Comments on: Three Emerging Trends of a Depressed Economy: Pundits Screaming for Economic Socialism, People Going Back to College, and 99 Cent Stores Taste Inflation. http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/ How I Learned to Love Southern California and Forget the Housing Bubble Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:16:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Iris http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24396 Iris Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:50:23 +0000 http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24396 Thank you Rose. As a baby-boomer growing up in a small town with Depression raised parents, the option of college was just not there for me in 1975 due to money and their ignorance of the system. I started working at age 17 and kept improving myself and my positions in various automotive dealerships, (starting as a service drive customer greeter back when the Ford Pinto gas tanks were blowing up in a rear end collision). I then then went into automotive manufacturing corporations until I was successfully reporting to the President of the company... all with only a high school degree. I agree with you regarding meaningful education as I DID take several certificate courses over the years to gain knowledge of risk management, financing and transportation issues which I applied directly back to my position within the company. Too bad... the automotive business took a dump... as bittersweet... I'd still be there but at LEAST in 2004 I went into another lucrative business... yep... you guessed it... REAL ESTATE. Sheesh! Do I know how to pick careers or what! Hey... I almost signed up for a $2000 computer programmer course! A few good and a few hard years. In 2008 I still find that it's what you put into the job that decides what you get out of it. My corporate experience has enabled me to run my real estate career as a business which I feel is why I am still making a decent living even though we are in such a tough market. Every day is new... opportunities are there if hard work is incorporated. I Love this column... very to the point and educational and a great read every day. Thank you Rose.

As a baby-boomer growing up in a small town with Depression raised parents, the option of college was just not there for me in 1975 due to money and their ignorance of the system.

I started working at age 17 and kept improving myself and my positions in various automotive dealerships, (starting as a service drive customer greeter back when the Ford Pinto gas tanks were blowing up in a rear end collision). I then then went into automotive manufacturing corporations until I was successfully reporting to the President of the company… all with only a high school degree.

I agree with you regarding meaningful education as I DID take several certificate courses over the years to gain knowledge of risk management, financing and transportation issues which I applied directly back to my position within the company.

Too bad… the automotive business took a dump… as bittersweet… I’d still be there but at LEAST in 2004 I went into another lucrative business… yep… you guessed it… REAL ESTATE. Sheesh! Do I know how to pick careers or what! Hey… I almost signed up for a $2000 computer programmer course!

A few good and a few hard years. In 2008 I still find that it’s what you put into the job that decides what you get out of it. My corporate experience has enabled me to run my real estate career as a business which I feel is why I am still making a decent living even though we are in such a tough market.

Every day is new… opportunities are there if hard work is incorporated.

I Love this column… very to the point and educational and a great read every day.

]]> By: David Brodbeck http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24385 David Brodbeck Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:35:48 +0000 http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24385 Jim Cramer has damaged the finances of untold numbers of people by convincing them they could time the market. His show makes me cringe. Jim Cramer has damaged the finances of untold numbers of people by convincing them they could time the market. His show makes me cringe.

]]> By: compass rose http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24375 compass rose Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:30:04 +0000 http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24375 PS, lest my cynicism run too far ahead of me, I wanted to note that I very much value education, probably above all other commodities beyond the survival basics. But the Ed Biz in my experience turned education into schooling and profit streams and "university-industry partnerships," and that's an entirely different kettle of sheepskin than systematically and courageously learning, growing, and evolving as humans. ~ rose PS, lest my cynicism run too far ahead of me, I wanted to note that I very much value education, probably above all other commodities beyond the survival basics. But the Ed Biz in my experience turned education into schooling and profit streams and “university-industry partnerships,” and that’s an entirely different kettle of sheepskin than systematically and courageously learning, growing, and evolving as humans.
~
rose

]]> By: compass rose http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24358 compass rose Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:31:05 +0000 http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24358 I retired from the Ed Biz after 30 years in public and private institutions and agencies, so was pleased to see DHB take up this issue of the role of schooling in this socioeconomic mess. ~ One of the unacknowledged trends in this crash is the hyperinflation of degrees and training relative to jobs that has occurred since Baby Boomers were "marching" on their campuses in the 1960s. There have simply been too many people for the jobs available, work has been standardized, mechanized and downskilled, and the movement toward FIRE economics has reflected class war. I saw this first hand in Philadelphia, New York, Madison (Wisconsin), San Francisco, and Berkeley, and now in the Puget Sound. This amounted to selecting people for entry-level jobs that any reasonably mature working person could do according to whether they'd spent tens of thousands of dollars and four or more years in degree programs that were basically irrelevant. But the Ed Biz made out like champs and expanded like a flesh-eating virus in a hot-tub. A bachelor's degree no longer means anything, and the only comforting thing is that, neither, really, does a master's or doctorate. In some professions you acquire needed technical expertise in this way, but that's no guarantee of anything. ~ For instance, the student mentioned in Doc's column--with the bachelor's in social work from UC-Berkeley. How could anyone in their right mind think that getting that degree was going to lead to anything but a need either for more expensive education, or a crappy job? Did this person have, or not have, professional experience during school? Where did this idea come from that just because you can get into this or that college/university, somehow you come out of it MORE QUALIFIED for the working world, and have a job waiting for you? Sometimes that's the case--some training from some departments/programs does provide some people with better technical skills. But this idea is one that is also going to fall on hard times. Just because this person went to Berkeley really means nothing other than she went to Berkeley, and she feels that's important. The idea of paying for some credits, sitting in a chair, and that equalling "an accomplishment" is mind-boggling. Just about any mouth-breathing no-neck carbon unit can go to college now. I reserve my full respect for the people who have built vigorous careers and meaningful job security out of genuine skills, work ethic, flexibility...and not what degrees they bought. ~ I have to say that the RealTor who hopes she can get a "communications degree to get a job in sales or marketing" is simply not adjusting to the real world. She's still got the something-for-nothing mentality ("just buy this, and you can flip it for profit"). Lemme tellya, even at the height of the New World Super Duper Reaganomics Free(ish) Market Ultra Bubble, communications staff were always the first to get fired in crunch times. I always kept moving so didn't have that problem. ~ I turned down several tenure track teaching jobs later in my career because I had no interest in trying to engage a bunch of seat-occupiers who were simply doing time till they could walk away with a degree, and then try to peddle it on the open market. Perhaps I'm being cynical, but that happens after 30 years of watching financial and arithmetical idiots run one's beloved republic into the ground. ~ rose I retired from the Ed Biz after 30 years in public and private institutions and agencies, so was pleased to see DHB take up this issue of the role of schooling in this socioeconomic mess.
~
One of the unacknowledged trends in this crash is the hyperinflation of degrees and training relative to jobs that has occurred since Baby Boomers were “marching” on their campuses in the 1960s. There have simply been too many people for the jobs available, work has been standardized, mechanized and downskilled, and the movement toward FIRE economics has reflected class war. I saw this first hand in Philadelphia, New York, Madison (Wisconsin), San Francisco, and Berkeley, and now in the Puget Sound. This amounted to selecting people for entry-level jobs that any reasonably mature working person could do according to whether they’d spent tens of thousands of dollars and four or more years in degree programs that were basically irrelevant. But the Ed Biz made out like champs and expanded like a flesh-eating virus in a hot-tub. A bachelor’s degree no longer means anything, and the only comforting thing is that, neither, really, does a master’s or doctorate. In some professions you acquire needed technical expertise in this way, but that’s no guarantee of anything.
~
For instance, the student mentioned in Doc’s column–with the bachelor’s in social work from UC-Berkeley. How could anyone in their right mind think that getting that degree was going to lead to anything but a need either for more expensive education, or a crappy job? Did this person have, or not have, professional experience during school? Where did this idea come from that just because you can get into this or that college/university, somehow you come out of it MORE QUALIFIED for the working world, and have a job waiting for you? Sometimes that’s the case–some training from some departments/programs does provide some people with better technical skills. But this idea is one that is also going to fall on hard times. Just because this person went to Berkeley really means nothing other than she went to Berkeley, and she feels that’s important. The idea of paying for some credits, sitting in a chair, and that equalling “an accomplishment” is mind-boggling. Just about any mouth-breathing no-neck carbon unit can go to college now. I reserve my full respect for the people who have built vigorous careers and meaningful job security out of genuine skills, work ethic, flexibility…and not what degrees they bought.
~
I have to say that the RealTor who hopes she can get a “communications degree to get a job in sales or marketing” is simply not adjusting to the real world. She’s still got the something-for-nothing mentality (“just buy this, and you can flip it for profit”). Lemme tellya, even at the height of the New World Super Duper Reaganomics Free(ish) Market Ultra Bubble, communications staff were always the first to get fired in crunch times. I always kept moving so didn’t have that problem.
~
I turned down several tenure track teaching jobs later in my career because I had no interest in trying to engage a bunch of seat-occupiers who were simply doing time till they could walk away with a degree, and then try to peddle it on the open market. Perhaps I’m being cynical, but that happens after 30 years of watching financial and arithmetical idiots run one’s beloved republic into the ground.
~
rose

]]> By: stillrenting http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24263 stillrenting Sat, 13 Sep 2008 18:57:58 +0000 http://www.doctorhousingbubble.com/three-emerging-trends-of-a-depressed-economy-pundits-screaming-for-economic-socialism-people-going-back-to-college-and-99-cent-stores-taste-inflation/#comment-24263 I can't believe how many of you intelligent people posting these comments can't spell. I can’t believe how many of you intelligent people posting these comments can’t spell.

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