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    MizJenkinsHamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:42pm

    Why are we focusing on men specifically? Is it any less demoralizing to be an unemployed woman in your prime?

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      emdroidMizJenkins
      2/06/14 1:47pm

      He's probably got these bad boys organized in a series of categorical folders. I think it's kind of nice in comparison with the old model of "here are four stories". I bet there will be a post just like this about the ladiez soon enough (hopefully).

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      XX527MizJenkins
      2/06/14 1:50pm

      Because where else would we get to see a guy complain that "All the wimmenz are taking my jobs" like the first guy?

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    emdroidHamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:32pm

    Thank you for revisiting this series. I used to be an asshole commenter who was tired of reading them but eight months of unemployment (now pretty much full-time self-employed at least) has made me realize that my tiredness was really just assholishness and the job market is unbelievably terrible right now. I'm just lucky I am young, married, and have a skill I can sell pretty well at a reasonable cost to small businesses.

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      The_Mockingbirdemdroid
      2/06/14 1:45pm

      I'm still an asshole commenter, but not on this thread. I know what you guys are going through.

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      Snagglepussemdroid
      2/06/14 2:40pm

      No offense, but now that you know how the rest of us feel, I'm kind of hoping your either an ex-Republican congressman or congressional aid so somebody could slap members of that party around to tell them it's not the unemployed's fault for being unemployed?

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    A House In VirginiaHamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:38pm

    :-) took me a moment to recognize the photo, but thank you for giving a shout-out to DC's hidden treasure: the FDR Memorial.

    HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend any/all DC visitors pay pilgrimage; it's a really stunning tribute.

    Re: your main point— if everyone on Earth lived "l'happy-end" of "The American Dream" we would need 6 planet Earths. So I think it's nice we've realized we're too big for our britches, and the bootstraps sometimes need to lift themselves.

    My street cred: my 70yearold father will be working until he drops dead, and my mother was denied a proper retirement... she was let go from her job then took unemployment until SS benefits kicked in. Def not the way I want to end my career.

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      peanuttyA House In Virginia
      2/06/14 2:25pm

      Yeah, capitalism assumes infinite resources - which we don't have. "Emerging markets" are destroying the American Dream - but can you really blame them? Many of those countries have been living in absolute poverty for generations. I don't really have a solution, just stating observations.

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      A House In Virginiapeanutty
      2/06/14 2:27pm

      white "Anglos" have lived on borrowed time for long enough; it's time we face reality.

      Not EVERYONE needs to own property, drive a car, get married, etc.

      I'm finding in this sustained economic contraction, I can't keep up with the Jones— only myself.

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    ThecrewHamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:35pm

    Stop majoring in stupid ass majors. I'm working on an accounting degree at a small college and am frequently emailed job openings.

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      hickorydickoryduckThecrew
      2/06/14 1:37pm

      Stop being a fucking jackass.

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      fsunThecrew
      2/06/14 1:38pm

      Right, that's the real fucking issue here.

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    PseudoHermesHamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:37pm

    The trouble is, even after you recover, if you recover - it's hard to get back into the future mindset. How can you plan for a vacation or a wedding or retirement when you're mired in debt from however many years of lost income? How do you rebuild your experience so you can advance, when you're older than everybody else? And how do you avoid the constant worry that it will, all of a sudden, happen again?

    The worst part of the recession is that its legacy will be with the country for decades.

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      WallyW0rldPseudoHermes
      2/06/14 1:58pm

      You just listed off a bunch of luxury items that most people don't enjoy even if they are working....

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      PseudoHermesWallyW0rld
      2/06/14 2:07pm

      Weddings, vacations, and retirement are not luxuries in developed countries, nor have they been for many decades. All of them have been a normal part of life for a long time.

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    keeplosingburnersHamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:40pm

    Know what might help? Really help? A comprehensive, government-funded jobs training program designed to train and prepare a new group of people for the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of infrastructural improvements our country DESPERATELY FUCKING NEEDS.

    Fine, not everyone wanted to grow up to be a construction worker. It's tough, physical work, and not everyone is going to be up for it. But you know what? A LOT of jobless people would leap at the opportunity to be retrained in a new field.

    This is the absolutely fucking perfect time for another New Deal, and this bullshit myth of austerity is killing the opportunity. Instead we squabble over just how much food we should take out of peoples' mouths, never stopping to ask if maybe that answer should be "zero."

    And the best part is, when bridges start to crumble and shit like this continues to become increasingly commonplace, we'll all end up paying more than we ever would have if we had just fixed started fixing the problem when we had the chance.

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      pdxwhykeeplosingburners
      2/06/14 2:57pm

      Yes, yes, yes- but BOOTSTRAPS! THE MARKET! NASDAQ!

      /sad sarcasm

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      Joshkeeplosingburners
      2/07/14 10:02am

      Yeah, we should definitely trust the Government to fix stuff. That's worked pretty well with the recent wars, the NSA, and all that other good stuff. Why not just go start a business on your own and hire people?

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    Tucker973Hamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:55pm

    Once again, if only there were some sort of way we could put a bunch of unemployed men in their prime to work while saving our crumbling infrastructure. If only there were some sort of template for this kind of thing.

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      Now imma throw my gyroballTucker973
      2/06/14 2:06pm

      Picture didn't work. Is it Normandy Beach?

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      Tucker973Now imma throw my gyroball
      2/06/14 2:07pm

      Fucking Kinja.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_…

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    CuiveenHamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:44pm

    I'm 42 and I was laid off for the second time in five years last October. My sense of self-worth is basically non-existent. My great, really friendly bosses (owners of the firm, one of whom had married a multi-millionaire three days prior) let me know on the way out that it really came down to "chemistry" when in fact they had lost a client on the other side of the agency. So, I wasn't friendly/happy/sunny enough to keep on even though I led the agency's biggest account and the client really liked me.

    I'm alternately angry and grey meh. I don't want to go back to the plastic happy that is PR, but I don't have any other direction either. And who the hell wants to hire a middle-aged failure anyway?

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      CuiveenCuiveen
      2/07/14 6:52pm

      Thank you for the kind words and inspiration. Now if I can only get the hang of this commenting system...

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    liz2266Hamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:56pm

    My husband has been under employed for 3 years. He was lucky to get a part time job within 8 months of being laid off but once unemployment benefits ran out, it's a struggle like nothing we've ever gone through. He works for a relatively prestigious company as a radio producer/engineer and goes in as whenever they call. He often has to leave the house at 2:30 am to work until 10, sometimes noon-1pm or whatever other shift they decide to put him on. I encourage him to stay at this job because of how it may help his resume, even though its not helping our bottom line. The most amazing part of all of it is how is connections have failed him. His phone reads like a who's who of NY/NJ Metropolitan radio personalities and no one seems to want to help him, "I'll see what I can do" they say.. then, nothing. It's frustrating because we are in our prime, recently married, ready to have kids, buy a house etc.. but we can't move forward. I'm 34, I want to have a baby so badly and we have to keep waiting, and I wonder how much my chances decrease and I wonder how we got here.. My husband is a black man with a stereotypical black name, people don't read his resume. We've actually tested it, we've put his middle name on his resume and he got more responses than when he goes by his given name. One company received BOTH resumes and called the middle name version of him back.

    I feel bad because there are days when the stress gets too me and I am hard on him. I had my own 1 year bout of unemployment before him (we've been together 6 years and only employed at the same time for 2 of them) so I know how hard it is on him. It's horrible to see your husband falling apart in front of you, it's hard to see them so vulnerable and without an answer or tempted to give up. I pray for him every day, even when he threatens to run away as to not be a burden on me anymore. This crisis HAS to end.

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      PlantinMoretusliz2266
      2/06/14 2:47pm

      That middle-name thing is outrageous. Ugh.

      I hope things improve for you two soon. Hang in there.

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    burner287876Hamilton Nolan
    2/06/14 1:49pm

    This series has confirmed my belief that employment is a fucking scam. Gentlemen (and ladies), hang out your shingle. Own your own time. If you're to go broke, at least do it on your own terms. If you're to starve, do it with your middle finger in the air, pointed squarely at every gel-haired prick in a Van Heusen shirt who's ever kicked you to the curb for no real reason. Fuck free market capitalism. That disgusting, immoral structure needs to be burned to ashes and covered over with cement.

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