Many professional women I talk to say it’s definitely harder for them to be productive right before their periods, and so many men tend to blame a woman’s bad mood and other negative behaviors on her period.

I was joking around with a friend of mine recently that women should be given a day off each month to deal with PMS.

I was only kidding folks. For the most part, women are very productive even if they have PMS. Yes, women can run companies and even this nation during this time. I just want to make that clear. Many women believe we shouldn’t even be discussing this as a problem publicly because it’s one of many reasons women still don’t get respect in the workplace. What are your thoughts on this? Just suggesting that I wanted to write this blog post made many of my female colleagues uncomfortable.

But there is something to PMS impacting our work lives. The questions are — Is it real or perceived? How bad can it get?

I asked PMS expert Diana Taylor for her take.

Taylor is professor emerita at the School of Nursing at the University of California, San Francisco, and she’s also the author of “Taking Back the Month: A Personalized Solution for Managing PMS and Enhancing Your Health.”

“Not everything can be attributed to PMS…stress plays a major role in work-related problems. However, our stress response can be accelerated during the “premenstrual days,” she says.

It’s hard to know which came first, the chicken or the egg when it comes to PMS.

“In one study, about 15 percent of the women reported that relationship problems at work—such as increased conflicts, criticism, complaints, and rejection—increased the severity of their PMS. These findings were confirmed in my own research. It’s not just the communication problems with individual coworkers that are stressful to women with PMS. Often, the overall work environment can place an added strain on women during the premenstrual phase. Women with PMS often report being more sensitive to noise, temperature changes, odors, and non-verbal tension among coworkers or work groups. Conflicting demands from various managers or supervisors or a lack of control over how the work is performed can also be especially tough to take premenstrually. Not surprisingly, women often report increased stress due to excessive workloads or insufficient time to complete their work during this already difficult time in their menstrual cycles.”

So is it all in our heads, I asked her.

“There does seem to be some evidence for what we call the expectation-experience link which can create a perpetuating cycle: While women may come to expect premenstrual symptoms for a variety of reasons, their actual experience of symptoms can also come to influence their expectations. In other words, women who have premenstrual symptoms may come to anticipate their arrival each month and, hence, may perceive events around the time of menstruation as more stressful. And this heightened perception of stress may wind up exacerbating their symptoms and so on.”

She believes we need start thinking of women’s cycles in a much more positive light, and in turn that may diminish some of the negative feelings we associate with PMS. But good luck with that one. I think many of us women have gotten used to bitching about that time of the month. No?

If there is something to the claims that PMS does indeed impact our lives/work, what can be done about it on the part of women, employers?

“Women can read my book and incorporate the remedies which include easy to integrate strategies into busy lives. As for employers, both men and women workers would benefit from stress management strategies. At least the menstrual cycle is predictable…men don’t have the same predictable period of stress vulnerability. For women, tracking their stressful days whether it be premenstrual or on the weekend when they have additional domestic burdens. Rather than focusing only on the women, employers would be better off using some to the cognitive-behavioral stress reduction strategies for all their workers (and themselves).”

And what about a day off?

“Some women may want to disappear into the modern version of the ‘menstrual hut’ each month,” she explains. But, if you can’t build that hut, she adds, women can help themselves by managing their time better and anticipating the worst of PMS. And that means avoiding or postponing stressful events.

Oh, if it were only that easy.

I loved what I was doing, but this guy made my life hell. Many nights were lost to bitching about this manager and at some point my husband and I decided I needed to make a change.

My ultimate goal had always been to write a book or two, and try my hand at freelancing and becoming my own boss, but it was always not the right time to take the plunge. Well, we decided to save my whole paycheck for the nine months I was pregnant and then consider whether I could actually start life as a freelancer once my daughter was born. The jerky boss was a great motivator for finally pushing my fears aside.

We ended up saving enough money that after my six-week maternity leave I made the happy walk into my boss’ office.

I told him I was not coming back to my job because I wanted to become a freelancer and take time to write my first book.

His response: “oh, I know, once women become moms the pull of the child is just too strong.”

I tried to reiterate that I was quitting to embark on a new career path for myself, but he kept doing the wink and nod, as if I was just kidding about my new direction.

I sat there thinking, should I tell this guy — “you’re a prick. That’s why I’m out of here bozo”?

But I restrained myself, opting to do the right thing for the sake of my future in journalism and for the sake of our civil society.

Women do not leave a job they love, that pays them a good wage and fulfills them just because the call of motherhood is tugging at them. I don’t care what Dr. Laura says.

They leave because they don’t like their job, or because their bosses suck, or because the opportunities suck, or because the pay sucks.

The latter, it turns out, is one of the biggest reasons, according to a new study to be released today.

The New York Times broke the story this morning about a Congressional study and research by economists that shows women are leaving the workplace in higher numbers because of the tough economy and it’s not for the reasons everyone has assumed.

Indeed, for the first time since the women’s movement came to life, an economic recovery has come and gone, and the percentage of women at work has fallen, not risen, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Each of the seven previous recoveries since 1960 ended with a greater percentage of women at work than when it began.

When economists first started noticing this trend two or three years ago, many suggested that the pullback from paid employment was a matter of the women themselves deciding to stay home — to raise children or because their husbands were doing well or because, more than men, they felt committed to running their households.

It’s the money stupid.

After moving into virtually every occupation, women are being afflicted on a large scale by the same troubles as men: downturns, layoffs, outsourcing, stagnant wages or the discouraging prospect of an outright pay cut. And they are responding as men have, by dropping out or disappearing for a while.

“When we saw women starting to drop out in the early part of this decade, we thought it was the motherhood movement, women staying home to raise their kids,” Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, which did the Congressional study, said in an interview. “We did not think it was the economy, but when we looked into it, we realized that it was.”

I have long talked about how a good job, with bosses who are understanding of family issues, with opportunities for advancement, and that pays a fair wage, are the kinds of jobs most people don’t just check out of. You don’t need an HR experts to explain why there is low turnover in gigs like this.

Women are done a disservice if we all just assume they are leaving the workplace because they have a child. It’s clearly not the case for most women. Saying it diminishes the importance of changing the major negatives in today’s workplace — a growing disparity in pay among the rank and file and top executives, and the inflexibility when it comes to work-life balance.

And the occasional pricky boss of course.

You see, I’ve been working on a story for Business Week’s SmallBiz magazine about virtual worlds, and one of the key parts to the story are avatars, those cartoon depictions people create of themselves when they want to go into one of these virtual worlds.

When the instructor said “e-ternal” I pictured myself as my own avatar doing yoga with my e-ternal organs glowing or something. I laughed so much the other students were looking at me funny, so I felt compelled to tell the instructor after the class what got me going.

When I mentioned an avatar he looked at me like I had six heads. “What’s that?” he asked.

I went on to explain, a bit shocked that this sort-of-hip yoga guru had no idea what an avatar was.

I realized right then that we’re at a technological cross roads, a big one. Things are happening so fast, no one can really keep up with it all.

Avatars, LinkedIn, YouTube. If you’re not up on all this stuff you really need to start educating yourself.

I’m telling you folks, the work world is being transformed over and over again by technology day in and day out.

Even my own world of journalism has been altered beyond recognition in just a decade. Almost all the newspapers in the United States are firing workers as ad revenues for paper newspapers plummet; and almost every publication has a web presence. I surely could never have predicted this when I was working for a newspaper in Tampa, Florida, less than ten years ago when a weird, young editorial assistant sitting next to me was spending all his time writing about his love life on this new thing called a blog. And, I can’t believe I had no iPhone, no laptop. I was a tech dope.

Recently, my intern Katherine became a tech tutor to her mother, who is reentering the Corporate workforce after years of staying home with her kids.

It’s an odd situation to have your child teach you something, so I’m proud of Katherine’s mom for putting aside her ego and taping into her kid’s brain to help her own career.

Here’s Katherine’s take on how it went:

It’s 2pm on a Wednesday, the day before my mother starts her new job, and I, the child, am trying to teach her, the parent, about computers.

It’s been at least eight years since she has stepped foot into the corporate world, so we just want to make sure she is familiar with a few basics before she goes to work.

It’s not that she has never used a computer before (quite the opposite actually, she uses one every day). However, she only uses the computer for two things: to access the internet and to write.

In fact, to her, the computer is “a fancy typewriter.” It’s just “one that doesn’t need whiteout,” she says.

Since she doesn’t really use programs other than Microsoft Word, we’re going over things like Excel and PowerPoint. I guess you could say that I’m broadening her horizons.

Instead of jumping into the programs first, we end up browsing the web and land on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn. I’m fairly certain she knew about these already, but now she has a more intimate knowledge of them.

After the social networking sites, we somehow end up on YouTube.com looking at a Gatorade ad. We also talk about hyperlinks and embedding things.

I feel that this is at least semi-relevant seeing as she is in the marketing and communications arena. Admittedly, the search for my brother on YouTube.com was not so relevant.

We finally get to Excel and PowerPoint, but have to get through them quickly.

First we go into Excel, where we make a table with bogus data and I demonstrate how to put formulas in place.

Surprisingly, we finish the tables, the formulas and the charts without a problem. We even put the charts on different sheets and give each a special name.

Just when I think it’s going well, she says “what about making the cells wider or narrower?” The word “seriously” may have escaped my lips.

I keep forgetting that she did not grow up with computers like I did.

After we go over the basic things I skipped, she seems less intimidated by Excel. I wouldn’t go as far as to say she is comfortable with it yet, but she’s getting there.

PowerPoint goes much quicker and simpler. We basically just discuss how to insert a new slide and format each one differently.

I know we are done when she says that she’ll figure out the rest if necessary.

Even though we didn’t get to touch on Publisher or other things, I think, or at least I hope, the poorly-taught tutoring session helped.

Now, if I can get her to stop calling a laptop a portable, then we’ll really be on the right track.

A portable. Remember calling it that? You know, I have no problem with her mom calling it a portable or an electronic box for that matter. At least she’s trying to learn what she can to keep up with it all.

Everyday we’ll learn new things. My column this week on MSNBC.com is about all these social networking sites and how the heck to figure out which one you need to be part of to further your career. I even learned a lot doing the piece. I learned a lot of this stuff is crap, but a lot of it isn’t.

That’s a scary proposition. What if you miss out on the important stuff and get mired in the crap?

But that’s sort of how life works. Every day we have to reassess what’s working for us and what’s not. That’s not a bad thing, right? Let’s look at it as an adventure, and also reach out for help to anyone we think can help — our daughters, our friends, our spouses, and me. Send me email anytime at telleve@gmail.com, and if I can’t answer your question I’ll find someone who can. You may even teach me something.

I’m sure, even in cyberspace, a digital Lewis and Clark expedition would still need a Sacagawea avatar.

I mention that these couples are happy because it’s surprising that they are.

Why? They’re not only married, they are also business partners. I know what you’re thinking - because everyone thinks this – how the hell are they able to be partners in love and in business?

Well, these entrepreneurs are the oddballs. And I said that on the show. (Yes, I’ll be on the show tonight; that is, if the editors don’t cut me out. Which is possible, so don’t be disappointed if you stay up until 10 p.m.. EST and CareerDiva isn’t there.)

I was on the show to offer my counter view to their success.

Maybe some of you couples out are considering going into business with your spouse because the economy is tough right now and you may end up on the corporate trash heap. But think long and hard folks before you share your bed and your company with one person.

Here are the five things that can go wrong:
1. Marriage and business both go belly up. You could end up losing your marriage and business because many marriages just can’t take major financial upheaval, which is what happens when starting any business.
2. Kiss romance goodbye. Many couples say they get sick of being together day in and day out. Even the most lovie-dovie couples need some time alone in order to keep the passion burning.
3. Dining room becomes the boardroom. The lines between homelife and worklife are blurred. There is no way around it, you’re going to be bringing your company woes home with you and vice versa. Right now, when I’m bitching too much about my business, my husband slaps me around and reminds me I need a personal life. Who will be there to slap you around if your partner is also bitching about the same company?
4. “I can’t believe you said that.” Talk about hurt feelings! Try telling your spouse they screwed up, or made a wrong business decision.
5. Battle of the sexes. If you never resolved the who’s-the-boss issue at home get ready for all out war at work. One of the reasons my mom and dad couldn’t make a go of running a business together was because my father saw himself as the king of his household, and that translated into him being the king of the business, even when my mom had good ideas because she really was the one who understood the retail business they started. Now my mother’s advice is always, “never with your husband.”

If you watch the show tonight you’ll hear some of how the couples that made a go at partnership made it work. They were the two cutest couples, totally friends, lovers and great business partners. Cricket and Brian Allen, the owners of Bot, a fortified water business. And Sandra and Kym Yancey, owners of eWomen Network, a national networking website.

But again, these are the oddballs.

Here’s a good example of why Cricket and Brian are successful at melding love and company:

I was in the Green room waiting to go on the show, and just before we went into the studio Cricket turned to Brian and said, “did you eat your sandwich?” He turned to her with a genuine smile on his face and yes, “yes, I did.” He was so grateful his wife was thinking of him.

OK, if I did that to my husband, this would be his response: “I’m not Cheiron.” Cheiron is my six-year-old son.

Do you see my point? If not, I will explain it to you. When two partners work together to make a business grow they have to say mean things, critical things to each other often. They can’t take things personally and they have to look at the criticism or advice as constructive and for the good of the business.

Most couples get emotional with each other. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just reality.

You have to leave you emotions and the constant business talk at the company door, don’t take it to work and don’t replay it at home.

Can you do that with your spouse? When’s the last time you guys had an argument? What was it about? Imagine now that you were really angry at your spouse but when the alarm went off in the morning you had to head to an office or factory together and focus on working together in harmony all day.

If this doesn’t worry you, go ahead. Start a mom and pop. I dare you.

Yesterday, GM pulled the rug out from under him when the auto giant announced it would eliminate health benefits for retired, salaried workers over 65.

I’m not kidding folks. Just like that, he lost his GM health care benefits that he has relied on. It’s horrible timing because Parker has cancer and a new cancer drug he’s been taking will now cost him $2,700 a month, not the $50 he was paying thanks to his GM coverage, according to an article in the New York Times today.

GM’s move is part of an overall cost cutting effort to help the financially troubled automaker, and it’s the latest in the type of worker screwing that’s been going on in this country.

“Yes we promised you health benefits Mr. Parker,” said the company. “Sike! We had our fingers crossed.”

That’s really the bottom line. There are no guarantees you’ll have health benefits, a pension. It’s all just a house of cards ready to collapse.

Health care coverage has been the target of many companies in the United States. Many younger workers are lucky if they get bare-bones plans, and older workers who are retired and those who are struggling with illnesses are at risk of losing it altogether.

There is Medicare of course, but according to Fidelity Investments, even with that coverage, the out of pocket costs for a 65 year old couple can top $200,000.

So, the way I see it, we’re dooming this population of hard workers to a life of money woes in their supposed Golden Years.

That is, of course, the workers who were not members of the corner office. Those top dogs are golden when it comes to their health upon retirement thanks to lucrative packages they’ve secured for themselves, on top of the obscene pay these executives have pocketed.

I’m assuming GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner will hold on to his benefits when he heads for the rocking chair.

It seemed like things were getting better Rick. After a pay cut, the executive got a 33 percent pay hike this year for a grand total of $2.2 million a year, not including benefits.

I guess it wasn’t rosy for every one, especially not for people like Parker:

“G.M was good to me and I hate to be bitter. But I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do.”

Indeed, this nation has to figure out what it’s going to do.

But what happens when both wife and husband hit career hell? And there are young children in the mix?

You have to rethink your job strategy pronto.

I got an email last week from a former newspaper colleague of mine from Tampa, Florida. It was a short note about how he was applying for a job as an emergency dispatcher with the Sheriff’s Office in town and wanted to know if he could add me to his list of personal references.

This was a bit surprising because this guy has been a journalist for years and was pretty set on this career.

He figured I would be perplexed so he added this line:

“Sounds strange, I know. I’ll fill you in on all the details soon. Right now I gotta rush this thing through.”

This morning I got the follow-up email explaining what was going on.

The newspaper he was freelancing for slashed its budget to the core and had little money for contractors like him; and his wife, a long-time employee in the mortgage sector, had been recently laid off after months of speculation that the pink slip was coming.

“So we’ve both been on the job hunt for quite some time,” he wrote. “After much drudgery and soul searching, not to mention financial hardship, here’s where we’re at now:”

His wife had just passed “her final state exam to become a certified nursing assistant, the first important (and employable) step to her eventually making RN or LPN. She’s sent out a barrage of resumes to local facilities. Fingers crossed.”

And he was pursuing the Sheriff’s dispatcher job.

Here’s some of the thought process that went into his decision to change careers:

Why do I want this kind of job? At first I was just as bemused. But I’m a good communicator if you boil me down, whether writing is involved or not. This job is mostly about talking to a wide range of people over the phone, getting the information I need out of them quickly, and recording it accurately. I’ve been doing that for the paper for over 15 years. That’s how I’ve been selling myself to the Sheriff so far, and it’s working (even though I had calm their early fears about my background in the news media. No, I’m not some deep cover reporter on special assignment, I told them.).
Besides, like most government jobs, this one has above average benefits and job security. Those are huge factors for young parents in a shaky economy.

This all makes sense. And it takes a lot of balls to totally embark on a new career path.

His choice and the choice of his wife may not be choices you would make. But I share this story because it’s a great example of how we have to all be ready to make changes and pursue new avenues in this economy. This couple was probably driven into action, in part, by the need to provide for their two young kid, both under 6.

But the bottom line is they looked at the world around them and figured out two gigs that would probably offer some job security.

Where they will end up is unclear, but they are both hard working individuals who won’t let economic hardships derail them.

It’s not easy folk, there is no way around it.

Here are some of my friends final thoughts:

“These past couple of years have been very trying to for us. We see some real light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re not quite there yet.”

Money Magazine just released its list of top small cities to live in and these two have the highest job-growth rates among the top ten.

Fishers and Round Rock are indeed small towns, with populations of 61,800 and 92,300 respectively, but if you don’t mind that it’s an option.

I’m pointing out some U.S. cities to consider right now because my column this week on MSNBC.com is about how many readers have been asking me about job opportunities abroad. Making a move overseas is a difficult proposition so maybe many of you may want to consider something in the good old USA before you start taking French lessons.

Whether you make the move abroad, or stay closer to home, here’s a great resource list from Quint Careers if you’re even considering relocating.

Someone asked me this weekend if I had a wanderlust problem because I’ve moved a lot and had many, many jobs. New York, Delaware, Florida. UPI, Women’s Wear Daily, St. Petersburg Times, etc. It never really seemed like a lot to me, but this guy seemed to think I had trouble staying in one place.

I guess I’m not tied to one place, never have been. I could pack up and move my family overseas tomorrow and be happy as a clam. That’s just how I’ve always been.

You have to make the best of your life where ever you are. That’s how I was brought up. Maybe it’s because my parents felt forced to leave their homeland, Istanbul, Turkey. Maybe they just drummed into my head how no matter where you’re forced to go you make the best of it. They did.

I know, right now, a lot of people may be making moves across country, or to other lands, because they feel compelled to do so in this economy. You have to do what’s right for your economic health and your family. I’m here to tell you it can be great experience if you make the most of it. Go out and make friends, get to know the area, participate in community events. You make it great. Great doesn’t just happen.

I interviewed Bernd Beetz, the chief executive officer of Coty Inc., a fragrance and cosmetics producer, a while back for the New York Times, and he was one of those constant travelers, changing careers and countries often in his career.

He shared a great story with me about moving around from country to country when he was with Proctor & Gamble starting out on the management track and how he learned to adapt.

Here’s an excerpt from the story I wrote:

My career has been very international, and in some ways my father influenced that as well. I started in Germany with Proctor & Gamble, then moved to Paris, then Geneva, then Rome, then Milan, then Istanbul, then briefly in Cincinnati, then to Frankfort. I stayed in most places about two and a half years and was mainly the general manager.

At the end of the 1980s, I was brought in to help our Turkish operations. Procter & Gamble had bought one of the biggest local companies making detergent, toothpaste, shampoos. It was called Mintax. At the time, Turkey was called the Vietnam of Procter & Gamble because the operations were in a downspin. I was in my early 40s and Turkey was a totally different experience. The workforce, suppliers, unions. It was a country where the government changed the rules every other week. The initial team couldn’t control the situation, inflation was 80, 90 percent, and turnover was high. The plant looked not anything close to standard, which we had in the U.S. or Western Europe. It was obvious a lot of things needed to be done.

I immediately realized it was the way they produced, it was the way of thinking. There was a huge workforce, about 3,000 from Mintax, and the work was very manual, not very structured. They were basically living day by day.

The workers and management received me with open arms. First of all, I became part of them. Soccer is big in Turkey so I played soccer on what was the Mintax soccer team. I got close to their habits and got close to them outside, the managers, workers on the floor. I went to their homes for dinner. You go to their homes, take your shoes off, have tea. Most of the time they cooked in front of me and I saw how the meals were prepared. You got to know the whole family; the whole clan comes around. I became very visible.

Is it as easy as joining a soccer team? Maybe not. But we can all adapt if we put our hearts into it.

Bon Voyage.

If you guys missed it, here’s a link to my column on MSNBC.com this week where I share my own story of disorganization and how an expert saved me from drowning in the white hole that was my desk.

I actually had a professional organizer come in and help me organize the piles of stuff, just days after an avalanche of my stuff spilled over onto my husband Andy’s desk. (One reader calls this a “crapalanche.”)

I was writing a column on clutter and talking to all these experts, so I figured, hey, “why not have one of them help me.”

I got lots of mail after this story about my desk appeared on MSNBC.com and most of it was about how no one believed I’d be able to keep the organization going.

Shelley wrote:

I hope you will do a follow-up at some point, to let your reader’s know how it ‘took’ longer-term, and maybe ask your organizer how to cope with or conquer those types of emotions.

And on Newsvine some meanie wrote:

What is truly pathetic is that a ‘professional organizer’ had to be enlisted to clean up what looks like about three square feet of desk space. I mean that’s lazy! I am the farthest thing from a neat freak but 3-year-old food where I am working? How could this person be giving career advice? My advice? Get a bigger desk. But I bet it’s gonna look like the ‘before’ picture again within days.

That’s hitting below the sloppy belt. Anyway, it inspired me to show everyone, including myself, I can stay neat.

To prove it I will be taking a photo of my desk periodically and sharing it with you guys. Maybe we can rate my desk’s mess ratio, from one to five.

There was a lot of hoopla over Michelle Obama’s comments recently about American pride.

“People in this country are ready for change and hungry for a different kind of politics and … for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.”

Many people were outraged that she would say such a thing, that she hasn’t been proud all along. But those people apparently have no clue about the prejudice that still permeates throughout our society.

Today, The American Medical Association, the largest and most respected physicians’ group in the nation, is issuing an apology to African American doctors throughout the country because of decades of discrimination against them.

Today they are doing that. This is 2008 folks, not 1958.

The Washington Post writes that the AMA is “expressing regret for a litany of transgressions, including barring black physicians from its ranks for decades and remaining silent during battles on landmark legislation to end racial discrimination.”

It’s a great thing that such an organization is expressing remorse, but it should also be a wake up call to all of us that we still have a long way to go when it comes to equality in this country.

Discrimination against African Americans in the workplace is actually on the rise. If well-educated, well-off black doctors can’t get a level playing field, what hope do rank and file minority workers have?

I wrote about a rise in workplace racism for MSNBC.com a few months back:

Many of us are marveling at how seemingly far our society has come given a man with an African American heritage is being considered a serious candidate for president. But in the workplace, attitudes toward many black workers are anything but inspiring.

Racial harassment is up to record levels in offices and factories across the country, and we’re not talking just the use of the “N” word. Racist graffiti, Klu Klux Klan propaganda and even physical threats including the display of hangman’s nooses are included among the intimidation tools.

“It is shocking that such egregious and unlawful conduct toward African American employees is still occurring, even increasing, in the 21st century workplace, more than 40 years after enactment of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964,” says David Grinberg, spokesman for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also known as the EEOC.

It’s hard to stand up and claim to be prideful when you hear this. It’s a disgrace that in this day and age we’re still dealing with such ignorance.

We should always question injustices, just as the AMA’s past president did in a publication for the group. Ronald Davis wrote that many of the organization’s questionable actions reflected the “social mores and racial discrimination” that existed for much of U.S. history. But, he added, that should not excuse them.

“The medical profession, which is based on a boundless respect for human life, had an obligation to lead society away from disrespect of so many lives,” Davis wrote. “The AMA failed to do so and has apologized for that failure.”

Failure is a fact of human life. But we shouldn’t allow failure to go unchecked and pretend everything is great when it’s not.

So don’t be surprised if someone says they are finally proud of America when it seems, as a nation, we’re trying to right the wrongs of the past.

But many of you shouldn’t be breaking out the champagne.

If you get laid off tomorrow will you get an unemployment check?

Maybe not.

Have you checked your state lately to find out how long you’re supposed to be working for an employer before you’re eligible for jobless benefits?

In many states, you have to be working full time for a company for a few years and make a certain threshold income before you qualify.

“Most people who lose their jobs these days don’t qualify for any unemployment at all,” said Robert Reich, the former U.S. Labor Secretary under Clinton, on the Marketplace Morning Report this morning. Here’s an audio of the piece:

The economic world has changed a lot since the federal government encouraged states to adopt unemployment insurance in 1935, but no one seemed to notice.

The unemployment system made sense decades ago, Reich says, when people were in the same full-time job for years and one breadwinner could sustain a whole family.

But today, he adds, when people are going from job to job, and a growing number of individuals have several part time jobs or are contractors, a gigantic economic black hole is left for a huge number of working Americans to fall into.

“It’s a disgrace that most Americans that loose their jobs don’t qualify,” Reich maintains. “Congress should expand coverage in these perilous times.”

Expanding the benefits by 13 weeks was a good thing. I’m not knocking it. But it will do little to help American workers if they can’t even qualify for one day.