Unemployment & middle aged men (women too)

[phoenix900]

I wonder how many men, like Bob, lost their jobs in their 50's & are unemployed or have reduced income. I bet a lot and they aren't in the statistics. I know 4 personally & of several more.

 

[VanTrekker]

<p style="margin: 0px;">I lost a programming job in my early 40s.&nbsp; The boss was a real a-hole, super introvert that some dillweed put in management.&nbsp; He cleared out the whole team and replaced them with his friends - people who didn't know poop from applebutter but would say yes to everything...&nbsp; If I wasn't a Christian, I probably would have been tempted to ... well... I'm a Christian.&nbsp; But even Davey knew how to get rid of a Goliath...&nbsp; <img border="0" align="absmiddle" src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif"></p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">I never got another IT job and have lived working&nbsp;part time and low paying jobs since.&nbsp;&nbsp;The bones are 46 years old now.&nbsp; I don't really miss the corporate world any more.&nbsp; This lifestyle has brought a lot of happiness but some times taking low wages or no wages is a bummer, particularly when others judge a person for using food stamp benefits or getting freebies...</p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Hopefully after some more weight loss occurs and I can get over these diabetes related problems, some kind of work will pan out.&nbsp; As far as the high dollar corporate jobs - they really seem to prefer the young bucks.&nbsp; I feel sorry for those kids because many will spend all their lives working 12 hours a day to service huge debt and many will never&nbsp;see a retirement.&nbsp; A number of companies don't even pay a 401K match any more.</p><p style="margin: 0px;">&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">Just in the news over the weekend they said that unemployment dropped because so many people are giving up looking for jobs.&nbsp; I'll bet a lot are in their 40s, 50s, and 60s.</p>

 

[phoenix900]

Thanks for sharing your story. Congrats on the weight loss. Keep taking care of yourself.

I wish more people would rise up & demand more, demand change.

 

[owl]

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp; I understand and agree with what you are saying. I know serveral folks in their twenties and thirties who are going through the same thing. It is a consequence of the economy and is impacting every age group. This sort of thing has always happened through the ages and isn't new. It's just new to some of us, unfortunately.</P>

 

[akrvbob]

I was a union clerk all my life, so I never had to worry about that. But I have a friend who worked for Bank of America in IT all his life. Then in his early 50s they sent&nbsp; his entire divsions' jobs to India, they were all laid off. He had his retirement, but it was in BofA stock. That happened in 2008 when the economy crashed and his BofA stock was suddenly worth almost nothing. He has been living on $400 a month every since! <br><br>First we lost all our manufacturing jobs, but they said high tech was the future and we were safe. Now we are loosing all our high tech jobs. I guess McDonalds is our future now. <br><br>Its hard to see how things can improve, which makes learning to live for very little in your van more important than ever. Bob<br><br>

 

[sl1966]

Yup been there, twice now. I too work in IT and turn 46 next month. All I can say is that I got lucky landing the job I have now. It made it possible for me to get my trailer, pay off my debt, and put some savings away.<div><br></div>

 

[owl]

Maybe that is the improvement!

 

[yesican]

<p style="margin: 0px;">Your situation happens to younger people too.&nbsp; My daughter is a college grad, a writer and graphic artists.&nbsp; Right out of college she got a job at a newspaper and within a year it went out of business.&nbsp; She was unemployed, found a menial job, unemployed, and now cooks for a nice resturant making slightly over minimum wage and not always getting full time work.&nbsp; </p><p style="margin: 0px;">These are&nbsp;the times.&nbsp; As employers are forced to give more of their money to government they are spending and creating less jobs.&nbsp;The more the gov't gets, the less we have as individuals.&nbsp; </p><p style="margin: 0px;">Vandwelling is a lifestyle that can help keep people sane.&nbsp; You'll desire less if you require less which will allow you to miss less those things you don't have.&nbsp; </p><p style="margin: 0px;">Not long ago and even for some still, it is the big 4 bedroom 5 bath house that everyone envied...Soon&nbsp;people will be envious of those who have electricity because those who have it will be producing it themselves and people won't be able to pay their electric bill.&nbsp; Just as Obama promised, "under my plan, the cost of electricity will necessarily skyrocket".&nbsp; </p><p style="margin: 0px;">One thing I've noticed in recent years...those who have less are the one's&nbsp;I admire most.&nbsp;&nbsp;Vandwellers are high on the list; independent, self-sufficient, and not worried about appearances rather&nbsp;they focus on&nbsp;things most important in life which is sustaining life itself and comradrie.&nbsp;</p><p style="margin: 0px;">How fortunate we are to be in a place with&nbsp;such a variety of knowledge&nbsp;where we can pick brains for all&nbsp;that information necessary to succeed in life.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

 

[phoenix900]

If companies don't make a profit they stop operating. It's not the govt getting more it's corporate officers & shareholders. Look at the profits of the utilities & banks last fewyears.

 

[gadgetMe]

Prepare folks:<br>Have a way to produce electricity, Off grid (solar)<br>Have more than one way to provide drinking water for yourself.<br>Have alternative ways to keep warm and cool.<br>Have alternative ways, to have enough food to live. (hunter, gatherer, gardening, sprouts, barter )<br><br>Watch this youtube only 14 minutes<a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=QsinCoRnAic"> Economic depression 2012</a><br><br>Putz<br><a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=QsinCoRnAic"></a><br>

 

[owl]

<P>&nbsp;&nbsp; Uh Oh! Everyone get one of these.&nbsp;&nbsp; <A href="http://zapatopi.net/afdb/" target=_blank>http://zapatopi.net/afdb/</A></P>

 

[Simran]

This is a long story; but a positive one with ups and downs. . . a story of life.<br>I learned in my 20's that I couldn't trust corp. America. I thought I'd have my job for the rest of my life; I worked for Ma Bell or ATT as a telephone cable splicer. I had it made. When my children were born there wasn't one bill that came to the house; it was all paid for.<br><br>Along came Congress and deregulation of the Telephone industry and the subsequent break up of one of the most powerful organizations in the world; ATT.<br><br>Fourteen -sixteen thousand people lost their jobs; I was one of them. I was very bitter and I couldn't find a job in the industry for years because I was competing with guys in their 40's that took early retirement. My experience was dwarfed by there years of experience.<br><br>I struggled for quite a few years with whatever I could find but I never gave up. Those guys finally retired of old age paving the way for an opening for me once again. However, the years had taught me a few things about staying viable in life as well as the work force.<br>1) Live on what you make. Doing this will allow you to make choices about what you do, where you work, how you work, where you live and how you live.<br><br>2) Don't rest on your laurels; stay viable &amp; current with the industry you've chosen to pursue.<br>I work in the communications field and it changes quickly. I am always looking to the future; trying to figure out what direction the industry is moving and stay abreast of the ever changing technology. I always make sure I'm on the cutting edge of whatever is going on.<br><br>3) Stay mobile. I've been from the back woods of Minnesota to the ice shields in the interior of Antarctica to remote Islands in the Pacific working in this industry but I'm working.<br><br>I've seen a lot of country, learned a lot of things that have helped me stay abreast of this industry. Today I work for a consulting company that draws fiber optic jobs for telephone companies &amp; over see's their subsequent installation &amp; cut over. I am an independent contractor for this company. I don't work; I don't get paid but I know what's cooking. No guess work.<br><br>My wife &amp; I have lived off what we make and owe nobody anything except a small mortgage on our little farm in South Dakota. We made 6 figures last year. <br><br>We are a success story.<br><br>We may not be in 5 years; I don't know but I can attest to you the with due diligence and enough tenacity you can do it too. We are by no means special; we are ordinary people with ordinary dreams. we just realized what we had control over and what we didn't and acted accordingly.<br><br>So. . . If you live in a van by choice . . . great. I live in one to for two weeks at a time. The I go home to see my family. Is it a perfect life? not by any stretch; but we make the best of it.<br><br>If you got this far and need inspiration I hope this story helped. The American dream is still there but you gotta take it.<br><br>gus<br><br>

 

[rattlesnake joe]

<p>To understand what is happening now in our country is ....Take Over.&nbsp; Our economy is ka-putt.&nbsp; Our money is not worth anything.&nbsp; It is not backed by Gold or Silver.&nbsp; It is just Federal Reserve Notes that have the full faith and trust of the US Government backing it ha.&nbsp; Better read that again and laugh.&nbsp; But the joke is on us.&nbsp; The Federal Reserve bankrupted us because it is not even a part of the US Government.&nbsp; You heard me right, it is a private banking concern that it run by big shots like Rockefeller and the rest of the fat cats.&nbsp; We've been had by the Criminals of the government establishment.&nbsp; I could go on and on but the reality is the New World Order is bringing our country down to its knees and destroying our America.&nbsp; They figure to make it so hard on us that pretty soon we will be begging for the NWO to&nbsp;come in and save us.&nbsp; That is it in a nutshell folks.&nbsp; You think things will get better?&nbsp; Better think again.&nbsp; </p>