'We Lend $$$ We Don't Have-To Kids Who Can't Pay It Back & Train Them For Jobs That No Longer Exist'

[kpete]

[PowerToThePeople]

1. the big question here is, "why are there so many don't haves?"

They must be flawed, morally corrupt humans. Gawd is punishing them until they change their ways.

edit- shoot misread it =) Oh well, I'll leave my statement. Off to get my first cup of coffee, hopefully jump start my brain.

[Crow73]

21. I have another question...

Why should I care what a Romney supporter thinks is nuts?

Just saying...

[PowerToThePeople]

22. holy shite

so, when does this thread get locked?

[Crow73]

31. LOL

You or me the Jury will hide.

[NYC_SKP]

53. This thread will not get locked.

Because there's nothing wrong with what Mike Rowe is saying.

He said the same thing on the Bill Maher show.

[DeSwiss]

24. Because you're a Democrat, that's why.

Because a true Democrat wouldn't prejudge someone because of a ''label.''

- And above all, you have respect for the TRUTH no matter where it comes from......

[PowerToThePeople]

26. There may be views I have that a RWer could possibly have as well.

But, I would certainly not hold that RWer up as the spokesman for my view. There are too many other things that still make them disgusting.

Standing w/ Rmoney makes him disgusting. Now, if he was there debating AGAINST Rmoney, that is another deal....

[DeSwiss]

28. Clearly your choice.....

"Battle not with monsters - lest ye become a monster." ~Friedrich Nietzsche

[Crow73]

32. Like

Corporate propaganda?
From a paid shill?

[DeSwiss]

34. No, like:

'We Lend $$$ We Don't Have-To Kids Who Can't Pay It Back & Train Them For Jobs That No Longer Exist'

- You know, like the title of the OP?

[AZ Progressive]

29. Do you approve of politics being a team sport?

Then you care more about your team than the actual issues.

[Crow73]

33. More

Reality.
Mike wants us to shut up and take the low wages offered.

[PowerToThePeople]

36. re-reading the OP, I take it the same way you just said

We Lend $$$ We Don't Have-To Kids Who Can't Pay It Back & Train Them For Jobs That No Longer Exist

Knowing he is a corporate shill, I now read this as.

De-fund education, it has failed us anyway
De-fund student loans
The kids can work the minimum wage jobs we give them at walmart and amazon.

In the video he said "We have lost touch with our ditch digging heritage." or something to that effect.

And, it is FUCKING fox news!!! I am not paying attention. Why is this not locked?

[Crow73]

48. Yes

That is how it is. These rubes would hype this tripe is inspiring true stuff. That we should support these corporate goons blindly.

That is how propaganda works.

[Tireman]

47. At the factory where I work

we are losing our electricians to Ford and Chrysler for $36 per hour...not exactly low paying...

[Crow73]

49. In Mexico?

The Truth About American-Made Vehicles

[Tireman]

81. Uhmmm...no...Findlay, Ohio...

We are losing them to Chrysler in Toledo and Ford in lower MI.

[Bunnahabhain]

51. Very well said

I often tell people part of the problem is that US politics has become a team sport. One of the issues when this happens, and I'm seeing it in this thread, is memories get very selective and biased about the cause of problems. I read post after post where people are not owning things the left pushed, i.e. expanded post-secondary education for all. How people can say with a straight face that promoting education was a right wing issue is beyond. The left helped create this "education bubble" and walking away from any blame just makes people lose credibility.

[Vinnie From Indy]

35. There is nothing to lose by listening to and debating those with different viewpoints

and everything to gain. Ignoring those with differing viewpoints and political leanings is not a sound strategy nor is it a fundamental belief of a liberal Democrat. Honest dialogue and debate is the way forward for the world and should be embraced in the rare instances it appears.

[PowerToThePeople]

39. If they are willing to pay living wages for the jobs he is talking about, great

Actually, the society I hope for is one where the ditch digger and CFO/CEO/manager are economic equals. If he is willing to work towards this goal, I will support him. If he wants a country of undereducated "ditch diggers", he can F right off.

[Vinnie From Indy]

43. It is good to see that at least you appear willing to have the debate.

The post I responded to seemed to be unambiguously offering that it was of no use to hear from a person that at one time supported Mittens.

While I agree with your utopian end goal, I will not discard any opportunity to have an honest discussion with those of a different viewpoint. On Rowe's point about reinvigorating educational opportunities for young people to have careers in the trades, I agree with him. As I stated in an earlier post, the growth of the middle class in America was to some large extent due to the growth of the trade industries.

Cheers amigo!

[Bunnahabhain]

54. If my choice was being a CEO or ditch digger as "economic equals"

I would be a ditch digger each and every time. Anyone with half a brain would be ditch digger (or equivalent) each and every time.

[PowerToThePeople]

55. anyone with a FULL brain would chose the other.

Bunnahabhain
54. If my choice was being a CEO or ditch digger as "economic equals"

View profile
I would be a ditch digger each and every time. Anyone with half a brain would be ditch digger (or equivalent) each and every time.

Thank you.

[Bunnahabhain]

56. You're welcome.

And why do you feel people with "full brains" would decide to be a CEO if they would be an "economic equal" of someone that does manual labour?

[cap]

88. Sorry guys but my dad started out as a ditch digger

And was pretty happy to get the chance to leave it and get a PhD. As he put it, nothing like digging into the frozen earth on a bitterly cold day to make you appreciate an indoor job.

Your health is shot after age 40.

He would have voted for CEO but would have supported the Laborers Union.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Jobs aren't necessarily abounding in "the trades", either--not where I live.

And education for "the trades" isn't free. It might be cheaper than a bachelor's, but it isn't free.

[Half-Century Man]

38. I am a UAW certified Journeyman Electrician...

...And Skilled Tradesman with 25+ years of experience. I have worked on stand alone CNC machine tools; automated machine tool cells (robotic fed multiple CNC machine cells); plant supply air, gas, water, steam, and electrical systems; painting systems that used enamel, acrylic, and water based paints.
I have worked on Ships, in slaughterhouses, in foundries, in warehouses, and in manufacturing.
Corporations/companies I have worked for have been sold 4 times, been closed twice, and moved oversea twice.

The year the A**oa plant closed, 12 more manufacturing plants closed in the surrounding 50 miles. There were 400 Skilled Tradespersons for the zero jobs available. I was 49.

Three years later, due to complications from chemotherapy and radiation treatments in 2002. I was re-declared disabled.

For three years I sent out hundreds of applications. I went to school to become a better candidate for jobs. I widened my scope to include the surrounding 9 states. I got 1 interview. If jobs were available, I would have had one.

We need to increase the amount of jobs available to meet the amount of applicants. Skilled Trades and un-skilled jobs.

[TwilightGardener]

61. That is rough--hope it's all OK for you now. I just don't think there's any magic ticket

to job security anymore, for most people.

[Half-Century Man]

67. My point was...

...not even if you really want to, and have the proper education, are may not be able to get a job. They have to exist in the first place.

[kelly1mm]

77. Or you can make one. After practicing law and hating it, I started taking apart old italian cars

('lessor' makes - alfa romeo, fiat, lancia) and selling the parts online. Make more money doing that than practicing law. Biggest plus - I get to work from home and no suits!

[NYC_SKP]

3. See also: Mike's website, www.mikeroweworks.com, and this video

http://www.mikeroweworks.com/mikes-office/

Mike Rowe speaks the truth.

[Crow73]

30. FACEPALM

"America has waged war on work." Um no..
Try. Corporate America has waged war on wages.
You want skilled labor? Try paying them a wage they can go on vacation on.

College is the issue? After WW2 everyone went to college on the governments dime, and they turned out to be the greatest generation...
So no, Mike Rowe is a corporate stooge.

[NYC_SKP]

37. America has waged war on work. This is true.

Our culture frowns upon the working man and woman, the middle class blue collar work force.

This has been happening over generations.

Sure Corporate America is partly to blame, but it goes far deeper than that.

Fight for unions, fight for respect, fight for teaching basic skills and quit pretending that every kid is going to college.

Mike Rowe is on the right side of this.

[Butterbean]

44. Well said, bravo. College is not for everybody, and THAT'S OKAY.

My oldest son will never go to college, and it really makes me honestly sick to my stomach to think of how people will look down on him. It's not right and it's stupid.

[NYC_SKP]

45. Additionally, very few high school seniors even know what they want to study.

Yet, they feel pressure to have figured out what it is and where they'll attend college (should they have any money) and commit to the expense well in advance of really being ready to commit to a specific field.

There are exceptions, of course. I always encourage students who don't know to be willing to take a job and explore the world.

I've got two very successful friends who didn't even finish high school.

One has continually taken classes, but he built his own business instead of taking the college track.

The other has since passed away but became a successful interior designer and had Paul Newman and Liz Taylor among his clients.

He passed in the mid 80's, poor Brad.

[Butterbean]

62. I was so not ready for college. My study habits were non-existent.

I come from a family that expects you to go to college, and a mother who really looks down her nose at anyone without a college degree. It's pretty disgusting. She looks down her nose so badly at my BIL because he "only" has an associate's degree, which in her mind, is worthless. Never mind the fact that he makes 70k a year as an airline mechanic, but whatever...she treats him like he's a second class citizen all the way. It is a mortal sin in my family to not have a college degree. Pretty elitist, to say the very least.

[Link Speed]

64. Thank you

I have no formal education whatsoever, but I have never worked for a paycheck. Ever. I have scratched and clawed and played it straight up, but barely a week goes by when someone doesn't look down their nose at me because of my lack of (formal) education.

And these are people who are still working into their 60s.

My sons never graduated from HS and they make hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

[Butterbean]

65. Ugh, I'm so sorry people treat you like that. Pure elitism.

I'll never forget a conversation I had with my mother at one point, when I was telling her about a horrible predicament my SIL had gotten herself into because of poor decision making. My mother was flabbergasted and honestly said, stammering, "but....I thought she had a master's degree??!!!??" as if somehow people with master's degrees never make stupid life decisions or fuck ups. I just laughed and told her that yeah, SIL has a master's degree, but that pretty much amounted to jack shit in the poor life decisions department, that I'd met plenty of well educated people who made piss poor decisions. She really was honestly shocked at that statement, too.

Oh, mother mother mother....SMDH. I could write a book about her. At any rate, yes, trades are important. Technically I practice a trade, I'm a nurse. I have a college degree (that I only got because of family pressure), but it surely didn't make me any smarter or better than the non-bsn nurses I work with. Meh.

[Link Speed]

66. I remember my son coming home from baseball practice

and telling me about his coach a quizzing him about me and my friends, inferring that I must have been dealing drugs because, "How else could we afford to live where we lived?".

I worked my ass off and ran several businesses so my children didn't have to run around in cast-off clothes, like I did as a child.

By the way, Butterbean, my heroes have always been nurses and teachers.

[Crow73]

50. As long as

Fight for respect, fight for teaching basic skills and quit pretending that every kid is going to college is corporate controlled.

He is a shill. Anything he says is scripted by his employer.

[alarimer]

90. Except those jobs are GONE.

And our corporate owners have replaced them with non-union, minimum-wage equivalent.

And in Texas and other "right to work" states, even if employers wanted to pay someone a decent wage to build houses, they CAN'T. Because they can't compete with the others.

Republican and corporate Democratic (hello Clinton, thanks for selling us down the river with NAFTA) policies are what has led us to this point. Letting corporations buy the people who are supposed to represent US for "free trade" agreements.

These jobs will NEVER come back.

I think everyone should have a liberal arts education. It makes you a well-rounded person, whatever you do for a living. So don't tell some kid he or she isn't "college material" because they are. EVERYONE IS. Now, I think higher education should be free, which would make it a whole lot easier to take advantage of.

[Safetykitten]

4. Mike, as handsome as he is, is kinda RW, but on this, he is correct.

[jtuck004]

6. I think you just described the Democratic Party. n/t

[Dawgs]

9. Yep. They nailed it. n/t

[Buns_of_Fire]

19. He has his agenda, and he'll accept any venue that's offered to promote it.

And he's right. But see what he has to say about it: http://mikerowe.com/2013/07/the-other-side/

[NYC_SKP]

42. That's a great read and it's interesting to see what's he's talking about in this very thread.

Thanks for posting that!

[Orrex]

5. And then we blame them for not finding lucrative work

Quite a racket those lenders have got there!

[Waiting For Everyman]

7. And we vastly overcharge them for it.

Colleges have run amok just like the medical providers.

[Egalitarian Thug]

12. And for many of the same reasons. n/t

[L0oniX]

8. Been saying the same thing for a long time. Even the "ITT" (see tv ads) type schools are for jobs..

that are $10 an hour ...if you can find one ...while going into debt for the meager education you get from them. I used to laugh at the electronics tech/computer repair school ads which were based on tech that was on its way out ...more $10 an hour Best Buy computer tech bull shit. I really like the NA and doctor assistant tv ads ...yes you too can make $10 an hour changing bed sheets at your local rest home and as an extra bonus you get to remove the dead from their bed and bag them up. What really gets me is all the smiling pretty faces portraying a wonderful happy job life. This shit all acclimates the masses to a future of mundane service industry minimum wage jobs. USA = con artists everywhere.

[NewYorkTaxPayer]

15. Sorry but that's just not true

http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/engineering-schools

ITT might be last on the list, but the people who get their bachelors degree there still end up starting out at around 40k

[AnotherMcIntosh]

25. Some reality: "53% of Recent College Grads Are Jobless or Underemployed"

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/53-of-recent-college-grads-are-jobless-or-underemployed-how/256237/

If you don't have personal knowledge of college graduates being unemployed and underemployed, you can find many more sources on the web.

Or you can recommend "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche."

[NewYorkTaxPayer]

91. For profit schools

have mandated levels of job placement and student retention which, if they fail to keep, their students can no longer get government student loans. It is one of the better things to happen to higher ed in the last thirty years. Our congress has said, if you want to make a profit off of education then you need to get students all the way through the program and you have to get them jobs. At last check the rates were 70/70 meaning that 70% of students enrolling in a for profit college must graduate and 70% of those graduates must get jobs in the field in which they study.

[L0oniX]

58. Sorry ...good luck with that. n/t

[Johonny]

10. "We" certainly HAVE the money to educate our young

We have just decided instead to allow that money to accumulate in the hands of a very few for no particular reason while pretending the country is near bankruptcy.

[valerief]

17. Through deregulation AND war profiteering. nt

[lunasun]

76. +1 on that !

[abelenkpe]

11. love all the expensive CG animation schools online and traditional

they should come with the disclaimer: "Be prepared to move out of the country for employment."

[NewYorkTaxPayer]

13. Disclaimer I work for a Educational Publishing Company

in the Career Division, which means for profit generally tailored to the types of jobs that Mike is talking about. Regulation in the field is actually pretty amazing. To be accredited, which you need to be to for your students to be able to receive federal student loans, in Medical Assisting for example (which has as starting salary in most areas of the country around 45k and there is a massive need) a Career School has to have a retention rate of 70% and a job placement rate of 70% of graduates. That is damn impressive. On top of that the cost between what a Community College costs and a 4 year state school.

There absolutely is a need for institutes of higher learning, just not for everyone. It's jobs like those that are now part of the Career schools that built this country, and it is those jobs that are going to save it in the long run... that is if we stop kill all of their Unions...

[alp227]

14. Huh why link to a Fox News video? The graphic makes the point enough. N/t

[NYC_SKP]

40. ~~How about Mike Rowe on Bill Maher, or before the US Congress asking for support from the Fed Govt?

On Bill Maher he said the same thing:

Before Congress:

[liberal N proud]

16. Obviously the students are to blame here.

It's not like they were promised that if they enrolled in this program or that one that there would be a job for them. At least they knew they would be working at Wal-Mart when they graduated. RIGHT?

I recall the school where my daughter enrolled, they boasted that they had 95% placement in the field she was going to study. Once she was in school, the placement office was closed and she was SOL! and more than $70K in debt.

[90-percent]

18. Anecdote

It's a few years old, but I recall a statistic that there's 5 to 7 applicants for every job opening on average.

If there's more job education, or more people trained, that will simply change the above to 8 to 10 job applicants.

It's the job availability, not the skills of the workforce, dammit!

The cost of a modern education these days is a crime against young people. Every institution in our society to maintain a level playing field has been corrupted, and that includes higher education. It was $300 a semester plus $200 for a dorm room back when I was going to Buffalo State in the late 70's. Very very affordable. Carried a $5000 student loan for a few years after, but it was payments of only $55 a month.

Yet another thing my generation has wrought on young people. MY biggest guilt is the global warming nobody in charge has done anything about, and it's already too late to mitigate global climate change. Good luck on that one, kids!

-90% Jimmy

PS - I want to post the Mike poster to FB, and I don't like to link through DU. All the URL's don't point to this poster. help appreciated.

[NYC_SKP]

41. Here's a direct link to the poster:

Add // to the URL below for the active link:

(http: 31.media.tumblr.com/64753c809550b765a188e09cda3f8dc1/tumblr_mrj6vk22sD1r4k4dho1_500.png)

[thelordofhell]

20. Education Inc.

Keeping people stupid for decades

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. College is the price paid to get an inside job.

It's wholly unrelated to job readiness, it's entirely a screening process by which HR departments can separate applicants for jobs in a comfy chair. To wit: did you know that a BS degree in "social media" is a thing?

[DeSwiss]

27. FUTURE SHOCK

- We were warned this day would come. As the horse & buggy paradigm no longer works for our society, neither does the one referenced here. It's time for something NEW......

K&R

[Tireman]

46. For those that question Mike's politics...

https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe

Bob Reidel: "Mike - Saw you hangin with Bill Maher. I had no idea you were a liberal. Really blew me away. Love everything you do but now that I know who you really are, I won't be tuning in to watch anything your involved with."

Well, hi there, Bob. How's it going? Since your comment is not the only one of its kind, I thought I'd take a moment to address it.

Bill Maher is opinionated, polarizing and controversial. I get it. So is Bill O'Reilly, which is probably why I heard the same comments after I did his show. ("How could you Mike? How could you?&quot

Truth is, every time I go on Fox, my liberal friends squeal. And every time I show up on MSNBC, my conservative pals whine. Not because they disagree with my position - everyone agrees that closing the skills gap is something that needs to happen. No, these days, people get bent simply if I appear on shows they don't like, or sit too close to people they don't care for.

What's up with that? Is our country so divided that my mere proximity to the "other side" prompts otherwise sensible adults to scoop up their marbles and go home?

Back in 2008, I wrote an open letter to President Obama, offering to help him promote those 3 million "shovel-ready" jobs he promised to create during his campaign. (I suspected they might be a tough sell, given our country's current relationship with the shovel.) Within hours, hundreds of conservatives accused me of "engaging with a socialist," and threatened to stop watching Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe if I didn't come to my senses.

When I made the same offer to Mitt Romney (who actually responded), thousands of liberals chastised me for "engaging with a greedy capitalist," and threatened to stop watching Dirty Jobs if I didn't take it back.

You may ask, "But what did these people think about the issue at hand?" Who knows? They were too busy being outraged by my proximity to the devil. (Poor Ed Shultz at MSNBC nearly burst into tears. "You were on the wrong stage, Mike! The wrong stage!! With the wrong candidate!!!&quot

Oy.

Here's the thing, Bob - Profoundly Disconnected (http://profoundlydisconnected.com/) is not a PR campaign for Mike Rowe. It's a PR campaign for skilled labor and alternative education. PR campaigns need ... that's right, PR, and if I limit my appearances to those shows that I personally watch, hosted only by those personalities with whom I personally agree, I might as well start a church and preach to the choir.

Point is, I didn't go on Real Time to endorse BM, and I didn't go on The Factor to endorse BO. I went on because millions of people watch those shows. I approached our liberal president for the same reason. Likewise, his conservative opponent. And I showed up on Sesame Street with the same agenda that I took to Congress.

Closing the skills gap is bigger than you or me or any particular venue, and Real Time gave me an opportunity to reach 5 million people. I'm grateful for that, and I'll do it again if they want me back.

As for Bill Maher off-camera, you'll be pleased to know that the guy was a perfect gentleman. His staff is excellent, and his after-party included an open bar with a spread I've never seen in such a setting. Bill took the time to hang out with his guests and their friends after the show, chatting about this and that for over an hour, and taking pictures with anyone who wanted one. Trust me, that's rare.

Yes, he's outrageous, inflammatory, and to many, a jagged little pill. But he's also gracious, generous, engaging, and taller than he appears on TV.

Which, frankly, surprised me.

[onpatrol98]

57. Thank you. This was an interesting read.

It was a really interesting read.

[DeschutesRiver]

59. Thanks for that info

I completely agree with him.

He sounds more interested in the issue than in the politics, and that is the only way to get traction to create change. Otherwise, issues get bogged down in a crap mire of people continually trying to take a swing at each other. It is hard to stay focused, but i like his attitude and commitment on this.

[Progressive dog]

52. We could start them working at twelve or so

and forget this damn education. Of course the children of the rich would still go to college. Sounds like a plan to me.
I'll bet if Romney had been elected, he could be secretary of either education or labor.

[markiv]

60. that's what the H-1b visa program was all about

making 'jobs of the future'

a 'thing of the past'

in the time of 1/2 a generation

[Bunnahabhain]

63. Don't toss out the baby with the bathwater

That is, if you want a nurse to answer your call light. I get that some people in IT have been displaced but in healthcare the H1b is needed. I cannot figure out why we had such a nursing shortage. 18 month college diploma RN can make 60k to start, easy, but we still have a nursing shortage in some areas of the country. Before the crash I was paying 10-15k sign on bonuses for experience RNs, hotel rooms for "travelers," etc. Labour market is getting tight again and things will probably be back to that in a year or two.

[markiv]

69. odd that an expert on the American labor market, would spell

'labor' as 'labour', the British/Indian way, in defending the H-1b program. (and Indian media uses H1b, not 'H-1b', as Americans do)

I'm sure it's just a typo, not self interest

[Bunnahabhain]

72. I am a transplanted Canuck

That has been in the US healthcare industry for 20 years...but I still speak the Queen's English. Also, nice attempt to marginalize what I said based on poisoning the well. Let's not address my points, eh? And most Americans do not even know what an H1b is let alone have a standardized way of typing it.

[markiv]

75. just noticing whether you had a citizen's point of view

a lot of people tell us what's 'best for the citizen' on guest worker issues, who arent American citizens themselves

most who use the Queen's English, aren't

[xmas74]

71. Probably because many of those schools have quite the wait list.

I've known people who have applied to votech and to the local community college for an LPN or an RN program-it's not easy to get in and the programs around here don't take all that many people.

I know plenty of people with medical experience who would love to go to nursing school. The problem is that there aren't enough openings.

[Bunnahabhain]

73. Does not negate the fact we need more nurses

and H1b nurses are a way to get them. All I know is I want the call light answered when a patient presses the button.

[xmas74]

78. Or instead of granting work visas

we could offer more seats in nursing programs and make the degrees free or very inexpensive.

Most of the people I know in nursing right now work in nursing homes. Do you want to know why? It's because, even with the crappy hours, low wages and vague benefits,a number nursing homes will offer to pay their CNAs to go to nursing school, as long as they work off a contract. Some of the best qualified people to go into nursing come from nursing homes, mental health facilities and group homes. They are psych aides, CNAs, med techs and personal aides/hygiene aides. Instead, most of the nursing programs in my area would rather pick up a kid right out of high school who probably has no idea of what the work entails.

There is no reason why we should be granting work visas in the nursing field. Make the schooling affordable and more available and the candidates will line up. That, and treat the current workers in the field with a bit of respect.

[Bunnahabhain]

80. Oh boy

This post has a large amount of truthiness. I do find it cute that I have explained I'm in healthcare administration, and have been for two decades, and you feel you are going to inform me on things.

Btw, SNFs in my area pay RNs about $35 an hour. Is this now "low wage?" CNAs and PCTs make $14-18. This was a "living wage" last I checked. Benefits are never "vague" as any HR person will tell you.

Part of the problem is Americans (and Canadians) just plain do not want to do the work. It's a hard job and often deals with very intimate and nasty side of life. There is every reason we should be granting work visas as the US is not turning out enough nurses. Talk all you want about domestically turning out more nurses, but until that happens, do you or do you not want that call light answered? I know I do.

[xmas74]

82. I don't know where you live.

I live in Missouri, where the wages are much, much lower. I also know plenty of people here, right now, who are on waiting lists to get into nursing school. I don't know about where you live but around here it's competitive. Why? Because it's an almost guaranteed job after graduation with very little worry about relocation. They complete degrees at the local schools and have jobs waiting for them at the area hospitals or even in KC or St Louis.

I know plenty of people who do want the work. They just can't get the education. Oh, and btw-our CNAs make about $7.50 an hour to start, nowhere near your $14-18 an hour and are expected to pay for their own classes, which run between $800-1000 total.

I also worked in mental health for quite a few years. Most of the homes pay around minimum wage to start and benefits are not vague-they just plain suck. No vacation, no sick and quite often, no health insurance.

I have an aunt who is an HCA and, according to her it's all about where you live.

[kcr]

85. How does someone in healthcare administration not know

about the problem with nursing schools in the US? That could be why the poster feels the need to inform you on things.

"Part of the problem is Americans (and Canadians) just plain do not want to do the work." Really. What a giant load.

[KamaAina]

87. That's precisely because nurses are paid so well

practicing nurses make much more than teaching ones, so no one wants to teach in nursing school.

[liberal_at_heart]

68. I hate it when people advocate against education. How low have we sunk when we don't even want

to educate our people? And what about other issues with hard labor jobs that Mike isn't even bringing up like the poverty wages or the lack of health care or the fact that people who work hard labor jobs often need to take SS early because their bodies are just too worn down to work past 60? I understand why he did the show Dirty Jobs. People who work those kind of jobs have great pride in themselves because they put in an honest day's work. They don't have to defraud people like bankers do in order to earn their paycheck. I get that. I have family that have worked hard labor all their lives and are proud people. But those same family members also don't have health care and don't make enough money to save for retirement. Their bodies begin to hurt decades before it is time to retire.

[RedCappedBandit]

70. He's right about labor, but wrong about education.

The government profits obscenely off of student loans. Can't afford them? Nonsense.

We should be paying for education for anybody who wants it. And people who choose a career in the trades should earn their damn fair share too.

[davidpdx]

74. Yes on student loans the government makes a killing

[RadiationTherapy]

79. This is in part due to the mentality of University administrators: Don't rock the boat and

keep collecting that check.

I have worked at a university for 11 years and the rigidity and lack of innovation - until only recently - involved in planning and evolving a university campus is staggering. They are similar to the oil industry. Maximize the money at the top, minimize salaries and security for others, make sure your model and revenue are not impinged upon by a rapidly changing environment and society.

[JCMach1]

84. Mostly correct... also, applying Business models to running an educational institution

... this has hurt things badly.

For every 1 good college Admin. there are 5 bad ones...

[Fire Walk With Me]

83. K&R!

[JCMach1]

86. Work Jobs and Capital as a way of organizing society is doomed to fail...

so is Communism as it is also based on unit labor as the central understanding of its ideology...


What are we left with?

Nothing yet, but how do we organize society when most of the 'work' can be done by machines...?

Current left and right ideologies do not have an answer for this...

[alarimer]

89. So many of trade jobs are not unionized and pay crap wages.

If that were not the case, I'd say he had a point.

But until you can get a good paying job without a degree, people will still take their chances with student loans.

I wonder, incidentally, how many of his "dirty jobs" actually pay well. I'm guessing not a lot.