Tis an interesting time and a painful time for many americans.
My son who at one point very much wanted to be a writer graduated from college a few years ago with a degree in English. In this awful economy jobs were incrediably scarce. Coupled with a major (English) that was virtually worthless in the "real" world it took him over a year to find anything that was remotely tied to his major and his primary love (books, including all the classics). Finally, he found a part-time job at a Border's. He discovered the realities of the real world. Little pay ($8.50 per hour), and management under intense pressure to cut costs wherever they could. And just more importantly a public who didn't want to pay retail for anything. He said every day people came in and said, they could find this book cheaper at Walmart or Amazon.com. Some would still buy, others would walk out the door believing that Border's was trying to rip them off.
What he also discovered that the never ending desire to cut costs by management meant that employee's were constantly rotating. Not because they couldn't do their jobs, but because after x amount of months, employee's (even PT employee's) were allowed to purchase very reasonably priced health insurance subsidized by Borders. So once you put in your 6 months to get vested enough to purchase discounted health insurance, you were on the list for replacement. How you performed your job became secondary, as you were clearly now in managements sights for replacement as a cost cutting move. 30 days before he was laid off, he was approached by management and asked to take a pay cut. He wasn't the only one asked, many employee's who were now eligible for subsidized health insurance were also asked. He declined, as he was already driving 50 miles per day in No. Va. rush hour traffic for that $8.50 per hour job and frankly there was a pride issue involved.
His Black Friday (along with many other employee's who refused to take that pay cut) was two weeks ago. So now there's another disillusioned unemployed young man out there wondering what's next for him.
In short, everything is tied to this economy now. I'm not sure whether death by internet is indeed the primary culprit or just the plain fact that folks are hurting and books on hunting and fishing and by extension other niche area's don't sell.
What's I'll also say is this country appears to be headed down the wrong path. The only thing that should matter right now is jobs pure and simple. Unemployment is killing this country right now. I've got relatives scattered throughout this nation who can't find work, any work. They have families and kids and they are sitting at home waiting for the unemployment check to arrive and trying not to be depressed and hoping they can hang on a bit longer and dreaming about a brighter tomorrow. I've also got three kids I put through college and all are living at home. Only one has a job. So I'm somewhat jaded when I hear education is a primary focus of the current administration. No point in being educated when you walk out any institute of higher learning into the current abyss.
Ok. Off the soapbox and where's my Prozac?
