Where the Jobs Are

Maybe it is time for me to look for a government job - the only entity seemingly creating jobs in this economic reality - since jobs in the private sector have literally dried up. A job posting may come up in a search but the reality is that most of those companies have hiring freezes. I am finding that there are job listings in Melville and in New York City and I would love to apply for them. However, as a mother of preteens living in Suffolk County with a spouse who already works in the city, someone has to work closer to home; that would be me.

Though I love living out here in Suffolk County, I have come to realize that it is difficult for both parents to work when there is no support system; we came out here with no connections whatsoever, no family nor friends, with only the desire to find a decent home and community to raise the children. This we have found but at the same time, it has not been easy for me to break into this nice, though provincial, community and unfortunately, as my husband never fails to remind me, I am so far from ordinary, it is imprinted on my forehead. Since I spent my first 5 years out here raising the children it was fine living in my little bubble until I needed to go back to work.

Initially, we thought that the solution for working and raising the family was to own our own business; no more NYC commute for my husband and since our little one was of school age, a willing and able partner in myself. But, we picked the wrong franchise and found ourselves in debt up to our eyeballs, I went back to work to pay the debt, that was reason #1, 2, 3, & 4; no TARP funds over here just good old-fashioned work hour by hour to pay down that debt. Our due diligence was working and we could almost taste some freedom until I got laid off; we had been on an austerity budget for so many years, we just wanted to be done with that debt. Alas, I worked long enough to make a small dent on the debt but not long enough to qualify for unemployment as it turns out.

It seems I do not have the true understanding of the system to benefit. I follow all the rules and I swear I would just like to have a break just once. We scrimped on everything to have money saved to go into business and since everything went south, we are scrimping even further to free ourselves from the accumulated debt of the business. I suppose this is why I am a little leary of the Obama stimulus plan; a plan that calls for massive deficit spending to stimulate the economy so it can create jobs.

I find it odd that the only way to save America is for the taxpayer to fund job creation for the taxpayer. I know it worked before and the way I describe the economics is simplistic but if you think long and hard about it, it really doesn't make any sense. Why can't the debt reduction principles that are practiced everywhere by individuals and business - to bring expenditures in line with revenue - be practiced by government? The government certainly had no trouble at all increasing expenditures all of these past years when times were seemingly good. New York state increased its budget from $70,000,000,000 to $121,000,000,000 in the last ten years. Even government budgets have to experience some kind of correction like the markets, don't they?

We need to stop thinking differently when it comes to government, it is not free money, it is our tax dollars. If we don't wrestle the costs, we cannot wrestle our taxes. In the meantime, I'll be ogling one of those newly created government jobs.