Forget the Newspaper
Looking in the newspaper is one
of the worst ways to find almost
anything—from a job to a rental.
Get out and look. Drive around
the areas where you can afford
to live and want to live in,
talk to those (local) people.
Let your inner compass take
over...
Don't look for a job,
make one
With tens of thousands of
unemployed workers competing for
the types of jobs they used to
have you need to find around the
"getting a job" trap. [read
Bill's story]
Find something that needs to be
done that you can do directly
for other people. Stop thinking
"JOB" where you work 40
hours/week with medical
benefits, vacation, etc. Why
work for big corporations &
industry when they were the ones
who took away your job? They
did it once, they'll do it
again. Corporations do not
really offer long term security.
That is a lesson many people
learn through life. |
Can you do odd jobs?
Drive through a nice
neighborhood looking for
places that need
painting. Don't be
afraid to knock on
doors. Maybe the
homeowner needs yard
work, tree trimming,
clean up, or the window
trim repainted.
Learn to not be heavy
handed; never say "I'm
broke and need money."
Instead try "Hi! My
name is Bill and I saw
your house looks like it
needs some touch up
painting. Here is a
sheet of paper with my
contact information if
you need a person to do
nice work. Thank you!"
Then back off, politely.
When you find a
potential small job try to
start small. Be careful
about "giving
estimates." I'd
recommend approaching it
one day at a time with
being paid in cash at
the end of each day.
This allows you to see
if you get along with
that person, and they
have the money to pay
you. You are not a
contractor, so keep
things simple.
Do good
work, show up on time,
be thoughtful & polite.
Don't do dangerous
things like put a metal
ladder up near
electrical lines then
climbing up with a chain
saw to trim trees!
• Keep
it simple, keep it safe,
work as hard for that
person as you would for
yourself.
If you please a customer
with a bit of work there
may be more, their
friends may need you.
But you have to first
prove yourself polite,
grateful, reliable. If
you get too aggressive
you'll scare people.
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Hark work & bad jobs
But all of this is about how to
survive in life. I was a
housepainter when I was 18. I
hated painting because it is so
boring. I worked in restaurants
busing tables, washing dishes,
cooking. Restaurants are dirty,
greasy, wet, smelly, noisy, hard
places to work. You go home bone
tired.
At twenty one I drove a taxicab in New
York and that nearly drove me
crazy when it wasn't scaring me
half to death! In California I
worked hard in trucking & moving
furniture.
Matt Henson also worked hard but
as a seaman, a train porter, and
at whatever work he had to do to
survive. A lifetime of hard
menial work is not recommended.
It bores the mind, dulls your
spirit. Some people use drugs
and alcohol to tune out.
Education is a skill
My father often told me
"education is a skill." He
didn't mean a college degree
because that was just a thing.
The education was the skill that
allowed you to move through life
with freedom.
Father also warned me not to
work "for industry" as he put
it. Meaning that big
corporations are impersonal,
that you don't have control over
what happens to you.
|
Technology eliminates jobs
This recession may be the tip of
an employment "iceberg." It
indicates that the large
workforce of the past isn't
needed anymore. Computer
controlled, highly automated
manufacturing produces more
products, at less cost, with
fewer workers than ever before.
This is why America became
increasingly consumption
oriented and why credit was made
available to almost everyone. There are
too many goods being produced;
more buyers were needed not more
workers.
Technology could have
liberated us from the
drudgery of factory work
and daily traffic jams.
Instead the advertising
industry hyper
stimulated TV viewers,
newspaper & magazine
readers to buy artificial foods,
electronic toys,
and infinite varieties
of junk
churned out by the
manufacturing industry.
Think of China shipping
endless cargo ships full
of cheap goods to
Wal-Mart. Humans
produce more stuff than
they need.
|
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Automobiles from Hell
Every year car makers
strive to sell more
cars. To entice
consumption advertising
promotes more spacious
vehicles with increased
horsepower, additional
attributes such as
leather interior, DVD
players, etc. Greed
pushed common sense
aside.
Small, efficient cars
were ridiculed as
dangerous in a
collision. The SUV
emerged as a way to
cheat legislated mileage
requirements while
ensuring the occupants
would crush smaller cars
in a collision. |
 |
No one needs a new
car
Everyone has a car.
Today there is a glut of
automobiles because the
industry kept pushing
sales long after every
citizen had one. The
used car market is flooded
with autos priced too
high because the owners
didn't purchase wisely.
Buyers fell for
Detroit sales
promotions; paying the
dealer's price without
knowing how to buy for
"factory invoice +$500"
as Consumer Reports has
advised its readers to
do for many years. With
easy credit from home
equity loans thousands
of dollars worth of
options were added to make the
vehicle a virtual object of
idolatry.
Using home equity
credit lines people
here in the Central
Valley of California
bought trucks like this
one (below). Many never
bothered to shop around,
instead simply believed
the dealer's sales
person was "giving
them a good deal."
Buyers added on $2,000
custom wheels, DVD
players, along with
dozens of options that
are almost pure profit
to a car dealer.
|
"We crashed
-
you died in your little
foreign car - but
we survived in our huge
truck! Whoopee!"
|
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Currently the
automobile market is
saturated and the
manufacturers are bankrupt.
These vehicles represent environmental,
economic, and
technological insanity.
Transportation
few buyers needed or
could truly afford.
What most drivers needed was an affordable
commuter car. Instead
millions are now stuck with
absurdly complicated,
expensive vehicles they
thought they wanted
because TV &
magazine ads made them
irresistible.
Damage to society
Instead of liberation -
freedom from daily
drudgery - the free
market application of
technology has left us
in bondage to a system
no one can control. |
 |
| Imagine the total
cost of an
SUV or
pickup
truck
sold in
the
years
before
the
Second
Great
Depression.
These
behemoths became like
luxurious
traveling
bedrooms;
consider
the cost
of all
the options, tax & license,
full coverage insurance,
+ interest on a
5 year car loan.
Yikes! |
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How Bill found
work in a
recession
He worked
through every
recession,
always had a
job. During a
really bad
recession after
Jimmy Carter in
1981 things were
bad. He went to
the state
unemployment
office and it
was mess. They
had no jobs to
refer him to,
they were
useless.
Everyone was
negative about
the economy.
Bill
took a proactive
approach that
worked for him by
trying to get
work moving
furniture. That
was how
desperate it
was.
Bill was sleeping
in his car;
homeless! Then a
friend got to
"house sit"
somebody's nice
place. He let
Bill
sleep & shower.
They were so broke
Bill went to
church hand outs
for food where
you stood in
line to get a
free bag of
groceries for
Thanksgiving.
But every
morning he got up
at 6:30 AM to
phone each big
moving company
like Bekins,
North American,
etc. He'd ask the
dispatcher if
they
needed a day
worker. They'd
usually say
"No we don't
need any help."
Click.
You see,
sometimes long
distance moving
trucks came in
loaded with
furniture but
the driver (from
out of town)
would always
need help
unloading. The
helper would be
paid something
like $50 for 1/2
day or $100 for
8 hours. 6 hours was
enough to get
the 8 hour pay.
Anyway, Bill kept
calling every
day. The
dispatchers got
used to him. He
didn't hassle
them; just a
quick "Do you
need a helper
today?" Once
or twice a week
He'd get 1/2 a
day or a full
days pay. It was
enough to rent a
room near the
part of the city
where the
trucking
companies were.
So if one needed
him it was no
more that 5
minutes away in
his car.
After a couple
of months of
this one company
liked his good
spirits and hard
work. Bill got
30-to40
hours/week work. That
is how he
survived that
recession.
But he never
once used
the newspaper to
find work.
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