The job market sucks right now and I feel for my friends who are stuck in that situation - and hurting!

We do not need to look very far into our rolodex of friends to know that times are tough right now. Tough is an understatement, it freaking SUCKS! I have several friends who are at their wits end trying to figure out what to do for employment. People who are confident and proud, folks who are getting worn down by the seemingly overwhelming, never ending shittyness of the current economic situation. Now I know fair is what you pay to get on a bus and where we go to get funnel cakes, but life for most in the United States just does not seem fair lately. That is, unless you are resting at the top of the socioeconomic pile, and the top of that particular pile is decidedly not where most of us are sitting. I fear that it will be years before the economy turns around, that will make the road a long hard one. With the gap between rich and poor growing ever wider, I sometimes wonder if the American Dream is a reality. Or, is it just that, a dream, that is being dangled like a chocolate covered pretzel from the stick of what corporate greed has turned capitalism into? We must believe that we can make it to the top. If we do not believe that, than none of the system works correctly. The American Dream, what is that – really? The American dream is a national philosophy that the United States holds dear - a set of democratic ideals, chiefly an ideal that promises prosperity for its all of its people. James Adams first expressed the sentiment in 1931, we the citizenry, of every rank, feel that we can achieve a better, richer, and happier lives. I wonder sometimes if that is not just a quaint little saying from yesteryear, perpetuated by God know who and for what reason. Maybe perpetuated from days when it was actually true, hell maybe it was never true and we have all been duped all along and did not even know it.

Anyway, I count my blessing every day that I am still employed, underemployed I suspect, but employed all the same. We have, where I work, had cutbacks. Staff reductions, pay cuts for salaried employees and reduction in workday length for the hourly folks, a polite way to say pay cut. I do not know anyone that the current situation has not touched in some way or another. We struggle in my house as well, Bride is not medically able to work right now. For a household where she was the sometimes the primary bread winner that loss of income has been an enlightening experience to say the least. Regardless of the reason for the loss of one, or more, of the family incomes, it presents MANY challenges. In the case of one of my friends, he lost his position and then later on his wife lost her position, a worse hell I can not imagine. Bride and I struggle but with only a house payment and utilities to worry about, it is at least doable. No new cars in our budget and no credit cards allowed. We were overly cautious during the boom years and looking back, I am SO glad of that.

So where does it end? I do not know, but I do know that I am MAD that my friends are struggling. Strong and independent folks who are getting worn down. I know the right things will come along for them but I do not know when. I pray that it comes before they lose their homes and other possessions to the machine that seems to be eating our economy. I know it is supposed to be over and I suppose for some it is, but we the middle class seem to be, like always, carrying the burdens of the ones at the top and the bottom. In a time when we can least afford it we are being saddled with even more burdens in the form of new taxes and fees from the local, state and federal level. I heard the other day that they are looking at taxing pig and cow farmers for the methane emissions of their livestock. To that I say WTFO!!!!! Since cow farting is the leading methane producer on the PLANET, I suspect that any fee will likely break many a farmer. And not because of the fee, they will pass that cost along to us. They will break because I do not suspect we will be willing to pay 12 bucks for a Big Mac. What are our elected representatives thinking, taxing cow farts, that is the answer?? UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! And we allow that, even more UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

I am one who still believes that things would be no different if the other party had made it to office last year. Ya know what pisses me off, the fact that in the land of free and home of the brave that my choices were the ones I had. Could not our country put forth a better selection for me to choose from? I have been trying to figure out exactly what that means to me, McCain or Obama, I mean come on? Why were there not any better choices? Both men have outstanding qualities and are good people at their core, I believe, but for leader of the free world, under qualified. I just do not know anymore. I guess I am just ranting now, this was supposed to be about my friends who are job hunting.

What will this all look like in another year, where will we be? Will the unemployment rate be below 9% or over 15%, will the cost of gas be $2.75 or 6 bucks a gallon? Will the cost of a steak and bacon cost us less than 10 bucks or more? Will we, as a country, be more united? Will we be aimlessly wandering the wilderness or will we turn the ship around? Will we be able to stop talking about things that matter little to none to most normal folks and start actually dealing with the real issues? Will we be able to force real changes in government by taking our righteous indignation into the voting booth? I do not know the answers to any of those questions but I do know that I will continue to pray for my friends who are looking for stable employment. I will continue to pray for my friends who are trying to sell their homes to move to somewhere with more promise. And I will pray for my friends who are still holding on to those bitter feelings about where they have found themselves. I will continue to pray for my numbers to come through on the lotto, because if they do hit I will be able to help my friends through this, the most terrible times in a long time that we are currently sharing. Today’s oratory may seem a little more negative than normal, it is just that I really feel for my friends, who are suffering through very tough times and it hurts my heart to think about it.

Please try to remember, if they ain’t shoveling dirt on your faces, the rest is gravy so keep smiling.