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Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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The people in my family that are doing the best financially are the ones without a college degree. My nephew is an electrician who makes enough money for a McMansion and a couple nice cars. My cousin started working at an auto parts store as a teenager and worked his way up the ladder, he now runs his own store and owns a home and 100 acres of hunting land.
How are the college grads doing, myself included? We make $14 an hour and have to pay back $500 in student loans each month. There is no way in hell I would do college again. I've destroyed myself financially and won't be loan debt free until I'm in my mid 40s. It's the main reason I've decided not to have children. We went to college 10 years ago, tuition has doubled since then. You think Generation Snowflake is mad now just wait until they have to live in a homeless shelter with no safe rooms!
Eliminate illegal aliens working here illegally and you'll see more American workers with no college education earning a decent living enough to buy a home.
Planting, harvesting and packaging crops?
Cleaning houses and commercial establishments?
Washing windows?
Busing tables and washing dishes?
Mowing lawns?
Processing chickens?
Tearing off old roofs?
Only way these jobs can pay enough to enable someone to earn a decent living enough to buy a home is when consumers pay more for goods/ services produced by documented workers.
When former slaves/ descendants began migrating north for better economic opportunities, the void was filled by importing cheap labor.
There is a VICE documentary film about watermelon growers in Alabama where e- Verify is required. Not only was it challenging to find documented workers willing to do these jobs, productivity sucked. Then they brought in prisoners and productivity continued to suck.
The camera crew then decided to give it a try and lasted minutes in the hot sun.
The buyers ( Big Grocers) of watermelon took their buying power to states without E- Verify and local Alabama crops died on the vine.
There is a VICE documentary film about watermelon growers in Alabama where e- Verify is required. Not only was it challenging to find documented workers willing to do these jobs, productivity sucked. Then they brought in prisoners and productivity continued to suck.
The camera crew then decided to give it a try and lasted minutes in the hot sun.
The buyers ( Big Grocers) of watermelon took their buying power to states without E- Verify and local Alabama crops died on the vine.
That's why it needs to be mandatory. No individual employer (or state) is going to opt-in to a system that raises their labor costs.
Only way these jobs can pay enough to enable someone to earn a decent living enough to buy a home is when consumers pay more for goods/ services produced by documented workers.
I disagree. Deport illegals. They're causing the labor glut that keeps wages for the jobs you've listed depressed.
Quote:
There is a VICE documentary film about watermelon growers in Alabama where e- Verify is required. Not only was it challenging to find documented workers willing to do these jobs, productivity sucked.
Eliminate welfare for the able-bodied and require workfare. Want welfare benefits? You have to work to earn them.
what jobs, where, and how much do they pay? What are the working conditions like?
I have one nephew that was a c-d student in HS. He graduated, got his act together and is now a welding apprentice. $20 an hour at 22 years old. Another got a certificate in welding, worked in a number of fab shops, he is now VP at the fabrication company he works at. Oh, he makes more than I do as a mechanical engineer. I also work with a number of machinists that are doing very well.
It's not the degree, it's the aptitude, work ethic, ability and effort.
That's a bunch of malarky. I have family members and several friends with no college degree and they own their homes.
You don't need a college degree to have a financially comfortable life in the USA today.
True.
You do however tend need a marketable skill and/ or a two income household.
I have a friend who came from a family with 5 kids. Dad was a union elevator operator in the Empire State Building. He pushed the floor buttons. Mom did not work outside the home.
He used his VA benefits to buy a 2 family home in Queens. The upstairs renters essentially paid the mortgage.
Family did not have a car nor did they vacation. With exception of the kitchen, all rooms were used as bedrooms. Family of 7 shared one bath. They had one phone, shared party line.
Dad retired with his full pension.
How likely is it that a no skill, non- union job will pay enough to maintain a family of 7 without government subsidy?
How likely is it that a no skill, non- union worker has a full pension today?
How likely is it that a commercial building will pay anyone to push a button?
How likely will manufacturing companies continue to pay a substantial premium to union employees when they can join their competitors in Mexico and deliver the same output at a fraction of the cost? And they can export their product to the rest of the world without incurring tariffs because Mexico maintains more free trade agreements than other countries?
( Mexico implemented Universal Healthcare in 2011. Employer paid Payroll Taxes are higher in Mexico than the US. The substantially cheaper base wage however , more than compensates. )
LOL, my youngest son just moved out of the house. The house he is renting is one step above a "tiny house". It's really nice, been very well remodeled. It's like a small apartment with 4 walls and a yard. Built in 1900. I told him I bet families have been raised in this house. I'm guessing 700 sq ft.
If this place is in an urban area, two or more families likely shared that living space, 100 years ago. Children were expected to work and contribute their earnings to the family.
Millions of immigrant families lived like this until they could afford a place of their own. Back then a typical mortgage required a 50% down payment and matured in 5 years. Family either paid off the note or refinanced at current rates or lost their home. Homeowners, not lenders had the long term interest rate risk.
During the Great Depression about 50% of homes went into foreclosure.
Housing shortages during the 40's resulted in carving up homes into multiple family units.
The new VA benefit helped returning veterans buy very modest homes with no money down.
Homeownership is attainable. People just need to let go of their entitlement and understand that they probably won't be able to live in their dream house in their dream neighborhood in their dream city. That's what people want, and when they can't get it, they act as if they can't afford to live anywhere.
Yep. A very good friend is a retired ComEd (Chicago area) lineman, in his 50s. He made HUGE money in salary plus overtime and holiday pay over the span of his career, and has a really nice pension plus retiree health care benefits.
I am REALLY impressed by all the linemen that come from all over the country when a natural disaster occurs. They drop everything, leave their homes and families, and get electricity up and running for literally 100s of thousands of people every year. Respect!
And they are being well compensated for their time, including travel time and labor.
They can easily rack up 80-100 hours in a week and much of it is double time and earn in excess of $10,000 a week, plus temporary housing and meals.
In college you probably would've learned the difference between anecdotes and data.
I learned that in high school .
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