B
Bret Cahill
Guest
HP lays off engineers by giving them $60K and a trip to La Jolla.
They can then pick up another 20K + in unemployment which will be more
than enough to coast to the recovery if they live modestly, assuming
they don't first get another job, not a good assumption.
In sharp contrast, the self employed computer "consultant" who managed
to get by quite well repairing and selling used computers during the
boom years, however, ain't getting no $60K.
The Reaganomics get rick quick with the Gipster ain't working and they
don't know what to do.
This results in a social situation identical to that described by
Studds Terkel in his last interview which should be given much wider
coverage
Bret Cahill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/money/fear_economy_studs_terkel.html
The Great Depression. I was about 17 years old. Hoover was still
president. People had been living high off the hog. And then, boom,
comes the Crash. It was so sudden. Guys jumped out of windows. They
didnt know what to do. The wise men ran around, and then they cried
out after Roosevelt for the government to help them out. Regulation.
They asked for it. They cried for it. The wise men were lost, just as
they are today. The free market fell on its fanny. We learned nothing.
Its exactly the same today.
The lessons of the Great Depression? Dont blame yourself. Turn to
others. The big boys are not that bright.
My mother ran a hotel, the Wells-Grand Hotel, for men, just outside
Chicagos skid row.
Skilled workers. Mechanics. Guys with jobs here and there. Some
retired. It was fine. The lobby in the hotel was empty in the daytime.
It was just a little room, and at night theyd come play hearts and
pinochle. Then came 1929. Suddenly theyre not working. Or those guys
who retired, suddenly their pensions are gone. Now theyre in the
lobby in the daytime. They dont know what the hell to do. So they
drank more. And played the horses more. And there were fights. What
were the fights over? Their own self-respect. I mean, they had nothing
to do. They were furious. Who do you blame? Who do you hit? You hit
each other. That was sort of a metaphor for what happened to the
country. They blamed themselves. Yet I met these people who weathered
it one way or the other, some just by lending a hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Its exactly the same today."
-- Studds Terkel
They can then pick up another 20K + in unemployment which will be more
than enough to coast to the recovery if they live modestly, assuming
they don't first get another job, not a good assumption.
In sharp contrast, the self employed computer "consultant" who managed
to get by quite well repairing and selling used computers during the
boom years, however, ain't getting no $60K.
The Reaganomics get rick quick with the Gipster ain't working and they
don't know what to do.
This results in a social situation identical to that described by
Studds Terkel in his last interview which should be given much wider
coverage
Bret Cahill
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.aarpmagazine.org/money/fear_economy_studs_terkel.html
The Great Depression. I was about 17 years old. Hoover was still
president. People had been living high off the hog. And then, boom,
comes the Crash. It was so sudden. Guys jumped out of windows. They
didnt know what to do. The wise men ran around, and then they cried
out after Roosevelt for the government to help them out. Regulation.
They asked for it. They cried for it. The wise men were lost, just as
they are today. The free market fell on its fanny. We learned nothing.
Its exactly the same today.
The lessons of the Great Depression? Dont blame yourself. Turn to
others. The big boys are not that bright.
My mother ran a hotel, the Wells-Grand Hotel, for men, just outside
Chicagos skid row.
Skilled workers. Mechanics. Guys with jobs here and there. Some
retired. It was fine. The lobby in the hotel was empty in the daytime.
It was just a little room, and at night theyd come play hearts and
pinochle. Then came 1929. Suddenly theyre not working. Or those guys
who retired, suddenly their pensions are gone. Now theyre in the
lobby in the daytime. They dont know what the hell to do. So they
drank more. And played the horses more. And there were fights. What
were the fights over? Their own self-respect. I mean, they had nothing
to do. They were furious. Who do you blame? Who do you hit? You hit
each other. That was sort of a metaphor for what happened to the
country. They blamed themselves. Yet I met these people who weathered
it one way or the other, some just by lending a hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Its exactly the same today."
-- Studds Terkel