6,344 people got free medical visits

California was once held up as the epitome of boundless opportunities, has collapsed. The crisis is so deep that Kevin Starr, who wrote an history of the state, declared: "California is on the verge of becoming the first failed state in America."

The California legislature slashed healthcare. The housing market freefalls. Cities across the state, such as Fresno and Modesto, have jobless rates that rival Detroit's. In order to pass its state budget, its agreed to cut billions of dollars from education and layoff 60,000 state employees. And, the state's bonds have been ranked just above "junk".

Now, people without medical insurance waited for hours for treatment in Inglewood recently. The 1,500 free places were filled by 4am. Looked like the aftermath of a natural disaster.

The Remote Area Medical Foundation posted a thank you on its website, to everyone who made it possible for so many to receive so much during the event. Remote Area Medical's, 8-day free clinic at The Forum in Inglewood served 6,344 patients.

I brought this to your attention for two reasons, to mention the extraodinary work of a free medical service the Remote Area Medical Foundation, and to muse, can the US recover if California continues to languish, or fail?

Reuse is the highest form of recycling

Freecycle built a reuse movement that reduces waste, saves resources and eases the burden on our waste processing plants and landfills while enabling its members to benefit. It's Yahoo group that helps people give away, rather than throw away. Anyone is welcome to post items to be given away or to seek items needed. Visit the Freecycle community in your area.

It is a bit awkward to join (it's a Yahoo group) but might meet your needs if you need something another person in your commuity wants to give away. I just checked. Someone just gave away a bed and another was looking for pots and pans. Every community lists very practical things for free.

Just a reminder, Craigslist has a category for free things. Pick a city, Austin, Texas for example. It's under "for sale," then "free." It is true on every city's page.

Freecycle and Craigslist keep tons of reusable materials out of landfills.Try either, or both when you need something.

Housing prices stopped decline

Near the end of February I mentioned that housing prices were falling, that has changed. Starting in June housing prices, nationally, have risen slightly.

Job hunting? -- change industries

Look outside your old boundaries, but look within your job function. Pursue jobs that correspond to your core competency and that let you do what you do best. Your skills are your asset. That's what you're selling.

Learn to think in terms of careers and of industries. The information from the Labor Department and local job counselors comes in both forms. You have a career based on your skills and you work or worked in an industry. Look at this site. It distinguishes between "careers," what you do, and "industries," the set of firms where you have a job. (In other parts of this blog I distinguish between jobs and work. Click on the work tag in the left column.)

What many people don't realize is the variety of jobs in every industry. Health care needs workers. Workers from ever occupation imaginable. Your strategy, sell your skills, your occupation, in a growing industry. Find a growing industry, where you occupation, your set of skills, is used.

Most people don't assume that innovation and growth in health care translates into the need for day-care workers, computer techs, dentists, communications workers (unemployed journalists) and database managers. They're all needed in addition to doctors and nurses to innovate (like remote diagnosis), to serve our aging population, to maintain records and to control costs. If you can't find a job in "your" industry, make a health care employer list.

To find a new job you'll probably have to give up the idea of working in the same industry you left. Remember your skills are in demand, somewhere.

North Dakota the new oil patch?

Here's a surprise, the upper Midwest may become a major oil production area. If this develops over the next decade, it could create thousands of new jobs as the field goes through the early development phases. Check out this link.

3 to 4.3 Billion Barrels of Oil in North Dakota and Montana

Business loans falling

One of the themes of this blog is that we can think ahead as long as our assumptions for planning are sound. I've worried that housing can't lead us out of the recession. But, I thought US business and global expansion would have to do it.

One of the oft repeated assumptions going around in the media is that a recovery is near, or at least, the slowdown has stopped. This assumption relies on businesses, large and small, getting money to finance the expansion. So, they can grow and hire more people. Normally, the hiring process takes place months after the economic decline stops.

Ordinarily, firms start to expand their employee's work week. Then, they hire temps to fill in as demand expands. And finally, they hire new employees. This hiring lowers the unemployment rate.

During 2001 -2002 recession, business loans declined from approximately September, 2001 to September, 2004. This time the loans started declining in May, 2009. Loans during the last recession started to recover in September, 2002.

The economy is not going to expand until banks start lending and business get more loans. The graph of commercial loans will have to stop free fall. We may be in for a slow decline in the general economy or a very long recovery. So plan accordingly.

I need to give credit for this idea to the blog, Econompicdata. He has a slightly different look at the data, but the conclusion is the same.

How to persuade another

We used to hear it all the time, "Everyone is a sales person." It meant that we're always selling ourselves, or our latest project. For years it meant to me that I was selling the forecasts. Yes, I was hired to forecast, but that meant nothing.I had to figure out what my bosses needed from the forecasts to engage them.

There are lots of things that are free. This presentation has a sales pitch at the very end. I'm not endorsing Dave Lakhani's products. But, this video is worth it. He introduces us to a skill each of us needs. It will make us think about the potential client the next time we're trying to get across a point.

How does this person communicate best? Is he or she a meaning person? A structure person? An action person? Or, a relationship person? Each person responds to the story differently. We need to learn how the person communicates and change the pitch to their way of thinking. How -- listen to them.

If you're looking for a job, trying to start a small company or buying supplies; this video's for you.

Here's persuasion expert Dave Lakhani telling how to do the vital task of persuading others.