During the past three weeks, I have gone through 511 job searches, and glanced at many more. As I said years ago, this recession is different. Lost jobs never return. Let me relate a few more of my observations concerning this. If worst comes to worst, I can always go back to being a payroll administrator, an occupation in great demand for a computer expert (pssst, that's me). The fact that I am not working at this moment has nothing to do with my abilities. Some people have a hard time understanding that.Author's note 2015-04-09: These were on-line job searches, as I was at the end of my finances. I did not know I was also rapidly approached the end of my working career. Try to place my hopes for a job into perspective during this phase. I happen to like work.
Thus, these comments concern the economy, not my personal situation. Those over 40 who lose a job these days are toast, particularly the so-called “middle management”. Not that we ever had a use for that crowd, but after analyzing the available jobs, it is a grim scenario.
I am nearing the end of my “practice retirement”, and let me tell you how sincerely glad I am that I can teach, call bingo, and play music. Nobody in the rest of the world ever helped me learn those things, so they can keep their phony Associate Degrees and hierarchy charts and cover letters. For them, the worst is yet to come. Let them try to find a new job if they ever lose the phony one they've got.
Let me make another prediction. The next hurricane that flattens this area will destroy its financial viability as well. Broward, and in particular, Ft. Lauderdale, is totally dependent on artificial wealth. There is not a single factory, farm, or financial headquarters in the entire county. All money comes from outside, and calling tourism an industry is like calling the phone company a service. The largest source of dollars is probably old people’s pensions. Ergo, there will be no cause to rebuild anything after one more disaster.
Author's note 2015-04-09: in the end, nothing was put to the test. By sheer incredible luck, no hurricanes struck this area for an entire ten years. Not even any bad storms, for that matter. And by 2015, the government had resorted to printing money as the preferred method of pretending everything was fine. And it is, provided you don't mind spending $5 on a loaf of real bread.
