Retraining is the new mantra because those making these decisions are Boomers and white collar finance guys who haven’t looked for a job or tried to start a business in 20 years.

From their lofty perspective, it WAS about making the right choices, like getting a part-time job over the summer and going to state college for a business degree, then meeting with corporate headhunters that came to school. Then you showed up every day, got promotions, pay increases, and cost of living raises, plus the company paid your health insurance, covered your spouse and kids, gave you life insurance, and socked money away for retirement and pension.

So they think, “That worked so well for me, why doesn’t everyone do that?”

What they don’t get is that none of that exists now or has existed for 20 years. So it makes sense in a twisted way that they believe if your skills are irrelevant, you simply get new skills for some job in an industry that is hiring.

What they don’t understand is that it isn’t the case of learning a spreadsheet program or taking a course on regulatory issues like it was back in the 1980s. Changing jobs often requires a year or more of highly intense and specialized training, and you aren’t going to pay for that with a part-time job.

Further, because of student loans, people are unable to take on more school debt for yet another worthless degree, especially when they are working full-time and a side gig.

This is the real problem. Boomers are in position of political power across the board and they are calling the shots.