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I've been thinking back to the 60's when I started working and married.
In those days, PROFESSIONALS (bankers, doctors, lawyers, insurance guys, in other words men in suits) were making money, everyone else really had to scrimp.
Husband at the time and I bought a duplex, so that our housing costs were virtually nothing. Single family home a luxury we could not afford. My parents owned a duplex as well.
Before I married, I was working in our local bank as a secretary to the bank president. I had a lot of responsibility. Wages were $300 month. I could not afford a car, walked to work and relied on friends for transportation when going out. Those friends lived at home. I was renting two rooms, clothes were always hard to afford not to mention as a single person paying to go out a couple of times a week. Never had enough money from one paycheck to the next. Always borrowing $30 from dad - who couldn't afford it, either, to make to the next payday.
We had friends who were making money investing in real estate and my husband had moved up to a a job paying $35,000/year - which was huge money in the 70s. So, we saved like crazy to buy another duplex, and then refinanced to buy another duplex, and then another. Property values went up.
We refinanced again and moved to another much bigger two family townhouse which I own to this day. I live in one side, my son and daughter-in-law rent the other unit from me. No longer own any of the other properties as they had to be sold to support me and my son over the next 30 years when Reaganomics took over. But I wouldn't have dime one today if we had not made those investments in the 70s.
I say all this because I think the "middle class" is pretty much once again the working class these days - not getting by. We are again in times where it is necessary to scrimp and use ingenuity to get ahead. There is cash flow in some real estate these days. Rents have not fallen the way values have so the younger people should consider that. It's a great leg up.
It is not fair that so small a percentage of the population controls most of the money today, but this fact will not change.
This comment from another article in the NYT pretty much spells out the reality:
Who's a pro union shill? One line comments without elaboration are not particularly useful. Ha - never fear, that horse has left the barn. Did you read that link to NYT comment? Corporation options make their choice pretty clear. It won't be the American worker. People in this country need to get back to ingenuity, resourcefulness and figuring it out, and that includes moving to where the jobs are. Relative of mine a lifelong GM employee. When he was forced to transfer, he never thought of quitting - they just moved. We are back to those days but without the corporate paternalism of GM.
It is interesting because I guess it is relative to what you do for a living. Most of my peers' wages have increased every year since 2007 (peers are in similar industries and positions). I have more than doubled my salary working for the same company in the past 5 years. Another friend who is a paralegal has done the same with her salary when she moved from teaching to paralegal work.
Now my mother on the other hand works in low skilled customer service work and whereas her job and employment has been steady and consistent-- she is not greatly increasing her earnings based on inflation.
It is interesting because I guess it is relative to what you do for a living. Most of my peers' wages have increased every year since 2007 (peers are in similar industries and positions). I have more than doubled my salary working for the same company in the past 5 years. Another friend who is a paralegal has done the same with her salary when she moved from teaching to paralegal work.
Now my mother on the other hand works in low skilled customer service work and whereas her job and employment has been steady and consistent-- she is not greatly increasing her earnings based on inflation.
So could you share what it is you do for a living? It might help others determine their next move if your industry is doing so well.
I know in my state there is no work for paralegals, many are getting laid off. I worked as a Real Estate Title Examiner (basically a real estate paralegal) and of course was laid off.
So could you share what it is you do for a living? It might help others determine their next move if your industry is doing so well.
I know in my state there is no work for paralegals, many are getting laid off. I worked as a Real Estate Title Examiner (basically a real estate paralegal) and of course was laid off.
Sure.
Project management, business analysis, systems analysis, LEAN practitioners, and Six Sigma Black Belts/ Master Black Belts.
The fields range anywhere from the health care industry (implementation of large health information systems), technology, human resources, financial services, banking, to insurance companies (large scale systems deployments).
Project management, business analysis, systems analysis, LEAN practitioners, and Six Sigma Black Belts/ Master Black Belts.
The fields range anywhere from the health care industry (implementation of large health information systems), technology, human resources, financial services, banking, to insurance companies (large scale systems deployments).
And if it helps, the paralegals that I know who are doing well work in employment law (more along the lines of workers comp, etc), bankruptcy, and family law.
Unskilled low wage labor isn't really middle class though. I would expect wage stagnation there. In fact 10 years ago I was making $10/hr as a stock boy at a grocery store (in high school). I would bet it probably pays close to that if not less nowadays.
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Who Moved Our Cheese?
