Another Cold Morning: Election 2010, Unemployment, and QOTD

We managed to stay above zero, but only just: it's 3.4 degrees at my place.

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The Beat-Goes-On Dept:

JUNEAU-- A judge on Wednesday set an expedited schedule for arguments in the legal challenge to Alaska's U.S. Senate race, saying it was important to resolve the case at the state court level as soon as possible.

Judge William Carey, in setting arguments for next Wednesday, also urged attorneys to file any legal actions they felt necessary -- such as discovery requests -- as quickly as they could.

Republican Joe Miller has questioned the legitimacy of election returns showing that Sen. Lisa Murkowski won. He contends the system used by the state in tallying write-in votes for Murkowski wasn't in line with the law, that the rules for conducting the election were changed in midstream and favored her.

Click the link to read the whole story; stay tuned, folks.

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The Too-Many-Competing-For-Too-Little Dept.: The Anchorage Daily News reports that record numbers of homeless folk are turning up at local shelters. The director of the largest shelter said "he's never seen anything like the most recent numbers in his 12 years on the job."

Add another voice:

Susan Bomalaski, executive director of Catholic Social Services, which oversees the shelter, told me it's the economy. People's budgets are tight, she said, and that's why they aren't donating as much. The economy has also driven people from Outside to Alaska for seasonal work. Now the season is over, and they don't have the money to move on. And it's single-digits cold. People used to camping out are coming in.

Harris said many among the new homeless are working. But many are under-employed, working part time or less. They can't get enough hours to get a place.

You can click the link to read the whole story, but note that the increase is due in part to people who came here for work. I wrote this past summer that the article on Yahoo! Business saying we were hiring was wrong. The article was irresponsible, and people who spent their saving to get here discovered that there were no monthly checks, few support services for the down & out, and fewer jobs.  The seasonal hiring (commercial fishing, tourism) dries up in October. Now those folks can't afford to go back to the Lower 48, and it's likely there's nothing to go back to. Our economy is better than most, and yet Robert Heinlein's admonition holds true: there's no such thing as a free lunch.

To put it another way, if you have a skill that we need, something will make itself available - but you'd better be financially able to support yourself while waiting for that opportunity to take off. Find out what Alaska needs before leaving home. Unskilled labor, we've got. Can you keep a power plant running? Repair appliances? Have mad computer skillz? Repair automobiles & drive-trains? Store clerks, burger flippers, wait staff ... we don't need. It's not enough to be an HR specialist; here you'll need to be an accountant, too. Be prepared to multi-task.

One fellow mentioned the other day that the increase is 60,000 people, this year alone. That's an almost 10% increase in the state's population. You do the math, but be prepared to assume we cannot assimilate that kind of increase. There simply aren't enough jobs to go around, and the cost of living is a bit higher here than in, say, the Midwest. One example: gas is $3.34/gallon this morning.A three-bedroom apartment rents for anywhere from $1300 to $2300 per month, depending on location in Anchorage. If you can afford this, then you may be the one we need.

If not? Please don't come here looking for work unless you've verified that jobs in your field of expertise are available.

I'm not saying you shouldn't come to Alaska. I'm saying don't come expecting a wide safety net of support services for the under- or unemployed. We simply don't have it. You need to pull your own weight.

It's an old-fashioned concept, making one's own way, but I'm hoping it catches on.

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Chanukah-Quote-of-the-Day Dept.:  ""Perhaps we are not as lost as our enemies would have us believe. I rejoice in the Macabees' success, though it is long past...It pleases me to think that miracles still happen."   ~ George Washington