How Do You Get a Job in America 2.0?
I’m glad I don’t have to seek employment these days. Fortunately, my Social Security is augmented well enough by my very modest book royalties, and what I make writing here on Substack and for the American Free Press. I’m not going to be starving. But if I did have to find a job, well…let’s just say that many out there are not that lucky.
I’m going to share some information from people I know well personally, along with what I hear from so many who follow my writing. If you’ve read my book Survival of the Richest, you know my thoughts on our rigged economy. Our bogus job market. And things have only gotten worse since that book was published. We no longer have viable unions, which served for decades to keep salaries and benefits decent, even at nonunion workplaces. Big Labor used to be a powerful force in this country. Democrats competed to earn its support. When’s the last time you heard any Democrat talk about workers’ rights? About vanishing benefits? About ridiculously subpar wages? Republicans will talk about the subject. They think that the minimum wage should be abolished. Because they trust the corrupt marketplace, they laughably think that employers will pay a fair wage, if only the government wouldn’t force them to. There are calls to bring back child labor, as I detailed in my book.
In 2018, I was fired summarily, without any warning or incremental discipline, by Inova Health, the largest healthcare system on the east coast. I had worked there for 44 years, virtually my entire adult life. But Virginia is a Right to Work state. An “At Will” state. Which means essentially that an employer has the right to fire you for any reason, or no reason. Now, this doesn’t apply if you’re Black, or part of what has been determined to be a “marginalized” group. But I’m White. And a male. And old. I’m about as non-”marginalized” as it gets. There was nothing I could do. Local media wouldn’t listen to me. Only one lawyer was mildly interested. I paid him for about six months, and he couldn’t even get Inova to take the termination off my record and give me the settlement package all the other laid off non-”marginalized” employees got. It still irks me that I was escorted off the premises like a common criminal, for the great crime of helping out a handicapped co-worker.
I tried to apply for other jobs for a few months, but only received one interview. This was to drive a van for a retirement center, call bingo numbers, etc. I usually do well with the elderly, and I was probably already considered elderly myself. Naturally, I didn’t get the job. And that was that. I couldn’t even get unemployment, because Inova fought it. More “Right to Work” perks. So it wasn’t enough that they fired me after 44 years for doing a good deed. They even blocked me from getting a paltry unemployment check. So excuse me if I roll my eyes when some Republican firebrand starts extolling the virtues of “Right to Work.” What, do you want to be forced to join a union? They’ll charge you! Well, if I’d belonged to a strong, old fashioned union, they would never have attempted to fire me after serving there for longer than almost any other employee in company history. I’m happy being a full-time writer. At this point, it’s the principle here. They were wrong, and they’ll never be held accountable.
Enough about me. What others are going through is inexcusably unfair. We’ve all heard about how ICE is hiring, right? About how they desperately need people. They’ll take anyone! They’re offering a huge bonus and great salary. But, as we keep hearing so often, no one wants to work. That’s kind of the Right’s version of diversity is our strength. Just as stupid, and just as untrue. People I know have tried to apply to ICE. They don’t even get calls back. They literally can’t even get to the application process. I wonder what these people think when they hear public figures talk about this tremendous opportunity. I’m reminded of the hotline set up, after the 9/11 inside job, where the public was advised to “say something if you see something.” Alex Jones called that line on air, and no one ever answered. No annoying automated menu. No leave a message after the beep. Just more lies. The system runs on lies.
I live in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. I’ve had lots of family members who worked those cushy government jobs. And yes, they are very, very cushy. But they’re older. I guess they were still hiring Whites back then. Try being a White male now, applying for any government job. Tell me how that works out. I believe that White taxpayers should no longer have to support the generous salaries and benefit packages of government workers, active and retired, because they themselves have no chance of ever getting a government job. And because private pensions have all but been eliminated for the common riffraff, why should working class Whites have to support the lucrative pensions of government workers? And again, let’s juxtapose that against the fact that many conservatives want to end Social Security. It’s an “entitlement.” It’s “welfare.” Just shut up, Grandma, and git a job! You know, the ones that don’t exist.
Of course, “Woke” liberals are awful. Often satanic. Their loathing of people that look like me is something I can never condone. Obviously. Doesn’t seem to bother most of the non-”marginalized,” though. But the hard-assed conservatives are really bad, too. No concept that the job market is far different than it was when they were looking for work, in 1975. No concept that the average college degree has become increasingly worthless while it became increasingly expensive. And now we’re getting 600,000 Chinese students. So how does a straight White male, unable to afford college and with no “experience” yet, build a career? Learn to code? That’s another pat Boomer bit of advice. That won’t work, in an IT industry that has largely been taken over by Indian H-1B Visa workers. And our America First President Trump recently declared that Americans “don’t have talent,” so we need more visa workers. This would be the foreign visa worker program that he said was disastrous and vowed to abolish.
I’ve heard from young men who swallowed the advertising about becoming interns and learning to be a plumber, an electrician, air conditioning worker, etc. This is another piece of advice we get from the Right- learn a trade! Learn skills! The problem is that once you apply for these intern jobs, they don’t hire you. And they let you know that the pay, while you are training, is pathetically low. Far lower than advertised. Not enough to move out of your parents’ basement yet. Even when I was young, they were parroting that “looking for experience” nonsense. This has gotten so out of hand now that I’ve known young men who couldn’t get a job as a server in a restaurant because they didn’t have “experience.” You need “experience” for that kind of job now? As I was asking even in the 1970s, just how is anyone supposed to start down this road of “experience?” We all enter the job market for the first time with no experience at anything. And again, judging by what I see everywhere, this only applies to Whites.
I had to call my county tax department yesterday, because I got a notification that I hadn’t paid the personal property tax on our two vehicles. I have the email receipt for paying them in early October. After a frustrating conversation with a female Asian, during which I felt like I’d been enrolled in an English as a Second Language seminar, I was eventually cut off. The mistake was on their end, but I have to accept the blame. And pay the unfair late penalty. That’s the way “democracy” works. But my main point here is, how did this Asian with such limited English skills get a good government job? Did she take her entrance exam in her native language? I wonder if she had any “experience?” Even with low paid jobs at Target, you have to take a 200 question test online. For which there are no right answers. These tests are now universal in dead end retail jobs. I encounter a lot of retail workers who struggle with English. Just how do they pass this test? I know a White male U.S. citizen who Target recently rejected.
That’s the real slap in the face to desperate young White males, trying to find some way of earning money. Retail jobs will not pay you enough to live independently anywhere in America 2.0. Yet you’ll still be shamed for living at home with your parents. I know someone who recently applied at McDonalds and wasn’t hired. I think McDonalds is pretty much cited as the crappiest job you can have. But apparently most White males now can’t even get that. I tried Headhunters myself when I was younger. It was pointless then. I’m sure it’s less than pointless now. So how are you supposed to “learn a trade?” Pay a lot of money to attend a trade school? “Learn to code?” And be forced to get all the certificates I never had to have? When I was drummed out of the business, they were costing about $3000 each. Remember, over 70 percent of Americans have less than $1000 in savings. You do the math. Become an entrepreneur! That’s America- small businesses!
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