"John" wrote ...
> On Thu, 29 Jun 2006 14:13:00 GMT, "TOliver"
> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Pete" wrote...
>>>> I've heard this argument before. It's true, the number that is bantied
>>>> around is a measure of new jobless claims. However, the bureau of
>>>> labor and statistics also performs household surveys
>>>
>>> I've been laid-off three times in my life and no one ever surveyed
>>> me. None of my friends who were laid-off were ever surveyed.
>>> Those estimates are based on statistical sampling, and we all know
>>> what some rather famous people have written concerning statistics.
>>> But if you want to believe the fairy tales that your hero the drug
>>> addict,
>>> i.e. Rush Limbaugh, reports, I'm happy for you.
>>>
>>>
>>Oh, you puir wee lad... Few of us have been surveyed either (at least
>>over
>>our employment status)
>>
>>Since 1954 while in high school), I been laid-off, fired, furloughed,
>>not-retained due to retrenchment, contract unrenewed, separated from
>>active
>>duty and resigned (twice under fire), and lost clients at least a dozen
>>times I can recall. I've pursued several different careers (and taken the
>>wrong fork in at least 4 "paths"). More than a decade ago, I put in six
>>months for little return establishing a new business and profession,
>>covering the bets by delivering two different sorts of business services
>>in
>>case one of them turned sour or went South.
>>
>>On the other hand, in 2005 (and not that it forms an always prideful or
>>constructive measure), I made more money than in any previous year in my
>>life (and that after having trimmed my actual work down to less than 30
>>hours a week). Yes, I buy cheap airline tickets and stay in low cost
>>hotels
>>when on business, but then it goes to my bottom line...
>>
>>Folks who complain about being under- or less than gainfully employed are
>>short-changing themselves (and if they have them, their dependents)
>>
>
> Oh my God, TOliver, You ar SUCH AN INSPIRATION to the downtrodden!
>
> Please go on a nation-wide lecture tour and bring your formula for
> success to the less fortunate citizens of this nation!
Please arrange lecture tour. I'll adjust my public appearance figures to a
modest level, little above my hourly charge for professional services plus
modest travel expenses. Come to think of it, that's what I've been doing
all these years (and what a number of others I know have done, provide an
example for their and other offspring to avoid some of the pitfalls of their
personal experience, keep their heads out of deepshit, pay credit cards off
monthly, and end up with a modest net worth, all without busting your ass
too hard in the workplace. While I missed the two avocations I really
wanted to pursue, towboat captain pushing barges about big rivers and inland
waterways and insurance adjustor for catastrophes and calamities, so far
this career has not been all bad.
Who knows how rich and successful I might have been had I not been such a
lazy bastard, willing to stay in a small pond (Well, housing costs run about
60-70% lower), and only work late occasionally. Looking back over the
years, I've the same wife I started with, we've been to Europe a half-dozen
times, take several vacations a year, and are kept by two Jack Russells in a
spacious but modern manse with a studio for her and an upstairs office
overlooking the lake for me. I can hunt and fish regularly and close to
home, appreciate modestly priced wines for their combination of modest price
and decent quality, drink good whisky and bad gin (all gin being bad,
cheaper, badder), enjoy raw oysters and rare beef, and raise my own tomatoes
and herbs.
Obviously, you've seriously f*cked up your life and don't or can't hold even
those modest aspirations. In Pete's case, enveloped in the rosy glow of
utopian socialism, he can't understand why life continues to prod him in the
roseate ring instead of rewarding his inability to figure out that it ain't
the big corporations or the government he has to fear the most, simply his
own unwillingness or inability to get off his butt, off the 'net and into
pursuing some sort of potentially rewarding career (instead of bemoaning his
fate which has a lot more to do with his own shortcomings than the acts of
all those out to fleece him).
Call me when you've got the lecture schedule arranged...
TMO
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