OT:Law Firm Associates Getting SLAUGHTERED…

[Borat]

Wow. You’re so right, Borat. What am I thinking? Hey, exactly which ACTUAL INDUSTRIES are still hiring those who produce things of value? Why don’t you post a sampling of machine shops or plumbing businesses in your local classifieds that are hiring right now.
Yeah, I’ll give you a few months or years to come up with that list.
When anyone loses a job in this depression — be it a lawyer, an equity trader, a teacher or a maid — it’s bad for everyone. Including you. But you probably won’t understand that until you lose your job.
And by the way, that’s a brilliant idea: send all the unemployed lawyers to mortuary school. They’re losing their homes – which means MORE foreclosures – and student loan funding is drying up. Just keep coming up with these gems, Borat. Maybe there’s a job for you on Obama’s economic team of clowns.

Wow there is some rich stuff here. I just did a google for “san diego machine shop jobs” and all kinds of listings came up. At least I am suggesting something positive — we have more than 20 times per capita lawyers than Japan (see my earlier post, with a reference to that stat from law.com) so all I am saying is that some of them need to be retrained. We don’t need so damn many of them. I would like to see Alberto Gonzalez retrained as a roto-rooter technician, for example. What are you suggesting? That we magically find some way to keep all of our lawyers employed? Or that we pee our pants and run down the street because “economic armageddon” is coming? Puh-leeze.

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

Good luck to you man, I hope we don’t have any armageddon either but sometimes it seems like that’s what you’re hoping for! I have more faith in people I guess to do what’s right and move on to something else when they need to.

[partypup]

[quote=Borat]Wow. You’re so right, Borat. What am I thinking? Hey, exactly which ACTUAL INDUSTRIES are still hiring those who produce things of value? Why don’t you post a sampling of machine shops or plumbing businesses in your local classifieds that are hiring right now.
Yeah, I’ll give you a few months or years to come up with that list.
When anyone loses a job in this depression — be it a lawyer, an equity trader, a teacher or a maid — it’s bad for everyone. Including you. But you probably won’t understand that until you lose your job.
And by the way, that’s a brilliant idea: send all the unemployed lawyers to mortuary school. They’re losing their homes – which means MORE foreclosures – and student loan funding is drying up. Just keep coming up with these gems, Borat. Maybe there’s a job for you on Obama’s economic team of clowns.

Wow there is some rich stuff here. I just did a google for “san diego machine shop jobs” and all kinds of listings came up. At least I am suggesting something positive — we have more than 20 times per capita lawyers than Japan (see my earlier post, with a reference to that stat from law.com) so all I am saying is that some of them need to be retrained. We don’t need so damn many of them. I would like to see Alberto Gonzalez retrained as a roto-rooter technician, for example. What are you suggesting? That we magically find some way to keep all of our lawyers employed? Or that we pee our pants and run down the street because “economic armageddon” is coming? Puh-leeze.

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

Good luck to you man, I hope we don’t have any armageddon either but sometimes it seems like that’s what you’re hoping for! I have more faith in people I guess to do what’s right and move on to something else when they need to.[/quote]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

I knew a tipping point had occurred in January when a friend of mine in Santa Maria applied for a part time job as a cashier at a Trader Joe’s in Santa Maria ($8/hour), and 1000 people showed up.

And where in my post did I suggest that all lawyers must continue to be employed as lawyers? My only observation was that the fallout from this kind of lay off was going to be big. This unwinding started at the lower ranks and is gaining momentum as it moves up the food chain. Do I have more empathy for a lawyer who loses their job than a cashier? No. But you seem to think I do. So let me go on the record and make it perfectly clear that I am equally empathetic for anyone who loses their job.

And I notice that you focused on lawyers while neglecting to mention the 250 support staff also got the axe (yes, that means paralegals, secretaries, word processors and all sorts of other people who I imagine you might think are more deserving of employment and more valuable to society). They’re hitting the street along with the lawyers, and that’s a tragedy.

Re-training will obviously have to happen, Borat. I never said otherwise. I simply posted an article and remarked about the fallout. I wasn’t giving career advice; I wasn’t arguing for the urgent passage of the Legal Services Full Employment Act 😉

Obviously this economy can’t continue to support the plethora of miscellaneous and over-priced professional services from legal, to accounting, to consulting to marketing and business development that have sprung up over the last 50 years. But millions and millions of people have gotten on the treadmill, gone to school, trained for these jobs and done the right thing – only to find the rug yanked from under their feet. And I might add, many lawyers have a level of student debt that would make your head spin. They accumulated this debt because they were always told that jobs would be plentiful. A colleague of mine in his 30s has a wife who is also a lawyer: together they have 5K a month in student loan debt. Were they naive? Unquestionably. But then again, the entire country was naive in expecting that a government saddled with gargantuan debt could continue to chug along for eternity.

Can my 30-something colleague be re-trained if he loses his job and still have a viable life? Probably. But his loans aren’t going anywhere, and they are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, unlike credit cards and mortgage debt. So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut. And I might add, there is a distinct bias in this country against older workers (40s+). And a good number of lawyers fall into this category. Good luck to the millions of them hoping to get re-trained for a job that will allow them to compete with younger workers.

What you mistake for whining is an actual concern about human beings, at any level, who have bought into an American Dream that has rudely ended. I have always expected it to end, but I am not the average American. I am a lawyer who has prepared, so I am lucky.

And no, I am not hoping for economic Armageddon. But I am a consummate realist. I have faith in people, but I have little faith in their ability to continue to survive in an economic system that has imploded in their faces. I think we all need to be perfectly honest about a harsh reality that is quickly approaching: many of the people around us and around the world will simply disappear – either emotionally or physically. They simply aren’t going to survive what is coming.

It’s all well and good that you see the silver lining of job retraining in this devastation. But there are only so many rungs on the ladder, and there are way too many people to fit on them. The math is simple, dude: too many people, not enough jobs of any sort – period. It’s going to get ugly and it’s going to stay ugly for a LOOOOOONG time. Obama spoke of the lost decade in a recent speech. But what we are really talking about are lost DECADES. So I think your optimism is misplaced. That’s just my opinion.

Good luck to you, Borat. I’m glad that you have landed on your feet, and I hope your money and your upbeat attitude hold up 🙂 I suspect both are going to be seriously challenged in the coming months.

[partypup]

[quote=Borat]Wow. You’re so right, Borat. What am I thinking? Hey, exactly which ACTUAL INDUSTRIES are still hiring those who produce things of value? Why don’t you post a sampling of machine shops or plumbing businesses in your local classifieds that are hiring right now.
Yeah, I’ll give you a few months or years to come up with that list.
When anyone loses a job in this depression — be it a lawyer, an equity trader, a teacher or a maid — it’s bad for everyone. Including you. But you probably won’t understand that until you lose your job.
And by the way, that’s a brilliant idea: send all the unemployed lawyers to mortuary school. They’re losing their homes – which means MORE foreclosures – and student loan funding is drying up. Just keep coming up with these gems, Borat. Maybe there’s a job for you on Obama’s economic team of clowns.

Wow there is some rich stuff here. I just did a google for “san diego machine shop jobs” and all kinds of listings came up. At least I am suggesting something positive — we have more than 20 times per capita lawyers than Japan (see my earlier post, with a reference to that stat from law.com) so all I am saying is that some of them need to be retrained. We don’t need so damn many of them. I would like to see Alberto Gonzalez retrained as a roto-rooter technician, for example. What are you suggesting? That we magically find some way to keep all of our lawyers employed? Or that we pee our pants and run down the street because “economic armageddon” is coming? Puh-leeze.

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

Good luck to you man, I hope we don’t have any armageddon either but sometimes it seems like that’s what you’re hoping for! I have more faith in people I guess to do what’s right and move on to something else when they need to.[/quote]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

I knew a tipping point had occurred in January when a friend of mine in Santa Maria applied for a part time job as a cashier at a Trader Joe’s in Santa Maria ($8/hour), and 1000 people showed up.

And where in my post did I suggest that all lawyers must continue to be employed as lawyers? My only observation was that the fallout from this kind of lay off was going to be big. This unwinding started at the lower ranks and is gaining momentum as it moves up the food chain. Do I have more empathy for a lawyer who loses their job than a cashier? No. But you seem to think I do. So let me go on the record and make it perfectly clear that I am equally empathetic for anyone who loses their job.

And I notice that you focused on lawyers while neglecting to mention the 250 support staff also got the axe (yes, that means paralegals, secretaries, word processors and all sorts of other people who I imagine you might think are more deserving of employment and more valuable to society). They’re hitting the street along with the lawyers, and that’s a tragedy.

Re-training will obviously have to happen, Borat. I never said otherwise. I simply posted an article and remarked about the fallout. I wasn’t giving career advice; I wasn’t arguing for the urgent passage of the Legal Services Full Employment Act 😉

Obviously this economy can’t continue to support the plethora of miscellaneous and over-priced professional services from legal, to accounting, to consulting to marketing and business development that have sprung up over the last 50 years. But millions and millions of people have gotten on the treadmill, gone to school, trained for these jobs and done the right thing – only to find the rug yanked from under their feet. And I might add, many lawyers have a level of student debt that would make your head spin. They accumulated this debt because they were always told that jobs would be plentiful. A colleague of mine in his 30s has a wife who is also a lawyer: together they have 5K a month in student loan debt. Were they naive? Unquestionably. But then again, the entire country was naive in expecting that a government saddled with gargantuan debt could continue to chug along for eternity.

Can my 30-something colleague be re-trained if he loses his job and still have a viable life? Probably. But his loans aren’t going anywhere, and they are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, unlike credit cards and mortgage debt. So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut. And I might add, there is a distinct bias in this country against older workers (40s+). And a good number of lawyers fall into this category. Good luck to the millions of them hoping to get re-trained for a job that will allow them to compete with younger workers.

What you mistake for whining is an actual concern about human beings, at any level, who have bought into an American Dream that has rudely ended. I have always expected it to end, but I am not the average American. I am a lawyer who has prepared, so I am lucky.

And no, I am not hoping for economic Armageddon. But I am a consummate realist. I have faith in people, but I have little faith in their ability to continue to survive in an economic system that has imploded in their faces. I think we all need to be perfectly honest about a harsh reality that is quickly approaching: many of the people around us and around the world will simply disappear – either emotionally or physically. They simply aren’t going to survive what is coming.

It’s all well and good that you see the silver lining of job retraining in this devastation. But there are only so many rungs on the ladder, and there are way too many people to fit on them. The math is simple, dude: too many people, not enough jobs of any sort – period. It’s going to get ugly and it’s going to stay ugly for a LOOOOOONG time. Obama spoke of the lost decade in a recent speech. But what we are really talking about are lost DECADES. So I think your optimism is misplaced. That’s just my opinion.

Good luck to you, Borat. I’m glad that you have landed on your feet, and I hope your money and your upbeat attitude hold up 🙂 I suspect both are going to be seriously challenged in the coming months.

[partypup]

[quote=Borat]Wow. You’re so right, Borat. What am I thinking? Hey, exactly which ACTUAL INDUSTRIES are still hiring those who produce things of value? Why don’t you post a sampling of machine shops or plumbing businesses in your local classifieds that are hiring right now.
Yeah, I’ll give you a few months or years to come up with that list.
When anyone loses a job in this depression — be it a lawyer, an equity trader, a teacher or a maid — it’s bad for everyone. Including you. But you probably won’t understand that until you lose your job.
And by the way, that’s a brilliant idea: send all the unemployed lawyers to mortuary school. They’re losing their homes – which means MORE foreclosures – and student loan funding is drying up. Just keep coming up with these gems, Borat. Maybe there’s a job for you on Obama’s economic team of clowns.

Wow there is some rich stuff here. I just did a google for “san diego machine shop jobs” and all kinds of listings came up. At least I am suggesting something positive — we have more than 20 times per capita lawyers than Japan (see my earlier post, with a reference to that stat from law.com) so all I am saying is that some of them need to be retrained. We don’t need so damn many of them. I would like to see Alberto Gonzalez retrained as a roto-rooter technician, for example. What are you suggesting? That we magically find some way to keep all of our lawyers employed? Or that we pee our pants and run down the street because “economic armageddon” is coming? Puh-leeze.

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

Good luck to you man, I hope we don’t have any armageddon either but sometimes it seems like that’s what you’re hoping for! I have more faith in people I guess to do what’s right and move on to something else when they need to.[/quote]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

I knew a tipping point had occurred in January when a friend of mine in Santa Maria applied for a part time job as a cashier at a Trader Joe’s in Santa Maria ($8/hour), and 1000 people showed up.

And where in my post did I suggest that all lawyers must continue to be employed as lawyers? My only observation was that the fallout from this kind of lay off was going to be big. This unwinding started at the lower ranks and is gaining momentum as it moves up the food chain. Do I have more empathy for a lawyer who loses their job than a cashier? No. But you seem to think I do. So let me go on the record and make it perfectly clear that I am equally empathetic for anyone who loses their job.

And I notice that you focused on lawyers while neglecting to mention the 250 support staff also got the axe (yes, that means paralegals, secretaries, word processors and all sorts of other people who I imagine you might think are more deserving of employment and more valuable to society). They’re hitting the street along with the lawyers, and that’s a tragedy.

Re-training will obviously have to happen, Borat. I never said otherwise. I simply posted an article and remarked about the fallout. I wasn’t giving career advice; I wasn’t arguing for the urgent passage of the Legal Services Full Employment Act 😉

Obviously this economy can’t continue to support the plethora of miscellaneous and over-priced professional services from legal, to accounting, to consulting to marketing and business development that have sprung up over the last 50 years. But millions and millions of people have gotten on the treadmill, gone to school, trained for these jobs and done the right thing – only to find the rug yanked from under their feet. And I might add, many lawyers have a level of student debt that would make your head spin. They accumulated this debt because they were always told that jobs would be plentiful. A colleague of mine in his 30s has a wife who is also a lawyer: together they have 5K a month in student loan debt. Were they naive? Unquestionably. But then again, the entire country was naive in expecting that a government saddled with gargantuan debt could continue to chug along for eternity.

Can my 30-something colleague be re-trained if he loses his job and still have a viable life? Probably. But his loans aren’t going anywhere, and they are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, unlike credit cards and mortgage debt. So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut. And I might add, there is a distinct bias in this country against older workers (40s+). And a good number of lawyers fall into this category. Good luck to the millions of them hoping to get re-trained for a job that will allow them to compete with younger workers.

What you mistake for whining is an actual concern about human beings, at any level, who have bought into an American Dream that has rudely ended. I have always expected it to end, but I am not the average American. I am a lawyer who has prepared, so I am lucky.

And no, I am not hoping for economic Armageddon. But I am a consummate realist. I have faith in people, but I have little faith in their ability to continue to survive in an economic system that has imploded in their faces. I think we all need to be perfectly honest about a harsh reality that is quickly approaching: many of the people around us and around the world will simply disappear – either emotionally or physically. They simply aren’t going to survive what is coming.

It’s all well and good that you see the silver lining of job retraining in this devastation. But there are only so many rungs on the ladder, and there are way too many people to fit on them. The math is simple, dude: too many people, not enough jobs of any sort – period. It’s going to get ugly and it’s going to stay ugly for a LOOOOOONG time. Obama spoke of the lost decade in a recent speech. But what we are really talking about are lost DECADES. So I think your optimism is misplaced. That’s just my opinion.

Good luck to you, Borat. I’m glad that you have landed on your feet, and I hope your money and your upbeat attitude hold up 🙂 I suspect both are going to be seriously challenged in the coming months.

[partypup]

[quote=Borat]Wow. You’re so right, Borat. What am I thinking? Hey, exactly which ACTUAL INDUSTRIES are still hiring those who produce things of value? Why don’t you post a sampling of machine shops or plumbing businesses in your local classifieds that are hiring right now.
Yeah, I’ll give you a few months or years to come up with that list.
When anyone loses a job in this depression — be it a lawyer, an equity trader, a teacher or a maid — it’s bad for everyone. Including you. But you probably won’t understand that until you lose your job.
And by the way, that’s a brilliant idea: send all the unemployed lawyers to mortuary school. They’re losing their homes – which means MORE foreclosures – and student loan funding is drying up. Just keep coming up with these gems, Borat. Maybe there’s a job for you on Obama’s economic team of clowns.

Wow there is some rich stuff here. I just did a google for “san diego machine shop jobs” and all kinds of listings came up. At least I am suggesting something positive — we have more than 20 times per capita lawyers than Japan (see my earlier post, with a reference to that stat from law.com) so all I am saying is that some of them need to be retrained. We don’t need so damn many of them. I would like to see Alberto Gonzalez retrained as a roto-rooter technician, for example. What are you suggesting? That we magically find some way to keep all of our lawyers employed? Or that we pee our pants and run down the street because “economic armageddon” is coming? Puh-leeze.

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

Good luck to you man, I hope we don’t have any armageddon either but sometimes it seems like that’s what you’re hoping for! I have more faith in people I guess to do what’s right and move on to something else when they need to.[/quote]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

I knew a tipping point had occurred in January when a friend of mine in Santa Maria applied for a part time job as a cashier at a Trader Joe’s in Santa Maria ($8/hour), and 1000 people showed up.

And where in my post did I suggest that all lawyers must continue to be employed as lawyers? My only observation was that the fallout from this kind of lay off was going to be big. This unwinding started at the lower ranks and is gaining momentum as it moves up the food chain. Do I have more empathy for a lawyer who loses their job than a cashier? No. But you seem to think I do. So let me go on the record and make it perfectly clear that I am equally empathetic for anyone who loses their job.

And I notice that you focused on lawyers while neglecting to mention the 250 support staff also got the axe (yes, that means paralegals, secretaries, word processors and all sorts of other people who I imagine you might think are more deserving of employment and more valuable to society). They’re hitting the street along with the lawyers, and that’s a tragedy.

Re-training will obviously have to happen, Borat. I never said otherwise. I simply posted an article and remarked about the fallout. I wasn’t giving career advice; I wasn’t arguing for the urgent passage of the Legal Services Full Employment Act 😉

Obviously this economy can’t continue to support the plethora of miscellaneous and over-priced professional services from legal, to accounting, to consulting to marketing and business development that have sprung up over the last 50 years. But millions and millions of people have gotten on the treadmill, gone to school, trained for these jobs and done the right thing – only to find the rug yanked from under their feet. And I might add, many lawyers have a level of student debt that would make your head spin. They accumulated this debt because they were always told that jobs would be plentiful. A colleague of mine in his 30s has a wife who is also a lawyer: together they have 5K a month in student loan debt. Were they naive? Unquestionably. But then again, the entire country was naive in expecting that a government saddled with gargantuan debt could continue to chug along for eternity.

Can my 30-something colleague be re-trained if he loses his job and still have a viable life? Probably. But his loans aren’t going anywhere, and they are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, unlike credit cards and mortgage debt. So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut. And I might add, there is a distinct bias in this country against older workers (40s+). And a good number of lawyers fall into this category. Good luck to the millions of them hoping to get re-trained for a job that will allow them to compete with younger workers.

What you mistake for whining is an actual concern about human beings, at any level, who have bought into an American Dream that has rudely ended. I have always expected it to end, but I am not the average American. I am a lawyer who has prepared, so I am lucky.

And no, I am not hoping for economic Armageddon. But I am a consummate realist. I have faith in people, but I have little faith in their ability to continue to survive in an economic system that has imploded in their faces. I think we all need to be perfectly honest about a harsh reality that is quickly approaching: many of the people around us and around the world will simply disappear – either emotionally or physically. They simply aren’t going to survive what is coming.

It’s all well and good that you see the silver lining of job retraining in this devastation. But there are only so many rungs on the ladder, and there are way too many people to fit on them. The math is simple, dude: too many people, not enough jobs of any sort – period. It’s going to get ugly and it’s going to stay ugly for a LOOOOOONG time. Obama spoke of the lost decade in a recent speech. But what we are really talking about are lost DECADES. So I think your optimism is misplaced. That’s just my opinion.

Good luck to you, Borat. I’m glad that you have landed on your feet, and I hope your money and your upbeat attitude hold up 🙂 I suspect both are going to be seriously challenged in the coming months.

[partypup]

[quote=Borat]Wow. You’re so right, Borat. What am I thinking? Hey, exactly which ACTUAL INDUSTRIES are still hiring those who produce things of value? Why don’t you post a sampling of machine shops or plumbing businesses in your local classifieds that are hiring right now.
Yeah, I’ll give you a few months or years to come up with that list.
When anyone loses a job in this depression — be it a lawyer, an equity trader, a teacher or a maid — it’s bad for everyone. Including you. But you probably won’t understand that until you lose your job.
And by the way, that’s a brilliant idea: send all the unemployed lawyers to mortuary school. They’re losing their homes – which means MORE foreclosures – and student loan funding is drying up. Just keep coming up with these gems, Borat. Maybe there’s a job for you on Obama’s economic team of clowns.

Wow there is some rich stuff here. I just did a google for “san diego machine shop jobs” and all kinds of listings came up. At least I am suggesting something positive — we have more than 20 times per capita lawyers than Japan (see my earlier post, with a reference to that stat from law.com) so all I am saying is that some of them need to be retrained. We don’t need so damn many of them. I would like to see Alberto Gonzalez retrained as a roto-rooter technician, for example. What are you suggesting? That we magically find some way to keep all of our lawyers employed? Or that we pee our pants and run down the street because “economic armageddon” is coming? Puh-leeze.

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

Good luck to you man, I hope we don’t have any armageddon either but sometimes it seems like that’s what you’re hoping for! I have more faith in people I guess to do what’s right and move on to something else when they need to.[/quote]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

I knew a tipping point had occurred in January when a friend of mine in Santa Maria applied for a part time job as a cashier at a Trader Joe’s in Santa Maria ($8/hour), and 1000 people showed up.

And where in my post did I suggest that all lawyers must continue to be employed as lawyers? My only observation was that the fallout from this kind of lay off was going to be big. This unwinding started at the lower ranks and is gaining momentum as it moves up the food chain. Do I have more empathy for a lawyer who loses their job than a cashier? No. But you seem to think I do. So let me go on the record and make it perfectly clear that I am equally empathetic for anyone who loses their job.

And I notice that you focused on lawyers while neglecting to mention the 250 support staff also got the axe (yes, that means paralegals, secretaries, word processors and all sorts of other people who I imagine you might think are more deserving of employment and more valuable to society). They’re hitting the street along with the lawyers, and that’s a tragedy.

Re-training will obviously have to happen, Borat. I never said otherwise. I simply posted an article and remarked about the fallout. I wasn’t giving career advice; I wasn’t arguing for the urgent passage of the Legal Services Full Employment Act 😉

Obviously this economy can’t continue to support the plethora of miscellaneous and over-priced professional services from legal, to accounting, to consulting to marketing and business development that have sprung up over the last 50 years. But millions and millions of people have gotten on the treadmill, gone to school, trained for these jobs and done the right thing – only to find the rug yanked from under their feet. And I might add, many lawyers have a level of student debt that would make your head spin. They accumulated this debt because they were always told that jobs would be plentiful. A colleague of mine in his 30s has a wife who is also a lawyer: together they have 5K a month in student loan debt. Were they naive? Unquestionably. But then again, the entire country was naive in expecting that a government saddled with gargantuan debt could continue to chug along for eternity.

Can my 30-something colleague be re-trained if he loses his job and still have a viable life? Probably. But his loans aren’t going anywhere, and they are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, unlike credit cards and mortgage debt. So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut. And I might add, there is a distinct bias in this country against older workers (40s+). And a good number of lawyers fall into this category. Good luck to the millions of them hoping to get re-trained for a job that will allow them to compete with younger workers.

What you mistake for whining is an actual concern about human beings, at any level, who have bought into an American Dream that has rudely ended. I have always expected it to end, but I am not the average American. I am a lawyer who has prepared, so I am lucky.

And no, I am not hoping for economic Armageddon. But I am a consummate realist. I have faith in people, but I have little faith in their ability to continue to survive in an economic system that has imploded in their faces. I think we all need to be perfectly honest about a harsh reality that is quickly approaching: many of the people around us and around the world will simply disappear – either emotionally or physically. They simply aren’t going to survive what is coming.

It’s all well and good that you see the silver lining of job retraining in this devastation. But there are only so many rungs on the ladder, and there are way too many people to fit on them. The math is simple, dude: too many people, not enough jobs of any sort – period. It’s going to get ugly and it’s going to stay ugly for a LOOOOOONG time. Obama spoke of the lost decade in a recent speech. But what we are really talking about are lost DECADES. So I think your optimism is misplaced. That’s just my opinion.

Good luck to you, Borat. I’m glad that you have landed on your feet, and I hope your money and your upbeat attitude hold up 🙂 I suspect both are going to be seriously challenged in the coming months.

[Borat]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

Who the hell looks for a job in the NEWSPAPER? What year are you living in man? The internet is where it’s at baby.

So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut.

Again, what year are you living in? Check out some average machine shop salaries. It’s more like $20/25 an hour. Yep that ain’t $100 hour for slinging paper around but it’s honest work.

My bottom line is that those with the ability to get some real skills and a good attitude are going to survive this. Those that expect life to just hand them things and who haven’t come up with a Plan B are gonna have a hard time.

I still haven’t heard your suggestions on how to fix any of this. I’m just saying that we’ve got to start making things in this country again. Start small and work our way up.

As for myself, you can bet that I’ve got a Plan B and a Plan C and maybe even a Plan D. And none of them involve holing up in the wilderness with a bunch of dried food and kruggerands either. Or running around peeing my pants screaming about economic armageddon.

[Borat]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

Who the hell looks for a job in the NEWSPAPER? What year are you living in man? The internet is where it’s at baby.

So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut.

Again, what year are you living in? Check out some average machine shop salaries. It’s more like $20/25 an hour. Yep that ain’t $100 hour for slinging paper around but it’s honest work.

My bottom line is that those with the ability to get some real skills and a good attitude are going to survive this. Those that expect life to just hand them things and who haven’t come up with a Plan B are gonna have a hard time.

I still haven’t heard your suggestions on how to fix any of this. I’m just saying that we’ve got to start making things in this country again. Start small and work our way up.

As for myself, you can bet that I’ve got a Plan B and a Plan C and maybe even a Plan D. And none of them involve holing up in the wilderness with a bunch of dried food and kruggerands either. Or running around peeing my pants screaming about economic armageddon.

[Borat]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

Who the hell looks for a job in the NEWSPAPER? What year are you living in man? The internet is where it’s at baby.

So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut.

Again, what year are you living in? Check out some average machine shop salaries. It’s more like $20/25 an hour. Yep that ain’t $100 hour for slinging paper around but it’s honest work.

My bottom line is that those with the ability to get some real skills and a good attitude are going to survive this. Those that expect life to just hand them things and who haven’t come up with a Plan B are gonna have a hard time.

I still haven’t heard your suggestions on how to fix any of this. I’m just saying that we’ve got to start making things in this country again. Start small and work our way up.

As for myself, you can bet that I’ve got a Plan B and a Plan C and maybe even a Plan D. And none of them involve holing up in the wilderness with a bunch of dried food and kruggerands either. Or running around peeing my pants screaming about economic armageddon.

[Borat]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

Who the hell looks for a job in the NEWSPAPER? What year are you living in man? The internet is where it’s at baby.

So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut.

Again, what year are you living in? Check out some average machine shop salaries. It’s more like $20/25 an hour. Yep that ain’t $100 hour for slinging paper around but it’s honest work.

My bottom line is that those with the ability to get some real skills and a good attitude are going to survive this. Those that expect life to just hand them things and who haven’t come up with a Plan B are gonna have a hard time.

I still haven’t heard your suggestions on how to fix any of this. I’m just saying that we’ve got to start making things in this country again. Start small and work our way up.

As for myself, you can bet that I’ve got a Plan B and a Plan C and maybe even a Plan D. And none of them involve holing up in the wilderness with a bunch of dried food and kruggerands either. Or running around peeing my pants screaming about economic armageddon.

[Borat]

Yeah, I just did the Google search you referred to – and I have to say, Borat: the fact that machine shops exist in San Diego does not mean that they are hiring. Is that how you usually perform a job search? 😉 I asked you to find postings in the local newspapers as proof that jobs at these shops are actually available. Anyone can do a Google search and come up with names of businesses.

Who the hell looks for a job in the NEWSPAPER? What year are you living in man? The internet is where it’s at baby.

So getting him re-trained to work at that machine shop in San Diego at $12/hour isn’t going to make a dent in his monthly nut.

Again, what year are you living in? Check out some average machine shop salaries. It’s more like $20/25 an hour. Yep that ain’t $100 hour for slinging paper around but it’s honest work.

My bottom line is that those with the ability to get some real skills and a good attitude are going to survive this. Those that expect life to just hand them things and who haven’t come up with a Plan B are gonna have a hard time.

I still haven’t heard your suggestions on how to fix any of this. I’m just saying that we’ve got to start making things in this country again. Start small and work our way up.

As for myself, you can bet that I’ve got a Plan B and a Plan C and maybe even a Plan D. And none of them involve holing up in the wilderness with a bunch of dried food and kruggerands either. Or running around peeing my pants screaming about economic armageddon.

[Arraya]

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

What if there are no jobs to be had and your money only has a fraction of the buying power? What if millions upon million become unemployed at the same time and any savings they might have becomes a fraction of what it was worth.

During Great Depression 1 people went back to the land to live and more than 50% of the population lived on family farms and we had about 60% less people.. We are not the country we were in the 30s. At 30+ % unemployment and a crashed currency we are looking at massive civil unrest or people going silently into Gulag style work camps or starving in the streets. Knowing Americans we will spit venom all over any social money going to them and have the starve in the streets or happily see them marched into work camps, that, of course, will be privatized because we know how evil socialism is. See Irish Potato famine. Lots of potatoes no money. 1/3rd of the population died and most of the public looked the other way.

We are just under 14% unemployment according to unscrubbed u-6 government numbers. Extrapolate out unemployment at current trajectory and in a year puts us at 20+%. Juxtapose that with the global inertia away from the dollar, which is IMMENSE and you have a different world. After this collapse many countries will recognize where they land the US will not and that will make people extremely cranky.

This not a grand conspiracy, though there are many conspiring, this is an evolution of an inherently flawed system and the incredible amount of malfeasance signifies they guys running the system either a) trying to keep it going fraudulently or B) foreknowledge of the end of the system

I personally think they gave up on A and have moved to B. They are making their lifeboats and putting holes in everybody else’s.

[Arraya]

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

What if there are no jobs to be had and your money only has a fraction of the buying power? What if millions upon million become unemployed at the same time and any savings they might have becomes a fraction of what it was worth.

During Great Depression 1 people went back to the land to live and more than 50% of the population lived on family farms and we had about 60% less people.. We are not the country we were in the 30s. At 30+ % unemployment and a crashed currency we are looking at massive civil unrest or people going silently into Gulag style work camps or starving in the streets. Knowing Americans we will spit venom all over any social money going to them and have the starve in the streets or happily see them marched into work camps, that, of course, will be privatized because we know how evil socialism is. See Irish Potato famine. Lots of potatoes no money. 1/3rd of the population died and most of the public looked the other way.

We are just under 14% unemployment according to unscrubbed u-6 government numbers. Extrapolate out unemployment at current trajectory and in a year puts us at 20+%. Juxtapose that with the global inertia away from the dollar, which is IMMENSE and you have a different world. After this collapse many countries will recognize where they land the US will not and that will make people extremely cranky.

This not a grand conspiracy, though there are many conspiring, this is an evolution of an inherently flawed system and the incredible amount of malfeasance signifies they guys running the system either a) trying to keep it going fraudulently or B) foreknowledge of the end of the system

I personally think they gave up on A and have moved to B. They are making their lifeboats and putting holes in everybody else’s.

[Arraya]

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

What if there are no jobs to be had and your money only has a fraction of the buying power? What if millions upon million become unemployed at the same time and any savings they might have becomes a fraction of what it was worth.

During Great Depression 1 people went back to the land to live and more than 50% of the population lived on family farms and we had about 60% less people.. We are not the country we were in the 30s. At 30+ % unemployment and a crashed currency we are looking at massive civil unrest or people going silently into Gulag style work camps or starving in the streets. Knowing Americans we will spit venom all over any social money going to them and have the starve in the streets or happily see them marched into work camps, that, of course, will be privatized because we know how evil socialism is. See Irish Potato famine. Lots of potatoes no money. 1/3rd of the population died and most of the public looked the other way.

We are just under 14% unemployment according to unscrubbed u-6 government numbers. Extrapolate out unemployment at current trajectory and in a year puts us at 20+%. Juxtapose that with the global inertia away from the dollar, which is IMMENSE and you have a different world. After this collapse many countries will recognize where they land the US will not and that will make people extremely cranky.

This not a grand conspiracy, though there are many conspiring, this is an evolution of an inherently flawed system and the incredible amount of malfeasance signifies they guys running the system either a) trying to keep it going fraudulently or B) foreknowledge of the end of the system

I personally think they gave up on A and have moved to B. They are making their lifeboats and putting holes in everybody else’s.

[Arraya]

BTW I have lost my job before and while it’s not fun it ain’t the end of the world either. As long as you have some $ in the bank and you’re willing to relocate and maybe retrain yourself that is. Oh and of course you must be willing to step down a rung on the ladder from time to time and I’ve done that too.

What if there are no jobs to be had and your money only has a fraction of the buying power? What if millions upon million become unemployed at the same time and any savings they might have becomes a fraction of what it was worth.

During Great Depression 1 people went back to the land to live and more than 50% of the population lived on family farms and we had about 60% less people.. We are not the country we were in the 30s. At 30+ % unemployment and a crashed currency we are looking at massive civil unrest or people going silently into Gulag style work camps or starving in the streets. Knowing Americans we will spit venom all over any social money going to them and have the starve in the streets or happily see them marched into work camps, that, of course, will be privatized because we know how evil socialism is. See Irish Potato famine. Lots of potatoes no money. 1/3rd of the population died and most of the public looked the other way.

We are just under 14% unemployment according to unscrubbed u-6 government numbers. Extrapolate out unemployment at current trajectory and in a year puts us at 20+%. Juxtapose that with the global inertia away from the dollar, which is IMMENSE and you have a different world. After this collapse many countries will recognize where they land the US will not and that will make people extremely cranky.

This not a grand conspiracy, though there are many conspiring, this is an evolution of an inherently flawed system and the incredible amount of malfeasance signifies they guys running the system either a) trying to keep it going fraudulently or B) foreknowledge of the end of the system

I personally think they gave up on A and have moved to B. They are making their lifeboats and putting holes in everybody else’s.

[Author]

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