Hope Is Gone Now That Change Has Come

Adding to the growing list of companies having to lay people off due to the uncertainty in the economic climate because of all the regulations and seeming indifference from the Obama administration is Piedmont hospital in Georgia, which will now lay off 464 people.

The move is, in part, a reaction to hurdles many hospitals are facing, including a growing number of uninsured patients, a new state hospital bed tax, anticipated cuts to Medicare reimbursements and the Medicaid expansion in 2014, Day said.

This comes on the heels of the recent announcement from an energy company which is forced to lay off 600 people in order to meet new rules and regulations from the EPA.

American Electric Power on Thursday announced it plans to shut down several coal-fired power plants, convert or retrofit others, and cut as many as 600 jobs in the next few years to comply with regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The really disturbing trend in the employment picture in this country is how companies after initially laying off thousands of employees in the previous years have simply chosen to not fill those jobs. Those were jobs still on the books that companies were still taking applications for in the hopes of the economy turning around and then being able to hire. Those jobs will now be gone forever.

The other side effect is that those that have managed to retain their jobs are being worked to death and now after two years of this administrations misguided, inept, and total indifference to the plight of the worker are approaching the burn out stage which will no doubt lead to further issues with people simply giving up. Depending on the individual this continued burn out of the workers will manifest itself in one of two ways. A resignation that this is the way life is going to be and either refusing to let a job get the better of you and slowing down to do what is required to keep your job and nothing more, or trying to keep up with the demands of the job and risking serious physical harm along with damage to any personal relationships outside of the workplace.

In either case it paints a very bleak picture for the future prospects of counting on the spirit of the American people to be able to turn around and succeed in spite of the odds.

I don't think this is the fundamental change that most Americans had in mind when they voted for Obama.