Is the government regulating, and surplusing, people out of jobs?

[Eurodriver]

However, it does seem that you are making a broad statement about a certain class of worker. In which case you are wrong.

This is something that is a pet peeve of mine. I hear it all the time where I work that it "isn't fair" that I "get so much money" and I "don't have to work weekends" or I get to "sit in an office instead of doing real work" while they are putting together the parts that I designed.

Heck, most people don't even do their own taxes even when they could file on a 1040 EZ and will pay someone else who can do basic math to do it for them. (Or in some cases just type it into a computer for them )

Have you guys gotten the "I just didn't have the same opportunities you did, man." from someone you knew in high school? It's like bro, you grew up in a house that had *money* but instead of using that to your advantage you just used your fat allowance money to buy weed. Now put whole milk in that latte and go away.

And you speak the truth about taxes. It's not just elderly people (what I suspected when I started) either. I can't tell you how many 20-somethings pay our firm $100+ a return (that is our minimum) despite them only having a single W2. I tell them all the time they can easily do it themselves, but they can't be bothered. People like that earn us over $600/hr. Ain't no history major earning $600 an hour.

[Alpha Sierra]

Have you guys gotten the "I just didn't have the same opportunities you did, man." from someone you knew in high school?

Not from those, but from average libtards that I meet here and there. My answer is always the same: tough shit.

[Crow Hunter]

Have you guys gotten the "I just didn't have the same opportunities you did, man." from someone you knew in high school? It's like bro, you grew up in a house that had *money* but instead of using that to your advantage you just used your fat allowance money to buy weed. Now put whole milk in that latte and go away.

And you speak the truth about taxes. It's not just elderly people (what I suspected when I started) either. I can't tell you how many 20-somethings pay our firm $100+ a return (that is our minimum) despite them only having a single W2. I tell them all the time they can easily do it themselves, but they can't be bothered. People like that earn us over $600/hr. Ain't no history major earning $600 an hour.

All the time. Especially where I work.

That is when I remind them that my Dad was the first member of his extended family to graduate high school and I was the first to graduate from college. My Mom's father was a wife beating alcoholic share cropper/part time wood cutter and her Mother did not even know who her father was. (Think single mothering is hard now, try it in the 1920s)

There was no such thing as SSI or Disability or SNAP or WIC or any of that and they graduated from High School and made sure that the expectation was set that I would graduate from college.

If they could do that, there is no reason in Hell that the people around here, that qualify for WAY more assistance that I ever did couldn't be successful.

Hell, math is my WORST subject by a long shot. I think I got a 16 on the ACT on my math skills but I graduated with an Engineering degree and have had a successful career so for. But I had to WORK FOR IT.

Don't get me started on taxes. I try to help people here and they just don't WANT to understand it, even if it is costing them money.

[wildcard600]

just curious, but how much did a year of college cost you guys ?

[Crow Hunter]

just curious, but how much did a year of college cost you guys ?

My first 2 years were scholarship at a private Christian school that didn't cost me anything other than books. But the non scholarship tuition was something like $10,000/year in the early 1990's.

I finished up at a state school that was something around $1,400-$1,700/semester (maybe more) plus books and around $600-800/semester for the dorms plus whatever I had to eat. (Lots of cheese and ketchup sandwiches) I think I got a discount for working on campus some. My wage working at Carhartt during the summers making overalls was something around $5/hour, IIRC. I think I was getting paid a couple $ over minimum. But it has been a long time.

My parents helped me with some of the costs when I didn't have enough as long as I kept a B average. Otherwise I was completely on my own.

This was from 1991-1997.

[wildcard600]

My first 2 years were scholarship at a private Christian school that didn't cost me anything other than books. But the non scholarship tuition was something like $10,000/year in the early 1990's.

I finished up at a state school that was something around $1,400-$1,700/semester (maybe more) plus books and around $600-800/semester for the dorms plus whatever I had to eat. (Lots of cheese and ketchup sandwiches) I think I got a discount for working on campus some. My wage working at Carhartt during the summers making overalls was something around $5/hour, IIRC. I think I was getting paid a couple $ over minimum. But it has been a long time.

My parents helped me with some of the costs when I didn't have enough as long as I kept a B average. Otherwise I was completely on my own.

This was from 1991-1997.

interesting to see how much costs increase in just a few years and vary by region. when i enrolled in our "local" 4 year VT state college in 2007 tuition was ~$6,000 a semester not including books and board. i lived off campus but i think they quoted ~$15,000 semester as the average baseline for an on campus student.

[Eurodriver]

just curious, but how much did a year of college cost you guys ?

ETA: Just did the math and after tuition books parking permits and all the other BS I made $23,672 per year for going to school.

That post 9/11 GI Bill is the bees knees.

[Crow Hunter]

interesting to see how much costs increase in just a few years and vary by region. when i enrolled in our "local" 4 year VT state college in 2007 tuition was ~$6,000 a semester not including books and board. i lived off campus but i think they quoted ~$15,000 semester as the average baseline for an on campus student.

IIRC someone was talking to me about the private Christian school I first attended and they told me that tuition was now $30,000/semester...

I just checked and tuition at the school I graduated from is $4,200 or so per semester.

Unfortunately it is supply and demand driven. When everyone wants a college education, whether they need it or not, they are going to drive up the costs for everyone else. Every African American Women's Studies or 16th Century German Poets or Music Theory major requires faculty and support and admin staff/buildings/etc. That is spread across the whole school and everyone winds up paying more and getting less for it.

I remember taking a few non engineering related courses while at the school I graduated from. Holy crap the number of people in those classes was ridiculous. I can't imagine what it is like now.

I luckily took almost all my core classes at the private school where the student/teacher ratio was relatively small and the teachers were all very good. At the state school, half of the "teachers" in the non-engineering classes were non-english speaking grad students and I could have done better just reading the book myself.

Now my engineering classes were smaller and most of the teachers were quite good. Although I did have a Mechanics of Materials professor from China who said: "Streah, Streah and Streah" For Strength, Stress and Strain. 3 completely different features of materials. You had to be able to see what symbol he was writing to know what he was talking about.

[Alpha Sierra]

just curious, but how much did a year of college cost you guys ?

$0

US Naval Academy for undergrad. Employer paid 100% of MBA tuition at state university system campus.

[lunchbox]

If you are speaking about certain people in particular, then you may have a point.

However, it does seem that you are making a broad statement about a certain class of worker. In which case you are wrong.

The work done by people with advanced education looks like easy gravy to people who have only ever done manual labor, until they actually try to do what we do.

If you think that a business can run itself with only people doing production work, go ahead and start one that way. Let me know how it goes.

Maybe I should clarify. I wasn't mad at anybody but myself, so I changed my situation. I'll give another example to illustrate that having a degree brings in more income vs not. Me and fellow classmate both got a job at same place, with the same skill set, and same skill level; but I made $2 more because I graduated early and he hadn't at the time. As soon as he graduated he got his pay increase.
And as far as company surviving with only production workers, it couldn't. Just like a company couldn't survive with just upper management. From my experience the most successful companies work as a team....