Honestly, regardless of your political party, do you feel the USA is going to get better again?
It seems like 1/2 of everyone I know is unemployed, underemployed, underpaid(severely--talking 85k down to 30k), or working odd jobs to barely make rent/survive. I know engineers, nurses, accountants, etc. who cannot land a job and my heart aches, because I am in a similar position and working a part-time office job for only $10/hr, here in NYC. That may sound somewhat decent, but trust me..it's not. I am only lucky enough to be catching a break from my fiance's parents. We live in their basement! Both of us are trying to finish our Bachelors, I already have my LPN license, and we are making use of this advantage, and I think..gosh..even I feel the burn of this economy. I can only imagine people with children/families. In ALL reality..give me your brutal honesty..do you think the USA will ever recover from this terrible depression, and if so, how long do you think it will take and how exactly will it happen? I can't help but seeing China as this super force and all these other countries that have some type of "goodie" to offer...we don't seem to have ANYTHING that's in demand :-/. ..and since times are hard, I know even MORE of us are buying from China and other cheap foreign countries..I mean, everything is literally made in China. It's crazy.
Politics - 13 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Are you serious??? Go talk to your parents about the early 80's little girl. And if they weren't old enough talk to grandma and grandpa ^^lol that's the fucking coolest thing I've seen on here a pooh bear made from keyboard characters!! holy sh!t
2 :
yes now that one party is no long in Control things will get bettor
3 :
I think all the world will be worst and worst, honestly, and at the bottom will be actual (still) powers : US, EU etc.
4 :
Yes things will likely improve. I am older and lived through times of higher unemployment, higher inflation, etc. It was bad waiting in long lines for your limit of 5 gallons of gas during the Carter years. And when you finally got up to the pump the station ran out, and your car ran out. There have been worse times. The younger generation just hasn't seen it.
5 :
Yes, the more we buy from China makes it even worse on our national economy. Maybe a cold war with that hybrid monstrosity would be good.The only ones benefitting from our relation with that monster are U.S. Corporatists.Yes, it does seem that more than likely they would support Republican policies.Let's talk some truth, we are more dependent on China than IT is on us.I have heard so many members on this site that China is dependent on US for its economy to stay healthy. We depend on China for ours to stay sour?We need more trade regulations, more corporate regulations, not fewer. I am mad too.
6 :
No. I think it will level off after much loss in this country but without our manufacturing base, we are a service economy. Services were never paid as well as manufacturing. It could return after we can be competitive with the 3rd world countries which will either be the result of our collapse or after many years of decline. That sounds so strange. The UN doesn't want resources to be used except for absolute necessities. There is an effort to minimalize life activities on this planet. Even our own government does not talk about restoring prosperity. They talk about living a more minimalistic life. I have never heard that in all my 63 years of living in this country. Without consumerism, many will be unemployed or working for the government in a service capacity. This country has indeed been fundamentally transformed. All Western nations are experiencing the same thing. Its a matter of spreading the wealth. Read UN Agenda 21 signed by George HW Bush in 1992 and by well over 100 other countries. Know your future. Its the New World Order.
7 :
Sorry, the American century is over. Welcome to the new normal.
8 :
If you are a nurse, check out the calls for people who know medical terminologies, a working knowledge of computers, any typing ability (good spelling a MUST), and can actually read doctors' handwritings (lol), because a job that pays around $60,000 to start is being advertised often for changing the nation's paper-laden medical records to computer-generated reports. If you look in your city's Yellow Pages under "Management," there should be a whole slew of firms listed who do NOT go through regular channels for finding qualified management personnel. Choose only those firms where the COMPANY pays any fees and some even pay relocation expenses as well. A few will help you with your resume, even. They prefer college-educated candidates who have worked in some sort of supervisory capacity (even if only managing one or two employees). As to the United States "getting better"---There are signs everywhere that this nation is edging towards a full recovery at every level. Employment was harmed by the GOP's penchant for massive OUTSOURCING of all our manufacturing jobs, but even this has been addressed by both the Obama administration and the Democrats in both the House and the Senate. How? The Republicans' foolish subsidies and tax breaks for companies who move their entire operations overseas have now been ended, and replaced with subsidies and tax breaks for companies that relocate or set up on American soil. Commonsense. In addition, if you check out the whitehouse.gov website, you will discover quite a few resources and positive actions underway for people such as yourself, working Americans. The rebuilding of our lost manufacturing base is well underway, too...see recovery.gov for details on the more than 40 states with new alternative-energy plants in operation---part of President Obama's "Green-Energy" technologies initiative that will eventually wean us off of foreign oil and onto earth-friendly renewable fuels (solar or wind-powered, water-powered, etc.). You might find jobs available in these new fields that are high-paying. This might also be an area where you'd like to make some investments, because the values will escalate over time. Chrysler (a car company we lent money to keep alive) has now moved its 800# Customer Service operations back onto American soil, setting up in both Utah and Michigan (and hiring Americans again). GM is hiring, and they now are selling their shares on Wall Street. You might consider returning to college as well. Pell Grants have been INCREASED under the Obama and Democratic team, and as part of the new Affordable Care Act (health care and insurance reforms) and its "Fix It" addendum, college students can now cut tuition costs by making DIRECT loans through the Department of Education instead of using high-interest banks as middlemen. On the health care reforms, check out cnn.com/healthcare or the whitehouse.gov sites.
9 :
Not with all the lobby groups representing companies who outsource jobs and keep the US unemployed, using our politicians to represent their interests over ours.
10 :
Things will get better. The economy has already been stopped from it's free fall and has begun to recover. Employment always lags behind, but will begin to improve shortly too. We are in the most serious recession since the 30's and recovery will be very slow. From what I've read, we can't expect real progress on the employment front for another 4 or 5 years. You, however, are in the enviable position of preparing for a job that is in demand and will be even more so in the future. Many Americans will never regain the earning power they once had and will have to settle for much less. Their lives will never be the same. The biggest problem with the recovery and with America's immediate future is the tremendous debt, both public and private, that we've racked up over the past thirty years. Because the federal government is so far in the hole, their number one strategy of borrowing and spending money to stimulate the economy during recession, had to be greatly tempered. Although a stimulus package was instituted, it wasn't enough to cause a quick recovery. Also, the middle class borrowed greatly, especially in the past ten years, in order to maintain their standard of living since wages, adjusted for inflation have decreased. They are now paying off that debt instead of purchasing consumer goods and services in the same volume as before. America has been on a spending spree which now must be payed back. The wealthy have been doing quite well however. Their net worths and income have risen significantly over the past thirty years, and with the recent Supreme Court decision that allows corporations to give unlimited amounts secretly to political campaigns, the wealthy are in no danger of legislation which levels the playing field to pre-Reagan days. (They currently pay a less percentage of their incomes in taxes than working class Americans) Therefore, unless you are in the top five percent of wage earners, you can expect your income to continue decreasing slowly. The good news is that 95% of us will be in this boat together so that it won't be so greatly noticed, nor so painful as it is now.
11 :
This year GM has taken the champion in China car sale,America export will be better and better.
12 :
In your situation you could improve your lot by moving where the local economy is much more diverse than NYC and the east coast in general. The south has more to offer because it's base is not in manufacturing and other industry's tied to the problem of our massive, massive debt to China. While the economy here(TN) is not robust by any means but it is overwhelmingly better than the Northeast. If I wanted a job here I could find one-not anything career building-but they are here. Our unemployment numbers are high mainly because they are dragged down by the closed Saturn plant. A quick check of the Sunday paper shows over 100 LPN positions. When I was much younger during the Reagan years you could find 5 full time jobs in one afternoon if you wanted to. My biggest problem back then was finding workers-as hard as it is too believe today we never had enough employees. As far as the USA recovering, as you say, the answer is crystal clear what needs to happen-and someday it will one way or the other. We must pay down our massive debt which overburdens every single part of our economy. You can toss blame hither and tither and up and around but all comes back to the something-we must cut entitlements for the nation to survive. As an example-a friend sent me pictures of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans-they were mind-blowing in their scope. Recently, he sent me pictures of the same areas and lo and behold-nothing has changed one bit. The massive destruction is still there. 190 billion dollars has been pumped into this area-and it's been spent. That in a nutshell is what must be stopped for this economy to recover. sp
13 :
YES we could however this is going to be the deciding factor. "MORE of us are buying from China and other cheap foreign countries..I mean, everything is literally made in China." We as a country would have to stop the purchase of "cheap foreign goods" as much as possible and make a point to buy American Made whenever possible. I am not criticizing you as almost all of us a guilty of purchasing "cheap foreign goods", however the more ALL Americans buy cheap goods from China and other foreign countries the worse we(the US) will get and the incentive & our ability to restart our manufacturing will get weaker. Globalization has turned out to be our enemy as we have always had the lead in technology and we are starting to see the loss of that. What we have to get away from is "cheap foreign goods". If anyone has noticed they are not as "cheap" as they use to be. I never thought I would be saying or even consider thinking this but it probably is true. If we were to use isolationism on trade or a 25-30% tax on imported products that would raise the price of imports to a point where if the same product was made in the US we could compete. As crazy as isolationism sounds it would force us to restart our manufacturing ASAP and recover faster as only US made products would be available. Then any imported product we are already use to would become a potential "NEW" product to manufacture here ASAP. It would also require our laws to prevent monopolies. It would require that only American owned companies be involved in this to keep the money in the US economy. I remember when this all started and hearing people say that buying low quality imports would never affect thier job but it did catch up with them. The popular term I picked up back then and still use is "china crap"
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Friday, December 28, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
GCSE English. Is this story half decent? Please can you check it? What grade will I get
GCSE English. Is this story half decent? Please can you check it? What grade will I get?
I blocked all sound out as I walked down the clean white intimidating walls of the hospital corridor. My trainers squeaked like a large family of rodents running away in fear from their ferocious flying feathered enemy. I looked down to take in as much detail as possible. I wanted to remember everything I could. It was an important day in my life. I could tell as soon as I woke up this morning. The floor of the long corridor was speckled orange as if someone had splattered it with paint. Attempting joyful creativity but failing as this was a place of death and torture for some people. I knew it was for me. I couldn’t even imagine what it must be like for Lilly. “She’s just through here†announced the nurse. My knees knocked together with nerves. I didn’t know if I wanted to see what was behind those brightly coloured patterned curtains. It all seemed so fake. Nothing seemed real any more. It’s the type of thing that happens in films. Not my life. I never thought it would happen to me. I pulled back the ugly colourful curtain and was shocked with what I saw. Lilly was as pale as a sheet lying in the white hospital bed. Almost lifeless, except from her chest slowly moving every second or so. The beeping from monitor echoed continuously around the small room. Lilly’s mum was a statue as I gasped. She didn’t notice anything apart from the zombie of my best friend in the hospital bed. Lilly’s skin was so pale; she looked like a china doll. “You have five minutes, then you’ll have to leave†Lilly’s mum let out a sob. How was I going to do it in five minutes? What if it was the last time I’ll ever see her? I wanted things to go back to the way they were before. I wanted to tell her all the gossip. I wanted to go to the beach with her. I wanted to go shopping with her. What if nothing like that ever happened again? I didn’t want to imagine it. The future was too dark to think about. Right now was where I should be keeping my mind, with Lilly. I needed to concentrate. Maybe if I talked to her, like I usually do. She’ll wake up and everything will be back to normal. “Lilly?†My voice was croaky from not talking in hours. I had to think about what I was going to say. What would wake her up? I remember when we first met; we were both eight. Our hair was in bunches and our front were teeth missing I recall as I reminisce about our old school class photo. She had just moved here from Manchester and everyone was teasing her because her accent was different to all the others children’s. I told them to back off but she said she didn’t need me to stand up for her. She told me she didn’t need to depend on anyone; it’s ironic now as she’s depending on a machine to breath for her. Then after school we were in the cloakroom, she saw my school bag had S Club 7 written on it. She asked if I liked them, I told her I loved them. She smiled a toothy grin and told me she loved them as well. Somehow despite our differences we got closer and closer over the years. We were inseparable. Until that red ford fiesta knocked her down. I awoke from my reminission as I heard a long beep. I knew this wasn’t good news straight away. The monitors beeped uncontrollably. The doctors and nurses pushed me and Lilly’s mum out of the way. “I’m sorry you’re going to have to leaveâ€, the nurse exclaimed. Lilly’s mum screamed. It pierced my ears. Not just the pitch but the emotion in the scream. They gathered around Lilly’s bed like ants surrounding a dropped piece of fruit. The last beep lasted a lifetime. I knew she was gone.
Books & Authors - 2 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
It gets better as you (meaning you as the author) get into. It seems like in the beginning your trying to get into the story too. Try writing some paragraphs before where you started that way you'll already be in it. The only problem I have with it is in the beginning. There's no emotion in it and the line about the rodents has got to go. Those kinds of lines have to be compact. Happy Trails
2 :
Not Great, but pretty good. Fine points remission, not reminisssion. colorful, not colourful Personally I would streamline this piece by making war on dative clauses, prepositional phrases, adverbials and passive verbs. YOURS: My voice was croaky from not talking in hours. I had to think about what I was going to say. MINE: My voice croaky from talk, I gave thought to what I should say. The most important thing is to keep on writing. Also keep in mind, sometimes creative writing requires one to bend the rules. I say this last bit because you are "this" close to doing flow of thought writing; especially at the start.
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I blocked all sound out as I walked down the clean white intimidating walls of the hospital corridor. My trainers squeaked like a large family of rodents running away in fear from their ferocious flying feathered enemy. I looked down to take in as much detail as possible. I wanted to remember everything I could. It was an important day in my life. I could tell as soon as I woke up this morning. The floor of the long corridor was speckled orange as if someone had splattered it with paint. Attempting joyful creativity but failing as this was a place of death and torture for some people. I knew it was for me. I couldn’t even imagine what it must be like for Lilly. “She’s just through here†announced the nurse. My knees knocked together with nerves. I didn’t know if I wanted to see what was behind those brightly coloured patterned curtains. It all seemed so fake. Nothing seemed real any more. It’s the type of thing that happens in films. Not my life. I never thought it would happen to me. I pulled back the ugly colourful curtain and was shocked with what I saw. Lilly was as pale as a sheet lying in the white hospital bed. Almost lifeless, except from her chest slowly moving every second or so. The beeping from monitor echoed continuously around the small room. Lilly’s mum was a statue as I gasped. She didn’t notice anything apart from the zombie of my best friend in the hospital bed. Lilly’s skin was so pale; she looked like a china doll. “You have five minutes, then you’ll have to leave†Lilly’s mum let out a sob. How was I going to do it in five minutes? What if it was the last time I’ll ever see her? I wanted things to go back to the way they were before. I wanted to tell her all the gossip. I wanted to go to the beach with her. I wanted to go shopping with her. What if nothing like that ever happened again? I didn’t want to imagine it. The future was too dark to think about. Right now was where I should be keeping my mind, with Lilly. I needed to concentrate. Maybe if I talked to her, like I usually do. She’ll wake up and everything will be back to normal. “Lilly?†My voice was croaky from not talking in hours. I had to think about what I was going to say. What would wake her up? I remember when we first met; we were both eight. Our hair was in bunches and our front were teeth missing I recall as I reminisce about our old school class photo. She had just moved here from Manchester and everyone was teasing her because her accent was different to all the others children’s. I told them to back off but she said she didn’t need me to stand up for her. She told me she didn’t need to depend on anyone; it’s ironic now as she’s depending on a machine to breath for her. Then after school we were in the cloakroom, she saw my school bag had S Club 7 written on it. She asked if I liked them, I told her I loved them. She smiled a toothy grin and told me she loved them as well. Somehow despite our differences we got closer and closer over the years. We were inseparable. Until that red ford fiesta knocked her down. I awoke from my reminission as I heard a long beep. I knew this wasn’t good news straight away. The monitors beeped uncontrollably. The doctors and nurses pushed me and Lilly’s mum out of the way. “I’m sorry you’re going to have to leaveâ€, the nurse exclaimed. Lilly’s mum screamed. It pierced my ears. Not just the pitch but the emotion in the scream. They gathered around Lilly’s bed like ants surrounding a dropped piece of fruit. The last beep lasted a lifetime. I knew she was gone.
Books & Authors - 2 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
It gets better as you (meaning you as the author) get into. It seems like in the beginning your trying to get into the story too. Try writing some paragraphs before where you started that way you'll already be in it. The only problem I have with it is in the beginning. There's no emotion in it and the line about the rodents has got to go. Those kinds of lines have to be compact. Happy Trails
2 :
Not Great, but pretty good. Fine points remission, not reminisssion. colorful, not colourful Personally I would streamline this piece by making war on dative clauses, prepositional phrases, adverbials and passive verbs. YOURS: My voice was croaky from not talking in hours. I had to think about what I was going to say. MINE: My voice croaky from talk, I gave thought to what I should say. The most important thing is to keep on writing. Also keep in mind, sometimes creative writing requires one to bend the rules. I say this last bit because you are "this" close to doing flow of thought writing; especially at the start.
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Friday, December 7, 2012
Anyone read Life is funny? please help
Anyone read Life is funny? please help!!!!?
had to write short summary for hw about the book I read, wanted to know if it sounded okay, THANK you. Life is Funny is about eleven teenagers in Brooklyn, NY. They are all from different backgrounds and races; each deals with many problems that intertwine over a period of seven years. Their lives are full with relationships, family problems, alcoholic and abusive parents, drugs, and violence. The eleven teenagers are China, Eric, Monique, Drew, Grace, Mickey, Ebony, Sonia, Gingerbread, Keisha, and Sam. The story starts off with China. She is friends with Grace and Ebony, and eventually becomes friends with Sonia. To deal with the pain of missing her dad, Ebony cuts herself. China is the one who keeps bothering her to stop. Drew is very rich; he has everything except a good home life. He rejects all the material possessions that his father buys him when he finally calls 911 to save his mother from getting beaten again by his father. Gingerbread is Drew’s neighbor and witnesses all of the things he goes through. Gingerbread and Keisha end up dating. Keisha lives with her Aunt Eva, her little sister and older brother Nick. She also has a hard time but finds comfort in Gingerbread. Monique, who is pregnant by her abusive ex-boyfriend, finds real peace with Hector, a nurse at the prenatal clinic who knows that love is the only way to help her cope with her anger. Grace becomes a model; her life seems perfect, except for her relationship with her mom. Nothing Grace does is ever right in her mom’s eyes. Sam, like Grace also becomes a model. They date for awhile and find they have many things in common. When Drew comes to the High School in Brooklyn, he and Sam immediately make friends. Sonia is dealing with the pressure of being a good Muslim girl in an intolerant public school. It becomes really hard for her when the only person who seemed to understand her committed suicide. The story ends with Eric, who has also faced many problems like drugs. The only person he really seems to like is his brother. His mother is a drug addict, and he becomes the caretaker for his little brother, Mickey. The brothers are adopted by a family. Their new foster-sister, Linnette is intimidated by Eric and his bottled-up anger. Eric eventually opens up to Linnette and things start to get better. In the end, all of their stories seem to tie in with each other; they all have faced similar hardships and faced the reality of growing up into adulthood.
Family - 1 Answers
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1 :
Clarify if Gingerbread is a guy or not.Other than that I think its great ^^
Read moer discussion :
had to write short summary for hw about the book I read, wanted to know if it sounded okay, THANK you. Life is Funny is about eleven teenagers in Brooklyn, NY. They are all from different backgrounds and races; each deals with many problems that intertwine over a period of seven years. Their lives are full with relationships, family problems, alcoholic and abusive parents, drugs, and violence. The eleven teenagers are China, Eric, Monique, Drew, Grace, Mickey, Ebony, Sonia, Gingerbread, Keisha, and Sam. The story starts off with China. She is friends with Grace and Ebony, and eventually becomes friends with Sonia. To deal with the pain of missing her dad, Ebony cuts herself. China is the one who keeps bothering her to stop. Drew is very rich; he has everything except a good home life. He rejects all the material possessions that his father buys him when he finally calls 911 to save his mother from getting beaten again by his father. Gingerbread is Drew’s neighbor and witnesses all of the things he goes through. Gingerbread and Keisha end up dating. Keisha lives with her Aunt Eva, her little sister and older brother Nick. She also has a hard time but finds comfort in Gingerbread. Monique, who is pregnant by her abusive ex-boyfriend, finds real peace with Hector, a nurse at the prenatal clinic who knows that love is the only way to help her cope with her anger. Grace becomes a model; her life seems perfect, except for her relationship with her mom. Nothing Grace does is ever right in her mom’s eyes. Sam, like Grace also becomes a model. They date for awhile and find they have many things in common. When Drew comes to the High School in Brooklyn, he and Sam immediately make friends. Sonia is dealing with the pressure of being a good Muslim girl in an intolerant public school. It becomes really hard for her when the only person who seemed to understand her committed suicide. The story ends with Eric, who has also faced many problems like drugs. The only person he really seems to like is his brother. His mother is a drug addict, and he becomes the caretaker for his little brother, Mickey. The brothers are adopted by a family. Their new foster-sister, Linnette is intimidated by Eric and his bottled-up anger. Eric eventually opens up to Linnette and things start to get better. In the end, all of their stories seem to tie in with each other; they all have faced similar hardships and faced the reality of growing up into adulthood.
Family - 1 Answers
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1 :
Clarify if Gingerbread is a guy or not.Other than that I think its great ^^
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Saturday, December 1, 2012
What kind of economy will my generation be looking at
What kind of economy will my generation be looking at?
My dad has been really pushing me with school because he is trying to prepare me for the future. He says the next Great Depression is coming. Our government has spent so much money that it can't pay it's debt and the only way to pay it off is to raise taxes and prices of everything, but even that won't pay it off. Yet the government continues to print money so it can pay for all this stuff dropping the dollar value constantly. Businesses won't be able to pay their employees and people will lose their jobs. He says we are past the turning point and the only way to fix our economy is to fall. After we, the U.S. and major consumer fall, the industrial companies like China will fall with us, because we wont be buying their goods. He said he expects us, America, to go the war with China which might lead into another world war. I didn't really understand why he said China would want to go to war with us but he said something about their 2 trillion dollar reserve and us bringing the value of that down after we fall. I'm 15 and I'm a volunteer firefighter. I'm also going to be taking paramedic training classes when I'm 16 or 17. All my life I've wanted to be a serviceman and my plans for college are studying physical therapy and probably other stuff in health and hopefully I'll be able to get a PHD, would that be a safe career choice? I also plan on taking ROTC. After college I plan on enlisting into the Army. Would that also be a good idea, considering our future? But we might all get drafted if there is a war anyway. Then after the Army I plan on starting my career in physical therapy or whatever I get the PHD in if I get it. My fallback plan is to get a job in a hospital somewhere if i can because my mom is a nurse and I've learned stuff from her, I'm getting experience from firefighting, I'm in junior ROTC with my high school, and I plan on taking those paramedic classes. I don't know if I will be able to enlist and follow my dream anymore though. I might just have to work my butt off the rest of my life. My dad says we need to get a farm, drill a well, and learn to rely on our selves. What do you people think? Will i be able to follow my dream or is my dad right about this stuff? @Anjaree My dad is no democrat. He wants me to have a job that pays. Something in science, not necessarily in the health field. The health field seems safe to me because people will always need doctors.
Economics - 3 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
your dad is a bit of a pessimist, but he's right about education. All brainless jobs are being outsourced to China or done by machines. Medical field is a very sensible career. Doctors earn a ton, and nurses, technicians and other support personnel are also making a decent living. The industry will not go away as population is ageing, and mechanization will not be a threat to jobs for at least a generation.
2 :
Your father is obviously a democrat. He supports the health care reform. Personel in the health sector will get a decent job and be rich. Our health care reform will be completed in 6 years. You can't wait.
3 :
I'm not sure things will turn out exactly the way your father predicts, but from where I stand, he is at least a realist. I tend to look at the more fundamental issues: the world is living beyond the carrying capacity of the Earth: http://dieoff.org/page110.htm http://dieoff.org/page13.htm That is not sustainable, which means things are almost certainly going to get a lot worse fairly soon. For example: 1. The U.S. economy and all modern economies are built on cheap energy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_intensity When energy prices rise too high, the U.S. economy goes into recession http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2009/09/16/oil-prices-mean-perpetual-recession.aspx So whether oil prices rise because of greater demand or just because the remaining oil is harder and harder to get to, the lack of cheap oil is going to hurt. 2. Global warming is going to hurt http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/science/earth/09climate.html etc. http://www.energybulletin.net/node/3834 So he is right about economic times getting harder. I can easily see wars over access to resources as a result, http://globalpolicy.org/the-dark-side-of-natural-resources/water-in-conflict.html but it is harder to see a complete breakdown of law and order in the U.S. And if there were a complete breakdown, no small group could survive for any length of time on their own. Even the American colonists relied on continuing support from England; the frontiersman on the supplies from town; etc. And, of course, modern society is far more complex than ever before. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/07/insufficient-data.html So what's the answer? I can't tell you. But: 1. Education is never wasted as long as it is not too specialized. Very narrow niches can be very rewarding, but they are also very risky. 2. Technical skills are important, but so are people skills. And the ability to learn and adapt is going to be critical - very few people are going to be in one career their entire life. 3. Don't make security a high priority - it will ruin your life. 4. Stay healthy - take care of yourself, eat right, exercise, etc. Whether the world will run into major problems, as your father and I think, or not, things are going to be VERY different. (Compare your life as a teenager, your father's, and your grandfather's. Change has been coming thick and fast. So there will be big changes even if things work out very well.) Trying to anticipate and selecting the "right" path is the high risk approach. Being ready to adapt is the only way to survive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalist_and_specialist_species All that said, getting into health care is not a bad idea; though I'd aim higher than physical therapy. The military does offer good training for better qualified enlistees (but maybe the Navy or Air Force rather than the Army?) and helps pay for schooling after, so that is not unreasonable either. And, no matter what, however good or bad things go, you will have to work your butt off the rest of your life. And people with high-paying jobs tend to work even more: http://www.bls.gov/k12/help06.htm So, try to find work you find worth doing, that will make you feel good about you've accomplished at the end of the day, not work that just pays well, but leaves you feeling like a heel.
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My dad has been really pushing me with school because he is trying to prepare me for the future. He says the next Great Depression is coming. Our government has spent so much money that it can't pay it's debt and the only way to pay it off is to raise taxes and prices of everything, but even that won't pay it off. Yet the government continues to print money so it can pay for all this stuff dropping the dollar value constantly. Businesses won't be able to pay their employees and people will lose their jobs. He says we are past the turning point and the only way to fix our economy is to fall. After we, the U.S. and major consumer fall, the industrial companies like China will fall with us, because we wont be buying their goods. He said he expects us, America, to go the war with China which might lead into another world war. I didn't really understand why he said China would want to go to war with us but he said something about their 2 trillion dollar reserve and us bringing the value of that down after we fall. I'm 15 and I'm a volunteer firefighter. I'm also going to be taking paramedic training classes when I'm 16 or 17. All my life I've wanted to be a serviceman and my plans for college are studying physical therapy and probably other stuff in health and hopefully I'll be able to get a PHD, would that be a safe career choice? I also plan on taking ROTC. After college I plan on enlisting into the Army. Would that also be a good idea, considering our future? But we might all get drafted if there is a war anyway. Then after the Army I plan on starting my career in physical therapy or whatever I get the PHD in if I get it. My fallback plan is to get a job in a hospital somewhere if i can because my mom is a nurse and I've learned stuff from her, I'm getting experience from firefighting, I'm in junior ROTC with my high school, and I plan on taking those paramedic classes. I don't know if I will be able to enlist and follow my dream anymore though. I might just have to work my butt off the rest of my life. My dad says we need to get a farm, drill a well, and learn to rely on our selves. What do you people think? Will i be able to follow my dream or is my dad right about this stuff? @Anjaree My dad is no democrat. He wants me to have a job that pays. Something in science, not necessarily in the health field. The health field seems safe to me because people will always need doctors.
Economics - 3 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
your dad is a bit of a pessimist, but he's right about education. All brainless jobs are being outsourced to China or done by machines. Medical field is a very sensible career. Doctors earn a ton, and nurses, technicians and other support personnel are also making a decent living. The industry will not go away as population is ageing, and mechanization will not be a threat to jobs for at least a generation.
2 :
Your father is obviously a democrat. He supports the health care reform. Personel in the health sector will get a decent job and be rich. Our health care reform will be completed in 6 years. You can't wait.
3 :
I'm not sure things will turn out exactly the way your father predicts, but from where I stand, he is at least a realist. I tend to look at the more fundamental issues: the world is living beyond the carrying capacity of the Earth: http://dieoff.org/page110.htm http://dieoff.org/page13.htm That is not sustainable, which means things are almost certainly going to get a lot worse fairly soon. For example: 1. The U.S. economy and all modern economies are built on cheap energy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_intensity When energy prices rise too high, the U.S. economy goes into recession http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2009/09/16/oil-prices-mean-perpetual-recession.aspx So whether oil prices rise because of greater demand or just because the remaining oil is harder and harder to get to, the lack of cheap oil is going to hurt. 2. Global warming is going to hurt http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/science/earth/09climate.html etc. http://www.energybulletin.net/node/3834 So he is right about economic times getting harder. I can easily see wars over access to resources as a result, http://globalpolicy.org/the-dark-side-of-natural-resources/water-in-conflict.html but it is harder to see a complete breakdown of law and order in the U.S. And if there were a complete breakdown, no small group could survive for any length of time on their own. Even the American colonists relied on continuing support from England; the frontiersman on the supplies from town; etc. And, of course, modern society is far more complex than ever before. http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/07/insufficient-data.html So what's the answer? I can't tell you. But: 1. Education is never wasted as long as it is not too specialized. Very narrow niches can be very rewarding, but they are also very risky. 2. Technical skills are important, but so are people skills. And the ability to learn and adapt is going to be critical - very few people are going to be in one career their entire life. 3. Don't make security a high priority - it will ruin your life. 4. Stay healthy - take care of yourself, eat right, exercise, etc. Whether the world will run into major problems, as your father and I think, or not, things are going to be VERY different. (Compare your life as a teenager, your father's, and your grandfather's. Change has been coming thick and fast. So there will be big changes even if things work out very well.) Trying to anticipate and selecting the "right" path is the high risk approach. Being ready to adapt is the only way to survive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalist_and_specialist_species All that said, getting into health care is not a bad idea; though I'd aim higher than physical therapy. The military does offer good training for better qualified enlistees (but maybe the Navy or Air Force rather than the Army?) and helps pay for schooling after, so that is not unreasonable either. And, no matter what, however good or bad things go, you will have to work your butt off the rest of your life. And people with high-paying jobs tend to work even more: http://www.bls.gov/k12/help06.htm So, try to find work you find worth doing, that will make you feel good about you've accomplished at the end of the day, not work that just pays well, but leaves you feeling like a heel.
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