There is so much hype and spin about the economy right now, a fella can be excused for being confused. To believe the partisan Spin-Meisters, THE RECESSION IS OVER–yay!–and all’s well that ends well.

Right. Tell that to the millions (like me) who are still out of work with no prospects in sight. If you want the truth, you have to adjust for what I call PMB–Partisan Media Bias.

I say “partisan” advisedly. Like most people, I don’t like to be partisan either, but I’ve lived long enough to see the repeated pattern: When Republicans are in office, the Partisan Media are awash with stories about homeless people, heartless politicos and seniors eating Alpo. When Dems are in office, it’s Camelot. In the former case, they talk the economy DOWN; in the latter, they talk the economy UP. Shangri-La is just around the corner, etc. Do you really believe that? (Me neither.)

So, we’re going to look at some hard numbers and real situations in the coming week, and you can make up your own mind. If you think I’m skewing things, go ahead and challenge. But I warn you: We’ll be dealing in hard facts, not good intentions or other intangible warm-fuzzies.

Meanwhile, on a personal note, I want to introduce another feature to “Back to Work!”: The Testimonial.

The testimonial

After one of my Cleveland presentations, a young lady named Debi went out of her way to affirm me and what we’re trying to do. How gratifying to see reflected back so clearly everything we’re trying to accomplish. To wit:

Last week on Monday, Oct. 19th you spoke with Grace Job Seekers NetWORK’s (Middleburg Hts, Ohio) members and shared your stories on unemployment. Your stories and presentation were motivating, honest and uplifting You’re still with me as I enjoy reading your book!

During this journey, so many people have shown care, support and provided great networking opportunities. What’s so inspiring is people truly want to help; it’s humbling. These wonderfully caring and supportive individuals are what I call luminaries. And that is what you are, Steve. A luminary in every sense of the word.

After I thanked her for another confirmation that this is the direction I need to be moving fulltime, Debi responded even more emphatically:

To have you out there fulltime would be an incredible help and comfort to so many. Please don’t hesitate! And you might want to consider interactive workshops - I can tell you are easy to talk with, you listen and understand what people need. Go for it!

After something like that, how can we not?

OK, this may seem a little off topic, but not really. Between Cap and Trade and the nationalization of our health care industry–one seventh of our economy–the Obama administration’s economic policies can best be described in two words:

Job Killers.

This reminds me of a really bad dream: Cleveland in the late 1970s under Tin Foil Hat Boy Mayor Dennis Kucinich, now an ultra-liberal UFO-watching congressman. For the sake of far left principles, Cleveland became the first major U.S. city to default on its credit obligations. Only a Berkeley city councilman would relate to this.

Then in the early ’90s I became a PR operative for Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Ohio. One of my tasks was to help stop Hillary-care during the Clinton administration. What an eye-opener, having just lived through the living free-market lessons of the Reagan administration.

If I were to write a book about health care in America today, it would be about a system that should be the envy of the world. The only problem is our CNN-conditioned popular culture wouldn’t buy it. None of which alters the real truth: The U.S. free-market health care system is–or by rights should be–the envy of the world.

Because of its fiscal and technological resources, our health care system generates most of the medical advances in the world. It also serves as a safety valve for other nations (Canada, Saudi Arabia, etc.) whose delivery systems fall short of state of the art. Once that’s gone, hello take-a-number motor vehicle license bureau-style health care.

Personally, I view this is as the biggest public policy issue of our time. Whenever health care services become a line-item in a governmental budget, the cost-containment mechanism is always rationing of services, because tax dollars are finite. And because three fourths of health care dollars are spent on the chronic health conditions of the elderly, it always means Killing Granny by denial (or delay) of services. They won’t call it Death Panels because they won’t have to. It will be Balancing the Budget.

Please, please, don’t let our government go down that road. Our health care system right now is light years better than that.

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. If you can’t see the lighter side of being out of work, you might be wound too tight. Lighten up, for your own sake.

One of the questions I get on the speaking circuit is some variation of “Yes, but how do you deal with the stress of being out of work?” It’s a great question, and there are many answers. One of the best is exercise. Getting and staying fit will work wonders for your mental/emotional outlook. The problem is most people just aren’t going to do it. Period, end of story.

So, here’s what I tell people now: Learn to laugh again. You may have to work at that. What tickles your funnybone? Go there early and often.

Dave Barry can do it for me. So can Tim Conway and Mr. Bean. An outdoors writer named Patrick McManus is so funny, he sends my wife into near hysterics. During my first unemployment I combined humor with fitness. For half an hour a day I’d ride the stationary bike and watch old Dick Van Dyke Show episodes. That got the endorphins going every time.

Other personal favorites: “My Little Buttercup” from Three Amigos and Steve Martin’s “King Tut” song. LOL time. Oh, and if you’re a Christian and haven’t seen any of Tim Hawkins’ videos, you haven’t lived. All these are on YouTube. I’d love to hear your faves.

And laugh at yourself. If you can do that, you’re going to make it, no matter what life throws at you. I tell this story every chance I get:

The highlight of my day is the afternoon mail delivery. Mailman comes. Dog barks. Steve boogies out to the box, hoping to find some kind of manna. Several months ago I got two very interesting pieces of mail on the same day. One was a No. 10 window envelope concerning important state business, and the other was a postcard.

The first piece was from the state unemployment office, notifying me that my regular unemployment benefits had expired, but I was eligible to apply for emergency extended benefits. The postcard was from an organization called the Neptune Society, wanting to sell me pre-paid cremation services. In fact, the card informed me, if I registered now, I would be entered in a drawing for a free cremation. I spent the next several days asking everybody’s opinion on which offer I should take–extended unemployment or free cremation?

Yeah, that’s a little dark, but so is being out of work. The story always gets a laugh. It still gives me a chuckle, too. We need that. My old pastor back in Ohio used to like to say, “When you get all wrapped up in yourself, it’s a pretty small package.” Unwind.

Back to Work! on the Hugh Hewitt Show has been postponed again. Looking at next week at this point. Sorry for the confusion. But that’s show biz…

I’m in the process of compiling a list of up to 75 people (with mailing addresses) of people who should receive “Back to Work!” as a promotional gimme from the publisher–ideally people who are in a position to influence others in their book purchasing decisions. Suggestions welcome. Post in the comment field here or send to steve@back2workbook.com.

It is the policy of this Web site to offer continually new, refreshed and updated content as close to daily as physically possible. And we intend to get right back to that, starting now!

For the past two weeks we’ve been in YORB land (Ye Olde Rust Belt), combining family vacation with book promotion events. I did two radio interviews and spoke at two churches in the Cleveland area. The Jim Pfaff Show interview aired on October 9, as we were driving out of Colorado. (I’m seeing if Jim will post a podcast link for us.)

The other two radio opportunities were with Jan Markowitz of FM103.3 WCRF (Moody) and Glenn Mertz (”Living the Word”) of AM1220 WHK (Salem). I will post an update as soon as I know the Hugh Hewitt interview is back on.

Meanwhile, Moody has been busy promoting Back to Work! as a title it expects big things of. Today a news release went out to 70,000 media contacts, which ought to kick the publicity offensive into high gear:

Unemployment – A life-changing trauma

Since the current recession began in December 2007, the American economy has lost a staggering total of 6.5 million jobs. The unemployment rate is hovering near 10% for the first time in over a quarter-century. And still, each month, several hundred-thousand more people are losing their jobs. It seems as if words like “hope” and “opportunity” have gone the way of our economy.

More: http://www.mpnewsroom.com/?p=817

There’s just oh-so-much more in the works, we’ll just have to keep adding & updating here…

Postponed:

Steve Adams is being re-scheduled for a guest interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show next week to discuss “Back to Work!”

Stay tuned!

NEWS

Oct. 7, 2009 – Older workers received good news yesterday of a Congressional challenge  to a Supreme Court decision in June of this year that many say encourages age discrimination in the workplace. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Congressman George Miller (D-CA), introduced legislation they say restores vital civil rights protections for older workers in the face of the Supreme Court’s decision. http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Politics/2009/20091007-PowerfulCongressional.htm

The fact is that unemployment affects those over age 55 disproportionately. They are significantly over-represented among laid-off workers. And once out of work, it takes them significantly longer to find another job. According to a USA Today article referenced here recently, “The loss of a job for an older worker can erase the dominant income of a middle-class family, wipe out savings as retirement nears and deny aging people health insurance when it’s needed most.”

To put a human face on it, take a look at John Stannard.  Stannard, 61, is one of seventeen plaintiffs in an age-discrimination suit against the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory (KAPL) in Niskayuna, New York, where he performed pressure testing for nuclear containment systems until a major cut in the workforce.

But get this: The layoffs occurred in 1995. The middle-aged workers won an initial court victory in 1997, but the case has been on appeal ever since. In the meantime, two of the original plaintiffs have died. Stannard believes courts should give special consideration in age cases. “Time is definitely not on our side,” he said.

Stannard’s family has been devastated. His son had to drop out of pharmacy school for lack of funds. Stannard testified to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):

When I was laid off, I felt completely betrayed. . . . In desperate need of money, I took the only job readily available, which was a janitor position at KAPL. I was cleaning the wastebaskets of my former colleagues. I also took a nearly 50 percent wage cut. I was very humiliated.

Stannard’s health also deteriorated with a series of stress-related ailments. Is this what older jobless workers have to look forward to? As it stands now, it would seem so.

Fortunately for the victims, God sees–and his heart is with the downtrodden. Unfortunately for America, we could pay a steep price as a nation for this kind of unrectified injustice. The God of the universe sees.

UPDATE: We take the show on the road in a few days with an expedition deep into the heart of the Rust Belt, touching the green, green grass of home in Buckeye land. It’s originally a vacation to see our son and daughter-in-law, but I think it will pass IRS muster for business.

We’re scheduled to speak on Oct. 14 at Hope Alliance Bible Church in Maple Heights, near Cleveland,  and then Oct. 19 at Grace Church (C&MA) in Middleburg Heights, a West Side Cleveland suburb. In between, we’re expecting an engagement downstate in Plain City. It’s a great demographic distribution–suburban middle class, urban African-American and rural Mennonite. God is good–an equal opportunity deity.

Prayer request: To mulitply the time. I’m still working on the PowerPoint presentation while the tyranny of the urgent howls all about.

Ever stop to think why the classified ads are so unproductive a medium in the job search? Since my layoff months ago, I’ve sent out more than 200 separate applications–and no more than two of them came from a classified ad. (Actually, I only remember one, but I’m trying to be fair.)

There may be a reason for that: They’re the jobs nobody wants or nobody qualifies for–so, they have to advertise. Here in Colorado, for example, I keep seeing the same ad in both the Denver and Colorado Springs papers for “Dog Sled Mushers” for Aspen. Apparently, no mobs are beating a path to mush the huskies and “enjoy the outdoors.”

The good jobs–ones that don’t involve being checked for ticks–usually don’t necessarily have to be advertised. My wife, for example, is the director of nursing for a long-term care facility. The facilities and the recruiters all know who’s who, and when a vacancy occurs, they get on the phone and call the usual suspects, including Mary Jane, with the enticing offer. Or a DON looking to make a move calls them. It’s called networking.

The wags used to say it’s not what you know, but who you know–with more than a grain of truth. It might be more accurate to say it’s who you know AND what you know. You still have to be qualified. And none of this is to say don’t read classified ads. Just don’t stop there–network. Sure, it’s more challenging if you’re trying to do it from the unemployment line, but all the more reason to work harder at it.

The law of large numbers (as well as something called degrees of separation) comes into play here. Experts say every individual has a personal network of 500 to 1,000 acquaintances. If you multiply that by the personal network of those individuals, we’re talking 250,000 to 1 million people in the second degree. You may not know the hiring manager for XYZ Corp., but chances are you know somebody who does–or somebody who knows somebody who does.

As one who used to hire (and fire), I’m here to tell you that the personal touch is a huge tiebreaker betweeen applicants of similar experience and skills. One of the best hires I made was a guy who came back at the end of the workplace tour to sell me some more and make me understand how much he really wanted this job. I could tell it was for real, and it decided it for me right there. And by the way, it’s usually good advice to target an organization you’d really like to work for and get to know its people any way you can, including doing volunteer work there.

The networking principle also applies to our human needs for socialization. A condition called relational deprivation is an occupational hazard, so to speak, of unemployment. But that’s a subject for another time.