The Bush Superhighway of Economic Doom, Part 2 - "This May Be Long, But, Being Unemployed, I've Got Time":
The Rude Pundit continues his series of stories from the frontlines of the unemployment office. And today, with jobless claims up this week, even as the gross domestic product rises, we realize that the vast majority of billionaires really, really, could give a shit less about those who make them their billions. So, unlike Bill O'Reilly, who talks about "the folks" without ever actually allowing one of them to speak on his program, here at the Rude Pundit, we want to let the folks do the talking for themselves. Here's a minimally edited story from Chris:

"The first time I really came into contact with George W. Bush was when he was still the Texas Governor and he was coming through Michigan to get people to vote for him. I was tutoring football players at the time, and Bush was using the football team's weight room. I struck up a conversation with one of the Secret Service men, and he was happy to let me say hi. So once Bush had finished exercising, I approached him. The details of the conversation I won't go into, except to say that he was either off in his own world or couldn't be bothered by talking with an 'average' constituent. In fact, he acted fairly annoyed after I said anything other than, "Hi," and left me in the middle of a question to get a photo op with the football coach. Needless to say, I was satisfied when he lost the Michigan primary.

"So I have a pretty good reason to dislike him personally. But I did try to give him a fair chance as a leader, a chance which I think it's safe to say he has blown completely. And now for the tale of unemployment...

"I was an editor for an online learning company in the waning days of the dot com boom. It was a great company to work for, founded by some truly great guys who, while they may have had their faults, were good leaders. Of course, they sold the company to a national corporation that had a board of directors with roughly the same combined IQ as ear wax. This, of course, led to the corporation's president offering biannual reports on how great everything was, and how great everything was going to be. After the first round of layoffs, the term 'liar' was applied more than once. Then the local leadership was changed as the original founders got bought out (and apparently took the corporation to court when the board tried to worm their way out of the buyout with some now-worthless stock).

"I got laid off on September 12, 2002. It was explained to me later from another employee that they would have laid me off one day earlier, but they didn't want to appear 'insensitive.' Nice of them, right? So I filed for unemployment along with about 30 other people that session. That was when it started hitting me just how bad things were.

"I'll be honest: unemployment sucks like a black hole. You get just above minimum wage, which covers you more than adequately provided you don't have student loans or a medical condition that requires you to take one pill a day. Since I suffer from depression, if I don't take my daily 'happy pill,' life starts to become a literal living hell. I'm glad I've managed to put my student loans on hold, but your health is not something you can put off 'till later.

"So I'm looking for work, only to discover that no one needs my kind of skills right now. I'm an editor and administrator, two jobs which fall by the wayside when times get tight. You don't need to be 'efficient' or 'correct,' apparently--just get the product out the door and let the client deal with the mess. I would move if I could, but the expenses required with
moving are prohibitive in and of themselves. You can't move unless you're willing to run from your creditors and lie to your prospective landlords, and I'm not willing to do that. On the other hand, that apparently worked pretty well for Bush.

"Now, according to George 'WMD' Bush, the economy is picking up and jobs will soon be sprouting up all over the country. I would like to point out though, that he is currenntly employed, and he has so many billion dollars to fall back on. Not like the rest of us. In large part, the average citizen needs a job, because with mortgages, car loans, and credit
cards, a lot of people live from paycheck to paycheck. And guess who doesn't care if you've lost your job? If you selected 'all of the above,' you would be correct. I've been fortunate so far; I've managed to juggle bills and other
expenses while only incurring the wrath of a couple collection companies.

"Some friends, on the other hand, have not been so fortuante. One guy I know is about to declare bankruptcy--he simply can't afford to pay all his expenses right now. And unlike me, he's got computer skills--the supposed 'golden egg' of industry.

"So I'm running out of unemployment, and unless I'm willing to slave away at McDonalds or do stock at Meijer's, I'm kind of out of luck. I've got sympathy from my friends, but you can't eat sympathy. And of course Bush is telling us how we need to invade foreign countries who may or may not have terrorists in them, how same-sex marriage is the greatest threat facing the world after that, and how his policies may create 2.6 million new jobs, but don't hold him to that.

"I don't know if Bush has ever been in a situation where he hasn't had a spare million to fall back on, but apparently he thinks that the general public would love to be working at McDonald's, Burger King, L.L. Bean, and Ambercrombie and Fitch. After all, we got college degrees to serve him and his millionaire friends, right? And what does it matter if we do this by working for their subsidiaries or by providing them their clothes and food, grateful that we should have the opportunity to interact with such godlike people?

"So that's my report from the front lines. It's a battlefield out there, and I sincerely hope things won't get worse before they get better."

Once again, the Rude Pundit doesn't vouch for the facts of the story, but it seems sadly true.

Keep the stories coming. Send your tale of being stalled and run over by a semi on the superhighway to: rudepundit@yahoo.com.