Unemployment is now 7.6%

[ryhoyarbie]

If I were president (and I've only got, what, 4 years or so before I qualify?), I would work on, primarily, streamlining education and healthcare. It's no use complaining that there are no jobs if people simply can't fill them.

That's one of the complaints I have with current education. People make a fuss about the high school dropout rate across the country and say these kids need to get to school. But what happens when they do go back to school and graduate. What then? What kind of a job are they going to get that they couldn't get before they graduated high school?

The same thing applies to college graduates. Let's take out the bad economy right out and pretend it's not happening at the moment. There are people out there with a college degree that are working jobs that they could have got with a high school diploma. They're working with people who never even set foot in a college campus, or worse yet, who dropped out of high school.

If college graudates are working the same type of jobs a high school dropout does, then the educational system is flawed.

What do you do then? Where's the motivation to stay in school if you can't even get a decent job with a college degree let alone with a high school diploma? If you come out of college and the ony jobs you can find for the next 3 years or so are ones paying you 20K or less, jobs you could have got without the college degree, then the educational system has failed.

Yes I know part of going to college is to get an "education", to have knowledge about the material in the major you have chosen. Okay, I get that. But if you pay a lot of money for a degree and only get a job paying 20K or less a year, which is what a high school dropout makes, then the educational system is a joke, from college all the way down to the highschool level.

I'll leave you all with this: Do you really need to have a high school diploma to work in a retail store and sell crap all day long to people, or to sell food to people as a waiter?.............

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Those special interest groups are what is dragging politics down, because the politicians have to cater to those groups needs and wants. In order to get the vote, the politician says they'll do this and that for a special interest group. But you can't do that!

I think you summed up evry election in modern times anyway,

But you know what, that's how you win elections, by pleasing people and catering to their wants and desires. That's one thing Obama has done that will bite him in the rear end before his first term comes to a close.

Well, he has don't a good job of angering folks from all sides so far. Feel kind of bad for him, but it kind of comes with the job, anyway, and I think he realizes that. It's a tough job.But from the start, It seemed like he was trying to hard to be everything too everybody, and I knew that was not going to go very well...

 

[CensoredAlso]

If I were president (and I've only got, what, 4 years or so before I qualify?), I would work on, primarily, streamlining education and healthcare. It's no use complaining that there are no jobs if people simply can't fill them. I'd also put a stop to rewarding incompetence (coughbailoutcough). If it takes reality-show-like contests to get companies to want to work towards NEEDED goals, then let's go for it.

Sounds good to be, next time I do a write in, you'll be on it!

Those special interest groups are what is dragging politics down, because the politicians have to cater to those groups needs and wants.

Absolutely right, both parties are held back by the extreme groups when in reality, most Americans are pretty moderate (though on some occasions I think they should be more, hehe).

Yes I know part of going to college is to get an "education", to know information about the major who have chosen. Okay, I get that. But if you pay a lot of money for a degree and only get a job paying 20K or less a year, which is what a high school dropout makes, then the educational system is a joke, from college all the way down to the highschool level.

Do you really need to have a high school diploma to work in a retail store and sell crap all day long to people?.............

I understand your frustration, I do. Although don't underestimate the skills and intelligence needed to work in retail. Not to mention so many people have to just to support their families from day to day.

Know what though? I've read a few places that the current generation has it a little too easy and that's part of the reason behind the lack of urgency in school and job hunting. A lot of kids are still able to live at home and aren't that paniced. Whereas, a lot of their parents were more motivated in the past simply because they had to be. I don't wish for bad things to happen, but perhaps a recession is what some people need.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

That's one of the complaints I have with current education. People make a fuss about the high school dropout rate across the country and say these kids need to get to school. But what happens when they do go back to school and graduate. What then? What kind of a job are they going to get that they couldn't get before they graduated high school?

The same thing applies to college graduates. Let's take out the bad economy right out and pretend it's not happening at the moment. There are people out there with a college degree that are working jobs that they could have got with a high school diploma. They're working with people who never even set foot in a college campus, or worse yet, who dropped out of high school.

If college graudates are working the same type of jobs a high school dropout does, then the educational system is flawed.

What do you do then? Where's the motivation to stay in school if you can't even get a decent job with a college degree let alone with a high school diploma? If you come out of college and the ony jobs you can find for the next 3 years or so are ones paying you 20K or less, jobs you could have got without the college degree, then the educational system has failed.

Yes I know part of going to college is to get an "education", to have knowledge about the material in the major you have chosen. Okay, I get that. But if you pay a lot of money for a degree and only get a job paying 20K or less a year, which is what a high school dropout makes, then the educational system is a joke, from college all the way down to the highschool level.

I'll leave you all with this: Do you really need to have a high school diploma to work in a retail store and sell crap all day long to people, or to sell food to people as a waiter?.............

I agree, but you have to start somewhere. It's not where you start, it's how you finish. And plus. Nobody starts at the top.

 

[Drtooth]

The real problem, from what I've seen, is that people who ARE good at their jobs ... aren't interested in politics.

Heck, people who are good at their jobs don't even run their companies. Somewhere allong the line, and politics has nothing really to do with this, corporations began getting shifty, lazy, and incompetent. And it was a slow slide, leading to what's going on today. Look at what happened to business in the early 20th century... they did horrible unspeakable cost cutting things...child labor, working people to death in factories... etc. etc. then came rules, unions, and regulations... somewhere something happened, and these companies found loopholes and shortcuts, and other ways around them. And now look what that did to us.

I also want to see a work ethic come back into style. There is really no motivation for the lowly cashier to not cheat on taxes, etc ... if the CEO of their company is doing it too. Why come into work when Congresspeople barely manage it? When I was a teacher, during our inservices, teachers would talk during the meetings, check their cellphones, etc. Well, NO WONDER the kids can't behave. I'd like to see a concerted effort in the PR department, getting people to enjoy working again. Yes, there will be bad days. But I'm willing to bet that if you fixed America's work ethic, obesity and tax evasion and healthcare and stuff would just naturally fit back together.

I just want to see competence. People who run networks that KNOW who their audience is and want to keep them, and not have to pander to a demographic they can't get. I want to see the oil industry spend more money and time on alternative fuels and less on paying advertising agencies to give them PR saying they're considering it. I want to see a company grow the...uh...courage to keep it's employee work force, and take the paycuts themselves...

The real, real, major problem here is that recessions feed on themselves. It's a cycle of losing a small amount of money, raising prices to accommodate the little loss, selling less, having to accommodate the losses by slashing it's workforce, letting more people out of work so they can't afford to shop, losing more money, raising the prices again, selling even less, firing more people... blah blah blah blah blah.

I still say these companies should have taken their overly generous tax cuts (that were a stupid idea in time of war in the first place, since we owe all this money to China for buying weapons from a shifty corporation that you know is selling same weapons to the other side) and INVESTED them. No. They knew better. It was found money, and they blew it on candy and gum. Now this money they could have used isn't there, and we're all paying for it.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Look at what happened to business in the early 20th century... they did horrible unspeakable cost cutting things...child labor, working people to death in factories... etc. etc. then came rules, unions, and regulations... somewhere something happened, and these companies found loopholes and shortcuts, and other ways around them. And now look what that did to us.

Very true, it's sad that money always becomes more important. I know a lot of people who don't like unions now, but I really don't want to go back to the way things were before their existence!

I want to see the oil industry spend more money and time on alternative fuels

They have no reason to do that, until and unless it makes them money. I think Capitalism is a good system because it allows anyone to try and be successful. However, we're living in Capitalism run amuck!

 

[ryhoyarbie]

I agree, but you have to start somewhere. It's not where you start, it's how you finish. And plus. Nobody starts at the top.

Well I don't people who graduated college thought they're going to start making 20K a year, working with a bunch of peopel who only had a high school diploma. That says something right there.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Well I don't people who graduated college thought they're going to start making 20K a year, working with a bunch of peopel who only had a high school diploma. That says something right there.

A lot of people just out of college end up working in retail positions until something in their field comes along. To do otherwise when you need money would be foolish. And if your field does not produce positions right away, luckily you might have money to take classes on the side and find ways to regroup. That's life, you do what you have to do.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Well I don't people who graduated college thought they're going to start making 20K a year, working with a bunch of peopel who only had a high school diploma. That says something right there.

You know? Good point. That is messed up.

 

[dwayne1115]

At first with all this talks of people geting laid off and the economee being bad, I really didn't think much of it. I work at wal Mart, and I see people still spending money. I also thought that I would really worry when Wal Mart would start laying off people. Cause Wal mart is really one of the biggest stores in the nation not to mention the world. I thought it was going to be job secutry so to speak.
Well that all changed yesterday when on the news they said that Wal mart laid off at least 700 people at the Home Office. It's only a matter of time before the layoffs will trinkle down to us cashiers. I know of several single mom's trying to make it with a wal mart pay check every week. Not to mention I have four of my own.
I need a backup plan, and so im going to try and learn a trade. If i can at least get started learning something if i get laied off i will have something to fall back on.
hopfully that wont come down to this but I hope that soon something will happen in America that will be for the better.
I think we almost need something like what happend in the 20's to get people back to beleve in America once again. It is truly a time to come together and roll up our sleves and invest in America.