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Skip college and become a plumber: Mayor Bloomberg - NY Daily News The mayor’s advice, given during his weekly radio show, notes that average college students who aren’t rocket scientists might do better pursuing a career cleaning pipes. ‘You don’t spend ... four years spending $40,000, $50,000 in tuition without earning income’ or amassing student loan debt, he explained, and one expert partly agrees with him.
I can see where you got this screen name from...probably from your mother backslapping you for stupid remarks like this one. His name is Mayor Bloomberg...hizzoner is not even a word (unless you work for the Post). If you put your thinking cap on, assuming you didn't sell it for a nickel bag, you would realize that Bloomberg is stating the obvious: College isn't for everyone! And there is nothing wrong with trade schools and professions like plumbing, electricians, HVAC, etc...salaries are solid, many are unionized, and there are minimal barriers to entry (no huge loans or 4 years required to get licensed).
Now you can go back to sucking on your friend chicken leg.
I agree, it's time to promote trades in this country. College isn't for everyone and there are a lot of open positions for all sorts of trades that pay really well. How many more Bachlor's degree holding political science majors do we need delivering pizza??
What Mayor Bloomberg is saying is spot on. Licensed plumbers, electricians, etc. can't be outsourced and fair well during bad economic times. There are also many schools that offer 2 year programs for dental assistants, medical assistants, sonogram and x-ray technicians. These jobs offer a decent salary and these people will probably do better in the long run (financially) than those graduating with degrees in Philosophy.
Considering I had to pay $400 for an emergency plumber to come out and do about a half hour of work a little while ago, I'd say it's not necessarily a bad gig.
Hell, pipes are always going to clog. In a crappy economy, a plumber or bar owner are probably pretty good positions to be in.
Just like any other profession, Trades like Plumbing can become oversaturated, and actually, I think there is already more than enough.
Some people should go to college, and some go the union route, and some should work retail and fast food. There is nothing wrong with any. They are all honest work.
I don't know how it is now, but in the late 70's we had shop (trade) classes at the same time as academic classes. I went to BTHS and was an electrical major and I learned to use a large assortment of tools, framing (built a small house in a classroom), electrical (running electricity for that small house), electronics (theory and actual application), drafting, mold making, foundry, lathes. So even though we were college directed we had the basic skills to fall back on to follow a different direction if needed. I currently work in robotics so in a way I'm an electrician. There is nothing wrong with being a tradesman for at least it can't be outsourced.
If I didn't know better, I'd almost swear that King Mike was laughing at the working person.
Here's a guy who is a leading figure in the world of modern free trade capitalism...the folks who gave you NAFTA, outsourcing, offshoring and globalization.
In the late 70s and 80s and 90s they wrecked American industry and sent all the work to China. Then they said "get off your asses, lazy American workers, and get an education! You can't compete in the global market without a college degree!"
How many Tom Friedman columns did we read with this message?
Now the message has filtered down to the average person and "everyone knows" that without an education, you're doomed in todays world. Information society! Post-industrial! Everyone is going to be a website designer or a software programmer, "adding value" in cyberspace!
Then, wait for it, they started outsourcing all the white collar work, to hungry and ambitious folks in Asia and South America. Now we're supposed to be tradesman again..they can't outsource that, right?? The joke's on you, dummy with the student loans! You should have apprenticed as an electrician!
But the slapstick comedy isn't over by a long shot. Because King Mike and his neoliberal henchmen speak with forked tongue. They aren't done pulling the rug out from underneath the hapless American worker just yet. Oh no...it gets better: these are the exact same folks who are backing the immigration "reform" laws. They want to open the borders to a flood of...you guessed it...cheap skilled labor.
"You took us seriously and told your kid to become a plumber?? Hahaha! Good luck competing against the horde of immigrants! Free market at work....SUCKER!!!!"
Here's a guy who is a leading figure in the world of modern free trade
capitalism...the folks who gave you NAFTA, outsourcing, offshoring and
globalization.
Remember, he and Bill Gates testified in front of a Congressional committee stressing the dire need to increases workers' visas becasue basically "Americans are too stupid and badly educated to fill the tech jobs."
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