My daughter graduated from college in June with a degree in liberal arts. She just got her first job in the Chicago area, a clerical position in the medical field paying $11/hr. She has more than $20,000 in student loan debt.
In 1982, my wife graduated with a degree in liberal arts. Her first job in the Chicago area was also a clerical position in the medical field. She was paid $7/hr and had a couple thousand dollars in debt. Based on the Consumer Price Index, that would be worth $15.80/hr today.
Republicans have been in the White House for eighteen of those twenty-six years.
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If you count Clinton as a moderate Republican (cough welfare reform, CDA, NAFTA), then it's all 26 years.
ReplyDeleteIn my first presidential election, I voted for Gerald Ford because moderate Republicans did not seem so bad to me. It's been so long since I've see one though that it's hard for me to remember what they looked like.
ReplyDeleteNot to gloat, but that is decidedly lamer than my first presidential election. Okay maybe it was kind of to gloat.
ReplyDeletePresuming, of course, I am still alive in November.
ReplyDeleteNot to gloat, but that is decidedly lamer than my first presidential election. Okay maybe it was kind of to gloat.
ReplyDeleteAlmost every one I have voted in has been decidedly lamer. Usually the candidates I like are out of the running after the Iowa caucuses.
Presuming, of course, I am still alive in November.
If your plans change in that regard, could you let me know before I pay fall tuition?
So because your wife and daughter received a degree in what is one of the easiest college has to offer, you blame the Republicans?
ReplyDeleteOr are you blaming the Republicans because both your wife and daughter took a clerical position, expecting a huge financial windfall, and were sadly disappointed?
Or are you blaming the Republicans because a clerical position in 1982pays about the same as it does in 2008--not much.
I am thinking you just like to blame Republicans. A clerical position, in any field, is just that. Clerical. This is why temps are hired to do such a position.
The Republicans are not to blame. Your wife and daughter are to blame for taking a position that doesn't pay very well.
I am not blaming the Republicans because my wife' job in 1982 paid the same as my daughter's in 2008. I am noting that my daughter's job pays considerably less and that my daughter's degree cost considerably more.
ReplyDeleteI did not complete college, have $0.00 in student debt and make $31.00 an hour. I did have a clerical job when I was 15. I guess the message to your wife and daughter is multi-fold. #1. Don't come out of college expecting to make CEO cash. #2. College degree does not equal money. Believe it or not, you actually have to be a good worker. #3. Maybe all that college was counter-productive. #4. Liberal Arts degree equals liberal pay. #5. Despite all the brainwashing from the NEA, it might be that the businesses have figured out that the degree you earned is worth less than toilet paper. By the way, I have some Amway and a Kirby vacuum to sell you. #6. Tell you daughter to work harder and maybe she will be the head clerk in a couple of years.
ReplyDeleteI am not suggesting that there is anything wrong with the jobs that my wife and daughter got. My wife currently holds a good position with a company that manages doctors practices. She coordinates insurance billing and reimbursement for a number of oncology practices in the Chicago area. Last year she got insurance companies to cough up more that $500,000 on claims that were initially denied.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is in a position where she will have the opportunity to learn and advance if she chooses to stay there. The company did not interview anyone for the position who lacked a college degree so they must think it was worth something.
So your reference to Republicans being in office "18 of those 26 years" was more of a statement as opposed to relevance to your post...
ReplyDeleteZackzilla,
ReplyDeleteI believe it was a relevant statement.
I disagreed your characterization of my wife's job and my daughter's job as paying about the same.