Occupy Thread

when and where, historically, has it been enough to work hard?

according to many delusional people, today, in america.

maybe we're confusing "work hard" with "work smart"

what are you implying with "work smart"?

planning your career path based not solely on your own wants and desires, but what the demand will be for your specific skill set and the feasibility of long term work within that career field.

no one can predict what's going to happen with the economy or technology in 20-50 years, but you can take a good guess and throw your efforts at emerging/growing industries

The job I just got has me earning more than my sister, who has her BA and my brother in law, who is about to finish his masters. I'm lucky as fuck as I was unemployed for 3 months simply due to the hostile job climate. I worked my ass off making tofu for a couple of years and it amounted to nothing but a shit wage and a shitty amount of responsibility. Either make $11 at the tofu shop or $9.50 at one of the thousands of shitty coffee shops, restaurants or bars. And I generally dislike people so customer service wasn't much of an option. How I managed to pull the job I did is unbeknownst to me but it's a fucking godsend.

So I was doing my best to work smart but when the system does it's best to dumb you down it's hard to make a living out of it.

  On 11/18/2011 at 10:27 PM, theSun said:

no one can predict what's going to happen with the economy or technology in 20-50 years

things are so unstable now that it seems difficult to predict where its going to be 20 months from now, let alone 20 years.

i get what youre saying, and for the most part agree with it, but to imply that a major factor in 26% unemployment between the ages of 24-36 is simply bad planning is misguided imo.

not when you take into account that our education system does not help for career planning at all until college (you should have figured shit out by then anyways) . maybe they scratch the surface but they're more worried about standardized tests and you passing those tests, thus passing through the world to become the burden of some other institution.

"bad planning" is as much the fault of the schools, parents and of course the individual.

yeah, i mostly agree, but im confused as to why you are so reluctant to recognize the clusterfuck that is the U.S. and world economy as a major contributing factor to unemployment. yeah, i get it, personal responsibility is very important, but look at the bigger picture here.

i cant remember the exact age range, i believe its something similar to ages 24-36, but i was reading the other day that spains unemployment rate for that demographic is something like 50%. that is fucking staggering and should scare the shit out of anyone with half a brain. the u.s. seems to be heading in the direction with little sign of improvement... hell, 26% is staggering..

i'm reluctant to admit what? remember when i said

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that said, the wealth gap and corporate profits are out of control. CEO to worker pay ratio is shit in US, something like 300:1. also (this will never happen) - inherited wealth should be limited to $5million. no reason you should be able to give your kids more than that.

and get corporate money out of campaigns, yadda yadda. we all know that assholes betting with other peoples money were lying about the odds and that's the whole issue with the banking system. obvious reform is needed.

i'm simply observing that many of my own peers have unrealistic expectations that were driven into their heads by counselors, parents, teachers and professors and assuming it applies to a larger sample. the (US) education system should be changing with the times to best equip our youth and so far it is not.

  On 11/19/2011 at 12:05 AM, theSun said:

i'm reluctant to admit what?

that the astronomical unemployment rate among the demographic that i mentioned has less to do with personal responsibility and more to do with forces outside peoples control.

i dont really want to turn this into an argument about education.

yeah but those people are just jobless, lazy hippies with an entitlement complex. what he said doesnt apply to them because they were asking for it.

omg guys i have something riduculous to show you, but i have to edit out the names on the Facebook thread first, holy shit

eagerly awaiting this

i love how his blinding ignorance makes him unwilling to even believe Scott Olson was an actual veteran. just a good realistic insight into how delusional these people are.

i have a 2nd one that i cant find right now where he starts the facebook thread by saying 'OCCUPY A CELL' implying that all protesters should go to jail

"organization is a shame and a slap in the face to everything we believe in"?

By"organization", does he mean "protesting"?

the very definition of a douchbag

i would love to debate this guy

  On 11/19/2011 at 12:16 AM, Z_B_Z said:

i dont really want to turn this into an argument about education.

I think it's worth pointing out though that higher education (and the ridiculously higher and still rising costs thereof) is a huge part of the problem. And there's the whole student loan scam, which is one of the most obscene ways the average american is getting worked over by systematic greed - it's debt with no consumer protection whatsoever.

http://www.amazon.co...y/dp/0807042293

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Alan Collinge never imagined he would become a student loan justice activist. He planned to land a solid job after college, repay his student loan debt, and then simply forget the loans ever existed. Like millions of Americans, however, in spite of working hard, Collinge fell behind on payments and entered a labyrinthine student loan nightmare.

 

High school graduates can no longer put themselves through college for a few thousand dollars in loan debt. Today, the average undergraduate borrower leaves school with more than $20,000 in student loans, and for graduate students the average is a whopping $42,000. For the past twenty years, college tuition has increased at more than double the rate of inflation, with the cost largely shifting to student debt.

 

The Student Loan Scam is an exposé of the predatory nature of the $85-billion student loan industry. In this in-depth exploration, Collinge argues that student loans have become the most profitable, uncompetitive, and oppressive type of debt in American history. This has occurred in large part due to federal legislation passed since the mid-1990s that removed standard consumer protections from student loans-and allowed for massive penalties and draconian wealth-extraction mechanisms to collect this inflated debt.

 

Collinge covers the history of student loans, the rise of Sallie Mae, and how universities have profited at the expense of students. The book includes candid and compelling stories from people across the country about how both nonprofit and for-profit student loan companies, aided by poor legislation, have shattered their lives-and livelihoods. With nearly 5 million defaulted loans, this crisis is growing to epic proportions.

 

The Student Loan Scam takes an unflinching look at this unprecedented and pressing problem, while exposing the powerful organizations and individuals who caused it to happen. Ultimately, Collinge argues for the return of standard consumer protections for student loans, among other pragmatic solutions, in this clarion call for social action.

i guess i was talking more about the culture within institutions when i said "education." i mentioned student loans earlier in the thread. it is indeed a gigantic problem. cant wait for that bubble to burst.. former students and graduates defaulting en masse, unable to pay back the trillions that were lent out

cant wait for it to burst? i dunno, id rather be able to pay it off.

i see what you mean though.

sarcasm

  On 11/18/2011 at 11:01 PM, theSun said:

not when you take into account that our education system does not help for career planning at all until college (you should have figured shit out by then anyways) . maybe they scratch the surface but they're more worried about standardized tests and you passing those tests, thus passing through the world to become the burden of some other institution. "bad planning" is as much the fault of the schools, parents and of course the individual.

I can't agree with that - when you're 18 going in to college you're supposed have everything figured out for the rest of your 40 working years?

here is your picture of the year:

wtf is goin on there?