We've All Got an Itch to Scratch

Today, President Obama has unveiled a plan calling for the elimination of corporate tax loopholes and tax cuts.  Clearly this is a savvy political move before the election, especially considering many of his possible opponents are advocating similar reductions.

Although we've now experienced two consecutive months of employment gains--a reduction in new unemployment claims--this should not mean we should take our eye off of the problem of unemployment.  Despite a decrease in new claims, we need to ask for statistics about those who are no longer being counted; those who have exhausted their 99 weeks of UI benefits and are no longer a part of official numbers should still be of grave concern for the well being of our nation. We may be officially hovering around 8.5%, but the number is likely much higher.  Millions of Americans are still trying to figure out how to feed themselves; every day they don't work is another day further from landing employment and the longer one is unemployed, the less likely an employer will be to hire that individual.

What are we going to do to turn around this crisis?  In my previous post, I advocated for hiring managers to  take a chance on the unemployed; I even challenged the President to renew the tax cuts he once gave to employers for hiring an individual unemployed longer than eight months.

The Dow is flirting with 13,000, higher than before the Great Recession and clearly much higher than during the Clinton years of prosperity.  Admittedly, I'm not an economist, but as an average guy on Main Street, I have to wonder how the Dow is doing so well but millions of people like me are not.

It's time to play hardball (and not with Chris Matthews); a good old game of "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine."  Instead of simply cutting corporate tax rates for good Presidential PR during an election year, we should be calling for a more comprehensive plan.  If we, the tax payers, are going to scratch the back of corporations by taking on more of the burden they will NOT be paying, they need to scratch ours.

An illustration:  Company ABC will receive a tax credit for every long-term unemployed American hired.  Once the company hires more than X number (predetermined number which can be a fixed number, say 10 or scaled to the size of the business) of the long-term unemployed, they will automatically receive a reduction in their effective rate, dropping it to 25% (the rate being floated as acceptable).

Of course, we would require some sort of mechanism to avoid game players who want to hire and fire, just to reap the benefit of a tax cut.

Let's face it, in many ways, this is much ado about nothing. There are myriad of reports about the number of corporations who are skirting all tax liabilities anyway.  That said, tax cuts are not just a gift that is given because you clamor loud enough and threaten votes. There are roads to upkeep (that facilitate the transport business goods), bridges to maintain, disabled veterans to support and many other necessities to which we, as a country, must contribute to in order to maintain prosperity.  We'll all in this together!

This plan is comprehensive and one from which everyone benefits:  The President gets points with voters for implementing a jobs creation program; the President also garners points with the business community for finding ways to cut taxes; Congress gets points for working together to help both Wall Street and Main Street; Americans win by getting back to work; Business wins by obtaining tax cuts and consumers who will begin spending again.

Cross posted from The HuffPo

Unemployment Humor

I'm not sure where this came from, but a friend sent it to me and I thought it was humorous.  Enjoy!

Take a Chance on the Unemployed

The results of a United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll were just released and they are surprising to read.  Americans appear to have mixed thoughts about helping their fellow Americans. For a country that prides itself on its generosity, this survey may indicate how secretly selfish we may be.  If a discussion is to continue about the future of a social safety net, there must also be a discussion about what to do with those utilizing that safety net.  It’s time to talk about hiring the unemployed.

Let’s face it; hiring any new employee is always risky.  A candidate can tell you anything she wants as to why she is leaving her current organization (no room for growth, seeking more challenging work, etc.) in an effort to shed the best light on herself.  That’s obvious.  Yet, for all you know, her boss was on the verge of firing her for a consistent lack of productivity.  Although your organization tries to establish a process to mitigate hiring risks, it’s never a perfect formula and your process may likely never uncover that she was a poor performer, but you’ll hire her anyway because of her eager attitude and impressive titles.

If the circular file is not an official part of the selection process for unemployed resumes, being unemployed surely holds a negative bias in our collective brains.  It is often equated to being lazy, lacking drive or having a preference to ‘mooch’ off the system.  These are just a few characterizations and judging by the reaction of the audience at Republican debates in response to jabs by the candidates at the unemployed, many 

Americans agree with them. 

It’s time to throw out the stereotypes!

Today’s “unemployed generation” is NOT lazy.  It’s frustrating to hear those who talk about a friend of a friend who once “loved being unemployed for 8 months.” I don’t love it and reading stories like these lead me to believe there are millions of others who don’t either.  I, like the millions of others, have gone from a credit score in the 800s to complete ruin through bankruptcy and foreclosure.  We have applied to the online ads, attended the networking events, used social media and crafted multiple iterations of our resume based on each new blogger’s opinion.  There are even those of us attempting to gain additional skills.  We’re eager and ready to get back to work.

I can attest first-hand to the determination of the unemployed as a participant in the Chicago Career Tech program—a retraining program that includes both classroom training and hands-on learning experience, initiated by former Mayor Richard M. Daley and supported by the business and non-profit communities of Chicago.  My colleagues in this program are just like me and we all hang our hopes to  this program to give us the valuable skills needed to meet the demand of today’s workforce.

At first we were encouraged by the words of Shelley Stern, Citizenship Director for the Microsoft Corporation and Chair of the CCT Board of Directors, who recounted how CCT was born out of a realization by the business community that many jobs, including at Microsoft, were going unfilled over the past few years, despite high unemployment.  This was not due to a lack of labor, clearly, but rather a lack of necessary skills on the part of that unemployed labor.  This program seeks to supplement the already valuable skills possessed by the unemployed for high-demand industries.

Despite the efforts of CCT and our new skills obtained, we continue to find it difficult to land a position.  The rejection continues for a lot of previous participants and despair is setting in.  We ARE trying and we ARE being interviewed, but we continue to be told that we do not have enough or the “right” experience.

Instead of a discussion about removing or reducing the social safety net, thereby creating a deeper problem, let’s talk about how we all can help Americans get back to work.

Here are my challenges:  First, I challenge the President and Congress to re-enact the tax cuts to businesses for hiring the unemployed. Although we are no longer in an official Recession, there are millions of Americans who have been unemployed longer than 8 months.  That’s an awfully long time to go without work when there are bills to pay and mouths to feed.  This may help alleviate long-term joblessness.  If it doesn’t, businesses can no longer complain that they pay too much in taxes, if they pay them at all.

Next, I challenge the Republican nominees to do more than talk.  They are out there each day shaking hands with the unemployed.  Has one of them offered to put them in contact with their influential friends who are likely to be hiring managers with open positions?  If they want us to vote for them and believe they are the one to get the country back to work, start showing us you have experience doing it.

Third, I challenge business owners, HR managers, hiring managers and decision-makers to re-think the old notion that someone who has been unemployed is lazy or unproductive.  Take the risk; you may be pleasantly surprised with the results!

Finally, I challenge all Americans to help their fellow unemployed American.  Patriotism isn’t just putting up a flag on holidays and singing the National Anthem at sporting events. Patriotism is also supporting your fellow citizen.  .  FDR wrote: "In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people. "

President George W. Bush was criticized for not asking Americans to participate in the “war effort.”  So here’s how you can participate in the “unemployment effort:” Check your company’s website to find out what positions are available.  Post them to Facebook or Twitter (use #jobs, for example).  Forward replies to your HR department. This is just one of many examples easily implemented and that helps move us all forward together.

Help a person, help a family, help the country; gamble on the Unemployed!

Visit Del's website for more information about Reframe Shame.

National Mortgage Settlement Already a #Fail

Attorneys General across the country held press conferences this morning to boast their 'victory' against the banks, having come to a settlement called the National Mortgage Settlement.  If you haven't heard, it is an agreement by the 5 big mortgage loan servicers--JP Morgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Ally/GMAC--and the government, which requires the former to pay damages for practices that violated the law and caused the housing bubble burst.  You can find out more information here.

Only hours into the announcement and it appears to be another complete failure, much like the Making Homes Affordable Program from 2009.  I've contacted Chase, as outlined by the NMS website, on three occasions today and none of their representatives have any idea what I'm referring to or what to do.  They are giving me information about my foreclosed property that has nothing to do with the NMS process.  One referred me to their lawyer's office, who also has ZERO clue about this settlement.

So what's going on here?  It looks like another complete failure by both government and the banks.  We always hear the business community tell us that capitalism works and is so great because private industry can do things better and more efficiently than government.  Oh yeah?  Then why is the government making an announcement about an agreement 5 private banks made and yet the banks have no clue about it?  I've worked in a call center before; I've even worked for a banking call center.  When big news is being released, the call center is notified a day or two ahead of time in order to prepare for possible questions and responses.  That would be an efficient business model in my opinion.

It's beginning to look like another case of the run-around, whereby the government gets positive PR out of the housing crisis by appearing 'tough' against the banks.  The banks get positive press out of it because they 'settled' as opposed to getting dragged into court and 'forced' to pay out for their violations of the law.  Good PR for everyone, but empty promises for the average consumer.

It's only day one, but this is already sounding a lot like my experience with the Making Homes Affordable Program, which we all know was a failure!


As a post script, before you comment on this blog about people shouldn't own homes if they can't afford it--like this guy--go back and read my story.  I bought the place with a very well paid job and a lot of money in savings in addition to perfect, pristine credit (in the 800s).  The reason I could no longer afford my mortgage was NOT a result of overextending myself, it was a result of a collapsed economy that prevented me from finding work.  This was also the case for millions of others in America.

What IS Reframe Shame?

Recently, many people have asked me "What exactly IS Reframe Shame?"  I thought it might be a great opportunity to write a blog about it.

Reframe Shame was born out of several ideas that all came together at the same time; it was a perfect storm of sorts.  My last position lasted a mere 6 months.  The organization apparently hired me without fully looking into their financial situation or without a clear view of where things were headed.  I was a part of a dozen or so lay-offs.  During my time there, however, I had the opportunity to work with public speakers.  When I heard many of the motivational and inspirational speakers and their messages, I wondered why I hadn't thought about doing this sooner.

Throughout the 22 months of my first unemployment stint, I was told over and over by people that I should write a book.  I lost my job, my condo to foreclosure and my perfect credit rating to the resulting bankruptcy.  But, I didn't think anyone would really care about what I had to say; my story was one of millions, literally!

Then, however, I began to realize that many people were not taking the same approach to unemployment--and the falling dominos that come with it like foreclosure and bankruptcy--as I had.  When I read these stories, I was both saddened and angered at how our collective, societal mentality drives some people to literally kill themselves.

I began talking to people, both in the speaking industry and elsewhere.  People said I had a story to tell.  I saw that I helped people come out of the woodwork.  Once, I spoke about my plight at a lunch table at a networking function.  Everyone politely listened to me and nodded.  A week later, one of the individuals at the table approached me privately at another event to ask for advice on filing for bankruptcy herself.

You see, she was in the exact situation as me, but was wrought with shame about it.

As the idea developed, I eventually realized that my life has been spent helping people overcome shame.  I have always talked to my friends about things like divorce, coming out to family and a whole host of other events that we can often only see in a negative light and didn't speak in cliches.  My perspective wasn't just the canned jargon we often use for certain situations.

So in a nutshell, Reframe Shame is about overcoming anything in life that shames us.  Often, these events are beyond our control, but often our collective mentality places certain judgments.

I've overcome the shame of long-term unemployment and all its ill-effects.  I want to help others overcome what prevents them from moving forward in life and finding success and happiness!

Contact me for more information about speaking at your event.  It would be such a pleasure.

WGN report on Hope for the Unemployed

In case you missed tonight's special report on the unemployed and how programs like CCT are available, you can view it here.  Feel free to let me know what you thought of it or if you have any questions about CCT or my "mad skillz" in Social Media Marketing, SEO and SEM.