The Disappearing American Middle Class

[DarkReign]

It's not just the unions. GM/Ford simply are not very good companies. They don't have innovative ideas, they're always playing catch-up, and they really don't have the means anymore to draw the pick-of-the-litter people they would need to turn things around.

And Michigan is stuck in stubborn nostalgia. They aren't willing to adapt to the changing economic realities, and instead just want to catch a death grip on the vestiges of the good life they used to have.

Sort of like Texas during the oil bust. We learned. They need to.

We are.

[Crookshanks]

and why should a company pay an american 70,000 a year to do something that they can pay someone else 15,000 a year to do the same or even better? it doesn't make any ing sense..

Bingo! There are people, straight out of high school, who make $25 an hour, plus full medical and dental (which they don't pay a dime for), just for doing the same thing over and over and over on the assembly line. The unions have destroyed the automotive industry in Michigan and it's very sad.

I have a liberal arts degree, but I have a high concentration of business courses. I went back to school after my divorce in 1989, so that I could better support my children and not have to go on welfare or depend on getting remarried in order to support myself and my children. I was part of a specialized program for the non-traditional student that allowed us to graduate sooner. I wanted to get a business degree, but it would have taken me more than 4 years and I didn't have the money to do it.

Also, I planned on going to Law School, so my undergraduate degree wouldn't have mattered. I found out during my 1st semester of Law School that is was almost impossible to work part time, take care of 3 young children and go to Law School full time. I made the decision to put my children first - realized the world would not miss one less lawyer!

So anyway, I have held several positions in accounts payable and receivable and been Office Manager a few times. Companies expect that women should have a husband who makes good money and has benefits, so they don't pay women in these jobs very much. It's very discouraging because I'm very smart and I know I can do more than they give me credit for!

[Crookshanks]

i've seen more incompetent and overpaid people in that field than anywhere else

I'm not sure how to take that comment! But anyway, I would love to get into Public Relations. I love talking to people and I think I could do a pretty good job. However, it's been my experience that if you don't have the specific degree, or previous experience in the field, no one will give you a chance unless you know the right people to get your foot in the door.

Right now I'm working a as temp. I was at my previous assignment for 6 months, but they hired someone else permanently simply because I didn't have an accounting degree. It didn't matter that I'd been doing the job, and doing it very well, for 6 months!

[fyatuk]

So anyway, I have held several positions in accounts payable and receivable and been Office Manager a few times. Companies expect that women should have a husband who makes good money and has benefits, so they don't pay women in these jobs very much. It's very discouraging because I'm very smart and I know I can do more than they give me credit for!

Yeah, the whole pay women less thing is BS crap, but all over the place in many fields. Of course in a lot of places women make more than men in CSR type positions, so I guess it balances it out, sort of. Bleh.

[DarkReign]

Yeah, the whole pay women less thing is BS crap, but all over the place in many fields. Of course in a lot of places women make more than men in CSR type positions, so I guess it balances it out, sort of. Bleh.

You have a point, but I seriously doubt it even comes close to "balance(ing) out".

[fyatuk]

You have a point, but I seriously doubt it even comes close to "balance(ing) out".

yeah me too, but its a good enough rationalization for some people.