The Success Of The Reagan Revolution - Career Over By 45 For Men & 39 For Women

[chervilant]

7. I am living proof

that St. Ronnie--figurehead that he was--succeeded in helping the Corporate Megalomaniacs corrupt our nation.

Every job I've held in the financial arena, the most recent being in mortgage lending, has been challenging to my integrity and morals: typical of the corporatists who lie, cheat, and oppress at every opportunity.

Early in my halcyon days of employment, I worked briefly for a wealthy investor who ran a robust fishing rod manufacturing business into the ground, even as he attempted to move it to Puerto Rico, where labor costs were a fraction of what he was paying the country folk who desperately needed their jobs. When I made him aware that it was costing him almost $5 to produce a rod that he sold to his SOLE customer for less than $3, he went back to the city and committed suicide.

I tried non-profit work, until a colleague brought in a new board member, who began making policy decisions unilaterally (in violation of a federal grant and the agency's by-laws). After he began sexually harassing me (in part because I found out he was a convicted embezzler who owed our county almost $40,000), I tendered my resignation.

I've spent the last four years in an accelerated teacher certification program. I am appalled at the caliber of 'administrators' in public education, but I realize they must jump through hoops to meet the absurd standards imposed by NCLB and furthered by RTTT (and this administration's SecEd: Arne "I play basketball" Duncan). I cannot get an interview for a teaching position, because I haven't 'earned' my certification by holding a teaching position for two years--AND because I have an MS, which automatically makes me more expensive for any school district, most of which are running in the red (and have been for years).

Currently, I have been un- or under-employed for the almost four years I've been pursuing certification. I am receiving food stamps for the first time in my life. I am living with a friend I've known since St. Ronnie's reign of terror. I don't know how long she'll be able to give me shelter during this economic storm.

I am 56 years old... no insurance, no income, no home, no hope of a job. I have one final retirement account that I plan to cash in, despite the penalty. That will give me enough to make it through another six months.

After that, who knows...