Johnny Hammersticks Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 15 hours ago, CoudyBills said: Financial issues are self inflicted. It’s 2008 and my wife and I are both gainfully employee at a school district in NC. Just found out that my wife was pregnant with our first child. Recession hits and 100/165 school psychologists (including my wife and I) are RIF’ed on a Friday afternoon in April. No warning. We made due for a year with us both working several jobs, but we were still poor as dirt until we finally found jobs and had to move to Alaska. My wife applied for WIC while we were still in NC to help out a little, but we were denied. Would you consider our financial issues self inflicted? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 12 minutes ago, snafu said: I don't believe college educations are useless by any stretch of the imagination. I just believe that most 17 and 18 year olds aren't mature enough to be given the choice to decide what school they want to go to and what their major that want to pursue. I also believe that that there should be a thorough investigation of all private and public college and university trustee boards. I'm sure that theres a lot of graft and waste and price fixing which drives up the cost of an education to sickening levels. YET, we send 18 year olds off to war. What's with the hoarding and endowment situtation with schools too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RochesterRob Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 19 minutes ago, snafu said: I don't believe college educations are useless by any stretch of the imagination. I just believe that most 17 and 18 year olds aren't mature enough to be given the choice to decide what school they want to go to and what their major that want to pursue. I also believe that that there should be a thorough investigation of all private and public college and university trustee boards. I'm sure that theres a lot of graft and waste and price fixing which drives up the cost of an education to sickening levels. I think that the good outweighs the bad in allowing choices for educational avenues. I would hate to emulate the old Soviet system where if you had a unibrow and drooled slightly that meant being shipped off to a collective farm or if you are lucky a tire retreading facility. Only the person that is inside the body can truly know the potential that the body and mind can expend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 16 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said: YET, we send 18 year olds off to war. It's not like the military just hands them an M4 and drops them off in the desert. There is structure, order, and discipline that are lacking in college safe spaces and puppy rooms 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoudyBills Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 43 minutes ago, Johnny Hammersticks said: It’s 2008 and my wife and I are both gainfully employee at a school district in NC. Just found out that my wife was pregnant with our first child. Recession hits and 100/165 school psychologists (including my wife and I) are RIF’ed on a Friday afternoon in April. No warning. We made due for a year with us both working several jobs, but we were still poor as dirt until we finally found jobs and had to move to Alaska. My wife applied for WIC while we were still in NC to help out a little, but we were denied. Would you consider our financial issues self inflicted? You're an educated man so you should know the answer. Did you live on a budget while you were gainfully employed? Did you spend less than you make? Did you setup an emergency fund while you were employed? Nobody can predict the future, but a fool doesn't prepare for the worst. I didn't say a job loss or unforseen circumstances were self inflicted. Hopefully you had an emergency fund to carry you through the tough times. If you didn't, that is self inflicted. 1 hour ago, ShadyBillsFan said: Not always. You are doing great, you get relocated, you sell and buy a house becyod it. 3 months later the markets crash with the telecom disaster, you get laid off when noone is hiring, you can hold off your mortgage, car payments, and medical bills for 9 months and then you lose out all of your investment with a short sale. Losing over $50k when all is said and done. I should have phrased it better. Turning a financial issue into a financial nightmare is self inflicted. I feel you on the telecom thing, same profession. You were prepared, according to what you wrote, to handle the issue with an emergency fund. Think how much worse it could have been had you not had anything saved for a rainy day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Hammersticks Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Just now, CoudyBills said: You're an educated man so you should know the answer. Did you live on a budget while you were gainfully employed? Did you spend less than you make? Did you setup an emergency fund while you were employed? Nobody can predict the future, but a fool doesn't prepare for the worst. I didn't say a job loss or unforseen circumstances were self inflicted. Hopefully you had an emergency fund to carry you through the tough times. If you didn't, that is self inflicted. I finished my doctoral program in 2007, bro. My wife finished her masters in 2007. We both began our careers in August 2007. We also had to pay for a lot of our wedding, and relocation $ from NY to Charlotte. Hardly enough time to accumulate savings sufficient to overcome being “let go” with no noice. Common man!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoudyBills Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Just now, Johnny Hammersticks said: I finished my doctoral program in 2007, bro. My wife finished her masters in 2007. We both began our careers in August 2007. We also had to pay for a lot of our wedding, and relocation $ from NY to Charlotte. Hardly enough time to accumulate savings sufficient to overcome being “let go” with no noice. Common man!! I hear what you're saying. It would be fair for me to point out that I don't believe in debt. That's a whole other can of worms we could dive into, but there's really no point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Hammersticks Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 2 minutes ago, CoudyBills said: I hear what you're saying. It would be fair for me to point out that I don't believe in debt. That's a whole other can of worms we could dive into, but there's really no point. Oh, believe me it exists. I have the student loan statements to prove it ? I (we) also bring in enough money now that I won’t ever have to worry about it ? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoudyBills Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 1 minute ago, Johnny Hammersticks said: Oh, believe me it exists. I have the student loan statements to prove it ? I (we) also bring in enough money now that I won’t ever have to worry about it ? That's good to hear. What do you do? Anything interesting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nextmanup Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 22 hours ago, mead107 said: College has become a huge business. College dose not make everyone smarter. 50% of people that go are wasting time and large amounts of money. Just my opinion. Agree with pretty much everything you have written here, and yet my initial point about higher education stands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Hammersticks Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 4 minutes ago, CoudyBills said: That's good to hear. What do you do? Anything interesting? I’m a clinical psychologist. Employed by a school district, but also have my own practice and do consulting/training across the region in a particular area of my expertise. Nah, I just sell weed man ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nextmanup Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 16 hours ago, snafu said: Everyone should serve in a branch of the armed forces for a minimum of two years and in peacetime, should be tasked to do public works projects. No one should be eligible for college admission without certified service. I agree with this and have for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoudyBills Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 8 minutes ago, Johnny Hammersticks said: I’m a clinical psychologist. Employed by a school district, but also have my own practice and do consulting/training across the region in a particular area of my expertise. Nah, I just sell weed man ? Both are incredibly lucrative lol. My brother and his wife are in your field. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nextmanup Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) 16 hours ago, CoudyBills said: 100%. short term you can experience something that isn't brought on by your own doing. Have to be prepared for anything. Budget each month and have an emergency fund. Get yourself through the rough patch. Often people just don't believe they can do better. Go out and get an education. This is America and the dream is still alive. Aim high. Do you realize a lot of folks in this country are working miracles and stretched beyond their means just to get by? Those people aren't going to put money away for a rough patch. And it's not a matter of "aiming high." Look at the statistics regarding $$$ in this country. 55 million Americans have NO savings of any kind. 78% of full-time working Americans say they live paycheck to paycheck 71% of American workers are in debt 56% of those in debt say their debt is not manageable Only about 10% of Americans have saving to last 6 months without a pay check What sort of rock do you live under, CoudyBills? Is it nice down there? By the way, America is #14 on the "American Dream" list, meaning there are 13 better countries to live in if you are trying to engage in upward socio-economic mobility and happiness. Edited January 20, 2019 by Nextmanup 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gugny Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 Just now, CoudyBills said: Both are incredibly lucrative lol. My brother and his wife are in your field. Not sure what they're doing in Johnny's field, but tell them not to step on the weed! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jauronimo Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 17 hours ago, /dev/null said: A 4 year enlistment teaches more valuable skills than a 4 year college 18 hours ago, Joe in Winslow said: They're certainly not in college. Have you seen the nonsense happening there lately? Edit: also civilians have done nothing to earn the right. I'm also against birthright citizenship. Here's a controversial opinion: "Serving" our country isn't some noble selfless act. For the vast majority of people in our military, enlisting was the best option available to them at the time. It was the option that guaranteed them a job, 3 square meals a day, and a place to live. For those playing the long game it even guarantees you funding to go back and get a college education after your term is up. Its an effective system which incentivizes enlistment while meeting our defense needs. Yes, there are some true believers who enlist due to family tradition or sense of duty but at the time of enlistment I'm betting they're the vast minority. Stories do have a funny way of changing through the years. In summary, I do not think the condition whereby military service represents the best option available to a person makes that individual: 1. Noble 2. A better American 3. A hero 4. More important to democracy than citizens who had better career options. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gugny Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 1 minute ago, Jauronimo said: Here's a controversial opinion: "Serving" our country isn't some noble selfless act. For the vast majority of people in our military, enlisting was the best option available to them at the time. It was the option that guaranteed them a job, 3 square meals a day, and a place to live. For those playing the long game it even guarantees you funding to go back and get a college education after your term is up. Its an effective system which incentivizes enlistment while meeting our defense needs. Yes, there are some true believers who enlist due to family tradition or sense of duty but at the time of enlistment I'm betting they're the vast minority. Stories do have a funny way of changing through the years. In summary, I do not think the condition whereby military service represents the best option available to a person makes that individual: 1. Noble 2. A better American 3. A hero 4. More important to democracy than citizens who had better career options. You are 99.9999% correct, here. The only correction I'd like to point out is that even those who do a 4-year stint may take advantage of the GI Bill. When people thank me for my service, I actually get a little uncomfortable. I am one of the few, as you say, who enlisted because I wanted to. I was enrolled in our local community college, all set to go. I suddenly decided that I wanted to join the Navy. My dad is a Navy vet. My brother was in the Navy at that time (ended up retiring after 20); it was just something I decided I wanted to do. But I don't consider myself special, more important, a better person/American and DEFINITELY not a hero. To me, it was a job that I had for four years. The only difference was that I knew what I was wearing to work every day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) Quote 4. More important to democracy than citizens who had better career options. And that's where you'd be wrong. A spoiled, entitled rich kid who's never had to earn a thing in his or her life and has had every opportunity handed to him or her without ever having to come remotely close to putting skin in the game brings literally nothing to the table in a democracy or a republic. That's pretty much indisputable. Historically speaking, most democracies/republics had some sort of mandate for participation in the process...be it land ownership, tax paying, or military service. It's not a bad idea. In fact, it's a great one. Who do you want participating: or Edited January 20, 2019 by Joe in Winslow 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoudyBills Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 (edited) 33 minutes ago, Nextmanup said: Do you realize a lot of folks in this country are working miracles and stretched beyond their means just to get by? Those people aren't going to put money away for a rough patch. And it's not a matter of "aiming high." Look at the statistics regarding $$$ in this country. 55 million Americans have NO savings of any kind. 78% of full-time working Americans say they live paycheck to paycheck 71% of American workers are in debt 56% of those in debt say their debt is not manageable Only about 10% of Americans have saving to last 6 months without a pay check What sort of rock do you live under, CoudyBills? Is it nice down there? By the way, America is #14 on the "American Dream" list, meaning there are 13 better countries to live in if you are trying to engage in upward socio-economic mobility and happiness. Yep. My parents fit into almost all of those categories, except of course the 6 months of savings. My single mother didn't eat many meals with my brothers and I growing up because there was nothing for her to eat. What rock do I live under? Well, under my rock I was raised in a dirt poor family with nothing. One where my mother demanded her sons get an education. A rock where I got an education, got a crappy job and worked my ass off until I was the head of that team. Switched departments and worked until I was the head of that team. Switched companies and now spend my days telling other people what to do. I haven't made it, but I came from actual poverty, not I know statistics about poverty, ***** hungry because we don't have food poverty, to upper middle class. This little guy can't get ahead BS is a sorry excuse. Edited January 20, 2019 by CoudyBills 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golden Goat Posted January 20, 2019 Share Posted January 20, 2019 15 hours ago, /dev/null said: I agree that marijuana use should be legalized. However I also think that employers should be allowed to discriminate against employees or prospective employees that test positive. State and Federal agencies should be allowed to deny benefits to applicants or recipients that test positive People should be free to choose whatever lifestyle they want. But they should also not be shielded from the consequences of their choices I'm good with that. I also have no problem with taxing the crap out of it at the federal level, especially for recreational use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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