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Can We Meddle With The Primal Forces Of Nature?

April 30, 2018 by Staff TUL Leave a Comment

Can We Meddle With The Primal Forces Of Nature?

If you think that things aren’t getting worse for average Americans, you haven’t been paying attention. As of this writing, banks are close to being deregulated again, needed environmental regulations are being removed so that companies can pollute our rivers with coal ash, rents are rising, wages have been stagnant since the 1970s, even though productivity and CEO pay has never been higher. Are you getting the picture? This is all bad, terrible stuff, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg.

So what’s my point? That we’re all fucked? No, it’s that we the people of this Democratic Republic are being totally and completely usurped by corporate power, and it has affected every nook and cranny of our lives. Jobs, wages, environmental protection, well funded public schools, affordable medical care, etc. have all been thrown aside to make way for the greater corporate greed.

Corporations are controlling the conversation when it comes to every important topic. We’ve already done a couple of pieces on major corporate malfeasance. This is not that. Instead, we present a clip from a movie, Network, that is 42 years old and prescient as fuck.

In the clip, a populist talk show host has rallied his viewers into democratically subverting an international corporate takeover of the network he works for. This democratic use of power by the people has not gone unnoticed by the head of the network. The host is called into the office to meet with the head of the network, and what follows is a powerful, truth telling speech that enlightens the talk show host about how the world of today works. It’s great stuff. Enjoy.

 

Filed Under: Underemployment In The Media

Is A Working Class Hero Something To Be?

April 16, 2018 by Staff TUL 1 Comment

Is A Working Class Hero Something To Be?

I’ve been underemployed for the better part of 25 years now, and I’ve often thought about the various forces that shaped me, moved me, and led me into a deeply unsatisfying job life. How did I become what I became? Why did I decide to pursue X and not Y? Why indeed.

I think many of us have had these thoughts about our lives. Our formative years behind us, we often don’t realize until much later that what we thought was “right” for us, was us actually following someone elses idea of “right” for us. Additionally, even though we may have thought we were on the road to “somewhere,” at some point, deep down, many of us had no idea where that road would lead or what that road even was.

I take responsibility for my lot in life, but I also recognize that we are not islands unto ourselves. Environment matters. Parenting matters. Teachers matter. Peers, society, etc. all matter. We don’t live in a vacuum, and as such I think it’s good to question your roots and your upbringing. Not for excuses, but for context.

John Lennon’s song, Working Class Hero, addresses the way our influences, both subtly and not so subtly, motivate our behavior. The song is also a sharp rebuke to the way we are shepherded through the first 17 to 18 years of our life, and how many of those years are simply in service to continuing a broken and often inhumane system. The song is about those subjects and much more, and like many of John Lennon’s songs, open to interpretation. Take a listen to Working Class Hero, and tell me what you think of it. I’m eager to hear your thoughts.

Filed Under: Underemployment In The Media

Hey, We Published Our First Book.

April 2, 2018 by Staff TUL Leave a Comment

Hey, We Published Our First Book.

Image Credit – Omarfaruquepro Lic – CC BY SA-4.0

 

We’re proud to launch the first book The Underemployed Life has published. It won’t be our last – we have another one coming down the pike from our columnist, Andrea Thompson, but it is our first book, and we want to tell you a little bit about it so you have some background on it.

Previous to the book, I had been working steadily for about 20 years, but then I got fired from AT&T in 2013. They later acknowledged in writing, four months after the fact, that my firing was unjust. (Don’t get me started on that awful fucking corporation.) Anyway, looking online for work and dealing with misleading job ads, never ending online applications, a lack of quality, well paying jobs, and several misleading interviews, I grew frustrated, angry, and depressed. It was a dark time for me.

For whatever reason, most likely to keep me sane, I started writing and sending cover letters for jobs I didn’t want. They were written as a way to lift my spirits. I wrote a lot of these letters too, as weeks of looking for a new job, became months.

Writing these cover letters kept me creatively engaged and were key to keeping me out of a major depression. I never thought about publishing them as a book. I didn’t share them with anybody for quite a long time. Finally, I sent some friends a few of these letters and they kept asking for more. They often suggested I collect the best and put them in a book. After a couple of years of going between terrible jobs, companies, employers, I though there was some value in putting a book of these cover letters together. Especially because the book includes select responses from some of these letters that are pure fucking craziness.

I thought it was important going into the book that you knew these cover letters were never meant to be read by the public. I didn’t write them just to be a smart ass or for other people to see. I wrote these letters when my state of mind was one of confusion and hopelessness in conjunction with looking for a new job. They were a type of therapy for me. I think for those of you that are fed up with our economy and the way looking for work can make even the happiest person depressed, you’ll find a lot to like, and will hopefully laugh and find some of the same catharsis I did when I wrote these letters.

Of note, is that when I was putting the book together a couple of years ago, I started thinking about my chronic underemployment. So I started researching underemployment, just to see if anyone out there was talking about it. The answer was no, even though there were between 20 and 23 million people in this country who fell under the definition of underemployed. So, I thought it was worth starting a blog devoted to the subject. It was just a few short months after that, The Underemployed Life debuted, focusing on the myriad reasons why so many people are wasting away in jobs that don’t pay them well enough or utilize their skills and talents.

It’s now been two years since we debuted, and I’m proud of the writers I’ve hired (and paid – all of them), the work we’ve done, and you, our community of people who read the articles, email us, and discuss them on our Facebook page. If you enjoy and appreciate what we do and want to support our efforts to stay afloat, buying a copy of the book would go along way towards making that a reality. I truly thank you. You can check out the preview and buy a copy, here.

How Much Do You Fuckers Pay?

Our Australian readers can check out the preview and buy a copy, here.

Our UK readers can check out the preview and buy a copy, here.

Our Canadian readers can check out the preview and buy a copy, here.

Filed Under: Featured Post

If You Ever Felt like Screaming When Searching For A Job, This Book Is For You.

February 24, 2018 by Staff TUL Leave a Comment

How Much Do You Fuckers Pay?

If you’ve gone through the frustration of looking for a job in the past 20 years, you know it’s depressing, mostly disappointing, and littered with misleading job ads. How Much Do You Fuckers Pay is a collection of real cover letters sent for real jobs and some of the best responses.

These letters weren’t originally written for the purpose of a book. They were written by someone who was frustrated, angry, and depressed with the process of looking for work in today’s screwed up job market.

It’s laugh out loud funny, at times off-color, and the responses are kind of nuts. If you feel a little hopeless when searching for jobs, this book will be cathartic and provide you with some much needed laughter. You can buy the book here.How Much Do You Fuckers Pay?

Filed Under: Underemployment Around the Globe

“How Much Do You Fuckers Pay?” Is A Book For The Fed Up Job Searcher

February 22, 2018 by Staff TUL Leave a Comment

 

How Much Do You Fuckers Pay?

If you’ve gone through the frustration of looking for a job in the past 20 years, you know it’s depressing, mostly disappointing, and littered with misleading job ads. How Much Do You Fuckers Pay is a collection of real cover letters sent for real jobs and some of the best responses.

These hilarious letters were sent from a frustrated and angry job seeker, tired of the bullshit. They were never intended for public viewing (This is true and in the book intro). How Much Do You Fuckers Pay? takes the piss out of a system that really needs the piss taken out of it. We think you’ll love it. You can buy the book here.
How Much Do You Fuckers Pay? 

Filed Under: Underemployment Around the Globe

‘How Much Do You Fuckers Pay?’ Delivers The Kind Of Laughs That Come From The Gut.

February 20, 2018 by Staff TUL Leave a Comment

 

How Much Do You Fuckers Pay?

How Much Do You Fuckers Pay is a collection of inappropriate cover letters sent for real jobs and some of the best responses to those letters. Besides being incredibly funny, it’s also weirdly inspiring. That’s because these letters were never intended for public viewing (This is true and explained in the book introduction). They were sent from a frustrated job seeker tired of misleading ads and terrible interviews. How Much Do You Fuckers Pay? takes the piss out of a system that really needs the piss taken out of it. It’s literally laugh out loud funny, delivering genuine belly laughs, and who doesn’t need more of that in their lives? You can buy it, here.

Australian readers can check out the preview and buy a copy, here.

UK readers can check out the preview and buy a copy, here.

Canadian readers can check out the preview and buy a copy, here.

How Much Do You Fuckers Pay?

                                                       

                                                  

 

 

Filed Under: Featured Post

Wage Stagnation, The Wage Gap, And The Triumph Of Greed

February 5, 2018 by Staff TUL Leave a Comment

 Wage Stagnation, The Wage Gap, And The Triumph Of Greed

Image Credit – Liz West  License- CC BY 2.0

 

For the American working class, wage stagnation has been a nasty problem, running 40 years deep now. Different year, same pay. Year, after year, after year. Alternatively, productivity for American businesses has risen to epic levels the past 40 years. This quote from the Harvard Business Review sums it up: “though the economy has been growing, the primary way most people benefit from that growth has almost completely stalled.”

The wage gap in this country is another lingering problem affecting millions of working Americans. “The average CEO at one of the 350 largest companies takes home more than five times the annual earnings of the average 0.1 percenter.”

The wage gap and wage stagnation are interrelated problems. Understanding how they happened is the key to understanding how to fix them. Fortunately, we found a video that goes into great detail on the creation of the wage gap and wage stagnation. The video is hosted by Richard Wolff. Wolff is a renowned economist, and in the video we’re featuring, he delivers a fiery indictment of an economy that is out of whack, unjust, and on the brink of collapsing.

To be clear, the video is not an angry screed. Wolff is passionate, funny, entertaining, and most of all, on point, as he explains how our economy has slowly but steadily unraveled. We warn you, this video is going to make you mad. It’s going to make you mad because what Wolff says is true and getting worse every day.

 

Filed Under: Underemployment In The Media

Our Five Star Recommendation Of The Month

June 24, 2017 by Staff TUL Leave a Comment

Our Five Star Recommendation Of The Month

Our Recommendation Of The Month : The Nano Towel

Paper towels are expensive. Even if you get the cheap ones, you end up needing so many rolls of them it’s like buying the expensive ones. Besides costing a lot of money, they are also terrible for the environment.

FACTS

The U.S uses more than 13 billion pounds of paper towels each year. Producing that much consumes lots of resources, including 110 million trees per year, and 130 billion gallons of water. It also causes carbon dioxide to be let loose into the atmosphere. After a single use, most of it ends up in landfills, and  decomposes, which produces and releases methane gas, a large contributor to global warming.

DESCRIPTION

The Nano Towel is a nontoxic replacement for paper towels. It is made of Nanolon Fiber, a fabric technology that is hundreds of times finer than one human hair.

We want to make it clear that we are not paid by Water Liberty, the company who makes the Nano Towel, to promote, endorse, or say positive things abut their product. We believe in the product, which is why we’re endorsing it. We do however, get a small commission if you buy the NanoTowel through any links we provide.


Why We Like It.

  • Great absorbency: Liquids get cleaned up in a single swipe.
  • Cleans virtually anything with just water.
  • Environmentally friendly. No toxins.
  • It can replace your paper towels. Saving you hundreds of dollars a year.
  • It’s Inexpensive.
  • Has a 30-Day 100% Risk Free Trial Offer.
  • Captures liquid, dust, dirt and grime like a magnet, and without toxic chemicals.
  • You can use them for dusting, washing counter-tops, floors, bathrooms, glass, stainless steel, spills,
  • Each towel can last 2-3 years, or 300-400 washes.

Real Public Reviews

The reviews of the products by real customers on Amazon were nearly uniformly positive and enthusiastic for their usefulness and friendliness to the environment. Trusted environmental blog, Urban Vegan says “Nano Towels are 100% worth the money in their product review.”

It’s rare that a product is as good as advertised. This one is.

 

WHERE TO GET IT

The product is cheapest at the website.  Yes, even cheaper than Amazon. About 20% cheaper. You can see for yourselves.

This is good since the website offers a free money back trial for anyone dissatisfied with their purchase. They also offer a one year warranty.

PRICES

Their website currently offers three different packages for purchase. Their Four Pack is only $19.95, while two Four Packs is priced at $34.95, and three Four Packs is priced at $44.95.

Buy it Here!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Capitalism May Be The Real Thing, But It Might Need To Evolve

June 14, 2017 by Staff TUL 1 Comment

Even the most ardent supporters of capitalism would have to admit it isn’t a perfect system. Inequality is built into it. In a capitalist system there are naturally going to be winners and losers. Not all winners won fairly, and not all losers lost because they didn’t play well enough.

The clip we chose for this week discusses possible ways capitalism as we know it may end or at least evolve. There are some solid points made in the video. It talks about wealth inequality, a move towards a digital economy, and advances in technology reducing the human labor pool. In the clip they theorize this could spring forth a slightly different type of capitalism. One far different than what we now have. We know not everyone will agree with the assertions found in the clip; we certainly don’t, but we think there are some interesting ideas in it worth sharing. Enjoy.

Filed Under: Underemployment In The Media

And The Winners Are

June 9, 2017 by Staff TUL Leave a Comment

And The Winners Are

We have the winners for our recent subscriber sweepstakes giveaway. We want to thank everyone who participated. It means a lot to us when someone takes the time to subscribe to our newsletter. We know millions of sites request subscribers, so again, thank you. We appreciate your readership.

Below are the following winners, Each winner gets to pick any item they want from our Cafe Press store, and it is free, as is the shipping.

Out of respect for privacy, these are the first names only of  the winners. They have all been notified.

  1. Sonya
  2. Lawrelai
  3. Deborah
  4. Rodric
  5. Cecilia
  6. Joey
  7. Barbara
  8. Peter
  9. Hanny
  10. Mona

Filed Under: Blogs

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If you like what we do, buying our new book goes a long way towards funding the site. Plus, the book is really funny, and we think you’ll like it.

How Much Do You Fuckers Pay?

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