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    CyclistCarCoexist, 2ZZ Matrix DriverHamilton Nolan
    6/25/13 1:38pm

    In these tough times, we discover the bare necessities we need and we find how much we indulge in costly items

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      TibbersCyclistCarCoexist, 2ZZ Matrix Driver
      6/25/13 1:47pm

      you know it's funny you mention this. Just the other day i was talking to someone about how the recession was interesting in the respect that i had ZERO money for savings or buying anything too fancy (i did lease a new car out of necessity) and yet all around me i saw folks who i knew were out of work, or knocked back to part time, buying new x-boxs, big screen TVs, leasing new cars, buying houses and what not (2 people i knew went on cruises while unemployed). By the looks of things in my area, it was as if the economy was doing just fine. However when you talked to these people they also said that it was horrible and that they couldn't save for the future. I wonder just how screwed our priorities have become. We seem to be obsessed with spending it now and screw later since in our minds later is already screwed up thanks to social security woes and jobs that no longer offer benefits. Such behavior seems dangerous to me, but i guess we'll see.

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      WaterWishTibbers
      6/25/13 1:53pm

      One explanation I can imagine is that some of these big-spending unemployed people have given up and plan to file for bankruptcy, so they're maxing out their cards and living the high life while they can. Otherwise, I can't imagine it. My grown stepdaughter has had only sporadic temp work since January, and she's going on a four-day trip with her fiancé this week. She won't say that it's to look for work, but I honestly hope that it is, even though it's several states away. I don't want to see her move, but I can't imagine taking a pleasure trip when you're looking for a job.

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    twizzlerHamilton Nolan
    6/25/13 2:27pm

    Hamilton Nolan, I want you to be proud of yourself. This series has been the best antidote to all the bullshit politicians have spewed trying to distract us from the economic mess we're in. I read a lot and I haven't read anything that has captured how truly heinous it is out here for those out of work.

    If the series has taught us anything, it's that bad things can happen to good people, out of the blue. So when you face your next moment of crisis or self doubt, HamNo, you'd better remind yourself of what a great job you did, how important you were to all these people who had no voice and were suffering greatly. Your compassion and recognition of the worth of every human being will be fondly and forever appreciated by this reader.

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      Hamilton Nolantwizzler
      6/25/13 3:35pm

      Thank you, you are very nice. Really this series is by all the people that wrote in with their own stories, so THANK YOU to all of them.

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      AnustartHamilton Nolan
      6/25/13 3:39pm

      You do great things here, HamNo, and I wish you all the best in your future. You deserve it.

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    The-Gray-AdderHamilton Nolan
    6/25/13 1:51pm

    This should be copied and pasted as a response to every Teahadist ignoramus who claims people are mainly out of work by choice, want "free stuff" from the government, are "moochers", etc.

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      BlatheringThe-Gray-Adder
      6/25/13 2:43pm

      So true.

      I have relatives that accuse (from the safety of their car) every male they see out during the daylight hours of being a welfare and/or unemployment cheat. Especially if he is in the Latino part of town or has tattoos. Including, for examples, the guy I recognize as owning the carwash who was sitting out front between jobs or the guy I recognize as working third shift who was getting some sun in the time before he went to bed. But it ruins their mythology of the hardworking white man supporting the world to think that someone who isn't them might work even harder.

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      SAtown-HeroBlathering
      6/25/13 3:49pm

      Real talk. I LOVE taking time off and going to public places (mall, park, stores) and seeing how people look at me. Believe me, I've seen some people giving me the eye. I am in the military, done the whole deployment thing and am brown. Of course I never tell people i'm in the military. I just let them look at me, silently judging. Do I need better hobbies? Perhaps, but it sure is fun.

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    BlatheringHamilton Nolan
    6/25/13 2:32pm

    The "lazy" part is what sticks with me the most, of public perception vs. the stories we heard. There's this perception, maybe out of our American work ethic (or American snobbery ethic) that anytime we can claim someone isn't working as hard as us, we should take it.

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      doublem23Blathering
      6/25/13 2:53pm

      I think it's more than that, there's a deeply ingrained attitude in our culture that this is still a place where if you just work hard enough; grab your bootstraps, clock in early and clock out late, that you will be rewarded. People seem to be uneasy with the notion that basically blind luck is becoming more and more a key reason why people sink or why they swim in America. It is deeply unnerving, I suppose, for people to be faced with the realization that much of your success in America is out of your hands when they have been brought up to believe just the opposite.

      It seems that attitude is most true with smug, little shitbags who don't necessarily deserve anything they have but are members of the Lucky Sperm Club who were born into extravagant riches and a priceless network of successful social connections. I think continuing to push the idea of the hard earned American Dream validates their self-esteem which they must undoubtedly question at all times.

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      dwarfANDpliersBlathering
      6/25/13 3:39pm

      what bothers me is the related mindset that the unemployed are somehow inferior or "deserved it" because of some flaw (such as laziness). It's certainly the way I began to feel about myself during my unemployment. I hope the people who think of the unemployed as lazy or flawed are doing this because deep down they understand how quickly your life can turn to shit and you're powerless to do anything about it, but I came to realize that's usually not the case. Empathy just isn't a priority in our society it seems.

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    kate773Hamilton Nolan
    6/25/13 1:51pm

    How did we go from such nice neat signs to this:

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      Thidrekrkate773
      6/25/13 2:23pm

      There used to be professionals whose job was to paint signage just like this. I'm guessing most of their work would have been for grocery and department stores, but they would have been used for signs like these too.

      Of course, with the advent of cheap printing, these jobs are pretty much entirely obsolete. There is one store in Toronto that still keeps the tradition alive, however.

      http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/…

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      AnatayaThidrekr
      6/25/13 3:29pm

      Sign painters are now just called graphic designers. The job description has expanded instead.

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    InTheStillHamilton Nolan
    6/25/13 3:07pm

    Germany pays companies to keep workers on rather than laying them off in times of recession (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/wor…) "A vast expansion of a program paying to keep workers employed, rather than dealing with them once they lost their jobs, was the most direct step taken in the heat of the crisis."

    This enables skilled workers to avoid the spiraling individual crises detailed in this amazing and heartbreaking series that HamNo has curated, but it also has the ability to fuel up the economy and production the minute demand returns, which gives Germany an edge over economies like ours which then have to rehire, retrain & retool workers.

    Recessions are the time for investment, not for cutbacks. But the paranoid communist fearing Ayn Randian greed is good nutjobs who run this country can't think rationally, so we lose this edge along with the mass needless suffering that is inflicted.

    The lefty blogger Atrios pretty much assumes that the powers that be are sociopaths & feed off the mass destruction & suffering in their wake as they tut tut all people's poor decision making to be poor and unemployed. At this point, it really seems like that point of view is correct as the people with the power and the money harden and double down on austerity and doing their best to cut benefits from the most vulnerable in our society.

    Anyway, a hard to read series, but I'm thankful for it, because these truly are forgotten voices in our mainstream discourse. And the sadder thing is that the ripple effect will be felt for decades, and into the next generation of children who grew up with parents struggling for their economic lives, unable to give their children sometimes even the bare necessities in a society that gluts itself on consumer goods and luxuries. For shame.

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      lethekkHamilton Nolan
      6/25/13 1:54pm

      So, after reading through most of the stories over the last year, I can't really tell if there's any such thing as a recession-proof job. Maybe a plumber, at least until every unemployed person signs up for training. Can anyone think of anything else?

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        kumfinemylethekk
        6/25/13 2:33pm

        Even plumbers hit hard times. I mean "Master Plumbers" the ones who make the big bucks. My friend is one and I thought MP's had it made.

        He also breeds Maine Coons in his apartment.

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        jenaliciouslethekk
        6/25/13 2:36pm

        Bartender. I know this first hand. Everyone wants to drink!

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      Veronica CorningstoneHamilton Nolan
      6/25/13 2:46pm

      You guys should win a Pulitzer for this. Not joking.

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        elumere1Veronica Corningstone
        6/25/13 2:47pm

        I very much agree with that.

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      filmgirlHamilton Nolan
      6/25/13 3:29pm

      1. Depressing

      2. There is no hope because everyone sucks.

      3. I know you want to end it all, but don't.

      4. You can't count on anyone you know or knew in your business.

      5. My favorite quote "All good things to those who wait", apparently is not true.

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        Remedios VaroHamilton Nolan
        6/25/13 2:39pm

        Thanks so much for doing this series, Hamilton. I've been unemployed since December. I've only read a few installments from the series because it all hit a little too close to home, but the ones I did read comforted me because it was nice to know I'm not alone. I'm in my mid-20s. Most of my friends from college are in grad school or have solid jobs already, and I feel like I've been left behind in the dust. It's tough, and sometimes the joblessness threatens to drag me down back into the depths of serious depression, but fortunately I have an overwhelming amount of support from my family and girlfriend. I can only hope that, as Neko Case says, better times are coming still.

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