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Old 01-22-2016, 05:13 PM
 
Location: under the beautiful Carolina blue
22,622 posts, read 36,563,865 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mumbly Joe View Post
I would think that someone in that profession could at least afford to live wherever they want to AND have a stay-at-home wife. .

Men do not "have" stay at home wives. It is 2016. Usually it's a decision that is made by both parties, because believe it or not, wimmin actually have brains and input on their lives these days. Maybe not in Deliverance-land, but most other places, they do.

Hard to grasp when your wife is a heifer, i guess.
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Old 01-22-2016, 07:46 PM
 
1,402 posts, read 1,526,190 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mumbly Joe View Post
Bad example. I would think that someone in that profession could at least afford to live wherever they want to AND have a stay-at-home wife. That's quite different than the couple both working and struggling to make a hundred grand or two, just for your basic middle-class lifestyle on LI.
Bad example only because you don't like it. This is exactly the over-achiever you are talking about. These people have sacrificed much to get where they are. The same holds true for people making less. This "must have a spouse who works just to get by" assumption is wrong. You continue to work from the false premise that being a slacker is somehow superior to achieving something in life.

Quote:
You're not paying attention. I made the point that people are conditioned from childhood to desire, or at least accept these things as the status quo. I doubt that very many 13 year-olds say "When I'm an adult I hope to be spending 5 hours a day commuting and 8-10 hours working, and pay $15K a year in property taxes just so my kids can escape the crime of Brooklyn, and let my kids spend all day in the company of strangers and see them for a few hours in the evenings as i serve them a warmed-up microwave dinner!"

They are shown a carrot on a stick- "Oooo! You can be a professional and have a fulfilling life and make a lot of money"- and not knowing any better, they spend years chasing that carrot, and going into debt for it- and it's not until they've past the point of no return with a wife and kids and debt and all the other minutia, that they may start to question the validity of it all, and wonder if they've made the best use of their time, and whether they've truly done the best thing for their family.

Most people just get swept along with the flow. I was one of the lucky ones; I saw through it at a very young age, and was able to avoid falling into that trap.

Five hour a day commute and 8-10 hour work day? Again, you are way off the mark.

Why is it a carrot on a stick (and why is that "bad")? The fact is you CAN "be a professional and have a fulfilling life and make a lot of money." And if you choose to do that you CAN be happy, have family time and live a VERY rewarding life. There is no need to go into crushing debt to do this. There is no "trap."

People are "conditioned" from childhood that 2+2=4. It doesn't make it less than a fact.

Anyone can "drop out" of society and scrape by with a job at the drive-thru. If they are feeling particularly ambitious, they can attend "Whopper College" and become a manager! If that's the limit of your ability, more power to you. Not everyone is destined for more. I don't understand how anyone can be happy or "fulfilled" if they are doing some mindless, menial job when they have the potential and ability to do much more.

You continue to make assumptions about a life you know absolutely nothing about. It does make me wonder why someone who is so content and fulfilled with their own life needs to come here to try and convince others that their lives are so bad.

I am able to send my kids to college. I am able to do and have done MANY things for my family that I wouldn't dream of if I took your route and ran from the big city to the sticks and took some 40k/year dead-end job. My kids had many options in life... they could become a neurosurgeon or flip burgers at McD's. If you had kids, their options would be much more limited due to your life choices. How does that make people who took your road better?
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Old 02-21-2016, 10:02 PM
 
186 posts, read 216,155 times
Reputation: 147
I am trying to get off the island. I work two PT jobs a week. Only 23 hours at 10 dollars an hour. I have sent out so many resumes. Having real difficult time finding full time jobs here. I don't have enough money to move to Florida. I feel stuck. Its very depressing. Not sure how I will be able to leave.
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Old 02-22-2016, 07:35 AM
 
Location: Long Island
9,531 posts, read 15,806,684 times
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^ depends what field you are in and if that includes a search in NYC. Especially today, a lot of decent jobs require some experience before you even begin - think of everyone else in your position and what they have to put on their resume. This means [unpaid] internships while in school. The take-away is - don't just party in school, kids.

Alternatively you may want to pick up a trade and start from the ground up. You can use the skills anywhere, but the opportunities to start are mostly here.

Last edited by ovi8; 02-22-2016 at 07:44 AM..
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Old 02-22-2016, 07:45 AM
 
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/\ first paragraph good advice. Second not so good. Trades pay crap in low COL areas...terrible in fact unless that 10/hr sounds good.
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Old 02-22-2016, 09:40 AM
 
6,377 posts, read 13,096,481 times
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What trades are you talking about?


Quote:
Originally Posted by long isle View Post
/\ first paragraph good advice. Second not so good. Trades pay crap in low COL areas...terrible in fact unless that 10/hr sounds good.
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Old 02-22-2016, 09:51 AM
 
2,045 posts, read 1,876,942 times
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/\ specifically plumbing, electric and carpentry but I'm sure there are many more. 10/hr was a joke but 15-20 isn't out of the question and forget the benefits one can have in a non right to work state.
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Old 02-22-2016, 01:38 PM
 
Location: Bumpkinsville
852 posts, read 963,716 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by long isle View Post
/\ first paragraph good advice. Second not so good. Trades pay crap in low COL areas...terrible in fact unless that 10/hr sounds good.
Not true. My neighbor was making $14/hr at an unskilled factory job (Which is probably as much or more than the same would pay on Lawn Guyland- but is good money for an are where the COL is so low...) until he left to go into the HVAC trade, where he makes almost as much as friend on LI who was in that trade.

Skilled trades have to pay fairly well, or their practitioners would do something more lucrative or move to a better-paying market.

Auto mechanics, for example, make almost as much here as on LI. And it's a win/win situation, because the cost of doing business and taxes, etc. are much lower here, so the prices which the consumer pays are lower, but the tradesmen still make out well.

My neighbor, even when he was making only $14/hr. was able to purchase a brand new 2500 sq. ft. house. On LI, someone making $14/hr would be living in someone's basement...just barely.

The big disparity would be with the LI union tradesmen, who work for the gov't or for those who contract with the gov't- they make disproportionately high sums which are out of line with similar trades anywhere else...which is part of the reason it is so expensive to live on LI.
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Old 02-22-2016, 02:31 PM
 
2,045 posts, read 1,876,942 times
Reputation: 1646
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mumbly Joe View Post
Not true. My neighbor was making $14/hr at an unskilled factory job (Which is probably as much or more than the same would pay on Lawn Guyland- but is good money for an are where the COL is so low...) until he left to go into the HVAC trade, where he makes almost as much as friend on LI who was in that trade.

Skilled trades have to pay fairly well, or their practitioners would do something more lucrative or move to a better-paying market.

Auto mechanics, for example, make almost as much here as on LI. And it's a win/win situation, because the cost of doing business and taxes, etc. are much lower here, so the prices which the consumer pays are lower, but the tradesmen still make out well.

My neighbor, even when he was making only $14/hr. was able to purchase a brand new 2500 sq. ft. house. On LI, someone making $14/hr would be living in someone's basement...just barely.

The big disparity would be with the LI union tradesmen, who work for the gov't or for those who contract with the gov't- they make disproportionately high sums which are out of line with similar trades anywhere else...which is part of the reason it is so expensive to live on LI.
Auto mechanic is definitely a trade that will make similar money anywhere in the country. It's also a dead end field that soon will only be at the mercy of corporate overlords. Your anecdotes don't mean anything to the thousands of families that are being supported by having a union job and couldn't/wouldn't dream of starting over at a trailer park in the middle of an area with 0 services.
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Old 02-22-2016, 08:04 PM
 
Location: Orange Virginia
814 posts, read 906,305 times
Reputation: 615
Quote:
Originally Posted by long isle View Post
Auto mechanic is definitely a trade that will make similar money anywhere in the country. It's also a dead end field that soon will only be at the mercy of corporate overlords. Your anecdotes don't mean anything to the thousands of families that are being supported by having a union job and couldn't/wouldn't dream of starting over at a trailer park in the middle of an area with 0 services.
I'm a certified techinician and certified vehicle safety inspector and make 24.50 an hour, I currently work for Chevrolet. Yhe corporate gods have surely messed up our industry, I love the book Car Guys vs. Bean. Counters, those Ivy League jockeys couldnt change an oil filter but yet think they know something about cars, some how they become automotive executives and put numbers and quanity before craftsmanship and quality.

I still do it because of the cars, I still love cars.
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