Underemployed or previously over paid?

[anathema]

number of degrees does/should not equal number of zeros on the paycheck. I'm making more than mr. law degree and 3 masters w/ a high school edumication.

[Amp360]

$65,000 for someone with three masters and a law degree doesn't make sense to me either, but in today's economy I guess that's what they're looking at.

Maybe they should go back to school.

[Amp360]

I'm not doing anything except realizing that McDonalds is in the business of making hamburgers.

For a while I could not find a job, so I started my own company and then sold it to a big company. That's called Capitalism, it's how things in America (again, not getting political just pointing out a fact) are supposed to work.

So what you're saying is this:

Eskimo Joe from Adak Alaska (population about 300) is a smart guy. So smart that he goes to college and becomes a doctor.

Upon graduation, Eskimo Joe returns to Adak and since Dr. Fleishman has a private practice there he can not get a job practicing medicine.

Eskimo Joe is forced to take a job making snow shoes. Since he has a medical degree he should be paid $100,000.00 a year - even though the snow shoes sell for $10.00 a pair.

In your friend's case he is delivering pizzas because he doesn't want to move. Sometimes you have to go where the jobs are - the history of this country is full of people moving to another part of the country where they could find work.

Could your friend find an engineering job in California or New York? What about Chicago? If he's happy with being a Pizza guy that's cool, but what is keeping him doing that is not a lack of jobs, it's a lack of his willingness to relocate.

At some point, the person who needs the job may have to relocate.

[DamianP]

I need a job that pays more than £12k a year. I am willing to relocate.

Damian.

[Amp360]

Originally Posted by Jade

But it's NOT that simple. Cheese burgers weren't $12 twenty years ago before we started down this path.

No, and I don't remember many people making a decent living working at McDonalds in 1990 either.

What year was it that someone could buy a home, raise a family and save for retirement on the income from one parent working at McDonalds?

[jcmark611]

I honestly believe there are too many people going to and graduating college. Think about it, we have more people with degrees now than at any other time in our history. It's almost become a high school diploma. Now with all these people with degrees out there the money you can earn with a degree goes down more and more.

[Julia343]

Originally Posted by Jade

But it's NOT that simple. Cheese burgers weren't $12 twenty years ago before we started down this path.

What's happening is that this country is bleeding jobs. So those jobs at McDonalds that pay minimum wage are not only being taken by H.S., and College kids. Now you've got the folks who have been displaced from all areas. Try getting an Engineering job with your BA, or BS around here. IF you can find one, you'll be lucky to get $16hr for it, but I highly doubt you'll find one at all. Case in point, our drummer has his Masters in buisness. Guess what he's doing. Delivering Pizzas. He makes more money at that than any of the available jobs here.

You're doing exactly what I described in the earlier post... "If someone is willing to work for minimum wage... that's what they're worth".

And we watch as our middle class disapears.

Jade

I'm not going to make a big post. All I'm going to say is that I've agreed with every post you've made in this thread.

Soon (in about 20 yrs) China and India will be too expensive for their labor. Then manufacturing will move again. But not to the USA. It has to go through Africa first to exploit the cheap labor there. Then the US will have a low enough standard of living that in another 30 yrs manufacturing will return here.

Service economies are not sustainable.

[Amp360]

Jade,

I'm not arguing that jobs have not been lost to other places. What I am telling you is that jacking up what you pay someone to cook a cheeseburger doesn't solve the problem.

There are a lot of jobs right now for people who hae the skills to do them. The problem isn't just a lack of jobs, it's a mismatch between available work and people qualified to do them.

[DamianP]

Unfortunately, the standard of living of the working classes is unimportant to those who both employ them and make the rules than govorn them.

The ruling classes realised that by exploiting the poverty of poor people overseas they could increase their profits.

The negative effects on the income of discarded workers is unimportant in so far as it effects them.

The brilliant trick was in mantaining the ability of the western poor to support the rulling classes by lending them the money they would previously have earned.

It`s a stroke of genius really, a win/win situation for those who matter.

Damian.

[Dickie Fredericks]

My wife has a mere HS education and makes a nice healthy check every week. I on the other hand have a 4 year degree and couldnt find a job in my current location to save my life.

So I started my own HVAC business and guess what? It isnt much better than no job at all.

Good thing bars still pay musicians to play.

Yes, my wife is the breadwinner in the family at this time. Used to be the other way around.

[derekd]

Originally Posted by Jade

Have you paid attention to ANYTHING i've written? Where did I say you should be able to, or ever could raise a family working at Mickey D's?

As I said earlier, Those jobs were typicaly taken by HS kids, college students, or simply young people who hadnt decided exactly what they were going to do.

With the shrinking job market, people are being forced into taking jobs that they otherwise wouldnt have taken. That was the point of the original article we're talking about.

This lack of "Real" jobs is taking a massive toll on the standard of living in this country.

Jade

I have read all of your posts on this matter, and I think you miss the point. From a capitalistic point of view, what you are describing is a "good" thing. We (US corporations) are creating tons of jobs in developing countries where we are gaining larger market shares, and opening up new markets, and scores of new customers are now buying our products.

Our US customers will continue to buy our products, as they can afford them. We have created more efficient businesses, which please our stockholders and Wall St. Tis the American way.

All of this stuff is what we as a country have been preaching to every developed and developing nation for decades. Free trade, open markets, capitalism. So now that it is costing us, it is all of a sudden bad? We are less than 10% of the world's population and we have been consuming more than 80% of its resources for a long time now. Just like Mr. Crain getting $100k for a job someone overseas will do for MUCH less, it is just not sustainable.

[drgonzoguitar]

Originally Posted by derekd

We (US corporations) are creating tons of jobs in developing countries where we are gaining larger market shares, and opening up new markets, and scores of new customers are now buying our products thanks to China, Japan, and Russia buying large amounts of US debt.

FIXED

[derekd]

Originally Posted by drgonzoguitar

FIXED

Hehe, thanks for the assist.

[FeloniousBishop]

Originally Posted by rob2001

Also, there are too many threads on TGP standing in judgment of others....whats the point?

No need to be so judgemental.

[guitarist58]

Originally Posted by mouldynudger

Unfortunately, the standard of living of the working classes is unimportant to those who both employ them and make the rules than govorn them.

The ruling classes realised that by exploiting the poverty of poor people overseas they could increase their profits.

The negative effects on the income of discarded workers is unimportant in so far as it effects them.

The brilliant trick was in mantaining the ability of the western poor to support the rulling classes by lending them the money they would previously have earned.

It`s a stroke of genius really, a win/win situation for those who matter.

Damian.

^^^ This. More of the "bigger picture" if you will. Not only has the increase in wealth of the top 1/10 of 1% exponentially outstripped inflation in recent decades while all others have remained stagnant or declined, this phenomenon is being achieved through planning and concerted effort. Seems human nature hasn't changed much over recorded history. And now even some the tax dollars of many folks are going to those needy and never satisfied ones at the top.

If anyone is interested in looking into this merriment further, I recommend this book as one possible starting place. But not if you're at risk for high blood pressure.

-rocky