The birth of a DU'er and the end of an era.

[angrycarpenter]

Being Unemployed I have much time to look back on the last eight years and reflect on how much my life has changed. How I started really caring about politics and why.

Eight years ago I was making top dollar as a trim carpenter. I was doing so good that I felt that I had enough money to start my own business. So I embarked on the tedious process of getting the required licenses and paying the fees to the various agencies and insurers. I went along pretty good for about six months and then Florida's republican state representatives rushed back in an emergency session and passed a law that made my particular type of professional license illegal. They gave us all just five weeks to comply with the new rules. I still owed debts as well as taxes and had no money to hire accountants and lawyers to set me up as an LLC or to buy a ridiculously expensive workman's comp policy. So with my head hung low I had no choice but to go find a job. Debt, divorce, and alcoholic stupor soon followed.

George Bush came through a few weeks later running for re-election. He gave a speech praising the small businessman as the backbone of our economy, how the republican party was our champion. This was the birth of my great anger for the Bush family. Jeb had ruined thousands with the stroke of a pin just to satisfy a few big insurance companies and big corporate builders. A masterstroke against the American working man.

Until this tragic episode I paid little attention to politics. I was a low information liberal. after I slowed way down on my drinking I started using the internet to keep tabs on them. I had been a daily news watcher but I was shocked to learn how much went unreported or was just a baldfaced lie. For a long time I was a daily reader of the Truthout site. I am still a frequent visitor. Sometime in the spring of 2007 I found DU. I had been reading a story on Madfloridian's journal page and clicked the DU banner at the top. Within minutes I knew that I had found my web home.

I had found a place where the people were just as angry at the Bush mis-administration as I was. For months I just read and by August I got up the nerve to register and post. I can't say that I am a happier man but I am much smarter about the goings-on in the world.

Thank-you DU for showing me where to turn my anger. It is all too easy to blame the victims in the world for it's problems. While most of my co-workers were blaming Mexicans for our inability to ask for the wages we used to get, I knew to blame the wanton failure to enforce immigration law instead. Instead of blaming poor homeowners for the failure of the housing market I know to blame Wall street and the banking industry for their total lack of ethics.

I am out of work right now. Building jobs are almost nonexistent and yet I have a more positive outlook for the future than I have had in years. I don't expect President Obama to work miracles but for the first time in my life there is not a Bush in office somewhere, and if nothing else that is a good thing. Goodbye George, you've turned your name into a curse word in every language in the world and with any luck no member of your tribe will ever betray the public trust again.

[Bucky]

1. If it hadn't been for re-runs of "Friends" on TBN, I'd've never made it!

Thank you, Chandler! Thank you, Monica! Thank you for the memories!

[Aristus]

18. Re-runs of "Northern Exposure" got me through an awful stretch of unemployment

about twelve years ago. B-)

[liberalmuse]

2. Obama intends to do a lot of building...

and I hope there will be much work in your future.

[Jennicut]

3. At least the tragic episode of the Bush family rule part II is coming to an end

Hang in there. Obama is not a miracle worker but thankfully he is not Bush either.

[annabanana]

4. Keep your eyes open for "shovel ready" projects...

I hope things turn around quick...

[angrycarpenter]

8. This sitting around is making me crazy

I hear about people being unemployed for years and I wonder how they deal with it. I would go to work digging ditches tomorrow just to have something to do.

[midnight]

14. Such a good description of how the unraveling of our lifes

could be nothing but a pen stroke for the bush boys.

[awoke_in_2003]

28. And let us not forget...

because I bet that Jeb thinks he is the next in line.

[MadMaddie]

5. angrycarpenter thank you for sharing and I have a feeling

that construction jobs will come back for American workers.

I have high hopes for American workers in the years to come. Jeb just another * screwing Americans....

DU has made all of us a little smarter, more careing and even made some of us bolder to stand up for what we believe in.

Best Wishes!

[myrna minx]

6. Thank you for sharing. I would have gone completely mad without DU, all of these years. K&R n/t

[Political_Junkie]

7. Me too!

Before I found DU I thought I was the only one seeing all this craziness. Talking to people around me made me feel like I was the crazy one!

[angrycarpenter]

9. love your sig line

Thanks to Wiki and you, now I know who Eugene Debs is. A prime example of how DU has contributed greatly to my education as a human being.

[Political_Junkie]

19. It's contributed to mine too.

:hi:

[The Doctor.]

10. Funny... You and I have a couple things in common.

Things were going well.
I started a business.
It got fucked through no fault of my own.

Spent a year depressed. Begged the wife for a hug once in a while so I could feel needed and pick myself up. Never happened. Divorce is pending. Apparently marriage isn't important when one can decide between morally supporting a dedicated and loving husband and hooking up with some guy who inherited a multi-million dollar fortune from their daddy. I wish that was the worst thing I've ever had to deal with.

Seven "I"s;

I'll never lose.
I'll never give up.
I am a rage that cannot be subdued.
I can focus on making the world a better place so that few need live with the rage I feel.
I cannot channel my rage through delusion.
I am cursed with empirical cognizance.
I will never harm anyone who is innocent.

Innocent is anyone who acts without the intent of causing harm.

With writing, I can cause more harm than any bullet or knife ever could.

With DU, I am apprised of everything I need to know to write.

Ultimately, we are here for the same reasons.

[angrycarpenter]

11. Sucked how love followed the money out of the door

In hindsight I am better off without her. I have a woman now who would probably follow me through hell and back.

Those seven I's are very good and match my philosophy to a t. If they are your invention, good work.

[The Doctor.]

20. Not work... just a fact of being.

I will be better off too. Of that I am certain. My first love will forever be enlightenment.

It's oddly common for one to wind up with those who do not share one's pursuits.

[awoke_in_2003]

29. Glad you found a good partner...

it is so important. My wife and I had hard times, often working two jobs a piece to keep going. She supported my decision to go back to school, and worked two jobs while I went to school full time and worked full time. It was difficult, we never saw each other. Thanks to school, I have been in my current field (flight simulator maintenance) for 10 years. After much hard work on both our parts, I now supervise a maintenance staff of 7. Couldn't have done it without her support. I hope to repay her in a couple years by telling her not to work anymore. Not sure I will be successful- she is quite stubborn :)

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

12. Angry carpenter - you are luckier than most - you have a SKILL!

Leaflet your nearest neighborhoods. Use Craigslist regularly. If you are a skilled carpenter, there will always be demand for you. People always need to maintain, upgrade, renovate, replace decks, etc. whether they want to or not.

If you charge a fair price and do a good job and stand behind your work you might do better than ever in a down economy as the hacks flee.

I just had work done recently and I picked the guy from Craigslist. I liked his ad that he ran there and he directed you to his own website which gave you a great idea of who you were hiring, showed pictures of past projects, testimonials from customers, etc. And he had not been in business all that long, which he was very uprfront about on his website.

[csziggy]

13. The problem is that the law that Jeb Bush got put through made being a freelance carpenter

Nearly impossible. ANYONE who works on someone else's house, other than a relative, is supposed to be a licensed contractor with all the insurance and other encumbrances, including stiff testing of all sorts of knowledge of contracts, building codes and stuff that is not directly part of skills for being a carpenter. It is very hard and expensive to get a license.

I am not in the construction field myself but we built a house in 2007-2008. My general contractor had to check the licenses, insurance and other details for every single person who worked on the house. While this is great from one point of view, it makes it nearly impossible for a single individual to work as a tradesman. And it makes minor repairs cost a lot more than they used to.

Angrycarpenter could - in good times - hire on as a carpenter with a company headed by a licensed contractor, probably at pretty low wages since Florida is a "right to work" state and there are lots of illegal aliens working in the building trades. But studying for the contractor test takes months and several hundred pounds of books.

The guy who owned the trim company that worked on our house had a contractor's but was studying for the next step up. The basic level lets you build houses (I think) one or two stories high. The next step allows building multistory buildings. The trim guy took the test not long after starting on our house. The day before the test he dropped by the building site with all his study material - the books and notebooks filled the back seat of his crew cab pickup. He passed all but the section on accounting and was not allowed to retake the test for something like six months plus it would cost him another several hundred dollars in fees.

Part of the reason this law was passed was the result of the destruction after Hurricane Andrew. Many houses that were torn apart by the storm should never have passed inspection since they lacked basic reinforcements like hurricane straps that had long been required under the Florida building codes. But instead of making the building inspections more comprehensive, Jeb Bush's administration passed this restrictive law which limited the ability of talented carpenters to have their own businesses.

Of course, stricter licensing does absolutely nothing to insure that the contractors will build to code. And it cut down on the competition for the already established big contractors who were grandfathered in.

Angrycarpenter - PM me. I'm in Tallahassee, but the contractor who built my house was in St. Marks. I might can find some names for you to contact.

[angrycarpenter]

16. thanks, but I had to move back in with my parents

in north Alabama. I guess I should update my profile.

As to my license all that I was able to do was non-structural interior trim, siding, decks and handrails. The change in the law required all subs to have workman's comp. no exceptions. The only problem, other than the outrageous cost, was that no insurer would write a policy on fewer than three workers. The only way to get insured was to become an LLC with at least three corporate officers, stock certificates, and many thousands of dollars in insurance. All of this just to name your own price to work for a living.

The law destroyed thousands of one man businesses from wallpaper hangers to painters to cleaners. Many who had nothing to do with the structural integrity of a house.

[csziggy]

17. Oh, too bad - as soon as my budget allows, I need a simple frame built for a

Decorative piece. Something I need a talented friend to do. I've got the wood, but cannot climb up to the place where the piece will be installed to measure and build it.

Yeah, I knew several handy man types that retired after the new law. We need a change to separate non-structural, non- electrical, non-plumbing work from the more critical trades licensing. Why should someone who is adding decorative trim have to meet the same standards as the other levels? It's crazy!

Good luck in Alabama!

[JDPriestly]

31. The medical side of workers' comp could be eliminate by universal

insurance. Workers who are injured on the job should get medical care from their own doctors on their own policies. Worker's comp should be there to cover lost wages due to injury or disability caused by injuries on the job. These penny-ante claims for chiropractic care for years and years and years should simply be paid by health insurance. A lot of those claims are questionable anyway.

This is one of the reasons why universal health care not paid by the employer is so important for the small businesses and our economy. Worker's Comp is very expensive and duplicates other healthcare in terms of administrative costs.

[angrycarpenter]

33. It is also a valuable leverage tool by managment.

How many would quit their crappy job tomorrow if losing coverage were not a problem.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

36. I personally know a person who is staying in a bad marriage because of health insurance. nt

[Hannah Bell]

35. Precisely the reason jeb passed the thing - to turn more owners into laborers,

and to help the big owners take over the small.

[NBachers]

21. These are all good ideas

I work at the primary lumber / hardware outlet in San Francisco - a family-owned non- big box store. The customers here are always looking for good, qualified people to do work for them. You could imagine some of the horror stories I've heard.

I worked for many years out in the field. It's actually good to work now where someone else does the paperwork; I get paid regularly every week, and we've got benefits and even retirement. You may want to consider a job like mine until things get better.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

15. This deserves a K&R...

[HillbillyBob]

22. I can relate, I lived in Nazibama, and then South Florida

To try to make this short I was Air traffic control in the Navy.
Ronnyraygun decreed every gay out of the services in 81, while at the same time he killed PATCO.
When I got back to Al after being eliminated from the Air Traffic dept, I could not get a job with FAA because of my 'moral turpitude" whatever that is.
My discharge was Administrative under Honorable conditions.
Which should not have precluded me from civilian service.
I then became and electricians helper, moved up rapidly to where I was running service trucks to industrial heavy electric jobs on my own running a small crew, since I was not licensed i could never get more than a dollar or two over minimum wage.
The contractors made it impossible to get a license because the bastards would not vouch that I had time in grade or that I was even experienced. The politics of keeping serfs down. pfui

Jump to So-Fla, same shit about license, even though I did get a sample of the test which I aced, but without the verification from bama, could not even take the real test.
I also had a sideline and I had apprenticed to Wingard Dennis doing museum quality furniture restorations, I started a small shop, which my biz partner decided was too hot and stinky, he quit, I spent so much time chasing bad checks, I had to close
I ended up eventually working jobs in restaurants etc, I always had a part time job anyway, but since I could not get a license without verification that I had been in the job for almost 10 years at the time, then got outted again.
I ended up homeless, and working part time only in restaurants.
I got sick then got fired from Flanagans Fort Laud for being poz in 92, homeless again for 2 years.
jump to 94 got pneumonia 2x in less than 5 months, then CMV, I finally got SSI, but still tended bar a couple nights a week when I could.
I met my future partner while tending bar, then again in 96 we met again.
We were discussing (late 97 early 98) the bush family I said that I thought jebbie was not legitimate and if w ran he would 'win' by cheat and we would be at war inside 2 years in Iran or Iraq.
Right after 911, my partner was outsourced twice in less than 6 months.
Then we sold anything of value left and fled so Fla for western NC, spent a miserable winter in a house with no heat, missing windows and a mold problem that nearly took me out.
He found a job in Greensboro making about 1/2 what he was in Fla and I can no longer work at all.
2 years ago this month we found an abandoned, but modern house on 9 acres cheap..so we now have a start up Eco farm..
We were lucky, I am not bragging at all, we did not exactly over come..we just hung in there.
We had to figure out what we could do and do it now, got credit cleaned up some, took a fixed rate loan, our payments are half what the rent was in town.
We finally have a little peace, it has been hard.
I want to try to start taking in refinishing/ restoration work again.
Cash only.
I don't know if I can manage it.
First we have to get a shelter up for me to work under, HIV meds makes me extremely sun sensitive.
In 2002 we did not know if we were going to see 2003 let alone 2009.
I am so glad shrub is nearly gone, but his criminal leavings will be with us for a long time.
In 82 I lived next to the Governors Mansion in Alabama, George Wallace gave me a warning, I did not know at the time it was.
He said over the fence on day that the Bush family is criminal and that they made the mob look like church deacons..
I guess the he was right. We were talking about poppi and ronny raygun at the time. I have no idea why he told me that whether it was just observation from his point of view or a warning. Though later on some holocaust survivors had told me similar things and that if we did not get a hold of our government that the US was going down the same road as Pre WWII Germany.
Hey carpenter know anything about making furniture?
Folks may not be buying houses, but there is always a market for good handmade furniture..I would be doing that now if I had any tools left.

[angrycarpenter]

23. Funny you should ask.

I built custom wicker, rattan, and bamboo furniture as well as cabinets and refinishing in a West Palm Beach furniture shop for 15 years.

Your story deserves it's own post I would rec it if I could. Especially the part about knowing Wallace. Stay well my friend. Fighters such as you are all too rare.

[JDPriestly]

32. Welcome to DU. We used to do furniture manufacturing, good

furniture manufacturing in this country. All outsourced to China. The outsourcing is criminal. It destroys the souls of artisans who find themselves competing with people willing to work 8 hours for a couple of bowls of rice. Outsourcing is not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. In fact, Washington prided himself on wearing only clothing made in America at his inauguration. I dare Obama to wear only clothing made in America to his inauguration. The only way you could find a pair of socks made here is to knit them yourself with wool you spun by your mother or wear military socks (if they are made here).

[grantcart]

47. if your talking about wood furniture then

most of the furniture was moved to South East Asia where more investment in technology made the critical difference. First the Danes came in with higher quality vaneering machines that could reduce the planed face of higher quality Teak and hardwoods getting higher and higher numbers of slices from the same tree.

What really accelerated the process is when a 20 year project to stablize rubber wood by Japanese inventor allowed these southeast asian countries to take the short lived rubber or parawood and recycle it into furniture. (The long standing problem of stability and vulnerability to pests was cured by the Japanese)

As the wood used to be burned and used for charcoal its current use into furniture is both highly ecological and cost effective. As it is a plantation wood of short life it is ideal for furniture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubberwood

Of all of the factors concerned, cost of direct labor was offset by the cost of shipping. The advantage was using a cheaper wood source and investing in higher technology to get more productivity out of the workers. The main manufacturing started in Taiwan and then Thailand and Malaysia and Indonesia.

It should also be noted that when NAFTA was passed US exports increased because the highly mechanized production of high quality furniture with non wood vaneers using partical board gave the US a production advantage and those exports wiped out Mexico's furniture industry in the same product lines.

And finally it should be noted that the center of the US furniture manufactuing used to be in Chicago. As labor prices increased all of the midwest manufacturers, like Stratalounger, Barclalounger, etc. moved south first to North Carolina (80 years ago) and then some going on to Mississippi (30 years ago), doing internally in the US exactly what you thought occurred with the movement to Asia.

[madrchsod]

24. i know how you feel

since 2000 it`s been steady progression to the bottom..i had to take my early retirement which is enough to pay the mortgage and electric bill. i figure i`ll never work at a decent paying job again. i have skills that i`ll use in the underground economy so i can actually buy something. my wife has a decent job that she`ll never be laid off from so i guess i can`t bitch to much.

that`s what du is all about ..reaching out to people when they need a hand or just a kind word.

[KoKo]

25. K&R...for this post and for some of the replies of folks on this thread

about their own experiences. :grouphug:

[sinkingfeeling]

26. Hey, Angrycarpenter, if you make it to NW Arkansas, I could sure put you to work for at

least a month or two. I can't find a finish carpenter who isn't associated with some major contractor who takes on more than they can chew. I have a historical house and there's only about two companies here that will work on them.

[lenegal]

27. This is one of the most interesting, how I became a Democrat

articles that I have read.

God damn Jeb to Hell and back. I live in FL and am unemployed myself.

Wish you the best in Bama.

[democrank]

30. Hang in there, ac.

One day at a time...little by little, okay? You`re going to make it.

[Fire1]

34. I've gotta K&R this. You 'spoke' volumes and so accurately

described the feelings of so many. Thank you!

[JerseygirlCT]

37. I wonder if things might not turn around for people with your skills

I think people are going to start taking more care with their property and belongings - rather than tossing, they'll fix, you know? Someone with skills might be needed then.

Just a thought. I hope that's the case, at any rate.

[Arugula Latte]

38. I would think so, too. Someone who might not be able to "move up" might remodel instead.

[angrycarpenter]

39. all the building industry needs is some credit

I have talked to several builders about a job and they all say the same thing, No credit=no work.

[Arugula Latte]

40. Aah, crud.

But, hopefully you can hang on and the credit will start flowing soon. Then, there will probably be a big backlog of work that you can take advantage of.

[Libertyfirst]

41. I am always amazed at the strength of the human spirit.

The things that some of the people on this thread have gone through and come through are amazing. And they have done so without losing their humanity and concern for others. We are better people than our leaders.

I try to be optimistic, but I am so weary waiting for that arc of history to bend toward Justice.

[Pacifist Patriot]

42. My sister, her husband, building industry in Florida.

She is now in a temporary job in another industry. Her husband is unemployed. And quite honestly, I didn't need any more reasons to hate the bastard.

My heart goes out to you. And everyone else those greedy assholes have destroyed all over the globe. Wish I believed in hell so they could rot in it.

[angrycarpenter]

45. destroyed is a strong word

temporarily defeated is more like it. I am one extremely stubborn man and I eat setbacks for breakfast. I know better times are coming and that I will get back on my feet and be even stronger for it.

Advise your sister and her husband to never take out their frustrations on each other. That was what happened to us and it was amazing how quickly it spelled doom for us.

[Pacifist Patriot]

46. When I use the word destroyed I am not referring to people like you or my sister.

I literally mean the people Bush's decisions have destroyed. It gives me chills. I fantasize about seeing him in chains in The Hague.

Too few people realize how devastating unemployment and underemployment can be to a marriage. You are absolutely correct about taking out frustrations.

I agree with you. Better times are coming and we will all be stronger. I hope we have learned some lessons that will not be soon forgotten.

Cheers!

[NM Independent]

43. You're story is similar to mine...

and many others I assume. Thanks for sharing.

[jonmiller74]

44. Best of luck to you.

It will get better, just be strong, and know that it will get better. And when you get through this and look back you'll see just how much more strength you've gained. God Bless.

[grantcart]

48. Good luck in getting a good job.