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1 minute ago, Jack Parkman said:

I wonder if you and I are living on the same planet. Unemployment is low because many people are underemployed, have multiple jobs, or are just giving up searching. I don't measure how the economy is or isn't doing on the unemployment rate. That's the wrong way to look at it. I look at it based on what the median income of a family is vs. inflation. That has been stagnant or down for the last 40 years, and has gone down since 2008.  The economy isn't about quantity of jobs, it's about quality of jobs. The unemployment rate is an official statistic that can be tampered with.

Is the quality of life for the average person going up or down? What can they purchase with their income? Are people getting raises? Those are actual questions to ask yourself about what the economy is doing, not the unemployment rate or the stock market going up. 70% of Americans own zero stock. 

 

People having multiple jobs doesn’t affect the unemployment rate, Alexandria. Guess we can write you off as some sort of autodidactic economist.

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2 minutes ago, lane said:

Ok Jack, how do you make housing more affordable?

I made a nice sum off selling my old house. Only worked because someone wanted to buy it. Actually, multiple people wanted to buy it so one couple fought their way to the top and won. They got their dream house, I got $85K deposited into my bank account. Hello capitalism, everybody wins!

Should the government have stepped in and forced me to sell it for less profit because, despite what this couple wanted, Jack Parkman thinks housing should be affordable? Do tell.

No, You should have paid less, and the person that bought your house should have paid less. 

What happened is that financial speculators inflated the housing market in the 2000s and even though that bubble burst, some of that inflation has remained.

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5 minutes ago, lane said:

People having multiple jobs doesn’t affect the unemployment rate, Alexandria. Guess we can write you off as some sort of autodidactic economist.

Sorry, I misspoke there. What I meant is that people have to have multiple jobs to make a living wage, and that affects the available jobs. 

BTW, I think that conventional theory on economics is wrong because the underlying assumptions are wrong. 

The theory of Homo Economicus is flawed. 

People don't behave in their own self interest, and people don't make rational decisions when they purchase goods and services.

Edited by Jack Parkman
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4 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

No, You should have paid less, and the person that bought your house should have paid less. 

What happened is that financial speculators inflated the housing market in the 2000s and even though that bubble burst, some of that inflation has remained.

So if I sold at the same percentage increase, it would have been a smaller sum of money. Uh...thanks?

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2 minutes ago, lane said:

So if I sold at the same percentage increase, it would have been a smaller sum of money. Uh...thanks?

Yeah, but what if that smaller sum of money had more purchasing power? 

Sums of money are relative to purchasing power. 

$50 in 1995 =/= $50 in 2020

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3 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

BTW, I think that conventional theory on economics is wrong because the underlying assumptions are wrong. 

If you believe in mainstream economics, I don't agree with that. 

What does this even mean? Do I even want to know? I’m not going to look it up right now, but the economy is doing great. Stocks are up, unemployment is down, wages are up. Quantity and quality is solid. It might not be going well for you, but for most Americans, it is.

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1 hour ago, lane said:

What does this even mean? Do I even want to know? I’m not going to look it up right now, but the economy is doing great. Stocks are up, unemployment is down, wages are up. Quantity and quality is solid. It might not be going well for you, but for most Americans, it is.

 

I had multiple job offers for the first time in my life a couple weeks ago. It was nice to be able to actually make a choice for a change, instead of having to take whatever I can get. 

I turned down more money for a more secure position. One was a contract to hire position, but full time hours.  One was part time with the ability to earn full time. I also used to work there, so I knew what it was about and that they invited me back was a good sign. More security, familiarity and not as boring of work=ended up being the better choice for me. I wasn't expecting the second company to call me back so quickly, so I was hoping to give the first job a try before having to make a decision. Both offered the same hourly pay. In the end, I took the other job because that company caters to autistic people and the other place doesn't. I thought I was setting myself up for failure. Getting that offer was a huge confidence boost though. 

I don't think it's going to last long. I took the job that is more secure. All of this stuff is all driven by financial speculation, and not by actual results. Wages are still stagnant at best vs. inflation. 

This economy is a bubble. Eventually, it's going to burst and when it does it's going to be worse than 2008. We're repeating 2000-2007 all over again. We learned nothing. 

Speaking of bubbles, there's a large number of people in this thread that need to check their privilege. 

A lot of you live in the upper middle class bubble and have no idea what the rest of the world is going through. You have it just good enough to have no concept of reality. 

Edited by Jack Parkman
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1 hour ago, Moan4Yoan said:

So right now, you may not be qualified to be a professor because you would need a Master’s degree or higher.  But you are qualified to be a public high school Chemistry/Science teacher, no?  Salaries start out low but you would still be teaching which it sounds like what you wanted to do.  Eventually, you could make a good salary with enough tenure and also have a great work/life balance with summers and state holidays off, along with winter and spring breaks.  And the pension pays off pretty well in the end.  Have you looked into teaching at all?

My mom used to be a teacher and she says there's no way in hell I can handle teaching in HS. I'd be too naive for it.

It was college or bust. 

@lane

The economy might be doing great but it's doing well for the same reasons it was doing well from 2000-2006. We learned nothing. There's some bubble we don't know about yet and when it bursts it's going to be worse than 2008-09. 

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5 hours ago, lane said:

You cannot be guaranteed anything that involves the labor of other people. You only have “freedom froms”, not “rights to”.
 

Anyways, I’m gonna pass on having the government further intrude upon my life to help people like you. Thanks, though!

Help people like me?  Where did I say I needed help in my post?  Kids these days and their failure to read things never ceases to amaze me.  You keep living in your egocentric bubble and pray you don't have a job transition that leaves you without coverage for a month or two; because obviously your job and employer tied insurance is absolutely guaranteed to you...

If people could just buy decent affordable health insurance, the above scenario and mine would be a non-issue.  That's all I was trying to say in my original post but I guess I should blame myself for not making it more simple... c'est la vie

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I will repeat:

All of you people with "wonderful health insurance" with small co-pays, no deductible and a large network,

All of you people that make enough money that you can save large sums of money and invest in the stock market

All of you people that have enough savings that losing your job won't push you to the edge of financial ruin .....

......Do not live in the same reality that the majority of Americans live in. You're in your own little bubble, insulated from the harsh reality of the rest of the country. 44% of US workers make $18 k or less per year. 

https://www.legalreader.com/low-wage-jobs-are-the-new-american-normal/

Of these people:

40% have a HS diploma or no credentials 

13% are Teens. 

Which means...

47% have at least an Associate's degree. 

The bottom line is that there aren't enough jobs that pay well enough to live a decent life. 

What you guys don't realize is that this isn't even about me. I've accepted that I should take what I can get and have minimal expectations. 

This is about everyone else in their 20s and 30s that is struggling with the combination of soaring housing prices, low wages and crushing debt. 

Edited by Jack Parkman
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Since this is the job thread, I would like to say that I hope the part time gig turns full time and is a long term good fit for Jack.

However, Jack, I really think you are gonna lose alot of people when you start in with that "check your privilege" bs imho.

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2 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

I will repeat:

All of you people with "wonderful health insurance" with small co-pays, no deductible and a large network,

All of you people that make enough money that you can save large sums of money and invest in the stock market

All of you people that have enough savings that losing your job won't push you to the edge of financial ruin .....

......Do not live in the same reality that the majority of Americans live in. You're in your own little bubble, insulated from the harsh reality of the rest of the country. 44% of US workers make $18 k or less per year. 

https://www.legalreader.com/low-wage-jobs-are-the-new-american-normal/

Of these people:

40% have a HS diploma or no credentials 

13% are Teens. 

Which means...

47% have at least an Associate's degree. 

The bottom line is that there aren't enough jobs that pay well enough to live a decent life. 

What you guys don't realize is that this isn't even about me. I've accepted that I should take what I can get and have minimal expectations. 

This is about everyone else in their 20s and 30s that is struggling with the combination of soaring housing prices, low wages and crushing debt. 

I'm pretty confident that very few people have insurance with no deductible.  Not sure were you found that but nearly everyone through our clinic has a substantial  one per family member and per family.

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8 hours ago, Jerksticks said:

Sure there are some people who are just stupid super rich.   But if you’re not in that club, then you’re in the “everybody else” club.  And that’s okay when you look at it that way.  

 

I think the stats from last year were 1% of illinois taxpayers earned 400,000 or more. That isn't very many in the super stupid rich category. That makes  probably 99.5% of the population in the "not free" classification.

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  • 2 months later...

Got fired after 2 days yet again...idk what the hell I'm doing to get whacked so quickly. I don't even have a chance to adapt to the environment before they've already made their decision. WTF? 

 

Anyway...on to the next one. 

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21 hours ago, Jack Parkman said:

Got fired after 2 days yet again...idk what the hell I'm doing to get whacked so quickly. I don't even have a chance to adapt to the environment before they've already made their decision. WTF? 

 

Anyway...on to the next one. 

They fired you and didn't give an explanation?

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1 hour ago, Jack Parkman said:

Nope. Just told me to go away. 

Wow that's nuts. You should call & ask to talk to a regional person. That sounds unfair to me.

I remember in college I got a job at the campus bookstore, and after 4 days they fired me because "we only need extra hands the first week of the semester because then traffic slows dramatically." Was it a position like that by chance? Not necessarily at a bookstore but you get my drift.

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