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Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
Ehhh, I’d be careful what you wish for. I’m sure you’re aware that Germany has its own set of problems. The most common complaint I’ve heard among my German friends is the lack of career flexibility. For example, one of my close friends is a master brewer, but he barely makes a living wage. This is a guy who has multiple higher level degrees (not only in brewing). He’d love to switch careers to be more upwardly mobile, but he’s pretty much stuck unless he moves to another country.

I won’t dispute that the free education here is great, but the quality of it widely varies.
Yep. I'd rather keep the American system. Opportunity goes both ways, you have opportunity to succeed and opportunity to fail.

Our system is far from perfect, let's always keep trying to improve it, but I'll take it along with its flaws.
 

AllYourBass

I'm okay with the events unfolding currently
pilot
Yep. I'd rather keep the American system. Opportunity goes both ways, you have opportunity to succeed and opportunity to fail.

Our system is far from perfect, let's always keep trying to improve it, but I'll take it along with its flaws.

I'd like to see an actual societal interest in shifting more eggs into the "opportunity to succeed" basket for the nation's young learners, but since a large collective narrative is that school costs/student loans are fine and it's the students making all the mistakes, I'm not optimistic.
 

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
I'd like to see an actual societal interest in shifting more eggs into the "opportunity to succeed" basket for the nation's young learners, but since a large collective narrative is that school costs/student loans are fine and it's the students making all the mistakes, I'm not optimistic.
I think we're working on that... slowly (and slowly is an appropriate pace for that kind of change).

Maybe I have an echo chamber of friends and acquaintances, but there seem to be growing support for what people like Mike Rowe have to say about the trades. Money is a big reason for that- trades pay better than they did 20-30 years ago and as a result, the invisible hand of the marketplace is doing what it does. (I believe in capitalism and free markets but I don't believe in a total laissez-faire economy.)

We'll never get to a perfect system, but I seem to remember a group of guys who coined the phrase "a more perfect ___." I think part of what they meant by that was the system of (limited) laws and society.
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
So in places like Orange County those jobs go unfilled.

If you need cheap labor, you need a stable, cheap labor force. Teenagers aren't it.

nope, they are replaced with self ordering kiosk like they have done around me, government dictates a higher per hour wage, business owners then go to automated systems, they don't have to worry about payroll for all those employees, don't have to worry about healthcare, or anything else the state or feds mandate, and in turn all those jobs are replaced by 1 tech who goes and services several locations.
 

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
nope, they are replaced with self ordering kiosk like they have done around me, government dictates a higher per hour wage, business owners then go to automated systems, they don't have to worry about payroll for all those employees, don't have to worry about healthcare, or anything else the state or feds mandate, and in turn all those jobs are replaced by 1 tech who goes and services several locations.

Kiosks are washing dishes, cooking food, delivering food, pouring beers or mixing drinks, and mopping floors?
 

exNavyOffRec

Well-Known Member
Kiosks are washing dishes, cooking food, delivering food, pouring beers or mixing drinks, and mopping floors?

well in a way yes, self-service drink (soda) dispensers have replaced the person behind the counter getting your drinks that was also taking your order, because there no longer is a person to take your order, you order on the kiosk, they don't deliver food they call a number and you go get it, no beer or mixed drinks as I am talking about fast food, minimal dish washers in fast food, and of course they still need cooks, however getting rid of much of the front people reduces cost.
 

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
well in a way yes, self-service drink (soda) dispensers have replaced the person behind the counter getting your drinks that was also taking your order, because there no longer is a person to take your order, you order on the kiosk, they don't deliver food they call a number and you go get it, no beer or mixed drinks as I am talking about fast food, minimal dish washers in fast food, and of course they still need cooks, however getting rid of much of the front people reduces cost.

None of these places in Orange County were fast food. They were full up restaurants on the main drag in San Clemente.
 

FinkUFreaky

Well-Known Member
pilot
None of these places in Orange County were fast food. They were full up restaurants on the main drag in San Clemente.
And if they need to pay their people more to work, they need to charge more for food. It's quite simple really. Either the economy can support a joint like that or it can't. And if it can't, then no full up restaurants on that drag bc they priced them out... It really does work. But if the gov mandates paying the dishwasher a "living wage" for a family of four... it definitely will be priced out.
 

DanMa1156

Is it baseball season yet?
pilot
Contributor
I think we're working on that... slowly (and slowly is an appropriate pace for that kind of change).

Maybe I have an echo chamber of friends and acquaintances, but there seem to be growing support for what people like Mike Rowe have to say about the trades. Money is a big reason for that- trades pay better than they did 20-30 years ago and as a result, the invisible hand of the marketplace is doing what it does. (I believe in capitalism and free markets but I don't believe in a total laissez-faire economy.)

We'll never get to a perfect system, but I seem to remember a group of guys who coined the phrase "a more perfect ___." I think part of what they meant by that was the system of (limited) laws and society.

My mom routinely chides my brother and I for not having Master's degrees yet - all of our cousins on that side of the family do... My dad quickly points out to her "yeah, but how much do you think our kids make - they are making more than their cousins?" I tell her I have the equivalent of a Master's Degree in flying, but to no avail. She seems to think there's no way I am making 6 figures (or close to it depending on where I live). She, like many Americans are stuck in the rut of thinking that degrees automatically = $$ and the military is no place to be able to make a living long term, save for a pension at the end.

For what it's worth, between having gone to USNA and flight school, as a O-4 select you all know what I'm making with just a B.S. My brother has as B.A. in Photography from a SUNY school but focused more on digital retouching and has been doing that since he graduated in 2011 and makes ~$120-130k depending on the year in NYC with his own apartment he bought. He's doing just fine. My cousins with the M.A.'s and M.S.'s are in the 60k range, but arguing with my mother is pointless on the topic as she truly believes that they have a higher status in life with their degrees. To me, she represents that line of thinking that I mentioned.

Know who is doing better than all of us?

My best friend in high school who was always on the verge of failing out. He's an A&P (and now avionics Master Tech too!) for Gulfsteam with a year of formal education on the topic + the schools Gulfstream sends him too in house. Guy is clearing $135k. Biggest expense was buying his own tools and tool box. When he gets on the government contracts to Italy and/or Afghanistan, he's socking away way more than that with all the per diem/hazard duty pay he gets from the company.
 
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