Opinion: Facebook: Where Americans complain about jobs and the economy to Obama (who’s overseas)
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President Obama on Tuesday continued his global trip highlighting the shipping of U.S. jobs overseas while promoting U.S. business opportunities in India and Indonesia.
Meanwhile, Americans took to a new Facebook page to tell the president their concerns about finding a job at home.
Jobs site Monster has partnered with the White House to offer Facebook users a chance to express their concerns about today’s lousy job market.
More than 10,000 users “liked” Monster’s Facebook experiment by 8 p.m. Monday and user comments were as expected amid a nationwide unemployment rate that’s hovering stubbornly at a shade under 10%.
It’s the latest job-search innovation the White House has launched for computer and internet users. Previously, the federal government launched an application aimed at unemployed iPhone users that helped them negotiate the federal jobs site USAjobs.com.
And the Monster innovation followed another iPhone application “Note To Obama” covered by ...
... the Ticket that allows users to tell President Obama how they feel about anything under the sun.
Echoing comments left on the Note to Obama, users expressed a mix of anguished pessismism that occasionally bordered on despondency. Like this one:
‘I do not blame the government for my unemployment. However, there is something wrong when a thirty-year-old woman with two college degrees cannot get a job at Starbucks, let alone anywhere remotely appropriate to her education. I have a BA in American history, this should qualify me to teach this subject. However, than...ks to the Department of Education, someone much less qualified will be teaching my child about our nation’s history! I also have an Associate Degree in Registered Nursing. However, thanks to the fear unleashed by Obamacare, the outrageous national deficit, the reckless spending which has spun our country into recessional turmoil, and the increasing number of people relying on government healthcare/assistance, the healthcare field has entered its largest hiring freeze in three decades! I am now applying to graduate school in order to live on the financial aid loans THAT I WILL HAVE TO PAY BACK! Think its still time for a change...’
Some, though, were (relatively) upbeat and welcomed the new page.
‘Wow, I have been sitting here reading these and I am amazed at how many people are going through the same thing I am, how many are just as frustrated and jobless. While it’s disheartening it’s really nice to know I am not the only one out there feeling this way. I don’t feel as bad that my rent is late (yet again;-) either.’
Others took a more cynical tone.
‘close down sachsgoldmen and aig, have the stock execs give the bonuses back, i can only live on roman noodles and mac and cheese so long.’
Maybe the aggrieved Facebook users could get a job with the federal government answering other aggrieved Facebook users’ concerns about the economy, all while the president travels overseas. There’s an iPhone app for that, apparently.
-- Craig Howie
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