quote:

ORIGINAL: Lynnxz

Just taking a snip out of this....

quote:

At best, assuming Mexicans do not get most of the construction jobs,

O noes! The Mexicans are taking the jobs!! 

Well, if the white people would quit being offended and take the job, then perhaps there'd be a better mix. As it is, they don't, and immigrants are given most of the jobs. Meh. When we hired (past tense, it's hella slow in the construction buisiness right now) employees, it just naturally happened that almost all of our employees were immigrants, mexican, puerto rican, or otherwise.

If people are too damn lazy to take a job, don't cry about it when someone else does.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled obama rants.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jack45
Ship of Fools

quote:


Unless US corporations can be required to use American labor to produce the goods and services that they sell in American markets, there is no hope for the US economy. No one in the Obama administration has the wits to address this problem. Thus, the economy will continue to implode.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Irishknight

Wow, two incredibly dumb ideas YM. 

quote:

ORIGINAL: YoursMistress

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jack45
Ship of Fools

quote:


Unless US corporations can be required to use American labor to produce the goods and services that they sell in American markets, there is no hope for the US economy. No one in the Obama administration has the wits to address this problem. Thus, the economy will continue to implode.

It seems to me that we only have two choices here:

1) Seal the borders, let no one in or out, and exit the global economy.  We can keep the foreigners from sneaking in to steal our jobs.  (We may need to sell off Alaska and Hawaii to keep one contiguous fence around the place.  Sorry Sarah)

2) Go on the offensive, bomb the crap out of everyone until they stop undercutting us and stealing all of our jobs.  Good bye global economy. This almost worked for the Romans, Mongols and Russians. 

yours

quote:

ORIGINAL: StrangerThan

quote:

ORIGINAL: popeye1250

I've been saying this for years and I don't have anywhere near the credentials or letters behind my name as Mr. Roberts.
It's just common sense that if working people make less each year they'll be able to afford to buy less each year. Everytime cos. ship 100,000 blue collar jobs overseas to "save money" we're also losing 30-40,000 white collar jobs as well and the "support" jobs that go with them!
This "global economy" crap *DOES NOT WORK*.
Until we get rid of all those suicidal "free-trade" deals things will *continue to get worse!* We simply cannot continue to allow "big business" to run our government!
Who's better off, the waitress with a "degree" and a $600 nut to pay off over the next 20 years every month on a $120k outstanding student loan or the waitress who can take that $600 per month and invest it over the next 20 years?
Colleges and Universities are training people for "jobs" that aren't or won't be there when they graduate.
I read somewhere where some high schools are graduating 60% of their senior classes who'll be going on to college or uni!
We simply do not need that many people running around with "degrees" in this country.
Politicians are fond of saying that kids will be "graduating for the jobs of the future" or some such nonsense. What jobs? Fifteen bucks an hour jobs in the "service sector?" (If you ask them point blank what jobs they can't tell you!) Sure, some "degrees" are worth persuing like in medicine.
And in other specialised areas.
But, until we get Manufacturing back in this country it's going to be a long slow slide.
The mark of intelligence is to know when something doesn't work and change your course.

I always viewed free trade agreements in comparable terms to setting a glass almost full of water next to one that was almost empty and connecting a tube between them at the bottom. The effect is to drain water from the first into the second until a point of equilibrium is reached. To put it in more tangible terms, while some in rich countries will benefit and make massive amounts of money, the relative wealth of those countries will drop, while the relative wealth of poor countries will rise. That process of reaching equilibrium translates into a lot of pain in richer countries as business relocates to cheaper work forces, fewer environmental regulations, fewer taxes.

Lost jobs can be replaced, but the real problem isn't just finding another job, it is finding comparable employment. The US has lost a lot of manufacturing jobs and gained a lot of service industry jobs. The two are not equal and never be will beyond the fact that both are jobs. Some professions thrive and will continue to do so. The base however, does not. I don't understand how anyone who is gung-ho for free trade couldn't expect economic troubles in what were richer countries. I don't care how wonderful a product you make, being competitive with a company who produces similar items - even of lesser quality, but at a fraction of the cost is never going to be easy and your share of the pie will shrink over time. It almost has to as that wealth is drained from point A to point B. Face it. As wealth migrates, it shrinks. A $50,000 job here becomes a $10,000 job somewhere else. The relative wealth of the person on the other end rises, but the only way the relative wealth of the person at the origin can even remain static is if that person finds comparable employement and does so in an area where the number of workers is rising while the numbers of comparable jobs is decreasing. Both sides often end up somewhere in between and both are going to be more inclined to buy the knock off at a cheaper price than buy the wonderfully engineered product you're trying to produce.

I'm not an economist and I don't have any golden answers. But the playing field in a global economy is so uneven that weath will naturally gravitate towards the lower end. That's good news for some, not so good news for others. The US has had a high standard of living for decades now. That standard is going to adjust. That adjustment is going to be, and has already been painful for a lot of people. The area where I grew up has lost virtually all of its manufacturing and while I like the sight of plants sprawled across the countryside probably less than most, what is left are a lot of service industry jobs that pay a fraction compared to the jobs that were lost. The professions that do well are health, technology, legal and a few others.

Shrug.

quote:

ORIGINAL: StrangerThan

quote:

ORIGINAL: popeye1250

I've been saying this for years and I don't have anywhere near the credentials or letters behind my name as Mr. Roberts.
It's just common sense that if working people make less each year they'll be able to afford to buy less each year. Everytime cos. ship 100,000 blue collar jobs overseas to "save money" we're also losing 30-40,000 white collar jobs as well and the "support" jobs that go with them!
This "global economy" crap *DOES NOT WORK*.
Until we get rid of all those suicidal "free-trade" deals things will *continue to get worse!* We simply cannot continue to allow "big business" to run our government!
Who's better off, the waitress with a "degree" and a $600 nut to pay off over the next 20 years every month on a $120k outstanding student loan or the waitress who can take that $600 per month and invest it over the next 20 years?
Colleges and Universities are training people for "jobs" that aren't or won't be there when they graduate.
I read somewhere where some high schools are graduating 60% of their senior classes who'll be going on to college or uni!
We simply do not need that many people running around with "degrees" in this country.
Politicians are fond of saying that kids will be "graduating for the jobs of the future" or some such nonsense. What jobs? Fifteen bucks an hour jobs in the "service sector?" (If you ask them point blank what jobs they can't tell you!) Sure, some "degrees" are worth persuing like in medicine.
And in other specialised areas.
But, until we get Manufacturing back in this country it's going to be a long slow slide.
The mark of intelligence is to know when something doesn't work and change your course.

I always viewed free trade agreements in comparable terms to setting a glass almost full of water next to one that was almost empty and connecting a tube between them at the bottom. The effect is to drain water from the first into the second until a point of equilibrium is reached. To put it in more tangible terms, while some in rich countries will benefit and make massive amounts of money, the relative wealth of those countries will drop, while the relative wealth of poor countries will rise. That process of reaching equilibrium translates into a lot of pain in richer countries as business relocates to cheaper work forces, fewer environmental regulations, fewer taxes.

Lost jobs can be replaced, but the real problem isn't just finding another job, it is finding comparable employment. The US has lost a lot of manufacturing jobs and gained a lot of service industry jobs. The two are not equal and never be will beyond the fact that both are jobs. Some professions thrive and will continue to do so. The base however, does not. I don't understand how anyone who is gung-ho for free trade couldn't expect economic troubles in what were richer countries. I don't care how wonderful a product you make, being competitive with a company who produces similar items - even of lesser quality, but at a fraction of the cost is never going to be easy and your share of the pie will shrink over time. It almost has to as that wealth is drained from point A to point B. Face it. As wealth migrates, it shrinks. A $50,000 job here becomes a $10,000 job somewhere else. The relative wealth of the person on the other end rises, but the only way the relative wealth of the person at the origin can even remain static is if that person finds comparable employement and does so in an area where the number of workers is rising while the numbers of comparable jobs is decreasing. Both sides often end up somewhere in between and both are going to be more inclined to buy the knock off at a cheaper price than buy the wonderfully engineered product you're trying to produce.

I'm not an economist and I don't have any golden answers. But the playing field in a global economy is so uneven that weath will naturally gravitate towards the lower end. That's good news for some, not so good news for others. The US has had a high standard of living for decades now. That standard is going to adjust. That adjustment is going to be, and has already been painful for a lot of people. The area where I grew up has lost virtually all of its manufacturing and while I like the sight of plants sprawled across the countryside probably less than most, what is left are a lot of service industry jobs that pay a fraction compared to the jobs that were lost. The professions that do well are health, technology, legal and a few others.

Shrug.

quote:

ORIGINAL: came4U

I have several degrees and don't work in any of the fields...never wanted applied to, never took the time to.  Nor am I sure I even want to, dunno what I want to be when I grow up yet.

I can do anything from minor car maintenance to computer programming or chef just for the heck of it or for spare cash if I chose to and these have nothing to do with my chosen education fields.

All I can suggest is people should have (employable) skills in many different areas of interest.  Otherwise, we see what happens when a GM/Ford employee who has turned a bolt daily for 17 years of his life...nothing. He/she is ill-equipped in requirements other than another employer hiring for another bolt turner.

quote:

When my son turned 16 and applied for a job at Target, they told him they couldn't hire him because his SSN was being used by Hector Sanchez.  My son had to take his birth certificate to the SS office and prove he was the rightful owner of that number.  Chances are, "dirty" Sanchez's employers never checked the SSN, which is a FREE service done easily online or by phone.  When you hired your workers, how many Social Security numbers did you check?  Or did you just "hire" whoever was standing outside of Home Depot?  It's not that WHITE people aren't willing or even desperate to do construction jobs.  When the company I work for placed an ad for a receptionist they had well over 500 applications the first week.

quote:

ORIGINAL: YoursMistress

quote:

ORIGINAL: Irishknight

Wow, two incredibly dumb ideas YM. 

Wow, I just read in another post that men were supposed to be more tolerant than women.  ..shrug... I guess you can't believe everything you read. 

yours

btw, my mom taught me that there are no dumb ideas, only dumb people.  Take that!

quote:

ORIGINAL: domiguy

Isn't it wonderful what happens when you get into a global economy....All of the shit that you did in the past that enabled you to become a super power now pisses you off when those same practices are utilized by the "up and commers."

Sweat shops...How horrible!  Utilizing unskilled labor at an unfair pay....I'm aghast!!!  Destroying the surrounding natural environment in order to churn out profits....How dare you!!!

Hypocrites unite.....Oh my God they are outsourcing our jobs!!!!! 

Make yourself unique.  Find a career that can't be duplicated by someone overseas. Otherwise shut your traps. So many before you rode the wave....Now it's payback...Life's a bitch.

Complain to Congress or to India or to your local Global corporations....Good luck...Please don't forget to piss in the wind first.

quote:

ORIGINAL: OrionTheWolf

Dig deeper into why those jobs were originally outsourced and continue to be outsourced. Two reasons, so that companies can make bigger profits AND Americans can continue to get cheap goods. If Americans were willing to pay more and sometimes work for less, then many of the jobs would not have left. It is a cold hard fact and nothing anyone ever does will change how business operates. We can change how we operate though.

Anyone here ever worked day labor? Ever worked cleaning out sewers? Ever worked digging footers (ditches)? Flipped hamburgers?

I needed a second job recently and for a short period of time delivered pizzas. While at the same time all I heard from some people is how they could not find ANY work.

Well as Americans we stayed up all night eating candy, and now once we have a bellyache we are going to blame who?

Domi is spot on with his comments about Global economies and such. So many pushed for us all to be equal. Well since Americans were at the top for so long, we only have one way to go in a globalized environment. When I mentioned this 15 years ago on an email list I was called everything from a racist to a nazi. Well welcome to the New World.

quote:

ORIGINAL: corysub

quote:

ORIGINAL: awmslave

quote:

I have a friend that's graduating after this semester with a degree in Creative Writing. If she doesn't go on for MORE education, then her degree is completely useless (when it comes to finding a job).

It is not useless if she really can write (not be able to despite the degree is quite common). Also, there is a shortage of teachers in many areas. For example; allegedly Detroit has only 50% literacy.

I think the example of your friend graduating with a degree in "creative writing" brings focus to the problem facing this country.  How many college/post graduate students are studying mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, Biology, Electrical Engineering, Architecture, Civil  engineering..and on and on.  Where is the next generation of inventors going to come from..the polysci majors...geology, astronomy, French classic writings, ..and on and on with majors where there are NO jobs...and if you get a job it might more often than not be as an intern.  Rather, we are getting our talent from overseas, graduates from India in particular, as well as Koreans that I see populating the drug belt of New Jersey. 

As far as medicine, if you have a kid going to med school they might consider going to a trade school and learn plumbing.  The so called "Stimulus Bill" has planted the seeds to turn medicine into an assembly line of technicians performing standardized tests and treatments for less and less money.

quote:


Your friend might consider writing a book..."How I made my first million writing a book about why Creative writing courses don't lead to jobs".