Ask a job counselor: Is volunteer work good or bad for your resume?

By Kathleen Kenna

I have a one-word solution for everything:  Volunteer.

Fed up with the state of schools in your neighborbood?  Volunteer to help students learn to read, write, find their way.  If you really want to make a commitment that helps, become a Big Sister/Brother.

Ticked at government?  Volunteer for some community service that taxes no longer cover but people really need.

Does your community need a clean-up?  Do it, and others will join you, voluntarily.  It just takes one to start.

I’ve volunteered most of my life because that’s the way I was raised:  Give back.

My first volunteer job, at 15, was writing for a local newspaper.  It was so much fun, and so well-read (we lived in a small farming community), my weekly column was soon picked up by another paper.

Volunteering then taught me critical lessons I needed for the rest of life:  How to meet a deadline. How to show up on time.

Forget the fancy stuff, like creative ideas — that first volunteer job taught me the most basic rule of working:  How to be dependable.

I never forgot my editor storming down to the track where I was training for an 800-metre race.  He was steamed because I had missed my first deadline.  (I was too busy training for a track meet and, as a self-absorbed teen, didn’t bother to call him).

Too bad.  He had a space to fill.  That space had my name on it.  And I wrote my piece, post-deadline, to fulfil my obligation.

Never missed another deadline.

As a rehabilitation counselor, working with people with disabilities, I always recommended volunteer work for job-seekers.  As a job counselor, working with people with all kinds of disadvantages, I always suggested volunteer work as a way of building a resume.

My advice?  Do whatever you are able, as much as you can, wherever you can.  I guarantee you’ll take away more than you give:

1.  You’ll learn new skills.

2.  You’ll meet new people.  This is good for socializing — especially if unemployment is making you depressed — and it’s good for networking.

3.  You’ll explore new work environments, whether it’s at a non-profit or office or government.

4.  You’ll boost “soft skills”, such as getting along with others.  Hopefully, you’ll improve executive skills, such as problem-solving, perhaps in a crisis.

5.  And you’ll fill unemployed time with productive work.  You’ll feel more useful; you will be more useful, to many others (likely more than at a paid job too).

This is great for some resumes.  Do a good job as a volunteer, and you’ll get good references.

Do a great job, and it might lead to a paid position.  My two-year newspaper volunteering helped land my first salaried job, at 17, at a larger paper.  That was the modest start of a successful career in journalism.

My second volunteer job was as a nurses’ aide at a seniors’ home, during my first year of university. I learned two things:  (a) Many elders are wonderful, warm people with the greatest stories to tell; and (b) Many old people scare me. (I was 18.)

After university, I volunteered as a writing tutor, “big sister”, soup kitchen worker, and a food bank runner.

These last two jobs were something I did when I was earning my highest salary. I worked so many hours at my salaried job –and exercised so much to stay fit to work so many hours — that I figured volunteer work outside my comfort zone would be a much-needed diversion.

I wanted to give back more when I was getting so much. I wanted to do something physical (hefting food boxes, for example) that would help my community.

I learned more about other people, working in a soup kitchen and a food bank, than I ever did at my high-pressure, high-paid job.

Over the years, I’ve done a lot of volunteer work, in several countries, so I created a separate, volunteer work resume. I put one discreet line at the end of my “awards, achievements” section, indicating this other resume was available.

No one has ever asked to see it.  No interviewer has ever asked about the lifetime achievement award I received from a national non-profit.

And no one, at a non-profit, or government, or business, has ever asked me about the value of volunteering.

The only ones who have asked?  Workers who need jobs.

Glamorous life of freelance photojournalists: Gross pay for 2011, less than $10,000

By Kathleen Kenna and Hadi Dadashian

Hadi Dadashian photo

To paraphrase Charles Dickens, this was the worst of years:  Our 2011 income was lower than at any other time in our lives.

This includes years when we returned to school in our 40s and 50s; years when we were new immigrants; years when we first started careers in our teens and 20s.

Yet we worked full-time, often long days, seven days a week, in 2011.  We applied for jobs; paid for background checks, transcripts, and other documents.  We even had a few — very few — interviews.

To paraphrase Dickens again, it was the best of years:  We explored our new state of Oregon, then the Pacific Coast, from Canada to California, as travel writers/photographers.  We had a lot bylines, a lot of published photos, and a lot of fun.

We explored new states, like Colorado.  We began a travel blog — tripsfor2 to share experiences that didn’t make it into newspaper, magazine and online stories commissioned in the U.S. and Canada.

We had big, color spreads; front-page bylines and photo credits; and Kathleen’s first fashion story in a 40-year career as a professional journalist.

As much as we like paid bylines, it was even more exciting to meet readers from around the world, from Singapore to India to Italy and Britain, and all across the U.S., through three WordPress blogs.

Our photos improved, inspiring Hadi to start a photoblog, On Forest Creek.

But we were getting frustrated  by our job search — a daily grind of cover letters and resumes and online applications that prompted few replies or interest.

That’s why we began Hire Your Neighbor:  We wanted to ignite a national conversation about record unemployment in the U.S.

We know there are 25 million unemployed Americans, so we’re trying not to take our own joblessness personally.  (Tough for Kathleen, whose disability bars her from getting health insurance.)

As Kathleen kept telling clients when she was still employed as a job counselor:  It’s not personal.  It’s a recession.

We talked the talk, and walked the walk that Kathleen outlined at job-search workshops (when she was still working as a job counselor):

✔ Job-hunting is a full-time job, so treat each day as a work day, tapping networks and applying for positions, online and in person;

✔ Pick up new skills; try new things; read and learn and grow;

✔ Stay healthy; keep a positive outlook, as much as possible;

✔ Volunteer.

Granted, earning a near-poverty income is tough after you’ve spent $5,000 on a Green Card (Kathleen), and more than $25,000 on tuition, books and other school expenses (both of us).

But we didn’t have any student loans.  We have no debts.  We live frugally — but well — and keep our expenses low.

It hurts to have earned so little this year, yet we’ve learned a lot, as online publishers and freelance photojournalists.

Given our experiences and everything we hear from other job-seekers, we believe the best solution in the downsizing of America is this:  Start your own business.

We hope you’ll follow our progress, at this blog, as we learn all we can about establishing a small business in the U.S. in the next year.

We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

And really, we just don’t believe we’ll  make less money in 2012.

TOMORROW:  Volunteer work while job-searching — good or bad?

 

Open letter from a jobless job counselor to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder

Dear Governor Snyder:

Let’s cut the niceties and be straight:  Cutting unemployment insurance (UI) won’t create jobs.

It will create more misery.  It will lead to more poverty, more hunger, homelessness, and worse.

I understand your state is suffering, with official unemployment at 10.6%, compared to the national rate of 8.6%.

You and I both know those numbers are inaccurate:  The jobless rate in Michigan, like the national rate, is likely double that, since “official” numbers only tally those collecting UI.  They don’t include so-called “discouraged” workers, and the long-term unemployed.

On the other side of the country, I can’t pretend to know how to convince Michigan employers to create jobs when they’ve already had tax cuts, and you’re about to slash billions more from their taxes.

But crushing the vulnerable isn’t the answer, governor;  it’s never the answer.

Tax cuts for U.S. employers and the wealthy in the past decade haven’t helped the country much.  If they did, where are the jobs?

Governor, I worked as a job counselor for five years in two states — including two years in a city with the highest unemployment in the U.S. — so I know a little about this misery.

Americans are begging for work.  Offer many job seekers $10-an-hour jobs, and they’ll take them, with gratitude, no matter how much abuse they must endure to keep it.  (And from what I saw, the lower the wage, the more abuse.)

You intend to force almost a half-million job seekers off UI and into $10-an-hour jobs.

Really?

Does the $50,000-a-year social worker benefit society by taking a job away from a lower-wage worker?

Where do those workers go if employers decide they’re easily replaced by jobless workers with degrees?

Did you consider the single-parent nurse who won’t have time to seek work in her career or afford child care at $10-an-hour if she’s forced to work outside her helping profession?  Who does that help?  Who gets hurt?

Governor, when you announced these cuts last March, you said, “Let’s start the job creation process.”

What have you and Michigan’s politicians, employers and big thinkers been doing since then?

You said, then: “I wanted to make sure we could do whatever to help these people to continue on a path until they can find a job.”

Sounded more like you were blaming the jobless for being out of work:  “Let’s focus on bringing our unemployment rate down so we don’t have people on unemployment that’s going on for 20 to 26 weeks or 99 weeks.”

The U.S. Labor Dept. reports that average unemployment for U.S. workers collecting UI is more than 40 weeks.  It’s getting worse, despite tax cuts and bailouts and other aid to employers and financial institutions — that’s why Washington grudgingly agreed to those 99-week extensions.  Income disparity in this country grows wider too, amid more calls for more tax cuts and record profits in Corporate America.

Oh, and average unemployment for U.S. workers not collecting UI?  Estimates vary, but it’s edging up to two years.

You said this week that Michigan’s UI slashbacks (to a max of 20 weeks) are designed to “encourage people to work.  It’s not to have them go backward.”

That’s encouraging.  You must be certain there are plenty of $10/hr jobs, available now, for every jobless person in Michigan.  You sound certain that employers will use their tax breaks to create so many new jobs that Michigan will no longer have one of the highest unemployment rates in the U.S.

Please post that jobs list asap.

“It’s easiest to find a job when you’ve gotten a job,” you said this week.

Again, really?

Spend some real time with job seekers, trainers, counselors and others at Michigan’s job offices.  Spend some real time with long-term unemployed workers.  Listen to them with the same time and attention span you gave the state’s big employers.

There are other solutions, Gov. Snyder.  It’s going to take some hard work and big thinking to get there — not little jobs and big tax cuts.

And please, let the rest of us know how that goes.

Respectfully, Kathleen Kenna

Related story:  Snyder among least popular governors in U.S. 

This is how democracy works, one call, one email at a time

By Hoover Wind, Hadi Dadashian and Kathleen Kenna

We urged Americans yesterday to call the White House and members of Congress to fight for an unemployment benefits extension.

And today, it worked.

Phone lines to some Congress members were jammed (we know; we tried), and so many Americans emailed President Barack Obama (including Hire Your Neighbor) that the White House website couldn’t accept any more comments for awhile.

This is what we mean when we say, Get Occupied!

When residents of the United States call their politicians, good things can happen — and in bipartisan strength.

It’s only a two-month extension for unemployment benefits and payroll tax cuts, but it’s a start.

Both the President and House Speaker John Boehner announced today that a two-month deal will protect both the tax cuts and unemployment benefits.  It’s likely to go to a vote Friday.

That means almost 2 million Americans won’t lose their unemployment benefits in January.

That might not mean much to Wall St., but it obviously does to Washington.

The news: Unemployment benefits extended (ABC News)

Call Congress. Call President Obama. Urge them to extend unemployment benefits

By Kathleen Kenna, Hadi Dadashian and Hoover Wind

We’re ashamed and appalled that members of Congress are going home to holiday feasts and celebrations and denying the rights of people without jobs.

We’re ashamed that unemployment benefits are again being used as a pawn in Washington’s chess game. Hurting the vulnerable is always the path Congress takes when it refuses to do the work that we, the people, expect.

It’s estimated 1.8 million workers will lose their unemployment benefits within weeks, and another 6 million — equal to the entire population of Missouri — face losing this safety net next year.

Yet unemployment benefits are so critical in this lame economy that 18 million Americans have relied on them since the 2008 recession.

As workers who have subsidized these benefits in good faith, we demand that Congress use our contributions for the purpose they were intended:  Helping people who are unemployed survive while seeking work.

American employers pay into the system believing it will be a safety net if they suffer layoffs, shutdowns, terminations or downsizing.  Workers indirectly pay for this protection too.

(Check the House of Representatives website for FAQ about how unemployment insurance is funded in the U.S.)

The economy is so rough on so many — with and without jobs — that the jobless are demonized for using unemployment benefits to support their families when they’re forced out of work.

We hear about new job losses every day, from police on the east coast to 30-year IBM workers on the west coast.  The national unemployment rate, officially at 8.6%, is far higher than Congress admits, because so few jobless people are actually collecting or seeking unemployment benefits.

There are an estimated 25 million people out of work in this, the richest nation on earth.  That’s equal to the population of Texas.

Worse, unemployment is lasting longer:  New stats show the average duration of U.S. unemployment is 41 weeks.  Most who lose their jobs involuntarily are out of work for months. The U.S. Bureau of Labor reports that 59% of jobless people in America are unemployed for 15 weeks or more.

Despite signs of improvement — house construction is up almost 10% — economic growth still lags, and jobs are not being created at a pace that helps most unemployed Americans.

The Salvation Army, food banks, faith groups and other selfless Americans across this country report that demand for the basics of life — food, warm clothes — has soared since the recession hit.  Need has not diminished in this so-called jobless recovery.

And shelter, in the worst foreclosure crisis in this nation’s history, remains a worry for millions.

To reduce unemployment benefits at a time of high unemployment is unconscionable.

It’s immoral.

People of all faiths are pressuring Congress to do the right thing.

Interfaith Worker Justice has held public prayer vigils in Washington, seeking help for the jobless. Echoing Occupy Wall St., they’re asking the 1% to share more of America’s wealth with the 99%.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter to Congress this week urging politicians to extend unemployment insurance.

“When the economy fails to generate sufficient jobs, there is a moral obligation to help protect the life and dignity of unemployed workers and their families,” wrote Bishop Stephen Blaire. “Therefore, I strongly urge you and your colleagues to find effective ways to assure continuing Unemployment Insurance and Emergency Unemployment Compensation to protect jobless workers and their families.”

Rev. Blaire’s letter to Congress cites Pope John Paul II’s 1981 encyclical: “The obligation to provide unemployment benefits … the duty to make suitable grants indispensable for the subsistence of unemployed workers and their families, is a duty springing from the fundamental principle of … the right to life and subsistence.”

The National Employment Law Project is among a growing chorus demanding Congress extend unemployment benefits and payroll tax cuts to help workers.

Starting today, Hire Your Neighbor is calling every member of our congressional delegations to urge them to stand up for people who are unemployed.

Then we’ll contact every Senator and every member of the House of Representatives, regardless of party, to demand that unemployment insurance benefits be extended.

We’re contacting each to urge that payroll tax cuts — helping so many underemployed and underpaid Americans pay their bills — be extended.

With no strings attached.

We are emailing President Barack Obama to ask, politely, that he lead on both these issues, and lead the country in finding ways to create good jobs again.

Hire Your Neighbor is urging Americans to join us in this national conversation about unemployment.

Call Congress and tell politicians to get back to the work of the people.

Don’t know the number of your senators and members of the House?  Call toll-free, 888-245-3381, and people fighting for the rights of unemployed workers will connect you with the right office.

Contact the White House — use this form — and urge President Barack Obama to stand up for the rights of people without jobs.

Related stories:  “Unemployment Insurance Under the Knife” (The Nation)

“Catholic Bishops, Other Religious Groups Lobby for Unemployment Insurance Extensions” (Huffington Post)

Volunteering fills gap for worker with ‘too much free time’ after 30 years

By David M. Lieberfarb

I’m one of the lucky ones. Three years ago, my final days at The Star-Ledger in Newark, NJ, were winding down after 30 mostly happy years as a copy editor. My buyout package included a year’s pay, medical coverage and a decent pension. Unlike many of my younger colleagues, my children are grown and no longer my responsibility, and I’m old enough to start collecting Social Security.

I tried a few different jobs. The Census Bureau looked promising. I was hired in the spring of 2009 as an enumerator, but it peetered out after about a month. I visited Hertz to drive rental cars from one site to another, but the pay wasn’t worth it.

Finally, I came back home, almost. The Trenton Times, a sister paper in the Newhouse chain, hired me as a copy editor, part-time. I really enjoy the work.

The only problems are:  The pay is less than half of what I made at The Star-Ledger; my schedule is irregular; and the commute is twice as far. And the office — far too large for the tiny staff, which has also been decimated by buyouts — is like a morgue.

I’m probably more productive than I was at The Star-Ledger, but when I’m scheduled to work only two nights a week, I have too much free time. So I’ve done volunteer work delivering Meals on Wheels and preparing taxes for AARP.

Q:  Are you earning enough with two shifts?

My pay at the Trenton Times is $20 an hour, which amounts to about $120 per shift, give or take an hour. So, no, I’m not satisfied. I asked for a raise of $1 or $2 an hour about a month ago, and was turned down. My pension is my main source of income, and I’m trying to put off applying for Social Security ’til at least age 65. (I’m 63.)

Q:  How did you manage after the buyout?

Unemployment insurance supplemented my income throughout 2009 when I wasn’t working for the Census Bureau (for about 4 or 5 weeks, my income was higher than my UI limit, so I didn’t file).  But after I applied for my pension, my income was too high to continue tapping UI.

WRITERS WANTED:  Please contact us at hireyourneighbor@gmail.com.

Who will help the bully and the bookworm? Mike Spalsbury, hopefully, at a school near you

By Kathleen Kenna

Mike Spalsbury is so likeable, it only takes a brief chat online to get comfortable.

One follow-up call confirms he’s the kind of guy you would trust with your children — that is, if education cutbacks weren’t affecting everyone who helps youngsters.

Mike Spalsbury

The trust issue is critical, because Mike, 40, has been working with children and teens for more than two decades.

At 17, he discovered his life’s passion, working as a summer camp counselor.

“I had 70 kids a week at this little camp, and there was one boy with Down Syndrome.  He was my absolute favorite,” Mike says by phone from Michigan.

“It was the first time I had worked with a child who had special needs or differences.  I knew then that’s what I wanted to do.”

Mike specialized in therapeutic recreation while studying for his Bachelor’s degree in Education. He graduated with a specialty in experiential education.

“I’ve spent the better part of my adult life trying to provide recreation for kids of varying developmental and physical abilities,” he explains.  “I spent 11 years with the YMCA and have been trying over the past two years to establish an experiential education program within the public school system.  Unfortunately, budget, space and time restrictions have slowed me down.  The programs are ready to be implemented, but the timing hasn’t been right.”

Mike has been unemployed for two years, trying to convince public school boards to hire him for once-weekly education programs.  They can be tailored for physical education, intellectual exercises, or a combination of both.

Only individual schools have hired him on short-term contracts so far.

Yet Mike clearly has a lot to offer, at a time when America is seeking solutions to an increase in youth violence.

Take the case of the bully and the bookworm.

The latter boy weighs 70 pounds; the bully, much more.

Mike put the boys together in an experiential adventure with a group of children of diverse ages and abilities.

The goal: Work together as a group to solve a common problem.

The problem:  Help each other to get over a fence, regardless of ability or age or weight.  The last child must be helped over the fence by the group too.

Conclusion:  Kids always help each other, and they always succeed in getting everyone over the fence.

“I can’t say what they do after, but during the time they’re with me, the bully and the bookworm work together, as a single group,” Mike explains. “For one or two hours, they’re coming up with solutions together.  I’ve seen it happen time and time again.”

Mike has worked as a camp counselor in California too, working with adults with developmental disabilities, from the ages of 18 to 80.

He’s concerned that public spending cutbacks are reducing such programs around the country, strangling jobs like his.

“Money in Michigan is a huge issue,” Mike says.  “Unfortunately, I’m a victim of this economy.”

Michigan’s unemployment rate is almost 10%, compared to the official national rate of 8.6%.  (Unemployment is actually much higher, since these numbers reflect only those workers collecting, or registering for, unemployment insurance.)

Cutbacks have led to higher classroom sizes of 30 to 40, and the long-awaited “mainstreaming” of special needs children (those “who need a little extra attention,” Mike says) means they’re often shunted away from busy classrooms to unused space for “study hall.”

There’s no studying or learning, “nothing experiential,” Mike acknowledges. “It’s very, very difficult.  These kids are completely ignored.”

It seems especially cruel when Mike’s self-stated goal is “to erase the stigma of special ed,” to help children labeled as different by society, to be accepted by others.

“My dream job is to direct an experiential education program ( a co-op ) for kids of all abilities under one roof,” he says. “Regardless of  the limitations or difference the kids may have, they will have a safe, inclusive place to grow while enjoying great therapeutic recreation.”

Public school officials have been enthusiastic, but the rough economy means “hands have been tied,” Mike says.

“I’d like people to know how dedicated and driven I am to make my program ideas happen,” he emphasizes.  ” My aims and passions are real and while I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of some amazing programs, I think I have a lot to offer with my own ideas.”

Mike sees similarities across vulnerable populations in the U.S. while unemployment remains high.

“Remove the words ‘special needs’ and fill in the blanks with your own choice — homeless veterans, for example — of someone who is different from the rest of society.  That’s what is happening now,” Mike says.

“I’m trying to stay optimistic,” he adds. “This work is always incredibly satisfying.  It’s the little things that make it so satisfying.”

Advice from a jobless job counselor: Job hunting is a full-time job

By Kathleen Kenna

I’m an unemployed job counselor, so I can offer only the advice I gave to hundreds of clients over five years in two states.

Many of my clients got jobs, from $40-an-hour to minimum wage, from multiple degrees to no GEDs, so I know a few things about success.

Working in government and non-profits, I heard so much about employer abuse, and witnessed enough unethical workplace behavior, that I have learned a lot, too, about what it means to work in the United States during high unemployment.

I learned, for instance, that it’s legal to pay workers to stand on their feet 60 hours a week and pay below minimum wage.

I learned that anyone can be “termed” (the new, upbeat word for being fired or terminated) for any reason by any employer at any time in America’s “at will” states.

So, I offer my job-hunting advice with a harder edge than I ever delivered it as a job counselor, in countless public workshops and private counseling sessions.

The idealistic, earnest counselor:  Job hunting is a full-time job.

The unemployed job counselor:  This is still the best way to find work:  Treat each day as a work day, by keeping a regular schedule, and searching for employment, following leads, rewriting resumes and cover letters for each application, and tapping your networks.  Do volunteer work, if possible.

Job-seekers:  Easy for job counselors with salaries to say.  How do I buy groceries to support children and/or spouse, and/or aging parents, while trying to go to job fairs?  How do I pay for the bus to get to the job center every day?  How can I pay for WiFi, or even dial-up, to do job searches at home, while caring for my family?

Most job counselors are social workers, linking clients to a range of services, from getting unemployment insurance extensions to finding community supports, such as assistance with paying utility bills — especially for winter heating — and free/low-cost legal aid (i.e. for unjust layoffs, workplace discrimination, and unfair workplace practices).

They link people without jobs to training, so they upgrade old skills or learn new ones.  I’ve been fortunate to see this succeed in one of America’s richest cities (San Francisco) and one with the highest unemployment (Las Vegas).

I’ve been especially fortunate to see how job training helps the most vulnerable in our society, from veterans of the Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam wars, to workers with disabilities.

Increasingly, counselors are linking job seekers to food stamps, food banks, and community food pantries.

Here’s a question that we, the people, might consider in this rough economy:

When those with jobs balk at paying higher taxes — and are encouraged in this charade by wealthy politicians and well-funded groups — social services wither and die.  They’re ending all over the U.S., even as the need is mounting.

How to help our neighbors without jobs in the world’s richest nation if we’re squeezing non-profits and public service workers?

It’s called public service for a reason.

(With thanks to Trader Joe’s for another brown paper bag, re-used then recycled.)

Laid off in global sweep? Write new resume, hit Facebook

By Sharon Gill

Vic got an unwelcome surprise on his birthday last week – news that he’s going to lose his job.

He’s only one in his company’s retrenchment program that will lay off 17,000 employees around the world.

The 59-year-old senior electrical engineer has worked at the major telecommunications company for the past 15 years.  (He’s asked that his surname and the firm’s identity be withheld.)

Earlier this year, Vic’s company moved to Texas from Florida, so his family has only just settled into their new home.

After 40 years in the same industry, it would be difficult to change direction now. But if push came to shove, Vic says he would do what he had to do, even if it meant taking a job selling cars or motorcycles, or perhaps trying to set himself up in a small business – possibly with other retrenched colleagues.

However, he’s confident about finding another job through his network of contacts within the industry, before financial panic sets in.  Social networks like Facebook have already produced a few possible leads.

Vic’s optimism is matched by his wife’s practicality.  When he came home with the retrenchment news, her reaction was simply: “Let’s get your CV together, line up your contacts and start making plans.”

Sharon Gill is a freelancer based in Durban/London. 

Hire Your Neighbor pays $25 for a 200-word story about workers seeking  jobs.  Please contact us at: hireyourneighbor@gmail.com.

Related articles

• Social Media and Its Impact on Resumes (successful-blog.com)
• Some Laid-Off Wall Streeters Are Becoming Taxi Drivers And Handing Out Their Resume To Prospective Employers (businessinsider.com)

Q: What do these numbers mean for creating U.S. jobs?

from the news this week:

✓ Former CEO Corzine tells Congress:  “No idea where $1.2 billion went.”

(The former New Jersey governor’s testimony at Congress, courtesy of CBS News.)

✓ Well Fargo settlement is $148.2 M.

(To “settle” criminal and civil charges, for rigging bidding competitions to get millions more of our money from counties, cities across U.S. and Puerto Rico.)

✓ Americans’ wealth took its biggest hit in more than two years, including home values, pension funds and stocks, in the July-Sept. quarter.  It’s down to $57.4 trillion — the worst drop since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in Sept. ’08.

✓ Corporate America (not incl. financial institutions) is “amassing record cash stockpiles.”

How much?  $2.1 trillion in cash and liquid assets, at Sept. 30.

That’s up $41 billion from June 30, according to the Federal Reserve.

A:  Record stockpiles for some; record unemployment in the richest nation on earth.

Related articles

• Hey Corporate America: Looking For A Solution To The Jobs Crisis? You’re Sitting On It (huffingtonpost.com)