You People Are...Going To Have Problems

[IrishJohn]

Interesting blog post here: Young people are screwed… Here

What do ya'll think? I would say that the alternatives like the Big 3 should be taken advantage of more to avoid the Debt Trap, but also that a young person learning a skill isn't a bad idea as well. I also don't think that everyone is cut out for college, even with the alternatives out there, and there should be no shame in that. Lord knows our country wasn't built on the higher educated alone.

[rebel100]

Nothing new here really. This is sort of a naive statement from the piece "This included young people in marketing and finance, two departments that do not bring in revenue or keep the factories running." Without marketing your business will be filled with the sound of chirping crickets...without sales (brought in through some sort of marketing) you have no business...ignore this at your own risk. Without the finance guys (girls) you will never sustain meaningful growth. I'm with you that all degrees are not created equal...and yes lawyers are having a bad time right now...but lets keep it in perspective.

I had to laugh at the other story currently promoted next to this one..."happiness is a banned assault rifle" which then shows a picture of a 7 shot Colt pistol who's design is over 100 years old...Do they just not care to be seen as factual and educated on the topics they write about? How can you maintain any sense of responsible jounalism when you repeatedly demonstrate a basic lack of information about the simplest parts of the issues?

I would find more reliable sources of information...just saying

[sanantone]

I'll admit I didn't read the whole article. I was kind of turned off by all of the cursing, but I've seen plenty of these rants before. People who study the humanities and social sciences should not be surprised by not being able to find a good paying job after graduation. Humanities work well for academia for which you need a PhD. For most of the social sciences, one should get a minimum of a master's degree. I think the job market might be oversaturated with business graduates. This is just a reality people need to face. There is also a glut of lawyers. Even new nursing grads are having a hard time finding work. People seem to rush into trendy fields that have a shortage and then we quickly end up with oversaturation.

I also agree that not everyone is cut out for college and there is nothing wrong with getting vocational training. At the same time, we are a post-industrialized nation. This is a knowledge economy. We depend on the service industry because it would be difficult for us to compete with cheaper labor unless we become isolationists.

[defscarlett]

I have to agree with what the author said about the older generation not understanding this generations professional environment. I get into heated discussions with my mom all the time about why I can't take off work all the time and pretty much a lot of generational misunderstandings.

I also think some of the blame needs to be placed on the colleges. I know plenty of people who have gotten degrees in sociology or psychology or philosophy and the college promises them the world as far as job opportunities that are out there for these professions and then they graduate... Well you know the rest of the story.

[IrishJohn]

Nothing new here really. This is sort of a naive statement from the piece "This included young people in marketing and finance, two departments that do not bring in revenue or keep the factories running." Without marketing your business will be filled with the sound of chirping crickets...without sales (brought in through some sort of marketing) you have no business...ignore this at your own risk. Without the finance guys (girls) you will never sustain meaningful growth. I'm with you that all degrees are not created equal...and yes lawyers are having a bad time right now...but lets keep it in perspective.

True, but the author's intended meaning to me was about the glut of folks in those careers. We'll always need people in just about every career field, even temporarily in those slowly dying out, but there is more of a limit nowadays than there once was in many areas. Part of this is the bad state of the economy, part of it is outsourcing and part of it is increased productivity along with automation. What was more surprising to me about this article was where it is found. Given the more liberal bent of the site I was surprised to see an article like this.

I had to laugh at the other story currently promoted next to this one..."happiness is a banned assault rifle" which then shows a picture of a 7 shot Colt pistol who's design is over 100 years old...Do they just not care to be seen as factual and educated on the topics they write about? How can you maintain any sense of responsible jounalism when you repeatedly demonstrate a basic lack of information about the simplest parts of the issues?

Meh. I tend to ignore those of a more liberal bent who talk about guns yet are completely ignorant of them

[merolpn]

This was an interesting piece. I agree with him that grandparents can be somewhat out of touch. After all is said and done, it was our grandparents and parents that kept voting for the same group of tax and spend Democrats over and over (Mine included). Republicans are no better when it comes to keeping jobs here. Look at California, spend spend spend and when taxes go up, the very rich people that voted for all the feel good legislation move to red states with lower taxes. I hope that since the Republicans are so weak right now that people get mad and a the Libertarian party gains strength.

I personally tell all of my younger relatives to get a TRADE first, then figure out college. The guy that wrote the article hit it on the head. We as a nation stopped making actual real things in favor of cheap imported things. We need to build things. The economy is supposed to be goods and services, now we are all just services with a few goods. I remember when my grandfather first saw a Honda Civic, he was like "WHAT??? A Japanese car?...... ridiculous!!!" (I love my Toyota Tundra, made in TEXAS!)

What would be so wrong with being a little more isolationist and a little less global? I believe this whole "globalization" crap is what killed our economy. Not George Bush, although he had a hand in it but his dad and Clinton can take blame for the seeds being sewn.

As for the "assault weapon" Colt 1911 pistol Rebel, I look at it this way, any bozo moron can start a blog. The truth of the matter is most people do not understand gun laws let alone the intricacies of what the mythical assault weapon is and this is their first attempt at writing on the matter. Even my partially anti-gun girlfriend is starting to pick up on the BS. She will be watching TV and say "haha, that idiot said you don't hunt with more than three CLIPS in the gun."

[quasarvs]

I agree about the generational gap, unfortunately not everyone who is old is wise.

It would definitely help our own infrastructure here at home if we encouraged more homemade goods instead of buying them from China. I don't do my mainstay shopping at WalMart because I don't like their stock of everything made in China.
It's sort of like our foreign oil imports I would like to see America be self-sufficient in both those areas.

I really hope not to see a libertarian party gain strength. The reason being that it doesn't respect the Constitution in the way that it should and it doesn't have the core beliefs to carry all republican voters.
It would be more practical if conservatives and libertarians worked to reform the current republican party. Also regarding the CA example if what you are saying is accurate the republicans there are falling down on the job when they allow excessive spending; therefore, reform is needed!

[Grand Wizard]

It would definitely help our own infrastructure here at home if we encouraged more homemade goods instead of buying them from China. I don't do my mainstay shopping at WalMart because I don't like their stock of everything made in China.
It's sort of like our foreign oil imports I would like to see America be self-sufficient in both those areas.

I really hope not to see a libertarian party gain strength. The reason being that it doesn't respect the Constitution in the way that it should and it doesn't have the core beliefs to carry all republican voters. It would be more practical if conservatives and libertarians worked to reform the current republican party.

Buying U.S. manufactured goods which either are higher priced or inferior is counterproductive. If we are going to have a capitalist, market economy then we need free trade for it to be even moderately efficient. British economist David Ricardo wrote about the key economic concept of comparative advantage about 200 years ago. It is one of those concepts, like Einstein's Theory of Relativity, that you either accept as a valid theoretical underpinning of an entire discipline, or everything else that follows appears to be nonsensical. For example, if you assume that Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage is true, then free trade between countries should be a net benefit to the people of all countries involved. If you think that Ricardo was incorrect, then you would favor managed trade between countries in which each sovereign country only imported an amount of goods equivalent to the amount they exported. It really is either one way or the other.


David Ricardo: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics | Library of Economics and Liberty

Tutor2u - Trade - Comparative Advantage and International Trade

With respect to libertarians, despite all the current angst that the Administration is causing to libertarians, most libertarians are probably more afraid of conservatives like Rush, Hannity, Savage, et al. than they are of liberals like Obama and Hillary C. The liberal agenda will primarily hit you in the pocketbook; the self-described "conservatives" seem to focus on all types of social issues (drugs, abortion, gays, military intervention) that will affect a lot more than your bank account. I consider myself a libertarian and don't particularly care for the Administration's fiscal policies but I certainly don't fear them. They are misguided and wasteful of the taxpayers' money but not especially threatening. The conservatives are correct on economic issues absolutely frightening on social issues and foreign policy. Given the two alternatives, I'd hold my nose and vote for the libs.

[cookderosa]

Love this part: "No longer can you get a job at some company and expect to stay there for three decades. What you do for a living may not even exist in ten years.

Every young person is an entrepreneur now, in one way or another — they must forge their own unique career path, and they need to think five or 10 years ahead. There is no rulebook anymore for how to build a career. Certainly not the one your parents read in 1981."

It's worth reading twice. The job you earn your degree in may not even EXIST in 10 years. <gulp>
Reminds me of an episode of 30 Rock when Liz Lemon's ex-boyfriend owned a pager business in NYC and complained that sales were low. My town has 2 stores that fix tv's. Scary.

HAving a check the box degree is good as a baseline, but you still have to know how to do something- solve problems, build things, persuade people, follow directions, etc. My prediction is that even the guys that do build things will all end up having degrees as the new baseline. It's happened in my field (culinary) where every CC in any town has a culinary program. How many AAS and AOS programs exist? No less than 90% of these shouldn't exist- they are driving up the baseline of an otherwise apprentice-able career/trade occupation.

So, ready to take a CLEP?

[bluebooger]

..."happiness is a banned assault rifle"

Happiness is a Warm Gun - John Lennon [Beatles] - YouTube