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I just want to say - the economy was NEVER that good. Even when Americans thought it was, it was really all just a mirage and a charade that eventually collapsed.
During the era that everyone considers the economy to have been "good", the fundamentals and foundation of it were built on nothing substantial and it was all just smoke and mirrors.
Seriously - when the economy was "good".
The average American was buying a house he could not afford with zero down and wrapping the closing costs of the loan into the mortgage.
Loans were created that made absolutely no sense and ARMs became the norm, although they were ridiculous to begin with and should have never been a way for someone to "buy" a home.
College loan debt soared (which was a sign that most people taking them out could basically not afford to go to college - so they should not have gone.) Borrowed money on borrowed time.
People were financing their superficial lives on easy credit: subprime mortgages, credit cards, college loans, auto loans with 72 month terms (like WTF?) and the government was printing fiat money and extending credit through the Federal Reserve that could never be backed up with actual GDP and wealth produced in the country.
Taxes, regulations and other government induced mayhem was increasing at a level that would have made FDRs New Deal look like a free market/capitalist agenda.
A war was starting in a far away place over a fcking lie regarding WMDs that never existed.
Hybrid derivative, mortgage backed securities, and an unrealistic and unsustainable rise in the stock market gave a false sense of security to those that purchased anything associated with the frauds and crooks on Wall Street.
If all of the above meant that the economy was good - then I'll take a more realistic, recession-based economy any day over the circus side show and facade that took place in the previous decade and a half.
A "good economy" can mean a lot of different things to different people. Having posted this in a forum called "Work and Employment", I intended it to mean an economy favorable to the employee, in terms of:
- Getting hired easily
- Generous vacation time or flexibility in hours / sabbaticals
- Ample benefits
- Relatively large bonuses and pay raises
- Any other thing that employees generally like
I agree that a lot of the things that transpired while the general economy fit the above description were the cause of the mess we're in now, which makes it more difficult to get hired and employers less likely to be generous with benefits or pay raises or bonuses. Most normal workers, however, never had any knowledge of what would come, and therefore they enjoyed it while it lasted.
And not that it matters, but nobody was forced to buy a 3,000 ft^2 McMansion for their family of four with granite countertops in the kitchen on a subprime loan, or finance ATVs and snowmobiles and dinners at luxurious restaurants on their five credit cards, or buy a new BMW on a 72-month loan. Certainly, many did, but not all were so irresponsible. On the other hand, many home foreclosures and car repossessions are due to unforeseen unemployment and layoffs rather than carelessness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Skydive Outlaw
"When the economy was good. . . "
I just want to say - the economy was NEVER that good. Even when Americans thought it was, it was really all just a mirage and a charade that eventually collapsed.
During the era that everyone considers the economy to have been "good", the fundamentals and foundation of it were built on nothing substantial and it was all just smoke and mirrors.
Seriously - when the economy was "good".
The average American was buying a house he could not afford with zero down and wrapping the closing costs of the loan into the mortgage.
Loans were created that made absolutely no sense and ARMs became the norm, although they were ridiculous to begin with and should have never been a way for someone to "buy" a home.
College loan debt soared (which was a sign that most people taking them out could basically not afford to go to college - so they should not have gone.) Borrowed money on borrowed time.
People were financing their superficial lives on easy credit: subprime mortgages, credit cards, college loans, auto loans with 72 month terms (like WTF?) and the government was printing fiat money and extending credit through the Federal Reserve that could never be backed up with actual GDP and wealth produced in the country.
Taxes, regulations and other government induced mayhem was increasing at a level that would have made FDRs New Deal look like a free market/capitalist agenda.
A war was starting in a far away place over a fcking lie regarding WMDs that never existed.
Hybrid derivative, mortgage backed securities, and an unrealistic and unsustainable rise in the stock market gave a false sense of security to those that purchased anything associated with the frauds and crooks on Wall Street.
If all of the above meant that the economy was good - then I'll take a more realistic, recession-based economy any day over the circus side show and facade that took place in the previous decade and a half.
And not that it matters, but nobody was forced to buy a 3,000 ft^2 McMansion for their family of four with granite countertops in the kitchen on a subprime loan, or finance ATVs and snowmobiles and dinners at luxurious restaurants on their five credit cards, or buy a new BMW on a 72-month loan. Certainly, many did, but not all were so irresponsible. On the other hand, many home foreclosures and car repossessions are due to unforeseen unemployment and layoffs rather than carelessness.
Those credits were easy to obtain and no big deal to pay off when employees had the opportunity to earn 10% yearly raises and 20% yearly bonuses.
I never worked in the "good" economy and graduated college at the height of the recession. Employment in my field wasn't hit anywhere near as hard as most, but I was thanking my lucky stars I even got a job. In the "good" economy, new grads in my field were afforded the opportunity to shop around for jobs and received signing bonuses and high starting salaries. In the "real" economy there is no shopping around and companies generally don't need to compete for talent. The talent needs to compete for companies.
Tell us YOUR stories about finding work or any other work-related topic (pay raises, permissive attitudes about sabbaticals, etc.) when it was a job seeker's market, not an employer's market - in other words, when the economy was good.
When the economy was good....
....The company courted me when I graduated from college.
....my raises were 8%-12% per year
....my bonus could be as high as 15% of my pay (usually about 8%)
....I worked 7:00-2:30 so I could be off before my kids got out of school, had 4 weeks vacation, could purchase two more and my employer encouraged work/family balance.
....I had 3 or 4 cold calls about potential jobs every 6 months and my boss feared I'd take one because he knew I was worth more than I was being paid.
Too bad that was dreamland....It really couldn't last. This economy is really a shock for those who worked during the good economy. I, for one, didn't maintain contacts. I never thought I'd need them. I thought doing my job well was enough. Now I wish I'd kept in contact with everyone I ever worked with.
I finished CNA school in 2007, there were recruiters in our class asking if we wanted to work for them...imagine that...they were bugging students who had not even finished CNA school, were not certified...
I started to look for CNA work in 2008; then Utah was not in a recession. I fired out 5 resumes on Craigslist, decided I was bored, ate lunch, went shopping, and my phone started ringing like crazy...5 job offers, I was unemployed for all of 2 hours! And I did not even have my certification yet, as I had not completed my testing! Half the CNA jobs did not require experience. The hospitals and nursing homes were overflowing; the hospices could not be built fast enough. RN's and even LPN's were getting sign on bonuses, their choice in shifts, there was not enough people working in healthcare. They'd hire you if your license was pending.
I remember an article in the Salt Lake Tribune where some manager who owned a McDonald's could not find anyone to work for him the unemployment rate was that low. He was offering bonuses. Yes, bonuses...for McDonald's!
Also, if I wanted to do extra side work, I could go yard sale hunting. Back then people were cheaper on their things because they did not want them anymore, so you'd pay next to nothing and could sell on eBay the next day.
I finished CNA school in 2007, there were recruiters in our class asking if we wanted to work for them...imagine that...they were bugging students who had not even finished CNA school, were not certified...
I started to look for CNA work in 2008; then Utah was not in a recession. I fired out 5 resumes on Craigslist, decided I was bored, ate lunch, went shopping, and my phone started ringing like crazy...5 job offers, I was unemployed for all of 2 hours! And I did not even have my certification yet, as I had not completed my testing! Half the CNA jobs did not require experience. The hospitals and nursing homes were overflowing; the hospices could not be built fast enough. RN's and even LPN's were getting sign on bonuses, their choice in shifts, there was not enough people working in healthcare. They'd hire you if your license was pending.
I remember an article in the Salt Lake Tribune where some manager who owned a McDonald's could not find anyone to work for him the unemployment rate was that low. He was offering bonuses. Yes, bonuses...for McDonald's!
Also, if I wanted to do extra side work, I could go yard sale hunting. Back then people were cheaper on their things because they did not want them anymore, so you'd pay next to nothing and could sell on eBay the next day.
I miss those days...
When I finished my trade program in 2004 during high school I had countless recruiters trying to nab me for $16 an hour to start. Not bad money for a 17 year old. In 2008, when I started nursing school, we had some recruiters coming for us. We had a seminar given by a recruiter at one of the largest hospitals in the area. Basically she said, we cannot hire any of you after graduation, but I'm required to give these seminars as part of my job Worse yet, the nurses who did start at that hospital were starting at $14 an hour.
I never had to look for a job, I always went to the top of the pile of resumes, and usually got any job that I was interviewed for. Things have changed...I USED to be the person on the top of the pile...now...I am in the middle of the pack. Things are VERY competitive for finding employment now.
Location: where people are either too stupid to leave or too stuck to move
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when the economy was good (for my mom) she could quit a job, and then get called every single day by different schools begging for her to come teach math at their school(it was borderline harassment the way they called every single day lol)...now they outsourcing math teachers and bringing uncertified ones from the Philippines..
she's still a math teacher, but now she can't afford to retire
When I finished my trade program in 2004 during high school I had countless recruiters trying to nab me for $16 an hour to start. Not bad money for a 17 year old. In 2008, when I started nursing school, we had some recruiters coming for us. We had a seminar given by a recruiter at one of the largest hospitals in the area. Basically she said, we cannot hire any of you after graduation, but I'm required to give these seminars as part of my job Worse yet, the nurses who did start at that hospital were starting at $14 an hour.
Must be Chicago then...In Utah the recession didn't start to knock the healthcare industry down until 2009, so we got one last year of prosperity there before the state went into the abyss with the rest of the country.
Chicago has been beaten brutal by this. I read on Allnurses that experienced CNA's can expect $10 an hour, tops, and nurses, what you said. Ick. That's one of the worst areas I've seen for healthcare worker incomes.
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Worse yet, the nurses who did start at that hospital were starting at $14 an hour.
