While in the process of prepping for an interview for my dream job (please wish me luck, dear Kossacks!) it struck me that deregulation DOES create jobs! Please follow me below the orange swirly for more...
For the last two-plus years, I've been working at a job I despise. Despise. Hate with every fiber of my being. I'm good at it, and I work with some amazing people, but I HATE IT.
Used to be in youth ministry, ELCA. The kids are great; the parents will be the death of you, if the church council doesn't beat them to it. I burned out after a couple of congregations and the death of my daughter; kind of lost the fire for a while, and just didn't have the passion for it anymore. After that, took a couple of part-time jobs, and when one turned to full-time, I stuck with it and wound up in a role I loved (trainer, then training supervisor), and would happily still be doing that, but the US operations were shut down and moved to Canada. sigh. SO I took another "interim" job, and then finally found another position that I loved, also involving training (HR/Safety), and again, would happily still be doing that...but budget cuts eliminated all the safety positions, so out on the streets again, job ended on New Year's Eve Day. I had known I was going to be laid off, and was terrified/ashamed to tell my family, right before Christmas. I said nothing, until I found my current job, passed my piss test (having studied, like a good girl) and was offered a job.
From the training sup position to the interim job, I lost $10/hour. Gained back $2 on the safety hire, wound up with another $2 gain by the time I was laid off, then lost another $3 when hired for the current job, and have since gained back $2. So I'm still down $6 from where I WAS back in 2000...deep sigh
So anyway, there's an opening locally for my DREAM job; it's safety/training related, and in an academic, not corporate, environment (MUCH happier there; used to do some PT work in this field for this same organization, and loved every minute of it). And as I am prepping for my interview, and doing some refresher 'training' for myself, I came across some data related to workplace safety before and after OSHA was enacted late in 1970. (In the two years prior to Nixon's signing this into law, 28,000 people were killed, and 4 million injured, in workplace accidents. Just one of the little factoids I ran across in the process of prepping.)
So it seems that in one sense, deregulation WILL create jobs: doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, paramedics, and funeral home personnel will be needed to deal with the increased number of injuries and deaths that will result in the removal of safety regulations. Then there are all those who will fall ill from salmonella, mad cow disease, e.coli, etc., since our food and water will no longer be governed by burdensome regulations. (Never mind that it will put the people responsible for training/enforcing those regulations will be put out of work; it will create jobs for those in the medical and end-of-life industries, so that counts for something, right??) yet another, even deeper sigh
I'm so disgusted by the lie that tax cuts create jobs, that deregulation creates jobs...it's such bullshit. And I'm so tired of struggling to make a living, and of going backwards, while my expenses are rocketing higher and higher, full speed ahead. I'm sick to death of politicians pandering to big business and those with big bank accounts. I'm sick to death of hearing about the "consumer confidence" problem.
News flash: Low consumer confidence is a symptom. Low consumer INCOME is the disease. The pathogen that causes that disease is corporate and personal greed.
I really want this job! I want to get up in the morning looking forward to going to work! I want to use my ability and education and experience and passion! I want to be able to meet my expenses and not be freaking out every damn week wondering if the money will last until next payday (any unexpected expense more than $100 bucks is a near-disaster at this point).
I know I'm lucky to HAVE a job, when so many don't. I know I shouldn't be bitching.
But I really really cannot do this any more, it's going to kill me.
Deregulation would make my dream job go away.
I really need this job. It will save my sanity. It will save my home. It will save my life.
Mon Jun 27, 2011 at 4:12 PM PT: Dear Kossacks! I got the job!! I GOT THE JOB!! I get to do what I love, all the time, every day, for a decent salary...OMG. Thanks to all for the good wishes, and my hopes and prayers are with all those who are still waiting for the kind of news I got today. I'm so grateful; I feel as though the weight of the world has been lifted off me. May all who are still looking for work feel that same way soon.