Past Five

Unemployment Jumps the Shark

Unemployment jumped the shark today.  The elusive 10% barrier has been crossed.  What does this mean? 

 

As I was waiting for the report this morning, I "knew", as much as anyone can know, that it would cross 10 percent today.  The healthcare bill is up for grabs, two democratic states in 2008 (NJ and VA) elected Republican governors....the tide was coming and it was spouting, "No good news for D.C."

 

My thought is that as unemployment rises and this "jobless recovery" continues and the DJIA goes above 10,000....is this good for the current administration?  Does it scream to the American public, "do more, fast!!!" in order to save us?  I hope not.  All cycles are just that, cycles.  The government did the right thing in stepping in to save GM and the financial services bail out, now we need to let the market settle in...let capitalism take over...and let small businesses grow!

 

We need to encourage small businesses to become large businesses.  To encourage companies to go public.  To foster the creation of start up companies.  We must, as a society, embrace people who are willing to risk everything, reputation, savings, etc. to start a company.  Entrepreneurs are the job creators of America; hopefully our politicians will realize this.  Extending unemployment benefits another 20 weeks is not the answer.  Giving an incentive for people not to take any job is a disservice to the countless men and women who will do anything to put food on their family's table. 

Keep it Clean

Google yourself.  Go ahead, we'll wait...

 

What did you find?  Anything good?  Anything bad?

 

If you discovered something your mother wouldn't be proud of, it’s time for change.  If you're an active job seeker, you need to clean up your online profiles immediately. 

With the unemployment rate approaching 10%, job seekers can't afford to miss out on exciting job opportunities due to the content of their on-line profiles.  Whether you have a profile on Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Flickr or Twitter- content is king and it better be clean. 

1. Privacy- You wouldn't leave your doors and windows of your home open all day, leaving it vulnerable for anyone to enter and snoop around.  So why would you let anyone view your online profile?  Social networking sites offer various degrees of privacy.  It's easy, but so many job seekers neglect to take advantage of this setting.  Block or limit users who aren't your friends from gaining access to your profiles. 
2. Content - Your online profile can show friends and connections a broader perspective of who you are, what you are doing right now, what books you read this summer, what your interests are, etc.  When presented well, this can portray you positively as a person.  However, when the content presented is negative, it can drastically impact how a colleague or employer feels about you.
3. Photos - Yes, visiting Cancun during your senior year was fun, but potential employers are going to think otherwise when they see the photos.  Untag and block any photos that may be inappropriate.  Upload photos that will strengthen your personality, not show the world how much you love being the center of attention.
4. Posts – Once you author a post on any social networking profile, you cannot go back.  Despite the ability to “delete” the content later, you have no control over who has already seen the material, commented about it, or forwarded the post/image to someone else.
5. Etiquette - Many of you have probably been friended by moms and dads of your close friends, and dare we say a grandparent or two?!?!  Yikes!  But remember “friending” a potential employer isn’t a professional way to go about getting hired.  Save the MySpace and Facebook friending for close friends, coworkers and colleagues that you have already established solid face-to-face relationships with.    

There is no denying that the Internet is one of today’s primary communication tools.  The popularity of social media has grown exponentially in the last several years.  Twitter, for example, grew from 1.6 million users in 2008 to more than 32 million today.  No one is expected to stay off the Internet, but people should be savvy social networkers while still maintaining a professional reputation online. 

 

We continuously urge our candidates to keep their networking profiles clean.  Think about it, you wouldn’t want to risk losing out on a new career because of the scandalous photos your friend tagged and the 37 comments that you made on them about how drunk and wild and irresponsible you all were on your summer vacation.  Your personal life is all your own, but employers, universities, and organizations see is put online, so keep your image clean.

 

 

 

Posted by guest author Bobby Wilson

2.5 Million New Jobs

The new administration is proposing that 2.5 million new jobs will be created to rebuild the infrastructure of the country.  New roads, bridges....planting trees, etc. etc.  The difference between 2009 and when FDR was president is that we were a manufacturing country then...not today.  Unfortunately, I don't think there are going to be a lot of former investment bankers and insurance executives who are going to go throw a hammer to rebuild our infrastructure.

What the country should be doing is creating an employer friendly environment (read: tax breaks) to encourage manufacturing to be done in the United States.  If we can't compete with foreign countries due to the cost of labor, then the government needs to incentify companies in other ways to start creating and building products in this county.  There are blue collar workers in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan...they need and want to work.  The flip side to the worker is, they may not make as much money as they did being part of the UAW, however that compensation was as unrealistic as the value of houses for the past decade.  It's a new reality and both the worker and the government need to understand it and make changes in action and philosophy.

Corporations and Consumers

I saw today that Goldman Sachs will have $2 billion in losses this year. I am a huge believer in people making as much money as they can...if someone can earn it legally and figure out a way for people to pay, they deserve what they make. When a corporation makes billions of dollars for years upon years, they should reinvest that money back into their company. In a publicly-traded company, this usually takes the form of buying back their shares. Now paying huge bonuses to people also is reinvesting in the company, because they are retaining their key people which over the long-term will result in continued success and profit growth. Now when you lose money, no one should feel sorry for you.  If you take the glory and the money when you do well, you have to take the losses when you do poorly and go on. These companies create huge cash reserves, (Microsoft $35 billion)...sometimes, you have a bad year. 

The fact that there was even a discussion about Wall Street people getting their bonuses reduced is crazy. They shouldn't get any bonus at all. No one should. Not just the top 20 executives...the whole company. There must be some fiduciary responsibility from management to say...cuts across the board, no bonuses. If people leave because of it, they do. If another company with huge losses offers huge money to attract those people... shame on them. They are neglecting their responsibilities. For a year or two, everyone needs to dig back in, get back to basic fundamental business and tighten the ship. The days of easy money are over for awhile.

Unemployment Benefits

I am excited about the energy surrounding Barack Obama’s election as the 44th President of the United States. I am a libertarian, socially liberal, fiscally conservative. I don’t agree with higher taxes, and I believe the unions are a dinosaur...a symbol of an era past its time. In the day of CNN and MSNBC, workers in Asian sweatshops get reported on…there aren’t workers here needing more protection. The loaded cost of a UAW member is more than $65 per hour! That’s $130,000 for a labor job. Hardly necessary...and it explains why costs are so high. It’s ridiculous.

Now the people in Washington are talking about extending unemployment benefits. This is a terrible idea. We cannot give people an incentive not to work!!! If someone needs to wait tables or work at Home Depot to earn a wage, then do it. We are getting people who are educated and can do lesser jobs, and they would rather take unemployment money to do nothing!? It’s not fair to those of us who are working two jobs, working 80 hours per week to keep our job to have unemployment benefits increased.

 

Instead, we should offer people incentives to get jobs. For example, if you get a job which pays 50% or less of your 2007 W-2, then you are eligible for 40% of unemployment liability. (If you were making $100,000 and now you get a job for under $50,000....you would be eligible for partial unemployment.) This would be an incentive to take a lower paying job, which puts more money into the economy.

 

If someone is claiming unemployment and making $1,600 per month, practically nothing is going into the economy. It all goes for basic needs. Increase that number and more spending occurs, more tax dollars, etc., and less government handouts.

 

We must not believe unemployment is an entitlement...it should be the last resort. Last I saw, McDonalds is still hiring.