Monday, December 30, 2013
Author George Wilder Jr.
What is your goal for getting your writing published or even written in 2014?
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Where did it all Go
An eBook, Short Story, on Amazon is now on sale for $.099 Download it now. From Author George Wilder Jr. www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Browse other books and eBooks
Feel Free to write a book review.
Happy Reading
Happy Holidays
Hurry get yours
George Wilder Jr.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
It Came From His Room
For a limited time, this five star review short family story eBook is only $0.99 available on Amazon
Hurry and download your copy today and have a great big laugh.
See you there.
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Saturday, November 23, 2013
PRAY
We must pray for the will to carry on
We must pray for those who hate us
We must pray for the innocent children being abuse as I write this
We must pray for the man who gave that young boy a gun
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Here are some good thoughts from a 90 year old Regina Brett.
Life isn't fair but it is still good
When in doubt take the next step
Life is too short, so enjoy it
Your job will not take of you when your are sick, your friends and family will.
Cry with someone, it is better then crying alone.
It is okay to be angry at God, he can take it.
Make peace with your past so that it doesn't screw up your future
Take a deep breath, it calms the mind
The most important sex organ is the brain
No one is in charge of your happiness but you
Always Choose life
Forgive but do not forget
Everything will change
Believe in miracles
Growing old beat the alternative--dying young
No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and face the world
Be willing to make new friends
Author George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Take From the Poor Give to the Rich
There are 16.4 million American children living in poverty. That's nearly one quarter (22.6 percent) of all of our children. More alarming is that the percentage of poor children has climbed by 4.5 percent since the start of the Great Recession in 2007. And poor means poor. For a family of three with one child under 18, the poverty line is $18,400.
Meanwhile, the stock market is booming. Banks, hedge funds and private equity firms are making tens of billions of dollars again. In fact, their bonuses are expected to climb by 5 to 10 percent this year, while Wall Street banks doll out $91.44 billion in bonus money.
Most amazing of all is the fact that 95 percent of the so-called "recovery" has gone to the top 1 percent who have seen their incomes rise by 34 percent. For the 99 percent there's been an undeclared wage freeze: the average wage has climbed by only 0.4 percent.
To add to the misery, Washington has decided that the best way to tackle childhood poverty is to have poor kids eat less. Both parties already have agreed to cut billions from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps). As of November 1, payments dropped from $668 a month to $632 for more than 47 million lower-income people -- 1 in 7 Americans, most of them children.
And more cuts are coming. The Tea Party House passed a bill to cut food stamps by $4 billion a year, while the Democratic-controlled Senate calls for $400 million in cuts. How humane! And since it will be part of the omnibus Farm Bill, President Obama will sign it. (I wonder how our former community organizer will explain this to the poor children he once tried to help in Chicago.)
But that's just the start. More austerity is coming in the form of cuts to Social Security as well as a host of other social programs. When times get tough, you've got to suck it up and take more from the poor.
Rewarding Billionaires Who Increase Poverty?
It gets even more revolting when we realize that the financial billionaires who are profiting so handsomely from the recovery are the very same who took down the economy in the first place. They were the ones who created and pedaled the toxic securities that puffed up and then burst the housing bubble. Those financial plutocrats caused 8 million workers to lose their jobs in a matter of months. Those bankers, hedge fund honchos and fund managers are directly responsible for the rise in child poverty rates. Washington bailed out those billionaires and is now asking the poor and the middle class to pay for the ensuing deficits with further cuts in social programs at every level of government.
Why do we put up with such injustices?
www.amazom.com/author/gwilder
Looking for Ebook Reviews
Meanwhile, the stock market is booming. Banks, hedge funds and private equity firms are making tens of billions of dollars again. In fact, their bonuses are expected to climb by 5 to 10 percent this year, while Wall Street banks doll out $91.44 billion in bonus money.
Most amazing of all is the fact that 95 percent of the so-called "recovery" has gone to the top 1 percent who have seen their incomes rise by 34 percent. For the 99 percent there's been an undeclared wage freeze: the average wage has climbed by only 0.4 percent.
To add to the misery, Washington has decided that the best way to tackle childhood poverty is to have poor kids eat less. Both parties already have agreed to cut billions from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps). As of November 1, payments dropped from $668 a month to $632 for more than 47 million lower-income people -- 1 in 7 Americans, most of them children.
And more cuts are coming. The Tea Party House passed a bill to cut food stamps by $4 billion a year, while the Democratic-controlled Senate calls for $400 million in cuts. How humane! And since it will be part of the omnibus Farm Bill, President Obama will sign it. (I wonder how our former community organizer will explain this to the poor children he once tried to help in Chicago.)
But that's just the start. More austerity is coming in the form of cuts to Social Security as well as a host of other social programs. When times get tough, you've got to suck it up and take more from the poor.
Rewarding Billionaires Who Increase Poverty?
It gets even more revolting when we realize that the financial billionaires who are profiting so handsomely from the recovery are the very same who took down the economy in the first place. They were the ones who created and pedaled the toxic securities that puffed up and then burst the housing bubble. Those financial plutocrats caused 8 million workers to lose their jobs in a matter of months. Those bankers, hedge fund honchos and fund managers are directly responsible for the rise in child poverty rates. Washington bailed out those billionaires and is now asking the poor and the middle class to pay for the ensuing deficits with further cuts in social programs at every level of government.
Why do we put up with such injustices?
www.amazom.com/author/gwilder
Looking for Ebook Reviews
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Disastrous
As the disastrous rollout of Obamacare's federal insurance exchange continues, politicians are palpitating over what went wrong.
On Tuesday Marilyn Tavenner, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), expressed regret for the difficulty people have receiving insurance. In typical fashion for the Obama administration, she blamed the contractors and high portal traffic. While President Obama has publicly apologized, no one has yet explained what really went wrong.
This fiasco is rapidly becoming Obama's Katrina, and it could get a lot worse before it gets better. Hurricanes eventually subside, but flawed software systems rarely heal themselves. Throughout the push for national insurance reform, the president and his Democratic allies in Congress repeatedly overpromised and underdelivered. The Republicans didn't help the situation, opposing Obamacare long after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it the law of the land.
We can trace the origin of the problems back to the inception of the Affordable Healthcare Act (AHA), which tried to accomplish far too much, far too fast. Instead of offering limited insurance coverage for catastrophic events, the president "overpromised" by offering full health care coverage for all Americans -- without a sound way to pay for the cost of 30 million new enrollees. He promised individuals they could keep both their doctor and their insurance plan, knowing full well that the high standards of Obamacare would cause many physicians to refuse inadequate reimbursement and many insurers to drop their plans.
As egregious as these errors were, they are overshadowed by the "underdelivery" of the information technology system managing these processes. Better management certainly could have prevented these problems, but once they arose, the White House staff chose to treat this challenge as a political issue, not a business issue. Eager for power, President Obama's staff, which has little experience in complex health care business issues, did not properly delegate this initiative to the head of Health & Human Services (HHS).
As a consequence, an extremely complex web and software application challenge is being treated as a political issue. The White House communications staff has tried to control the rollout of the health care exchanges, taking a political approach instead of recognizing this as an extremely complex technical and business issue. Sadly, this approach is quite typical of the Obama administration which has repeatedly placed politics ahead of leadership and sound management principles.
The fundamental error that Sebelius and Tavenner made was to think they could manage this massive project internally, instead of putting an experienced health care contractor in charge. As a result, no one wound up in charge. In her Congressional testimony on Tuesday, Tavenner ducked responsibility, blaming the contractors for the myriad problems involved.
All too late, HHS figured out it needed a general contractor. Fortunately, it chose CGI Federal and Quality Software Services (QSSI), a unit of UnitedHealth Group that was willing to step up immediately to the challenge. United's Andy Slavitt, one of the nation's leading health care experts, has personally taken charge of the project. He has been given an impossible deadline of November 30, 2013 to fix what would take most companies 6-12 months. We can only wish him well. If the deadline is missed for sound technical reasons, let's hope that the Obama administration doesn't try to blame QSSI instead of stepping up to its own responsibilities for these failures.
Many of us in the business and health care communities recognized this disaster in the making. We felt powerless to do anything about it though -- especially since we weren't being asked.
At the start of his second term, the president should have replaced a skilled politician like Secretary Katherine Sebelius with a seasoned health care veteran like George Halvorson, former Chair and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest non-profit health care system. Halvorson, who retired at the end of 2012, successfully implemented the nation's leading health care information system at a cost of $1.8 billion. It's still not too late for the president to ask Halvorson to save his beloved plan.
Ironically, the states that built their own health care exchanges, such as New York, California, Kentucky, and Minnesota, have fared much better than the federal exchange. What the Obama administration should have done was to test out its system on a pilot basis in one or two states before rolling it out nationally. That's what any private company would have done.
When the federal exchange is finally up-and-running, we can turn our attention to the real questions: how many people will actually sign up? Will they include the healthy young people the administration is counting on to offset the high cost of older, sicker Americans? How will people react to their inability to retain their current plans and their doctors, a direct contradiction of the president's promises? How will the government fund the high cost of the new patients in the system?
Ultimately, this administration must get serious about focusing on improving the health of our population rather than focusing downstream when people are really sick. An integrative approach to health in mind, body and spirit that integrates the medical system with a wide range of health and wellness practitioners is required to put America on a healthier path and bring health care costs in line with other nations. Without this, we cannot bring costs under control. Without tackling that fundamental challenge, any IT system is built on a shaky foundation.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
On Tuesday Marilyn Tavenner, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), expressed regret for the difficulty people have receiving insurance. In typical fashion for the Obama administration, she blamed the contractors and high portal traffic. While President Obama has publicly apologized, no one has yet explained what really went wrong.
This fiasco is rapidly becoming Obama's Katrina, and it could get a lot worse before it gets better. Hurricanes eventually subside, but flawed software systems rarely heal themselves. Throughout the push for national insurance reform, the president and his Democratic allies in Congress repeatedly overpromised and underdelivered. The Republicans didn't help the situation, opposing Obamacare long after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it the law of the land.
We can trace the origin of the problems back to the inception of the Affordable Healthcare Act (AHA), which tried to accomplish far too much, far too fast. Instead of offering limited insurance coverage for catastrophic events, the president "overpromised" by offering full health care coverage for all Americans -- without a sound way to pay for the cost of 30 million new enrollees. He promised individuals they could keep both their doctor and their insurance plan, knowing full well that the high standards of Obamacare would cause many physicians to refuse inadequate reimbursement and many insurers to drop their plans.
As egregious as these errors were, they are overshadowed by the "underdelivery" of the information technology system managing these processes. Better management certainly could have prevented these problems, but once they arose, the White House staff chose to treat this challenge as a political issue, not a business issue. Eager for power, President Obama's staff, which has little experience in complex health care business issues, did not properly delegate this initiative to the head of Health & Human Services (HHS).
As a consequence, an extremely complex web and software application challenge is being treated as a political issue. The White House communications staff has tried to control the rollout of the health care exchanges, taking a political approach instead of recognizing this as an extremely complex technical and business issue. Sadly, this approach is quite typical of the Obama administration which has repeatedly placed politics ahead of leadership and sound management principles.
The fundamental error that Sebelius and Tavenner made was to think they could manage this massive project internally, instead of putting an experienced health care contractor in charge. As a result, no one wound up in charge. In her Congressional testimony on Tuesday, Tavenner ducked responsibility, blaming the contractors for the myriad problems involved.
All too late, HHS figured out it needed a general contractor. Fortunately, it chose CGI Federal and Quality Software Services (QSSI), a unit of UnitedHealth Group that was willing to step up immediately to the challenge. United's Andy Slavitt, one of the nation's leading health care experts, has personally taken charge of the project. He has been given an impossible deadline of November 30, 2013 to fix what would take most companies 6-12 months. We can only wish him well. If the deadline is missed for sound technical reasons, let's hope that the Obama administration doesn't try to blame QSSI instead of stepping up to its own responsibilities for these failures.
Many of us in the business and health care communities recognized this disaster in the making. We felt powerless to do anything about it though -- especially since we weren't being asked.
At the start of his second term, the president should have replaced a skilled politician like Secretary Katherine Sebelius with a seasoned health care veteran like George Halvorson, former Chair and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, the nation's largest non-profit health care system. Halvorson, who retired at the end of 2012, successfully implemented the nation's leading health care information system at a cost of $1.8 billion. It's still not too late for the president to ask Halvorson to save his beloved plan.
Ironically, the states that built their own health care exchanges, such as New York, California, Kentucky, and Minnesota, have fared much better than the federal exchange. What the Obama administration should have done was to test out its system on a pilot basis in one or two states before rolling it out nationally. That's what any private company would have done.
When the federal exchange is finally up-and-running, we can turn our attention to the real questions: how many people will actually sign up? Will they include the healthy young people the administration is counting on to offset the high cost of older, sicker Americans? How will people react to their inability to retain their current plans and their doctors, a direct contradiction of the president's promises? How will the government fund the high cost of the new patients in the system?
Ultimately, this administration must get serious about focusing on improving the health of our population rather than focusing downstream when people are really sick. An integrative approach to health in mind, body and spirit that integrates the medical system with a wide range of health and wellness practitioners is required to put America on a healthier path and bring health care costs in line with other nations. Without this, we cannot bring costs under control. Without tackling that fundamental challenge, any IT system is built on a shaky foundation.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Just Thinking
Is anyone really shocked? I know I am not. These people have hated and disrespected Obama from Day One. The entire formation of the Tea Party was based on hatred for a black President. And the evidence I have of that are all the disgusting, hateful signs we saw at their rallies--the Obama Monkey pictures and Witch Doctor. In addition, this all started as soon as he was elected so nobody can convince me
this movement was about policies.
Money was poured into this movement in an effort to get the black guy out of office and they failed miserably and they will continue to fail because hatred always loses in the end. Then they bought some seats in red districts and gained seats in our House of Representatives and all they have done since then is obstruct and destroy this nation ALL in the name of hatred for the black President.
It is truly shameful and unprecedented, and Obama needs to give them a does of their own medicine--yelling and expletives --so they won't forget anytime soon just who is in charge.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
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this movement was about policies.
Money was poured into this movement in an effort to get the black guy out of office and they failed miserably and they will continue to fail because hatred always loses in the end. Then they bought some seats in red districts and gained seats in our House of Representatives and all they have done since then is obstruct and destroy this nation ALL in the name of hatred for the black President.
It is truly shameful and unprecedented, and Obama needs to give them a does of their own medicine--yelling and expletives --so they won't forget anytime soon just who is in charge.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
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Saturday, October 19, 2013
24 Billion
Republicans responsible for the shut down and the near default should be on the hook for paying back the 24 billion that they cost this country in their failed attempt to destroy America. They should not be allowed to get away that. Down here on main street, when real Americans incur debts in any way, we have to pay them or face collections. It should no way be any different with reckless politicians. Make then pay the money back, it was not their money, it was ours.
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Thursday, October 17, 2013
They are going to try this again
What is very baffling is that 144 Republicans voted to keep the government shutdown and wanted a default. We must never forget this and hold these people accountable because they are going to try this again and real soon. All we did was to kick the can down the road, and in February 2014 we will be back in this sh't again. Believe me they are already plotting their next move. They will be coming after your healthcare, social security, your job, your tax money, Medicare, Medicaid, Snap benefits, and whatever else they can extract from us all. They are going to try and destroy the President once again.The Republicans do not care about America, they care about their party. They care about their rich donors who they take orders from. In my opinion no one wins in this thing because Americans have already has lost so much in tax money, 24 Billion for 16 days of the shutdown. And the republicans continue to want to waste more hard earned tax dollars of your and my money. And they talk about cutting spending, how is wasting 24 billion cutting spending? Why were the republicans taking their marching orders from a group call the teaparty when it was hard working Americans who gave them their jobs? Because they were/are afraid of losing their offices. Americans have to stop voting in people who are not for their own best interests. Americans must take charge of their government, not the politicians. Americans have to stand up and say enough is enough from these clowns. This country belongs to you and me, we hire them to keep up safe, we hire them to keep us informed, and we hire them to represent all of America. We do not hire them to lie, cheat, and to hate America. And to go against every value that we stood for since the beginning of time.
www,amazon.com/author/gwilder
George Wilder Jr.
www,amazon.com/author/gwilder
George Wilder Jr.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Fight Fire With Fire
There is no doubt that Republicans in the House of Representatives rigged and planned this government shutdown months in advance. Now trying to blame the entire thing on Obama and the Democrats. Americans everywhere are outraged. Republicans are pissed off that Obamacare is now the law of the land. They are terrorists in Congress. They do not want the government to reopen, they want the default. American Affordable Care has many flaws, single payer would have the best for Americans, However, Obama and Emanuel did not want that. Yeah, that is Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Republicans are standing tall in their hate for America, that is a fact. They lost the last election in a landslide, the American people rejected their nonsense. They are now using that slim majority in the House to reek hardship on the United States while other countries are watching us self-destruct. Republicans hate Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the middle class. They do not care about their low polling among the people that they hate. You know all the rest.
It is time to turn the tables on the Republicans and their tea party. They want to destroy American, then Americans must destroy them first. Stop giving them face time with the television cameras to spew their lies and hate. Stop propping them up on the Sunday shows. Turn off Fox News. Call them out for what they are, haters of America and its people. Keep them off television when they are running for office. Do not cover their debates, and call them out for what they are, deadbeats. Stop sending them or hard earned money. They should go to prison for treason to their country. The Republicans are shaming this country to lunacy. They can't get what they want, so take the country down the sewer. This country is a lot bigger than a few hateful Republicans. Fight Fire with fire and destroy them first, they hate America, then America hates the Republicans.
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
It is time to turn the tables on the Republicans and their tea party. They want to destroy American, then Americans must destroy them first. Stop giving them face time with the television cameras to spew their lies and hate. Stop propping them up on the Sunday shows. Turn off Fox News. Call them out for what they are, haters of America and its people. Keep them off television when they are running for office. Do not cover their debates, and call them out for what they are, deadbeats. Stop sending them or hard earned money. They should go to prison for treason to their country. The Republicans are shaming this country to lunacy. They can't get what they want, so take the country down the sewer. This country is a lot bigger than a few hateful Republicans. Fight Fire with fire and destroy them first, they hate America, then America hates the Republicans.
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Backbone!!
Backbone is totally necessary. If you look at the way the tea billy republican party has been acting you will realize that they are playing a dangerous game. They want to put off the implementation of the ACA (Obamacare) because they want more time to demagogue it without taking responsibility for the shut down of the govt. They want to destroy all social programs that the vast majority of Americans rely on to have some decent way of living. They want to destroy the coming holiday season for the poor and middle class. They want a ransom for doing what they already get paid to do, that is silly. Washington is suppose to work for the people who sent them there in the first place but it is not and why? The Republicans are saying that they always cared about the poor, the middle class, children, and seniors. We know that is a bald faced lie. They and their tea party friends wants to rewrite the Constitution to fit their own agendas. Republicans and their rich friends wants to own America. They do not care about the poor, they do not care about workers, they do not care about children, they do not care about seniors, they do not care about the hungry, they do not care about the sick, and they do not care if you work or not. They do not care about the economy. They do not care about the debt ceiling and they do not café about the shutdown. The Republicans care about only one thing, that is their party. The rest of can rot in hell.
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Stand Firm
We know that Obama has a track record with comes to caving in to the Republicans. In the past, Obama have giving up some much to the republicans for little or no return. The president must not cave in as is being talked about. The republicans will only slap him again and then demand more and more. Mr. do not let the Republicans ruin our Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years by kicking this this thing down the road. Americans are with you, do not let them down. Republicans are trying to find a way to get out of the mess that they have made for themselves. Stand firm and we will take back the House of Representatives, and hang on to the White House. As mentioned, the republicans are desperately trying to save face by making this all about Obama. John McCain has stated that this shutdown was caused by Republicans, and they are being beaten over the head with constantly bad polling numbers. The history books are written and will put this government shutdown clearly on House Republicans and "it would not be wise to deal with a first ever default in the middle of the Holiday season," as Obama has stated. He is absolutely spot on with this.
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Government Shutdown
Blaming Obama for the Government Shutdown? Really? You have got to be kidding me!
Republicans are far to misinformed of the American system to know that Obama does not control the funding. He can only sign legislation. It is the job responsibility of congress to fund the laws that get passed. If they can't agree on a law, it does not get passed. The act of passing a law that requires funding to implement IS THE AUTHORIZATION required for funding. Going in after the fact to block ALL money from being authorized for release is an end around subversion of democracy to bypass the Law making and Law repeal process.
OBAMA DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT. OBAMA is in the EXECUTIVE BRANCH of Government. He CAN'T force a government shutdown. You are out of bounds for even saying it.
It was NEVER possible for President Obama to be responsible for a funding-lock shutdown... but you sure were stupid enough to repeat what your lemming leaders tell you. Smart people that can think for themselves and understand how our system of government works and which branch has the authority over the purse knows better.
Republicans are far to misinformed of the American system to know that Obama does not control the funding. He can only sign legislation. It is the job responsibility of congress to fund the laws that get passed. If they can't agree on a law, it does not get passed. The act of passing a law that requires funding to implement IS THE AUTHORIZATION required for funding. Going in after the fact to block ALL money from being authorized for release is an end around subversion of democracy to bypass the Law making and Law repeal process.
OBAMA DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT. OBAMA is in the EXECUTIVE BRANCH of Government. He CAN'T force a government shutdown. You are out of bounds for even saying it.
It was NEVER possible for President Obama to be responsible for a funding-lock shutdown... but you sure were stupid enough to repeat what your lemming leaders tell you. Smart people that can think for themselves and understand how our system of government works and which branch has the authority over the purse knows better.
Just One Man
It is not right for one man, John Boehner, one man to hold this country hostage because he doesn't want struggling Americans to have healthcare. This is one man who is bringing America to its knees because he doesn't like the president. This is one man that is going to take all of us down the sewer because he doesn't like America. Come on, he is just one man!
These republicans want to abolish social security, the minimum wage, workplace protections, healthcare, and just anything that works for America. The republicans will not reopen the government because they do not like Obamacare. What is it about a bunch of well paid officials with healthcare that don't want see the rest of us with that same healthcare? It looks like the US will default and become more dysfunctional, this is what they want and this is what they will get. America will be more hurt.
Boehner is a pathetic example of a human being for openly lying to the entire nation when the reality is that enough votes exist to bring a clean CR to the floor for a vote and it will pass.
The Republicans are the most ridiculous suicidal politicians we have witnessed in a long time. By midnight they had shot themselves in both feet. Nobody will get near Obamacare, how hard is that to understand? Most of the Republican House knows that, I'd like to say they are not that stupid. But they seem even more stupid for being manipulated by the 80 suicide districts, The Obamacare health care LAW is in effect and it's going to be a hit!
The people that don't like it are not effected so what have they got to complain about . Today is the beginning of the end of Republican Politics.One thing is certain - Boehner has secured his place in history as the absolute WORST most ineffective Speaker of the House of all time, too busy cowering to the bagger fringe to do his job. Crawl back in your bottle John, because no matter what happens, you're through as Speaker and all you can do at this point flail and blubber. Perhaps we'll be treated to another tearful meltdown worthy of future comedy soundbites, maybe an image of Boehner curling into a fetal position while he drunkenly sobs for his mommy, but other than that, this squid is out of ink and the blame for any shutdown will lay solely upon the Boehner's do-nothing bagger House. Buh-bye Boehner.
Who is the blame for the shutdown?
While appearing on Fox News over the weekend, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) was very frank when he told fellow-Republican and embarrassing soundbite machine Louie Gohmert (R-TX) that he felt the GOP had over-promised and misled their base, and that they could even stop the Affordable Care Act in the first place. It’s quite stunning to hear a Republican congressman speak plainly to the fact that his party basically lied to their constituents to drum-up support for this irresponsible government shutdown, isn’t it?
“I thought it was a big mistake to say that we were going to get rid of ObamaCare,” Nunes told the show’s host. “I think we’re giving our base — and I’m a conservative Republican, just like Louie — the false interpretation that somehow by not funding the government, we’re going to get rid of ObamaCare, and we simply don’t have the votes to do that.” By Nunes simply admitting that the Republicans don’t have the votes to do anything on the Affordable Care Act, he has become one of maybe a handful of Congressional Republicans who have been candid and truthful about the situation.
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
EBook Writer
These republicans want to abolish social security, the minimum wage, workplace protections, healthcare, and just anything that works for America. The republicans will not reopen the government because they do not like Obamacare. What is it about a bunch of well paid officials with healthcare that don't want see the rest of us with that same healthcare? It looks like the US will default and become more dysfunctional, this is what they want and this is what they will get. America will be more hurt.
Boehner is a pathetic example of a human being for openly lying to the entire nation when the reality is that enough votes exist to bring a clean CR to the floor for a vote and it will pass.
The Republicans are the most ridiculous suicidal politicians we have witnessed in a long time. By midnight they had shot themselves in both feet. Nobody will get near Obamacare, how hard is that to understand? Most of the Republican House knows that, I'd like to say they are not that stupid. But they seem even more stupid for being manipulated by the 80 suicide districts, The Obamacare health care LAW is in effect and it's going to be a hit!
The people that don't like it are not effected so what have they got to complain about . Today is the beginning of the end of Republican Politics.One thing is certain - Boehner has secured his place in history as the absolute WORST most ineffective Speaker of the House of all time, too busy cowering to the bagger fringe to do his job. Crawl back in your bottle John, because no matter what happens, you're through as Speaker and all you can do at this point flail and blubber. Perhaps we'll be treated to another tearful meltdown worthy of future comedy soundbites, maybe an image of Boehner curling into a fetal position while he drunkenly sobs for his mommy, but other than that, this squid is out of ink and the blame for any shutdown will lay solely upon the Boehner's do-nothing bagger House. Buh-bye Boehner.
Who is the blame for the shutdown?
While appearing on Fox News over the weekend, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) was very frank when he told fellow-Republican and embarrassing soundbite machine Louie Gohmert (R-TX) that he felt the GOP had over-promised and misled their base, and that they could even stop the Affordable Care Act in the first place. It’s quite stunning to hear a Republican congressman speak plainly to the fact that his party basically lied to their constituents to drum-up support for this irresponsible government shutdown, isn’t it?
“I thought it was a big mistake to say that we were going to get rid of ObamaCare,” Nunes told the show’s host. “I think we’re giving our base — and I’m a conservative Republican, just like Louie — the false interpretation that somehow by not funding the government, we’re going to get rid of ObamaCare, and we simply don’t have the votes to do that.” By Nunes simply admitting that the Republicans don’t have the votes to do anything on the Affordable Care Act, he has become one of maybe a handful of Congressional Republicans who have been candid and truthful about the situation.
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
EBook Writer
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Stop The Senseless Killings, Please
What is it going to take for us to stand up and say enough to this internal gun war of American against American? What is it going to take to create a mental health system that prevents such tragedies from happening over and over? What is it going to take for us to pass and enforce adequate gun safety laws? What is it going to take to love and protect human life, especially children more than guns? Is the doctor right that this is not America? Or is she calling for the America we must create together with urgency and persistence?Marian Anderson.
This is crazy, this is unreal. Mass shootings in Chicago are happening just about every night. Innocent people are dying along with young children, toddlers and even infants. The governor is now talking about reinforcements, that include, the National Guard and the State Police to help the Chicago police force, who seem to be baffled. They can talk about gun laws until the cows come, because the bad have already have guns. They are laughing at the guns laws while gunning down our children. These gangbangers, thugs, and rat asses are jumping out of cars shooting and killing people no matter how much we beg and plead for this to stop. Chicago is now the murder capitol of the nation, if not the world and it is well deserved. The bad guys will not stop the killing until they are taken off the streets and off to jail or in body bags. The shootings must stop. This is American against American and that's civil war. Everyone should have a hand in stopping the violence in a big beautiful and wonderful city. We will not let the thugs and murderers take it over.
George Wilder Jr.
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
'It Came From His Room' A Family Story. EBook
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Excerpt From 'It Came From His Room' A New Ebook Amazon
The house was big and beautiful and nothing like we had
ever experienced and lived before. The children emerged from the car and ran
towards their new and gorgeous home with glee.
My wife and I railed at their excitement. Actually we were all excited
with giggles about our new home. And it was about time, that I finally owned
something that no one could take away from me. It was located in South
Peterson, Illinois, with a population of only a few thousand. We wanted to get
away as far as we could from Chicago. This was a suburb where nothing exciting
ever happened and after Chicago, that was the way we wanted it to be. It had
everything but the white picket fence out front. We could always erect one
later. My wife, Lisa Thurman and I, Mark Thurman had pooled our hard earned
resources over number of years along with some long term savings to buy this
house that could be best described as being out in the middle of no where,
however, we loved it. It was a wonderful
ranch style home, however, without the horses.
This was a single family home of about two thousand and four hundred
square feet with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The exterior included a two car garage and a
fantastic driveway. No more of living on top of and right next to rowdy and
noisy neighbors. Wooden and pine oaked floors almost in every room of the house.
The interior could only be explained as immaculate. There
was central air, a fireplace, glossy hardwood and tiled floors even in the
bathroom. We loved it. The furniture had arrived about an hour ago before we
had come. As mentioned, our children Amy eleven and Jeffery twelve, quickly
darted and ran to claim their rooms which were located on the second floor of
our new home. Once inside, I immediately claimed the den. My wife was sold on
the spacious bedrooms. I had been recently promoted at the employment agency
where I worked now as an assistant district manager. My wife Lisa was a Chicago
Public School teacher and she was pulling down the big bucks. So, therefore, we
would have no problems paying the monthly high mortgage as long as they did not
lay her off as was being talked about. I was the district manager of Shelby’s
Park District. As a family, we were all
smiles.
The city life had really taken its toll my wife and I. We
wanted a safe place for our children to play and grow up and to have good and
solid friends. We all knew that there was no real escape from crime and that it
could hit anywhere, anytime, and anyone.
However, we knew that in South Peterson, Illinois deadly crime was not
an everyday occurrence. After a few weeks, as the family had become so attached
to the house it was so unbelievable. I could not wait to get our children out
of public schools, in my view; they have become some of the worse in the
nation. With all the noise locally and nationally, I knew that I wanted my kids
in a safer neighborhood and a school where they could learn without the media
sticking a microphone up in their young faces. I believe we had found that.
My wife and I always enjoyed a clean house, and this house
deserved nothing less. She had learned it from her parents, and so did I learn
from my own, parents. After a few weeks, Amy’s room could have stood some
improving; however, on the other hand, Jeffery’s room was always a colossal
mess. His clothes were hanging half way out of his dresser drawers. Half eaten
hamburger sandwiches and French fries were located way under his bed now with
mold. His rotting manure was slimed upside the walls. Urine covered the
beddings. We figured with plenty of input coated with immense threats from the
both of us, would do the trick. We
wanted the entire house to be one as it pertains to cleanliness. This was going
to be hard work for my little Jeffery.
This was the life. We had a nice car, a house,
lovely children, and we were finally away from Chicago, a beautiful city but
just not for my family. On this wonderful Saturday morning I wanted to step out
and see the neighborhood and try and meet some of our new neighbors. I’m sure
that someone saw us moving into the house. However, they did not bother to come
over and introduce themselves. I finally had a real house to call home. It was
exciting, my wife and I had worked very hard for this day. As I walked around,
Peterson, Illinois, it was a very quiet place not many people were out and...www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Saturday, August 3, 2013
George Wilder Jr's Derrick Sweat Midwest Deep Freeze: JUST A WRITER
George Wilder Jr's Derrick Sweat Midwest Deep Freeze: JUST A WRITER: George Wilder Jr. is a resident of the State of Illinois. He is first and foremost a storyteller. He is an eBook writer. His works includes...
Saturday, July 27, 2013
JUST A WRITER
George Wilder Jr. is a resident of the State of Illinois. He is first and foremost a storyteller. He is an eBook writer. His works includes his thoughts real and clear. Mr. Wilder is an true original. His writings ring loud and clear of some things in his own life and others whether fiction or nonfiction and many essays. He write stories that others can relate to and learn from. He is always searching for great stories about life's up and downs and its joys to tell and explore. He is proud of everything he has done and everything that he will do. His novels are crafted by him. His writings are fun, sometimes funny, and very insightful. George was first published in 1996, a small local newspaper called the Chicago Defender. He has also been published in the Chicago Sun-times and the Chicago Parent Magazine. His articles, books, ebooks, essays, poetry, and short stories have garnered rave reviews from friends, family, and readers of all ages. He is a writer that doesn't act like a writer, Mr. Wilder thinks of himself as just another writer sharing what he loves to do. He is a serious writer of fiction and nonfiction. Mr. Wilder has been called the poison pen. He also is a parent and a provider. Mr. Wilder is avid reader of all genres. He writes the kind of fiction and nonfiction that he himself would love to read, what he knows many readers will crave. In his spare time, Mr.Wilder likes fishing, playing golf, chess, dancing, walks by the lake, going to the gym, shopping, video games, and being a parent. "I think of myself as just an ordinary person in every aspect, however, I do not think I'm any different from any other writer. I'm always writing or thinking about writing something. I love taking my laptop over by the lake near the park and coming up with fresh ideas to write about, whether fiction or nonfiction. There is really is something about finding a nice place in the shade, with milk and cookies on hand, sitting down and looking up at the mild sun and the evening skies and saying, "now, I'm ready." I love writing and creating eBook titles, covers, and characters, it is something I will do until the end of time. George Wilder Jr. stays busy always with projects slated for 2014 and 2015. Have a great one!Monday, July 22, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Excerpt, from 'Looking at Myself'
He is a teenager and that can be a handful. I demand that he get up for school each morning on time and make out to the school bus that will be waiting. I demand that he wash his face and hands, put on deodorant have a clean uniform on as he proceeds on down the stairs. I demand that he makes his bed each morning; I demand that he do not eat up all the food in the house. I demand that he that do his homework and other school related projects. I demand that he does not blast his music all through the night so to disturb our neighbors and have the police at our door. I demand that he stop messing up the house every time I clean it up, I demand that he stop watching TV programs and listening to music with violent content. I demand that he read a book each night before going to bed. I demand that he choose good friends. I demand that he stop lying. I demand that he stop saying that I am treating him unfairly. I demand that he does not become part of a gang. I demand that as he grows older not mistreat women. I demand that he not smoke cigarettes and do drugs. I demand that he take a bath to keep from smelling like a fish. I demand that he finds what he is good at and stick with it. I demand that he stop watching dumb TV shows and focus on his life. I demand that he be leader and not a follower.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Once again, Chicago's Killing Fields
6 dead, 11 wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday
BY MICHAEL LANSU AND SAM CHARLES Staff Reporters May 25, 2013 6:04AM
Updated: May 26, 2013 10:48AM
Six people were killed and 11 others were wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday evening.
The most recent fatal shooting happened early Sunday on the city’s Near North Side, leaving one man dead and a woman wounded.
The 42-year-old man, identified as Charles Jones of Miami, was shot in the head about 2:50 a.m. in the 1000 block of North Branch Street, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
He was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 3:33 a.m., the medical examiner’s office reported.
Police said the shooting stemmed from a car crash.
After the crash, multiple people got out from a vehicle and shot the man and a 44-year-old woman. She was taken to Northwestern in “stable” condition, police said.
The police department’s Major Accidents Division is investigating, but officers had no details.
Just after 2 a.m., a shooting in the West Pullman neighborhood on the South Side left a 28-year-old man dead, authorities said. He was shot in the armpit at 121st and Indiana Avenue, and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 3:20 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
About 9:20 p.m. Saturday in the South Shore neighborhood, a man was shot in the head in a possible drive-by in the 7300 block of South Dorchester Avenue, police said.
Fearro Denard, 18, was dead on the scene, the medical examiner’s office reported. The shooting occurred in the same block as his home.
About 1:50 a.m. Saturday, a man was killed in the Hyde Park neighborhood, roughly half a mile from President Barack Obama’s home in neighboring Kenwood.
Gregory Dixon, 29, had buzzed the suspects into an apartment building in the 1400 block of East 52nd Street, police said. The shooters entered an apartment using a door left ajar, and fatally shot him in the chest and back.
Dixon, who had gang affiliations, was dead at the scene, police said.
About 11:45 p.m. Friday, a man was found shot outside his home in the 1100 block of North Lawndale Avenue, in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood, authorities said.
Tevin Kirkman, 22, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he died at 12:20 a.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.
At 11 p.m. Friday, a 17-year-old boy was killed and a man was wounded in the West Side Austin neighborhood. Police found them both injured outside in the 400 block of North Central Avenue, authorities said.
Leetema Daniels, of an unknown home address, was shot in the head and died at the scene, authorities said. An 18-year-old man was shot in the upper chest and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where his condition has since stabilized.
At least nine other people were wounded in non-fatal shootings across the city since Friday evening.
About 8:20 p.m. Saturday a 19-year-old man was shot in the 700 block of West 50th Place, part of the Back of the Yards neighborhood, police said. He was taken in good condition to Saint Bernard Hospital.
About 6:30 p.m. Saturday, a teen was shot in the Edgewater neighborhood on the North Side, police said.
The 17-year-old was shot once in the leg in the 6000 block of North Kenmore Avenue and taken in “stable” condition to an area hospital.
About 2:55 a.m. Saturday in the Northwest Side Logan Square neighborhood, a motorist was shot in the face, police said.
The 24-year-old man was driving in the 2300 block of North Ridgeway Avenue when someone started shooting at his vehicle, police said. He was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center where his condition has since stabilized.
About 1:45 a.m. Saturday, three men were hurt in a drive-by shooting in the 400 block of North Sacramento Avenue, in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood, police said.
They were walking down the sidewalk when they heard gunfire, then saw a red van speeding away, police said.
An 18-year-old man and a 21-year-old man were both shot in the buttocks, and the older man was also shot in the thigh. Both men have gang affiliations, and were taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in “stable” condition.
Another man, 21, was grazed in the arm and refused medical treatment, police said.
About 11 p.m. Friday night, an 18-year-old man was wounded in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the South Side. He suffered a graze wound to the leg in the 7200 block of South Prairie Avenue.
About 8:45 p.m. Friday, a 17-year-old girl was shot in the 600 block of East 75th Street, also in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.
She was walking with her boyfriend and two other friends when two unknown male suspects approached the group and shot, police said.
The group ran from the shooters and the girl later realized she’d been shot in the hip, police said. She was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County in “stable” condition.
About 7:35 p.m., a man was shot in the arm in the 1100 block of North Spaulding Avenue, in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. He was treated in good condition at Norwegian-American Hospital.
No one is in custody for any of the shootings as of early Sunday.
George Wilder Jr.
Books, EBooks, Essays, Articles, Short Stories.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The Mayor
Union leaders and retirees blasted Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday for saving $108.7 million by phasing out a city subsidy for retiree health care and using roughly the same amount of public money to build a new basketball arena near McCormick Place.
“Why are retirees with the least ability to absorb this financial blow the first ones made to suffer?... Can’t the mayor find the savings elsewhere?” Fraternal Order of Police President Mike Shields wrote in an email to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Our city continually victimizes its most vulnerable citizens with red light cameras in lower income neighborhoods, dangerous school closures, high murder rates caused by a downsized police force, and now Chicago is set to abandon retired police officers who risked their lives serving and protecting this City and were promised healthcare during retirement,” Shields wrote.
Tom Ryan, president of the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2, branded it “outrageous” that city retirees were forced to read about “this drastic change in their retirement security” in the Chicago Sun-Times, instead of hearing it first from City Hall.
“ I also find it ironic that this reduction to promised healthcare coverage for retirees, which the City says will save it 109 million dollars per year, is proclaimed at the very same time that the Mayor is poised to announce a plan to use millions of dollars in public funds to help build a basketball facility for a private institution. I must ask, where are our priorities?” Ryan wrote in an email to the Sun-Times.
Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, said Emanuel has offered “no details except to say non-Medicare retirees will have to seek private insurance through an exchange” mandated by Obamacare that has not yet been launched.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
A Softer Side
It is nothing like getting up every morning and the sunshine is shining through the window and directly onto your weary face. And it doesn’t matter whether life is good, fair, or immobile. Seeing the sun can just bring a smile where there was none only just a few hours before. Most people are happy for lots reasons but for me, besides being a busy parent, it is going shopping at least every now and then. I just like to buy things even if I do not really need what I am purchasing. It is just nice to be among the crowd that is out scowling the isles for bargains. It does not matter if I am shopping for myself or my young son and girlfriend; it is all like therapy in some ways. However most of the time, I do shop for things that we really and actually do need. But for me, it is more fun buying stuff that I truly do not need but want, if I can afford it. This may sound crazy but I actually like seeing others shop also because it makes me feel that I’m not alone in spending and throwing away a little of my hard earned money. I had to teach my young son how to shop. At first he seemed to have not much use for it, until I began pushing him to have some fun. Whenever I do not have much money to spend and if I have some time to waste, I always go window shopping just peering at all the things that I wished I could afford or maybe being able to afford someday, I still manages to smile. When I’m window shopping I do not think about the troubles that maybe brewing all around and just waiting to pounce me into the ground. I just may I pick up a video game or movie and then I’m good to go.
I always make a note of what I’m going to buy once the paycheck arrives, always doing a dry run of the facility. Making sure of setting some aside for paying vital bills. Shopping for the small things for me is just as enjoyable for me as purchasing the big box goodies. I like shopping at Best Buy, Target, Sears, Office Max, Macy’s, Staples, Amazon, and so many others. Of course, sometimes I’m only browsing and sometimes only dreaming.
As mentioned, shopping is one cure of most of my ills. Pain can never get me down as long as there is a Macy’s Department Store near by. I do not have time for negative thinking when I have money to spend. I do not have time for negative people; they would only hold me back. I want a hot dog with everything on it.
George Wilder Jr.
George Wilder Jr.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Talking to Myself
Mr. Wilder's new eBook of essays is now available on Amazon.com
They are essays that can only be written in the voice of the Author. They are filled with hope, energy, love, inspiration, wisdom, and such.
As he would say, "Always a pleasure."
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Do It For Yourself
New ebook of Essays from author George Wilder Jr.
Available from www.amazon.com
www.amazon.com/author/gwilder
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Work For Yourself
By Miriam Salpeter
You've been having a tough time finding a job, and the longer it takes, the more obstacles you face. Your last job's end date has become more distant, and you aren't seeing any reason to be optimistic about landing something permanent anytime soon.
If this describes you, it could be time to shift gears and stop looking for a job in favor of starting your own consulting firm or business. Is the writing on the wall, but you aren't seeing it? Consider the following signs that you should re-focus your energies and start thinking about working for yourself.
1. Hiring independents is on the rise. Independent workers (people working 15 or more hours per week as freelancers, contractors, or business owners) are part of a fast-growing sector of our workforce. The Harvard Business Review frequently shares research showcasing these trends. For example, author and workplace researcher Tammy Erickson's HBR post highlights data from the temporary placement service provider Adecco, illustrating that contingent (temporary) workers will grow at three to four times the rate of the traditional workforce in the future. Whitney L. Johnson, author of Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream, had a recent post on HBR noting that there are currently around 17 million independent workers, which is expected to rise to 23 million by 2017.
On her blog, workplace author and columnist Alexandra Levit recently shared data from technology firm Mavenlink that shows the number of self-employed, independent service firms, "solopreneurs," and temporary workers grew by an estimated 4.3 million workers since 1995. The contingent workforce is expected to grow to 40 percent, or 64.9 million, by 2020.
While it's not always a good idea to follow the crowd when it comes to your career, these data suggest that it may be time to think about how to market yourself as a business of one.
2. A lack of jobs or hiring freezes in your field. It's tough to land a job in the midst of hiring freezes. If your industry is hard hit by the economy or in a state of flux, it's likely that hiring freezes will affect your ability to land a new job -- or even a promotion. It may be time to leverage a new idea that you've been considering into a new business plan.
3. Projects are going to contractors. Most trends don't manifest overnight, but sometimes employees don't notice them until it's too late to respond. Look around: Is your organization contracting with freelancers to get things done? If it is, it's likely that competitors are doing the same thing.
When organizations cannot squeeze another drop of productivity from their already stretched-thin workforces and they look to outside, temporary help in lieu of on-ramping new, permanent employees, that's a sign to take seriously. It may be time to start thinking about being on the receiving side of the trend and to hang your own shingle.
4. You need a new challenge. Not all signs suggesting that it's time to start a business come from your industry. Take a good, hard look at your own goals, skills, and what you want to accomplish in your career. If you don't see opportunities to get things done in companies where you might land jobs, it may be time to start your own gig.
5. Controlling your work environment is important to you. The recent news from Yahoo --demanding that employees who now work from home instead report to the office -- highlights how tides can turn. Whether or not Yahoo's move is a trend matters less than how important it is for you to be able to dictate your own schedule and work environment. The only way to be sure that you maintain control over your work environment is to work for yourself.
6. Working for yourself is the new job security. With millions of workers serving as employees at will, subject to layoffs and reductions in force at the drop of a hat, traditional, or "corporate" jobs no longer offer the type of income security that people once thought. Assuming you can ramp up your own small business and attract some returning clients, it's likely that having your own company with varied income streams is actually a safer bet than relying on one organization for your income.
Don't be the last one to the entrepreneur party. Whether starting a business is something you've always wanted to do, or you're thinking of going that route because you're having trouble finding work, you should start planning now to prepare yourself to succeed in the new economy.
Miriam Salpeter is a job search and social media consultant, career coach, author, speaker, resume writer, and owner of Keppie Careers. She is author of Social Networking for Career Success and 100 Conversations for Career Success. Miriam teaches job seekers and entrepreneurs how to incorporate social media tools along with traditional strategies to reach their goals.
You've been having a tough time finding a job, and the longer it takes, the more obstacles you face. Your last job's end date has become more distant, and you aren't seeing any reason to be optimistic about landing something permanent anytime soon.
If this describes you, it could be time to shift gears and stop looking for a job in favor of starting your own consulting firm or business. Is the writing on the wall, but you aren't seeing it? Consider the following signs that you should re-focus your energies and start thinking about working for yourself.
1. Hiring independents is on the rise. Independent workers (people working 15 or more hours per week as freelancers, contractors, or business owners) are part of a fast-growing sector of our workforce. The Harvard Business Review frequently shares research showcasing these trends. For example, author and workplace researcher Tammy Erickson's HBR post highlights data from the temporary placement service provider Adecco, illustrating that contingent (temporary) workers will grow at three to four times the rate of the traditional workforce in the future. Whitney L. Johnson, author of Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream, had a recent post on HBR noting that there are currently around 17 million independent workers, which is expected to rise to 23 million by 2017.
On her blog, workplace author and columnist Alexandra Levit recently shared data from technology firm Mavenlink that shows the number of self-employed, independent service firms, "solopreneurs," and temporary workers grew by an estimated 4.3 million workers since 1995. The contingent workforce is expected to grow to 40 percent, or 64.9 million, by 2020.
While it's not always a good idea to follow the crowd when it comes to your career, these data suggest that it may be time to think about how to market yourself as a business of one.
3. Projects are going to contractors. Most trends don't manifest overnight, but sometimes employees don't notice them until it's too late to respond. Look around: Is your organization contracting with freelancers to get things done? If it is, it's likely that competitors are doing the same thing.
When organizations cannot squeeze another drop of productivity from their already stretched-thin workforces and they look to outside, temporary help in lieu of on-ramping new, permanent employees, that's a sign to take seriously. It may be time to start thinking about being on the receiving side of the trend and to hang your own shingle.
4. You need a new challenge. Not all signs suggesting that it's time to start a business come from your industry. Take a good, hard look at your own goals, skills, and what you want to accomplish in your career. If you don't see opportunities to get things done in companies where you might land jobs, it may be time to start your own gig.
5. Controlling your work environment is important to you. The recent news from Yahoo --demanding that employees who now work from home instead report to the office -- highlights how tides can turn. Whether or not Yahoo's move is a trend matters less than how important it is for you to be able to dictate your own schedule and work environment. The only way to be sure that you maintain control over your work environment is to work for yourself.
6. Working for yourself is the new job security. With millions of workers serving as employees at will, subject to layoffs and reductions in force at the drop of a hat, traditional, or "corporate" jobs no longer offer the type of income security that people once thought. Assuming you can ramp up your own small business and attract some returning clients, it's likely that having your own company with varied income streams is actually a safer bet than relying on one organization for your income.
Don't be the last one to the entrepreneur party. Whether starting a business is something you've always wanted to do, or you're thinking of going that route because you're having trouble finding work, you should start planning now to prepare yourself to succeed in the new economy.
Miriam Salpeter is a job search and social media consultant, career coach, author, speaker, resume writer, and owner of Keppie Careers. She is author of Social Networking for Career Success and 100 Conversations for Career Success. Miriam teaches job seekers and entrepreneurs how to incorporate social media tools along with traditional strategies to reach their goals.
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