A TOUCHING REACTION TO "SUMMATION: WHEN MEN WON'T WORK AND THE WOMEN WHO CARRY THEM!

A TOUCHING REACTION TO “SUMMATION: WHEN MEN WON’T WORK AND THE WOMEN WHO CARRY THEM!

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.

© April 1, 2011

REFERENCE:

This is a response to a reader who read a missive published earlier today.

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A READER WRITES:

Jim,

It is indeed very sad. 

Our throwaway society now extends to its people.  I’ve a brother who was let go at age 61 from a terrific executive job; the company then went bankrupt (read no COBRA Ins.). 

He was educated, multi-talented, and “played by the rules” all his life, but today’s companies simply refuse to hire people his age.  (He and his wife are currently in the process of moving to Mexico.)

My sister with MS (and who has an MS degree) is a Social Worker. in WI.  Her livelihood is now jeopardized, due to a punk governor who’d rather kiss the Koch Bros. ass than complete his own college education!  

 

I had to leave the room when a retired union-worker-nephew railed on & on at a family reunion about HIS employees {public workers} who belong to AFSCME and make “too much.”  -  Such pomposity!

Thankfully, our children remain healthy and all draw paychecks, but their lives are full of stress & anxiety (48-58 hrs./wk.), and they’ve hardly any of the leisure time that we enjoyed at their age.

A good friends’ son, unable to secure decent employment, became “Mr. Mom” to his four children, and does so beautifully!  Hopefully, it won’t last forever, but they make it work for them at present.

Jim, I guess I just want to say that people are doing now what most of us have always done… the best they can, given what they’ve got to work with! 

Trouble is, there’s precious little to work with today.  It’s sure as hell not a time to look for ways (via cruel budget cuts) to increase the misery index! 

Thirty-seven other countries manage to afford healthcare for all and still not put seniors out on the street.  If that one worry & expense was taken off Americans’ plates, perhaps the multitude of other problems we have might get on the path to being solved as well.

All the best,

J

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DR. FISHER RESPONDS:

Dear J,

Your short note covers why the DOW Jones Industrials went down 280 points today, why real estate appears to be moving towards a double dip, why unemployment seems fixed at around 9 percent and is unlikely to change anytime soon.

True, countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Great Britain spend half as much as Americans do for healthcare yet they have universal coverage. 

Incidentally, Germans take less than fifty percent as many MRI’s as Americans do.  Collectively, these 37 countries take less than half as many prescription drugs as Americans do, and go to the doctors half as often.  You can imagine the savings.

We live in a country of hypochondriacs who get a nosebleed and go to the doctors, fall down and sprain their knee and have an MRI, and so on.  It is an entitlement mentality with the medical profession and the medical insurance industry as well as the pharmaceutical industry playing on hypochondria to the hilt. 

That said we still have the best medical professionals in the world, but we pay for it.

Your brother is in an unfortunate predicament.  It is what every worker fears once they hit the age of 55.  Your brother seems to be dealing with it in a creative way. 

The fact is, and this should be our real concern, we have seven million Americans unemployed, another seven million underemployed, and another seven million or so who no longer have the energy or the inclination to look for work. 

Like your brother, it is safe to say men in these three categories trusted management and national leadership to protect their jobs and economic well being.  That type of protection is unlikely to ever return. 

Much as I have a problem with the corporate model, these managers and leaders are not bad people, but are caught up in the same history. 

The world has changed.  More can get done with less people.  Said another way, unemployment may hover around ten million unemployed for years to come.  A new economic model needs to be created that includes continuous training and development for all workers all the time to stay on top of trends.  School is never out in the future for anyone. 

You say we have that model now?  Yes, the cosmetic model, but cosmetology will no longer suffice in a world that operates beyond skin deep. 

It is easy to forget that the Internet and the Electronic Age is only decades old.  What will it be like in fifty years?  Rome’s collapse started with mass unemployment. 

Imagine this, if we don’t solve the problem of unemployment, what we see in Yemen, have seen in Tunisia and Egypt, and are seeing now in Syria could be around the corner for our country.  Gated communities could become vulnerable to such attacks, as well as places of business. 

Stability is not a given for the United States anymore than it is for emerging economic powers such as Brazil, China and India.  We have democracy going for us.  Now, all we have to find is the leadership to sustain it.  

You are right about the lack of leisure for Americans.  Most companies provide vacations and sick leave for workers.  The problem is Americans prefer to work than to take leave. 

You say Americans can’t afford to vacation?  That may be true now.  Americans didn’t vacation in the boom years.  They worked more, spent more, and accumulated more evidence of their success with boats and fancy cars, and other accouterments of success.  Now, they are paying for this ostentation.

Incidentally, I am not referring to MEN WHO WON’T WORK when considering men who play Mr. Mom.  There is no more demanding job than being a househusband and prime caregiver of children.  Ask any woman who has tried to juggle being mom, managing a career and being a confidante to her husband.

We muddled through our era, but the demands were of a kinder nature.  The true heroes of our time are people such as your sister with MS (and an MS degree), who don’t falter but stay the course focused on the possible, and for this attention show the rest of us the way. 

Be always well,

Jim

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