The latest meme -- "Forget trying to find a job...start a business." WTF?

[Atman]

The script has been handed out. All the GOP candidates and corporate media talking heads are on message; all you have to do is find a niche and fill it, and *poof* you'll be "employed." Never mind that most small startups fail. Never mind that it takes money, often serious money, to start and run a viable business, money which the long-term unemployed are unlikely to have. "Just go start a business and one day maybe you'll be rich like us!" More likely -- they want you to start a lawn mowing or maid service so you can work for them on the cheap and the won't have to hire Mexicans.

[WinkyDink]

1. SOMEbody has to step in for Don Lapre! Wait; aren't the RICH the "job creators"???

[KansDem]

2. Well, I could try to sell reefers but the "big boys" already have that market sewn up...

And they even have CIA help!

[RKP5637]

4. And they keep it illegal so as to keep the prices up and Big Pharma happy. American

business.

[KansDem]

6. "And they keep it illegal..."

Not to mention the benefits enjoyed by the private prison trade...

[RKP5637]

18. Yep, prisons, enforcement, cheap prison labor, lawyers, the judicial system ... a lot

of people are parasites of profit by keeping it illegal.

[defendandprotect]

9. +1 --

[Occupied1]

15. and they bust the folks who try to muscle in on their monopoly -- the real war on drugs

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. You know why?

Look south of the border. If you are selling gum in the street corner... magically you are now employed and we don't need to count you on them pesky statistics.

[OmahaBlueDog]

5. This comes up in every economic downturn

In a broad and simple sense, it is part of the economic cycle:

The economy turns down> old businesses fail> unemployment rises> new businesses rise from the talent pool of the unemployed> new businesses grow> the economy turns up and unemployment falls.

Some businesses do require serious money, but others like pool service, maid service, lawn service, pressure washing, courier service, dog walking service, cat sitting service, and a host of others require very little in the way of start-up. Loans are available for some franchise opportunities that have good track records. Having said all of that, even in the best of times, these small businesses will require a huge investment of hours, and decent benefits are hard to come by.

[mmonk]

7. Will they provide the capital?

[defendandprotect]

8. Isn't that funny -- !! That's been around a while -- and nice bit of RW propaganda which works ...

in fact, it's old stale and very RW but you can still hear it out there -- !!

[Jkid]

10. How good is that advice if everyone else has the same idea?!

Seriously, they live paycheck to paycheck living instead of starting a business because they don't have any disposable income starting up a business. They think everything is so simple because the people giving the advice have the money to start a business, not the people who don't have income.

As a matter fact, income is the real problem. Not jobs, income!

[HughBeaumont]

17. It, like many of their "ideas", are part of Bumper Stickerese.

Consisting of curt little phrases and ideas, usually centered around faith-based thinking that rings true in the rattle-sounding heads of conservatives, these words of wisdom pretty much falter when logic and odds are applied to them.

Hey, getting a masters and a PhD to stay ahead of the "competition" pretty much works if no one else has the capability of doing it. However, we're fast finding out that all of those people getting all of those degrees isn't making our society better. Instead of valuing a degreed society, bosses and executives only see them as "dime-a-dozen" commodities to be thrown in a competition pool with other MBAs and PhDs, including our lower cost counterparts overseas. Instead of using that education for advancement and R&D, they play games with it, throwing desperate overeducated people into a competitive pool instead of employing them.

The same thing goes for business - yeah, working for yourself sounds like a great idea . . . if you can beat the 1 in 10 odds of success. If you have a product or service and have a constant audience FOR that product or service. If you can work 16 hours a day sometimes. If you can likely do without vacation. If you can manage lower amounts of income one month and higher amounts the next. If a corporation doesn't automatically have you at a cost disadvantage.

It's not for everyone. In fact, it's not for most people. If we don't have constant income, better wages and more long-term sustainability, Capitalism FAILS. It's going to take a balanced mix of entrepreneurs AND workers to right this ship again. We can't all do each other's hair, paint each other's houses, construct each other's furniture or clean each other's house. The more people in the pool, the more sullied the waters become.

[Maeve]

11. Both my husband and I have our own businesses--not enough

When he lost his "day job" we lost our insurance and can't afford to replace it in the current market. We are still current on our mortgage, not behind on any bills, but we're running as fast as we can to stay in one place and hoping he can find something with a steadier income and benefits. If one of us gets sick, we're sunk.

[defendandprotect]

12. Best employment for Americans is ridding the nation of this corporate/fascism ... AND ...

the candidates and elected officials who have some themselves and our

government out to them --

Who voted for a Dem Party under THIRD WAY control?

Jonathan Cowan, Pres. Third Way on C-span last week --

"Our position is that 'the base is to be ignored' --

and that "populis discussion/debate is the equivalent of Karl Rove

extremist propaganda" ---


And he speaks with the authority of someone who knows he represents a lot of

wealth -- and a lot of totalitarian power!!!



Yikes!

[truedelphi]

20. "Yikes!" is definitely the word for these

Authoritarian yahoos who have sacked our democracy, for the sake of their egos
and their need for power.

[On the Road]

13. It Works for Some People

but not all. If you have marketable skills and can advertise on Craigslist, you don't even need much in the way of startup costs.

Where I live, a lot of people do renovation, roofing, or other projects either as a supplement to a job, a way of making money between jobs, making money under the table while collecting unemployment or SSI, or in some cases as a longer-term occupation. It is preferable in a lot of ways to simply collecting unemployment and applying for jobs.

It's not stupid thought for an individual, but it is not substitute for good economic policy. A politician who is running for president should NOT be saying that bad unemployment is the fault of the individual.

[CTyankee]

21. Back in 09 I was asked by a faculty member at a local college if I was interested in

teaching a course to undergrads in the English dept. as an adjunct, because she liked the idea I had for a modern poetry course which was a little offbeat. I was tempted to do it but I had retired and my real interest was teaching (as a volunteer) in the local Learning in Retirement program in my area. I may have made a mistake. I could pick up some money I could use for travel and I might get a nice group of really interested students. I was also a bit afraid, since I had never taught a full class of students (only small groups for ESOL).

I guess my point is that if you have a subject that you know very well and have the necessary credentials, you can offer to teach it. Adjuncts are poorly paid and pretty stressed but this was in an "accelerated degree" program, where courses are two months in duration. With my retirement income as my real base, the poor pay would help pay for something else I might need. I realize that adjuncts w/o any other source of income are very much exploited.

[Occupied1]

14. Mexican lawn services are charging more now (a lot of the competition went home when the economy

crashed) -- so maybe we're supposed to compete with them to drive the prices down again

[Skidmore]

16. Takes capital and we ain't got none....

That's the first thing that comes to mind. Then the second thing that comes to mind is, that for those who want to blow up the system, this seems to be the every crisis is an opportunity argument. Reinvent.

I'm so ambivalent about that argument though. The only way something like that could possibly work is if people start their own financial system using different rules while they are starting jobs. Putting banks out of business while starting our own.

[RKP5637]

19. Wanna start a business, have we got a deal for you, charge it, and just give

us 23% interest, you're a risk, but we'll help you ... but not to worry, we've got lots of cash, we get it at 0%! Your friendly banker. And our risk, oh, not to worry, we'll package your debt as derivatives (and make more cash). See how helpful we are ... and we can always get a bailout, 'cause we own the gov. too!