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But that's the rub there. EVERYONE has the means to do so then..don't you get it? I grew up in Mass and we have the MCAS which pretty much dictates that someone knows how use a computer as a basic. It was put in place in 1998. Here we are 16 years later and how many people still do not know how to use a computer or type? What's stopping that specifically? How low do the prices of laptops and tablets have to go to when McDonalds already gives away wifi? When there's public housing units with wifi and so forth. Toffler wrote in the 1970s about change and the need to adapt. Outside of the Dark Ages when have we specifically rolled back science and technology (Bush jokes aside). It is hard for me to be sympathetic for people that must be told to read a book or pay attention to some local event. Ever read Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? We've become a plant of Arthur Dents!
Mike Judge's brilliant but poorly executed film Idiocracy shows just where American culture is headed.
Don't bother with facts. This web-site is heavily composed of angry Boomers and people who lean to the far-right. After all, how many times have we heard how the lack of jobs and poor economy is somehow the "fault" of the "lazy, no-skill" Millennials, even though none of them were even of voting age when the bad decisions were made that wrecked our nation? It's a sick joke and one I'm growing tired of hearing. Boomers were in power when the bad decisions were made. That doesn't mean the fault is on the whole Boomer generation, but for them to try to pass the buck to their kids is intellectually dishonest and disgusting.
The problem isn't "lazy people with no skills or education." The problem is a lack of jobs and race to the bottom - a race that is supported every day by corporate apologists who make infinite excuses for whatever actions their corporate heroes take. No matter how many jobs are lost, no matter how many people starve, and no matter how much damage is done, all we hear is "businesses should do whatever it takes to make more money," and that you're an "entitled liberal" if you dare to think that reducing our nation to 3rd world status in the quest for a few bucks more is a bad idea. For people who support such inhuman concepts to than turn around and blame somebody else for the nation's problems is laughable.
Anyone who disputes the lack of jobs has their heads in the sand.
Sure, there are problems - some employers really can't find qualified candidates, have no one applying, some candidates can't (or won't) relocate where openings are, etc, but in the broadest sense there are still way more job seekers than there are jobs for them. Anything else is smaller scale and a detail.
Anyone who disputes the lack of jobs has their heads in the sand.
Sure, there are problems - some employers really can't find qualified candidates, have no one applying, some candidates can't (or won't) relocate where openings are, etc, but in the broadest sense there are still way more job seekers than there are jobs for them. Anything else is smaller scale and a detail.
Agreed. And yet we can't go a week around here without a thread about how "young people and the unemployed are lazy / stupid / useless" or "I saw one dumb job seeker, so clearly they must all be dumb."
It has become far too easy to substitute personal bias and random experiences for facts, and that is part of what is killing this nation and driving us towards Idiocracy.
Rambler, you haven't seen any criticism of Baby Boomers? It's all geared toward the younger generation?
The point of my diatribe was not only to correct some misguided thinking, but to illustrate that it's foolish to generalize. It plays right into the hands of the people who are truly responsible for ruining the country, our politicians. What a lovely smokescreen they create by manipulating the thoughts of both generations so our backs are turned sniping at one another while our civil liberties are being towed away.
Rambler, you haven't seen any criticism of Baby Boomers? It's all geared toward the younger generation?
The point of my diatribe was not only to correct some misguided thinking, but to illustrate that it's foolish to generalize. It plays right into the hands of the people who are truly responsible for ruining the country, our politicians. What a lovely smokescreen they create by manipulating the thoughts of both generations so our backs are turned sniping at one another while our civil liberties are being towed away.
Perhaps I should have been more specific - it's about a 3 to 1 ratio, at least, of anti-young people vs. anti-Boomer posts and threads. I'm not saying either group is "right," but I just find it particularly appalling to try to blame everything on people who were barely in school, much less old enough to vote, when the decisions were made to run this nation off the rails. As you said, the real people to blame are the ultra-wealthy and elite who pull the strings and keep everyone angry at each other.
1. Low college costs (and college wasn't a necessity to land a decent paying job. see #2, #3, #5 and #6).
2. Minimum wage that kept pace with inflation, and wages that kept up with productivity gains.
3. Little/no competition from illegal immigrants
4. Didn't have to deal with HR software to apply for and have a shot at landing a job.
5. Strong unionization.
6. Little/no competition from foreign labor (protectionist New Deal policies).
7. Recently built, state of the art infrastructure from FDR's New Deal and Eisenhower's Interstate Highway Act with the 70-90% tax rates that maintained this infrastructure.
8. Will be the last generation to get back what they paid into SS and Medicare.
9. Damn near free lines of unlimited credit to buy McMansions in the exurbs of major cities.
Shall I go on?
Amazing list. You think that former generations had it so much easier than you. I guess it must be easy to say that because of what the former generation has accomplished to get where they are today. I will offer my thoughts .
1. Low College cost. Interesting. That is a relative term. First off my parents and grand parents were not able to attend because they could not afford it. On top of that they did not have access to low cost student loans or government grants. These things did not exist back in the day. I remember a dad and his son walking our neighborhood going to all the homes, the son had been accepted into a University and they were trying to finance the education. They asked all the people they knew to help out. Yup that was how things were done back in the day.
2. Minimum wage is also a new concept. In the 50's you could get a job that paid whatever the owner wanted to pay you and you had to prove that you were worth the money. Back in 1965 my dad made $350 a month from the navy. The reason that wages kept up for them was lower taxes and lower cost of other Government programs that we all pay out.
3. Illegal immigration taking your jobs? What job would that be? Are they keeping you from picking vegetables? Ever picked strawberries? It is back breaking work. I live in an area that has a lot of illegals and not one of them has a job that many Citizens want to have. Yea keep hanging your hat on that one. I would love to know what jobs that illegals are taking away from anyone.
4. I really don't see any problem with HR software. The problem may be with not writing a resume that meets the needs of the employer, maybe not using key words that would be offered in any job description. Come on really? People are getting these jobs. I guess that those people are maybe writing more focused resumes?
5. You can look to the Union for your loss of employment in this nation. A business will only offer what it can. When it gets to a point that it is not making a profit it will look to other avenues. You can blame the unions for shipping jobs somewhere else. Realize that most small business, the place where most would have worked in the good old days were not union.
6. Many companies today do very well. It is the older industries, the manufacturing industries that have so much competition. Many companies here in the USA are doing very well.
7. Taxation never grew an economy. Business grows an economy. Why in the world would you ever want to pay 70% of your income to the Government?
8. SSI and benefits you are correct. That is a system that should not have been built. It is socialistic and needs to be dismantled. It is not sustainable and people have finally realized that.
9. Credit is at Historic lows right now. My home loan is a fixed for 30 year at 3.875% You want to know how much they were paying in the late 70's? Back then you could get a home loan for 10%, 15%, 20%. Yup that was the good old days. You can still get a loan today for around 4%. Oh and back in the good old days, the 50's? Few people had 30 year loans. My grandparents paid my great grand parents for their home without a loan. It was the only way they could do it. Home loans were not always something anyone could get.
That's because all the illegals and their spawn took the high-paying jobs for less pay that weren't outsourced to other countries, and we're left with these joke of customer service jobs.
So your saying all the illegals and their kids ended up taking all the Management jobs, became Engineers, Doctors, Lawyers, Own all the business, became the CEO's of the companies? That is what you are saying? You can't even get hired in California unless you can show you have the right to work here.
Amazing list. You think that former generations had it so much easier than you. I guess it must be easy to say that because of what the former generation has accomplished to get where they are today. I will offer my thoughts .
1. Low College cost. Interesting. That is a relative term. First off my parents and grand parents were not able to attend because they could not afford it. On top of that they did not have access to low cost student loans or government grants. These things did not exist back in the day. I remember a dad and his son walking our neighborhood going to all the homes, the son had been accepted into a University and they were trying to finance the education. They asked all the people they knew to help out. Yup that was how things were done back in the day.
The student loan market didn't exist then as it does now. Today you can borrow nearly unlimited sums for an education. Back then, not so much, and college was far more exclusive.
2. Minimum wage is also a new concept. In the 50's you could get a job that paid whatever the owner wanted to pay you and you had to prove that you were worth the money. Back in 1965 my dad made $350 a month from the navy. The reason that wages kept up for them was lower taxes and lower cost of other Government programs that we all pay out.
It's not "new" relative to the 50s-60s.
3. Illegal immigration taking your jobs? What job would that be? Are they keeping you from picking vegetables? Ever picked strawberries? It is back breaking work. I live in an area that has a lot of illegals and not one of them has a job that many Citizens want to have. Yea keep hanging your hat on that one. I would love to know what jobs that illegals are taking away from anyone.
They're taking the jobs on the low end. Remember meat packing? This used to be a well-regarded industry where natives could earn an honest day's wage for the work, and had benefits. Today the industry is mostly staffed by illegals.
4. I really don't see any problem with HR software. The problem may be with not writing a resume that meets the needs of the employer, maybe not using key words that would be offered in any job description. Come on really? People are getting these jobs. I guess that those people are maybe writing more focused resumes?
I'm a good resume writer and most people on this board are probably more experienced and know more about such software than the average job seeker off the street. Asking the common person to jump through these hoops is unreasonable.
5. You can look to the Union for your loss of employment in this nation. A business will only offer what it can. When it gets to a point that it is not making a profit it will look to other avenues. You can blame the unions for shipping jobs somewhere else. Realize that most small business, the place where most would have worked in the good old days were not union.
Many times it's not a question of whether they "can," but whether they "will," for right of wrong.
6. Many companies today do very well. It is the older industries, the manufacturing industries that have so much competition. Many companies here in the USA are doing very well.
True.
7. Taxation never grew an economy. Business grows an economy. Why in the world would you ever want to pay 70% of your income to the Government?
True.
8. SSI and benefits you are correct. That is a system that should not have been built. It is socialistic and needs to be dismantled. It is not sustainable and people have finally realized that.
It's a highly abused system, but assuming a basic standard of living for the truly disabled is basic compassion.
9. Credit is at Historic lows right now. My home loan is a fixed for 30 year at 3.875% You want to know how much they were paying in the late 70's? Back then you could get a home loan for 10%, 15%, 20%. Yup that was the good old days. You can still get a loan today for around 4%. Oh and back in the good old days, the 50's? Few people had 30 year loans. My grandparents paid my great grand parents for their home without a loan. It was the only way they could do it. Home loans were not always something anyone could get.
Amazing list. You think that former generations had it so much easier than you. I guess it must be easy to say that because of what the former generation has accomplished to get where they are today. I will offer my thoughts .
9. Credit is at Historic lows right now. My home loan is a fixed for 30 year at 3.875% You want to know how much they were paying in the late 70's? Back then you could get a home loan for 10%, 15%, 20%. Yup that was the good old days. You can still get a loan today for around 4%. Oh and back in the good old days, the 50's? Few people had 30 year loans. My grandparents paid my great grand parents for their home without a loan. It was the only way they could do it. Home loans were not always something anyone could get.
Actually I dont think mortgages are cheap, I think they are historically expensive.
Why do I say that because when I worked in a bank we usually did it at 200 basis points. So when mortgage were 8% the bank was paying 6% interest on accounts.
Today mortgages are like 4.5% and banks are paying .5% interest. Which is a spread of 400 bps
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