Atlantic City casinos closing...

Zd542, It is all too easy to feel the poor are doomed when we look at the numbers. The older I've gotten, the more I think we all give ourselves too much credit for our accomplishments in life. By that I mean that the vast majority of humans just live out their lives in the same patterns they were taught and exposed to in their formative years. Yes, I went to college, made good grades, worked hard at jobs that weren't ideal when I was younger, and worked my way up the ladder of prosperity as I got older. However, I had a road map of how to do it by cultural example and I'm an Anglo white male that's part of a group with a lot of advantages built in by luck of birth.

I once worked with a man who was born into a wealthy family and he married a daughter of one of the wealthiest and most influential business leaders in our part of the country. He quit working in the business we were in at the time and devoted himself full time to managing his wife's money right at the time the stock market was entering a prolonged bull run (he had training as a broker.) A monkey throwing darts at the financial page NASDAQ listings could make winning decisions in that environment. One day years later when our paths crossed again he remarked with great pride at how well he'd done and how hard he'd worked. When I mentioned that he might take solace in his good fortune in life, he became angry and vehemently denied that family, luck of birth, and good fortune played any role in his lot in life. I just let it go because you're obviously not going to change someone's world view in an argument like that. While an extreme example, I think that type of thinking is very prevalent among those who've done well in the world.

There are definitely those who rise above their lot in life and become successful, but our society is in a downward spiral because so few can or make the effort to do so.

I do completely agree with you about "for profit" universities and it will be interesting to see if we can come up with a way to rein in their predatory practices.

Trelja,
I am in Central N.J.
I grew up in Freehold.
I lived the life Springsteen sang about in his song "My Hometown".
I started in manufacturing in 1981 as a Quality Control Inspector. It took 12 more years until the plant closed. I was at my next position for another 12 years until that company was sold. Since then I have been laid off numerous times due to layoffs, employee reductions in the work force and jobs being sent overseas.
The economy has not been kind to the manufacturing industry in America.
I am a Quality Assurance Inspector by trade, this is what I do. Tomorrow is my 58th birthday and I've had some of the hardest times in my life for last 16 months. Is this all my fault? Younger untrained people willing to work for much less then me, competition from other people in the same boat as me.
My new position pays less then my last one and I am forced to work the grave yard shift but that's life. Not the life I had hoped for in this stage of the game but at least I can start getting out of debt.
I do not resent success and the pleasure it brings, I like my toys like most of us but it shouldn't be so god damned hard.

"I once worked with a man who was born into a wealthy family and he married a daughter of one of the wealthiest and most influential business leaders in our part of the country. He quit working in the business we were in at the time and devoted himself full time to managing his wife's money right at the time the stock market was entering a prolonged bull run (he had training as a broker.) A monkey throwing darts at the financial page NASDAQ listings could make winning decisions in that environment. One day years later when our paths crossed again he remarked with great pride at how well he'd done and how hard he'd worked. When I mentioned that he might take solace in his good fortune in life, he became angry and vehemently denied that family, luck of birth, and good fortune played any role in his lot in life."

Are you still in contact with that guy? I'd really like to talk to him and see how he did it. lol. I don't know if you've ever tried to trade like that for a living, but I can tell you its not easy. He could have gotten lucky, but its far more likely he worked very hard.

"When I mentioned that he might take solace in his good fortune in life, he became angry and vehemently denied that family, luck of birth, and good fortune played any role in his lot in life. I just let it go because you're obviously not going to change someone's world view in an argument like that."

I do understand what you are trying to say in all this, but have another look at the last sentence. How do you know you were right to begin with? Yes, he could have gotten lucky or he could have worked very hard, who knows? I know you weren't trying to offend the guy but when you say: "I just let it go because you're obviously not going to change someone's world view in an argument like that.", I can see where he may have gotten mad. How would you react if he tried to change your world view? You would probably say something like what he said to you.

"I do completely agree with you about "for profit" universities and it will be interesting to see if we can come up with a way to rein in their predatory practices."

I just wanted to clarify what type of school I was talking about. I'm not against a college just because it's for profit. I went to a regular 4 year college that was in business to make a profit. Many people go to schools like that and they're not being ripped off. The schools I'm talking about are called loan mills. These type of schools target people that don't have any type of education above high school. The tuition is based solely on the maximum amount of loans and grants that are available to your average person. They promise the students high paying jobs after graduation, but in the end, its all a bunch of crap. If you are looking for a good example of how the poor are being taken advantage of, this is it. These schools are not only loading people up with debt that they probably will never be able to repay, but the tax payers are taking a huge hit, as well.

The taxpayers are taking a huge hit indeed. About 90% of funding for these mills comes from the government (us taxpayers). They help bundle and source contributions for politicians who become indebted (just like the world's oldest profession) so laws, regulations and investigations become sort of lax, to put it mildly.

University of Phoenix, Kaplan, Everest, Westech, Potomac, Anthem, Westwood, ATI, ITT, Argosy, Bennett, Corinthian, Ashford, DeVry, heck even Harvard (online) are just some of the ones under investigation.

As of now, student debt surpasses credit card debt (somewhere over $1.3 trillion dollars) and efforts to get student loan rates close to the borrowing rate (less than 1%) have been rebuffed by those very same politicians who rely on those sacred institutions to help finance their personal fortunes. Call me cynical, but I see no reason why the government should make billions on student loan interest payments on the backs of students.

Right now, those colleges are doing their best to head off legislation that ties their right to do business to their job placement ability. A small price to pay for what they boast about but fail to do.

All of this is just another con in a long line of cons (remember Enron?) Instead of using taxpayer money to front these thieves, why not use it where it already had proven to work: community colleges?

Our public schools are next. Imagine using taxpayer money to enrich owners of charter schools who perform no better than public schools. Anyone here ready to pony up $10,000 to $30,000 a semester just to see your kid through Jr. and Sr. High? Trust me when I say they've been eyeing this for a long, long time.

All the best,
Nonoise

Thank you for your reply, Dreadhead. You deserve a lot of credit for putting your head down, and trying to put things back on track.

The Quality Assurance background provides you with some great experience. Have you considered Six Sigma or software QA? A person like you could make the transition into one of those hot and well-compensated areas (hopefully) without a lot of drama.

Believe it or not, besides dating a woman in Freehold back aways, our experiences sound more similar than different. I worked as a material scientist / chemist in manufacturing. As you mentioned, it hasn't gone well for our nation in that regard. I'll spare everyone the details, but around Y2K, I saw the handwriting on the wall, and luckily made the jump to something that's held up better than that has. I say luckily because my company went under 1.5 years after I left, whereas I fortunately fell into a program that allowed me to retrain and retool.

Hang in there, keep plugging, and continued best of luck!