Video Essay: Jobless in America

[crrazyy]

his last job was 92k a year $6k bonus. big bucks. i realized switching jobs nowadays results in lower pay. business slow.

[preving]

I lost my job in December 2009 here in Canada. My boss declared bankruptcy.

I now make quite a good living betting on baseball, hockey, football and basketball games.

[Mrbrianjohnson951]

@preving

I feel sorry for you. You hit the pavement to find a job only you find out that there is no job out there.

[preving]

@Mrbrianjohnson951 Why do you feel sorry for me, Brian? I'm pretty happy with what I'm doing. I make some pretty big money betting on sports games.

[Mrbrianjohnson951]

@preving

I am nothing against you betting on sport games. It just that it cannot last so long since most of the people will ran out of money just to survived in this lousy economy that we are having.

[preving]

@Mrbrianjohnson951 I've been betting sports for about 15 years along with working at my job and then when my boss lost the business, I tried looking for other work and couldn't find anything so I have something to fall back onto. Yeah, I know how you feel. I heard some good news this morning. Economists are forecasting a good 2012. I will very likely vote for President Obama again based on what he inherited from Bush. I have ZERO faith in the Republicans right now.

[samantha34ize]

im sorry to hear that @mkehandgrenade im 30 also im living with my dad in a huge mansion no job but alot of food and entertainment but i have no job too i suffering just like u i have found a job after grad from yale damn i hate this world i haye my fakefriend i hate myself some time too

[nowthatsinteresting1]

The unemployment rate in Mexico is 5.5%. The US is close to 9% (or much higher, depending on whether you believe the official figures or not!). So which is the third world country? By the way, the unemployment rate for Afghanistan in 100%!! Thanks USA for 'freeing' the country into total poverty! Free market shmarket...

[PastorBillSuttcliff]

Americans don't seem to realize the USA has two things going for us that many other Western countries don't - a huge market of Christians, & the ability to be self-employed. 4 years ago i was unemployed. i noticed how easily churches got money from their congregation, & tax-free status from the government, so i started a Christian ministry. Now i have 200 people in my congregation, all giving me money. Some even sign over their welfare checks, lol! See my channel.

[nowthatsinteresting1]

@PastorBillSuttcliff Very enterprising, and well done for identifying a market niche. In the UK, we'd think your solution to unemployment was unnacceptably cynical, but I suppose morality varies according to how desperate you are. I'm assuming that your congregation doesn't read comments on youtube...

[PastorBillSuttcliff]

@nowthatsinteresting1 A fair number of my congregation are low income, so no personal computers. The homeless ones I let sleep in the building's basement in return for their welfare checks. Or, if they have a cute sister, then that will suffice instead.

[nowthatsinteresting1]

@PastorBillSuttcliff So those can pay, you take their money - the others have to give you their sister. The American dream in action. What a country.

[mkehandgrenades]

what a good guy. any employer should realize this kind of person would do their best if they are desperate like this. my heart goes out to you paul =(

i havent been able to find a job for 3+ years since i got put in the hospital my senior year. yep what a way to start a life. no job with a head injury just graduating high school.

[TheDarkHadoken]

@mkehandgrenades i feel your pain,i have been living in a boarding house with my mother and havent held a full time job since 2005, i have worked here and there but its hard.keep your head up. in the boarding house where the rent is $150 a month,dont have a car,no cell phone,no money,no friends cuz im poor,my entertainment comes from downloading movies/games/books/comics from online,no inetrnet(my gf lets me use heres from time to time),hardly no food to eat,and im 30 years old.smile

[MrsSarb]

@jdub00776 The unemployment will go down simply because that's how they calculate the numbers. It doesn't mean that people are back working again though. The unemployment numbers are a joke. The numbers have been skewed on purpose. The same goes for the rate of inflation.

[LONEBLUE25]

He seems like a weirdo(social outcast)...I think you gota be a socially accepted person to have opportunities aswell. It's not what you know, it's who you know.

[latintiger]

@LONEBLUE25 agreed

[rimmel10]

He can work overseas, nobody stops him from working overseas.

[TheKamikazeMAR]

He seems a great ABC TV newsreader !That why ABC news make fast advert on the background.

[ImoenOfTelengard]

Haha! He uses a Chinese made computer to check his email. Hmm, I wonder if his job was shipped out to China or some other low-wage country? Funny how people want high-wage US jobs but want to purchase only cheap Chinese made goods. You deserve the situation you got yourself into.

[michaelcbuckley20]

Ask yourself? would you employ him, he's constantly moaning. If he was earning 100,000 a year like he said, he should be a very rich man. He's an arrogant man who has probably stepped on many poor heads in his lifetime. I have no pity for him.

[Gator115]

@michaelcbuckley20

When you ASSUME, you make an ASS out of U and ME

[alangentrinapestegui]

the land of opportunity ----- MY ASS!

[hopala007]

Just leave America. I think there is more work in Europe, Canada etc.

He is lucky to speak English. He can go outside.

[billydumont]

Well, Obamanation DID promise change, didnt he? This is infact a BIG change for most Americans, to be working and earing enough, to being unemployed and getting very little. He never did actually specify if it would be a positive change, we just assumed so. We are indeed getting what he promised!

[davehutchinson67]

@billydumont Your kidding right? The reps have blocked EVERY single measure he has attempted to extend jobless benefits..invest in infrastructure and so on...The gov of NJ just cancelled a billion dollar train upgrade that has been needed for decades. Infrastructure is the answer. Raw materials are cheap. We need to get off foreign oil and I mean..How much more of the corporate money machine to we have to listen to?

[geehuckwow]

Uncle Sam needs to hire ALL unemployed at $15/hr to build FREE and no tax housing to citizens. All taxation must be received from non-essential sales tax only! No more prisons, .. put repeat criminals on on island to fend for themselves. No more public paid schools. All politicians (including me) work for free! End of all problems right there.

[09reason]

Why hasn't Obama who claims he wants more high paying jobs get advice from the Govenor of Texas? FACT: For the past 18 months, the Lone Star State created More

jobs that the other 49 states COMBINED. And they're not GOVERNMENT JOBS. Obama cannot admit that conservative principals solve economic malise. He doesn't want to save one job except his own.

[kramnrublaw]

Not going to be able to retire? Welcome to the majority my friend. Life isn't fair, for some people.

[TheBlizzardcat]

Stop with the whining!

Big egos suffer bigger losses.

Welcome to real world.

Now it's some of our turns to look down our noses at you!

Poetic justice...

[TheBlizzardcat]

Get over your whiny selves. You thought you were all that when the getting was good.

Now?

Poetic justice.......

[AvilAlite]

Globalization is hell on Earth. No Sovereignty no income!

[BroadCastTuber]

This was what people also did during the Great Depression, they wore sandwich signs in hope of people seeing it and hiring them.

Not a bad idea, but it takes too much time.

Our economy is not as bad as the Great Depression, in fact it is far better, but finding jobs is still very hard.

[pgthinker007]

Time to learn Chinese or Portugese. Do not expect job growth in English speaking countries.

[Trevrz1]

@pgthinker007 you're right dude

[BosniaMaggot666]

jobless in the usa? go to germany and you see the real problem with jobless people 85. million population and over 5. million jobless.

[ticks4ticks4]

@BosniaMaggot666 or Greece?

[FluxCapacitor2008]

We need to make and buy things that are made in the US. Have some pride in things that are made in our country. I know some people will have 10 reasons why they buy foreign but keep in mind that we need jobs. You may not be out of a job now but if we keep on the road we are on, you or someone you love or know will be jobless.

[glocker8888]

stuff made in the USA is junk

nobody wants to buy something that's going to fall apart

if americans weren't so god dam lazy & careless & took a little pride in their work & didn't worry so much about their stupid UNIONS sucking as much as it can out of the company, then maybe they'd make quality product

but until that happens (no anytime soon unfortunately) then I'm buying FOREIGN-MADE

[chrisolava112066]

@glocker8888 yet we buythings made in china ...whats the diff. what quality things does china make?....

[glocker8888]

@chrisolava112066 what's the diff?

Oh I don't know. How about THE PRICE?

Have you walked through a Walmart lately? Try picking up random items. Literally EVERYTHING except canles & US flags are made in China.

And the ONLY reason the flags aren't made there anymore is that's the only thing Americans won't buy unless it's made in the USA.

Walmart stocks inventory from PRC only due to one reason only: it's the CHEAPEST. Why buy USA junk when u can buy China junk cheaper?

[chrisolava112066]

@glocker8888 Im pro union at heart , but I have to agree that Unions are not progressing at what they were originally intended to do , and that was for safe working conditions and a fair wage. Not like what they have become like the United fed of teachers. A teacher cant fired for poor performace because he/she is "tenyard" or what ever it is called . thats just B/S. I hate them. or like what GM had with its "JOB BANK" .That is abuse and thus is a Black eye to unionism. A fair work = fair pay

[glocker8888]

@chrisolava112066 Go start a company manufacturing some part to sell here in the US. Use american labor.

Now try to compete with the guy next door who's SALES OFFICE is in the US but who's FACTORY is in China or Mexico.

You cannot compete using American labor. It's as simple as that.

He doesn't have to pay SS, workman's comp, fight w/the union, spend all his time filling out gov FORMS etc etc.

USA is ANTI-BUSINESS and NOT A FREE COUNTRY.

Ron Paul 2012

[Hikaru2g]

Wow you seriously need a better hobby other than being a Bigoted fool.

[glocker8888]

@Hikaru2g you're cyberstalking

[Hikaru2g]

@glocker8888, that would be you and you're slandering people just to let you know it's illegal

[chrisolava112066]

ok vist the the company I work for web's site. Delta sheet metal a pj mechanicl afiliate. we are an american company making american made sheet metal product with american made sheet metal and this company is making millions every year and btw we are all unionized here. btw i made 87k w/o much o/t. there is plenty money out there for everyone exceopt that the capatallistthat rus this country we live in wants to hoard it all for the rich and the working class gets the shaft.

[glocker8888]

Da, Comrade!

Long Live the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!

[lavaboy23]

Yeah it sucks.

[Gabrielitodlp]

92000 a year?

[maximusdecimus888]

The first thing I would do is move as far away from New York as I could afford.

[rickbar123]

end nafta end free trade

shut the door on china

he goes back to work today

[KhmerSerey1]

Hang in there Paul !!! best of luck man....

[chicagobartenda]

AP photographer Julie Jacobson is slime, and the AP is sees no lines when it comes to ethics and money.

[dustinstahl]

Best of luck to this brave man in the video and to everyone else out there who are looking for a job. Been out of work for 5 months now with a few interviews, havent secured a position yet so I understand...hopefully this man's story has a happy ending.

[admir2323]

Im jobless, i hade to move back to my parents.

[jenniferashley99]

I got laid off and then they rehired me again but part-time..they cut my hours lost my unemployment and lost weight lack of eating. Its horrible. Never saw myself living like this.

[bjarczyk]

It's not just about jobs, it's about power!

[TheFrenchers]

Check out "money makes you crazy" on youtube,  it's a song about whats going on right now!

[8Anya8]

Ive been unemployed for 6 months.

Employers need to refrain from hiring cheap labor/illegal aliens,whom I have observed to be slipshod in their quality of work.

America is being destroyed from within and as long as the masses remain complacent about the influx of illegal immigrants and bend over to them and fail to stand up to this,to name but one,nothing will change.

[crypticjim]

You won't have to worry about them hiring illegals, they'll just ship the whole job over seas or south of the border. We're fucked.

[mimiquan]

I'm a LEGAL British immigrant, moved to the US with my American spouse under a year ago. The situation in America is identical in the UK---people this guy's age are queuing at university job fair events, they're desperate too. I've been out of work all year which has kept me from earning anything,integrating,meeting new people and everything else a job secures.

[ticks4ticks4]

@crypticjim Exactly. "Maquiladoras", or "multi-national corporations". Cheap labor--outsource to prison camps in Asia, or factories in Mexico/other Central American countries--less than minimum wage; no workers comp; often lax environmental/OSHA requirements.

[TheFibonacci13]

Poor guy. Hope he gets a job quickly. I wish him the best

[hagadaba]

much love to this guy for being so brave. I've been out of work for almost 5 months and im down to my knees. A lot of employers dont even bother to reply and have had only several interviews so far

[maworeb]

The man is obviously gay, just perform oral sex for pay.

[nsewx]

why are major colleges still open?.. it's all down hill folks.

[myownmedia]

hahahaa... its been 5 months iam also looking for a job my friend.. :(

[tedGEGI]

thank you Banks---thank you Wall Street---and most of all, thank you George W. Bush

[tony232cool]

His last sentence should resonate to all of us! We are all being duped to throw money away into our "401K" plans and keep them there untill our "retirement". This guy understands it, he will never retire and neither will most of us.

[HmoobNewWave]

yeah!! My heart goes out 2 ppl that dont have job and struggling 1 day at a time....i hear businesses close out from left 2 right and etc...i think we'll c more ppl on the strreet doing bussiness on they own if yall no what i mean

[beancube2008]

Told you not to build up monopoly. They are bubbles in the name of American business. Creating non-profit organizations that can be built with technology and serve living, community and business. It is not charity, it is way of community lifeline. Don't isolate oneself, it distributes burdens among people so headach issues reflect immediate statistics and post to State Government level. Must open system, voice immediate needs, solutions and loop holes.

[poetlorryit]

You talk like a loser and act like a loser you've got no chance.

[blibbit]

You have a good point.

But he, like myself have

zero connections.

[TheWarlord25]

I hope everyone could look up 'wage slavery' on the internet. It means "work for a boss or face poverty/starvation". That's not freedom.

Americans are forced labor, so a few industrialists/capitalists can push your face in the mud,

squander your money,

control every aspect of your lives,

and give money to politicians to make laws so you won't engage in any conscious expanding activites.

That's why hippies, communism and drug use is so FRIGHTENING to these people!

[sms1234]

hey anyone looking for a job?? me and my senior associates are looking for employees..we all know the economy is bad rite now..but not all companies are doing bad..some are actually doing well..well i have new offices all over the East coast..and me and my senior associates are looking for employees soo if you want to know more about what i have to offer please feel free to contact me, my name is Romano.M, i'm from New york..Phone# (347)-707-3999...thank you!!

[debtlifer]

The sheeps been sheared.

Now comes the icy dip.

[PoliticalLee]

Why does YouTube have pop-up ads by doubleclick now? I got one after watching this video?

[ubuibiok]

The 2010 Census A Great Way to Earn Extra Money

Besides good pay, you'll have flexible hours, paid training, and the chance to work within your own community. You'll earn a place in history, as well as work experience you can add to your resume.

Apply today by contacting your Local Census Office or by calling 1-866-861-2010!

[TECHKLEC]

My resume? Thanks, but I don't need one of those anymore.

[leepakim]

he made 93.000 USD a year...and he is almost homeless? where are you savings or did you just spend it ALL???

[allgoo19]

leepakim:

There are many people who had their money in investment lost it almost over night.

You don't see it by looking around until you happen to talk to them and they telll you.

[mystykit]

If he lives in NYC, the cost of living is high, so maybe that's where the $ went. In other parts of the country, he could have a home paid for and stuff put away to see him through a rainy day, maybe a home business. When he says he didn't see it coming, it must have been all positive news from his company, telling their employees it would never end. Good that he's healthy and strong. Millions have downsized their lives to survival level. Nice that people are kind to him on the streets of NYC.

[ladylilalouise]

Seeing as this is my father, I'd be happy to answer that. My mother is partially disabled and on 15 medications (even with insurance isn't cheap) Also he's been out of work before which emptied his 401k and any savings he had. We eat one meal a day and have a broken car for my mom's wheelchair, where do you suggest we cut back?