letter from the US - Bobby Javier

I thank Ranao Tribune for posting my honest view of Airport Security in America. I hope that my message was understood and I certainly welcome any comments or feedback of any sort. As I have previously stated, I have many issues that I find interesting and would like to know what others think about it. What I am writing about is one of the ill effects from the badly battered economy of America at this time. Former US president Bill Clinton's era will always be relived as a time in America when there was an abundance of money and ownership of stocks and homes by the common people. Yes, internationally America was vacillating at that time. Domestically, America was the place to be in. Clinton's administration turned billions of dollars of deficit to billions of dollars of surplus. Life for most was really good! Then come George W. Bush (junior), 9/11 and the wars with Iraq and Afghanistan. America's monetary surfeit was immediately depleted. When current president Obama took over the nation the defalcation was in the trillions of dollars. I believe that many of the various government agencies failed to monitor, control and correct or repair government expenses and so as the private sectors. Hence the domino effect: large to small businesses closed, unemployment rose to the roof, home foreclosures on a historical high and more alarming is law enforcement agencies inability to at least keep pace with criminal activities. Defaults on credit cards and home loans were widespread and were no longer a private conversation. What used to be shameful situations are now acceptable daily issues to talk about because this is what is really happening; people are financially doom or hurting! Millions of people's credit has been terribly tarnished and have no choice but either applied for bankruptcy or repossession and stomached the consequences for the next 7 years (when credit is cleared). There is an old saying; "save for the rainy days". It rained but it poured hard for years and there was no way that someone could have saved for all those rainy days. The government recognized the problems and tried saving all these large to small businesses and banks from a total collapse by passing the "Stimulus Package". The said bail out was supposed to assist all these troubled businesses and financial institutions and in return to help save the "consumers" from losing their homes and ruining their credits. The government made good of its promise but the lending institutions either refused to help or made it impossible for a "consumer" to be saved due to pure greed. The depression, pain and embarrassment does not stop when a person know that his financial credibility is completely dilapidated. That is the only the beginning. Now out of a job and a financial wreak, the logical move is to look for a job. When filling up all those application forms either in a company's Human Resources office or on-line, almost half of the paper works is about the applicant's background which has emphasis on credit check. Bingo! Because of the computer age, information about anyone can be gathered with a touch of a finger as long as permission was given to do so. A person has to be perfectly honest and even if the person lies about himself (to give himself a chance for the job), the truth will always come out and now made matters worse because of chicanery. The company does not have to explain why they did not hire you. All they have to say is "Thank you for your interest and the position has been filled." What does anyone's credit have to do with hiring or disqualifying a competent applicant? Bingo!! It used to be the educational and work experience(s) qualifications and criminal records are those that are carefully checked because those are the ones that really matters. All of sudden, out of the blues, an individual's credit takes priority in hiring an individual. I am not hiding the fact that there are many people who destroyed their financial reputation because of pure carelessness and simply being a white collar criminal. How about those who were victims of the earlier mentioned circumstances? The clobbered economy caused all these negative reactions! Why deny an individual the chance to rebuild or redeem himself by not hiring him because of poor credit? I know that the hiring company questions the individual's honesty. Having a tarnish credit does not mean that an individual is a criminal. It does not mean that an individual will victimize the company that he will work for nor the people he will work with. Why would an individual dig a deeper hole for himself and the people that rely on him? My problem with this issue is that reputable companies/corporations should have the decorous of sitting down with an individual and listen to the person's rationale about his monetary downfall, then make the decision of hiring or not. In this way, an individual is given a fair chance and not abruptly and wrongfully judged. This issue has been brought in front of the US congress but to date nothing has been done to correct this repugnant practice of hiring. The law makers, mostly I believe, are so out of touch of the reality in this new method of taking an individual to the company's work force. If this manner of hiring continues, rate of unemployment will continue to rise and suck on the unemployment benefits and welfare which at this time the "well has already run dry". I pray that fixing this problem is not that far ahead.