High unemployment may dog the US for years
http://economywatch.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/08/11085339-high-unemployment-may-dog-the-us-for-years?liteNEW YORK/WASHINGTON -- Gary Feeman has been searching for a job for 16 months. He's not ready to give up just yet, but the 60-year-old worries he is running out of options.
Feeman is among the more than 5 million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months and who represent the heart of the crisis in the labor market.
Their plight also poses a warning that U.S. unemployment may not drop back to its pre-recession levels and could be stuck higher than many policymakers expect.
Feeman, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, has sent out as many as 100 resumes. But the former maintenance director at a small amusement park in the area, has had only one interview in person. That was in January.
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Since I've been taking care of Gram for the last 5 years, when she passes my chances of getting a proper 'job' with a gap like that in my history means I'll be automatically weeded out of the stack. I figure it will take a good 6 months to go thru the house and sell everything we don't need (thankfully, the house is packed full) but after that's done, what am I gonna do?
I already bake for a few people, and I bring in a little extra in the spring by selling vegie starts to a few, but that's not gonna keep the lights on 
I've been transcribing the 1940 Census for the past week, and it's amazing the numbers of families at the end of the depression that look like mine. 4 generations of family in one house, usually with one or two single unrelated males crashing on the couch. (on edit: back then it was usually just 3 generations and assorted lodgers and farm hands)
I found my Great-grandparents living in a 3 room house* with 6 kids, a son-in-law and a grandchild. Luckily our house is the biggest we've ever lived in, so we have plenty of room at this point... until we have to start taking on Boarders..
*that house is still standing btw. My brother went over just a few days ago to fix something and the teenage boy living there with his parents was complaining of no privacy, until my brother told him how many people used to live there. said the look on his face was priceless. lol
Gramma Rose's house had 3, if you count the front door.. it was like a cave in there, even during the day. She said it was more than fine for her, as she had grown up in a one room sod house.
I wish I had a pic If you take out the windows of yours, paint it white and add a carport to the left side, it would look like I remember her's (it's been remodeled since I saw it last.)
