<p>pwoods…where are you interning that you get $12/hour as a pre-freshman in college? I’ve never made that much as a rising senior in college. I guess it’s field I’m in.</p>
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<p>Excepting for the top 10% of private sector workers, that mindset has been demonstrably wrong for the last 15 years. You may well put yourself in the exception category, but the truth is that the overwhelming majority can not. In a declining economy government jobs are the most assured way to maintain a middle class existence.</p>
<p>Daughter applied for a paying internship. They called her for a phone interview and during the interview they informed her the internship was “unpaid”. They basically lied or changed the process mid-stream. They are really taking advantage of the young people right now. My daughter is doing two unpaid internships this summer and working freelance on top of that. She says she wants the job experience.</p>
<p>The number of people who are better off working in private business rather than government is statistically insignificant.</p>
<p>Most salaried employees are jollied along with the promise of a chance for promotion and advancement. The overwheeming egos of most colllege grads lends this credibility. Then one day they are 40 and the ax falls.</p>
<p>There is no trickle-down, people. If you’re an employee, you’re an expense, and business is fully aware of the economics of the recession. Before they let their profits take a hit, you’re going to take a hit in salary, either through layoff, relocation (oh! don’t want to move…no problem, there’s several other people with raw talent (read young and inexperienced) out there who will work for less at our new location. “Yes, Yes, we realize that you’ve been a productive employee for all these past years, but this raise thing is really eating into our yacht funds, so we’re pulling up stakes, right-sizing, and moving to greener (for me, that is) pastures”, or maybe we’ll advocate for those visas so that I can leverage the potential for US citizenship (which costs me nothing, but which Americans, who already have citizenship can’t compete against). Yeah that’s the ticket…Hrmmm…no one is buying our products anymore. I wonder if it has to do with those decisions to reduce salaries…well, hell, I’ll just reduce production, lay off more “valued” employees, and keep on paying down that yacht.</p>
<p>The above is a synopsis of the race to the bottom, in which America is currently fully engaged. Start learning Mandarin people…</p>
<p>Yep, “Drill, baby, drill”. I love America. Those currently unemployed fishermen will certainly agree to work more cheaply than my current employees…</p>
<p>I think people fail to realize employees cost companies far more than just their paid salaries. The burden associated with employees/payroll-wages keeps growing even when salaries arent.</p>
<p>and yet every nickel any company makes in profit is the result of the effort of some employee.</p>
<p>^^^ in the 19th century that was true, but not today or since WWII.</p>
<p>examples???</p>
<p>The computer you are using primarily constructed by machines .not people.</p>
<p>I think capitalism is the best economical system, ever. Of course, I still have a job.</p>
<p>It may be the best ever, but that doesn’t mean it’s good, it just means the others are worse.</p>
<p>Funny- I sent the link to this article to my DS about an hour ago-- then found this thread.</p>
<p>What needs to start happening is that colleges, high schools, guidance counselors and parents need to stop allowing kids to major in fields that they have no chance of getting a job in. What good does it do to major in art, sociology, history, etc., etc. when kids will end up working retail or waiting tables because they do not have a skill that any one is willing to pay for?</p>
<p>What good does it do to have a job that doesn’t remotely pay enough to pay back the enormous school debt that a lot of these kids have?</p>
<p>The days of simply following your dreams are over (unless your dream is to be a nurse or an electrical engineer–maybe). Globalization put the final nail in the coffin.</p>
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What idiotic rambling is this? Seems like all your points are facts and how profit seeking entities <em>should</em> run. Globalization is about maximizing value. If we can’t provide we <em>should</em> have wages reduced until we are competitive. I mean, this is what Al Gore said, after all.</p>
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<p>You don’t need to have some sort of vocational “skill” to get a job. My kids are poli sci majors; my kids are employed at jobs related to their majors. My d. just graduated; the job she now has required a “B.A. degree in political science, international relations, history, or related field.” She was hired the same day as her graduation. </p>
<p>I don’t know what the “chances” are of getting the job. Based on the number of applicants for the job my d. has, in theory the odds are 250:1 – but in this market, its likely that many of the applications were from people who were not even remotely qualified. I think the key to getting a job for a college grad is having relevant experience, either via internships or paid employment during college. </p>
<p>But art, sociology, history, etc. are certainly not worthless majors.</p>
<p>Not worthless, just worth less.</p>
<p>Heh. The global economy functions as if unlimited growth was possible. Too many consumers making irrational decisions, very few resources to go around, and machines taking over ever more human functions little by little.</p>
<p>Actually the best BA/BS/BFA college degrees are those that enable the kids to think creatively and communicate well. I would argue that there are very few “worthless degrees.” Being fluid, flexible and able to think out of the box and articulate ideas has little to do with a degree and more to do with personality. In today’s work force those characteristics will bode well and carry a young person further faster than the particular major and differentiate the older job seeker from the 200 others that apply for the same job.</p>
<p>Re post #30</p>
<p>Those machines are not self-programming or even self-repairing. It requires a nearly continuous input of intellectual and skilled mechanical and electrical labor to keep them running.</p>
<p>Does anyone know of a factory where a CEO can simply direct it to make product without any other human intervention/interaction?</p>
<p>Regarding capitalism; The economic system of the US is capitalism modified by regulation to control its worst excesses. The system works as well as it does because there were the “trust busters” and “muckrakers”.</p>
<p>Unbridled capitalism always degenerates/evolves toward oligarchical and even monopolistic excess. The classical free market theorists ignored or discounted the efffect the hugh modern limited stock companies would have on markets.</p>