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How To Alleviate The Alleged "Worker Shortage" - Stop Subsidizing Non-Work

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Heritage's Stephen Moore via David Stockman's Contra Corner blog,

The great conundrum of the U.S. economy today is that we have record numbers of working age people out of the labor ‎force at the same time we have businesses desperately trying to find workers. As an example, the American Transportation Research Institute estimates there are 30,000 – 35,000 trucker jobs that could be filled tomorrow if workers would take these jobs–a shortage that could rise to 240,000 by 2022.

While the jobs market overall remains weak, demand is high for in certain sectors. For skilled and reliable mechanics, welders, engineers, electricians, plumbers, computer technicians, and nurses, jobs are plentiful; one can often find a job in 48 hours. As Bob Funk, the president of Express Services, which matches almost one-half million temporary workers with emplo‎yers each year, “If you have a useful skill, we can find you a job. But too many are graduating from high school and college without any skills at all.”

The lesson, to play off of the famous Waylon Jennings song: Momma don’t let your babies grow up to be philosophy majors

Three years ago the chronic disease of the economy was a shortage of jobs. This shortage persists in many sectors. But two other shortages are now being felt—the shortage of trained employees and of low-skilled employees willing to work. Patrick Doyle, the president of Domino’s Pizza, says that the franchises around the country are having a hard time filling delivery and clerical positions. “It’s a very tight labor market out there now.”

This shortage has an upside for workers because it allows them to bid up wages. When Wal-Mart announced last month that wages for many starter workers would rise to $9 an hour, well above the federal legal minimum, they weren’t being humanitarians. They were responding to a tightening labor market.

The idea that blue collar jobs aren’t a pathway to the middle class and higher is antiquated and wrong. Factory work today is often highly sophisticated and knowledge-based with workers using intricate scientific equipment. After several years honing their skills, welders, mechanics, carpenters, and technicians can, earn upwards of $50,000 a year–which in most years still places a household with two such income earners in the top 25 percent for income. It’s true these aren’t glitzy or cushy jobs, but they do pay a good salary.

So why aren’t workers filling these available jobs–or getting the skills necessary to fill them. I would posit five impediments to putting more Americans back to work:

First, government discourages work. Welfare consists of dozens of different and overlapping federal and state income support programs. A recent Census Bureau study found more than 100 million Americans collecting a government check or benefit each month. The spike in families on food stamps, SSI, disability, public housing, and early Social Security remains very high even 5 years into this recovery. This should come as no surprise given the combination of the scaled back welfare work requirements and the steep phase-out of benefits as a recipient begins earning income.

Economist Peter Ferrara ‎argues in his new book “Power to the People,” that if ” we simply required work for all able-bodied welfare recipients, the number on public assistance would fall dramatically. This is what happened after the work for welfare requirements in 1996.”

Second, our public school systems often fail to teach kids basic skills. Whatever happened to shop classes? We ‎have schools that now concentrate more on ethnic studies and tolerance training than teaching kids how to use a lathe or a graphic design tool. Charter schools can help remedy this. Universities are even more negligent. Kids commonly graduate from four year colleges with $100,000 of debt and little vocational training. A liberal arts education is valuable, but it should come paired with some practical skills.

Third, negative attitudes toward “blue collar” work. I’ve talked to parents who say they are disappointed if their kids want to become a craftsman–instead of going to college. This attitude discourages kids from learning how to make things, which contributes to sector-specific worker shortages. Meanwhile, too many people who want to go into the talking professions: lawyers, media, clergy, professors, and so on. Those who can’t “do,” become attorneys and sociology professors.

Fourth, a cultural bias against young adults working. The labor force participation rate is falling fastest among workers under 30 (see chart). Anytime a state tries to change laws to make it easier for teenagers to earn money, the left throws a tantrum about repealing child labor laws. The move to raise minimum wages in states and at the federal level could hardly be more destructive to young people. ‎My own research finds that the higher the minimum wage in a state, the lower the labor force participation rate among teenagers.

Anecdotally, I’ve always been struck by how many successful people I have met who grew up on farms and started working–milking cows, building fences, cleaning out the barn–at the age of 10 or 11. They learn a work ethic at a young age and this pays big dividends in the future. Many studies document this to be true.

Fifth, higher education has become an excuse to delay entry into the workforce. I always cringe when I talk to 22 year olds who will graduate from college and who tell me their next step is to go to graduate school. Maybe by time they are 26 or 27 they will start working. Here’s an idea: Colleges could encourage kids to have one or two years of work experience before they enroll.

Here’s an even better idea: Abolish federal student loans and replace the free government dollars with privately sponsored college work programs. For instance, schools like College of the Ozarks require kids to work 15 hours a week to pay their tuition. It’s hardly a violation of human rights if a 21 year old works to fund for their own education–and they will probably get more out of their classes if they do work. Anything easily attained is lightly valued. This would drive down tuition costs too, because students would start demanding more financial accountability and less waste. After all, federal subsidies have increased college costs.

These may seem like old-fashioned and even outmoded ideas. But the decline in work among the young bodes ill for the future. Many European nations have removed the young from the workforce and the repercussion appears to be lower lifetime earnings. A renewed focus on working would also help erode the entitlement mentality ingrained in so many millennials. Instead of more benefits and handouts, this generation needs to get a job.

 

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Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:24 | 5964251 agstacks
agstacks's picture

“As you hear from these stories, this is a liberation,” Pelosi said

“This is what our founders had in mind--ever expanding opportunity for people.

“You want to be a photographer or a writer or a musician, whatever --  an artist, you want to be self-employed, if you want to start a business, you want to change jobs, you no longer are prohibited from doing that because you can’t have access to health care"

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:28 | 5964262 cossack55
cossack55's picture

CCC/WPA.  No workee, no eatee.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:35 | 5964288 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Close the borders and put a bounty on illegals.

Ze problem, she is sol-ved.

          Hercule Poirot

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:48 | 5964302 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

Now wait a minute...  Dear ex-House Speaker Pelosi emphatically has stated that one of the BEST things for the U.S. economy is more people on welfare.  You see they are getting money to spend, boosting the economy.

Simple, right?  Simple-minded, right.

(The money has to come from somewhere)

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:40 | 5964307 max2205
max2205's picture
There are no jobs....period.
Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:48 | 5964337 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

VA has tons of jobs in fast food, but you're right.

There is nothing at all worth applying for, except the government jobs.

The end is near.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:22 | 5964707 Lost My Shorts
Lost My Shorts's picture

Yes, remember that this comes from the Heritage Foundation, the old boys who belong to Mitt Romney's country club.  When they talk about "businesses desperately trying to find workers" they mean "businesses desperately trying to find people who will do quality work for $9.00 per hour in jobs that paid (inflation-adjusted) $25 per hour a generation ago."

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 19:10 | 5965058 greyghost
greyghost's picture

well excuse me while a take a WTF moment with this lack of workers crap. you are correct max2205....kaiserhoff....lost my shorts! always remember....the barbed wire is to keep workers out....not in. through these gates your work will make you free

Tue, 04/07/2015 - 17:24 | 5968078 nailgunnin4you
nailgunnin4you's picture

There's five minutes I won't get back. Old man thinks 'dem goddam entitled millenials' are lazy, wishes young people were good little worker bees like his gen was.

 

Stockman this reflects badly on that corner of yours, old man 'feel pieces' are so Kunstler.

Tue, 04/07/2015 - 08:29 | 5966222 jerry_theking_lawler
jerry_theking_lawler's picture

Well, it is a fact....the reason it got to this point is the reason most miss....but people keep falling back into the arms of the .gov and politicians to 'solve' their problems....but all they actually do is 'create'.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:30 | 5964511 exi1ed0ne
exi1ed0ne's picture

Exactly.  Tons of phantom jobs and whining to Congress to get HB-1 visa limits increased.  If workers were actually sought by companies you'd see increases in pay and perks to attract them.  Most of what I see are entry level positions that require tons of experience and education with entry level pay.  There is no worker shortage if companies can be this choosy.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:00 | 5964641 RECISION
RECISION's picture

Right.

Blame the workers - coz that's ALWAYS the problem.  (/sarc - in case you didn't get it)

In the Soviet union they had a saying.

"the bosses pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work"

If the workers have stopped even pretending, then that would suggest the problem has slipped past even the Soviet Unions glories...

The problem isn't labour, the problem is the supply of cheap (enough) labour.

If the monkeys wont even work for peanuts anymore, then the only option left is slavery.

Get out the whips and chains...

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:57 | 5964374 GoldRulesPaperDrools
GoldRulesPaperDrools's picture

And hand out all the ammo the gubmint is hoarding to the people who want to go bounty-hunting.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:59 | 5964635 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

I agree but actually the problem starts in the home. We gave our kids food, clothing and shelter but it was up to them to come up with extra spending money. Their peers had TVs, cell phones and computers in their rooms. We provided books. The bitter complaints and comparisons fell on deaf ears.

Both at 12 were babysitting. At sixteen they were working fast food ( one flipped signs all summer in the heat). We never got them a job, they somehow networked themselves into one. Each at 15 had their own credit card and managed their own money. We never had a problem, though we did monitor them. Because of their maturity they were given much more freedom then their peers, something that irritated their spoiled friends.

People look down on the Millennials but I think their parents are ultimately to blame for not instilling the need for a good work ethic. Funny how initiative blossoms when things don't fall from the sky.

Miffed

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:45 | 5964780 Bollixed
Bollixed's picture

I had a paper route as a kid between the ages of 10 and 14 and earned a $1 a day for the two and a half hours I put in each day. That was a lot of money for a kid back in the early to mid '60s. That was also until I was 14 and saw the prettiest girl in school riding around in her boyfriend's new Mustang (they had just come out the year before) and me on my geeky bike delivering papers. What shame...

By the time I turned 17 I was working 60 hours a week at a fast food restaurant and going to high school. I gotta tell ya, that schedule really cuts into your fap time, trust me. But the money allowed me a level of freedom I wouldn't have had otherwise, and it helped me with a good work ethic that served me well.

I see a lot of my friends kids who never had to work until they finished post-grad and they are so far behind where we were as young adults it's sad. God bless inheritance, I guess...

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 19:29 | 5965127 Trogdor
Trogdor's picture

I'll never forget my 8th birthday.  My Dad said, "Happy Birthday, son .... from here on out, there'll be no allowance as you're old enough to get a paper route if I sign a waiver..."  I had two paper routes (morning and evening papers) most of the time from 8 to 14 years old.  When I was 14 I could pass for 16 and got a job at an ice-making plant hauling around 300-lb block ice.  That place was an OSHA nightmare - lol - it was like the whole building was booby-trapped.  At 16 I was living in my own apartment, bought a semi-reliable clunker (and learned how to work on cars), working full-time and going to high school (so I had 20 more hours to mess around than Bollixed ;).  I could barely stand my peers in school - they'd be doing things like complaining that their "Effin' old man" wouldn't buy them that new Holley carburetor for their Camaro - and I'd be thinking, "He feeds your ass, clothes you, and puts a roof over your head, you ungrateful fuck - shut the hell up!"

Although I wasn't happy with the attitude my Dad had regarding buying things for us kids (he didn't buy anything "extra") I will say that those experiences gave me a work ethic and the confidence that I can make a living in just about any conditions.  I will agree with the author when he says that most people really can't "do" anything of value outside their niche - it's crazy how many people find something like replacing a faucet too intimidating.  I guess in a collapsed economy, they can still shovel poop.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 23:26 | 5965645 exi1ed0ne
exi1ed0ne's picture

Too bad all the retirees are doing those low skill burger flipping jobs now to suppliment their SSI.  Mowing lawns, delivering papers - when was the last time you saw a kid on a damn bike deliver one?

Don't compare yesterday's job market to today.  Things are WAY different (regulation, taxes, employment verifications, etc.)

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 18:52 | 5964992 bobdog54
bobdog54's picture

Right arm, Miffed!  All the BS about low paying jobs, illegal aliens, "can't git no respect", need 5 weeks vacation first year, new father needs paternity leave, can't work after 5pm cuz I need to be with my family (that one is total bullshit), blah, blah, blah and on and on it goes - that is all about how they were raised - crappy, no account parenting.  Both working so they can have a new car or a boat or a golf membership.  Been managing people for 45 years and there was and always will be slackers (cuz we're human - bell curve, right?!) but there has been a very definitive change in the overall work ethic, respect for others, personal responsibility and willingness to gain experiences in the last couple generations.  Enter the lawyers aka political correctness creators so more billing hours issue.  The crappy, no account parents didn't get there by themselves - the lawyers seen to it that boys can't be boys and girls can't be girls, they all have to be "its".  Teachers are wrong, kids are right (and now totally stupid and disrepectful), need black history month but no white shit allowed, got the shittiest president ever cuz it was time to elect a black man (or at least partially) and now we need to elect a woman cuz it's time to elect a woman so lets elect the most inept, non performing, lying, cheating hateful woman we can find.

Our children are sponges, they see all this crap and even the smart ones, over time, go over to the dark side. 

There are jobs out there, perhaps not enough for every person alive but certainly more than the number of people willing to work.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 22:52 | 5965568 aVileRat
aVileRat's picture

Good post. Great to see you posting again because I'm about 99% confident tracking this moment in US Economic history where 57% of Americans were reported as underemployed will be a key dataset for explaining social effects on reserve wages (think auction reserve prices).

The one rebuttal to the Millennial work ethic is to look through the Prism of marginal wages. Back in the 20th c. the average  15-18 year old could pull down a solid 0.5% of mean middle class wages for about 3 hours of work a week. More than enough for a hard working guy of modest smarts to invest in a share of City Refineries or General Motors.

Anyone who has shaped the data sets has noticed a significant uptick in virutal labor since 2008.  If one were to look up the total volume of Steam Virtual goods sales, much of it done by workforces under the NRU age, you get a healthy offset to the mythical 'lazy millennial' problem. Implied wages for virtual services range from about 14/hour to 27/hour USD by taking online good Unicorns and throwing that into a black-sholes option formula to pull the payoff matrix for striking 1 big payoff per hour. When you compare flipping bits for bitcoins to flipping burgers in McDonalds for 4/hour, you can see why Johnny5 spends all day writing aimbots or making editorial video edits. I'd expect if there was someway to pull the meta-data from Twitter, your grey zone wealth would post it a bit higher given the extensive referral and clickbait/sex trade going down on social media venues.

With deflation now killing physical jobs in primary industires the choice between virtual engineering/creation & physical employment is pretty moot. I suspect existing positions for Truck Driving and Bar Waiting has all the appeal a 1820 yeoman had about going to work in Glascow coal mines or tilling the family half acre, until the (code )factory came along. So now we have an urbanization effect, only into virtualization vs cities; and hoping something as innovative as the personal sewing machine or gearbox comes along along with copious amounts of capital to kickstart. Bandwidth and time is running out. 

So we either cram-down wage expecations of lower-middle class by 1. Killing virtual good & black market wages or 2. Improve labor and capital formation rates until we can Organically get back to 7%/a T-10. Since Wage control has always led to great fiscal policy effects, I guess we're stuck with 2.

And I suspect because of 2, we see so many parents who themselves were horribly underwater after 30 years of horrible non-indexed returns both from ESOP & inflation adjusted security returns (non-index) why so many are encouraging their kids to do anything to survive in hopes they will be someday capable of supporting their Generation of Love, LSD Tripping blue-collar asses in retirement around 2025.

That generational burden is well documented in stagflation economic literature.

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 23:58 | 5965692 Miffed Microbio...
Miffed Microbiologist's picture

This was very well said and it bring up the personal responsibility issue I see lacking here in the Baby Boomer generation ( I being in the tail end ) The challenges facing the Millennials are completely misunderstood by those who have never faced these issues. I have watched very industrious 20-30 year olds trying to break into my field ending up in 10x the debt I incurred in the 1980s and a marginally better starting salary.

I just had to laugh when grandma scolded my kids for not having a penny jar. I had to explain to them she just was living in a time when that was effectual and their view of it being a waste of time was true. They put together a jar themselves to make grandma happy. Hopefully no one will have to do so for me someday.

Miffed

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:51 | 5964345 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

"'As you hear from these stories, this is a liberation,' Pelosi said"

Pelosi is a good Catholic girl.  Well, except for all of that stuff that the Biblle and her church tell her.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 - "...if a man does not work, he should not eat."

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:56 | 5964373 agstacks
agstacks's picture

"This is where the left and right split.  Some among us feel those less fortunate then us should just starve to death in a cold dark alley, huddled around their 4 children shivering to death, while being raped by some patriarchal white man who insists it's his right to do so.  The left looks at this differently..."  -Pelosi

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:58 | 5964383 pods
pods's picture

The Arkansas Bible also goes further  "and eatin' ain't cheatin"!"

Or something like that.

pods

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:28 | 5964505 10mm
10mm's picture

Go to a Catholic Church and just try to find a Bible in the Pew.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 20:07 | 5965223 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

Goin' to church without your Bible is like going to the shooting range without your gun.

Tue, 04/07/2015 - 02:24 | 5965878 boattrash
boattrash's picture

Seek, One should carry both.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:03 | 5964406 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

Soopid fukn progressive liberal democrap tax & spend policies...

Tue, 04/07/2015 - 01:30 | 5965823 blowing winter
blowing winter's picture

Start working at home with Google ! Its by-far the best mixed bag of goods I've had. Last Thursday I got a trademark new Bmw since getting a check for $6474 this - 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was coming with house at least $77 per hour. I work through this connection, go.to tech marker for work detail.... www.globe-report.com

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:27 | 5964256 froze25
froze25's picture

Anyone got a good Head hunter for Pharmaceutical manufacturing?  My wife is looking to leave her company for greener pastures.  She is a senior production manager for manufacturing.  Wrote all the SOPs they currently use.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:40 | 5964304 SmackDaddy
SmackDaddy's picture

"good Head hunter" lmao

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:41 | 5964312 froze25
froze25's picture

Yeah, Yeah...

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:28 | 5964261 taketheredpill
taketheredpill's picture

Businesses are desperate to find workers?

 

So I guess I had the 6:1 Applicants / Jobs ratio backwards....silly bunt.

 

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:33 | 5964282 Rainman
Rainman's picture

Businesses are desperate to find workers ... who can pass the drug test .

    fixed .

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:40 | 5964294 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Oh, so now you're getting choosy, on us?

I suppose you want fewer than five felony convictions too?

Deeescriminatory.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:53 | 5964353 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

... who can leave their iPhone alone, not texting during their interview.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:48 | 5964589 Norm Alcybias
Norm Alcybias's picture

so during th interview have an associate text the person you are interviewing and see if they respond.

If you read this text, just get up and walk out.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:33 | 5964533 Steaming_Wookie_Doo
Steaming_Wookie_Doo's picture

Yep. I know union welders can get 50/hr (before OT). I also know one guy who can weld, but won't lay off the sauce consistently to not be hung over or shaking. Gets on a gig, maybe lasts a week. Always claims that "it's a popularity contest over at the union hall.' Yeah, I guess drunk guys playing with flammable/explosive materials *aren't* very popular.

I did hear from another older guy who evangelizes welding. Seriously, guys can make 200K+ especially for some offshore work. That is more than I am making in high tech. But these are people with skills, responsible, not drunk or high. Possibly that bar is too high for the increasing pile of detritous occupying this country.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:10 | 5964673 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

Where do you find a welder for that cheap?  Must be an apprentice.  that is a cheap rate.  You wont get anyone to show for less than 5x10's, and that 10 is at time and a half.  So you are looking at $3300 a week in Wisconsin.  Move that to the east cost and add 25% to that minimum.

here in the middle of nowhere wisconsin two year old rates

http://www.wilaborers.org/userfiles/2013%20cheat%20sheets/2013%20IronWor...

You are off on the not drunk or high.  The wizz quizz catches about a quarter of them.

 

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:47 | 5964782 Uber Vandal
Uber Vandal's picture

The one big problem with welding is:

How many old welders does one know?

If one knows an old welder, how is their physical condition?

Same goes with concrete workers, brick layers, roofers, and other such jobs.

 

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 18:00 | 5964829 Hyjinx
Hyjinx's picture

It'll be funny when these pampered Union goons don't have a monopoly on the labor market anymore and their little racket goes to shit.  I know someone in the steam fitters union and what they make vs. how much they work is absolutely obscene.  Can't wait to see reality intrude on all of it.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:52 | 5964347 TimmyB
TimmyB's picture

   How about increasing wages.  Funny how "supply and demand" never seems to apply to labor markets.  I thought these guy were capitalists.  

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:17 | 5964467 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

It is the difference between the subsidy and the wage that drives worker shortages.  

That and the superhighway into the US of low wage worker bees.  Why are bees dieing again?

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 19:01 | 5965035 bobdog54
bobdog54's picture

It does apply to labor markets, if their wasn't enough burger flippers to go around then wages would go up.  The issue is the thousands, no millions of high school dropouts that fit into this no skill, no brains no nothing required but showing up to flipa burger or mop up the ketchup.  The labor unions is the longer term reason we have less quality jobs in this country, drove the capitalists to foreign shores which personally pisses me off but we, as citizens have allowed the trade tariffs to let all the cheap products come on in to the good ol USA.  I had the choice a couple of years ago to buy a stainless steel sink in the USA, union made for $1575 or an exact duplicate (material, worksmanship, everything) for $575 and shipping was half of the one from Illinois - what the hell is that all about??

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:54 | 5964361 inhibi
inhibi's picture

"...record numbers of working age people out of the labor ‎force at the same time we have businesses desperately trying to find workers"

 

Im sorry, did I just read that wrong? 

 

What businesses are trying to find workers exactly? Not financials, engineering, manufacturing, law, construction, retail...oh I see. So they need more truck drivers. Way to over generalize as usual ZH. 

 

And sorry to point out that you would have to be damn desperate to become a truck driver. Id rather live off the government at that point. Dont get to see your family, have to deal with assh0le cops and shit roads, and on top of it, get yelled at and paid practically nothing. Yeah what a great job that we need SKILLED people for. FUck this article.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:32 | 5964522 Omen IV
Omen IV's picture

what this author ignores is that there are a lot of tech jobs (software)  that are posting positions to a very specific criteria and background  to meet the regulations for bringing in 10-1B work visa

this is in many cases a set up

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 19:38 | 5965155 Trogdor
Trogdor's picture

Yeah - the jobs they're "wanting to fill" pay so poorly and have zero benefits - so a person has to ask, "Do I want to get up and go to some mind-numbing job every day and make $18K per year AND deal with taxes and other government parasitism .... or ..... sit at home in my jammies playing XBox making $14K?"

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:30 | 5964269 Berspankme
Berspankme's picture

You ever see Obama's pajama boy? Think he's gonna be a welder?

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:57 | 5964364 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

You know a common weld is called the butt weld (Google it).  Just sayin...  It might attract him/her/it to the job.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:30 | 5964273 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

"Second, our public school systems often fail to teach kids basic skills. Whatever happened to shop classes?"

Liability exposure is what happened to that.  Next question.  

Nobody's little angel is allowed to have any physical or mental trauma of any kind.  Which is why the other thing the author is bitching about- lack of skilled workers- is all the more entertaining.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:48 | 5964339 Osmium
Osmium's picture

Whatever happened to parents teaching their children basic life skills?  I learned a hell of a lot more from working with my dad than I did in school.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:31 | 5964516 centerline
centerline's picture

Destruction of the family unit took care of that one.  And the last ones standing are more often than not working thier asses off just to make ends meet.  The majority of them hopelessly caught in the rat race propoganda... pushing thier kids through the same social sausage grinder as the rest of the sheeple.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:54 | 5964623 Occams_Chainsaw
Occams_Chainsaw's picture

My father owned a cabinet shop.  I worked off and on out there since I was 12.  I also picked up a paper route at age 12 and at 15 started to work part time in a grocery store.  My dad also set up work for me with other contractors.  Back in the late 70's and early 80's I think about half the contractors had pimped their kids out to other various jobs during the summer.  There is no way to get away with that today given labor laws and liability.  The real positive was not just work and work ethic but you had to learn how to work with other people (and some of them were total asses).  These days kids might start working part time bagging groceries by their 2nd year of college.  Not a good trend in the least.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:12 | 5964680 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

Sorry the average work week for those struggling to be middle class including communtes is well over 60 hours a week.  Mine is pushing 70....  Most men are struggling to keep a roof overhead and food on the table, no time to build junior a tree house, as nice as it would be.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:31 | 5964274 taketheredpill
taketheredpill's picture

Businesses are desperate to find workers?

 

So it's not "Discouraged Workers" but "Discouraged Businesses".  Right.

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:59 | 5964382 Sophist Economicus
Sophist Economicus's picture

Have advertised for 6 months for an entry level job repairing equipment in the field.    Starting hourly >$20/hour.   We would train, just needs mechanical aptitude.

3 false starts later, still no employee.     Lots of overtime, paid health care, etc...

They start and within 6 weeks come the excuses for missing a day -- need to bring kid to doctor, wife need something, their turn to pick up at daycare, school closed, blah blah blah....

Wasn't this way all that long ago....

ANd as an FYI, the guys that have been with us 10+ years make over $70K/year...

My opinion is that those that are employable have jobs, those that aren't won't work till they absolutely have to.      Good-enough is good-enough for some folks and that's all there is to it

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:19 | 5964473 Clearly_Irrational
Clearly_Irrational's picture

Where the hell are you located, Death Valley?  Put up an ad like that in any major metro area and you'll have a stack of resumes so big you'll need a fork truck to move them.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:52 | 5964610 ncdirtdigger
ncdirtdigger's picture

I get all kinds of responses to my ads. They ALL want the check, but not the work that earns it.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:30 | 5964737 Sophist Economicus
Sophist Economicus's picture

Exactly!    All sorts of reponses.   Lots of interviews.    Hire one that looks promising.    They just fizzle.    It takes us about 7 to 8 tries to get one that makes it through the first 6 months.    Usually the ones that make it are young and out of tech school.    

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 19:18 | 5965085 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

It has never been easy to find good employees.  It's never gonna be easy to find good employees.  Quit yer bitchin.  But this on a large scale is what it's all about, everyone from Google to McDonalds wants to just order up good employees by the truckload, and they want a wholesale discount on them.  Just doesn't work that way.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:53 | 5964615 actionjacksonbrownie
actionjacksonbrownie's picture

He's likely in northern Alberta, where $20/hr. won't even pay for lodging.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:21 | 5964481 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Yeah I have been trying to find entry level rocket scientists for 20$/hr as well.

Well, I guess I could raise the wage, but 100 years ago, my pappy worked 300 hrs/day walking uphill through 5 ft of snow each way....  They don't make workers like they used to...

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:26 | 5964497 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

Pal, if you want a slave, hire an illegal you can work like a dog from sunup to sundown 365 days a year, and rat on to La Migra when he starts insisting on getting the pay you've stiffed him on for months.

You want a loyal employee, sometimes you have to accept that, yes, people work to live, not the other way around---and if they're any good at what they do there's only so much of your shit they need to take. Make allowances for that and plan accordingly.

If you offered them a set amount of time off as part of the job offer, don't hold it against them when they actually have to take it.

 

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:57 | 5964628 ncdirtdigger
ncdirtdigger's picture

Because when you call a business to come repair something at your home, what you really want is to hear the excuses why the repairman can't come today. You try staying in business when your employees don't show up for work. No small wonder you have all day to post on ZH, you're waiting.......and waiting.........and waiting for the repairman to rebook your appointment for a day when he can show up.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:35 | 5964281 ShorTed
ShorTed's picture

This the Steve Moore from WSJ editorial board that been encouraging illegal immigratants to come take the low-paying entry-level jobs?

Fucking hypocrite.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:39 | 5964299 cossack55
cossack55's picture

WSJ = Faux News in print

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:00 | 5964392 Sophist Economicus
Sophist Economicus's picture

Agreed!   CNN and BusinessWeek much better....

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:02 | 5964399 cossack55
cossack55's picture

Look at these dumbfuck downvoters.  I guess they don't know Rupert owns the WSJ along with Faux News. Fuckin' morons.  Must be gubmint employees taking a break from porn downloads.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:34 | 5964284 mastersnark
mastersnark's picture

And don't forget:

Sixth, immigration, legal or not, is the bane of a fully employed native population.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:39 | 5964300 CompassionateCo...
CompassionateConservative's picture

Don't forget... you are a NAZI.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:34 | 5964285 pods
pods's picture

Most people have probably seen their expenses go up, and their new salary drop like a stone.  They probably did the math and found that sitting at home collecting cheese is better than slaving away at $10 an hour somewhere.

pods

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:53 | 5964357 actionjacksonbrownie
actionjacksonbrownie's picture

Why go to work and be poor, when you can sit at home and be poor?

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:05 | 5964411 FireBrander
FireBrander's picture

"Why go to work and be poor, when you can sit at home and be poor?"

Fucken A Right-on Brother!

PS> To the MORON that wrote this article....WELFARE "for the people" is really CORPORATE WELFARE...without the Welfare State pumping money into the pockets of the people, Corporate America would go into the shitter real fast.

THAT IS WHY THE WELFARE STATE GROWS NO MATTER WHICH PARTY IS IN CHARGE..CUT WELFARE SPENDING = DESTROY CORPORATE PROFIT MARGINS.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:34 | 5964286 rlouis
rlouis's picture

#6 from what I see, a lot of people recognize the complete corruption of government and are on strike.  There also appears to be a depth of cynicism about the MSM propaganda that should really have the NSA supervisors shaking.

I don't know what would happen if trolls had to get real jobs and produce something of value.  Maybe become Obamy solar installers or something.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:38 | 5964296 SillySalesmanQu...
SillySalesmanQuestion's picture

My two oldest daughters just started working for a chain of convenience stores here in Florida that are owned by Kroger. This was their first job and were hired as part-time making &8.50/hr. Needless to say, only 2 weeks into it, their bosses recognized that they worked hard, showed up early and didn't call in sick. They are both working six, seven days a week, 45-50 hours and are begging for a day off... ;)
There are not a shortage of jobs for young people, only a shortage of reliable workers.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:45 | 5964326 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Congrats on raising some good kids, but there's a trap here.  The longer you work in any service job, the harder it is to get a serious upgrade.  I wish I had a sensable answer, but from what I know of Florida, it is a brutal place to find anything well paid.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:08 | 5964423 cigarEngineer
cigarEngineer's picture

Even aerospace engineers at NASA barely break 100k. Florida is a very poor place to make money. Besides, it would be hard to work 100-hour weeks when world-class beaches are only 15 minutes away.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:33 | 5964525 Me.Grimlock
Me.Grimlock's picture

One could work *at* the beach, with the right profession.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:37 | 5964542 centerline
centerline's picture

Most useful professional careers have sadly been commoditized. 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:53 | 5964614 August
August's picture

But the West Coast has the sunshine

And the girls all get so tan!

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 18:28 | 5964905 BidnessMan
BidnessMan's picture

Just no fresh water 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:55 | 5964625 skipjack
skipjack's picture

You don't need a lot of money to survive in FL. My property taxes on a 36 acre horse farm with a decent but not large house and an 18 stall barn zoned agricultural in the Ocala area are just $1900 per year. In NY or NJ they'd be close to the upper 5 figures. I figure with a paid off small place costing 80k (3 bedroom 1.5 bath 1 story and an acre) you could live very decently for under 15k. With a larger place, rent it to snowbirds for 2-3k a month for 4-6 months and you have all the income you need.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:38 | 5964297 CompassionateCo...
CompassionateConservative's picture

Americans are extremely lazy.  I worked as an investment banker for 12 years and recently retired at the age of 43 and I saw nothing but absolute laziness when dealing with the average blue collar worker whether they were at my dry cleaner, the local upscale pub, or serving my morning lattes.  They made me sick.  This is why we need millions more immigrants in this country.  They work hard and will work for a wage that will enable us to make even greater profit and look good on Wall Street.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:42 | 5964318 pods
pods's picture

Lost me at "investment banker"

Satire is an art.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:44 | 5964323 gmak
gmak's picture

Clearly there are at least 3 individuals who are unable to parse sarcasm in the printed word.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:23 | 5964488 yogibear
yogibear's picture

"investment banker"

Says it all. A leech of the nth degree.  What's wrong with the US and pushed to outsource US jobs. Like Silverlake partners, etc.

Before there were so many investment banksters the US had a productive economy rather than one based on financialization.

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:11 | 5964674 Condition 1SQ
Condition 1SQ's picture

"Retiring" at 43 sounds awfully lazy to me ..

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 18:26 | 5964902 BidnessMan
BidnessMan's picture

LOL - what we need is millions more proles who will launder shirts for a nickel each.  Please Sir, May I have another?   Forgot the sarc tag....

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:39 | 5964301 SelfGov
SelfGov's picture

What a crock of shit.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:42 | 5964317 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

Question: If the children of the rich and powerful can be shielded from the horrors of work (Whew! I nearly collapsed just typing that word!) via collecting vast amounts of money through inheritance, then why should I or any other plebe concern themselves with working (Eww! The action form of that damn word. Now I just feel dirty!)?

I don't much care for Warren Buffett and his ways, but at least he has gone on record as saying he won't be passing along his wealth to his offspring. He's donating around 90% of it to charity. Then again, he IS a Democrat, not a Republican, so that's no huge shocker.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:45 | 5964330 gmak
gmak's picture

Don't kid yourself. His kids will be inheriting enough to cruise comfortably during their lives. The rest is just a tax dodge.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:48 | 5964335 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

Eh. Sure. But, the fact is, he could have figured a way to give it all to them and his grandkids and their grandkids. He didn't, though. That's all I meant.

Note: Don't dismiss my first paragraph just to focus on the second.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:09 | 5964426 HopefulCynical
HopefulCynical's picture

His kids - along with other select members of the parasitic, psychopathic oligarchy - will CONTROL his wealth, via "charitable" [sic] foundations. But, not OWNING it, they'll pay no TAXES on it.

Control > ownership. Oligarchy 101.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:50 | 5964602 MATA HAIRY
MATA HAIRY's picture

OR MAYBE BUFFETT IS JUST LYING ABOUT NOT LEAVING HIS KIDS ALL HIS MONEY

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:50 | 5964343 Binko
Binko's picture

This is a valid question. Our current business climate that funnels massive amounts of wealth to the top 1% through a variety of mechanisms will eventually create a small, very wealthy, very powerful, leisured class who own virtually everything.

Sounds like France before the revolution. Our new aristocracy of the super-wealthy needs to be cut down in size to the same degree that the corrupt old French aristocracy did.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:53 | 5964355 Monetas
Monetas's picture

Let them eat .... their EBT cards !

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:59 | 5964389 Tsar Pointless
Tsar Pointless's picture

Unfortunately, we are nothing like the French. We'll sit back and continue to take it, and to focus our hate on others - such as gays, and Muslims, and the Kardashians. Only one of those three truly deserve it. (Hint: It's the last one listed.)

We have too much English and German blood running through us to ever fight back against or even question our own aristocrats and authoritarians.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:22 | 5964486 Clearly_Irrational
Clearly_Irrational's picture

Even the French didn't revolt until they were starving, we're not there yet.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:05 | 5964414 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

If you think about it, the fact that only a relatively few people have access to free money (QE & ZIRP) means that we are in fact in the middle of a "let the majority eat cake" monetary experiment.

This time on a global scale with 7+ billion participants.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 18:23 | 5964890 BidnessMan
BidnessMan's picture

Well that last 10% only leaves about $2 billion for his Chilluns.  So I am not feeling very sorry for them.  Typical Democrat - "Do as I say, not as I do".  

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:46 | 5964332 Binko
Binko's picture

Businesses are desperately trying to find workers who eagerly work a difficult and challenging job for a couple of bucks over minimum wage. They won't train these workers on the job, nor will they provide minimal benefits nor any form of job security. They expect the workers they are looking for to already know every aspect of the job and to be willing to buy into all company mandated feel-good propaganda.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, tons of hard-working, normal people can't find any kind of a job that treats them like a human being and pays them enough to sustain what used to be known as a basic lower middle-class life.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:02 | 5964402 HopefulCynical
HopefulCynical's picture

Truth, truth and truth. +1

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:48 | 5964587 skipjack
skipjack's picture

preach it, brotha !!

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 19:27 | 5965119 actionjacksonbrownie
actionjacksonbrownie's picture

Very well said! I wish I could fit it on a bumper sticker.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:46 | 5964333 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Government does not discourage work so much as it encourages "government work".   Simply put, capital and talent go where they are respected, period.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:14 | 5964346 Monetas
Monetas's picture

Don't forget .... the "Ferguson" .... in the living room !  Hands up .... don't loot (my cigars) !

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:25 | 5964495 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

Let's always forget whatever the hell that was that you just said.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:54 | 5964360 nakki
nakki's picture

Yes all those huge corporation expanding their businesses, spending more on R&D, NOT buying back stock and hiring not firing their staff or replacing them with H-1B workers for less pay must be the reason the economy is exploding. 

Again, any asshole who uses government projected numbers is a shill and a liar or just plain stupid. 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:55 | 5964370 GoldRulesPaperDrools
GoldRulesPaperDrools's picture

Right freaking on ... +100!

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:55 | 5964366 GoldRulesPaperDrools
GoldRulesPaperDrools's picture

There is a lot ot be said for people spending money on college degrees that turn out not to be useful rather than focusing on developing a marketable skill.

 

That said, after 25+ years in the engineering/software development world I can tell you that a lot of the problem has to do with companies wanting to hire people WITH skills at LESS money rather than raising salaries to attract and retain the skills and getting people to migrate into those fields where there's a need.  When the IT world is full of H1B/L1 visa holders who come here and undercut the native workforce there's no surprise that the number of college students interested in those fields drop off ... then it becomes a self-perpetuating situation.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:52 | 5964609 DirtyHowi
DirtyHowi's picture

yanno, i'd really like a developer to show up who still has 2 brain cells to rub together in close enough proximity to do so...

 

the last few buffoons who came through the door couldnt successfully answer CIS 101 questions.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:56 | 5964371 yellowsub
yellowsub's picture

Shop classes are not meant to teach a trade just to make BS and just another expanded welfare to teachers.  

The yellow bus ships the "retards" to learns a trade at a vocational school...  Perhaps that what they need more of as education today even back 20 years ago was already easy.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:11 | 5964438 Monetas
Monetas's picture

yellowsub .... yellow bus .... hey, pal .... you're dislexic .... you can get assistance for that !

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:57 | 5964377 chrsn
chrsn's picture

There's never been a better time to be a lazy shit

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:58 | 5964378 corporatewhore
corporatewhore's picture

eliminate the fucking tax penalties for those seniors  still working so they can collect their social security without penalty.  

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:58 | 5964380 Elliott Eldrich
Elliott Eldrich's picture

I drive by literally hundreds of homeless and obviously destitute people every single day. Don't tell me about some so-called "worker shortage." These scum are just crying because they can't find triple Ph.D candidates willing to work double shifts for minimum wage.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:15 | 5964450 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

That would explain why H1B is a sacrament now.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:59 | 5964385 Monetas
Monetas's picture

Here's the key .... to declaring yourself homeless .... by law, you must report changes in your status to Social Security within 90 days .... tell them you have no refrigerator nor stove .... no place to cook .... that'll bump you to $975 approx. .... you have no idea how many white guys .... get way under $1000 per month .... from Social Color Blind Suck .... my nuts !

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 15:59 | 5964390 Aleedsfella
Aleedsfella's picture

Oh come on! the governments of the west are trying as hard as possible to smash wages down. Yes if a decent level of income is being paid and the jobs are actually available then great! But that is not the case, jobs are sparse and the pay is falling yes there is minimum wage but more and more jobs are falling to minimum wage. Retarded articles like this just help TPTB to butt fuck us all. I cannot believe I read this shit on Zero Hedge.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:00 | 5964391 PresidentCamacho
PresidentCamacho's picture

They don't want people to have jobs, this is all by design. Breaking the will of a nation and stealing the people's independence requires that they be idiots with no sense of independence.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:01 | 5964396 Monetas
Monetas's picture

You don't have PTSD .... that's treatable .... you are brain damaged .... got it ?

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:05 | 5964413 cigarEngineer
cigarEngineer's picture

I don't know what fantasyland this author lives in. There is no shortage of workers in private equity and venture capital. This field is getting more and more crowded and you have to suck serious jew diick to get into it. What kind of loser would aspire to be a plumber or a nurse in this country of ours?

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:10 | 5964430 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

so, even more useless paper-pushers that skim real wealth from the productive people are coming on line?

Well, that doesn't sound sustainable.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:09 | 5964429 PoasterToaster
PoasterToaster's picture

Because throwing people out into the streets will magically create the jobs that the oligarchs and the rich class have destroyed.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:11 | 5964437 LawsofPhysics
LawsofPhysics's picture

Get long black markets, sharecropping, and guillotine manufacturing.  Beat the rush.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:13 | 5964441 Niall Of The Ni...
Niall Of The Nine Hostages's picture

Bull. If it were just that some people were work-shy, wages would be much higher than they are. The labour demand curve is downward sloped.

As it is, nobody outside the one percent has gotten a pay rise in a generation.

There's no "worker shortage." Quite the opposite. Our masters simply refuse to reward an honest day's work with an honest day's pay, if the work can possibly be outsourced.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:13 | 5964443 anonymice
anonymice's picture

Six, preferring writing articles for Zerohedge when they could buy a Mack for the low, low price of $200,000 and begin an exciting career as trucker!

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:15 | 5964449 SnatchnGrab
SnatchnGrab's picture

He makes some good points as do some of the commentators. Sadly government is growing instead of shrinking. Well those salaries have to be paid somehow. 

I respectfully recommend people learn a trade / skill outside their comfort zone: Growing plants, cooking without electricity, gunsmithing, animal husbandry, for example. 

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:17 | 5964465 Vinz Klortho
Vinz Klortho's picture

This guy had me for a minute.

I thought he was going to recommend throwing all the bankers, corporations, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, defense contractors, agri-business corporations, multinational oil companies, government lobbyists, senators and representatives off of the gov't welfare tit.

Whew!

Vinz Klortho

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:18 | 5964470 adr
adr's picture

Really, $50k+ manufacturing jobs? Maybe if you find a UAW or dock-working job. Good luck unless your father/uncle/cousin is the foreman.

Around me the best you get at a manufacturing plant is $11.25 an hour and most pay less than $10. Nobody is going to take a manufacturing job when Walmart or McDonald's pays the same as a manufacturing job. Truck drivers earn about $50k. You are never home and you'll still be dirt poor.

THE PROBLEM IS YOU NEED TWO PEOPLE MAKING $60K TO MAKE IT WORK IN OUR ECONOMY!!!!!!!!!!!

Plumbers, electricians, HVAC guys are all making shit wages now. The problem is that because of government regulations and the cost of being bonded and insured almost nobody can be an independent contractor anymore. The US is being taken over by big box contracting services that charge you an arm and a leg and the poor guys doing the work barely get anything. My neighbor worked for one of the big services and only made $32k with a territory that covered 1000 sq miles. Then if you get injured on the job they just fire you.

I offered him $150 cash to fix my AC unit and he turned me down because he said even though that is $100 more than he would make if I called his company, he couldn't risk his job by doing work on the side.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 18:39 | 5964943 AurorusBorealus
AurorusBorealus's picture

The problem is not the wages; it is the cost of living in the U.S.  A factory-worker or construction worker here, in Argentina, makes about $350 pesos a day- that comes out to about $28 or about $3.75 per hour.  For most of these men, their wives do not work, and their wages are sufficient to support the family.  Why?  Because everything is cheaper, from food, to housing, to transportation.  Most of these guys have cars, but not huge, brand new 4-door SUVs: reasonable, fuel-efficient, small, used cars, that run on natural gas, which is costs about 50% per mile of what gasoline costs.  And, in most cases, they live in their own homes.. not suburban McMansions, but homes that are reasonably sized. 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:19 | 5964474 ucde
ucde's picture

Fuck the schizophrenic elitism that haunts this blog like a curse. 

Give us the basic income needed to live and stop creating meaningless jobs. 

Work needs to be de-enshrined in American culture, its a false God. It has ruined many people's lives and families and its a boon on our culture. We are workaholics. There is no pride in that.

Meanwhile we have an economic halcyon period that was the product of the New Deal and WWII's command economy, plus bogus money printing via trade deficits. But everyone thinks it was raw, red-toothed capitalism that created us. 

We have a tech sector which was created almost entirely, in every fundamental respect, out of government and public tax-payer funded research monies from the 50s to the 80s. Then a private company slaps a label on the device, or someone monetizes the internet, and what is actually a product of socialist/government spending becomes a "free market miracle". 

If you want to experiment with austerity, just look at what wonders it has created in Europe. And research it, because the story of Austerity is really an increasingly sad one. It is one of the things that destroyed Greece, and has ruined Ireland and Portugal's coming decade. 

This is *exactly* the reactionary thinking that is why the US is in trouble. We don't recognize the social nature of wealth, the social nature of what we have. We overemphasize the 'entrepreneurially-inclined individual' out of what I can only at this point call religious fervor. How is that working out for us, America?

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:41 | 5964566 Bumbu Sauce
Bumbu Sauce's picture

Amen ucde!

Everyone needs to sit on their ass and let uncle sugar provide all their wants AND needs!

Utopia Ho!

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:43 | 5964573 ncdirtdigger
ncdirtdigger's picture

There has been no 'austerity' in any of the places you mentioned. Try researching the facts and stop pulling up what you read at the Dailykook

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 18:21 | 5964885 Hyjinx
Hyjinx's picture

How's it going Karl?

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 19:57 | 5965197 MATA HAIRY
MATA HAIRY's picture

amen, preach it!

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:25 | 5964494 Monty Burns
Monty Burns's picture

Cloward-Piven Strategy.

Bring down the system by putting everyone on welfare. Ostensibly to guarantee everyone a living wage, in reality it was geared towards creating a nation of dumbed-down welfare-dependent helots easily controlled by the elite.

Seems to be working.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:38 | 5964541 skipjack
skipjack's picture

The lesson, to play off of the famous Waylon Jennings song: Momma don’t let your babies grow up to be philosophy majors

 

Asshole - a philosophy major, with some good classes in logic, makes an excellent IT professional. Why ? Because they are trained to think logically and have critical thinking skills.

 

Oh wait, that's a 70s thing, because companies won't train workers any more, in anything. You now need 2 degrees, minimum 3 years experience in 7 languages, compilers, etc etc right out of school,  and if you are American, your application will be rejected.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:50 | 5964601 TulsaTime
TulsaTime's picture

Or you should be ready to work for 14 dollars an hour on contract thru Manpower.

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:37 | 5964544 ncdirtdigger
ncdirtdigger's picture

A decent, motivated drywall finisher can complete 300 boards a week. In my area it pays $ 5 per board. For those of you who attended public schools, that works out to $75K per year. Most of my subs can't speak English, but if their check is off by $1, they will let you know it.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:37 | 5964546 nakki
nakki's picture

Yes another 250,000 truck drivers in the next 7 years. WTF, are these truckers going to be working for Halliburton in Iraq driving trucks full of nothing 600 miles a day. What's all this crap that's going to need hauling? I thought Uncle Warrens RR's where going to be booming, and Amazon would be droning our goods to us.

 

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 16:38 | 5964550 Sanity Bear
Sanity Bear's picture

Subsidies are kept in place to prevent the realization of a collapse of consumer spending power. The vast majority of those receiving subsidies couldn't get anything close to that amount of compensation in a market.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:08 | 5964667 FreeNewEnergy
FreeNewEnergy's picture

I don't care if you are making $35K a year or $235K a year. If you're working for somebody else, you're still a muppet.

My new motto is going to be this (hopefully in less than three weeks when I close on the deal):

"Give me five acres with a stream and I'll own my world."

I long to be self-reliant and out of this shit-race to nothingness.

The more I see and hear of government, big business and economics, the more I want to chuck it all, lie in the grass and watch my plants grow.

Fuck this shit. Fuck it. Fuck it. Fuck it all.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 19:01 | 5965036 rsnoble
rsnoble's picture

I really like the shit race to nowhere comment.  I also get really tired hearing about all this 'trades bullshit' being the solution.  I worked in trades for a couple decades.  There's more guys laid off now than there was after the bust in 2009.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 19:46 | 5965172 actionjacksonbrownie
actionjacksonbrownie's picture

Some people reach a point in their life where they have simply had enough of running in the herd. Sounds like you have reached that point. I reached it at age 50. I could have kept working, but I chose freedom instead. It pays a lot less, but man there is nothing like it.

 

Your seeming bitterness will soon transform into utter peace and contentment - enjoy!

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:09 | 5964670 studfinder
studfinder's picture

Every morning on the way into the grind its Brooks and Dunn...  "Hard Working Man".. cranked on the Alpine...  Pumping out delicious Subway footlongs ...sandwich artist...yeah the pay sucks, but bonus is the free sandwiches and working with horny college girls.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:22 | 5964706 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Nobody wants to work. Why even bring it up.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:26 | 5964721 More Ammo
More Ammo's picture

Zero is flying all that new  <sarc> labor </sarc> in so they don't have to walk so far.

http://www.bb4sp.com/your-tax-dollars-at-work-%E2%9E%A0-obama-administra...

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 17:41 | 5964762 Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch's picture

If there is a jobs shortage, why aren't wages going up for these jobs?

There is a disconnect in logic here.

Truckers should be making $75k a year instead of $40k if truckers are needed.

You think you're going to get labor without paying for it, you fucking bastards.

Tell SWIFT trucking to go fuck themselves.

Pay the money and they will take the job.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 18:08 | 5964845 chicmagnet
chicmagnet's picture

Chuck is right, after the recent DOT health card regulations it was my estimate that 5% of drivers ould be disqualified and knocked out of the laborforce. This probalbly holds true, but what I see happening is that companies have lowered the bar when it comes to the people that they hire in order to hold on to there bonuses. An truck driver should be earnig $25 an hour or $300 a day. Corperate America created this and they will pay for it in the end.

Mon, 04/06/2015 - 18:28 | 5964897 Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch's picture

Government contracts created companies like SWIFT.

Blame the government for not forcing contractors to pay a living wage to their employees.

Government fucks itself on both ends.

I'm sure both parties get a kickback.

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