What’s the Difference Between You and A Coal Miner?

By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

Coal miners work below ground in hazardous conditions where they rarely see daylight extracting a substance used by people worldwide.

Since President Obama took office, and now, President Biden, coal mining shed thousands of jobs, halted new leases on federal lands, and treated the industry as a dying industry.

What’s the difference between you and a coal miner?

The miner knows he is becoming obsolete; you probably don’t.

You see, unless you are changing, evolving, following trends, and, generally staying ahead of the curve, you are just another “cog” or “slug” who can be eliminated when the economy sours.

From 2007–2009, 8.8 million jobs were lost in the US. You can’t convince me that those were all “dead wood,” losers, and other assorted “incompetents.” They were people who served their firms and did what they were told but who worked for firms that stopped making money.

They were doing the job they were hired for and probably doing it well but trusted their employer, their boss, and others who told them not to worry.

So they were fired, outsourced, RIF’d, laid off or whatever other acronym you want to use to describe losing their job.

Some of them eventually found work at lower salaries after being out of work for long periods of time, just like a coal miner.