When President Obama and J.P. Morgan introduced the 100,000 Jobs Mission I was extremely excited because I was planning to propose to my girlfriend soon and the idea of career opportunities would make that possible. (I’ve since proposed in light of the fact that I don’t have a job). I immediately called the J.P. Morgan recruiters and sent over my resume. The problem was that the only jobs they were recruiting for were short term opportunities that dubiously ended after tax season ended. Using tax incentives to increase job growth is what we did hundreds of years ago. Haven’t we thought of something better yet?
Obama’s track record so far has been to use corporations as instruments to boost the economy in place of the Keynesian spending recommended by most economists. It’s easy to blame this on Obama but it is a systemic problem. When my GI Bill was not paying and many veterans going to school in New York were getting evicted from their apartments, the relief check of $3,000 came from a corporation as well.
A friend from my creative writing class wrote an article about that time period and I was quoted as saying “Calling the VA is like calling the radio station to get a prize.”
The irony was that the GI Bill was something that I earned in my service and not something that I should have been waiting for like a game show prize. Since then I have applied to several of the employers listed as “military-friendly employers” but I’m starting to think that it’s a PR scam. I have over 10 years work experience. I have a degree from a top tier school with honors. I have numerous awards and recommendations and commendations but no one seems to care. Most of the time I can’t get even get an interview.
You’ll forgive me if I’m not optimistic about President Obama’s job plan. At the beginning of his term he sponsored a smoking cessation bill that was written by RJ Reynolds so they get market share from other brands. The only ones who benefited from the so-called healthcare reform were the pharmaceutical giants. If we don’t get this country under control the Jetson’s future we all anticipated will be a wasteland where only a small portion of the population will afford to be healthy while the rest of us are farmed like a disposable resource.
