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New York, 8:32 AM
Wed Nov 25
49 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/20/09
[news.bbc.co.uk]
Lookout, unemployed fat people! A Peruvian gang allegedly lured people "with fake job offers before killing them and extracting their fat.." to sell... as cosmetics.
#tips #unemployment #fatties #murder
11/10/09
Even criminals need some incentive to break into your house - and that last Star Wars action figure you refuse to put on eBay isn't it. #recessionomics
11/10/09
I sit on my front porch all day photographing with my phone the drug deals going down.
It gives me a cheap hobby during the "unnemployment." #recessionomics
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
Yikes. #unemployment
11/06/09
I sense a conspiracy.
[www.guttmacher.org] #unemployment
11/06/09
11/06/09
*The '94 change said that workers must have sought work in the prior year.
**Even though this calculation attempts to address it, it undercounts the hidden economy, illegal aliens, etc., which, whether you like it or not, are part of how we should measure our economic vitality. #unemployment
11/06/09
The calculations also do not take into account business owners who are no longer able to take a salary or have closed down their business. Small business owners or the self-employed are not eligible for unemployment. #unemployment
11/06/09
None of this means that anyone was out to stick it to small business owners. This helps them because they don't want to pay unemployment insurance on their most highly compensated employee. So, please stop bending scraps of information to reinforce your own very poorly informed worldview. It is very unhelpful. #unemployment
11/06/09
I may no mention of "sticking it to small business owners." There are plenty of other ways small business owners have gotten the shaft, but not being reflected in the unemployment numbers is not one of them. #unemployment
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
I remember roughly 10 years ago I suddenly became unemployed, because I'd stupidly left a very secure print journalism job to go work for a website right before the Internet bubble burst.
As it was, I was still waiting for Gannett to process my check for leaving them (I think I was at the web company for maybe five weeks before I got laid off and one of the reasons I went to the web company job was that Gannett was offering giant checks for people willing to leave) and had already decided to liquidate my 401(k) so I knew that I was going to have about 20k in the bank in a few weeks and move to France. I just needed some cash to live on until that money came through.
If I had known how depressing the filing process is and that New Jersey would make me talk a bureaucrat shrink who would ask me in 400 subtle ways if if I was about to kill myself and then make me take a class in how to use a computer and insist that I sit in round table discussion groups with other newly unemployed people about our feelings, I would have just asked my dad for a loan. #thepoors
11/05/09
Related: To the person who cashed that check--You suck.
11/05/09
Yeah, everyone I know who has dealt with unemployment benefits has had a horrible experience with it.
The worst for me - though not nearly as bad as anyone elses - was during that period my old editor at Gannett had their music writer out sick and asked if I would review an AC/DC show for them on a freelance basis.
The job paid all of $25 - and I honestly went for the free ticket - but I had to go back to the unemployment office and spend three hours waiting in line and filling out forms to document that freelance income so they could adjust my unemployment check. And if I hadn't documented it and they had found out about the extra income I could have gone to jail. #thepoors
11/05/09
Also, I forgot to mention that those Cheerios I lived on? Not brand name, but "No Frills Oatie O's" in the plastic bag! #thepoors
11/05/09
Maybe it's a brand I don't know, or maybe we're entering a world where beans are considered a frill. #thepoors
11/05/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
Hmmm, I think this is a garbled reference to a passage in "Life of a Homesteading Woman" (I'm reading it now on my poor-man's kindle -- the iPhone!) wherein some nice ladies made flour bags into chemises and rice bags into panties for a less fortunate young homesteading lady who had no fashion with which to woo men. They also traveled into town (which took a week!) to buy her some sandals and hair ribbons to go with her finery.
Very creative, those homesteaders! #thepoors
11/05/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
[www.iupress.indiana.edu]
Well, her husband and my gg-something were best friends. Basically it tells the story of why you shouldn't pump millions of dollars into moving tailors from Kiev onto the prairie without teaching them how to farm, or keep warm without having to sleep with animals. #thepoors
11/05/09
11/05/09
OMG -- coooool!!!! It's on my list now.
Wow, her life sounds incredibly challenging. The chronicle I'm currently reading takes place in the west, and in many ways, I think California is just an easier state to thrive in for a variety of reasons.
I can't wait to check this out, thanks!
(I'm digging these homesteading stories lately. So weird how much life has changed in the U.S. and so amazing what these people accomplished to the benefit of the rest of us.) #thepoors
11/05/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
Seriously Hamilton, that's like sticking it to a dead duck. We get it guys, print is dead. #thepoors
11/05/09
11/05/09
Show some sympathy for an old and punished commenter. #thepoors
11/05/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
11/05/09
I lost my star for a while because of chat-room Sheila support last year, so I know how you feel. Sigh. #thepoors
11/05/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
11/06/09
I feel special again! #thepoors
11/06/09
11/07/09
10/29/09
So, yeah, I'm thinking, at least in my line of work, companies aren't going to start hiring again until they see how horribly this holiday shopping season is going to pan out. So, people, keep spending that money you don't have;-)
Of course, I should also mention that I've been searching for a full-time job with benefits since I was laid off in January 2008. So this recession has been particularly painful one for me. #recessionomics
10/29/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
10/29/09
It always kills me that they never mention this part. Kills. Me. #recessionomics
10/29/09
The A-12 table of the Employment Situation Report due November 6 should provide a clearer picture of U-6 unemployment, which considers those individuals.
The recent report was not intended to measure "discouraged workers" or individuals who are no longer receiving unemployment benefits. At least it didn't get worse, no? That indicates no fresh and massive layoffs, which is a sign of stabilization. #recessionomics
10/29/09
10/29/09
This has been lucky for me because my existing repeat clients are in recession proof industries - guys always want porn and girls will always want to lose weight - so I've just been able to find other companies in the same industries and am making more money than in a long time.
My girlfriend, on the other hand, is a freelance luxury travel writer and let me tell you, she hasn't been making any money.
So all in all our joint income has remained the same, because mine has gone up enough to cover what she's not making.
But, shit, I wish she had developed contacts in non luxury industries roughly 18 months ago. #recessionomics