Days of Change

Day 338 – Comfortable Recessions

I’ve worked during the Bush 41 Administration, the Clinton Administration and the Bush 43 Administration.  In fact, I probably made more during each year of the second Bush Administration than I made during the entire Clinton Adminstration. I had the most annoying time of all finding work during Clinton.

The bad part about Clintonomics was that the MSM assumed that everyone was having a big party during the 90s. There was job growth from day 1. A tech bubble, some CRA accelerant, business spending by companies moving to Mexico, “ending” welfare and temporary Census jobs really made the US look better off than the underlying realities.

So, I not only felt bad about not finding a job, I am criticized to this day by people who think that Bill Clinton was the greatest think since Chicken Fried bread. The longest job I had then was working part-time for (surprise) the State government at minimum wage. No unemployment benefits from working that job.

Bush 43 was another matter. Clintonomics was so awesome that the first five months of Bush were job losses. The MSM ate it up. Bush single handedly ruined the economy on Election Day. The unemployment benefits started to flow. I was able to collect for almost a year then.

Something similar is happening now. 26, to 39, to 52, to 72 weeks in some cases of unemployment for the downtrodden. No meetings, no pressure, no need to even look for a job. You could stay home, do some chores, hang out with friends or move back home.

I’m working now, but the prospect of unemployment only bothers me a little. I imagine its similar to England, where people live on the dole for years. It’s something to do, in between something to do.

I am also experiencing some of that Schadenfreude about the idea. People on unemployment will give up the Chinese made toys for the simple joys of watching that old TV and drinking fresh new beers. That new reserve currency the other countries want will be useless when America pulls out of the world economy. If the world wants to take us down, we’ll just sit back and not work to help them.