Underclassmen (And Women)

As Digby points out, the gulf is growing between haves and have-nots.

The other day Brad Delong asked if we are seeing the creation of an underclass of long term unemployed. Here is some more evidence that we are:

In a current job posting on The People Place, a job recruiting website for the telecommunications, aerospace/defense and engineering industries, an anonymous electronics company in Angleton, Texas, advertises for a "Quality Engineer." Qualifications for the job are the usual: computer skills, oral and written communication skills, light to moderate lifting. But red print at the bottom of the ad says, "Client will not consider/review anyone NOT currently employed regardless of the reason."

In a nearly identical job posting for the same position on the Benchmark Electronics website, the red print is missing. But a human resources representative for the company confirmed to HuffPost that the The People Place ad accurately reflects the company's recruitment policies.

"It's our preference that they currently be employed," he said. "We typically go after people that are happy where they are and then tell them about the opportunities here. We do get a lot of applications blindly from people who are currently unemployed -- with the economy being what it is, we've had a lot of people contact us that don't have the skill sets we want, so we try to minimize the amount of time we spent on that and try to rifle-shoot the folks we're interested in.

There's more evidence that this is fairly widespread at the link.

I don't even know what to say about this except that it appears we are definitely seeing a sort of systematic stigmatization of the unemployed, from the sick caterwauling of the wingnut gasbags about "lazy" people who just want to stay on the dole, to employers claiming that they are advertising for jobs that nobody wants to this. Apparently, many of the people who have jobs think that they are unique and special John Galtian super-workers, unlike those losers who can't find work. I'm guessing most of those are people who vote Republican.

Anyone surprised by this hasn't been paying attention.  Republicans have been systematically demonizing Muslims as the Enemy, gays as destroying our culture, African-Americans as criminals and thugs, Latinos as illegal parasites, and liberals (the most horrible of all) as enablers of all the above with special privileges. I'm surprised it took this long to add the long-term unemployed to the list of "those people who need to be dealt with".

Cross off several million more folks who no longer count as Real Americans and need to be targeted as yet another reason why "America is going to Hell."

What do all these groups have in common?  Why, they might come to see the federal government getting involved in helping them as a force for good and not as The Ultimate Evil.  They might even...gasp!...vote for a Democrat!

Can't have that.  You lost your job?  Republicans don't want you anymore.  You're one of Them now. Get thee hence!

It goes back to what I said yesterday:  There are people who will never accept Them. They will do everything they can to marginalize, emasculate, enervate, and stigmatize Them.

Ever notice that with Republicans, the list of Them grows by millions and millions every time they find a new scapegoat?  By this point, Them has to outnumber the Brave Crusaders. 

Shhh, but don't tell Them that.