all see how that is working out.


So much for accountability through transparency.

College says 'You're Fired!' Illegals Lose Campus jobs

California’s minimum wage went up in January, boosting the salaries of many.

As I have said and written in the past, is that when salaries increase the jobs for the uneducated become less. That’s what appears to be happening here. You have those who came here illegally working at minimum wage at jobs that paid low wages, but those jobs that no one would work, now pay substantially better.

After giving many illegal’s the opportunity to come to the US on a work or guest visa, millions decided to stay beyond the expiration date (millions more just plain ignored the legal process altogether) because the minimum was much better here than wages back home. After working for a few years they realized how much better it was here and now started complaining they weren’t making enough money to live, how they couldn’t survive on minimum wage.

It was never meant for survival but only as a means for a little extra pocket change for the extras. There are those who shout there should be a livable wage. But at $17 an hour those jobs seem more lucrative to those who didn’t want them before, and with thousands on unemployment that job is now very appealing. I’m sure at this campus alone there are thousands of students who would like to earn some money towards paying their expenses.

How many illegal’s breach existing laws, work in service industries serving and preparing food, and by bypassing the system, are hired never having had a medical exam?

For the last two years, many of the dining hall workers had been organizing to form a union, Unions like to use the term “buy American.” Then why solicit membership from non-citizens?

The article states one worker paid for her education over the years. I would think that as an employee of the campus she was getting a free education, not because she could afford to go on the $8 an hour she was getting, but in all that time she never considered getting her citizenship? How many legal citizens are not accepted because they have to compete against the fulfillment of those courses by illegals?

Government never had the manpower to follow up on immigration policies even when they were first enacted. The Federal Government ignored existing immigration laws for years, allowing this to spread beyond the scope of enforcement. Now, due to the ineptness of our government our congressional officials like to say the system is broken. The only thing broken was letting this happen on their watch and to cover up they try and push the ‘Dream Act’ on the American public in the form of Amnesty. The problem is ‘amnesty“ still does not solve the problem of the illegal crossing our borders.

Immigrant Worker Firings Unsettle a College Campus

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/after-workers-are-fired-an-immigration-debate-roils-california-campus.html?_r=1&hpw

Obamanomics Vision of Economic Prosperity

President Barack Obama is expected to lay out his vision for economic prosperity while focusing on equality of opportunity and a return to American values in his State of the Union address.

The U.S. has lost 2.2 million jobs since President Barack Obama took office.

The economy has remained weak. Unemployment is still high, consumer confidence is still low and banks are still hesitant to lend.

Of the 120,000 new jobs created in January 2012, 50,000 were in the retail sector.  Most of them minimum-wage positions, many of them temporary holiday hires. The "leisure and hospitality" sector, which includes jobs in the food service industry, accounted for 22,000 of that total.  Low paying jobs have replaced the higher paying ones at a much  faster pace, many paying even less than they used to. Low-wage occupations saw job growth of 3.2 percent from the beginning of 2010 to the beginning of 2011, while mid-wage jobs only grew by 1.2 percent.

The number of research workers for U.S.-based multinationals working overseas has more than doubled. The number of high-tech manufacturing jobs in the United States has declined by 687,000.

The Obama Administration wasted billions of taxpayer dollars without helping the vast majority of struggling homeowners through a government program that was supposed to help them, but only leaving them in a bigger financial hole.

The rest of us are taxed into nothingness, while $18 trillion dollars are stashed in offshore banks by the global elite, with the U.S. government missing out on $100 billion a year because of offshore banks.

If his future vision of economic prosperity is any indication of his past vision we are all in for a heap of trouble.

Happy 2012!

New Years is a time to celebrate, to put the past behind you and look forward to a New Year, but there are those who for one reason or another have cause to celebrate.

May we live in a world with the awareness of God's love that helps them find peace.

May the tears be left behind, and bring a New Year of cheer.

May you find the time to do something for someone.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your loved ones.

May you find time to find a little humor in our lives and make someone smile who may not have a reason to smile.

May the New Year be one of Hope, Faith, and Love.

May you be blessed with things that matter most if life -the gift of good health, happy home and peace of mind throughout the coming year.

One more year to love, laugh and give.

Happy New Year to all.