Better Times Ahead: Uplift for the Those Unemployed (or Fear it)

Working on my book - got to finish! It's been in draft for 20 years. Problem is that new chapters keep coming up.

My book should provide uplift to those people who have been laid off or fear it happening to them. It's about a person who went from a farm to a Fortune 500 international attorney job traveling the world negotiating in 30 countries from Europe to South America to the Mideast and Asia, even on the Concorde -- then got laid off and lost it all during the great Texas Oil Bust -- house, cars, cash, all of it. And yet he survived, and eventually began to thrive.

I am that person. I now own a 'green' company that is doing very well financially, providing a security technology that pays for itself and protects people at the same time.

The book is based on journals I wrote in faraway places going back to 1980 - to give readers insight and commentary on today's greatest issues, which are our economy and staying ahead of the global competition! And the saying is true: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

I was lucky. I went from a farm to traveling to countries worldwide as a young international legal negotiator for large companies. I saw things few people get to experience.

It led to unimagined adventures. After the Fortune 500 lay off, I took an entrepreneur's gamble on a trip to old China – traveling on a night train, seeing the beginning of its miracle march to modernization. I ran out of money on a trip in Asia while in Bangkok. I did an international child kidnapping negotiation in the Middle East, in Syria (the same place in the news today).

I discovered a multimillion dollar fraud on American investors on a trip to Europe by suspected Nigerians -- and had to go undercover not knowing if they would “take me out.” I helped sons of an American man killed on an oil rig off the coast of Africa collect damages. I was a TV terrorism analyst on 9/11. I was even a Congressional candidate against one of America’s most feared politicians (and survived that too).

In 2010, we elected Congressman who had never been off the farm, or out of places like Frog Jump, Arkansas, who didn't even know what a Blackberry was! Can you imagine less informed representatives making decisions for the United States of America?! That's like passengers picking as their pilot some guy who has never flown a 747! No wonder why we are in trouble.

I give you an example why that's important. Despite my having negotiated in about 50 countries (not as a tourist or a politician on a junket where you see very little of the real world), when I went to Norway for the first time in May 2011, I had NO idea what it would be like! Despite what I read I had no idea of the real Norway until I got there. I saw so much more than what I read. Even then, and despite my experience on 9/11, I was shocked by the shooting rampage.

So who is going to be a better representative? The person who no idea what a Blackberry is until he shows up as a Congressman --or someone who has global and technical experience and insight?

This former Congressional candidate wonders why Americans in Congress just wasted a month on a bizarre debt debate that lowered our credit rating for the first time ever, instead of finding a solution for filling the 3 million American jobs that need workers but remain unfilled because we don't have people with the skills! Why aren't they addressing that?

These are here-and-now jobs waiting for an American with the skills, not some future jobs. They either remain vacant, hurting our economy, or they will go to a foreigner with the skills! Why aren't we tackling this training gap issue with a joint solution?

Companies won't provide the training because they are afraid the workers will leave for a competing job for higher pay once they have the training. So then what? You don't expect a broke, unemployed worker to pay for it, do you?

I'm thinking of releasing my book as an e-book instead of a printed book. Did you know that a majority of book sales now are eBooks? Yep. They have passed printed books in sales. What do you think?

The working book title: "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" It comes from a sign like that I once saw in India, ironically just before a lay off from the Fortune 500. It was the beginning of interesting times...

I added the "?" mark - because the answer depends on us, and whether we make decisions based on facts and logic instead of voodoo economics and false assumptions.

It all started in the 80's during the "Big Texas Oil Bust" (one of many)…