40 is the new 60

Unemployed is bad at any age.  If you are near retirement age it is nearly impossible.  Actually these days being over 40 is a major hurdle.   I hear complaints from employers that the 18 to 35 age group just doesn't want to work.  They take days off whenever they feel like it or just don't work when they do show up.  It's not everybody in the age group, of course, but enough that employers notice.  But still, it seems that experience that comes with age is a detriment for some reason.

You can not walk into a place and ask to apply any more.  You have to apply online where software does it's best to eliminate you for simple things like putting dates of employment before place of employment.  Think of the number of good, intelligent, hard working people that get passed over because of some automated system.  It's not completely the fault of HR people.  They get hundreds of applications for every job.  However, if this country hadn't outsourced so much we wouldn't have so many looking for work.  We could put America back to work, but to do that we have to put Americans back to work. 

Even outsourcing isn't the entire problem.  Think about population and productivity.  Companies try to do more with fewer people.  Machines can do a lot with very little human interaction.  As we become more and more efficient at getting things done, we need fewer and fewer people to do things.  It might sound harsh and anti-American, but people have to take responsibility to slow or reverse population growth.  We just cannot support so many people with jobs and resources.  Something has got to give and it will not be pretty.  I'm afraid THAT something is on the way.  It's as real as climate change (YES, climate change is real).  We might already be on the edge of the cliff.  One little push and......