A "Career Change" is Bullshit for Most in Their Fifties

This is the thrust of this New York Times article from a few days ago.  It isn't a realistic option for most people once they hit past fifty. Age discrimination is rampant. And forget "self-employment" at that age. 

I totally agree with this comment:

The "golden handcuffs" is a major consideration, as is being in your mid 50s and trying a change. I retired as a state worker and have a meager pension (it cut my earnings in half), so my full time job is tightening the belt while my husband still works. Always working at least 40 hours a week since I was 18 I'm burnt out but look to see what sort of work there is available, but there is none for a woman my age and with health problems. The poster may be miserable, but unless they're in an industry that is easy to get hired, I'd stay put.

She is referring to a regular job being paid by an employer rather than striking out on one's own.

At least some people are realistic about options for women over 50:

The questioner considering a career change does not reveal his or her gender. If she is a woman, she should be aware of the high unemployment rate for women over 50. Evidently our society feels women over 50 have less to offer. I certainly found this in my own job search after I lost my position due to a reorganization.

Of course this is referring to a layoff or a firing after age 50.  Unless you to have to work the rest of your life, forget "retraining."  If you are close to being able to retire, ride it out.  You can always do something else after you retire, like work part-time.

Even if I could retire, which I never will be able to, I think I would always have a part-time job in education just to stay busy and focused while pursuing my own interests.  That is the best of both worlds.

Life Can Be Shit Economically For Women Living Alone

It's all part of a rigged economic system, something I have written about for years on this blog and elsewhere. It has been fodder of feminist writing since the 1960s, but it bears repeating:

Most women do NOT take time off from the labor force in any significant way these days. Who can afford "caregiving" unless you are well-to-do? Any policy proposal talking about giving "credit" to people who do not need it is missing the point, to say nothing of the fact we women who have worked all our lives are being required to subsidize people who can afford to drop out of the labor force to "care" for relatives. The real reason women, especially never-married women, fare so poorly in middle and old age has to do with the concept of the "family wage." It is the notion that men are breadwinners and women are dependents. Men are seen as needing the higher pay because they have families to support, while women are seen as not needing the money as much as men because they have a man to support them. Women's pay is denigrated regardless of occupation, with women-dominated occupations poorly paid as compared to male-dominated jobs of the same education and skills. When women begin to dominate a male field, the pay and prestige go down immediately. That is because women are seen as "secondary" wage earners, and employers feel they in good conscience can underpay women because the difference is supposedly made up by a husband's salary (never mind the reality of millions of women there is no man in the picture). Furthermore, underpaying women helps "encourage" them to jettison independent living in favor of marriage. It reeks of prostitution rather than real choice. Our economic system is heavily rigged against women, especially women alone. If anything happens in terms of a job, everything they have worked for is gone overnight. There is no buffer of a man's income to cushion that blow.

More women are falling through the cracks, especially if they are past 55, which is considered past their expiration date in terms of being in the labor force.

A book I have started reading is a book I overlooked when it came out. It is called The Sexual Contract, published in 1988 and written by a now-retired UCLA academic, Carole Pateman. She was born in Britain in 1940. She is less well-known than other writers or feminists who have covered much of the same ground. In this book she wrote about this concept of the "family wage." Of course, it forms the basis of sex discrimination in the workplace. It cannot be denied. Despite gains by women over the decades, women are still heavily disadvantaged in the labor market. In fact, they are perhaps more dependent on men than ever (and vice versa) for a decent lifestyle thanks to outsourcing and destroying of well-paid, unionized jobs as pushed by the poisonous neoliberal ideology.

Anyway, I started reading Pateman's book. The book is a little bit dry, as are most academic works, but she makes a lot of good points.

Nothing has changed in the 30 years since it was published.

On a similar note, I went to a retirement planning seminar the school district's investment outfit put on, and the presenters were talking about all of the various things people need in order to have a decent retirement. Of course, I started Oregon public employment, part-time regular employment, when I was 59, so I will not be vested in Oregon PERS until 2019, when I am 64 years old. Maybe some district will hire me on a part-time certificated basis, as I do not want to work full-time anymore, but those jobs are extremely hard to come by. My pension would be much higher and I would not have to work as many years to get the monthly payout. Under NO circumstances do I want to ever have a cash payout. I have a monthly pension through Nevada PERS that I started taking five years ago. It isn't much--$318 a month and subject to WEP when I get Social Security next year--but after the third year of getting it I got annual COLA increases. By the time I hit 71, the small amount will start to snowball significantly when the 5 percent annual increase kicks in, assuming I don't kick off first. Similarly Oregon's would increase, but since I am on the Tier 3 program, it won't be quite as good as those who got on Oregon public employment and qualified for Tier 1 and 2 (people are designated a "tier" depending on when they were hired).

Anyway, there wasn't a whole lot that was relevant to my case. At one point the presenters talked about how 33 percent of the average retiree's income comes from work. In other words, those who are "retired" on the average cannot ever retire. I don't believe that many people are so lacking in interests and hobbies they are masochistic enough they want to remain in the labor force in some way.

Most of these people work because they have to.

Just like me, and I will likely have to until I can't physically do the work anymore.

I Am Living Proof of This

Older women are being forced out in more and more numbers and find they have a lot more trouble getting another job.

And if they are like yours truly, once they do get jobs, they will never be able to retire because they were forced out earlier.

We Older Workers or Unemployed Workers Are Past Our Expiration Dates

This article is full of the same cliches and advice to "older" workers or older unemployed workers that we have been hearing forever.

Not a word about strengthening the age discrimination laws.

There was one commenter following this article who peddled the "self-employment" canard, and it about drove me up the goddamned wall when I read it.

I responded:

That is absolutely WORTHLESS advice. There is little DEMAND for goods and services, which is why the economy stinks. If there is no demand, you can't make money doing this on your own. Only married people or people with a trust fund can even attempt to go into self-employment. If women are the majority of small business owners, it's because there is a husband around to shore up the income. Single women cannot do this. Useless advice like this just makes me want to bang my head against the wall because of its stupidity.

Everybody else is walking dogs or mowing lawns. Good lord. What IS it with these people who seem to have no clue what the hell is going on out here?

I just hope in my situation that I get more hours next year and start toward earning an Oregon pension to at least offset the offset that I am going to get with Social Security thanks to having the giant 312 a month pension from Nevada PERS.

I am slowly trying to get the K-12 Oregon license.

They Always Focus on the Atypical

when it comes to stories about those who are losing ground in this sinkhole of an economy.

More and more people are going to fall through the cracks, which is just the way D.C. politicians want it in their insane quest to turn the United States of America into a third world country.

The more facts that come out showing University of Chicago neoliberal economic policies don't work and create more misery for more people, the more tenacious a hold this insane ideology has on our "elected" officials.

It's because those at the top are doing just fine thanks to these insane ideas, and they own both political parties.

Whether you call this bullshit globalism or austerity or some other benign-sounding term, it's still bullshit.

Our "leaders" won't be happy until everybody not filthy rich is making on the average of a dollar a DAY.

This Probably Will Go Nowhere, Either

Funny how "hard" this Congress "works" to help us peons when it is an election year. Of course this proposal will go utterly nowhere. Both "parties" are working in tandem to screw over the American people.

It doesn't mean I won't sign this as I have experienced age discrimination, but I know how worthless these D.C. elected officials are.

Miscellaneous News

Obit: Muriel Siebert, 80, the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, has died from complications from cancer.

It wasn't that long ago women weren't allowed there:

Siebert, who was born in Cleveland and moved to New York in 1954 at age 22, started her career as a trainee in research at Bache & Co. earning a $65 a week. She went on to become an industry specialist in airlines and aerospace and later became a partner at brokerages including Brimberg & Co.

She bought a seat on the New York Stock Exchange in December 1967 after months of struggling with the male-dominated business world that initially resisted her efforts to join. She established her investment firm the same year and transformed it into a discount brokerage house in 1975.

Her achievements at the time were something to be proud of.

These days, being a member of Wall Street is a sign of disgrace.
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When you don't have talent, you resort to raunchy nonsense.

Just so I don't sound too sexist, Robin Thicke is every bit as untalented as Miley.

Both of them prove connections have a lot to do with financial "success" rather than talent.
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While somebody like Miley Cyrus makes millions of dollars on the skimpiest of talent, millions upon millions of us who are considered "baby boomers," especially those of us unemployed or underemployed, are having our lives destroyed thanks to deliberate inaction by Congress.

I am still technically "employed," but I don't make enough money at this juncture to be able to get a place to live.

Here is the study mentioned by the blogger, but of course the situation now is even worse.

I Know This From Personal Experience

It would be funny if it weren't so tragic that even eight months unemployed is NOTHING if you are over fifty and suddenly find yourself kicked to the curb.

These assholes in Washington want to CUT Social Security instead of LOWERING the retirement age and increase the monthly benefits.

Brutal doesn't even begin to describe it.

PAUL SOLMAN: These folks have all been unemployed long-term, and as you may have noticed, most are 55 and older. There's been lots of talk about the improving jobs picture of late, and especially today, when the official unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 percent, the lowest since 2008.

Our own more inclusive measure of the un- and under-employed is down to 16 percent, the lowest since we started tracking it in 2010. But in Bridgeport and at job fairs around the country, the reality is brutal for the more than four million Americans who remain out of work six months or more.

For those 55 and older, it takes about a year on average to find work, longer than for any other age group.

And what of those "jobs"?

In my case, it has been ONLY substitute teaching "jobs" that I cannot support myself on. About the only way it is doable is if I have Social Security and my pension to draw on in addition to sub pay.

I could almost support myself on that.

The operative word is "almost."

Once Over 50, You're as Good as Dead Professionally

I don't need to read an article stating the obvious about discrimination.

In my case I don't know what the Nevada public employee-management relationship board will say about my letter I sent them. If I don't get a reply within two weeks, I will send it again, only it will be a certified letter. I do better with written requests rather than over the phone. It could be too many years have passed for me to go after Washoe Education Association, but it's still worth a try anyway.

Age discrimination is notoriously difficult to prove unless it is a widespread employer policy:

Older workers also have the longest bouts of unemployment. The average duration of unemployment for workers ages 55 to 64 was 11 months as recently as January, according to the Labor Department. That's three months longer than the average for 25- to 36-year-olds.

Given these circumstances, many workers can't help but think age discrimination is a factor. AARP's Public Policy Institute surveyed unemployed baby boomers in 2010 and 2011. While 71% blamed their unemployment on the bad economy, almost half also said they believed age discrimination was also at play.

About 23,000 age discrimination complaints were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in fiscal 2012, 20% more than in 2007.
Proving discrimination is next to impossible, though, unless it's blatant.

In my case, it wasn't just the age or the violations of FMLA. It was the fact the asshole in HR wanted to steal my pension. He didn't think I was vested at all, but I was.

No, S***, Sherlock

Older workers may have a lower unemployment rate, but once they are tossed out, it is next to impossible to secure a full-time gig--in any occupation.

Despite being experienced and reliable workers, all companies see are dollar signs, and they back off. Better to get cheap bimbos who will work for nothing and not stick around.

But then we have CEOs telling politicians what is needed is to jack up the ages for Medicare and Social Security so we can get killed off:

When older workers do find re-employment, the compensation is usually not up to the level of their previous jobs, according to data from the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

In a survey by the center of older workers who were laid off during the recession, just one in six had found another job, and half of that group had accepted pay cuts. Fourteen percent of the re-employed said the pay in their new job was less than half what they earned in their previous job.

Try one-eighth of what the old job was. That is my situation now, with substituting and a dinky pension.

Damn to hell WCSD and WEA for their criminal acts.

Early "Buyouts"

My post from the article about early buyouts for teachers at WCSD:


"Early buyouts" are not-so-subtle forms of age discrimination. These new retirees better have enough money to do it or have a spouse, because they will NEVER be able to work in the labor force full-time again. As somebody who was illegally forced out of WCSD years before I could afford to retire and barely qualifying for vesting, I know what it is like in this lousy economy and being destitute. These people don't really have a choice because school districts will FORCE them out if they don't "voluntarily" retire. The new "reforms" targeting teachers and their "performance" are designed to weed out "expensive" older teachers to make way for cheap bimbos right out of college and ultimately TFAs who are totally unqualified to teach. The kids could be lucky and get veteran transfers, but most likely their new teachers will be inexperienced and will never have the skills necessary to make teaching a career. They will be one-year-only hires and never be able to vest in retirement. Some progress. Education is no longer about the kids.

Etc.

There were at least three winners of last night's $640 million Mega Millions lottery. Winning tickets came from Maryland, Illinois, and Kansas:

Mike Lang, spokesman for the Illinois Lottery, said his state's winning ticket was sold in the small town of Red Bud, near St. Louis. The winner used a quick pick to select the numbers, he said.
The Maryland Lottery announced earlier Saturday that it had sold a winning ticket at a retail store in Baltimore County.

A winning ticket also was purchased in northeast Kansas, according to the Kansas Lottery website. A spokeswoman didn't immediately return a message Saturday morning.

Lang said each winning ticket was expected to be worth more than $213 million before taxes.

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The WSWS has an excellent overview of Earl Scruggs' life and work:

The Carolinas provided a rich musical environment during this period. Scruggs was influenced by a number of musicians in the area, both amateur and professional, including Snuffy Jenkins (1908-1990), who had begun to move away from the old-time “clawhammer” or “frailing” style of banjo in which the strings were strummed or rapped with the backs of the player’s fingernails. These new players utilized a freer, more syncopated finger-picking style. Scruggs surpassed them all, developing his own three-finger, virtuoso technique that would set the bar for all the players who came after him.

Scruggs’ big break in music came when he was hired by Bill Monroe, the “Father of Bluegrass,” in late 1945. Bluegrass music, which emerged and developed in the postwar period, was an energetic new style of folk music characterized by fast tempos and instrumental virtuosity, along with close harmony singing with soaring tenor vocalists taking the lead. The music seemed an almost cathartic release for the musicians who had finally put the Great Depression and the war years behind them.

Scruggs revitalized Monroe’s band the Blue Grass Boys, a group which also included the talented singer and guitarist Lester Flatt. Prior to Scruggs’ recruitment, David “Stringbean” Akeman had been the group’s banjo player. While a talented performer, Akeman played banjo in the old style and Monroe’s new musical experiments demanded something different. Scruggs’ new style of playing was the missing piece of the puzzle.

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While a handful of people did better in this economy thanks to the Mega Millions drawing, more people are suffering because of a new round of layoffs.
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Shelby's Cobra, a favorite of auto collectors, turns 50 this year.
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The Roberts court is known to make up shit as it goes along, and its attitude toward age discrimination is no exception. Given how much harder it is when one is over 50 to keep and get jobs, any bill to reverse the court's ruling is welcome:

The plaintiff in the case, Jack Gross, was from Iowa. In a welcome show of bipartisanship, his state’s two senators — Tom Harkin, a Democrat, and Charles Grassley, a Republican — recently introduced a bill to reverse the court’s age-bias ruling and restore older workers’ rights. Although this is not the first time that Mr. Harkin has offered such legislation, Mr. Grassley’s co-sponsorship of this year’s bill makes the outlook for Senate passage much brighter.

This is a matter of some urgency. Since the Supreme Court ruled three years ago, lower courts have applied its onerous standard of proof to deny thousands of age-discrimination claims.

You never know how the House is going to act, but at least this is a hopeful sign.
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Is bullying in schools really a crisis? Or is it just a bunch of overhyped garbage.
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Another reason the death penalty needs to be abolished. Although this guy was found to have had nothing whatever to do with the killing, he has yet to be exonerated.

On the morning of jury selection, the district attorney made another offer: if Mr. Cook pleaded no-contest with no admission of guilt, the case would be dismissed and he could go on with his life. Mr. Cook considered the deal. He had suffered terribly during his 19 years in prison — he had been stabbed, raped repeatedly and had tried to kill himself, once slitting his own throat after severing his penis, which was reattached.

He took the plea deal. Two months later, the DNA results returned. The semen belonged to James Mayfield, a married man with whom Ms. Edwards had been having an affair.

By then Mr. Cook was trying to move on with his life, but it was harder than he had imagined. The physical and emotional abuse he endured in prison causes nightmares and suicidal urges. And the murder conviction made him a second-class citizen.

That's because some officials are covering their asses.

It Figures

the White House would dodge questions about unemployment among people over 48; actually, people over 50 or 55 have born the brunt of joblessness and have great difficulty finding work of any kind.

link

For the Rest of Us Peons,

those of us who are over 50 risk complete destitution if we become unemployed, for now we are considered by more and more employers as "unemployable."

Discrimination and increased health care premiums have a lot to do with it.

At least Ms. Reid has a house and a spouse.  A LOT of us out here have neither, and we are too young to collect Social Security.

After all, the Catfood Commission wants to raise the retirement age in order to kill us off.

Age Discrimination

It isn't just higher health insurance premiums which result in longer unemployment for those workers like yours truly who are 45 and older; it's also the fact that if you are in public employment, especially public schools as I was, age discrimination in hiring and terminations is rampant because of the desire to cheat people out of their retirement benefits. This doesn't just apply to vesting but also to cheating workers out of higher monthly retirement benefits by forcing them out early.

I should know because I have been out of work for almost a year, the longest of my life, and the sons of bitches at the school district got rid of me because of the desire to cheat me out of retirement benefits by using trumped up charges to cover up obvious age discrimination. We will see if they will get away with this travesty.

More Miscellaneous.

In what must be one of the most ironic suicide notes ever written, D.C. Madam Deborah Jean Palfrey called her case a "modern day lynching," and she decided to rectify this injustice by lynching herself.

Not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree or else she had a sick sense of humor.
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In case of a pandemic, forget about age and disability discrimination laws; if you are deemed an inconvenience, doctors have the right to off you.

Just WHO is targeted for elimination? The usual burdensome ones:

# People older than 85
# Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.
# Severely burned patients older than 60.
# Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.
# Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes

It's a new twist on the old "lifeboat ethics."


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