If we had an "excellent economy today," I would see it as a boon, but what we have now is at best acceptable. As the article pointed out, 180,000 or so non-government jobs were created, but only 40,000 or so (health care and real estate) give the worker the chance at a middle class lifestyle. I want the economy to do well, and I recognize that some recovery has taken place. However, average wages have fallen for all but the top executives and those of us that are working are seeing inflation increase faster than our wages. The economy could certainly be a lot worse, but to claim excellence is really disingenuous.
The real moral of your story is that the cost centers of our economy employ people making the most money (let's not forget insurance agents). No wonder no one wants to be engineers. And this is coming from a lawyer.
My point is that "moderatly" has changed from when my parents were young (and earlier) and now. Once again, my parents just didn't have a lot of "things". Growing up we had one TV, no internet, no cable, one telephone number (two phones total), etc... There are so many more things that people seem to "need" these days that you really don't. The bottom line is that you have to support yourself and your family if you choose to have one. If you decide to take a fullfilling job that doesn't pay well, that's fine. However, you have to be realistic about what you're going to get paid and live your life accordingly. That means having fewer children and fewer luxuries. If you want the good things in life choose a job that pays well and be good at it. The best scenario is to have a fullfilling job that pays.
typical response. Here's your MO: 1. Look for when a liberal makes some sort of broad statement. 2. Very casually, ask a gigantic complicated question. 3. In response, say the liberal has no idea what they are talking about in a condecending manor. 4. When presented factual info, resort to name calling and/or disappear.
wait, what??? inflation?? other than energy costs, where are you seeing inflation?? there is no real inflation. i don't give this president credit for the economy. just as i didn't give the last president credit for the economy during his tenure. i have huge problems with our president...but they're not based off this economy. the economy continues to grow steadily. the economy moves not from good time to good time but from crisis to crisis. if you focus on each crisis too deeply, you'll freak yourself out. unless you believe the sky is falling, the economy is in good shape. very good shape. can anyone think of a time where interest rates have been this low for so long...with steady growth...and virtually no inflation?? seriously, i can't. and it's been that way for quite some time now.
I do believe out-sourcing will erode some of the high paying jobs in America. But we have chosen to go down this path of market economy (global), and this is part of the process. Short term there will be some losses on our side, but we will also gain. The bottom line is capitals will flow to where the resource is the cheapest, this includes human resource. Out-sourcing is not going away anytime soon, we just have to keep innovate and compete. Hopefully in time, China/India will grow and raise their living standards to narrow the gap. It can be a win-win situation long term. BTW, I have yet to see anyone come up with any realistic solutions for out-sourcing, and Kerry is certainly NOT someone who actually understands this topic. I still remember in the presidential debate, he said we need to make American companies more competitive globally, and next sentence he wants to raise the minimum wage. Which shows me he either doesn't know even the basic economic principles or he is all about rhetoric.
Maybe it's the cheap imports from China (and other nations) that is keeping prices low. It may also be the offshoring/outsourcing that is keeping costs and prices down.
I agree with this. It is just too easy to blame this on Bush, but it not his fault alone. Even in the poor countries there are always rich people. What made the developed nations great is the fact that vast majority of the people enjoyed very high standard of living. It seems now the glory days of the developed nations are over, with New economic powers on the rise. Maybe in the future when the whole world is more equitable, the whole world can enjoy high living standard, this is a great dream for the future generations.
Why pick on the big tex and T_J so much, just read their post for fun, you will find them funny sometimes. If you want reasonable debates there are langal, rhester, madmax,etc... on the BBS for you to discuess things in a serious manner with. Relax people!
So you can't explain the "outsourcing tax cuts", either. Thanks for your contribution. I'll ignore the personal attack.
bigtexxx, Sorry for butchering the company's name, but you have to understand that I am a Shell "V-Power" man, I don't fill up my vehicle with some generic brand So let me try to go through all their names, and tell me if I got it right: 1) Shell 2) Excson Mobiale 3) Chokeron PastaCo 4) Brat Petroleum There!
You can ignore my personal attack...and I'll just ignore you altogether. Ahh, see liberals and conservatives can have some common ground.
it might have been just me, but it looked to me like the retail/services sector in China looked like it was WAY overemployed. I mean I guess it doesn't matter, as labor is so cheap over there, but it seemed like every boutique/restaurant etc had a 25% or so surplus of salespeople/waiters etc who just stood around and looked and acted and believed they were busy when they really weren't.
It's not just you. It's the same in Seoul. If you walk into a store there are dozens of sales people just waiting to "pounce". I suspect the number is larger than 25% in Seoul. The Koreans I work with say that it is because labor is so cheap that retail outlets can afford to have many sales clerks.
