Now I need a glass of wine.....
I like this guy.
Now I need a glass of wine.....
My wife and daughter are both teachers.
There is hope in some places. Here in WV Blue Ridge Community and Technical College offers classes in things like welding, CNC maintenance/repair, electrician, truck driving, chef, plumbing, and a lot of others, all trades that will be in demand for the foreseeable future and that pay enough to support oneself and/or bootstrap oneself to what one really wants to do.
I do remember taking a financial basics class in HS, I forget what they called it - how to figure interest, the difference between a savings and checking account, stocks and bonds, and of course how to write a check and balance a checkbook. It was one of the two most practical classes I took in HS. The other was typing.
The problem is not only the availability of so-called "trades" skill training, but rather the perception of being in the trades. Until about 30 years or so ago, the "trades" were seen as honorable work - indeed, millions of WWII veterans went into them and joined the unions. These days, despite the clear need for tradesmen (I've seen hundreds of openings with solid pay), parents and their teenage kids are somehow convinced that everyone has to go to college.
I have $16 on hand at the moment, and that is earmarked for the Girl Scout cookies I'm expecting soon...
However, I am "credit card points" rich.
parents and their teenage kids are somehow convinced that everyone has to go to college.
The emergence of a two-tiered U.S. economy, with wealthy households advancing while middle- and lower-income Americans struggle, is reshaping markets for everything from housing to clothing to groceries to beer.
“It’s a tale of two economies,” said Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin, a real-estate brokerage in Seattle that operates in 25 states. “There is a high-end market that is absolutely booming. And then there’s everyone in the middle class. They don’t have much hope of wage growth.”
Twenty plus years ago, in coastal British Columbia, we had some plumbing work done.......our plumber sent over a young guy, wild green hair, the lot........got talking to him, he noted that the rest of his graduating cohort wanted 'office jobs with clean shirts' while he opted for a profession that would make him pretty good money, for which he didn't have to dress up, and that would likely (in one form or another) always be in demand........smart young guy.
Perhaps the most interesting thing of all to me is the comments. There seems to be such a sense of entitlement to a lifestyle beyond one's means.
In every generation, we forget how much poorer we used to be, and then we forget that we have forgotten. We focus on the things that seem funny or monstrous or quaint and darling. Somehow the simplest and most important fact -- the immense differences between their living standards and ours -- slides right past our eye.
I rarely agree politically with Megan McArdle, Peggy Noonan or Joni Ernst, but I thought this piece really captured how "entitled" we have all become as a society.
When Bread Bags Weren't Funny - Bloomberg View
I rarely agree politically with Megan McArdle, Peggy Noonan or Joni Ernst, but I thought this piece really captured how "entitled" we have all become as a society.
When Bread Bags Weren't Funny - Bloomberg View
I rarely agree politically with Megan McArdle, Peggy Noonan or Joni Ernst, but I thought this piece really captured how "entitled" we have all become as a society.
When Bread Bags Weren't Funny - Bloomberg View
I rarely agree politically with Megan McArdle, Peggy Noonan or Joni Ernst, but I thought this piece really captured how "entitled" we have all become as a society.
When Bread Bags Weren't Funny - Bloomberg View
Americans are much better off now than 1901, it's just most people don't realize it or are ignorant of the past. Many fathers left before the break of day to toil in the mines, fields, furnaces, railroads, and else where, never to return due to accidents, mayhem and crime. Now for many it's "eight and skate". Women raised their children until they could do chores or get a job to put food on the table. They owed their soul to the company store because of necessity not because they wanted a big screen TV. Yeah, we may have to pay $75.00 to the UrgentCare in the mall, but none of my kids, or their friends have dysentery, the croup, for weeks or TB til death. Far from useless.
"Poor" is a relative term. It depends on where and when you live(d). Today, the poorest people in the U.S. are richer than 99% of the people in a 3rd world country. It's not how much you have, it's how you use what you have and your plan on how to get more.
Many people in America are on the edge, as pointed out in the article. Some have nice things, food and health....although their health is not as good as in most developed countries. The problem is they also have lots of debt and no savings so an illness or job loss can quickly send them into poverty.
Thanks for sharing this. I think it supports what I was saying (or trying to say) in my second post in this thread. Which is: the "well-offness" of Americans is increasing, but the expectations and entitlements of Americans are growing even faster.
An income of mid 30K puts one in the 1%....worldwide.
But worldwide is an irrelevant measure, except perhaps to make people feel grateful by comparison.
But worldwide is an irrelevant measure, except perhaps to make people feel grateful by comparison.