I keep hearing the Steve Miller band in my head: So, I’m working real hard, and I’m trying to find a job, but it just gets tougher every day.

It’s a refrain that keeps re-playing over and over in my head and for some strange reason, resonates with me in this economy. It doesn’t help that the there is a tough squeeze in the economy and I feel raped by everyone from the local grocer to the oil change place down the street (where I recently had to pay $90 for an oil change).

I almost want to pop a new song into my head by the same band: Go on take the money and run. But since I’m not a bank robber, a thief, and doubt I would be successful living a life of crime (as glamorous as it seems in the movies), I have to scrounge for work and try my hardest to earn a living while not using all of my savings up in one full swoop.

My Republican Facebook friends are taking it out on the immigrants, but the last time I checked, most Mexican laborers weren’t competing for the same jobs as I would and I doubt that I would have the stamina to do the hard labor that they do in order to feed their families.

I sometimes think back on the days when cash was easier for me to come by, and I recognize that situations are temporary and that, eventually, the economy will come back somewhat.

Forbes ran an article about my state announcing that jobs had been created this year; the same day the local paper ran an article stating that 1,600 jobs were being lost in the state this month at one employer. All in all, this means that it’s about a wash as far as jobs are concerned, and the jobs that are being created are worse than the jobs that there were before. Benefits are being cut, and more and more, the big companies in the area are starting to go to contract positions, which often don’t pay benefits and don’t qualify the worker for unemployment benefits after the contract is finished.

So, if misery loves company, then I know that I’m not alone. There are others who are in far worse situations than I am and who are feeling the “thrills” of a recession every single day. It’s just frustrating that it seems like nothing can be done about it.