The industries where good old capitalism (the free and voluntary exchange of goods and services - Emphasis on FREE) still exists have consistently given us a better and cheaper product every year, by having to compete for the customers' money. Thanks to the free market, we walk around with little machines in our pocket that have more computing power than the whole of NASA in 1969, with access to all of mankind's knowledge... Thanks to the free market we can walk into the lowliest Walmart and have access to tens of thousands of different foods, brought to us from every corner in the world. Things John D. Rockefeller could not have dreamed of in 1900 are now available to even the poorest among us. Now, the industries that are in cahoots with government (healthcare, education)... The less said about those the better.
I never said or even intimated such a thing. I was referring to your top two lines. Of course there are bad teachers. There are also bad cops, lawyers, welders, and truck drivers; to paint all teachers as bad or uncaring is simply not correct. The vast majority of teachers do a great job, and spend much more of their time and even personal funds to assist children. I stand by my statement that if you believe that all or even most public school teachers fit your preconceived notion of what goes on in our public schools, you are ignorant of the reality of public education in the United States. I will agree that some school systems are better then others; as long as we fund schools with real estate taxes that will always be the case. As long as some (many) teachers are woefully underpaid, that will always be the case, but I wish that most employees were as conscientious as the average public school teacher. As an example, my sister-in-law is a single parent who never had much money. She had four kids. All went to public schools; between them they have five bachelor's degrees, one masters, and a doctorate. Obviously their public schools were staffed with scumbag educators... who just passed the kids on.
Hearing how few people there are in the trades, these college grads probably say “ I’ll get someone to fix it” Welllllll, there isn’t gonna be “anybody” people keep going to college and don’t wanna learn to fix stuff. I’ll fix cars, do electrical and plumbing. But construction, eh THAT I’ll leave to the pros
This all starts with sex, gotta get laid, “baby I’m pregnant” oh my. Young couple gets married, want to start a family, sure go ahead, good luck to your kids
Or write in cursive anything but their name. Handwriting was a class in grade school. now its keyboard
A couple years ago, some friends hired a high school kid to work part time in their store. When they gave him his first paycheck, he didn't know how to sign his name, as he was never taught cursive writing. Sad. UticaGeoff
So are you suggesting that one of the reasons we are seeing moderately damaged cars being "totaled" is due to a shortage of skilled techs? Makes sense...
Cars being totaled has a lot to do with the cars salvage value also. Deduct that from the cars value plus damage, plus the insurance formula equals whether or not the cat goes away. Not having enough techs in an area slows cycle times which can be a factor in the last part of the insurance formula for an area.
Believe if one or more air bags deploy the vehicle is totaled. Frequent UPull it’s in El Paso, and sometimes Tucson and Albuquerque. Yards are thick with relatively new vehicles with front end damage on virtually all of them. Mad texters most likely. Absorbed in their devices instead of paying attention to their surroundings.
I replace a great deal of airbags, modules and sensors. The cost of some airbag equipment is a quick hit to the value formula more than a safety issue
No housing. Have been in Carlsbad New Mexico for several months. Am probably one of lowest paid employees actually out in oil field but employer pays for food ($40 day) and lodging (la quinta $219 plus tax a night). Cost of one week (four nights) at laquinta is double my weekly take home pay. Rental vacancy rate here is 1.1%. Unlicensed RV parks are everywhere. RV slots average $800 to a grand per month. McDonald’s is paying $12 - $14/hour to START. All the auto shops tire shops auto zones oreillys walmart are looking for help. Walmart is paying $14-15 / hour to START. No housing. Meanwhile in las Cruces one has to be an insider or be born there to get a job above a $10 an hour job at a convienence store or a fast food restaurant.
I remember attending a GM seminar in Detroit some years ago - prior to 2008 - they told us that at that time, an airbag deployment on a Corvette would cost north of $4,000 to fix, outside of the body damage that caused the bags to fire.
$5.25 back then isn't even close to being the $10-15 of today. Just look at the cost of things. I started my first "real" job at $4.50/hr in 86 . The GS I was driving was a $1250 fifteen yr old car and the used 84 Ttype I bought after a couple yrs saving and making payments was I think $6500 in 87. I traded it in a new 1987 turbo regal for $16661 sticker. Try to double the costs of these and you are driving a compact import. Housing has spiraled up too. We bought our first house for $65k in 93. I had landed a new job making $13.50/hr and thought we were in high cotton. That same house has sold for well over $100k last time it changed hands and it is an 1100sq/ft 3-2-2. I'll agree a lot of people don't make good money decisions and very few start at a decent wage, and I know if you want to continue to make more money you have to continually change employers. The employers have no loyalty so I never give them any either. Take good care of your skilled people because there are headhunters out there looking to take them away. The housing market is wildly over the top now and so is the stock market. Just ripe for the picking when they crash. Have your cash ready it is coming. The bond market is at all time lows crushing the savers and the defined benefit retirement plan holders. There is a reason that Warren Buffet has a rediculous cash position. The government can say inflation is low but if you look closely that is on stuff like China imports. I can only use so many pairs of cheap socks and televisions. Bottom line Briz put in the work, and got it done. But times have changed and drastically from even thirty yrs ago.
Our problem where I work is finding qualified people to hire. We have a lot of work coming in and my boss's biggest concern is finding qualified applicants. And these are not low-paying positions either. Depending on the position we are talking about 50k-150k, or more a year.
