Conversations from the corner office
By Rick Irrgang
The news surely has been interesting these days. Osama gone, gas prices up, house values low, jobs scarce. Our future? Uncertain. As we move in to the second half of 2011, I ask you. What has the economy done for you lately? If you are waiting for a hand out from the government, you may be waiting for some time. Many of our elected officials are busy with more important things. I mean really, spending time sending crotch shots to co-eds from your office congress has got to be more important than helping us, right? Worrying about taking care of the third world has got to take precedence over worrying about Americans. And those banks and auto companies, they really do need our money to stay in business. Any one that reads the news could write a book about all the wrong but let's focus on the right for a change.
What would it take, as an extra income, not to have to worry about the price of gas and food? Would taking your family on a much needed summer vacation interest you? Maybe some much need home repairs? The kids could use new school clothes maybe? Would an extra 2,3,5 or 7 hundred dollars in your mailbox each month help you out? By just transfer buying some of the products you already buy to your own business and recommending them to a few other people you care about, could create a second stream of income that would allow you to do some more of things that you may not be able to do now. The products I'm talking about are ones that you already buy at other stores. Personal care products, nutritional supplements, ladies cosmetics and even a few home cleaning items. Better yet, you'll be paid to use and recommend them. Julia and I have been helping people searching for some financial relief for years and we are reaching out again to provide some much needed answers about the financial well being of people just you and us. Please take the time to watch the short few videos here on our blog. They may just be the answer you've been waiting for.
.....Let's Create Amazing Lives, Together.
-Rick and Julia
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Monday, December 6, 2010
Why Recession Proof Jobs are a Myth
Conversations from the corner Office.
Re-Posted by Rick Irrgang 12.06.10.
It's so great to have friends refer me to great articles that I can share on our blog. Please enjoy this weeks post written by Rick Newman.
Why "Recession-Proof" Jobs Are a Myth
usnews
Rick Newman, On Tuesday November 30, 2010, 2:16 pm EST
When President Obama proposed a federal pay freeze recently, there must have been quite a few civil servants who thought, "Whoa! This isn't supposed to happen!"
[See 20 industries where jobs are coming back.]
In private firms, pay freezes have become as common as Post-It notes. But government jobs, you'll recall, are supposed to be "recession-proof" and far less susceptible to the strains of a weak economy. The government has never said that, exactly, but lots of career experts have, and if the compact was never overt it was at least well understood: Government jobs tend to come with lower pay and prestige, but with benefits and job security that make up for it.
No longer. As with so many other things, many of the old assumptions about safe jobs and stable careers have been shattered by the grueling economic transformation we're still in the middle of. Yet the ubiquitous lists of best careers and recession-proof jobs continue to propagate the phony idea that some lines of work are immune to economic stress. Here are some of the careers recommended by outfits like CareerBuilder, Forbes, Time, HR World, and Associated Content, along with the more sobering reality:
Education. Conventional wisdom: Education is indispensable and most teachers get their paychecks from state or local governments, which are less susceptible to recessions than private industry. Plus, most teachers belong to unions, which provide further protection against layoffs and pay cuts.
Reality: State and local governments are facing severe budget pressures and are starting to lay off teachers. Since 2008, for instance, the number of local teaching jobs has fallen by 157,000, according to the Labor Department. Plus, teachers' unions that refuse to accept pay and benefit cuts are increasingly seen as out of step with the rest of America, prompting a backlash in some areas that could lead to school consolidations and other recession-like moves.
[See 12 industries still losing jobs.]
Military. Conventional wisdom: We're still fighting two wars, terrorism is ever-present, and Congress always supports the military.
Reality: The huge federal debt has to be cut somehow, and the military is one of the biggest targets. One prominent proposal calls for freezing military pay, cutting benefits, and outsourcing many military jobs to contractors. As for Congress, it tends to support big weapons programs more than spending on troops. Plus, the Iraq deployment is winding down and a drawdown in Afghanistan is scheduled to begin next summer.
Public safety. Conventional wisdom: Police, firefighter, and federal law enforcement jobs will be the last to be cut.
Reality: Maybe so, but governments have now reached that point. Police and fire departments are now subject to the same pressures as other local government agencies, and cuts in the federal workforce seem inevitable as well, with every agency likely to give up something. Overall, state and local governments have cut 260,000 jobs this year alone, with more cuts likely in 2011 and 2012.
Utilities. Conventional wisdom: Everybody needs to keep the lights on and heat the house, plus most utilities are regulated, which keeps prices stable and helps smooth out ups and downs.
Reality: It's true that everybody needs energy, but Americans have cut back on virtually everything, including gas, electric, and water. Labor Department data shows a net loss of about 4,000 jobs in this industry since 2008, with steeper cuts in traditional power plants and minor gains at nuclear facilities.
[See why every worker needs new skills.]
Energy. Conventional wisdom: Energy is obviously a staple, so demand will stay strong in any economy, providing job security.
Reality: Energy is a volatile commodity subject to steep price swings. Energy demand has held up reasonably well over the last few years, with a net job increase in industries like oil and gas extraction. But anybody from Texas or Oklahoma can tell you that an energy bust can be brutal. And "green energy" remains a wild card that could flourish, taking jobs away from fossil-fuel industries, or peter out, leaving a bunch of shuttered startups where people were once hoping to find stable, high-paying jobs.
Accounting. Conventional wisdom: "Death and taxes are a sure thing," according to one job-advice site, which reasons that tough times ought to force companies and individuals to scour their finances more closely than usual, making more work for accountants.
Reality: There's a glut of unemployed accountants and bookkeepers right now, thanks to severe corporate cutbacks and weak revenue at small businesses. There are about 86,000 fewer accounting jobs now than there were three years ago.
Computers. Conventional wisdom: Companies are increasingly replacing people with processors, with no end in sight to the technology revolution.
Reality: With intense pressure to cut costs at most companies, lower-level IT jobs are being shipped overseas in droves; any job that can be done remotely by a lower-paid worker in India probably will be. The safer jobs involve systems engineering and proprietary software work, which requires a high degree of skill and tireless attention to new technology.
[See how the middle class is shrinking.]
Sales reps. Conventional wisdom: In a downturn, companies are likely to hold onto the sales reps who bring in desperately needed new business, while cutting support functions and other jobs that don't contribute to the bottom line.
Reality: Companies don't always do what's rational, and besides, sales reps don't add to the bottom line when potential customers hunker down and refuse to spend money. No wonder the economy has lost more than 400,000 sales jobs since 2008.
Federal government. Conventional wisdom: Uncle Sam doesn't have to please shareholders or customers, so it doesn't face the same budget pressures as private companies. Plus, many government jobs have union protection.
Reality: The federal government has been spending far more than it takes in for a decade, with the national debt ballooning and the day of reckoning drawing near. Voters have now made it clear they want a smaller government, and cutbacks in the federal workforce seem inevitable. One harbinger of coming cuts is the U.S. Postal Service, once thought to be recession-proof itself; its labor force has shrunk by 137,000 jobs since 2008.
To be fair to the job-advice sites guiding workers toward precarious fields, many of their recession-proof lists predate the 2007-2009 recession that proved them wrong. And a number of them are derived from a 2008 book that could not have anticipated the ravages of a downturn that destroyed more than 8 million jobs. Still, many of those outdated lists pop up high on a Google search for "recession-proof jobs," and readers don't always check the date when doing research on careers.
[See what could cause the next recession.]
Practically every list of recession-proof careers also includes a variety of medical jobs, from nurses and doctors to technicians and home health aides. That's valid, since the aging of America's population makes it inevitable that more people will need health care. And sure enough, healthcare has gained jobs in practically every sector over the last few years, despite the recession. But even in healthcare there are a lot of variables that could make jobs less appealing down the road. As more people flee declining industries and flock toward the few that are growing, a glut of qualified workers can develop, driving down pay and benefits. Healthcare reform could produce unexpected changes that make some jobs safer than others. And the complexity of healthcare, combined with relentless pressure to lower costs, is already leading doctors and other caregivers to report high levels of stress and low levels of satisfaction.
It might be distressing to think that no job is safe from recession, but in a fast-changing economy where old industries are displaced by new ones faster than ever, focusing on safety and stability may be the wrong way to pursue a rewarding career. There's mounting evidence that adaptable skills, creativity, and lifelong learning are the new determinants of success, with the biggest rewards going to people with multidisciplinary experience who can apply lessons learned in one field to another and accept the idea that they're likely to have two, three, or four careers, not just one. Cathy Farley of consulting firm Accenture says that as companies recover from the recession and start to hire again, they'll build a more agile workforce capable of responding to a wider variety of challenges. "Companies will organize themselves more flexibly," she says. "They'll look for people with the ability to adapt to different types of work."
[See 3 myths about disappearing prosperity.]
Companies built around a fixed set of skills, meanwhile, may not be hiring for a long time. Industries like manufacturing, construction, telecommunications, and even insurance are still losing jobs, more than a year after the recession officially ended, and many of those lost jobs may never return. A lot of workers in those fields, naturally, are trying to break into different lines of work that offer more stability. But the first move ought to be recession-proofing yourself, by building skills that will transcend the inevitable lurches in the economy. That way, you won't be caught flat-footed when the next pay freeze or technological transformation comes along.
Re-Posted by Rick Irrgang 12.06.10.
It's so great to have friends refer me to great articles that I can share on our blog. Please enjoy this weeks post written by Rick Newman.
Why "Recession-Proof" Jobs Are a Myth
usnews
Rick Newman, On Tuesday November 30, 2010, 2:16 pm EST
When President Obama proposed a federal pay freeze recently, there must have been quite a few civil servants who thought, "Whoa! This isn't supposed to happen!"
[See 20 industries where jobs are coming back.]
In private firms, pay freezes have become as common as Post-It notes. But government jobs, you'll recall, are supposed to be "recession-proof" and far less susceptible to the strains of a weak economy. The government has never said that, exactly, but lots of career experts have, and if the compact was never overt it was at least well understood: Government jobs tend to come with lower pay and prestige, but with benefits and job security that make up for it.
No longer. As with so many other things, many of the old assumptions about safe jobs and stable careers have been shattered by the grueling economic transformation we're still in the middle of. Yet the ubiquitous lists of best careers and recession-proof jobs continue to propagate the phony idea that some lines of work are immune to economic stress. Here are some of the careers recommended by outfits like CareerBuilder, Forbes, Time, HR World, and Associated Content, along with the more sobering reality:
Education. Conventional wisdom: Education is indispensable and most teachers get their paychecks from state or local governments, which are less susceptible to recessions than private industry. Plus, most teachers belong to unions, which provide further protection against layoffs and pay cuts.
Reality: State and local governments are facing severe budget pressures and are starting to lay off teachers. Since 2008, for instance, the number of local teaching jobs has fallen by 157,000, according to the Labor Department. Plus, teachers' unions that refuse to accept pay and benefit cuts are increasingly seen as out of step with the rest of America, prompting a backlash in some areas that could lead to school consolidations and other recession-like moves.
[See 12 industries still losing jobs.]
Military. Conventional wisdom: We're still fighting two wars, terrorism is ever-present, and Congress always supports the military.
Reality: The huge federal debt has to be cut somehow, and the military is one of the biggest targets. One prominent proposal calls for freezing military pay, cutting benefits, and outsourcing many military jobs to contractors. As for Congress, it tends to support big weapons programs more than spending on troops. Plus, the Iraq deployment is winding down and a drawdown in Afghanistan is scheduled to begin next summer.
Public safety. Conventional wisdom: Police, firefighter, and federal law enforcement jobs will be the last to be cut.
Reality: Maybe so, but governments have now reached that point. Police and fire departments are now subject to the same pressures as other local government agencies, and cuts in the federal workforce seem inevitable as well, with every agency likely to give up something. Overall, state and local governments have cut 260,000 jobs this year alone, with more cuts likely in 2011 and 2012.
Utilities. Conventional wisdom: Everybody needs to keep the lights on and heat the house, plus most utilities are regulated, which keeps prices stable and helps smooth out ups and downs.
Reality: It's true that everybody needs energy, but Americans have cut back on virtually everything, including gas, electric, and water. Labor Department data shows a net loss of about 4,000 jobs in this industry since 2008, with steeper cuts in traditional power plants and minor gains at nuclear facilities.
[See why every worker needs new skills.]
Energy. Conventional wisdom: Energy is obviously a staple, so demand will stay strong in any economy, providing job security.
Reality: Energy is a volatile commodity subject to steep price swings. Energy demand has held up reasonably well over the last few years, with a net job increase in industries like oil and gas extraction. But anybody from Texas or Oklahoma can tell you that an energy bust can be brutal. And "green energy" remains a wild card that could flourish, taking jobs away from fossil-fuel industries, or peter out, leaving a bunch of shuttered startups where people were once hoping to find stable, high-paying jobs.
Accounting. Conventional wisdom: "Death and taxes are a sure thing," according to one job-advice site, which reasons that tough times ought to force companies and individuals to scour their finances more closely than usual, making more work for accountants.
Reality: There's a glut of unemployed accountants and bookkeepers right now, thanks to severe corporate cutbacks and weak revenue at small businesses. There are about 86,000 fewer accounting jobs now than there were three years ago.
Computers. Conventional wisdom: Companies are increasingly replacing people with processors, with no end in sight to the technology revolution.
Reality: With intense pressure to cut costs at most companies, lower-level IT jobs are being shipped overseas in droves; any job that can be done remotely by a lower-paid worker in India probably will be. The safer jobs involve systems engineering and proprietary software work, which requires a high degree of skill and tireless attention to new technology.
[See how the middle class is shrinking.]
Sales reps. Conventional wisdom: In a downturn, companies are likely to hold onto the sales reps who bring in desperately needed new business, while cutting support functions and other jobs that don't contribute to the bottom line.
Reality: Companies don't always do what's rational, and besides, sales reps don't add to the bottom line when potential customers hunker down and refuse to spend money. No wonder the economy has lost more than 400,000 sales jobs since 2008.
Federal government. Conventional wisdom: Uncle Sam doesn't have to please shareholders or customers, so it doesn't face the same budget pressures as private companies. Plus, many government jobs have union protection.
Reality: The federal government has been spending far more than it takes in for a decade, with the national debt ballooning and the day of reckoning drawing near. Voters have now made it clear they want a smaller government, and cutbacks in the federal workforce seem inevitable. One harbinger of coming cuts is the U.S. Postal Service, once thought to be recession-proof itself; its labor force has shrunk by 137,000 jobs since 2008.
To be fair to the job-advice sites guiding workers toward precarious fields, many of their recession-proof lists predate the 2007-2009 recession that proved them wrong. And a number of them are derived from a 2008 book that could not have anticipated the ravages of a downturn that destroyed more than 8 million jobs. Still, many of those outdated lists pop up high on a Google search for "recession-proof jobs," and readers don't always check the date when doing research on careers.
[See what could cause the next recession.]
Practically every list of recession-proof careers also includes a variety of medical jobs, from nurses and doctors to technicians and home health aides. That's valid, since the aging of America's population makes it inevitable that more people will need health care. And sure enough, healthcare has gained jobs in practically every sector over the last few years, despite the recession. But even in healthcare there are a lot of variables that could make jobs less appealing down the road. As more people flee declining industries and flock toward the few that are growing, a glut of qualified workers can develop, driving down pay and benefits. Healthcare reform could produce unexpected changes that make some jobs safer than others. And the complexity of healthcare, combined with relentless pressure to lower costs, is already leading doctors and other caregivers to report high levels of stress and low levels of satisfaction.
It might be distressing to think that no job is safe from recession, but in a fast-changing economy where old industries are displaced by new ones faster than ever, focusing on safety and stability may be the wrong way to pursue a rewarding career. There's mounting evidence that adaptable skills, creativity, and lifelong learning are the new determinants of success, with the biggest rewards going to people with multidisciplinary experience who can apply lessons learned in one field to another and accept the idea that they're likely to have two, three, or four careers, not just one. Cathy Farley of consulting firm Accenture says that as companies recover from the recession and start to hire again, they'll build a more agile workforce capable of responding to a wider variety of challenges. "Companies will organize themselves more flexibly," she says. "They'll look for people with the ability to adapt to different types of work."
[See 3 myths about disappearing prosperity.]
Companies built around a fixed set of skills, meanwhile, may not be hiring for a long time. Industries like manufacturing, construction, telecommunications, and even insurance are still losing jobs, more than a year after the recession officially ended, and many of those lost jobs may never return. A lot of workers in those fields, naturally, are trying to break into different lines of work that offer more stability. But the first move ought to be recession-proofing yourself, by building skills that will transcend the inevitable lurches in the economy. That way, you won't be caught flat-footed when the next pay freeze or technological transformation comes along.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Power of Gratitude
Conversations From the Corner Office.
Posted by Rick Irrgang
Good day to all of our friends and business partners. As we near the end of an other wonderfully prosperous year we must remind ourselves that we must be grateful for all we have. As many of you know, I quote many of the sayings and teachings of my mentor Richard Brooke. Today's post is a replay.........a replay for those who may of not read it last year..........a replay for those who may of read it and forgot the message......me included.
Enjoy today's post "The Power of Gratitude" by Richard Brooke
The Power of Gratitude
Posted By: Richard B. Brooke
Date Posted: November 17, 2010
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s an American tradition; the day we give thanks for all we have. Thanks for the things, the conditions and the people we may take completely for granted the other 364 days of the year.
What I love most about Thanksgiving is the purity of it.
Notice how we don’t buy each other gifts. You know, the gifts we must make sure are at least as good as the ones we think we will receive. The gifts we cannot afford. The gifts we end up paying for, many months after the holiday has passed.
Notice how it does not matter what religion we practice. Anyone can celebrate Thanksgiving. It is the holiday that celebrates diversity and inclusion. Kind of like how our forefathers envisioned us as a country.
Notice how there aren’t any goofball, make-believe characters that we have morphed into being the icon of Thanksgiving. Not even the turkey has taken on any meaning, other than food for our feast. Now I don’t have anything against Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. They are great fairy tales for kids. They just don’t have anything to do with Christianity, nor does spending billions of borrowed dollars to celebrate these characters.
Gratitude carries such amazing power. Gratitude instantly reshapes our over-amped ambitions, competitiveness and rat-race mentality. Gratitude heals many wounds and every relationship, when we give it a chance.
If you want to give someone a gift that will really make a difference — a gift that they will remember and likely keep forever — write them a letter about how much you appreciate them, love them and cherish them. Tell them the specific things they do and who they are that is such a gift to you. It is free, but priceless.
Today I am reminded of, and celebrate, those qualities of my life for which I am thankful. I share them with you here so that you will perhaps make a list of your own. Carry them in your heart all year, and all your years to come are guaranteed to be more peaceful, loving and abundant.
I am thankful for:
My health … for without it, nothing else matters much. This is the area of my life I still take for granted, and I do make improvements every year.
My lover, wife and life partner Christine … who inspires in me a love like I have only imagined. She makes me want to be a better man.
My friends … you know, the ones who do not have a vested interest in any conditions; they are just my friends. Period. No matter what, they are always there and always will be.
My experiences … some extraordinary, some frightful. Some I am happy to have out of the way, so I do not have to go through them in the future. They have given me great empathy, some wisdom, and have fed my infinite curiosity about life and people and places.
My financial freedom … which gives me so many things. Freedom to pursue my passions: flying, poker, real estate, personal development, exploring, business. The peace of mind that we will never be homeless, forced to take a meaningless job, or be in a position to not take care of each other.
My associates … so much of my freedom and peace of mind comes from the loyalty, gratitude and commitment of the people with whom I work: sales leaders; office staff; corporate leaders and customers. I vow never to take any of them or their efforts for granted, for without them … well, I would just have to start over. No fun.
My country … what extraordinary good fortune for most of us that we live in Canada or the U.S. As selfish, immature and twisted as some of our country’s political, business and religious leaders are, we still are the place where people die every day in an attempt to come here.
People will die this week in pursuit of the level of religious freedom we enjoy; in pursuit of this economic opportunity; in pursuit of our Bill of Rights. They will give their lives attempting to cross our borders or cross an ocean to freedom. They will pay a king’s ransom and risk their lives just for a shot at the life we take for granted.
And yes, 2010 will go down as a year when we all got a reality check. When the Universe (or God or whomever) slapped us down for being so lazy, irresponsible and greedy. The year when we maxed out our global Visa card so badly that our credit limit was slashed, trashing our grandiose lifestyle. Our overheated economic growth of the last decade was not due to our productivity or ingenuity, but rather the virtually unlimited credit for everything from cars, to clothes, to twice the house we really could afford. Let it be a lesson to us. We need a more "pay-as-we-go" lifestyle.
Several years ago, I hopped a plane for Havana, Cuba, and spent a week wandering the streets of the old district. The city looks like the ornate parts of San Francisco, but with the lights turned out about 1956. There has been no maintenance of the infrastructure since then. The plumbing does not work anymore. Water is pumped from trucks to tanks on the rooftops; sewage drains into the streets. Electricity, when it does work, is hand-strung from dwelling to dwelling. People live in almost cave-like condos they have carved out of the rubble. I met a lady who lived in a room as small as our bathroom. She had lived and raised her family there since 1958, with the same refrigerator. How many of us have the same anything from 1958?
People in Cuba are so scared of Fidel and Raúl, they lower their heads and whisper at midnight in their own homes when you ask about them. Many Cubans have made a run across the sea to Florida. Some of those I met on my trip did not make it when they fled. For every day at sea, they get a year in prison. Prison in Cuba is so bad, the manliest of men could not speak to me about it.
Cuba is 90 miles off our coast. In a fun boat they could be here in less than an hour. They occasionally get to read our magazines or catch a radio broadcast, but other than that they are living on dreams … the dream of one day living in the USA or, better yet, of having America come back to them.
If you are thankful for nothing else this day, be thankful you live where you do. Any of us could have easily been born 90 miles south of the wrong border.
Thanksgiving.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this day was the most celebrated day in our year? Celebrated by us truly giving thanks, saying thank you and meaning thank you.
I do thank each of you for the part you play in my life. Without you, it would be maybe a little or maybe a lot different. I love it just the way it is.
www.RichardBrooke.com
Posted by Rick Irrgang
Good day to all of our friends and business partners. As we near the end of an other wonderfully prosperous year we must remind ourselves that we must be grateful for all we have. As many of you know, I quote many of the sayings and teachings of my mentor Richard Brooke. Today's post is a replay.........a replay for those who may of not read it last year..........a replay for those who may of read it and forgot the message......me included.
Enjoy today's post "The Power of Gratitude" by Richard Brooke
The Power of Gratitude
Posted By: Richard B. Brooke
Date Posted: November 17, 2010
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s an American tradition; the day we give thanks for all we have. Thanks for the things, the conditions and the people we may take completely for granted the other 364 days of the year.What I love most about Thanksgiving is the purity of it.
Notice how we don’t buy each other gifts. You know, the gifts we must make sure are at least as good as the ones we think we will receive. The gifts we cannot afford. The gifts we end up paying for, many months after the holiday has passed.
Notice how it does not matter what religion we practice. Anyone can celebrate Thanksgiving. It is the holiday that celebrates diversity and inclusion. Kind of like how our forefathers envisioned us as a country.
Notice how there aren’t any goofball, make-believe characters that we have morphed into being the icon of Thanksgiving. Not even the turkey has taken on any meaning, other than food for our feast. Now I don’t have anything against Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. They are great fairy tales for kids. They just don’t have anything to do with Christianity, nor does spending billions of borrowed dollars to celebrate these characters.
Gratitude carries such amazing power. Gratitude instantly reshapes our over-amped ambitions, competitiveness and rat-race mentality. Gratitude heals many wounds and every relationship, when we give it a chance.
If you want to give someone a gift that will really make a difference — a gift that they will remember and likely keep forever — write them a letter about how much you appreciate them, love them and cherish them. Tell them the specific things they do and who they are that is such a gift to you. It is free, but priceless.
Today I am reminded of, and celebrate, those qualities of my life for which I am thankful. I share them with you here so that you will perhaps make a list of your own. Carry them in your heart all year, and all your years to come are guaranteed to be more peaceful, loving and abundant.
I am thankful for:
My health … for without it, nothing else matters much. This is the area of my life I still take for granted, and I do make improvements every year.
My lover, wife and life partner Christine … who inspires in me a love like I have only imagined. She makes me want to be a better man.
My friends … you know, the ones who do not have a vested interest in any conditions; they are just my friends. Period. No matter what, they are always there and always will be.
My experiences … some extraordinary, some frightful. Some I am happy to have out of the way, so I do not have to go through them in the future. They have given me great empathy, some wisdom, and have fed my infinite curiosity about life and people and places.
My financial freedom … which gives me so many things. Freedom to pursue my passions: flying, poker, real estate, personal development, exploring, business. The peace of mind that we will never be homeless, forced to take a meaningless job, or be in a position to not take care of each other.
My associates … so much of my freedom and peace of mind comes from the loyalty, gratitude and commitment of the people with whom I work: sales leaders; office staff; corporate leaders and customers. I vow never to take any of them or their efforts for granted, for without them … well, I would just have to start over. No fun.
My country … what extraordinary good fortune for most of us that we live in Canada or the U.S. As selfish, immature and twisted as some of our country’s political, business and religious leaders are, we still are the place where people die every day in an attempt to come here.
People will die this week in pursuit of the level of religious freedom we enjoy; in pursuit of this economic opportunity; in pursuit of our Bill of Rights. They will give their lives attempting to cross our borders or cross an ocean to freedom. They will pay a king’s ransom and risk their lives just for a shot at the life we take for granted.
And yes, 2010 will go down as a year when we all got a reality check. When the Universe (or God or whomever) slapped us down for being so lazy, irresponsible and greedy. The year when we maxed out our global Visa card so badly that our credit limit was slashed, trashing our grandiose lifestyle. Our overheated economic growth of the last decade was not due to our productivity or ingenuity, but rather the virtually unlimited credit for everything from cars, to clothes, to twice the house we really could afford. Let it be a lesson to us. We need a more "pay-as-we-go" lifestyle.
Several years ago, I hopped a plane for Havana, Cuba, and spent a week wandering the streets of the old district. The city looks like the ornate parts of San Francisco, but with the lights turned out about 1956. There has been no maintenance of the infrastructure since then. The plumbing does not work anymore. Water is pumped from trucks to tanks on the rooftops; sewage drains into the streets. Electricity, when it does work, is hand-strung from dwelling to dwelling. People live in almost cave-like condos they have carved out of the rubble. I met a lady who lived in a room as small as our bathroom. She had lived and raised her family there since 1958, with the same refrigerator. How many of us have the same anything from 1958?
People in Cuba are so scared of Fidel and Raúl, they lower their heads and whisper at midnight in their own homes when you ask about them. Many Cubans have made a run across the sea to Florida. Some of those I met on my trip did not make it when they fled. For every day at sea, they get a year in prison. Prison in Cuba is so bad, the manliest of men could not speak to me about it.
Cuba is 90 miles off our coast. In a fun boat they could be here in less than an hour. They occasionally get to read our magazines or catch a radio broadcast, but other than that they are living on dreams … the dream of one day living in the USA or, better yet, of having America come back to them.
If you are thankful for nothing else this day, be thankful you live where you do. Any of us could have easily been born 90 miles south of the wrong border.
Thanksgiving.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this day was the most celebrated day in our year? Celebrated by us truly giving thanks, saying thank you and meaning thank you.
I do thank each of you for the part you play in my life. Without you, it would be maybe a little or maybe a lot different. I love it just the way it is.
www.RichardBrooke.com
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Recession May Be Changing Americans' Attitudes Toward Work
Conversations From the Corner Office.
Posted by Rick Irrgang 10.23.2010
Enjoying your weekend? Perhaps you enjoy it more than you do your week at work? Perhaps you enjoy more than ever because of your week at work? We do have alternatives and they can work for you. After reading today's entry, take a listen to the audio at the top of our blog. It may strike a resounding note with you.
FRIDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Recession-linked job insecurity has many Americans questioning the sacrifices they make for work, such as having less time for family, leisure and self-improvement activities, a new study suggests.
Florida State University researchers surveyed more than 1,100 full-time workers with a range of jobs and career stages. Nearly half (48 percent) said the recession had increased their appreciation of family, and 37 percent said the recession triggered thoughts that work isn't as important as it once was in the overall scheme of things.
Among the other findings:
The study also revealed differences between men and women.
"Digging a little deeper into the data, it was evident that men's reflective, and often remorseful, thoughts were driven by recession-related job insecurity and its subsequent role in encouraging hostile work treatment," study author Wayne Hochwarter, a professor of business administration in the Florida State University College of Business, said in a university news release.
Conflicts between work and family obligations were more likely to trigger women's reevaluation of job-related sacrifices, according to the study, which is being prepared for publication.
The findings are positive in many ways, according to the researchers.
"The fact that many employees spent time evaluating the importance of non-work factors may be the first step in reducing the stress associated with imbalanced lives," study co-author Stuart Tapley said in the news release.
"Many of the people that we talked to felt that having less faith in work afforded them opportunities to direct more faith toward other often-neglected areas of life, and in most cases, it was family and friends," added co-author Tyler Everett.
Posted by Rick Irrgang 10.23.2010
Enjoying your weekend? Perhaps you enjoy it more than you do your week at work? Perhaps you enjoy more than ever because of your week at work? We do have alternatives and they can work for you. After reading today's entry, take a listen to the audio at the top of our blog. It may strike a resounding note with you.
Recession May Be Changing Americans' Attitudes Toward Work
In poll, many say job insecurity puts focus on importance of family, friends
-- Robert Preidt
Florida State University researchers surveyed more than 1,100 full-time workers with a range of jobs and career stages. Nearly half (48 percent) said the recession had increased their appreciation of family, and 37 percent said the recession triggered thoughts that work isn't as important as it once was in the overall scheme of things.
Among the other findings:
- 49 percent of respondents said the recession helped them recognize the value of people over things.
- 23 percent said the recession raised their awareness of being over-committed to work at the expense of family and recreation.
- 43 percent said the recession increased their drive to be a better person rather than just a better worker.
The study also revealed differences between men and women.
"Digging a little deeper into the data, it was evident that men's reflective, and often remorseful, thoughts were driven by recession-related job insecurity and its subsequent role in encouraging hostile work treatment," study author Wayne Hochwarter, a professor of business administration in the Florida State University College of Business, said in a university news release.
Conflicts between work and family obligations were more likely to trigger women's reevaluation of job-related sacrifices, according to the study, which is being prepared for publication.
The findings are positive in many ways, according to the researchers.
"The fact that many employees spent time evaluating the importance of non-work factors may be the first step in reducing the stress associated with imbalanced lives," study co-author Stuart Tapley said in the news release.
"Many of the people that we talked to felt that having less faith in work afforded them opportunities to direct more faith toward other often-neglected areas of life, and in most cases, it was family and friends," added co-author Tyler Everett.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
19 Surprising Facts About the Deindustrialization of America
Conversation From The Corner Office
Posted by Rick Irrgang.
If you are wondering what is happening to this great country we live in, take a few minutes to read this short article I found today. The author is credited at the end of this post.
I think our plan "B" better become our plan "A". Let's build a better life together.
The United States is rapidly becoming the very first "post-industrial" nation on the globe. All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squander the great wealth that their forefathers have left them, but the pace at which America is accomplishing this is absolutely amazing.
It was America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. It was America that showed the world how to mass produce everything from automobiles, to televisions, to airplanes. It was the great American manufacturing base that crushed Germany and Japan in World War II.
But now we are witnessing the deindustrialization of America. Tens of thousands of factories have left the United States in the past decade alone. Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the same time period. The United States has become a nation that consumes everything in sight and yet produces increasingly little.
Do you know what our biggest export is today? Waste paper. Yes, trash is the number one thing that we ship out to the rest of the world as we voraciously blow our money on whatever the rest of the world wants to sell to us. The United States has become bloated and spoiled and our economy is now just a shadow of what it once was.
Once upon a time America could literally outproduce the rest of the world combined. Today that is no longer true, but Americans sure do consume more than anyone else in the world. If the deindustrialization of America continues at this current pace, what possible kind of a future are we going to be leaving to our children?
Any great nation throughout history has been great at making things. So if the United States continues to allow its manufacturing base to erode at a staggering pace, how in the world can the U.S. continue to consider itself to be a great nation? We have created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world in an effort to maintain a very high standard of living, but the current state of affairs is not anywhere close to sustainable. Every single month America goes into more debt and every single month America gets poorer.
So what happens when the debt bubble pops?
The deindustrialization of the United States should be a top concern for every man, woman and child in the country. But sadly, most Americans do not have any idea what is going on around them. For people like that, take this article and print it out and hand it to them. Perhaps what they will read below will shock them badly enough to awaken them from their slumber. The following are 19 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind....
How many more trillions of dollars are going to leave the country before we realize that we are losing wealth at a pace that is killing our economy? How many once great manufacturing cities are going to become rotting war zones like Detroit before we understand that we are committing national economic suicide?
The deindustrialization of America is a national crisis. It needs to be treated like one. America is in deep, deep trouble folks. It is time to wake up.
Posted by Rick Irrgang.
If you are wondering what is happening to this great country we live in, take a few minutes to read this short article I found today. The author is credited at the end of this post.
I think our plan "B" better become our plan "A". Let's build a better life together.
The United States is rapidly becoming the very first "post-industrial" nation on the globe. All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squander the great wealth that their forefathers have left them, but the pace at which America is accomplishing this is absolutely amazing.
It was America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. It was America that showed the world how to mass produce everything from automobiles, to televisions, to airplanes. It was the great American manufacturing base that crushed Germany and Japan in World War II.
But now we are witnessing the deindustrialization of America. Tens of thousands of factories have left the United States in the past decade alone. Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the same time period. The United States has become a nation that consumes everything in sight and yet produces increasingly little.
Do you know what our biggest export is today? Waste paper. Yes, trash is the number one thing that we ship out to the rest of the world as we voraciously blow our money on whatever the rest of the world wants to sell to us. The United States has become bloated and spoiled and our economy is now just a shadow of what it once was.
Once upon a time America could literally outproduce the rest of the world combined. Today that is no longer true, but Americans sure do consume more than anyone else in the world. If the deindustrialization of America continues at this current pace, what possible kind of a future are we going to be leaving to our children?
Any great nation throughout history has been great at making things. So if the United States continues to allow its manufacturing base to erode at a staggering pace, how in the world can the U.S. continue to consider itself to be a great nation? We have created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world in an effort to maintain a very high standard of living, but the current state of affairs is not anywhere close to sustainable. Every single month America goes into more debt and every single month America gets poorer.
So what happens when the debt bubble pops?
The deindustrialization of the United States should be a top concern for every man, woman and child in the country. But sadly, most Americans do not have any idea what is going on around them. For people like that, take this article and print it out and hand it to them. Perhaps what they will read below will shock them badly enough to awaken them from their slumber. The following are 19 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind....
- The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001. About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.
- Dell Inc. (DELL), one of America’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.
- Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.
- In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? Zero.
- According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.
- As of the end of July, the U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.
- The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs, since October 2000.
- According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008, employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.
- In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.
- Ford Motor Company (F) recently announced the closure of a factory that produces the Ford Ranger in St. Paul, Minnesota. Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers in Minnesota does not fit in with Ford's new "global" manufacturing strategy.
- As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.
- In the United States today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.
- The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.
- In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th.
- Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.
- Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products. Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.
- The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States.
- One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.
- The U.S. Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them, that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.
How many more trillions of dollars are going to leave the country before we realize that we are losing wealth at a pace that is killing our economy? How many once great manufacturing cities are going to become rotting war zones like Detroit before we understand that we are committing national economic suicide?
The deindustrialization of America is a national crisis. It needs to be treated like one. America is in deep, deep trouble folks. It is time to wake up.
About the author: Michael T. Snyder
Michael T. Snyder is a graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and has two law degrees from the University of Florida. He is an attorney that has worked for some of the largest and most prominent law firms in Washington D.C. and who now resides outside of... More
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
The New Poor? Let's not join that Club!
Conversations from the Corner Office.
Re-posted by Rick Irrgang
09.21.10
I ran accross a great article in the New Yor Times this morning. It made me realize just how close to trouble we may be and we don't even know. Would having a plan "B" in this economy be a good idea. I'm thinking yes and hope you do too. Please read this very interesting article on "The New Poor"
If this sounds worrysome, let's talk. Julia and I do have a plan be and it's not being a Wal-Mart Greeter. Let's do something together. When done reading this you may want to listen to the great audio at the top of this blog. Let's create weath!
Patricia Reid is not in her 70s, an age when many Americans continue to work. She is not even in her 60s. She is just 57.
But four years after losing her job she cannot, in her darkest moments, escape a nagging thought: she may never work again.
College educated, with a degree in business administration, she is experienced, having worked for two decades as an internal auditor and analyst at Boeing before losing that job.
But that does not seem to matter, not for her and not for a growing number of people in their 50s and 60s who desperately want or need to work to pay for retirement and who are starting to worry that they may be discarded from the work force — forever.
Since the economic collapse, there are not enough jobs being created for the population as a whole, much less for those in the twilight of their careers.
Of the 14.9 million unemployed, more than 2.2 million are 55 or older. Nearly half of them have been unemployed six months or longer, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate in the group — 7.3 percent — is at a record, more than double what it was at the beginning of the latest recession.
After other recent downturns, older people who lost jobs fretted about how long it would take to return to the work force and worried that they might never recover their former incomes. But today, because it will take years to absorb the giant pool of unemployed at the economy's recent pace, many of these older people may simply age out of the labor force before their luck changes.
Patricia Reid, 57, lost her job at Boeing four years ago and has struggled to find a new position.
For Ms. Reid, it has been four years of hunting — without a single job offer. She buzzes energetically as she describes the countless applications she has lobbed through the Internet, as well as the online courses she is taking to burnish her software skills.
Still, when she is pressed, her can-do spirit falters.
"There are these fears in the background, and they are suppressed," said Ms. Reid, who is now selling some of her jewelry and clothes online and is late on some credit card payments. "I have had nightmares about becoming a bag lady," she said. "It could happen to anyone. So many people are so close to it, and they don't even realize it."
Being unemployed at any age can be crushing. But older workers suspect their resumes often get shoved aside in favor of those from younger workers. Others discover that their job-seeking skills — as well as some technical skills sought by employers — are rusty after years of working for the same company.
Many had in fact anticipated working past conventional retirement ages to gird themselves financially for longer life spans, expensive health care and reduced pension guarantees.
The most recent recession has increased the need to extend working life. Home values, often a family's most important asset, have been battered. Stock portfolios are only now starting to recover. According to a Gallup poll in April, more than a third of people not yet retired plan to work beyond age 65, compared with just 12 percent in 1995.
Older workers who lose their jobs could pose a policy problem if they lose their ability to be self-sufficient. "That's what we should be worrying about," said Carl E. Van Horn, professor of public policy and director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, "what it means to this class of the new unemployables, people who have been cast adrift at a very vulnerable part of their career and their life."
Forced early retirement imposes an intense financial strain, particularly for those at lower incomes. The recession and its aftermath have already pushed down some older workers. In figures released last week by the Census Bureau, the poverty rate among those 55 to 64 increased to 9.4 percent in 2009, from 8.6 percent in 2007.
But even middle-class people who might skate by on savings or a spouse's income are jarred by an abrupt end to working life and to a secure retirement.
"That's what I spent my whole life in pursuit of, was security," Ms. Reid said. "Until the last few years, I felt very secure in my job."
As an auditor, Ms. Reid loved figuring out the kinks in a manufacturing or parts delivery process. But after more than 20 years of commuting across Puget Sound to Boeing, Ms. Reid was exhausted when she was let go from her $80,000-a-year job.
Stunned and depressed, she sent out resumes, but figured she had a little time to recover. So she took vacations to Turkey and Thailand with her husband, who is a home repairman. She sought chiropractic treatments for a neck injury and helped nurse a priest dying of cancer.
Most of her days now are spent in front of a laptop, holed up in a lighthouse garret atop the house that her husband, Denny Mielock, built in the 1990s on a breathtaking piece of property overlooking the sound.
As she browses the job listings that clog her e-mail in-box, she refuses to give in to her fears. "If I let myself think like that all the time," she said, "I could not even bear getting out of bed in the morning."
With her husband's home repair business pummeled by the housing downturn, the bills are mounting. Although the couple do not have a mortgage on their 3,000-square-foot house, they pay close to $7,000 a year in property taxes. The roof is leaking. Their utility bills can be $300 a month in the winter, even though they often keep the thermostat turned down to 50 degrees.
They could try to sell their home, but given the depressed housing market, they are reluctant.
"We are circling the drain here, and I am bailing like hell," said Ms. Reid, emitting an incongruous cackle, as if laughter is the only response to her plight. "But the boat is still sinking."
It is not just the finances that have destabilized her life.
Her husband worries that she isolates herself and that she does not socialize enough. "We've both been hard workers our whole lives," said Mr. Mielock, 59. Ms. Reid sometimes rose just after 3 a.m. to make the hourlong commute to Boeing's data center in Bellevue and attended night school to earn a master's in management information systems.
"A job is more than a job, you know," Mr. Mielock said. "It's where you fit in society."
Here in the greater Seattle area, a fifth of those claiming extended unemployment benefits are 55 and older.
To help seniors polish their job-seeking skills, WorkSource, a local consortium of government and nonprofit groups, recently began offering seminars. On a recent morning, 14 people gathered in a windowless conference room at a local community college to get tips on how to age-proof their resumes and deflect questions about being overqualified.
Motivational posters hung on one wall, bearing slogans like "Failure is the path of least persistence."
Using PowerPoint slides, Liz Howland, the chipper but no-nonsense session leader, projected some common myths about older job-seekers on a screen: "Older workers are less capable of evaluating information, making decisions and problem-solving" or "Older workers are rigid and inflexible and have trouble adapting to change."
Ms. Howland, 61, ticked off the reasons those statements were inaccurate. But a clear undercurrent of anxiety ran through the room. "Is it really true that if you have the energy and the passion that they will overlook the age factor?" asked a 61-year-old man who had been laid off from a furniture maker last October.
Gallows humor reigned. As Ms. Howland — who suggested that applicants remove any dates older than 15 years from their resume — advised the group on how to finesse interview questions like "When did you have the job that helped you develop that skill?" one out-of-work journalist deadpanned: "How about 'during the 20th century?'"
During a break, Anne Richard, who declined to give her age, confessed she was afraid she would not be able to work again after losing her contract as a house director at a University of Washington sorority in June. Although she had 20 years of experience as an office clerk in Chattanooga, Tenn., she feared her technology skills had fallen behind.
"I don't feel like I can compete with kids who have been on computers all their lives," said Ms. Richard, who was sleeping on the couch of a couple she had met at church and contemplating imminent homelessness.
Older people who lose their jobs take longer to find work. In August, the average time unemployed for those 55 and older was slightly more than 39 weeks, according to the Labor Department, the longest of any age group. That is much worse than in August 1983, also after a deep recession, when someone unemployed in that age group spent an average of 27.5 weeks finding work.
At this year's pace of an average of 82,000 new jobs a month, it will take at least eight more years to create the 8 million positions lost during the recession. And that does not even allow for population growth.
Advocates for the elderly worry that younger people are more likely to fill the new jobs as well.
"I do think the longer someone is out of work, the more employers are going to question why it is that someone hasn't been able to find work," said Sara Rix, senior strategic policy adviser at AARP, the lobbying group for seniors. "Their skills have atrophied for one thing, and technology changes so rapidly that even if nothing happened to the skills that you have, they may become increasingly less relevant to the jobs that are becoming available."
In four years of job hunting, Ms. Reid has discovered that she is no longer technologically proficient. In one of a handful of interviews she has secured, for an auditing position at the Port of Seattle, she learned that the job required skills in PeopleSoft, financial software she had never used. She assumes that deficiency cost her the job.
Ms. Reid is still five years away from being eligible for Social Security. But even then, she would be drawing early, which reduces monthly payments. Taking Social Security at 62 means a retiree would receive a 25 percent lower monthly payout than if she worked until 66.
Ms. Reid is in some ways luckier than others. Boeing paid her a six-month severance, and she has health care benefits that cover her and her husband for $40 a month.
And she admits some regrets: she had a $180,000 balance in her 401(k) account, and paid $80,000 in penalties and taxes when she cashed it out early. She did not rein in her expenses right away. And now, her $500-a-week unemployment benefits have been exhausted.
She has since cut back, forgoing Nordstrom shopping sprees and theater subscriptions, but also cutting out red meat at home and putting off home repairs.
In order to qualify for accounting posts, she is taking an online training course in QuickBooks, a popular accounting software used by small businesses. She recently signed up for a tax course at an H&R Block tax preparation office in Seattle.
And she is plugging ahead with her current plan: to send out 600 applications to accounting firms in the area, offering her services for the next tax season. Eventually, she wants to open her own business.
With odd jobs and her husband's — albeit shriveled — earnings, she could stagger along. For now, she stitches together an income by gardening for neighbors, helping fellow church members with their computers, and participating in Internet surveys for as little as $5 apiece.
"You don't necessarily have to go through the door," Ms. Reid said. "You can go around it and go under it. I can be very creative. I think that I will eventually manage to pull this together."
Re-posted by Rick Irrgang
09.21.10
I ran accross a great article in the New Yor Times this morning. It made me realize just how close to trouble we may be and we don't even know. Would having a plan "B" in this economy be a good idea. I'm thinking yes and hope you do too. Please read this very interesting article on "The New Poor"
If this sounds worrysome, let's talk. Julia and I do have a plan be and it's not being a Wal-Mart Greeter. Let's do something together. When done reading this you may want to listen to the great audio at the top of this blog. Let's create weath!
Patricia Reid is not in her 70s, an age when many Americans continue to work. She is not even in her 60s. She is just 57.
But four years after losing her job she cannot, in her darkest moments, escape a nagging thought: she may never work again.
College educated, with a degree in business administration, she is experienced, having worked for two decades as an internal auditor and analyst at Boeing before losing that job.
But that does not seem to matter, not for her and not for a growing number of people in their 50s and 60s who desperately want or need to work to pay for retirement and who are starting to worry that they may be discarded from the work force — forever.
Since the economic collapse, there are not enough jobs being created for the population as a whole, much less for those in the twilight of their careers.
Of the 14.9 million unemployed, more than 2.2 million are 55 or older. Nearly half of them have been unemployed six months or longer, according to the Labor Department. The unemployment rate in the group — 7.3 percent — is at a record, more than double what it was at the beginning of the latest recession.
After other recent downturns, older people who lost jobs fretted about how long it would take to return to the work force and worried that they might never recover their former incomes. But today, because it will take years to absorb the giant pool of unemployed at the economy's recent pace, many of these older people may simply age out of the labor force before their luck changes.
Patricia Reid, 57, lost her job at Boeing four years ago and has struggled to find a new position.
For Ms. Reid, it has been four years of hunting — without a single job offer. She buzzes energetically as she describes the countless applications she has lobbed through the Internet, as well as the online courses she is taking to burnish her software skills.
Still, when she is pressed, her can-do spirit falters.
"There are these fears in the background, and they are suppressed," said Ms. Reid, who is now selling some of her jewelry and clothes online and is late on some credit card payments. "I have had nightmares about becoming a bag lady," she said. "It could happen to anyone. So many people are so close to it, and they don't even realize it."
Being unemployed at any age can be crushing. But older workers suspect their resumes often get shoved aside in favor of those from younger workers. Others discover that their job-seeking skills — as well as some technical skills sought by employers — are rusty after years of working for the same company.
Many had in fact anticipated working past conventional retirement ages to gird themselves financially for longer life spans, expensive health care and reduced pension guarantees.
The most recent recession has increased the need to extend working life. Home values, often a family's most important asset, have been battered. Stock portfolios are only now starting to recover. According to a Gallup poll in April, more than a third of people not yet retired plan to work beyond age 65, compared with just 12 percent in 1995.
Older workers who lose their jobs could pose a policy problem if they lose their ability to be self-sufficient. "That's what we should be worrying about," said Carl E. Van Horn, professor of public policy and director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, "what it means to this class of the new unemployables, people who have been cast adrift at a very vulnerable part of their career and their life."
Forced early retirement imposes an intense financial strain, particularly for those at lower incomes. The recession and its aftermath have already pushed down some older workers. In figures released last week by the Census Bureau, the poverty rate among those 55 to 64 increased to 9.4 percent in 2009, from 8.6 percent in 2007.
But even middle-class people who might skate by on savings or a spouse's income are jarred by an abrupt end to working life and to a secure retirement.
"That's what I spent my whole life in pursuit of, was security," Ms. Reid said. "Until the last few years, I felt very secure in my job."
As an auditor, Ms. Reid loved figuring out the kinks in a manufacturing or parts delivery process. But after more than 20 years of commuting across Puget Sound to Boeing, Ms. Reid was exhausted when she was let go from her $80,000-a-year job.
Stunned and depressed, she sent out resumes, but figured she had a little time to recover. So she took vacations to Turkey and Thailand with her husband, who is a home repairman. She sought chiropractic treatments for a neck injury and helped nurse a priest dying of cancer.
Most of her days now are spent in front of a laptop, holed up in a lighthouse garret atop the house that her husband, Denny Mielock, built in the 1990s on a breathtaking piece of property overlooking the sound.
As she browses the job listings that clog her e-mail in-box, she refuses to give in to her fears. "If I let myself think like that all the time," she said, "I could not even bear getting out of bed in the morning."
With her husband's home repair business pummeled by the housing downturn, the bills are mounting. Although the couple do not have a mortgage on their 3,000-square-foot house, they pay close to $7,000 a year in property taxes. The roof is leaking. Their utility bills can be $300 a month in the winter, even though they often keep the thermostat turned down to 50 degrees.
They could try to sell their home, but given the depressed housing market, they are reluctant.
"We are circling the drain here, and I am bailing like hell," said Ms. Reid, emitting an incongruous cackle, as if laughter is the only response to her plight. "But the boat is still sinking."
It is not just the finances that have destabilized her life.
Her husband worries that she isolates herself and that she does not socialize enough. "We've both been hard workers our whole lives," said Mr. Mielock, 59. Ms. Reid sometimes rose just after 3 a.m. to make the hourlong commute to Boeing's data center in Bellevue and attended night school to earn a master's in management information systems.
"A job is more than a job, you know," Mr. Mielock said. "It's where you fit in society."
Here in the greater Seattle area, a fifth of those claiming extended unemployment benefits are 55 and older.
To help seniors polish their job-seeking skills, WorkSource, a local consortium of government and nonprofit groups, recently began offering seminars. On a recent morning, 14 people gathered in a windowless conference room at a local community college to get tips on how to age-proof their resumes and deflect questions about being overqualified.
Motivational posters hung on one wall, bearing slogans like "Failure is the path of least persistence."
Using PowerPoint slides, Liz Howland, the chipper but no-nonsense session leader, projected some common myths about older job-seekers on a screen: "Older workers are less capable of evaluating information, making decisions and problem-solving" or "Older workers are rigid and inflexible and have trouble adapting to change."
Ms. Howland, 61, ticked off the reasons those statements were inaccurate. But a clear undercurrent of anxiety ran through the room. "Is it really true that if you have the energy and the passion that they will overlook the age factor?" asked a 61-year-old man who had been laid off from a furniture maker last October.
Gallows humor reigned. As Ms. Howland — who suggested that applicants remove any dates older than 15 years from their resume — advised the group on how to finesse interview questions like "When did you have the job that helped you develop that skill?" one out-of-work journalist deadpanned: "How about 'during the 20th century?'"
During a break, Anne Richard, who declined to give her age, confessed she was afraid she would not be able to work again after losing her contract as a house director at a University of Washington sorority in June. Although she had 20 years of experience as an office clerk in Chattanooga, Tenn., she feared her technology skills had fallen behind.
"I don't feel like I can compete with kids who have been on computers all their lives," said Ms. Richard, who was sleeping on the couch of a couple she had met at church and contemplating imminent homelessness.
Older people who lose their jobs take longer to find work. In August, the average time unemployed for those 55 and older was slightly more than 39 weeks, according to the Labor Department, the longest of any age group. That is much worse than in August 1983, also after a deep recession, when someone unemployed in that age group spent an average of 27.5 weeks finding work.
At this year's pace of an average of 82,000 new jobs a month, it will take at least eight more years to create the 8 million positions lost during the recession. And that does not even allow for population growth.
Advocates for the elderly worry that younger people are more likely to fill the new jobs as well.
"I do think the longer someone is out of work, the more employers are going to question why it is that someone hasn't been able to find work," said Sara Rix, senior strategic policy adviser at AARP, the lobbying group for seniors. "Their skills have atrophied for one thing, and technology changes so rapidly that even if nothing happened to the skills that you have, they may become increasingly less relevant to the jobs that are becoming available."
In four years of job hunting, Ms. Reid has discovered that she is no longer technologically proficient. In one of a handful of interviews she has secured, for an auditing position at the Port of Seattle, she learned that the job required skills in PeopleSoft, financial software she had never used. She assumes that deficiency cost her the job.
Ms. Reid is still five years away from being eligible for Social Security. But even then, she would be drawing early, which reduces monthly payments. Taking Social Security at 62 means a retiree would receive a 25 percent lower monthly payout than if she worked until 66.
Ms. Reid is in some ways luckier than others. Boeing paid her a six-month severance, and she has health care benefits that cover her and her husband for $40 a month.
And she admits some regrets: she had a $180,000 balance in her 401(k) account, and paid $80,000 in penalties and taxes when she cashed it out early. She did not rein in her expenses right away. And now, her $500-a-week unemployment benefits have been exhausted.
She has since cut back, forgoing Nordstrom shopping sprees and theater subscriptions, but also cutting out red meat at home and putting off home repairs.
In order to qualify for accounting posts, she is taking an online training course in QuickBooks, a popular accounting software used by small businesses. She recently signed up for a tax course at an H&R Block tax preparation office in Seattle.
And she is plugging ahead with her current plan: to send out 600 applications to accounting firms in the area, offering her services for the next tax season. Eventually, she wants to open her own business.
With odd jobs and her husband's — albeit shriveled — earnings, she could stagger along. For now, she stitches together an income by gardening for neighbors, helping fellow church members with their computers, and participating in Internet surveys for as little as $5 apiece.
"You don't necessarily have to go through the door," Ms. Reid said. "You can go around it and go under it. I can be very creative. I think that I will eventually manage to pull this together."
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