As reported by Paul Harris for The Gaurdian:
California has a special place in the American psyche. It is the Golden State: a playground of the rich and famous with perfect weather. It symbolises a lifestyle of sunshine, swimming pools and the Hollywood dream factory.
But the state that was once held up as the epitome of the boundless opportunities of America has collapsed. From its politics to its economy to its environment and way of life, California is like a patient on life support. At the start of summer the state government was so deeply in debt that it began to issue IOUs instead of wages. Its unemployment rate has soared to more than 12%, the highest figure in 70 years. Desperate to pay off a crippling budget deficit, California is slashing
spending in education and healthcare, laying off vast numbers of workers and forcing others to take unpaid leave. In a state made up of sprawling suburbs the collapse of the housing bubble has impoverished millions and kicked tens of thousands of families out of their homes. Its politicalsystem is locked in paralysis and the two-term rule of former movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger is seen as a disaster – his approval ratings having sunk to levels that would make George W Bush blush. The crisis is so deep that Professor Kevin Starr, who has written an acclaimed history of the state, recently declared: “California is on the verge of becoming the first failed state in America.” Continue reading…
If it's good enough for Miley, it's good enough for me.
It started with YM back in ’92 and has persisted well into adulthood: my unwavering love affair with glossy women’s magazines.
They’ve stuck with me through so much — layovers, bus rides, long waits at the dentist and bored Sunday afternoons.
And my choice of title can vary, depending on my mood.
Sometimes I feel like something quick and dirty (OK, People, Star). Other times, I need something a little more sophisticated (Vogue — but mostly just for the pretty pictures).
Usually, though, it’s the run of the mill women’s glossy that combines celebrity gossip, relationship advice, fashion and beauty so satisfyingly, I can’t remember why I ever read books.
These are the Glamours and Marie Claires of the world. The magazines that make you feel ugly, then beautiful, then ugly again, all within a hundred or so ad-filled pages.
Lately I’ve noticed a very inspirational segment in Glamour called: “Hey, it’s ok!” The magazine reassures its readers that their irrational, vain or lazy behavior is, in fact, completely normal. Phew!
“Hey, it’s okay if I you only want to order the stuff on the menu you can pronounce.” Relief!
“Hey, it’s okay to be totally judge-y about plastic surgery but then whiten your teeth obsessively.” Thanks again, Glamour, I was super worried about that!
“Hey, it’s okay if you’re so00 jealous of your bestie you sometimes fantasize about killing her!” Ummm… are… you… sure about that one?
Anyhow, it got me thinking (as these magazines so often do): It’s not just us gals of a certain socio-economic status between the ages of 18 and 34 who need a bit of reassurance.
What about the men? The children? The elderly?
Most importantly for this blog, what about the unemployed?
I’ve got you covered. I’ve been jobless long enough (and read enough of this stuff) to write a list especially for you:
Hey, it’s ok if…
- …You’re willing to take what you can get at this point, and I don’t just mean job-wise.
- …You send your mom’s friend’s cousin’s wife’s best friend your resume. And then consider your weekly job search complete.
- …You don’t make your bed. Especially if you never really get out of it.
- …You’re tired of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and all the other social networking sites that are supposed to help you get a job.
- …Your mom does your laundry (btw, that’s always okay, no matter your current employment status).
- …You’re jealous of people with jobs. Even people with crappy jobs.
- …You romanticize your former employer – it’s like an old lover. You complained about it incessantly at the time, but now that it’s gone all you can remember is the good stuff, like free toilet paper.
- …You despise your former employer. Who’s a romantic? Not you!
- …You stay friends with people who still work for your former employer (the one you despise). It’s not their fault you lost your job. But you can use their survivor’s guilt to your advantage.
- …You’re enjoying unemployment. Just a little bit.
Chinese artist Chen Wenling critiques the global financial crisis in 'What You See Might Not Be Real,' on display at a Beijing gallery. The bull is said to represent Wall Street, while the man pinned to the wall represents jailed financier Bernie Madoff.
Signs of economic recovery are no reason to let off of your A-game. As reported by James Pethokoukis at Reuters:
BOSTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) – U.S. chief executives are not ready to step up hiring or capital spending, though a majority expect sales to rise over the next six months, according to a Business Roundtable survey released on Tuesday.
The survey said 40 percent expect to cut U.S. jobs over the next six months, compared with 13 percent who expect to add them. Some 35 percent expect to lower U.S. capital spending, more than the 21 percent who plan to raise it.
In a sign that they see the U.S. economy beginning to pull out of its worst downturn since the Great Depression, the majority — 51 percent — of CEOs expect their companies’ sales to rise over the next six months.
“CEO’s are beginning to see an uptick in expectations for sales, which is good; however, this demand has not yet translated into increased capital spending or hiring,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications Inc. Continue reading…
As first reported on CNNMoney by Julianne Pepitone:
Unemployed since: April 2008
Benefits expired: October 2008
Full-time employment: No
Filed in: California
Age: 63
I’d run out of jobless insurance for the second time in a few years last October. I was first laid off in 2006, and it took me until February 2008 to find another job in technical sales — it lasted only two months. When I turned 63, I applied for Social Security. Every penny of it goes to house payments. It would have been ideal to wait until I was 65, but that wasn’t an option.
Since July I still have not found work, and I’ve had to put my job search aside as I have a bad shoulder. Back in 1969, I had surgery on that shoulder to fix a recurring dislocation problem. The procedure they used back then is no longer in use because about 35 years down the road, you end up losing all of your cartilage in that shoulder joint. Continue Reading…
Reported objectively and with rigor by the aristocrats at The Onion…
From Mike Thompson’s blog at freep.com
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke wasn’t trying to be callous when he spoke about the economy recently, but his remarks came off sounding about as warm and empathetic as a Siberian blizzard.
“From a technical perspective, the recession is very likely over at this point,” Bernanke was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. A “technical perspective”? As if all the human misery occurring in America should be overlooked because a bar graph shows an rise in housing starts, or an optimistic report on retail sales is released.
In fairness, Bernanke noted that that the economy will remain weak and hinted at continued job losses. But that only leaves you wondering how Bernanke can reconcile his comments about a feeble economy and longer unemployment lines with his claims of a budding economic recovery. Continue reading…
As reported on Menstyle.com, reprinted from Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor © 2009 by MATT LATIMER. Published by Crown Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.
As Chris and I were in our office in the EEOB trying to put in the latest of the president’s edits, there was a steady flow of people coming into the room. The economic team came in. Ed Gillespie, the president’s top communications adviser, came in. Tony Fratto, the deputy press secretary, was there. At one point there were twelve people crowded around our computer, trying to explain how the proposal worked. The economic advisers were disagreeing with each other.
There was total confusion. It was 5:30 p.m. The speech was in three and a half hours.
After finally getting the speech draft turned around and sent back to the teleprompter technicians, we trudged back to the Family Theater, where the president rehearsed. In the theater, the president was clearly confused about how the government would buy these securities. He repeated his belief that the government was going to “buy low and sell high,” and he still didn’t understand why we hadn’t put that into the speech like he’d asked us to. When it was explained to him that his concept of the bailout proposal wasn’t correct, the president was momentarily speechless. He threw up his hands in frustration.
“Why did I sign on to this proposal if I don’t understand what it does?” he asked.
The president was clearly frustrated with what was going on, but there was little he could do at this late hour. He went up to take a nap, saying he was beat. He looked it. I’d never seen him more exhausted. His hair was out of place and shaggy. His face looked drained and pale. Even more distressing, he was wearing Crocs. As I looked at him I thought to myself, how many more crises can one guy take? Continue reading…
After losing his pants at Lehman Bros., Berry and wife Mary Galinski have made ends meet by selling 'goopy ganj balls' at Dave Matthews shows down the eastern seaboard.
This article first reported by Ed Pilkington for The Guardian.
Some people cancel holidays abroad, others stage yard sales or start shopping at low-cost supermarkets. To that list must now be added a new way to get through economic hard times: grow cannabis.
Law enforcers on the west coast of the US and in the middle states straddled by the foothills of the Appalachian mountains are reporting a common trend. It is boom time for marijuana cultivation, and much of the incentive they say is to beat the recession.
So far this year, police in parts of the country where cannabis is traditionally grown have chopped down plants with a street value of $12bn. The core growing area is in California, Washington and Oregon to the west, but the Appalachian states of Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia are also witnessing an explosion.
More than 600,000 cannabis plants have been cut and burned in those states this summer, reversing a previous decline in production brought about by stringent law enforcement. It is not only the quantity of crop that is on the rise, the nature of the growers is also changing. Continue reading…
