
White House tells 18M unemployed workers to ‘Find Something New’ - aaronbrethorst
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/ivanka-trump-jobs-find-something-new/
======
orbifold
As an outside observer most of American news reporting seems totally
ridiculous. If the German government announced a retraining / job initiative
there would be a factual article in serious print media. Any criticism
included would most likely be a citation of an opposing party representative,
labor or business interest. Opinions by the paper on the issue would be kept
separate.

This article in contrast mixes opinion and negative rhetoric with facts. It
reads like they want to make sure I will have a negative opinion of the
program, while I typically don’t read the paper to be convinced of one thing
or another.

~~~
082349872349872
I think part[1] of the issue here (as with the "cancel culture" debate[2]) is
that said labour representative probably doesn't even exist in the same way as
in Germany. Is there any equivalent to Mitbestimmung[3]?

[1] _Kurzarbeit_ or lack of it might be another part.

[2] for which my gordian-knot-cutting would be "why is firing people without
cause even legal?", but I guess if at-will employment is a third rail in the
US, then at least _findsomethingnew.org_ would be a useful link to send people
who feel they have been unfairly cancelled for expressing conservative
viewpoints yet have little faith that the free market will provide an
alternate job.

[https://www.iamexpat.de/career/working-in-
germany/workplace-...](https://www.iamexpat.de/career/working-in-
germany/workplace-conflicts-losing-your-job)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codetermination_in_Germany](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codetermination_in_Germany)

~~~
082349872349872
even worse, no universal health insurance in the States, so often no job means
no insurance:

[https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/trumps-
praesidentschaft/...](https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/trumps-
praesidentschaft/warum-millionen-von-amerikanern-keine-krankenkasse-mehr-
haben-16860974.html)

------
brandon272
Part of the pushback with this is that one of the faces of the program is the
President’s daughter. Something rubs people the wrong way to have a person,
who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and was gifted a government role,
telling the unemployed what their problems are and what they need to be doing
to support themselves.

Something about it comes across as totally oblivious to the real issues faced
by everyday Americans and is bound to be received poorly.

~~~
sjg007
Some people would say its "tone deaf".

------
legerdemain
I idly clicked through the findsomethingnew.org website and got routed to the
apprenticeships section.

On the page about apprenticeships, I clicked IBM, the second result from the
top.

On the IBM site, I clicked the big blue button labeled "see apprenticeship
openings and apply."

Clicking that button took me to a page with the following text: "Unfortunately
we don’t have any opportunities matching your search criteria at the moment."

Thanks, Obama!

~~~
non-entity
I remember going to an apprenticeship site from the federal government and
searching out of curiosity. A lot of what I saw listed on there, weren't even
really apprenticeships, but entry level jobs requiring advanced education,
etc.

------
todaysAI
Could we tell the WH the same thing?

~~~
tonyedgecombe
Yes, in November.

------
londons_explore
Perhaps what is needed is a way for all these 18 million unemployed people to
find one another so they can start businesses?

There are many types of business that can start in just a few weeks with
nearly no capital.

For example, a 2nd hand mower and a borrowed truck is plenty to start a garden
maintenance company. I'm sure plenty of those 18 million people already have
those things, yet are instead staying home watching Netflix and hoping for
'better' job offers to arrive...

~~~
steverb
People are already doing that. I have at least two inquiries per week from
people wanting to either mow my lawn or clean my house.

~~~
Fjolsvith
Detail/wash cars. Paint the house.

------
pmiller2
Paywall bypass: [http://archive.is/tgANJ](http://archive.is/tgANJ)

------
tibbydudeza
They could have stated the obvious ... "FU".

------
pentae
Surprised at the push back in here. Telling people they should consider
getting a trade skill rather than a 4 year college degree that is semi-useless
isn't that controversial on HN typically. Could it be because it's coming from
the current administration and everything they do is 'bad' ?

~~~
pmiller2
It's because people who were forced out of work by COVID-19 need to support
themselves _right now_ , not go back to school. It's not because "orange man
bad."

~~~
sjg007
45 and his cronies are simply not qualified to do the job.

~~~
pmiller2
Yeah, well, I agree. I never actually said orange man _wasn 't_ bad.

