Why I Hate Pat Buchanan

[filkertom]

Because every once in a while I agree with the sumbitch. Nicked from Mark Evanier.

How's your job situation lookin'?

Comments

[valkyrwench.livejournal.com]

Yanno, he's not saying anything that a lot of us haven't been saying for years. The government's unemployment figures are bogus - they always have been, because they don't count the long-term unemployed - the people whose unemployment benefits have run out, or the people who don't qualify for unemployment. They only count the people who are actively collecting unemployment benefits at the time the figures are compiled. I think if you doubled the percentage of unemployed, you'd still be low. I'm lucky - I have a job. A job that I like, even. And one that pays me a reasonable wage and supplies me with health insurance. Between what I make, and what my husband makes, we do okay. And I sincerely hope it stays that way.

[kengr]

Actually, the unemployment figures *used* to be closer to the reral numbers. They changed the definition to the current one during the Reagan administration. So they could show a drop in unemployment figures. :-(

[per_solo]

*heh* Wow...I'd never have thought I'd agree with him.

Jobs? Sucky...mindless, numbing...insane. No work at all with actual people, just phone support, so yeah...and, no real prospects. Feh.

Keep telling myself it could be worse...which is a comment I hate..it's kinda like the "Things can't get any worse" in horror movies. :-)

[anansi133.livejournal.com]

Back when the WTO was in Seattle, I found that he was the only conservative voice that I was able to even understand, much less agree with.

I think the problems with our political system come in two distinct flavors:

1) The wrong people have the wrong kind of influence

2) Anyone who agrees with #1 is so fragmented from anyone else who agrees, that no effective countermeasure can be invented. If people on the right and left could listen to each other, we could solve our mutual problems.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

He's not just talking to conservatives here, he's talking to the wingnuts who publish stuff along the lines of Jesus = Unrestricted Free Trade.

(My personal job situation is waiting in desperate hope to see if I get an offer from somewhere I want to work.)

[indyellen.livejournal.com]

I've had a couple occasions over the past year or so where I've agreed with him, which is rather frightening overall.

But to look at things realistically, I make a decent salary, have a job I enjoy...but I have child support to pay, prescriptions to buy & I owe on back taxes (due largely to an idiot ex-husband). Given these factors (and a couple others) I can't afford my own apartment at age 36. Between my health insurance premiums, and other bills, there would be many months I'd have to choose between groceries & utilities, if I lived on my own.

It's not supposed to work that way...and I'm one of the "lucky" employed.

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

I was laid off from a good paying job in IT a few months after 9/11. It took me nearly a year to find a job that pays less than half what I was making, has no health insurance or any other bennies, and has only in the past six months become full time. I make exactly the same wage that I did when I started almost four years ago. To be fair, it's a start up company with no venture capital and there have been months that the boss has paid me before she paid herself.

There's even talk of a raise this year. Whee.

If my husband wasn't employed, I'd be in deep doo-doo. Even then, the only reason that we're still above water is because he gets medical insurance for both of us from work (which still costs an effin' fortune) and we've re-financed the house twice and taken cash out both times.

Sooner or later, somethin's gotta give.

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

I got laid off post 9/11, and it took me 7 months to find work, did two minor contracts, and the last went permanent. Total time to find full work with benefits was over a year. That was largely looking within a local area.

[adammaker.livejournal.com]

I have more to say about my personal situation later, but I did not want to obscure my main thought... Which is:

If someone that far away from me on the political spectrum has clean, clear numbers to describe a problem, and I agree with him in the main, I should pay thrice as much attention to that problem in the future, because that problem is so large that it transcends our strong political differences.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And that, my friends, is precisely the point.

One of the things that Grover Norquist, Dick Cheney, Ralph Reed, et al., will never, ever understand is that the point of government is to do collectively what we cannot do individually. Yeah, there are some things that the private sector can and does manage very well; but there are just as many things that are just handled better if they're not for profit. And that is why we have government. It's not trying to make a buck. It's trying to do all the things that really must be done, for everybody, at the most reasonable cost, and harming as little as possible.

That isn't a political position. It's a human position, and an American position.

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

It's about civilized behavior. It's a collective effort. It's an issue of a civilized position.

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

A broken clock is right twice a day. :)

I find myself enjoying articles from Republicans who are staunchly anti-Bush, such as Buchanan, Ron Paul, etc. They seem to be more consistent than those such as John McCain, who blasts Bush one minute and kisses his ass the next.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Don't even get me started on McCain, or Biden and Joementum on the Dem side.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

Biden and Lieberman need to go. Or at least join the Republican party and stop pretending to be Democrats.

[dadandgirl.livejournal.com]

He does seem to identify real problems on a regular basis. It's his solutions that are scary: kick out the 'ferriners', liberals and atheists and concentrate on what makes America great - white male Christians.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

That's why I've long considered him evil: He's very, very smart. He actually does really love America... it's just that his vision of it is white, male, and rich. But, however distorted it is, it's closer to America than the neocons' and private-sector freaks'.

[catalana.livejournal.com]

You know, if we're supposed to be making great increases in jobs in the "knowledge sector," why is practically every university having funding issues and cutting jobs?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, the eternal problem: See, paying lip service to educational reform is all the rage nowadays, with the unspoken understanding that the Common Sense of the Common Man is superior to them long-haired, Ivory Tower book-learnin' egghaids -- and if you don't believe me, just Google "intelligent design", "stem cell research", or "plan B Target". I've actually been in favor of the most radical secessionists' movements: Let 'em go. Let 'em have their religion, and their morals, and their fear.

And charge 'em at least 100 times the going rate for tech support, infrastructure maintenance, health care, and defense above and beyond personal weapons.

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

Here's an Article For you (http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/06/02/08_splitting.html) that talks about the secession concept in a snarkily useful manner.

In my move, I'm gonna be in a Blue State. All I can say is "YAHOO."

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

My situation? Employed but mobile.

I've been laid off twice in the last 4 years. The first time was post 9/11. It took me seven months to find work. The second time was much easier for two reasons - I was a specialist-manager (IT) and I was willing to move. It still took me 4 months.

Of course, I'm also moving over halfway across the country. My wife and I have no kids, so that makes it easier - but still. However, we've also accepted this - if we want to do well, we have to be aware that you have to go where the jobs are, and that changes.

I've reconciled myself to the sad fact that this is probably not the last move. One of my mentors has had to go to commuting and telecommuting - he makes damn good money, but he's working 70 hour weeks, travelling to fun places like Detroit, and rarely sees his wife and kids. He doesn't know if it's worth it.

So that's how it looks to me - there's work - if you've got the right skillset AND you're willing to yank up roots and move after the jobs. Then probably do it again. And again.

[mouser.livejournal.com]

How about going from Software Developer (and being pretty good at it) to being a sales associate at Sears? Out of that now, at least -tech support in a hotel. Which is, again not CREATING anything, just helping to hold on.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

My job situation is that I started looking for new work last October because the new management was extremely repulsive. I was downsized in December, and started a new job February 1st, after turning down one other job. I had three other jobs that I could have gotten offers for, but decided not to wait for them to make up their minds.

The jobs were all doing ASP.NET/VB.NET development along with MS SQL. I'm actually surprised how in demand I am, but I suspect it's because I've been content with a lower than average salary for this type of work for many years. Still making more than I was though.

The interesting thing is when I tried to leave my 7 year job in 2004, I had very few return calls because I did not have any .NET experience. The one job that I took, I was able to start doing .NET, and have just over a year experience. That tiny bit of experience led to about 50 calls and 20+ phone and personal interviews.

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

One of the other problems with job searching is what I call "laundry lists". If you live in an area where people follow every braindead HR list, you can be screwed by not having one small bit of experience - and if you do happen to have even a little, it makes a difference.

That's another problem - I honestly feel half the time HR departments have no idea WTF is going on. I'm glad my new company has an extremely smart and savvy HR department.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Nobosdy ever said the man isn't smart. It's just where he goes with it sometimes that's really scary.

The other thing I also would want to see in an article like this, which I don't, is the percentage of foreign ownership of business in the US. ISTM that that number has been growing steadily, and it also eats away at the real prosperity of the country. I know my firm was bought several years ago, and while the new owners are in teh UK, there's always just a little niggling worry about my work sending dollars abroad needlessly.

On my job front, knock on wood, things are okay for now. I moved from temping to permanent employee last June, and, though (IMO) underpaid, I can live with what I'm doing. (Moreover, the industry -- graphics support for investment banking -- is in a strong hiring phase, so that when and if I thought I needed to move, I could likely do it quickly. This despite too damned much outsourcing, especially through a firm called Office Roach Tiger, whose quality of work -- which I need to check and correct -- is abominable.)

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

I on the other hand was working in a UK firm dependent on a certain US company that went belly up last April and appears through no fault of its own to be wriggling back into operation....not giving a rats whatsit about us of course. We were lucky; got taken over by Europeans and continue unabated.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I worked for a small consulting company specializing in high-complexity custom application development. The company managed to stay afloat through the dot com bust and the software industry being wholesale outsourced to India until a year ago December, when the wheels came off. I've been halfheartedly looking for another programming gig since, due to a personal crisis (in other words, I'm not sure I can stand this career any more, but I'm not qualified for any other that would support my extravagant lifestyle expectations, in other words having a health plan).

Genuine free trade would be stressful to our economy, but it might actually be a good idea in the long run. The WTO, though, is not about trade and it never has been; it is about putting the big multinational corporations in control of everything, without having those pesky governments that look out for their people's best interests allowed to get in the way. For example, a large part of the reason all our stuff is manufactured in China these days is because the "free trade" agenda prevents us from correcting the distortion China creates in world markets by drastically undervaluing their currency so all their stuff is artifically cheap here while our stuff is artifically expensive there.

[rdmaughan.livejournal.com]

I am a strong believer in Free trade. I personally do not think free trade is causing the problems described in the article. It contributes to some of them but is by no means a sole cause.

Protectionism and isolation is even worse for an economy than free trade. The US could deal with the trade deficit by banning imports or slapping tarrifs on them but it doesn't make things better. The trade deficit would go away, true, but the cost od almost everything would go up by so much that your cost of living would be significantly worse than it is.

China bashing is a very popular tactic with politicians atm but economists argue alot about how much undervalued the yuan is and as the US runs a trade deficit with pretty much the entire world it is doubtful if this is really the cause of the problem. however bashing the yellow peril is a great way to avoid admitting how many companys are run by idiots.

GM and Ford are in trouble because toyota simply makes better cars. The fact that US steel tariffs push up their raw material costs don't help either.

I could go on but a better idea would be buying the economist.