Minor revision, closer to reality.
I predict a solution will be to bring back the draft, either into the military or some government-run civil service organization.
Gawd, so defeatist. A better question is what are they doing? He writes like they’re just sitting around going, no job for me wah-wah.
I live in a mostly hispanic/black city, ALL the bums on the corners are white males in their 40’s/50’s.
I truly hope that women refuse to go out with guys who are unemployed. I truly hope that people in general look down on men without jobs.
Every adult should be doing some work. Whether that is a typical 9-to-5 job or taking care of the kids or volunteering or working on ideas to start a new company or even just trying to turn a hobby like painting into a moneymaking opportunity.
It is becoming too easy to legally be a bum. We shouldn't make it morally easy as well.
unless average money wage rates are allowed to fall to equilibrium levels set by the free market rather than unions or government.
“In our society, men are primarily defined by “what they do”.”
Hence the issue: if you’re not DOING, you’re not a man.
(For the logic-impaired: this does not mean that if you are not a man you are not “doing”.)
And you can ALWAYS be doing SOMETHING.
From sweeping the sidewalk (yes, all of it) to writing and selling iPhone apps (zero starting cost), there is never a lack of something to DO.
Contribute. Produce. Grow. Volunteer. Create. Invent. Fix. Express. SOMETHING.
Women can reproduce - a tremendous contribution to society.
Men ... need DO something, surplus from which others benefit.
It’s not just “unemployed”. I was successfully self-employed for 8 years still the economy finally hit rock bottom. Most employers treat that self-employment as unemployed and some treat it worse.
Because they are obviously scum. Any real man would accept one of the many open positions available through the local SEIU or AFSCME office, and get those contributions flowing to the Obama campaign again. :)
If you have been unemployed for a long period of time, that can make social interactions even more awkward than normal. Most people will instantly become more uncomfortable around you when they find out that you are unemployed. Many will look at you with pity, and others will actually look at you with disdain. Women will not want to date you, and if you are in a relationship unemployment will put a tremendous amount of strain on it. Once you “don’t have a job”, you will not get the same level of respect from former co-workers, friends, members of your own family and possibly even your own wife. So why does our society look down on unemployed men so much?
Despite the efforts of our Totalitarian Communist Master Wanna-Bes, society still respects men who support themselves and take care of their families and loved ones.
Often, especially under Obama, good men lose jobs though no fault of their own. Great men make solutions and prosper. Society rewards great men.
The previous generation destroyed the middle class economy of this country. Manufacturing jobs are not coming back. Accept it.
So guys who used to work in factories or as middle-management paper pushers should take any work that is offered to them. And that means “women’s work” and “immigrant work.”
In this weak job market, the fast food places near my house should be staffed with English-speaking American men in their forties. They’re not. They’re run entirely by immigrants and women.
Why are farmers having trouble getting their fruit picked?
My older brother, UCLA grad and former Executive Vice President of Blah blah blah, is still nursing his wounds from the dot com meltdown, all these years later.
He turned down a job at Costco because “they wanted me to start by rounding up carts in the parking lot. I just can’t.”
He just won’t. And no woman in her right mind would or should date him in his current mindset.
If you’re out of work and worried about society “looking down on you,” go apply for that always-available job emptying bedpans in a nursing home — you’ll be respected a lot more than you would be for channel surfing.
Gee - it all seems to mirror what the Bible indicates: men are supposed to work to make a living for the homestead and women are supposed to work at keeping the homestead and kids healthy. Both are work and both are well-defined roles that kept society moving anf healthy. The liberal revolution and hunger for ever increasing funds made it so the average household needed an extra earner in order to maintain the standard of living. This society has an ever increasing number of “men” who live off the labors of “women” and it is an unnatural state that has resulted in a degraded immoral/amoral society with its “values” all topsy-turvy.
Unemployed men:
This should help, if you do it. Reject the concept of self-esteem. Don’t let anyone else to get you down. Many people are addicted to trying to weld a man’s hook to the bottom—especially those wishing that they were men.
There’s nothing wrong with you. Don’t even think about that. There is only what you do from this moment on. Love from anyone else is not a need. Love is a verb.
Do consider what’s ahead. There will be a bond collapse, interest rate hikes and an enormous wave of layoffs for those not already laid off. Much of the proud, government-supported middle class is going to be unemployed and/or have pay cuts (”haircuts” following the haircuts against bond investors).
Toughen up now, and just do whatever you can. You’ll be ahead of those currently ridiculing you.
Always learn to be more frugal and get more healthy. As soon as you can, become more independent (self-sufficient) each month. Learn to produce something useful as a hobby for now. Nearly all who have larger incomes depend on big government for those incomes. When you’re on your feet, continue to starve the B. It doesn’t deserve more revenues from you.
because they can’t get jobs,.....So? MAKE one.