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Some commercial construction is going still.
Some all cash visitors building or rebuilding as well, but we are at a 45 year old low for home ownership.
So called homeownership rates peaked with the housing bubble when anyone with a pulse could get a mortgage.
Reasons for the decline include:
Long term trend of delaying marriage and starting families, consistent throughout the developed world
Uncertainty of home ownership as a sound investment
Student Loan Debt
Tighter lending standards than existed during the housing bubble
This has been going on for decades. There are still plenty of blue collar jobs. Plus most kids these days go to college and don't want blue collar jobs grandpa.
And most of them fail or just drop out of college too because they aren't equipped for college, junior.
Do you have a white collar job? Do you care that blue collar jobs in the US are disappearing with companies that move jobs overseas or that workers in the service industries are losing their jobs to illegals?
I really want to know that if you and your spouse (if married), are college educated and have white collar jobs, then you care whether blue collar workers are losing their jobs or is it mostly a "can't see it from my house" issue for you and your family? Where does it rank on your "issues important to me" list?
If they support the Democrats, I'd laugh my behind off.
If they support the Republican or Libertarian, I feel really bad.
Do you have a white collar job? Do you care that blue collar jobs in the US are disappearing with companies that move jobs overseas or that workers in the service industries are losing their jobs to illegals?
I really want to know that if you and your spouse (if married), are college educated and have white collar jobs, then you care whether blue collar workers are losing their jobs or is it mostly a "can't see it from my house" issue for you and your family? Where does it rank on your "issues important to me" list?
Blue collar workers have been loosing their jobs for decades.
Employment in coal mines peaked in the 1920's. Closing in on 100 years and perhaps it's time to get over it.
Employment in the steel mills peaked in the 60's. Wages and benefits made US production less competitive in the global market. Today 2 workers can produce as much output that once required 12 workers due to technology substitution.
15% of all manufacturing jobs were permanently eliminated between 2000-2010 due to technology substitution. It's likely another 15% will have been lost by the end of this decade for the same reason.
Small business owners in the trades employ undocumented workers because they are a better bang for the buck.
Millions of former rule- based based white collar jobs have been eliminated by technology substitution.
Tens of thousands of accounting and tech jobs have been offshored to India with cheaper, well educated, competent English speaking workers.
US companies are not willing to cap their potential by limiting the sale of their products and services to 5 % of the world's population. 60% of GE's profits are now derived from offshore business. Starbucks is building 700 new coffee shops this year. Most are in Asia.
The Tupperware brand peaked in the US decades ago. They went global with a focus on Indonesia where Tupperware parties became the rage. They were not foolish enough to think the typical Indonesian household had enough disposable income to pay for Made in the USA Tupperware So they built a factory in Indonesia and created jobs in Indonesia for product destined for the Indonesian market.
The liberal elites certainly don't. THey're not the ones who lose jobs to illegal aliens, and their kids can also afford the additional college tuition hikes that are implemented to fund illegal aliens going with the Dream Act.
Liberals look down on blue collar Americans. But for some reason, they really love ghetto people, Section 8 leeches, illegal aliens, and Muslim refugees......from a distance!
Blue collar is a broad term.
Historically it meant the trade people and manufacturing that worked under collective bargaining agreements.
I might be wrong but I thought most Unions tended to favor the Democrat party.
Looking down on people by profession, race, ethnicity, religio and reverse snobbery is as bipartisan as it gets in the US.
Do you care that blue collar jobs in the US are disappearing with companies that move jobs overseas or that workers in the service industries are losing their jobs to illegals?
Yes, it's very concerning to me. Those who place love of profit over the well-being of their countrymen/women feel Ferengi-like to me. They make me feel icky.
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I really want to know that if you and your spouse (if married)
I'm single.
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are college educated and have white collar jobs
I actually did go to college, but advanced Algebra kicked my butt. Hard.
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then you care whether blue collar workers are losing their jobs or is it mostly a "can't see it from my house" issue for you and your family?
Outsourcing has definitely had a really bad effect on our economy. I don't have a house, but I do see it from my apartment.
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Where does it rank on your "issues important to me" list?
Probably 3, maybe 4. I have a pretty long list though, so even though it's not a 2, or even a 1; it's still pretty important to me.
Care to list all those "Blue Collar" jobs you say there are plenty of?? Maybe Walmart, McDonalds??
Most blue collar jobs have either left the country or are now being filled by illegals.
Most?
I assume you are referring to those employed in manufacturing.
Back when millions toiled in factories 12-16 hours a day, 6 days a week making crap wages. Unions lifted these workers into the middle class, decent wages, benefits and of course pensions. It worked reasonabley well for white men for a blip in time.
Who is willing to pay a premium to sustain the blue collar US middle class when the average wage in Bangkadesh is . 33/ hr and brown men work 12-16 hour days, 6 days a week if they are lucky.
12.3 million Americans are employed in manufacturing , despite shedding 5 million jobs since 2000. The US continues to dominate the commercial aircraft, weapons and auto manufacturing- big ticket stuff with minimal competition.
How many manufacturies built new state of the art plants in Right to Work states? A seasoned worker at the Boeing plant in Washington could earn enough to support a family of 4 , after taxes. A seasoned worker in a Right to Work state performing the same job function makes considerably less than his counterpart on the West coast. He might even qualify for an Earned Income Tax Credit and some welfare benefits.
The higher the manpower cost, the easier it is to justify an investment in technology substitution.
How many of the jobs lost were lost to technology substitution versus outsourcing to cheaper labor pools? We know with certainty that 15% of manufacturing jobs were permanently lost due to technology substitution between 2000-2010.
(A) I think blue collar workers are losing their jobs primarily to technology and various labor-saving methods, not trade, so I really haven't been very amenable to the anti-NAFTA / Pro-Trump arguments. I think they're missing the big picture.
(B) I have much less sympathy for people in heavily polluting / extraction industries who lost their jobs who complain about the EPA. As far as I'm concerned, nobody should have a 'right' to pollute the public air and water for profit, even if it is traditional.
on the other hand, I think that work visas and illegal immigrants screw over blue collar workers. Even though economic consensus is that "immigrants create jobs for native-born workers," I don't think economists are correct about that.
We are on the same page.
I cannot imagine what the wall is going to eventually cost once the cost of acquiring the privately owned land is factored in. That Mexico will pay for it is bunk.
So long as undocumented can continue to find employment, they will find a way. 70 million people enter the US each year for tourism and business. Once here they are free to travel anywhere. A small percent overstay their visas.
Better to invest in upgrading e- Verify for biometrics and making it a federal law. Sieze the assets of anyone or any business employing or harboring undocumented workers.
Do you have a white collar job? Do you care that blue collar jobs in the US are disappearing with companies that move jobs overseas or that workers in the service industries are losing their jobs to illegals?
I really want to know that if you and your spouse (if married), are college educated and have white collar jobs, then you care whether blue collar workers are losing their jobs or is it mostly a "can't see it from my house" issue for you and your family? Where does it rank on your "issues important to me" list?
I read this on a monitor, typed this response on a keyboard, with a computer all made in China in a hotel room cleaned by Juanita...
[so I guess not]
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