White-Collar Anger

[impeach the gop]

Never give up the fight. Not before, after, or during Election, uh, er, if no selection. We're in this for the long run. And if we continue to fight, we could just turn both parties on their collective butts!

This is, after all, Our Land!
(snip)
While the economics of sending manufacturing jobs and service
positions abroad may be the same, the political consequences promise
to be different. In American politics it's one thing to attack the working
class, but quite another to undermine the middle class, which votes in
higher percentages. As any political consultant will tell you, as the middle
class goes, so goes the nation. By cutting white collar positions,
American businesses are sowing the seeds of a populist backlash that
could redraw the political map.

The loss of high skilled jobs could also have a significant impact on next
year's presidential election. Voters' job anxiety is shaping up as the
number one election issue, with President Bush struggling against the
loss of more than 2 million jobs on his watch and a so far "jobless
economic recovery."



http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17412

[SoCalDem]

1. Today's white-collar unemployed are the "new"

blue-collar unemployed of the 80's.. Welcome to the club:(..

The young ones may still have a chance to re-train, but just as the 40 & 50 somethings of the blue collar downsized were unable to find decent paying jobs again, so will the white collared 40 & 50 somethings..

Lots of families being trashed out there, and it's gonna get worse..

If a guy is making 50K and up and his whole industry goes bye-bye, where does he go to make decent money again?? Starting your own business only works for some, and you have to have lots of flexibility and a few bucks to start one.. Who has money to pay you for your services, if they too are downsizing or losing their jobs as well?? What will your family live on while you start up a business?? Will the mortgage company wait for their money??

It's a concerted effort to do away with the middle class..

[markus]

2. Retrain for what?

I'm a 46 year old English major/journalist turned Software Testing/QA Analyst. If my job goes to India with the coders I work with, what precisely should I retrain for?

Cart Greeter Guy at Wal-Mart? Does that really require much training, or just good shoes and a surgically afixed smile?

I am White Collar Anger, George, and We Are Coming For You. (That goes for you, too, Gen. Clark. Ship my job to india? I know one job you won't get if I have anything to do with it. President of the United States).

[SoCalDem]

4. That's the whole point.. There are no jobs to retarin FOR..

At least when the younger blue collar guys got laid off in the 80's, IF they had the money and not too many responsibilities, they COULD go to school and learn "computers..the new wave of the future"..but now THEY are in THEIR 40's & 50's and their "new" future is now gone as well. They should have listened to their grandpas and pushed harder against Reagan.. Strong unions and a flushing out of republicans are the only hopes.. Then stern legislation that OUTLAWS outsourcing strictly for stock market bottom line or cheap labor..

If US companies want to be multi-national, let them take everything overseas..and slap huge tariffs on their goods.. Make tyhe CEO's live there too...

People need to be paid a LIVING WAGE and they also need some job security as well.. People should not wonder if each paycheck might be their last..

[Ksec]

3. being the victim of the steel industry I can tell you

I hope you get more support than we did. We asked for help from the country and we were practically ignored. It was the "I got mine, you get yours" mentality and it seems to be the prevailing attitude.

Ill help though. What should I do?