Money Matters - Part 14

I didn't go to college

$20 million for four Christmas Presidential trips to HI. Mind-boggling in this economy.

THere's been a huge push to get kids to 'college' in theory that they just lacked certain skills. LIttle to negative emphasis here on any kids going to vo tech, unless they ask, or are in certain groups in school.

Friend's autistic kid doing fantastic in skilled machining and started at a company in his junior summer. He's set, when couple years ago she thought he'd be collecting disability.

Finding lots of kids don't want to work for a living doing blue collar jobs, they want to sit behind a computer all day and make $80K right off the bat

There is no one in the union hall to hire

blue collar jobs get a really bad rap, unfairly. But where would you get the training if you don't go to tech HS? THose tech colleges are pricey too. HS is afraid of steering too many kids to vo tech because 1 it does not give the school the prestige of college entry, and 2 they fear being accused of steering certain kids away from "the better college route" (discriminating)

If you join the plumbers/pipe fitters and hvac union they send you to school for free

Crazy. Kids are so spoiled. One reason I believe, aside from their dumb parents, is society telling them practically from birth how 'special' they are. They have developed a huge sense of entitlement.

UGH, don't even get me started!!! Can't keep score at games cause "there are no losers"

Victor, it's not just kids who have "developed a huge sense of entitlement".

Too many adults believe their "education" entitles them to more, even if their education doesn't amount to anything but a couple of alphabet letters after their name...

entitlement in my opinion also includes not having to do chores around the home like mowing the lawn, raking leaves, and shoveling snow. there is a need to build a work ethic with kids these days.

We have two kids that are disciplinarians and expect a good work ethic from their kids. The other two think that their kids "deserve" everything without putting any effort into anything and are very lenient with them. Since they do not read these posts, I can admit that the first group is much easier to take.

Isn't it 'funny' how different ones own kids can be from each other?

Many of us parents also wish our kids easy careers in office work, rather than more physical jobs.

What's wrong with getting our hands 'dirty' with honest labor?

A BIG yes to all this.

Darius - absolutely. Just meant that these days it begins in utero! I firmly believe there are many people in this recession who have chosen NOT to take jobs that they feel are not good enough for them.

Agree, Bill. My older guy has plenty of chores. Even when I use a plow guy for the driveway, he has to shovel out the walkway, the mailbox and all areas blocked by what the plow does. He takes care of the cats - feeding and scooping poop. Takes the garbage and recycles out. Does the salad at dinner. Now that he is 14, he will get working papers and hopefully will work this summer.

My brother and SIL are far too lenient - especially with my nephew. He has been in trouble with the law and is LAZY. 25 year sold and sitting home with them doing nothing. He has a real skill - plumbing, but since he lost his job with his uncle meh thinks work is going to find him! I would have thrown his a$$ out long ago.

received our 2013 property tax bill today - i was prepared to fight if it was inflated and was surprised to see it was accurate. and after checking all the real estate sites they have the property 30K higher on average - a few years back the town was right on the dollar. it is to painful to mention how much the overall value has dropped in 4 years. our taxes are included in the mortgage payment so that will drop some, we will continue with the same payment to increase the extra we put towards knocking down the principle.

I also learnt that we own basically all the wet lands and some land on the other side of them out back if zillow.com is to be believed - now all those rocks I re-purposed were mine all the time :)

This message was edited Jan 4, 2013 3:29 PM

Good idea. We pay extra each month.

good to know that it was yours anyway

Kids are all looking to CSI classes. Who even knew that was a job ten years ago? We need a reality glamor program for real work! Its a bit sad that Dirty Jobs talked about how rough and dirty and crappy all those jobs are.

I don't think I had a clue what "work" really meant until I moved away from Maryland in 1980. Back then, "work" to me was time spent in an office, using my brain... all it really exercised was my brain, and encouraged the thinking that my high-priced salary made me special, or at least gave me entré into the upper 5% of wage earners. What a pile of crap.

People who still measure success by monetary values are in for a big comeuppance.

I don't entirely agree with that, d. Brain work CAN be good work. It's not only physical stuff that counts. I have no regrets about engineering.

Victor, MY degree is also in engineering, and I don't regret it either.

However, that's not really my point about "work" that won't feed anyone when jobs/positions evaporate.

That's what gardening is for!

Certainly true there is not much true creating going on. Mostly just moving info around.

Shocking - not.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/poor_some_ugar_on_me_0Hq1d3iPnvj2RwpsEDS7MN

Shocking - not, part 2. Really wish just ONE supporter would admit he/she was dead wrong.



http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/business/despite-new-health-law-some-see-sharp-rise-in-premiums.html?hp&_r=1&

Wow - we were just talking about this.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2257715/Study-shows-college-students-think-theyre-special--read-write-barely-study.html

interesting artictle on where the health of the US economy really is;

http://bostonglobe.com/business/2013/01/06/cliff-deal-still-leaves-broke/tR9qkUuulQth7SDBPVfVFP/story.html

year end 401k statements are coming in and show nice growth around 16% - which is counter to the current state of the economy - just does not make sense!

From that I would surmise that Corporate profits have nothing to do with the economy.

No, corp profits are not great either. It's the stock market that is WAY out of sync. Will correct soon.

and the position to take ahead of correction is ...?

$64,000 question!

Could be...LITERALLY!!!!

Yes.

Most of the estimates I see for the stock market are predicting 5% growth this year. Problems are more about how wealth is being distributed. My pretaxed retirement plan is doing very well also. Plan is to keep putting money into it.

Most predictions for 2000 were for double digit growth. Similar rosy predictions for 2008. Very few actually predict downturns. Not in their interest to. Not saying the drops will be comparable, but like the lottery commercial says, hey, you never know.

After selling his tv network, Al Gore is now richer than Mitt Romney. Well well...

must be nice

Your tax dollars at work.

http://freebeacon.com/powering-chinas-military/

aaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh