Maybe the guy was just paraphrasing... what is your advice? To lie?

Besides that you missed the entire point of the story - it isn't about finessing his way through an interview so he can get a job (although I'm sure he'd love that) it is about the marginalization of so much of the middle class. This is what I think the protests are all about!

5 years? Would it kill the guy to pick up a shovel or hammer?

that's right. you have to know how to lie. They want liars. Liars make money on Wall St. So LIE you fool.

Plenty of jobs in Alabama today.

"An unassuming presence in the colorful crowd that marched in New York on Wednesday, the 49-year-old Reiner nevertheless is in many ways typical of the protesters who have established the “Occupy Wall Street” camp just blocks away from the New York Stock Exchange."

What nonsense. Reiner is the glaring exception to the young, naive protesters who think it's 'cool' to protest, although the vast majority have no clue and no coherent message.

They are frustrated over Obama's failure to even begin to solve the economic/jobs problems despite nearly 3 years of control. If Bush was still in office, there is no doubt that he would be blamed, but the media is careful not to blame Obama (the historic 'First Black President') because the media is still enamored of him.

Why people would think that a 'Community Organizer' with absolutely no 'track record' (other than protesting against business, suing banks to force them to lend to minorities, and making new costly 'regulations' against business) would make a good President is beyond me.

He was a predictable failure who has run up massive debt and Obama's only hope is 'Class Warfare' against the companies and people who can create jobs.

The bottom line is that they now are discovering that Obama has taken away their hope and their future with anti-business/jobs regulations and massive debt.

Obama's 'solution' is to turn parts of society against each other.

This is a 'leader'????????????????????????????

Roy

I am 63, gainfully employed and will be there tomorrow in support of the protesters. You're evaluation of Obame is of course the Fox News variety and leaves out, of course, that there are some of us who are upset with him, not because of your mythical anti-business chimera, but for the fact that he didn't realize the duplicity and the anti-American nature of the new republican party. He thought he could bargain in good faith, and that was never on their agenda. He should have realized the kind of unpatriotic, racist, selfish, idealogues he was up against. The republicans, as a policy, are turning parts of the country against others to get their way. The class warfare was brought on by the right, not Obama. The bumper sticker....millions of people out of work to get one black man fired. That's the rightist view.

Obama has done all that in less than 3 years? I think that the problem started long before Obama.

Ferrosynthesis-3490482

You are living proof that 'You can fool SOME of the people ALL of the time'.

Obama has had control for almost 3 years now (two with a Democratic Congress), and the 'Great Recession' ended 28 months ago. His response to the need for more jobs - attack the people who can create jobs, and run up massive new debt.

Roy, you should look at the history of the great decline of the middle class before falsely blaming your President for all these problems. It started many years ago, in 1967 the top 1 percent had 10.7 percent of the pre-tax income, and the other 99 percent divvied up around 89 percent of our income.

Between 1949 and 1979, those at the top never took in more than 12.8 percent of the total. When Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, the top 1% accounted for 10 percent of our economic output, while the rest of us shared 90 percent. In 1988, the top 1 percent of American households garnered 15.5 percent of the nation's income.

In 1998, the top 1% took about 21% of the nations pre-tax income. In 2007, the year before the crash, they were pulling in 23.5 percent of our pre-tax income, leaving the other 99 percent to share just 76.5 percent of the fruits of our output.

That is what the 99% are pissed about. That and robots such as yourself, with your unfounded in fact rants.

You are part of the problem!

I'm going to start crying.........He should go and protest in front of the White House, but not in order to wait for an speech from Obama blaming Bush and the rich, for his inability to bring a plan to bring jobs ,not shovel ready jobs, real jobs and bring a plan to bring the economy in the right track, but to demand him for real solutions , not presidential campaign solutions. He blame Bush for the first three years and never took any responsibility of his actions. People talk about corruption, but only see one side, the other side is in the government in cases like Solylandra, Fast and Furious , bailouts, but no this is nothing going to happen , because the leaders of this protest sleep in the White House.

Yeah, you wouldn't want the "job creators" to be offended by the truth...

The problem with the "Job Creators" that conservatives like to revere is that they really don't care about creating jobs. Proffits - both corporate and individual rule the game. If laying off a few hundred employees makes the stock price go up, and the CEOs bonus a little bigger, then guess what happens...

John Reiner - I feel for you. I do. But like most in this country, you think that a certain standard of living is a God-given right that you were born with. You probably own a cell phone. You still have a place to live. I'm sure you have cable television. You say you are not employable. I guarantee you that if you broadened your job search, you could very easily find work. That is the key word. Work. It won't pay as well as the job you want. But you will have something. Getting an education and studying a certain subject does not create a lifetime guarantee that you will get to work in that field. I wish it would, but sometimes you have to adapt.

It is amazing and so obvious that the media is out of touch with why people are protesting. There have been many commentaries I have heard in which these protester are being labeled as communist, socialists, union dups, hippies, it goes on and on. If the media is unable to understand why they are protesting, then they have no idea about what is going on with John/Jane Q public.

The dramatic loss of jobs, even for the well-educated and experienced, as well as the loss of ethical direction of corporate America is one of the factors. Corporate and Wall Street greed that has been voiced by the protesters speaks of the shift in focus on employee and customer satisfaction and compensation to profits. While all businesses need profits and they are not bad, it is when profits become the sole goal of a company that jobs and people are sacrificed.

Satisfying the stock holder is the new business. It has less to do with providing a service or product, making money, and is about making more profits by slashing their bottom line, saving money. All this, while the top gets more and more. What we have been seeing in society with the top 1% having more money than the bottom 99% combined is the same in today's business practices. This is the greed, or major part of the protests. This is not a shift in types of business as we all saw with the advent of computers in which new skills are needed to provide new technology. This is a blatant abandonment of the American worker and our ability to provide for family and their basic needs.

It has also become apparent that corporations need to make sure that they recoup all of their losses and then some before hiring will begin (hopefully). The unbounded growth the U.S. had seen, was/is unsustainable and corporate America needs to come back to reality with their expectations. When growth at any level is deemed not enough or falls below expectations it is the American worker who takes the hit by job loss. Since when is growth a reason to let people go from their job? Why does there continue to be waste and extravagance in perks to the top 1% while there is not enough to pay people to work. This is the greed and entitlement they have been protesting.

P.S. you can't even circumvent this situation by starting your own business as the banks are not lending. What do we all do now?



This is not a political issue. Why is everyone looking at this as a reason to persecute Obama? This man lost his job during the tenure of George Bush neaqrly 5 years ago.

Why are you not looking at the "root" of the problem? What is Jon looking for and what are his expectations? If he is looking for a $300,000 per year job with a six or seven figure bonus, give it up, it's not gonna happen. Capitalism is a two way street, Jon is likely in a position where the market is willing to offer significantly less than what he feels he is worth. Wealthy individuals and coorporations are not going to pay premium wages when they can get the same goods and services for less elsewhere.

I'm sure there are plenty of opportunities for Jon, he is just not willing to accept them because he is holding out for the golden egg.

If you wanna talk politics, this is a problem that has been created over the past 10 years, upper income wages (including capital gains and investment income) are growing exponentially faster than the stagnating middle income. Reinstate a higher capital gains tax and businesses will leave their investments in place where they are building equity in business rather than simply extracting it for immediate gain. This is a fallacy that lower capital gains rates create economic growth, all that it does is provide a pathway for the wealthy to realize income at a lower tax rate than working class Americans.

Steve in Delaware has it exactly right. Why is America suffering now, when it wasn't in the 1960s, even as we labored under the burden of the cold war and paid for the Apollo mission?

The reason is simple - in the 60s, the middle class was wealthy, and the top 1% was limited in wealth by those famous 70 to 90% tax rates. We were a nation of, by, and for the middle class. What changed was the new idea of unlimited wealth begun by Reagan, tied with the idea that money=power is a good thing. We are no longer a free nation. We are the 21st century equivalent of Louis XVI's France - the majority labor in a life of very limited rewards, the top 1% luxuriate in incredible opulence. You are not a free man in America unless you are at the 90th percentile income or better; if not, you have limited work options, no retirement hopes, no power in the workplace, no representation in Washington, and little voice in the media.

I feel sorry for what's happened to this guy, but the govt doesn't guarantee you a job. If you haven't be hired in 5 yrs, guess what? You need retraining. Your former job is now worthless and you have to adjust, not complain to anyone who'll listen that Wall St owes you a living.

My advice to you Jon: Dude... go West... forget the Rotten Apple... pi_ss on Wall Street... go to California to grow medical weed... and best of luck!

@oskar-1391552,

The rich caused this by creating worthless paper and selling it as AAA+ investment instruments and closing 55,000 manufacturing plants. All in the name of profits. Not caring how it would effect people, there only goal is profits to shareholders. To me if that's your only goal "Profits" then you should not be an American. Please leave the United States Of America.

For anyone who is not in the same position as Jon Reiner and give less than a flying Ant should know what goes around comes around. Telling someone who has worked hard for 49 years and played by the rules, to kick rocks is heartless and cruel. America is not that vision of heartless and let the needy die.

If the job creators don't want to create jobs then we should take away there tax breaks period.

The middle class has been in decline since 1978 and President Obama is not at fault period.

He want to work with the other side but they refuse to just so they can gain power again and hammer the middle class some more. Great Plan but now the poor and the middle class is marching.

What say you fool? What say you?

ScientistX, does your explanation include the oBAMas, with Michelle's $10,000,000.00 worth of vacations in the past year? Does your "Louis XVI" recognize Michelle oBAMa as Marie Antoinette? Does it recognize the fraud of listing the two vwery minor children as "senior staff members" in order to validate paying their ways? Does it include needing to bring a hair dresser and a makeup artist with you to Africa?

Everyone thinks they have been ordained to go to college, come out of college and get jobs making $250,000.00 per year or more without having to actually work. They all want the services of the farmer, plumber, sanitation man, factory worker, etc. but of course, theyare all individually too important to be that low life worker. After all, each one of them has been chosen for outheir greatness to be something spectacular.

However, when that fails to occur, when they fail to reach the highest echelons of the business world, then those who did make it are all so bad. Those horrible, successful people need to be removed, even, as Roseanne Barr said, "killed; beheaded." Of course, all the OWS urchins will then clamor to be the ones to replace the bad Wall Street people. I notice Susan Sarandon, Michael Moore and Rosanne Barr have all left the protests with their wallets intact. These are the useful idiots Karl Marx wrote about in his manifesto and oBAMa could not be happier.

Don't get me wrong I'm all for capitalism, but the inclusive kind. You know the one that's says we are on in this together. Not the kind that says F-In You arsehole I did it on my own. No one makes it on there own in America someone had to hand you the piece of paper,that pen, extend you credit, barter with you, provided resources to your cause,sell you that shirt and so one.

So the notion that i got mind and you get yours is a bullshet concept. You got yours with help so help someone else. You know return the favor.

scientis.

"What changed was the new idea of unlimited wealth begun by Reagan"

This is the most ignorant argument I ever heard. Unlimited wheath is nothing new go back to history, read about the big empires . Rome, Napoleon, you are a shame for liberals.

@Fred4Congress,

Laura Bush had 50,000,000.00 of vacations. I didn't hear a peep from you then. So why should i listen to you now. Besides we know who you are - FOX NEWS - Karl Rove tactics -

You are trying to reflect the outrage of greed in American into some twisted ideal that Michelle Obama and President Obama created this middle class and poor erosion. How pathetic and idealistic you are is beyond words.

Politics aside, this fellow's problem is not that he was laid off (three times...at one, I'd hold out hope, at two I'd see that I was not actually valued in my chosen field--there would be no third layoff, because I would already have re-defined), it's that he wants what he wants and refuses to do anything else.

I have a son who will graduate from high school in two and a half years. He will go to college and earn his education in his chosen field. Then he will go look for a job. BUT I've warned him about the realities of today's job market:

It doesn't matter what field you enter, everyone's in the same sinking ship, and there are only so many life jackets, so you'd best know how to float on your own blue jeans.

Older Americans, incapable of retiring because their nest eggs are at risk with the market instability, have helped to hamper upward movement.

Middle-aged Americans are trying to pay for houses and cars in an economy that is inflationary, even if the government won't admit it. With the prices of a majority of stapes increasing, and no room for upward movement, getting ahead is almost impossible.

Young Americans struggle to even get a foot in the door. The generation before my son's is something like 20% unemployable, so it stands to reason that his generation will be even less employable, unless there is a major change between now and the time he is ready to enter the workforce.

So while he goes to school to learn about what he loves with the hope that everything works out, he also must pick up every skill-set he can to set himself apart from the crowd, research and develop every idea he can think up, learn everything with the sort of devotion people like Einstein and Galileo devoted to the betterment of their own minds, learn what it takes to start his own business, pick an idea and be willing to take the risk and run with it, potentially fail, and start again with a new idea, because the fact of the matter is, the only guarantee in life is what you guarantee your self.

There are only a few real choices at the moment:

Be willing and able to go into a service profession like plumbing or doctoring where you will always be necessary even in the worst economies, come up with an idea for a gadget that can be made in China and mass-marketed to the populace for cheap (making you millions--people WILL buy anything), build an app (but not a free one), set yourself absolutely apart from everyone else by building your intellect and skill-sets so that you make yourself necessary in your chosen field. If you're truly smart, you'll do all of the above.

But you certainly won't waste your time and energy protesting because no one is forced to see your mediocrity as greatness.

You're only 49 Mr. Reiner. As a MARKETING EXEC, you should know how to repackage yourself.

Cite your source please on L Bush's $50,000,000.00 vacation figure. Moooooooosechelle's numbers come from the Congressional Budget Office.

This country just sucks at handling our problems, and no, denying it doesn't change it.

You have Douchebag Partiers who basically love the self destruction of the United States. They want to see it destroyed, just so they can try to lay the blame on someone else. Of course, on the other side of the fence, you have the extreme left, who would prefer our country look like Greece, and the government let us all retire at age 55.

Anyone with a brain (in other words, who isn't such a moron that they have to go hate the moderate left or the right, and these days, it isn't a lot of people) is having a hard time overcoming the Douchebaggers and Seal sex lovers. It is what happens when you decide that your personal ideology is more important than even your own success. Because even if you are successful right now, no one is still better off than they would be if we solved our problems.

But don't tell Douchebaggers/Seal Sexers that. Because to them it is clearly more important to punch themselves in the face than fix anything. All while they blame someone else for all their facial bruises.

Solutions

" now the poor and the middle class are marching"

Marching where, to the White House where the problem is, or to the congress where Democrats are holding the job's bill and blame Republicans for not passing. And who is marching, Unions lead by big fat socialist like Trumpka, or revolutionaries like Van Jones all this is an orchestrated movement that will go until election day, lead for Obama supporters to create chaos to win another election, pure and simple. Nothing is going to change in Wall Street because they are in the White House. Joint to the Tea Party they are the real deal.

Other 'players' in the scheme not reported here...(oh ya, sorry that it's Fox News, but somebody has to get out the story).

Danielle Kingsbury, a 21-year-old senior from New Paltz, said she walked out of an American literature class to show support for some of her professors who she said have had their workloads increased because of budget cuts.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/06/dozens-arrested-in-wall-street-protests-as-rallies-spread-across-hudson/#ixzz1a15N8agR

Let's see, umm, walk out of a professors class because you support the professor? Talk about not thinking things through and pretty representative of the total egg-in-your-face failed Obama supporters.

Solutions539

@Fred4Congress,

Laura Bush had 50,000,000.00 of vacations. I didn't hear a peep from you then. So why should i listen to you now. Besides we know who you are - FOX NEWS - Karl Rove tactics -

blah blah blah TWO WARS! (forget Libya) blah blah
blah blah THE
RICH
blah blah blah TEA BAGGERS blah blah blah blah G-DUB blah blah blah RUSH blah blah BECK blah blah blah REAGAN blah blah blah TRICKLE
DOWN blah blah blah WALL STREET blah blah blah blah REPUBLICANS blah
blah MILLLIONAIRES blah blah blah PALIN....on and on ad
nauseum.....

OWN OBAMA - OWN THE PROTESTS HOMEGROWN BY HIS FAILED POLICIES AND SPENDING FAILURES

Big banks and GM and Chrysler got the money. Unions are getting great pensions and healthcare that others don't get. Obama pushed through obamacare, dodd frank, and more EPA restrictions (Cap and Trade were funneled into EPA) so there is no job creation in that environment. Obama demonizes everyone that doesn't agree with him. I don't blame some of the demonstrators for some of it--student loans and mortgages must be repaid, but big banks, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan lose money and still get bonuses...that's my beef. By the way, what big money is bankrolling these demonstrations--Soros? So he can bring down the country and reap the rewards. That's what he did in another country. By the way, Glass Stegall was repealed under Clinton...his administration also mandated banks give home loans to unqualified buyers ushering in the housing bubble.

This guy is everything that is wrong with America.

5 years without working????? Was he in a coma?

Give me a break.

He wants to whine about Wall Street? Because they like profits?

Sounds real convincing from someone who won't even work.

Face it, you are not that good at what you do. Otherwise you would be employed.

So you have to take whatever job you can do.

If that is flipping a burger - someone has to do it. What makes you think a job like that is beneath you?

It's as if entilements and class warfare are the only thing in these people's heads.

The Federal Gov't has never spent more on handouts. 2/3 of Federal Spending is entitlements.

The Federal Gov't has never taken in more revenue. The 5 highest revenue years were in the last 7 years.

And yet these morons think that the reason they won't work is because someone, somewhere has more money than them.

Look at what the middle class has now that they never had in the 1960's or 1980's. They have more cars, bigger houses, eat out more, electronic gadgets aplenty, internet, cable, cell phones, medicines, procedures, devices that if they existed were only affordable for the extreemely rich.

So they want you to focus on how much the top 1% has. Look around you. Then compare to what middleclass people had in the 1960's, 70's, 80's.

The pie has grown. You have more pie.

But yet all the left wants you to focus on is someone else's slice.

More class warfare NONSENSE!

To all the college-aged Marxist-brainwashed people who think that the redistribution of wealth is a good and "fair" idea, I have a proposition for you.

From now on, we'll average the GPA's of every student in America to a single score so that it is "fair" for everyone, and no-one has an advantage over anyone else. After all, some people are just smarter than others...how is that fair? What gives them the right to earn higher grades? Why should some earn a 4.0 while others struggle to make a 2.0?

I've presented this idea to college students who consider themselves socialists, and they immediately resented the idea. But WHY? I asked, isn't that what you believe in for economics? The answer was "well, yes, but I worked hard for the grades I have. It's unfair to take them away from me to give to someone less dedicated". The youngsters didn't have a real-world concept of money because they were still in college, either living on loans they're not paying back yet or living on their parents' dime. Their earnings for their work is their GRADES, which they were NOT willing to have "redistributed".

The saying goes "If you're not a liberal by age 20, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by age 40, you have no brain".

Hey oskar-1391552

God, your an Idiot!

Joe125, I would like you to know I have always felt secure with my job holding a shovel. For decades I boasted that my job is safe and no one wants it but me. I was replaced on a digging job for verizon (i swear to god) by a man who showed up with over 100 guatimalians whom claimed the man had bought them. The illegal mexicans who were doing the same work as me got so upset about the lower wage that they called imagration. I thought that was pretty funny at first, but guess what? No legal means were taken to stop any of it. I have held on through these tough times clinging to the hope things are going to change because we keep hearing about shovel ready jobs and the money thats coming to rebuild the power and road system, but then we hear the money went somewhere else. I love being a ditch digging hard working American. Its always made me feel like a proud man but i can not compete anymore with 25 illegals who share the same room and bills let alone a man with slaves, and I'm the best, most productive, hardest working ditch digger thats ever lived. Pride in hard works been the reason I never really minded working with illeagals because some of them could give me a real run for the money. In competition we came together head to head and became friends over time. I am a typical American with a home and kids., but the good side of no good work has been the time out which has given me time to research history. Never even knew i was interested. I'm learning alot about what freedom really is. What our founding fathers fought for. Our constitution and how it should have protected the man I enjoy being. I guess I just wanted you to know, you can call the guy in your comment lazy and claim he won't pick up a shovel because I can tell you its so bad at the bottom you can't pick up a shovel. not won't.

Actually Oskar has it right, you're the 'useful idiot' for attempting to sweep under the rug the real movers and shakers behind these protests. Unions, radical revolutionaries aka: communists, George Soros, Move On etc. all agenda driven and the agenda is to collapse the system and create a European socialism model. You don't have to dig real deep, its all out there, just look at the supporters, all unions and socialists. If you're a socialist or union indoctrinee, you'll embrace this 'protest' and call it wonderful.

@ Ryan in Texas,

Don't Gulp the Kool-Aid so fast you'll choke on it!!

What part of the story in which he has been looking for a job is not clear. His story is not unusual to millions of people. You may want to ask yourself why 2/3 of federal spending is on entitlements, like Medicare/Social Security, and assistance programs like food stamps? People do not have the $ for the basics. Why don't you discuss the corporate handouts and the bail-outs that have done nothing but line the pockets of the "too big to fail".

Regarding class warfare? That is the talking heads your listening to who want to label it as such. Rhetoric as such diverts attention to the problems that exist, (see earlier post).

Your focus on what people have now:

Look at what the middle class has now that they never had in the 1960's or 1980's. They have more cars, bigger houses, eat out more, electronic gadgets aplenty, internet, cable, cell phones, medicines, procedures, devices that if they existed were only affordable for the extreemely rich.

as compared to the past is farcical.

You sound like those who hated on the Okies of the Great Depression and your math is more than convoluted we have seen a greater disparity between the wealthiest and the middle class. The top 1% spend much of their wealth controlling the message(fraud news), influencing Washington (by owning the Republican'ts), and funding AstroTurf movements like the tea-baggers. This situation was seen before at the turn of the previous century (propaganda like-"the rich make the best judges because they don't steal or lie") and for the writer of the take less philosophy that's spoken like a true conservative afraid of progress we would still be living in colonial England for the likes of you. How we got here with women's rights, job rights, civil rights, voting rights I could go on but we all know that you guys are nothing but fear fear of inclusiveness, fear of progress, fear of standing up to power when power is wrong but who can blame you because that's what your masters sell you everyday just keep watch fraud news and listening to Rush and the gang. Wake up and smell what the Koch Brothers and Richard Mellon-Scaife are cooking for you. Those of you who are also afraid of unions they're not special interest they represent vastly more people than the so-called job creators the last time I look millions is more than thousands, remember money and power don't corrupt.

Thank you, Overlord.

Letusreason's post annoyed me, especially when I saw the number of people who liked it (21 right now). Then I saw your post with 52, so my mind is at ease. Onward to bring light to the unenlightened......

And Joe, where the heck do you live? In my state, there are no jobs with shovels or hammers. Where are you?

Joe125

5 years? Would it kill the guy to pick up a shovel or hammer?

Nice uneducated, flippant comment! He would be competing with thousands of unemployed skilled workers. You think construction is something you just "pick up"? Really? Why don't you give it a try. Go ahead, walk into the office of a construction contractor and tell him you want to "pick up a shovel or hammer" ... then wait for the laughter to die down. God what an absurd comment.

"When they show you who they are...believe them!"

care4mycountry,mychildren,myparents and Imatthebeach,

My apologies. I didn't mean to suggest that there is no problems for people finding work in labor type jobs and wasn't even trying to suggest that this man is lazy (he has obviously been diligent in looking for work). My point was that if you are looking for work in one specific field for such a long time then maybe it is time to look elsewhere even if that means a lower paying job and something some people consider below them.

The United States will spend $51 billion on pets this year.
http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp

136,000 veterans spent at least one night in a homeless shelter in 2009. HUD spent $2.9 billion on homeless assistance programs.
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=62769

What the hell is wrong with us???????????????

Hey, Oskar-1391552, I'm glad ritl-14 was here because I'm trying to keep myself from calling you tea-nuts names when we hear the same old story again and again from you people and he was here to do it for me :) Thanks, ritl-14!!!

Roy Wilson: Why people would think that a 'Community Organizer' with absolutely no 'track record' (other than protesting against business, suing banks to force them to lend to minorities, and making new costly 'regulations' against business) would make a good President is beyond me.

Roy, Obama isn't the president because "people" thought this or that about him. He's the president because rich, powerful people thought he would be a useful tool in that office and of course they were right. Big business, especially Wall Street, knew that despite some past actions and affiliations, Obama was a reliable corporate servant.

Adolf Reed is a black progressive journalist from Obama's home turf, Chicago, so he's been following his political career for a while. Even before he ran for president Reed said of Obama: "He's a vacuous opportunist"

He gave signals of his willingness to screw average people in the interests of fat cats in the years leading up to his run for the White House.

For instance in 2005: "Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which grants immunity from civil liability to telecommunications companies complicit with NSA warrantless wiretapping operations."

Both political parties are primarily funded with by big corporations. Obama received the most money from Goldman Sachs and Wall Street generally in 2008.

This year they've mostly switched back to the Republicans because they are even more dedicated to protecting their interests than the Democrats. (it's like someone said: The Democrats give them 95% of what they want and the Republicans give them 100%)

Those @!$%#s don't give money to someone they even suspect might not be a reliable stooge for them.

TheOverlord "Unfortunately, Mr. Reiner's job was sent overseas so that his company could eek out a few more dollars in profit."

Thanks to Obama's new regulations, making it too costly for businesses to hire workers here. Here is a 'Revelation';

"If you want to discourage something, tax it, and if you want to encourage something, subsidize it".

Obama is 'taxing' business with costly new regulations (Obamacare, drilling moratoriums, proposed new income taxes and 'Cap & Trade', etc.) while he 'subsidizes' welfare and government dependence, all the while piling on massive new debt that our children will have to repay.

Obama's latest 'solution'? More taxes and regulations on businesses. I wonder what the effect on the economy/jobs will be? Duh.

Roy, please explain one thing. You keep saying all of this is Obama's fault. But if you read the story you would see that all of this happened to this guy before Obama became president. If Obama is the cause of all of these jobs going overseas, then why were they going overseas at an alarming rate before he ever became president. Try something new please. You are just repeating the tired old rhetoric.

Ideologues like Roy conveniently forget history. Roy, do you think "off-shoring" started in 2009? Jobs have ALWAYS moved to places where they can be done more cheaply. This is not new.

What IS new, as is explained very clearly by Steven above, is the massive shift of wealth from the many to the very few. It's been said that behind every great fortune lies a crime. I think the sentiment of a large part of the US population is the very few who control so much of our nation's treasure have committed ENORMOUS crimes against the rest of us. Read the recent history of Goldman Sachs or many other of Wall St's "great institutions", and you'll find what amounts to willful, malicious fraud on a HUGE scale.

Most of the commentors here are missing the point of these protests. Many protestors support capitalism, free markets, and the inherent right to make a profit. I know I do. Where I draw the line, however, is the criminal looting of my nest egg, and that of MANY others, by the self-proclaimed "wizards" of Wall St.

Roy wilson: I see the hatred in your words of non wisdom. You and many like you cannot stand to see a Black man rise up agaist alll odds and this Racists and biggots people like you. You and all like you should get a life...Get over the facts you have an African American sitting in the White house... Get use to it because you will have four more years after 2012. Only if the Republican can see the harm they are doing to this country by not working together and creating jobs. let the wealthy pay more in taxes... They earn it thru robbing middle class of their IRa and pensions.. I say let them pay 70% after making 10 million or more. Power to the 99%. It time for the rich to baill us out....ROBBER-BARRONS

Roy Wilson, if you research the effectiveness of subsidies and tax breaks, you will see that corporations do not use that extra money to hire more and invest more, they use it to line their pockets or stow it away in offshore accounts. I suggest you stop making judgements based on your gut feeling and more based on actual data.

These protests don't claim to have a plan to fix this mess, they're making it known that we need a new way of doing things.

Roy Wilson thats just BS. While its true that regulations cause jobs to be sent overseas, because the government requires businesses to pay a minimum wage. That is not the reason that the jobs are sent overseas. They are sent there because of costs. Even when you factor in shipping and distribution of the dongle along with the cost of paying someone and it comes out less, as a business thats beholden to stockholders, you ship the job overseas. What we should be demanding is a way to even out that playing field so that the costs to a business are at least equal across the board. Until it becomes more expensive to produce the item overseas, then the jobs won't come back.

Roy, good for you that your comfortable enough to criticise. This systematic dismantling of the middle class started with Ronald Regan, exacerbated by Clinton's NAFTA and the repeal of Glass-Stegall, which set the course to put Wall Street speculation on steroids. The manufacturing GDP as a percentage of total GDP is now under double digits, at its height it accounted for 20-25% of the nation's GDP in the last 50 years - hence the middle class. Avarice has taken over corporate America and until that fundamentally changes, we're all in for tougher times. SCOTUS has taken away the people's voices and further cemented the bond between corporations and the public sector - which is a recipe for continued disaster and inaction. I fully support the marches on Wall Street!

I'll also note that the protests are aimed at the many money makers in Wall Street as well as corporate heads who have never been prosecuted or investigated for their parts in knowingly crashing the world economy. I don't have the references available to me at the moment, but some light research will make these facts quite apparent.

No all this has not happened before Obama. The debt has gone up 4.5 trillion in 3 years. No one has ever spent that much on subsidising welfare government dependence. The EPA has initiated many new regs on business. This is without votes from congress. Cap and trade, class warfare, higher taxes. Get it. Business is ready to expand but will not in this climate of rhetoric and uncertainty. You Obama lovers are the ones ignoring history. The dems still want to prop up the failed models of Freddie and Fannie. Go figure

Doesn't matter when this guy's problem started. The point is that the measures adopted by this Administration are counterproductive. Obama said he could do the job. We went for the hope and change. Now it's the morning after.

Hi Roy,

Regulations are making it too difficult to hire here? Outsourcing is purely to save money by taking advantage of slave labor wages overseas, no regulations are preventing this from occuring, unless there is a regulation that allows a person in the United States to live on a dollar an hour. Free Trade is impossible if cost of living is unequal worldwide.

By adopting the 'free trade,' or British, system, we place ourselves side by side with the men who have ruined Ireland and India, and are now poisoning and enslaving the Chinese people.
Henry Charles Carey

Wherever or whenever there is free trade there will be slave labor period!! The profits are too great and the profiteers too greedy for it ever to end.

But you are 100% correct insofar as:

"If you want to discourage something, tax it, and if you want to encourage something, subsidize it".

This should be done immediately through tariffing and employment penalties for outsourcing of American jobs, I would go so far as to call it economic treason perpetrated on the United States and it's citizens, and should be treated as such.

Cap and Trade was introduced by George Bush Sr, directly after the Reagan administration, to keep his pledge of being an environmental president. Thus began emissions trading, profit while correcting at the time, acid rain. So the regulations were Republican in nature.

Roy,

Then why do we have a reduced tax rate on capital gains? If we want to encourage investment, and not just profit taking, I mean investment, then we should raise capital gains taxes.

If none of this is OBAM's fault (and I will preface this by saying we have not had a legitimate person in the White House in over 20 years), then why is he opposing Conress' attempts to bring economic honesty to China, which affects our economy? Why is he pushing more (free trade" aggreements instead of shutting the ones in place now?

Perhaps it is time for us to begin teaching trades again and stop duping our children into rushing off to colleges with the hope of graduating and falling into the "top 1%" without having to work or hurt or get their hands dirty. Perhaps it is time for our government and us individuals to realize that we are owed nothing for just being us and that we must live within our means in order to reduce the fiancial pressure so many find themselves under.

If you want to see how to bring real jobs back to America, go to http://www.fredforcongress.webs.com. There are many factors that have led to where we are now and most of them can be reversed, as long as we realize that we are not entitled to the goods we want without actually working for them.

@ROY WILSON-336103,

What new regulation or policy?

If you can't explain President Obama's regulation or policy that effected this mans life. Then you are just lying with out facts to support your twisted mind thinking concepts.

If it wasn't for President Obama there would have been no wall street. The financial system would have collapsed and you know it. Every last bank in the world feeds off Wall Street that is a fact. If Wall Street goes so does, China, Japan, Europe & Germany.

I think all they are asking is the rich pay a fair share of taxes.

Without a middle class there would be two class types rich and poor.

Which one are you in?

@Fred4Congress,

Do you really think its that easy to tell China play fair?

Did you know 95% of the minerals that are used to make any computer, window, toaster, sink and pipe comes from China? In the near future China will keep there resources then what? Very few products would be made period. That includes all products around the world. So if we charge them for there products they will stop the flow of minerals which 100% of the United States current manufactures use. All or 90% would be out of business period.

So it's just not that simple to say stop China and play fair. The need us and we need them regardless how much you hate them and how much they hate us.

Besides you should blame the corporations for letting China make our products. You know that ship jobs over seas bit. All in the name of Profits. Greed is Good - Wall Street.

what about those of us in the lower/middle that have invested small amounts in mutual funds and now, even though it is less, receive capital gains from those. (rolls right back in as additional investment) why increase my tax expense on that? all that does is tell people dont invest, not worth the time and effort as the govt will take it away. How does that help at all?

Not if it's in a retirement account. You'll only pay if/when you withdraw.

Why shouldn't you pay standard income tax on it then anyways? You put the money into the account free of taxes, you compiled interest or earnings free of taxes, now you pull out and pay standard income tax minus any deductions.

Reduced capital gains is only a means for wealthy or controlling interests to be able to realize income as a significantly lower tax rate and/or pull equity out of a company under the same conditions. Why do you think the market stagnates when these changes are implemented??? huh. look at Bush 1 and Bush 2 and Reagan etc. how did the markets do???? That is yours and my retirement accounts?

What about under Clinton??? huh bigggggg difference

What about Obama???? it was at 7,000 when Obama took office

ROY WILSON,

You are not making sense with your comments about Obama. You should stop blaming the President for all of the country's problem. Since the Republicans took over Congress (through the Tea Bags), I felt this country has taken a step backwards so that the Tea Bags can accomplish their ultimate goal of dethroning Obama. It's the current Congress to blame for this mess right now. I don't understand why Obamacare gained so much steam among the Tea Bags in this country. We are required to buy auto insurance in certain states in this country. You cannot drive without auto insurance in most instances too. Why can't we do the same with health insurance? Buying health insurance is just as important as buy auto insurance. If the Tea Bags think forcing people to buy healthcare is unconstitutional, then the stupid laws requiring me to buy auto insurance is unconstitutional too. We should all just live in this country uninsured because we just don't like it. I do blame the President for one issue. He was overly compromising with the Republican Party the past 3 years, and they in turn slap him in the face. One lesson I learned is that you cannot compromise with the Republicans. Why? They don't care about the country. They don't care about minorities. They don't care about the poor. They just care about money. It's always about money, money, money for the Republicans. You know Obama should have just let the big banks fail 3 years ago. It's just the right thing to do. A business that takes massive risk should not be given the opportunity to conduct business in this country again. This will allow new entrepreneurs the opportunity to do business in the country and change the entire business culture by filtering out the bad eggs. Republicans are definitely not saying anything about failure of Wall Street, but they certainly have a lot to say about the failure of individuals when they couldn't find a job in five years.

Here is Occupy Wall Street's message:

We want to see a lot of Corporate Officers in jail.

We want the government to take away licenses of individuals/businesses involved in financial crisis.

We want to see hefty fines imposed on those that were taking in big bonuses either before/after crisis.

We want to see an additional tax imposed on corporations that still conduct layoffs the same quarter that they are showing a corporate profit.

We want justice for the poor.

We want voting authority (on common stock) on all corporations that received bailout money. We will vote out all the bad eggs sitting in the corner office. We will vote out all the bad eggs that does not conduct business the right way.

Why didn't Obama focus like a laser on all your demands? He has had plenty of time to do so, he has had one entire year devoted to creating Obamacare, that happening shortly after getting into office. He hasn't really addressed any of the issues that Occupy Wall Street is demanding. As to justice for the poor? That is remarkably vague. How do you propose justice for the poor? Aren't you aware of the War on Poverty? Wasn't that supposed to provide justice for the poor? Not enough entitlements? Not enough tax refunds for people not paying taxes?

Who determines the 'bad eggs?' Who is 'we?' Are the occupiers of Wall Street economists, financial advisors, brokers? Do they understand business or are we discussing sound bites that sound good but make no sense in the real world? I think I get the gist, however, how and who is to do the implementing? Time to get specific and not make generalities.

Nearly everyone in the US is better off than they were 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 ... years ago.

You only have to look around you.

Look at the middleclass homes of the 1960's. Small homes with one bathroom. The same middle class person today has a house that would have been considered a mansion in the 1960's.

How about cars? Could the middle class in the 1970's afford 3 cars per house? Nope.

If we look at what we have, even "poor" people are very well off here.

I've been abroad, so you can't con me on what the average human has.

So now the leftists want you to focus not on what you have, but what some one else has.

They actually say that you would have more if some one else had less.

The world's economy doesn't work like that.

The pie has been expanded dramatically.

These moron leftists are like people in traffic who think it's a race - they only feel good when they are ahead of some one, or no one is ahead of them.

All the while they forget that it is how long it takes, and not position that matters.

It's the same thing here. They try to tell you that the rich had less money in the 1960's. Guess what - we all did.

But ask the people in Greece what happened when they jacked up taxes on the rich - the businesses left Greece and they put their money elsewhere.

(The protesters in Greece blame the banks just like the ones here).

They should call this "The Protest Against Reality."

Reality isn't contingent on you accepting it.

Ryan in Texas

Nearly everyone in the US is better off than they were 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 ... years ago.

You only have to look around you.

You have just destroyed any shred of credibility you may have had. The decline and lost earning and buying power of the middle class is extremely well documented.

Whoever is paying you to post this garbage isn't getting their money's worth.

Ryan in Texas, Post 2.22

There will always be someone who makes more money and has more stuff than I do. I accept this. I'm OK with it.

But back in the 60s and 70s U.S. corporations didn't go to the extent they do today to maximize profits at the expense of the majority of Americans. They kept the majority of jobs here and enabled the middle class to grow and prosper right along with them.

But things changed. Regan, Clinton, NAFTA, Bush, and a host of other bills and programs and treaties and de-regulatory actions that changed the playing field for corporations, and for middle class America.

In the late 60s my parents bought their home for $15,500. It was a 3 bedroom two story home in a good neighborhood. The rooms were all a decent size. My brother and I were in elementary school. My mom was a stay at home mom. Dad had one job as a middle level manager. They had one car... the eqivalent of a Toyota Camry in size and today-costs. It was one year old. The house did have only one bathroom, but that was offset by a big yard. My brother and I loved the big yard!

The mortgage was for 20 years. The car loan was for 3 years.

Flash forward to today. The average car loan is 6-7 years. Home loans-- 30 years. Households are no longer able to have a middle-class lifestyle on one income, so either mom works or dad has his full-time job and a part-time job.

When I attended a local college in the late 70s (great reputation, especially for the high number of graduates accepted by med schools) it cost $2,500 for the year. That took care of tuition (18 credits per semester), fees, and books. Today that same college is $35,692 a year for tuition, 12-18 credits per semester, and this does not include fees and books. To put it in perspective, the cost of my degree increased by slightly more than 1400%. And remember, that doesn't include fees or books.

Minimum wage in 1977 was $2.65 per hour. Today it is $7.25 per hour-- an increase of 275%.

The middle class is not better off. We are struggling and sinking deeper.

the problem with going in as a teacher is all the cut backs happening with the education system, teaching jobs are vary scarce at the moment.

Don't forget the unions sucking your paycheck dry every week to fund the lifestyle of the Union Bosses and donate millions to the corrupt Democrat party. What is Jimmy Hoffa's total compensation package and what will his pension be? How about that other Communists in the Union Leadership? I have been trying to find Hoffa's and other big mouths union compensation but can't. Sweeny of the AFL-CIO is making $250,000 a year after a $50,000 raise in 2009 at the peak of the Obama devastation. Let's cap union leadership salaries at $100,000 like they want to cap CEO's salaries.

Like eric said. Most school systems are letting teachers go due to cutbacks. No industry or occupation has been safe from unemployment.

Remember when liberals, lesbians, unions and the media crashed Wall Street in 2008, and the government spent $1,500,000,000,000 bailing out banks staffed by illegal aliens?

Many states are cutting back on teachers even substitute school teachers due to government cut backs. I know in my home state of Texas many school districts have hiring freezes and that means even substitute school teachers. The bottom is that we simply aren't creating enough jobs to meet the needs of the people who are unemployed and for the workers entering into the workforce for the first time. The American private sector is making record setting profits and has been for a very long time now, the proof is in the pudding the DOW seven or eight years ago was at 14,000, they are paying record low amounts for income taxes,

And are sitting on 2.5 trillion dollars in liquid cash assests and still they won't hire American workers.

We have consistently continued to spend, engaged in two unfunded wars, while at the same time continuing to reduce federal revenue in the form of tax cuts to "create jobs" that have created nothing but an ever increasing debt and, the republican "path to prosperity" contains MORE TAX CUTS. What does it do to stop the offshoring of jobs? Why did the Republicans vote against ending the benefit enjoyed by corporations that rewards them for offshoring? Why do they insist on keeping subsidies for oil companies in spite or record profits? Corporations are reporting record profits and still they won't hire. They won't hire for one simple reason....cheap labor. Cheap labor allows them to reward themselves even more handsomely. And despite the BS the right wing Republicans continues to spout about lowering the cost of doing business in the U.S., cheap labor and cheap labor alone is the reason these companies take jobs out of America. And also despite what he and other "conservatives" say, Americans cannot compete with third-world wages, not if we want a middle class. But maybe that's the Republican dream come true....a country with the very wealthy and the poor, no in-between. Something like America in the Gilded Age before workers managed to gain any rights at all. Trickle down economics do not work. It's been proven over and over but, still that's the "answer" put forward by Republicans along with tax cuts for the "job creators" that have created jobs only in third-world countries.

Why don't you people ask Paul Ryan and John Boehner one question? Ask them why they propose only spending cuts that affect middle-class Americans? Ask them why, if we are in such dire financial straits, we can afford MORE tax cuts for the upper 5%. Ask them why it's not reasonable to include tax increases? Ask them why they would rather see this country collapse than work with the President on anything.

I have a college degree and have been subbing at the local high school in my area. I make $50 a day at the school and work with disabled people in a group home 40-50 hours a week. The 2 schedules seem to mesh well and I even get a day off once in a while. I'm not gonna get wealthy doing these jobs, but I do like the work (if you call it that). Point is, there are jobs out there but a job seeker may have to relocate. My spouse and I rarely go out to dinner/movies; I'm pretty wiped out when I come home and usually sleep. I wonder how anyone can afford to live in NYC; I understand the rents are high and property taxes are out of sight.

I support the protesters in the Wall area and sympathize with Jon. But Jon, someone suggested in a previous post that there are jobs in Alabama. If you can afford to to travel, go to Alabama and look around. You might be in for some cultural shock but Alabama is a pretty cool place. Way different from NYC. I may be a little biased.

Alot of us have to adjust our lifestyles somewhat due to reduced or loss of income. This comment may sound trite, but I saw a photo of a sharecropper WALKING on a dirt road from Idabel, OK to another town in Oklahoma. He had his family with him and everything they owned was towed in a small cart. This sharecropper lost his house and property due to foreclosure (I don't think that they actually own the land) This photo was taken during the Great Depression and printed in the Oklahoma History textbook I was looking at while subbing. This photo sort of put things in perspective for me. Apparently, there was alot of mass migration during the Depression. And also, there was a "lost generation" of kids who rode the rails around the country looking for work.

Enough of the history lecture (I enjoy subbing at some of these classes and might work towards a teaching credential).

I've heard about the foreclosures and tent cities in Calif and Nevada and there is cause for alarm. Anyway, good luck Jon, and don't give up.

@soupy55,

SOOOOOoooo you blame the unions now? The teachers, firefighter and policmen for our economic down turn? That is bullshet at best and you know it. The Unions have been in the same decline as the middle class. SOOOOoooo now you blame the middle class for wall street greed, Rich people pay lobbyist to incorporate tax loop holes. You should fight for a lobbyist law. You should fight for the rich to pay there fair share. As a matter of fact never mind, just leave the United States if you have racist views toward anyone not of white.

They should create a special disability for folks who are clue-less despite believing that they are intelligent. Maybe call it 'delusional self-image syndrome'? It's not about politics. It's about growing up. When I was 20-something, I practically fell into great jobs that were fun, paid me more than I was worth, gave me a lot of freedom, and where I didn't have to work very hard -- but, wait! A mirror. Shee-oot! I'm old(er)! I have to earn my pay now, and if I were still looking for those jobs that I got when I was 20-something, I'd probably be hanging around with a bunch of other failures (NOT victims of whatever the hell happened 5 years ago!) whining about how the world has changed and waiting for the 1980's to come back so I don't have to ever buy new clothes again, etc.

I broke my leg, and had a peiod of over 5 years of surgury, rest and more rest, and more surgury -- and when my leg was finally back to being usable, I found that telling folks I'd been out of work due to trauma just didn't get them on my side... I didn't lie because I don't believe in it but I did stay away from the topic of why I was out of work so long. I even led empoyers to believe that I had been a temporary worker far longer than the year+ that I was, near the end of my jobless period, and that turned the trick. They didn't like hearing that my leg was almost cut off, and that I had so much medical attention -- it scared them and they put my resume in the 'forget about it!' stack.

It's not that this Weiner guy isn't qualified, it's that he's an ass toundingly stupid person who wants his cushy easy over-paid job working for con-men and other types of corporate criminals, I mean stock-brokers, and obviously he isn't interested in being a man to his wife and kids. If I were going back to the same dry well, over and over, you'd call me names, too. Mostly you'd call me thirsty, and destined (by my OWN actions or lack thereof) to remain that way.

However, who will fill those jobs when everyone is going to college to be the masters instead of the workers? It may be time for people to think about actually working for a living. Even if those jobs come back, these are the same people who oppose removing illegal aliens from our country, so they still will not find work.

Gee Fred, I can't think of a more un-American statement than what you just said and it goes completely against what I'm hearing Republicans say about these out of work people.

Herman Caine recently said "If You Don't Have A Job And You're Not Rich, Blame Yourself".

A person does everything they are expected to do in order to achieve the "American Dream" by going to college and working their butt off only to be laid off because there is no longer any safe industry to work in and you say "It may be time for people to think about actually working for a living."?

What work do you speak of? Selling himself/herself into indentured servitude? There are millions of people competing for every available minimum wage job these days. Many of them are educated people who, like Jon Reiner of this story, would most likely not even be able to get those jobs because even though he isn't employable in the field he was trained in, he would be considered over qualified; a risk to hire because he would quit the moment he can find anything better.

Fred, you are just as disconnected from reality as the talking heads in your Republican party whom you only parrot the approved talking points for each day. You have no real understanding of what's going on or why it's happening and how you are helping, against your own best interest, to destroy what has always made our country great.

The United States is quickly becoming the land of NO opportunity.

I agree with this... It is a ponzi scheme. Stocks don't know their own value.

There used to be a notion of reasonable PE range. Since Earnings are falsified, or PEs are ignored altogether, the common investor has little to go on.

Mike, the real financial world is the world of the Big Board, and buying pieces of "Worthless" paper is a big part of it. The world you envision is a fantasy world.

200% import tax on all imports from slave labor country's

where in the hell do you think many retirement pensions are made? you are a cartoon character. Just how do you think this will help anything at all? Stocks are not worthless. They are ownership in a company. Most pay dividends and provide equity for later years. The best part is they are the property of the owner alone. No government to strip it away. Well if Obama had his way all private ownership would be stripped away.

where in the hell do you think many retirement pensions are made?

I hate the fact that I have to use the stock market for my retirement pension investments - I don't understand it well enough. My parents put money in a simple savings account @ 5% compounded interest - until the lines between investment houses and banks became moot...they retired quite comfortably. And that was a mere 40 years ago.

Simple bank accounts are paying .03%. where are you living? die and go to heaven or something? Money markets aren't making anything close to 5% and haven't since the 80's

Annuities are still an option.

John-429485

Money markets aren't making anything close to 5% and haven't since the 80's

Does that tell you anything about WHY the middle class can't save and get ahead?

What that tells me is that interest rates are low across the board. Banks are making loans at 3.5% and taking a risk. That is why a simple account is paying so low. I was commenting on jrae's post above and that they are mistaken about a 5% return. A simple account with no risk has never paid off like that. I save. I am middle class. You need a financial class or something. This is now the gimee generation... How noble. Lets just get ride of wealthy people and see if your situation improves.

Will you hire someone with a shaky medical record? How about if their credit score is below 800? How about if they are black, gay, Wiccan, or Muslim?

Indigo, I'll hire Black, White, Wiccan or Muslim, if, all indications are good that the person will be able to do the job. Shaky medical record? No. I want a employee that will be there, not home sick. Welcome to the real world guy.

That's the crap I get. The major employers all want a HIPPA release. My medical record sucks, but I've missed six (6) days of work in eighteen (18) years. Do I come to work not feeling well? Yes. But I do come to work and I do my job. In my last performance review, I scored 20 out of a possible 21. But I basicaly get told "f--- you" by employers.

That is part of the problem, Indigo. If he owns the business, he has the right to not hire Black, White, gay, straight, Wiccan, Muslim, Christian, albino or anyone else. Nobody owes you a job. Nobody has to accept you for who or what you are. People who own businesses, big or small, should not be forced to hire against their own preferences or principles.

Try telling a homosexual business owner he has to hire straights. Try telling a Black person who owns his own construction company and gets special preference for government contracts that he must hire more Whites. Try telling an atheist he must respect the rights and opinions of his Christian employee. If you tell me there are no biases in those business circumstances, you are either uninformed or you are lying.

My wife's business needs much insurance. Among the factors influencing the cost of the insurance is the age of the employee, the drug history and the criminal and driving records of the employee. So, should my wife hire a 25 year old with a DUI and a year in prison for drug possession when it affects her costs? Should she hire someone full of tatoos and piercings if she finds it offensive and it affects her clientele? I dare say, "No".

Fred: Actually, you'll find that it *IS* illegal to not hire based on race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. Nowadays, the Corporations have just gotten more clever about it. For example, they can't directly age-discriminate, but they can discriminate on health problems that young people don't have. They can choose to not hire that Muslim if he missed one credit card payment three years ago. They can choose to not hire the black man if he had a speeding ticket in 2007.

It's just disgusting.

Sure let them shut down wall st. and all the banks and the corporations The we can count on one hand the jobs left in this country. We always wanted to be a 3rd world country did't we?

Um... They're protesting because it's been Wall Street that has been OUTSOURCING for the past 20 years. They Wall Street crowd are not creating jobs, nor are they interested in doing so.

HN, so, he's working hard for a chance to work? How, by working hard to overturn the economic system? No company is going to hire anyone with a record of destroying. That's like hiring a fox to guard the chicken coop. I was in much the same situation as he was, looking for a job and I had a wife and two kids. I wasn't experienced, so I was told. I offered to work for $2 an hour just to have a chance. I learned the set-up and operation of mills and lathes and in a few months I was making almost $7 an hour. Not bad back in the 1970's. I learned one thing, make myself valuable to an employer. Funny thing, I told what I had done to some fellow workers and they had the opinion that; "A American shouldn't have to do that." Well, anyway, I did ok in later years and now I'm retired. I'm 70 and now and then I get calls from shops offering me a job. I asked one Personnel Director why he didn't hire someone who wanted to learn, and give him a chance? Lol, because they want $20 to start and can't do a damn thing.

what most of these people want is for the government to confiscate wealth and give it to unproductive malingerers. So we can all be equally miserable

Mellow - you epitomize what the old school American was. The punks today couldn't hold a candle to you. YOU are what made America great and these losers are there for the handouts that the Demoncrats enslave them with. Thanks for reminding me what made America great and why we are now in decline.

Whether or not you think he's trying hard enough or in the right way, the
fact remains that our democracy has been put up for sale and if it weren't for
that, there would be far fewer people struggling to make ends meet. Let's get
things right, then instead of struggling to keep our heads above water, we can
put that effort into soaring to yet unknown heights.

If he was at all worth anything, he would have already come up with some way to employ himself. He said he was in "MARKETING" after all.

If you can't find money after a career in marketing, well you probably shouldn't be hired.

The so called 'jobs bill" will not help your employment woes. You have to get educated with a skill that makes you marketable. These people protesting wall street can't get a job because there is no job position for a liberal arts major or dog cat, mouse or whatever psychiatry. I am 50yrs old, I have never been out of work for more than a week or so....I have a family to support.....I do not complain...I go out there and get a job..every time...I know if I lost my job today I will have another one tomorrow. I have a marketable skill in sales....I can learn to sell any product....Government has never created anything but government jobs....Set the private sector free by 1st repealing Obama care, then the Dodd Frank catastrophe. This is the starting point for job creation period.

@scott-2329078

Why don't you sell yourself a clue. Since you have not been unemployed, as alot of americans are now finding themselves, how would you begin to understand what it is like out there. You may be able to sell any product, but your not selling your message to me. It is not the National Health Care that is causing this mess, it is the lack of opportunity and the lack of corporate america to take a chance on the economy. As far as the Dodd-Frank Act, if Wall Street, Corporations, and Banks had been ethical in their respective businesses it would not have had to be enacted. They brought it upon themselves. Now we have to wait to see who blinks first.

If people would choose to do business with ethical companies rather than unethical ones the Dodd Frank act would be completely moot.

My bad. I noticed he was a marketing executive after I read it again. My point is still the same basically. What are we supposed to feel about a guy who epitomized Wall Street for so long? Why not change careers? Why not come in at a lower level? Why not go into business for himself? Even I advertise on Craigslist every once in a bit and pick up gigs on the side when I can. Few people are so well off he or she can't pull a second job on occasion. I don't know. I just think I have met far more who are legitimately more worthy of my sympathy and everyone else's.

Maybe you should read it again. Yes, for the 3rd time.

Career changes may be a good idea but it's certainly not for everyone and how on earth did you know that he hadn't tried that? He's published a book this past September so he's obviously trying something different, apart from sending out thousands of resumes. It's common for reporters to paraphrase or to ignore details like that. Don't assume anything. And same goes for your other arguments.

He certainly is not entitled to your sympathy. But I don't think it's sympathy he's looking for in you or other readers either. Feel free to sympathize with others at your sole discretion.

I think it's ignorant to assume people like this guy won't try anything to get a paycheck. When you have a family and a home to pay for, you'll work for anyone who'll hire you. My husband was laid off from his Wall Street job nearly two years ago and now can't even get a job in a lumberyard. His experience was on Wall Street! He would love to change careers and do something totally different but there are so many other candidates looking for work who have experience doing every kind of job. No employer is going to take a chance on somebody with no experience in this economy. Heck, my hubby has 10 years experience doing his Wall Street job and he can't find work there, either. Just too much competition!

I agree with Mad white Hatter... why the hell is he living on the upper west side if he is unemployed? I know a teachers salary will not pay for the rent ! Try moving to say , I dunno, brooklyn? All the yuppies are moving to brooklyn and paying half of what they would in the city.... And working a side job would not hurt as well... But i do sympathize and hope he gets back on his feet, god speed .

madwhitehatter,

I'll pack up my family and head out Californy way. See you at the tent city.

@madwhitehatter - I read the article again and no where does it say what this man's company is. It does not say he worked on Wall street...it says Wall St. analysts decided his company (no name) was not profitable. And just where did you see his wife's name??? I don't see it anywhere. Also, perhaps you don't have children. Please realize that when you have kids, it makes moving to another place - espcially another city or state - more difficult. Not everyone can just "pick up and go." Maybe if you actually learned how people live out here in the real world, your comments would make more sense.

Sell his apartment? More than likely, if he owns it, it's under water. Open his own business? His family is now struggling and in debt. How do you propose he "open a business" under those circumstances? Get a loan? Not likely, since his credit rating has probably tanked with the rest of his life. Get retrained so he can send out another 2000 resumes in his new field? Puhleeze!

May God strike dead the next poster that says the unemployed are just lazy and are looking for a hand out. People, it's a mess out there. There is simply not enough work available to employ the 14 million people (very low estimate) that need a job. Stop blaming the victims of this nightmare.

OWS - you bet!!!

Let's forget that banks don't lend startup capital anymore. They're in the home foreclosure business these days, not in the loans business.

That's because people are now in the "Gimmee" business instead of the work for what you want business.

Well said. You spoke - or in this case, posted - like a true dictator.

Settle down Josh. 700 arrested but only a few dozen paid useful idiots? Maybe the press will fins a solution.

Josh: Unchecked capitalism isn't working. It's time to try something else. 1% of the country controls 43% of the wealth. And most of that 1% didn't earn it, they inherited it. I'd be a billionaire too if my dad was a billionaire and sent me to an Ivy League school. But I started working at age 14 because I had to. That means my grades weren't very good since I was working in the evening. I worked my way through college too (to the detriment of my grades). I have a decent job in the court system but I work my ass off. I will never be a millionaire and certainly not a billionaire.

I guess I didn't work hard enough at choosing my parents before I was born.

you're the damn loser for this idiotic post. Maybe Rob can get your damn job. This man has a family to provide for and is trying, all you're doing rattling some BS abt. a man you obviously don't know!!! People like you make me sick. People like you should be the unemployed, you arrogant azzhole!!!!

I agree. Stop crying and keep looking. You are a loser if you are down there with the filth that call themselves Americans. THEY ARE ALL LOSERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Josh,

What government agency do you work for?

Thanks Renee...you were more controlled than I would be if I unleashed on that Josh moron! The government provocateurs are out in force on this post!

Unchecked capitalism has never worked except for the rich. Big fish eat little fish. We had it and we ended up with more misery than you can imagine (read Upton Sinclair or Lincoln Steffins if you want to know what it was like). What is needed is a capitalism with the proper cjhhecks and balances, which is something we almost have and were closer to the ideal in the fifties and sixties when the rich were paying their fair share (and by the way we had a thriving and growing economy). Now we have lies like "job killing taxes" and "job killing healthcare" when the real effect is exactly the opposite.

There is NO EVIDENCE that cutting taxes increases employment. But let them tell you that over and over again, and eventually many of you will believe it.

What a dick!!!!!!!!

yadda - Unfettered capitalism gives you John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Cornelius Vanderbilt. Huge monopolies, no protection for the worker or the consumer, pollution, and an American royal class. Any of that sound good to you?

Lenders were "forced" to make bad loans? That's a stretch. I agree there was a mandate to make credit available to a segment of society (not all of whom were bad credit risks, btw) who had not had much access to it before. But NO ONE "made" Countrywide loan 110% of a home's value to people who clearly could not afford it. NO ONE "made" banks bundle up loads of crap mortgages and sell them off on the open market. NO ONE "made" AIG insure the banks and brokerages against all this junk they were dumping on the market. All of these things, and many others, happened because of GREED, nothing more.

Ferro, above, states it pretty clearly. Regulated capitalism, with a fair chance for small- and mid-sized business, and safeguards against market manipulation and massive fraud, IS a system which produces distributed wealth and a rising economic tide.

BUt there IS evidence that cutting taxes on the wealthy does NOT produce jobs. See the reagan/bush/bush taxcuts! The simple facts is the wealthy are NOT paying their fair share. Their tax burden has steadily been shifted to the middle classes since 1981.Ppres. Obama has already created more jobs than bush did in 8 years. Bush's job creation record is worse than Hoovers. Just go back the past 30 years and look at what the Republican has done TO America! Then ask yourself: WHy would ANYONE want to vote them BACK into power?? Havent you been kicked in the head enough??

Like I said, may God strike you dead. You are one scary dude.

Hmmm... sounds like someone had an overdose of Rush Crispies for breakfast. We certainly do have lots of problems in this country but I think we need MORE people marching and protesting than FEWER. I see Tea Partiers lining the street all the time with their folding chairs and Johnny Mathis CD's... more power to 'em. Same goes for these folks. More people getting off their azzes and taking it to the streets. I don't always agree with what they're spouting off about but I didn't spend 6 years in the Marines and 2 in Vietnam so someone can shut 'em up. God Bless any American who believes in whatever it is they believe in enough to go beyond the blog and stand up. It happens to be the single thing that made this country a country in the first place - which is why we call it --- The First Ammendment.

Yeah really-I don't care for drum circles and am uncomfortable in crowds (28 kids in a classroom is crowded enough for me); but these people have a right to march and express their views. And I happen to agree with most of them.

It's not 1965 anymore; wait until the austerity measures come. The US economy is bankrupt, people.

Bullsh!t. I work for Pretrial Services and the job is 80% the same as that of a probation agent. When I applied for the Dept of Parole and Probation, I got sneered at by a 25-year-old punk who implied that I was "old", gave me lip about my medical record (despite missing a whopping 6 days of work in the past 18 years), and said I was a bad security risk because I missed two car payments in 2006 (I currently have a 710 credit score). Seriously.

In the modern job market, employers will only accept people who are under 30, have an 800 credit score, already know 100% how to do the job, are already employed, and have 100% perfect health.

I'm grateful that I still have the job I do have. It's readily apparent that it's the only one I'm ever going to have.

April I agree with you ! Its may be a little tough to find a job , but if you have skills that are in demand, it most certainly will help you find a job alot quicker! Im consistantly upgrading my skills and learning new objectives that will make me more attractive to potential employers!

Actually, I have upgraded my skills. I know how to use several more criminal justice software applications than I did when I was first hired. I've also proven that I can carry a double caseload for an extended period of time. But potential employers get hung up on my medical record (despite outstanding performance reviews and not actually missing work).

very nicely said renee.

Interesting these protesters aren't occupying Washington instead of Wall Street??????

there are some there but soros isnt running that operation

so no news coverage

soros is trying to sell u that capitalism is bad on this one.which is not true.when the government gets there hands on the rules and regulations and plays favorites ,is when things break down.ask gibson guitars on this one.or obama health care waviers for mc donald or ge coil power plant waviers

The last time we occupied washington, 9.5 million showed up, but Bush went ahead with his war anyway. Government is stubborn.

This time we're going for the throat, washington's money supply, Wall Street.

Rick--very well said! Maybe we can shrink Congress' special interest lobby money enough to "drown it in a bathtub!" I am excited to see that people are waking up to who is really to blame for this criminal mess! This uberwealthy/Wall Street attitude that they should just let the "small people" eat cake will have consequences! After all, that attitude worked well for Marie Antoinette and the French royal family!

"We have met the enemy and he is us!" Pogo by Walt Kelly

Rich moguls controlling everything and destroying the middle class is Socialism?