Jobs of the future - "green" jobs pay scale lower (loan, small business)

[user_id]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

They won't have much of a choice..home values down, stocks down, salary raises almost non-existent. You see it happening now with retail sales numbers..retailers did not report good numbers in May.

Buying a bit less things is not the same as a dramatic reduction in one's lifestyle and a "return to the past". People will still have computers, cell-phones and a number of other modern devices.

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by user_id

Buying a bit less things is not the same as a dramatic reduction in one's lifestyle and a "return to the past". People will still have computers, cell-phones and a number of other modern devices.

Yes they do. I've spoken to some folks who have cut back spending yet consider those modern devices "necessities" now. One person I know of is considering just stopping making their CC payment yet will not give up the phone or cable. People like this have their priorities in the wrong place.

I don't say this is everyone but many people do consider these type items necessities nowadays.

[GregW]

Happy Texan - You may consider the global marketplace a good thing but when it comes to our wages it is the most pernicious form of corporate welfare ever implemented. We need, in addition to a world wide workers union, countervailing tariffs to counteract the price advantage of underpaid slave labor and non-existent environmental protection requirements. Besides as most high tech devices are assembled on automated lines these cost increases would not be that dramatic. If there are cost increases we can simply use the tariff collections to raise the base deductable on the federal income tax. If this is done working class Americans would live better and investor class would hardly notice any change to their returns. I consider this a good thing to do.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by user_id

Decency? Business are not charities. They have NO obligation to pay above market rates for labor. $12/hour in the mid-west is a living wage even for a family of 4!!

$12 an hour is not living wage in the midwest for a family of 4.

Originally Posted by user_id

This really makes no sense. Competition has been choked off so there is less room for entrepreneurs? No, when there is healthy competition there is less room. Nobody is stopping Joe-6-pack from starting a business.

Nothing is stopping Joe 6 Pack from starting a big box retail store to compete with Walmart? Creating an Airline? Creating a car manufacturer? A pharmeceutical company?

The most average Joe Six Pack can hope to create is a web based technology company, or a small service business.

The problem with large monopolies and oligopolies is that the entry cost to compete is FAR higher then an industry in perfect competition, which, makes perfect competition far easier to enter for an entrepreneur.

Originally Posted by user_id

The price of jeans has most certainly gone down in real terms over the years.

The average pair of jeans? Id be careful about that claim. On the very low end of jeans, you are probably right. However, I will bet a standard pair of Levis is more in real terms today then it was 20 years ago.

[ufcrules1]

Jeans can be purchased for $2 at a local goodwill store. They are broken in nicely and have many many years left in them.

[cobolt]

Originally Posted by ufcrules1

Jeans can be purchased for $2 at a local goodwill store. They are broken in nicely and have many many years left in them.

You got that right. I purchased 2 pair of J Crew jeans and a pair of Gap jeans, altogether under 10 bucks and I love them! I NEVER shop retail (except for undergarments).

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by ufcrules1

Jeans can be purchased for $2 at a local goodwill store. They are broken in nicely and have many many years left in them.

Second hand and used merchandise, especially purchased from a retailer with zero product cost, has no applicability here.

[Stac2007]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

So the jobs of the future are "green" jobs but the pay scale is much lower than what typical middle class workers currently make.

Just another push in the direction of the middle class going away:

Green jobs struggle to pay living wage - Jun. 4, 2009

snippet:
"Many of the entry-level jobs making green energy components start at $12 an hour, much less than the now extinct $28 an hour job that had allowed high school-educated workers in the auto sector to achieve middle class status."

If cutting grass is the new green job, we all will be making about $10 an hour.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by Stac2007

If cutting grass is the new green job, we all will be making about $10 an hour.

How many people will be able to afford to pay for $10 an hour grass services, if everyone is making $10? There will only be so many people left who can pay for that convenience.

[Stac2007]

Originally Posted by Randomdude

How many people will be able to afford to pay for $10 an hour grass services, if everyone is making $10? There will only be so many people left who can pay for that convenience.

What a horrifying thought. We all have to wonder why our government never saw this one coming even though people have been talking about it for twenty years.