I can't remember whose comment it was from above about his daughter making 61K just two years out of college and he getting laid off after 30 years making just 40K! I am glad to hear your daughter is making it and sorry to hear about the loss of your job.
I believe a you do that we are seeing many traditional avenues of employment, such as in your case, dying off as an opportunity for future generations. Apparently many job sectors have been dying off here in America such as many of the blue collar (manufacturing jobs) that existed in from the early 1900's through the 70's. I understand that much of this is on account of the development throughout the rest of the world and the relationships that many of our corporations have with international businesses. So it is expected that many of our job sectors would change with the movement of the dynamic market-place. Many of us who were raised in the 80's and 90's were told by the generation in power at the time that a college education was a prudent path to follow to succeed in this changing world. They told us that it would make us more qualified in order to compete in that marketplace. And for many of us this is true. But for others, not a significant minority I believe, we are faced with the fact that our education did not ensure us the same security in the marketplace that was promised and in many cases was delivered. Many of us have a large amount of debt because throughout the 80's and 90's the government for the most part did not extend the benefits to the new generation of college students at the same rate of growth which occurred within college enrollees. Yes we were given and are given relatively low interest rates and long term pay backs to lessen the burdens of these loans. However many of the jobs that are available in the marketplace do not allow us to repay these loans before the long-term approach. As the market shifts and the cost of living goes up it places many of us near an edge of financial ruin if we are to lose a job or if we lose our health. I simply find this a bad position for our nations and the people in it. I think it places stress which could otherwise be relieved in young workers as they get older. The facts in the marketplace show us that during the same period the US sustained robust growth over the long term. The economic equality gap has grown over the last decade or so. Many of us who are getting further and further behind whether young or old are not seeing the benefits of much of this growth but we are are feeling the burden of the marketplace. Again I simply see this as a bad position for our government to take for its own safety and security and to ensure such for the future. I think it makes the marketplace less competitive both in reality and psychologically. How can we have an effective marketplace if only the very few elite are aloud to contribute to the direction of our economy and the influence of decision maker's about our future as the people of the US? Trickle-down is not really trickling down! How can it be in our best in interest to have a nation that places it's judgement and trust in the hands of a very few?

Posted at July 4, 2008 1:59 PM in response to A Warning For Young Workers: The Up-Escalator May Be Broken

Even if he is just a headline reader, if he is to say that he was not informed of this issue but it is clear that some of his closest aides new of such a deal, then why did they not tell him? And then if they did not tell him, what actions did he take upon finding out about this?

His statement seems to imply that he was not aware of the situation but quite simply where this action came from and if it is indeed true(which we now know it is) then how does it effect the overarching strategy in Iraq which Bush ins in approval of! I would have to believe that if he did not know and his aides did that then he would ask his aides to update him on the situation. If then they told him of the situation then what were his actions? Does he disagree with the position that this was harmful to the safety and security of Iraq and the United States in general? If so what was his reasoning!

Posted at July 2, 2008 7:33 PM in response to Waxman Says White House Knew About Hunt Oil Deal In Iraq

Great discussion and thanks for the insight into many of the scary numbers which young workers are facing in the marketplace.

Because I am young I have very little perspective on the generation which preceded my generation. But one thing seems clear, in the past there was a substantial industry of blue collar jobs for those that did not have technical degrees or college degrees. Many of those jobs had retirement plans and healthcare plans protected by union representation. We do not seem to have as many of those jobs for my generation but maybe our country has more people therefor less jobs. Also throughout my life it seems that there has been a concerted effort by the business community and the goverment to get rid of unions and union jobs, not to mention the piss-poor management of our Auto industry by the leading American companies. Another facet to this story is the way that corporate America uses and endless supply of young college educated workers to work as contract employees. Two of the companies my sister worked for in the late 90's and early 00's employed her over a 9 month period as a prospective hire/contract employee. For her work she was given no healthcare benefits nor retirement benefits until such time as her contratc expired. Obviously I can not speak for her or the company but the result in both cases was that she was let go at the end of her term and had to look to find another job. In both cases she was left the impression that both companies frequently used this tactic to hire high-ckilled entry level workers without having to give them benefits. I would guess that the ttransition for such a job was not as critical in cost analysis as saving money not paying benefits! When I graduated from grad school, I was given the opportunity to work for a leading Goverment Contractor on the same type of temporary basis. Six months later I was given the opportunity to get healthcare and a 401K. I think this is a normal business practice throughout corporate America and somthing that I believe is rather unethical on a part of corporate America. Throughout my grade school education I was told to succeed and that if you succeed opportunities will come your way. They told us that college was the way to guarentee your future but here I am and here my sister is following the steps and leadership from previous generations then getting treated like indentured servants having to pay the piper first.

Another complaint I have and my girlfriend has about corporate America that may not be unique to my generation but standard operating procedure for corporate America is business asking you to give up much of your free-time in order to succeed. I am of the school of "working to live" not "live to work". I have been educated, I have a college degree and a Master's. I understand that if a business is going to succeed that it must have worker's who go above and beyond but nonetheless I feel like much of corporate America resembles a Autocracy with its own rules meant to control the lives of the employees of the companies. I feel like I have to be proven innocent by the background checks, the drug tests and the trial employment period demanded by companies such as the one I work for. I understand that many coroporations in America do not resemble my words but I fear that this is an exception not a rule. I am angry at the previous generation, I am angry at the lack of quality fo life which corporate America only rates in relation to their bottom lines. I feel that their are many who make up my generation who have massive doubts about globalization, corporate America, the role of our goverment and its ties to coroporate America and the violations of our personal rights by this current administration and those of other administrations. It would seem that control and a lack of liability is all that many care for, I do not seek control I seek life and integrity in leading my life. There I go rambling again, Sorry! I am just extremely cynical about the lifestyle which I was told to expect as a child and the world which I see as an adult. The two are mutually exclusive but not quite exact opposites!

Posted at July 2, 2008 1:25 PM in response to A Warning For Young Workers: The Up-Escalator May Be Broken

Great post Allsburg,

and I do not think this makes you some kind of apologist for Obama, and I think AdAbsurdium points out some rational reasoning for not "throwing the baby out with the bathwater!"

Oh Billy no ya don't! No ya don't!

I agree with the rest of you that we have to give all of Congress and our current president hell for the FISA issue! I just don't see this as Obama's to win coming from either side! I think he will end up not supporting it or supporting amendments to the bill, staling for time and minimizing the effect of this one single issue. I agree this is an important issue but I also agree that healthcare is an important issue, I also think the Supreme Court's decision on the 2nd amendment is an important issue (and one only knows to well what will happen if McCain gets elected with the Supreme Court already teetering towards a conservative majority for decades to come), I also this war is an important issue(from a Security standpoint and an economical standpoint, we still are not taking care of our returning veterans the way we promised them we would), etc. So at the end of the Day I can call my representatives and give them hell and I will also sure as hell make sure that this momentum in the Congressional races keeps pushing forward and do what I can to try and change things from the bottom up. I know that there are many on this website who feel the same way, I know that there are many in my neighborhood who are also ready to change things. Maybe I am naive, maybe it's youth, maybe it is the fact that our country seems so off course and its just a reaction to the shock of it all. Whatever the case may be these last 7 years have been an atrocity and this guy (GWB) cam from my state. I did not support him when he was Governor, and I did not support him when he ran for President but many in the state of Texas did support him. They supported the policies and politics of Texas to certain degree and they were wrong then and they are still wrong. He has not fulfilled anything he stated he was going to accomplish, not even "mission accomplished". I am sorry as Texan that we allowed him to gain any notoriety in our nations history. Texas has a good chance to really see a shift in the balance of power. The reality that America and we as Americans are living everyday is tough and the result of many of the policies Bush put in place as well as some bad ones left over from previous governments. I think America is being forced to see it for what it is and that is why I think we are merely at the beginning of something, maybe. But because what we have faced over the last decade or so being so close there is also a lot of trepidation about how to move forward. My hope is that it is organized and builds with time and for now that we can all take that step forward.

Posted at July 1, 2008 7:09 PM in response to Why did I support Obama?? Oh yeah, I remember...

Hey Michelle, would you like to provide some examples of the corrupt people who work for the Obama campaign? And to add to our discourse, does McCain have any corrupt people working for his campaign, examples?

The point is that no one at the top of this political ladder has completely free from some sort of 2-degrees of seperation (4 less than the Kevin Bacon theory) impropriety but I fail to see how he directly contributed to benefiting norotiously corrupt individuals who seem to have their hands in the federal and state systems!

Look I am not a religous person and although I was raised one and have since moved away from organized religion I still understand the many noble and selfless efforts of the many social volunteers here and around the world. Obviously many of these groups take advantage of these types of systems, and I like you believe that this has to have people keeping a close on eye on rule-breaking or rule-bending, but their is an inherent distaste from many people in this country for our social institutions. And in many cases where our social institutions fail church, temple and mosques respond within the community. In many cases this is purely a pro bono effort where their may be re-imbursement on our goverments part but not always. So in essence many who make up the religous community in our areas help strenghten and alleviate many of the social issues facing our communities around the country! Obama has consitently said that he is interested in making our Goverment more transparent, he emphasized the need for over-sight in these programs so pardon me if I am not just up in arms about this. Most of America is religous in one way or the other, I aplaud a politician who advocates social responsability, oversight and understanding that the goverment is not always the answer!

Posted at July 1, 2008 1:27 PM in response to Obama Speech: We Can Expand Faith-Based Charities And Separate Church From State

Hey shestheone, maybe it it time to start lookingand discussing the issues rather than the personalities of each candidate. If you have a problem with his take discuss it from a issue standpoint rather than a personality standpoint. Basically Obama believes that the way that Bush has run his government was poor, mismanaged, cynical, political but not all that bad from the perspective of identifiying the problems. In essence Bush is a failure because he lacked the leadership and management necessary to stand up to private interest and many in his own administration, namely Dick Cheny and David Addington. Obama does not push around so easily as you have seen throughout this election cycle! He has pissed off the left, he has pissed off the right, and he has unsettled the middle a times as well. But all the while we on the opposite side of those voting Republicans made up about 36 million voter's in the primary contest. The American people by and large what to see change and when they look at John McCain and the Republican brand it looks like more of the same. Look I understand you might have a problem with Obama's position but to move the conversation forward to hopefully find comprimise we have to discuss the issues not the person. Of course this falls in line with the Christian saying, "judge the sin not the sinner" but unfortunately we have been living in the twilight zone of GWB who says, "do as I say not as I do" which is just another way of saying that his actions are hypocritical to his words. That is the problem and this is the failure of leadership which many on the right thought Bush and the Repub Congress could deliver! Obviously they didn't and yet their message through this election cycle and the elction cycle of 2006 has been more of the same. I am an Americna like you and I have no doubt that this country would be hard pressed if we had to endure even 4 more years of Republican obstruction in Congress through the executive(have you seen the filibuster record, the Republican minority in congress just set an new benchmark in that subject), 4 more years of no action on Global Warming(which will inevatably mean 4 more years of failing US Automakers, while they complain about healthcare and regulation), 4 more years of privatization of our energy markets and our defense industry, 4 more years of Tax policy which rewards the top 5% at the expense of the bottom 95%(have you seen the Economic Equality Gap, a document produced by our goverment, it's ugly but please look for yourself), 4 more years of invisions on our personal liberties by an administration which flirts closer and closer to an authoritarian executive and permanent police state consdiring the war on Terror could last by many analyst accounts through the next century.

Look at all the issues and please tell me how anyone other than Obama and the rest of us 36 million voter's who voted in the Dem primaries are going to change this country for future generations? So let's have conversation but balanced with a healthy dose of reality and hard work! Let's change this country regardless of who is in the White House and if that means we have to expose both sides failures then weigh them both not one or the other because it is the issues which need to be solved and a president is just one facilitator in the process albeit a very large and important facilitator!

Posted at July 1, 2008 12:00 PM in response to Obama Speech: We Can Expand Faith-Based Charities And Separate Church From State

SLB Where do you stand on the many issues you enumerate?

Posted at June 27, 2008 8:20 PM in response to Baaaaaahhhhh.

Sorry apparently my linking did not take so here are the websites

http://www.texscience.org/documents/ela-standards-realignment.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcbEuHGsQI4&feature=related

Posted at June 27, 2008 8:12 PM in response to Obama Campaign Manager's New Video Lays Out Strategy For Victory

Not to burst anyone's bubble but the state board issue is not going away unless we raise hell. My Mom who was an educator for over 30 years and now continues to do work for her school district was in court twice last month fighting the SBE to not allow specific curriculum that is guided with christian undertones in English education. The SBE is pretty close to evenly split on these issues as many on Texas feel that the reason our Kid's aren't doing better is because they aren't reading their bibles properly(snark). But seriously we have to continue to take this issue on, there has only been a handful of traditional media articles/coverage(Houston Chronicle and Dallas Morning News) covering this issue. The culprit behind the introduction of thee new materials(other wise known as the 'alternative' document) is a educator named Donna Garner. One of the highlights of the curriculum is the summer reading list which includes 100 books with a make-up of on no Hispanic authors. I would find it troubling if my Kid was never exposed to any Hispanic literature in our schools. Hispanics are oart of our Texas community just like the rest of us the make up the cultural mileaux(?). Some of the other readings parables and stories from the Bible. I am not against religion but if there is going to be any religion in my life it is not going to be promoted through the state! It will be private!
IF I link correctly this is a great read about the developments up to now

Anyways I would agree that Texas is definitely in play this year and I would also agree that Cornyn must go, he is part of the problem. By the way he has an ad out if you have not seen it called "Big John: Big Bad John" Hilarious if you get a chance to see, might be on you tube! If you guys have not already, I know times are tight, but take a look a Noriega, I believe he has a shot! And we have to get rid of Craddick and Perry or our state will literally be the prime example of Bush's failed system. I am bit cynical after I tried to convince all of my friends and family, mostly unsuccessfully, to not support Bush in 2000 and 2004. At this point the national picture is looking much more rosy in my friend and family network for the Obama crowd, so I agree that many of us have seen firsthand the failures of this administration and its cronies to effectively protect our Basic Rights/Constitution and run a Government bureaucracy. It's simple their policies have run up the debt, asked question regarding our constitutional rights(4th amendment) , mismanaged a war and its occupation on two fronts, mismanaged the DOJ(breaking the law), committed war crimes, and allowed our Business community to effectively guides us down a path of folly and ruin. I know I make it sound so bleak but seriously if Bush is not remembered as the worst Leader of this century and perhaps last then our History will not be accurate and our America will not be the America I grew up in. He is that Bad! Look at this clip via you tube

Let's kick some Ass!

Posted at June 27, 2008 8:11 PM in response to Obama Campaign Manager's New Video Lays Out Strategy For Victory

SOmehting tells me LIberty University did very well with this program?

Posted at June 24, 2008 10:09 AM in response to Today's Must Read