By V. C. Jordan

Why do some people move from one level of success to the next in life while others seem to be stuck in the same place they were five years ago?

Successful people have tapped into a law that not many are either aware of or are willing to apply to their lives.

It is the Law of Suggestion, and when used correctly and consistently, it has the power to turn your life around on a dime.

Henry Ford said, ‘If you think you can or if you think you can’t, you are right!” Jesus, Himself said, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”.

Who you are today and the level of failure or success you have achieved is in direct proportion to who you think you are and what you think you can achieve. You may be stuck right now; stuck in the same old job you hate, stuck in the bitterness of another’s betrayal to you, stuck in a body that is 50 pounds overweight; I don’t care how stuck you are and for how long you have been stuck, you can walk out of it in the amount of time it takes you to think your next thought. Yes, it’s the truth! There is a giant of success within you just waiting to be aroused and awakened by the power of your own suggestion!

Someone once asked this question, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time”. You can walk out of your failure in any and every area of your life beginning with your very next thought. You must take captive the stinkin’ thinkin’ that has been allowed to run unchallenged in your mind. Negativity, self-doubt, procrastination, the lie that tells you, “This is the hand life dealt you and there is really nothing you can do about it, the lie that there are successful people, failures and mediocre people and they are born that way”; Hogwash! You are equipped to be anyone and anything you choose to be! The only difference between the successful and the failure is this, successful people engage themselves in positive self-talk and positive affirmations (both consciously and sub-consciously) daily. They are willing to fight for what they want to be and achieve, to sacrifice the momentary pleasure to live the enduring life they envision for themselves.

Are you ready to walk out of the muck and mire of defeat and failure and into the life you have always dreamed of? Then do it! Do it right now! It all begins with your very next thought. Refuse to think like a failure, replace every negative lie with a positive affirmation and remember this…”It’s not what you do, it’s what you keep on doing!” It takes 21 days to form any habit in your life, so be ready to fight the good fight of faith against negativity and before you know it, you will have formed a habit that will begin to direct your sub-conscience thoughts step by step right into the life you’ve always wished for but didn’t know you could live. It’s sort of like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ, Glenda, told her, “You’ve always had the power to be where you wanted to be”, Dorothy says, “Why didn’t anyone tell me it was as simple as clicking my heels three times and SAYING THE RIGHT WORDS?” Because you wouldn’t have believed it before now!

The power of the spoken word and the spoken thought may seem too simple to be the answer to your getting un-stuck in life, but sometimes people stumble over the answer only because it seems too simple. We want a magic pill or some kind of epiphany but I’m telling you, at the end of the yellow brick road, you will discover you had the power within you all along!

If this article has encouraged you in some way, please leave me a quick comment. Thanks in advance! Vickie Jordan

I am Vickie Jordan. Author of the soon to be released fantasy novel, The Chronicles of Cambrlon. I am a wife, and mother of 2 beautiful daughters. I love writing and reading what others have to say. I am an avid reader, ever learning and love sharing what I learn with others.

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Audrone Wippich and Phil Brattain

Dec 02, 2010 -

Perfection is possible for every one of us—no matter what age, color, nationality or level of education.

It is a living experience that we can nurture and intensify when we stretch our wings to fly a little higher. How do we directly experience our perfection, hidden as it is, within everyday appearances? Here are nine steps to a transformed way of being:

1.  Awaken to your true identity. All caught up in the same empty routines we mistake for “reality,” we easily lose touch with who we truly are. Stop! You are not an ant, so there is no reason to trek up and down the same path in a boring line when you can simply step aside, lift your head, and smell the roses. In other words, awaken from your unconscious patterns and reconnect with your intelligence.

2.  Choose to be the authentic you. Be you because everyone else is taken. There’s no need to worry about the outer world when the inner world is solid. You can experience and radiate perfection only by being yourself. On top of it, practice being present and being real because this will unlock the power within you to attract the same caliber people as well as generate thrilling opportunities in your life.

3.  Find the balance between “doing” and “being.” Most of us get caught in the universe of doing and are preoccupied with survival. Both of the universes are equally important and so finding that fine balance between doing and the being will allow you to tap back into your core and fulfill your goals.

4.  Get back to play! Our perceptions of reality sometimes remove us from the sense of play. It is time you start playing all over again. Play throughout the day. Play while working on any project or chore. This will, not only improve the outcome, but it will also boost your imagination and creativity and fill you with vital energy.

5.  Find your meaning and your purpose. The meaning in life lies in our purpose. The first question you should ask yourself is, “What would I live and die for?” Is it your family, your dreams, or some higher cause? You must find that out because it will ignite the fire within you.

6.  Let go of your mind. We tend to live in our minds and forget our bodies. Our bodies energize our minds. Tune into your body, notice the energy level you are at, and work on raising the bar or moving up your chakras. The higher you go, the more you’ll recharge and the faster you’ll calm your mind. Use whatever path works for you—walk in the woods, go for a run, do yoga, play hockey, or meditate.

7.  Let fear disappear. Fear should not stop you from moving forward. Instead, it should challenge you. Keep in mind, the monsters are not under the bed—they are in your head. Once you start playing with your monsters and demonstrating your commitment to the game, they’ll disappear.

8.  Don’t suppress your feelings. Our feelings give depth and dimension to life. Without contrast, life would be utterly flat. Even negative emotions can be beautiful when consciously experienced. Don’t suppress your feelings and let them all out. Only then will you be able to transform it.

9.  Learn to forgive fast. Practice staying away from the game of judgment and evaluation. It doesn’t add value to anyone. When we forgive others, we are actually forgiving and empowering ourselves, because we let go of all the negative energy trapped within our bodies.

Life is a delightful process of going in and out of the realization of perfection much as if we were chasing an elusive butterfly with tattered nets. The further along we go, the more conscious we become, and the more frequent the moments of peak experiences. This path leads to a transformational shift in identity. Then it all seems worthwhile, and celebration of life, along with every moment, becomes second nature.

Audrone Wippich and Phil recently published Awaken Perfection: The Journey of Conscious Revelation. This book explains the transformed landscape in which we all find ourselves today, shows how we can move forward with our lives, and tackles the ultimate questions of who are we, where did we come from, and where are we going. For more information, see Awaken Perfection.

Via The NY Times

By CATHERINE RAMPELL

The longer people stay out of work, the more trouble they have finding new work.

That is a fact of life that much of Europe, with its underclass of permanently idle workers, knows all too well. But it is a lesson that the United States seems to be just learning.

This country has some of the highest levels of long-term unemployment — out of work longer than six months — it has ever recorded. Meanwhile, job growth has been, and looks to remain, disappointingly slow, indicating that those out of work for a while are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Even if the government report on Friday shows the expected improvement in hiring by business, it will not be enough to make a real dent in those totals.

So the legions of long-term unemployed will probably be idle for significantly longer than their counterparts in past recessions, reducing their chances of eventually finding a job even when the economy becomes more robust.

“I am so worried somebody will look at me and say, ‘Oh, he’s probably lost his edge,’ ” said Tim Smyth, 51, a New York television producer who has been unable to find work since 2008, despite having two decades of experience at places like Nickelodeon and the Food Network. “I mean, I know it’s not true, but I’m afraid I might say the same thing if I were interviewing someone I didn’t know very well who’s been out of work this long.”

Mr. Smyth’s anxieties are not unfounded. New data from the Labor Department, provided to The New York Times, shows that people out of work fewer than five weeks are more than three times as likely to find a job in the coming month than people who have been out of work for over a year, with a re-employment rate of 30.7 percent versus 8.7 percent, respectively.

Likewise, previous economic studies, many based on Europe’s job market struggles, have shown that people who become disconnected from the work force have more trouble getting hired, probably because of some combination of stigma, discouragement and deterioration of their skills.

This is one of the biggest challenges facing policy makers in the United States as they seek to address unemployment. Its underlying tenet — that time exacerbates the problem — means that the longer Congress squabbles about how to increase job growth, the more intractable the situation becomes. This, in turn, means Washington would need to pursue more aggressive (and, perversely, more politically difficult) job-creating policies in order to succeed. Even reaching an agreement over whether to extend benefits yet again has proved contentious.

Several factors lead to this downward spiral of the unemployed.

In some cases, the long-term unemployed were poor performers in their previous positions and among the first to be terminated when the recession began. These people are weak job candidates with less impressive résumés and references.

In other instances, those who lost jobs may have been good workers but were laid off from occupations or industries that are in permanent decline, like manufacturing.

But economists have tried to control for these selection issues, and studies comparing the fates of similar workers have also shown that the experience of unemployment itself damages job prospects.

If jobless workers had been in sales, for instance, their customers might have moved on. Or perhaps the list of contacts they could turn to for leads is obsolete. Mr. Smyth, for example, says that so many of his former co-workers have been displaced that he is no longer sure whom to call on about openings.

In particularly dynamic industries, like software engineering, unemployed workers might also miss out on new developments and fail to develop the skills required.

Still, this explanation probably applies to only a small slice of the country’s 6.2 million long-term unemployed.

“I can’t imagine very many occupations and industries are of the type that if you’re out for nine months, the world passes you by,” said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research organization. “I think this erosion-of-skills idea is way overplayed. It’s probably much more about marketability.”

Many unemployed workers fret about how to explain the yawning gaps on their résumés. Some are calling themselves independent “consultants” or “entrepreneurs” so they can claim some sort of work experience since being laid off.

Mr. Smyth has been working on his own documentary film and trying to develop ideas for new TV shows with a friend. But with financing for such projects scarce, he says he is still looking for a full-time job.

Employers are reluctant to acknowledge any bias against the jobless, and many say they try to take broader economic circumstances into consideration.

“Generally speaking, when the economy’s good and someone’s been out of work for a year, you might look at them funny,” said Jay Goltz, who owns five small businesses in Chicago. “These days I don’t know if you can hold it against somebody.”

Even so, old habits die hard, especially because unemployment has been unusually concentrated among a smaller group of workers in this recent recession than in previous ones, meaning that fewer workers bear the scarlet “U” of unemployment.

“From what I’ve seen, employers do tend to get suspicious when there’s a long-term gap in people’s résumés,” said James Whelly, deputy director of work force development at the San Francisco Human Services Agency. “Even though everyone on an intellectual level knows that this is a unique time in the economy, those old habits are hard to break with hiring managers and H.R. departments who are doing the screening.”

It does not help when job seekers are repeatedly rejected — or worse, ignored. Constant rejection not only discourages workers from job-hunting as intensively, but also makes people less confident when they do land interviews. A Pew Social Trends report found that the long-term unemployed were significantly more likely to say they had lost some of their self-respect than their counterparts with shorter spells of joblessness.

“People don’t have money to keep up appearances important for job hunting,” said Katherine S. Newman, a sociology professor at Princeton. “They can’t go to the dentist. They can’t get new clothes. They gain weight and look out of shape, since unemployment is such a stressful experience. All that is held against them when there is such an enormous range of workers to choose from.”

Though economists generally agree that getting the long-term unemployed back to work as quickly as possible is necessary to keep people from becoming unemployable, the mechanism to do so is unclear.

Most forms of stimulus try to create business conditions that foster the nation’s output growth, which encourages companies to hire. Output has been growing slowly, however, and has not stoked much job creation. There have also been other indirect incentives, like a small tax break for hiring unemployed workers, but as yet their effectiveness is unknown.

Direct employment programs — like the public works projects of the New Deal era and World War II — may be the fastest way to put people back to work, economists say. But those raise concerns of crowding out businesses and displacing other workers. Besides, such proposals, which smack of socialism to some, seem politically unfeasible at the moment.

One possible compromise might be broader-scale retraining and apprenticeship programs, suggests Lawrence Katz, a labor economist at Harvard.

“That’s better than having more people just go on disability as a last resort, and then basically never return to work in their life, which many will do,” he said. The Obama administration has recently thrown its support behind an effort to overhaul community college retraining programs.

“One of the reasons to focus on training for workers, even if you’re not training workers for new jobs, is that when you have workers who have not been in a job for a long time, you need to do all you can to get them to look and feel job-ready when the openings do eventually come back,” said Betsey Stevenson, the Labor Department’s chief economist.

The real threat, economists say, is that America, like some of its Old World peers, might simply become accustomed to having a large class of permanently displaced workers.

“After a while, a lot of European countries just got used to having 8 or 9 percent unemployment, where they just said, ‘Hey, that’s about good enough,’ ” said Gary Burtless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “If the unemployment rates here stay high but remain relatively stable, people may not worry so much that that’ll be their fate this month or next year. And all these unemployed people will fall from the front of their mind, and that’s it for them.”

By Maurice Ramirez

You’ve likely met some people who are the epitome of the classic absent-minded professor. You know the ones…They can’t remember facts or formulas, much less people’s names, and they need to continually reference information that others believe should be second nature. However, once these so-called absent-minded people look up the information they need, they have the uncanny ability to encapsulate very complex concepts into simple-to-understand formulas or words. They’re the conceptual thinkers–the people who create new knowledge, products, or innovations. They are the Einstein thinkers of the world.

When asked why he had trouble memorizing formulas and why he earned poor grades in school, Einstein replied, “I do not clutter my brain with facts I can look up in any standard reference within two minutes.” Instead of wasting energy with memorization, Einstein took those easily-accessed facts and created something new with them–he saw the connections among the facts and the patterns underneath the processes. As such, Einstein, who failed math, gave us the power to harness the atom and ultimately create nuclear power.

Today’s most innovative executives are a lot like Einstein. While they may have difficulty knowing precisely, step-by-step, what they do or replicating it on paper, when asked to just do it, they have tremendous success. They have the ability to find the patterns that underlie successful processes and can apply those patterns in new and different industries, thus achieving amazing results wherever they go.

5 Types of Leaders

Very few people are true Einstein thinkers. Rather, people tend to fall into one of four categories.

* The logical thinkers: These people learn from data. They must analyze data in order to move to the next decision. If they don’t have hard data, they can’t move forward. And without that data, they can’t communicate to others how to advance through the needed steps.

* The verbal thinkers: These people learn by hearing. They are more conceptual. They can process information they learn and can write it out. But while they understand the processes that others do, replicating that process in a different location is difficult for them.

* The pictorial thinkers: These people learn by seeing. If you graphically show them how to do something, they can do it. But if they have to read instructions without pictures, even instructions that are very well written, they’re lost. They can build pretty molecule models, but they can’t do the calculations to tell you what the reaction will be.

* The kinesthetic thinkers: These people learn by doing. You can put them under the hood of a car, show them how to fix a car, and let them dig in and get greasy. Then you can line up a hundred cars and they can fix them all. But if you hand them a manual for fixing a car, and you never show them how to do it hands-on, you’d better find another mechanic to fix what they just broke. These people have to learn by doing, and they have trouble communicating what they learned.

Think of the previous four thinking styles as overlapping circles. In the center of the overlap point are the Einstein thinkers.

* The Einstein thinkers: These people have a little bit of all four thinking styles, yet not enough of one to make them extremely effective in any one realm. However, they have the ability to take a process, no matter how it’s presented–whether verbally, in writing, in pictures, or hands-on–and duplicate the process in different scenarios. Yes, they need to review the process or calculation or formula each time, but once they review the initial process, they move forward and create new things. They read the roadmap and follow it.

Most executives are in one of the first four areas of learning and thought. Those who truly excel no matter where they lead or work are the Einstein thinkers. They have figured out the process of being a CEO or any other c-suite position, and they can apply the process in any environment.

The Process of Einstein Thinking

While thinking like Einstein is not innate for most people, you can learn how to analyze the process underneath everything you do, thus enabling you to venture into the realm of Einstein thinking. Think of it as a process for creating a roadmap, so to speak, and once you own that roadmap, you can apply it to other industries and replicate success. The following guidelines will help.

* Ask “Why?”

Become fanatical about asking yourself “why” at every turn. This enables you to identify the main decision points in any process. Realize that there are actually very few things at a management level that are unique to an industry or company. Yes, there are facts and circumstances that are unique, but no matter what industry you’re in, you have to build relationships inside and outside; you have to comply with certain regulations; and you have to deal with a certain level of customer service. Therefore, identify how you function in each process and ask why you’re doing something, not what you’re doing.

* Know Your Decision Options

When you come to a decision point, ask yourself three key questions:

1. Why do I make this decision at this point?

2. What influences my decision?

3. What are my choices?

Your choices are always the same at any decision point. You can either act or not act, or you can act in a series of choices. So it’s always a yes/no decision or a multiple choice decision. At this point, step away from the tendency to focus on what the question is, and instead focus on the reasoning behind the question.

Create a flow chart that details what you’re asking yourself at this point. Is it a yes/no question or is it a multiple choice question at this decision point? Then follow that up by asking, “Why do I make this decision?” If you know at a certain point that you are making a multiple choice decision, then you can reference what the choices are and what question led you to the choices. At another point in the business cycle you may be faced with a yes/no question. Follow up yes/no questions with, “What happens if I say yes? What happens if I say no? What are the questions I’m answering at this point?”

One of the basic concepts of physics is the unified field theory. The theory states that no matter what the special circumstances are, there are a set of equations or rules under which the entire universe functions. The same exists in business. There are certain things that are always absolutely true in business. When you know the truths and the processes that underlie the truths, then you are thinking like Einstein and can move from point to point in any circumstance.

* Get the Right People on Your Side

Whether or not Einstein thinking comes naturally to you, you need to surround yourself with people who don’t think along the same process that you do. Very few people are truly like Einstein where they can write down their process so others can follow in their footsteps. However, the executives who surround themselves with those who can do the communication for them will have the upper hand. Therefore, get people on your team to interview you and get you talking about your goals and how you got from point A to point B to point C. Your team can then capture your process, encapsulate it, and put it on paper so you can read it and validate it. Doing so enables you and your company to more rapidly achieve goals.

Think Like Einstein Today

Training yourself to think like Einstein–to see the patterns and processes behind everything you do–will enable you to reach your full potential and bring new and innovative ideas to market. Remember that those with the greatest potential are those who are the most adaptable to any circumstance. They innately understand the process that underlies any other person’s success and can replicate it with ease. So create your own roadmap of what you do and follow it in every situation. And if you can’t write your own roadmap, then at least learn how to read the map that others have already created. With some analysis and perseverance, you can be the next Einstein thinker.

Dr. Maurice A. Ramirez is co-founder of Disaster Life Support of North America, Inc., a national provider of Disaster Preparation, Planning, Response and Recovery education. Through his consulting firm High Alert, LLC., he serves on expert panels for pandemic preparedness and healthcare surge planning with Congressional and Cabinet Members. Board certified in multiple medical specialties, Dr. Ramirez is Founding Chairperson of the American Board of Disaster Medicine and a Senior Physician-Federal Medical Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. Cited in 24 textbooks with numerous published articles, he is co-creator of C5RITICAL and author of Mastery Against Adversity. Dr. Ramirez invites comments at: http://www.disaster-blog.com

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By Mark T H

Ask any business owner if running a business is tough and the word ‘YES’ will probably be your answer. In the virtual world of Internet Marketing this is even more true. Why? It is true because of the sheer level of competition. People absolutely love the internet marketing niche and many enter it with the hopes of making a good living.

If one is so bold so as to actually attempt conquering this niche, there are three internet marketing skill sets that will be absolutely essential to success. If these skills or skill sets are not understood and practiced, failure is statistically imminent. So what are these skill sets? Let’s explore them one-by-one.

Skill set number one is copyrighting.

The ability to write compelling and interesting promotional copy is the most important skill that one can learn. Have you ever heard the expression ‘knowledge is power’? Well, here is another one for you: ‘information is money’. Without a doubt, information IS money.

To have the ability to write compelling copy is to have the ability to influence the decisions of potential leads and customers. To that end, the writing of technical and compelling copy can literally be referred to in terms of money. For proof of this, go to any webmaster, SEO or marketing forum and take a look around. Odds are you will find a forum or board dedicated to the selling of articles that have been prepared specifically for niche subjects. These niche articles are generally sold in packages with private labeling and resell rights attached. The selling of articles and unique content is a huge industry in itself through which a very, very large amount of money exchanges hands. Remember ‘information is money’.

The second essential skill set is Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short.

One of the most targeted sources of traffic as well as the highest converting is search engine traffic. For a search engine to have a proper understanding of what your content is about, SEO techniques MUST be applied.

It is true that search engine algorithms have come a long way with respect to defining what subject as article is about, but nothing replaces the human brain in this respect. This is the reason the field of SEO exists, for human brains to literally tell the search engines the subject and focus of the article. This will include proper keyword selection as well as accurate and relevant title selection in addition to proper meta tagging. Search engines are smart, but despite all of the advances, they still have a long way to go before they develop rudimentary comprehension skills when compared to the brain.

The final skill set that is necessary for internet marketing is the set of generalized webmaster skills.

What are some of these? A list of some of these would include: the selection and installation of content management systems, the tweaking and refinement of source code, the management of MySQL databases to name a few.

If you do not have any of these skills, do not fret. They can be learned, even if you consider yourself technically inept in this area. There are countless services, forums, ebooks, and guides that can take you step-by-step through any task you need to complete.

One nice thing available to webmasters these days is the inclusion of auto-installation scripts available with most hosting services such as HostGator or GoDaddy. Websites can literally be set up and running with the click of a button and that is the reason this skill set falls to third place in terms of importance.

So there you have it, the three most important internet marketing skills: copyrighting, SEO, and webmaster skills…in that order.

If you enjoyed reading this article and learned something from it, find the original and more like it at TheBitBot Organic SEO & SEM Blog. TheBitBot Organic SEO & SEM Blog – Blogging The Basic Bits & Bytes of SEO, SEM and Internet Marketing.

Learn everything you need to know about “Internet Marketing”. Download my free internet marketing ebook entitled ‘Internet Marketing Basics’ for free upon signing up for a free email subscription to TheBitBot Organic SEO & SEM Blog Email Newsletter.

If you are interested in “Search Engine Optimization” or “Search Engine Marketing”, subscribe to TheBitBot Organic SEO & SEM Blog Email Newsletter for free and get in addition to your free subscription a copy of Google’s SEO Starter Guide delivered to your inbox.

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By: Jim Edwards

Many find themselves unsure as to what Powerpoint presentations are used for and how they might benefit them. The program itself is a wonderful asset for individuals off all types, regardless of the point you’re trying to get across. You could be an educator, working professional, student or simply wanting to show off ideas. The program gives you the capability to show those ideas to others in a visually strong manner and with virtually endless options.

Microsoft’s PowerPoint software has be around and widely used by businesses and individuals alike for several years running. It works with both PCs and Mac’s, giving it even further versatility in a user-friendly program. The program itself gives individuals the capability to present their topics in a visually stimulating fashion, replacing the need of boards, projectors and so forth.

Users can use the program in many different ways, regardless of what they wish to achieve. You can add audio clips, narratives and even slideshows. Slideshows themselves can be made to repeat themselves in continuous and timed cycles, so that people passing by won’t miss a beat and offer a hands-free way to show your presentation, or they can be ran manually.

Whether or not you plan to have a presentation at events such as tradeshows, exhibits, seminars, during classes, within the office or out of the office, you also have the ability to send the files to people elsewhere. These files can be sent online through emails, instant messengers or even through CDs, giving you a broader marketing range to work with.

You can also add your own twist when it comes to sharing your ideas or topics. Personal photographs can be added, narrations, interactive slideshow and buttons with hyperlinks. The button and hyperlink features are an excellent way to lead traffic to websites for further insight or even marketing ideas, giving you even further options.

While not every person may have the program or Microsoft Office, should you happen to send them a file, it is quite possible for them to still view the file that you send them. Most version of the software also has a viewer, which can be installed along with the file itself and allows viewers the option to view the file without need of the software to do so.

Many people enjoy or actually need feedback when it comes to their work, whether it comes from students, teachers, customers and so forth. Regardless if the feedback is for ways on how to improve, new ideas, contact information, or just for sake of notes, the program can be set with a text box, in which viewers can add their feedback for you to view later on the file or presentation such as names, notes or whatever you’re looking for.

Although many find that creating powerpoint presentations, like other programs by Microsoft, are quite functional and user-friendly, there are a wide variety of ways to get further instruction for those who prefer it. There are methods such as class, whether online or offline, tutorials, books and even other presentations that you can find in order to give you further instruction and to learn about the many different features that the software provides, allowing you to use it to your best, possible advantage.

The Observer, Sunday 15 August 2010

Just how badly the great recession has struck this fragile New Jersey city, which is currently the poorest in America, was recently spelled out to Gaines. In happier times – whatever that might mean for a city as destitute as Camden – local businesses on Haddon Avenue could at least rely on a bit of trade from those who made their money on the street.

Even the criminals have fallen on hard times in America’s poorest city as the long-term unemployed struggle to keep a grasp on normality

Young men bought flashy clothes and got sharp haircuts and always paid in cash. But no longer. The economy is now so bad in Camden that even the criminals are struggling and going short. “Even the guys who got money from illegal means really don’t want to spend it,” Gaines said.

Such a development, though, is just a snapshot of the deep problems still hitting the wider American economy. Growth rates are stuttering and a recovery is struggling to take hold. It may even now be showing signs of going backwards again, as countries such as Germany start to power forward. Joblessness has taken hold in America, with the numbers of long-term unemployed reaching levels not seen since the Depression of the 1930s. The figures are frightening and illustrate a society that remains in deep trouble.

The headline jobless figure of 9.5% is bad enough but does not begin to convey the problem as it fails to measure those who have stopped looking for work. Over the past three months alone more than a million Americans have fallen into that category: effectively giving up hope of finding a job and dropping out of the official statistics. Such cases now number some 5.9 million and their ranks are likely to grow as millions more find their jobless status becoming a permanent state of hopelessness. Surveys show that with each passing week on the dole their chances of finding a job get slimmer.

Though corporations, especially in the banking sector, are posting healthy profits, they are not hiring new workers. At the same time, government cuts are sweeping through city and state governments alike, threatening tens of thousands of jobs and slicing away at services once thought vital. Schools, street lighting, libraries, refuse collection, the police, fire services and public transport networks are all being scaled back.

America appears to be a society splitting down the centre, shattering the middle class that long formed the cultural bedrock of the country and dividing it into a country of haves and have-nots. “A once unthinkable level of economic distress is in the process of becoming the new normal,” warned Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman in a recent New York Times column. Or, as Steven Green, an economics lecturer at Baylor University, put it to the Observer: “We are really in a tough spot right now.”

There is a new name for those falling down the black hole of joblessness that has opened up in America’s economy. They are the 99ers.

It is a moniker that no one wants. It refers to the 99 weeks of benefits that the jobless can qualify for in America. Government cash helps those laid off keep a tenuous grip on a normal life. It keeps a roof over their heads, pays a phone bill, puts food on a table and petrol in a car. But once the 99 weeks are up the payments stop – as is happening now for millions of people – and they are 99ers.

For many, that moment, which America’s politicians have refused to extend, represents the moment of destitution; a sort of modern American version of the old Victorian trip to the workhouse. There are now more than a million 99ers and the number gets bigger each week.

But who are they? Despite Republican attempts to paint them as feckless or job-shy, they are usually anything but. The 99ers are people like Anne Strauss, 58, who spent 35 years working as a PR professional on Long Island. Despite spending every day hunting for work, she has not had a job since June 2008. She and her husband are now living on credit cards watching debts mount as they stare into the abyss. “Looking for a job is the hardest I have ever worked,” she said with a smile that conveyed no humour or happiness, only the deep stress that is common to many 99ers.

Strauss, along with about 50 other 99ers, protested on Wall Street last week, demanding an extension of the benefits that could keep them out of poverty. As bankers and financiers strode into the flag-draped Stock Exchange they chanted: “Shame! Shame!” and told their stories. It was a litany of middle-class lives shattered by the recession. There was Connie Kaplan, a corporate librarian who was desperate to resume her career. “We are not bums, we are hardworking,” she said. Or Lori Ghavami, a New Jersey financial analyst in her 30s, who had once worked on Wall Street itself and now was staring at landlords’ bills she was scared she could not pay. Or New Yorker Steven Bilarbi, 62, who had worked for the same employer for 37 years, until 2007. He has not worked since, despite refusing to spend daytime hours at home and engaging in a permanent job hunt. He is now living off savings and depleting his pension.

“I go to job fairs. I don’t feel like staying home. What would I do? Watch game shows and soap operas?” he fumed.

Meeting 99ers is to tap into a deep well of anger at lives that have been knocked off course, shattering the enduring vision of the American dream that many had felt they had achieved. Just take Donna Faiella, a 53-year-old New Yorker who lives alone in Queens. She spent 28 years working in film post-production and video-editing. She was successful and had a career. Now she is desperate for a job, any job. But she cannot find one. “I will do anything. I will sweep floors. You think I look forward to collecting unemployment? It is fucking degrading,” she said, almost quivering with anger.

Faiella is in dire trouble. Joblessness has eaten away at her sense of identity. “I feel like we are worthless. We are lost in the world. I don’t know what to call myself. I don’t have a title any more. What do we do? What do we do?” she implored. Faiella has one week of benefits to go. Then her 99 weeks will be up. She will have a title again. But not one she expected. She will be a 99er. “I am petrified. Do I become homeless?” she said, adding that she has begun making inquiries at local shelters.

If the 99ers are coming to symbolise a human segment of society that America is slowly abandoning to its fate, then Camden is the geographic expression of that marginalisation. Large stretches of the once bustling river port city seem to epitomise urban blight. Vacant lots and burned-out abandoned houses line many of its streets.

Its 79,000 residents have the lowest median household annual income of any city in the US at just $24,000 (£15,000). In terms of crime rates it was the nation’s second-most dangerous city last year. Some estimates reckon that about a third of Camden’s houses are empty. A third of its people are in poverty and a fifth are unemployed.

It is a deeply grim picture and it is getting worse. Camden’s city government is facing the prospect of massive cuts as its cash-strapped resources have run out and it has built up huge debts. Services have already been cut and only a last-minute rescue last week saved Camden’s three public libraries from being closed.

In a city that has had it tough for decades these are hammer blows to its residents. One woman who has watched in dismay as the recession unfolded outside her door is Dorothy Allen, 81, who has lived near Haddon Avenue for almost four decades. Known by almost everyone as “Mom”, she calls herself “the mother of the block”. She has never known anything like the area’s current troubles. “I have been here since 1971 and it’s the worst it’s ever been,” she said. Yet to listen to America’s politicians many would think recovery is just a matter of time. Yes, they say, the recession has been hard, but America will pull through and everything will be as it once was. Last week New Jersey senator Robert Menendez visited Camden, stopping at a local health clinic. He spoke of the achievements of the Democrats in staving off economic disaster.

Job creation was coming, he told his audience of health executives: “It is not going fast enough to get people back to work but it’s a dramatic turnaround.” It does not feel that way for millions of Americans all across the country. Camden is far from unique in slashing its services. In Colorado Springs more than a third of street lights have been switched off to cut the municipal electricity bill. The city has also sold off its police helicopters.

In Hawaii schoolchildren were told to stay at home for 17 Fridays to save costs. In a suburb of Atlanta local bus routes were closed, at a stroke wiping out public transport for thousands of people who relied on it to get to precious jobs.

Whether it’s the poor of Camden or Colorado Springs or Atlanta, or among the growing throngs of the 99ers, millions of Americans are discovering that working hard, doing the right thing and obeying the rules are no longer enough.

Back at the 99er rally on Wall Street, Anne Strauss felt that way. During her working life she had refused to claim benefits to which she was entitled as she thought she was doing just fine. Now, as a newly minted 99er, she was looking for help from the country that she had always believed in. But the help was not forthcoming. It is hard to see how the version of the American dream that Menendez described could now ever apply to her. For Strauss, living on credit, desperate to work, but with no job in sight, that dream looks a thing of the past, not the future. “This is not the country I grew up in,” Strauss said.

Case study: ‘This is my last $260 and barring a miracle I’ll be sleeping in my car’

Alexandra Jarrin, 49, worked for a small technology company near New York City, earned $56,000 a year, had petrol in her car and a roof over her head. She was enrolled in a graduate business school. Then, two years ago, she lost her job .

She received her last unemployment payment in March, putting her among the first wave of “99ers” who have come to the end of their 99 weeks of entitlement to benefits. When interviewed by the New York Times, she was living in a motel in Brattleboro, Vermont, having paid $260 she managed to scrape together from friends and from selling her living-room furniture – enough for a week-long stay.

She said she wept as she left her old life. ‘I thought, you know, what if I turned the wheel in my car and wrecked my car?’ Her vehicle is now on the verge of being repossessed. Jarrin has contacted her local shelter, but was told there was a waiting list. “Barring a miracle, I’m going to be [sleeping] in my car,” she said.

LATimes.com

10:40 AM PDT, July 28, 2010

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