As a Millennial I have never seen the economy as good as it is right now

a reply to: toysforadults
WELL YOU ARE YOUNG SO YOU HAVEN'T REALLY SEEN ANY OF THE GOOD ECONOMY YET. back in 96 to 99 i was making about 360 a week and i could do a whole lot more with it than the 500 a week i was making for the past 15 years. bush /obama ruined the economy and had us in a depression . the reasons we are showing some signs of improvement is in part of the low price of gas and no that was't done by barry nut because saudi arabia was selling crude at the actual price it is worth trying to run oil shale and oil sand companies out of business by selling oil cheaper than it could be acquired using those resources i spent the last 15 years of my life making more money than i ever had and you know what i have not been able to teake a simple week long vacation in that time so no the economy is in piss poor shape. no i don't work at mcdonalds i was making good wages doing factory work for more than 16 dollars an hour.

I was born in the 70's. I've seen what my grandparents had and I've seen what the current generation has. My grandmother was born on the kitchen table in a dirt floor shack. She lived in the hills of Kentucky on a tobacco farm. My grandfather was born in Kentucky also. He worked in a coal mine.

Both worked for the war effort during WW2. My grandmother worked in a munitions factory and my grandfather was on the front line. Neither had higher then an 8th grade education.

The past 20 years I've watched everything they fought and worked for get systematically destroyed by those at the top. My grandparents retired from the auto industry in the 80's. They retired with full pensions and enough money to spend every day at the casino. They had everything they ever wanted out of life.

I started working in the 90's. I thought things were great back then. Everything was being super sized. I had a summer job making $250 a week while in high school. $250 went a long way back then. $2 for a pack of smokes $.99 a gallon gas $4 for a double quarter pounder meal super sized at mc donalds. I was tempted not to go back to school after summer break. I was living it up. Around here anyone could get a job and be making $20 an hour within a few years of getting out of school.

Starting in 2003 I watched entire industrial complexes disappear over night. I know because I was out applying for work every day. My area had a lot of industrial factories. In 2008 when the stock market crashed everything came to a halt around here. The freeways that were once bumper to bumper at 5 pm were like a ghost town. The roads were empty.

When the market crashed in 2008 my grandmother lost $400k. She panicked and got out of the market. She didn't want to lose the remaining $100k.

In all of my years I've never seen a pinch on people like today. Prices on goods are ridiculous. Every time I blink at the grocery store the price on something went up 50 cents and the volume went down 3 oz. It's disgusting every thing you do in this country someone is sticking their hands in our pockets.

In my state they cut corporate taxes yet increased the taxes on my grandmothers pension. At least she has a pension they don't offer those to workers any more. Pensions are a relic of the past. Who needs pensions when you have 401k's if you're lucky enough to save and social security.

If you think things are great now just wait 20 more years. Half of this country is barely treading water with their head above it. They sold us well on trickle down economics in the 80's. The best part about it is when the rich pee on our leg and tell us it's raining.

a reply to: wantsomeyou might have well been in the UK. That exact same time period and economic experience here just the same. the nineties were real good ecmomic time then around 200 it all went tits up

The time is here finally! Let the companies do their thing and keep the government out of their books! The US is right on the edge of showing the world what we are capable of, just like during the big wars. The industrial giant is about to wake back up and roam the earth like the good ol' days!

a reply to: toysforadults

I have a feeling the economy is going to colapse soon

originally posted by: KawaiiLean420
a reply to: toysforadults

I have a feeling the economy is going to colapse soon

Ditto. Wall Street is getting the feeling that infrastructure was a joke, the new healthcare is a joke, tax cuts are a joke. Kansas showed them that.

originally posted by: kef33890
I would like to live where you are living....

I have a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and make 11 bucks an hour soon to be 12 an hour once I get my raise after 3 months....oh and my insurance, too!

This is pretty normal from what I hear.. people graduate college now and make between 12 and 15 an hour if they are lucky.


If you didn't go to college you will probably make between 7:50 and max out at 10 around here. This is first starting of course. Health insurance is absolutely mind numbing expensive no matter what it seems, too.


Things suck. You are young and naive if you think it is getting better. Things are ruined and ruined permanently too... better get used to having the off brand of off-brand cheesy poofs for dinner every night kiddo

It depends on the field. Earnings aren't about the degree, it's about the job you're doing. A degree is just something you pick up after having studied a subject long enough. It doesn't necessarily make you more valuable if your degree is low value. Business degrees (business administration being among the worst), are notoriously low paying. Anything business is among the most over produced degree in the US, and as such has low returns. On top of that, some employers are better than others.

Good jobs do exist out there, I just got myself an internship at a company and I get $60/hour... that's as an intern. Already been given a return offer for a permanent position... with a pay bump. Assuming I take it, I'll be clearing 100k/year before even having graduated and I live in a very low COL area (we're talking 1.5% city taxes, 80k houses, 16k median income, etc) and with some good negotiation and perhaps transferring to a higher COL branch I'm looking at the possibility of $200k to start in my very first job out of college (though, that's a bit of a stretch). I never thought I would get a job like this one, I always figured I would be penniless, homeless, and unemployed after college... but I lucked out, though I have 4 degrees and 5 come next year so it's not like I walked into this job with zero effort or related skills (and yes, I use all 4 degrees in my work).

$10/hour is the most common wage in the US. It's just high enough that people feel like they're getting a good deal because they're above the minimum, but it's low enough that people have little purchasing power. When I was walking the dogs yesterday I listened to a guy across the street who did cable installation brag about his paycheck to some people. He said he made $1700 last month and was talking up how that's a good job. Before taxes though, that's still only about $11.50 per hour.

My advice to anyone going to college is to pick a field where you have a reasonable (as in, there's lots of job offerings) chance of getting a job that starts you off at a minimum of $30/hour. That typically means STEM fields, and not even all of them but it also means higher education. If you like business you need a plan to get an MBA, MBA's make good to great money, a Bachelors in Business... not so much. If that's not for you, accounting is usually pretty acceptable.

Life is long, focus on something that can make you money first and that you're interested in, once you have that taken care of look at secondary degrees that also hold your interest but aren't as good economically. Once you have both, you can look at jobs which are an intersection of those interests. That's where you get a good blend of enjoyment from work as well as pay (and you'll be super in demand in those positions, so the pay will be great).

But, slightly off topic... in all seriousness I have pretty low self esteem. I've said for a decade+ that my time is worthless, and I truly believed that because I was living on a low fixed income (disability). My time really did hold no value. Because of that, I never really thought of valuing anything I did. My life started turning around for me when I placed a value on my time. I started off by saying my time is worth $X/hour (I think I used $5/hour) and I started looking at everything I did through that prism. If something was costing me more in labor than that value, I simply stopped doing it and cut it out of my life.

For example, one of my sources of entertainment is playing Magic: The Gathering. Sorting cards with a large collection, and building, rebuilding, changing decks is very time consuming. We're talking 2 hours to make some changes. I saw that it was costing me $10/week (2 hours) to manage cards when the swaps I was making were only worth $1. So I sold all my low value cards that comprised 98% of my collection (about 100,000 cards), kept the 2000 cards in my collection worth actual money, and started ordering on demand the ones I needed when I need to make a change. That freed up 2 hours/week for me. A net savings of about $9.50/week in time-money.

I started looking at everything I do/buy through that perspective. I don't know exactly what it was that changed things for me, but I credit that mentality highly.

originally posted by: 3NL1GHT3N3D1
a reply to: knowledgehunter0986

Only because the participants of the thread tried to make it sound like the economy now is Trump's victory even though he has done absolutely nothing when it comes to economic policy.

You can't give credit where it isnt due.

I just wanted to throw this in here for an example - I mentioned this in another thread back after the election. I own a small west coast commercial/aerospace manufacturing company and have been in the industry for 30+ years, As a result I have made connections with quite a few other similar businesses, working together or competing on contracts primarily aerospace/military, automotive, medical, you name it. I can state for a fact that prior to the election, three business owners that I know personally told me that if Hillary won, they were closing their doors. They just couldn't see any chance of a recovery and were ready to throw in the towel. Well those three businesses are open today and doing better than they have in years. Just electing Trump saved these jobs, so there's that.

I don't think there's any way you or any other liberal can spin that and give the credit to Obama, though I'm sure you''l try.

a reply to: underpass61

What has changed that gave them more confidence? Just feelings?

originally posted by: underpass61
Well those three businesses are open today and doing better than they have in years. Just electing Trump saved these jobs, so there's that.

I don't think there's any way you or any other liberal can spin that and give the credit to Obama, though I'm sure you''l try.

But isn't this also saying you're going to keep your business or not open based on a person, and their celebrity rather than any substance to their decisions?

a reply to: MOMof3

The atmosphere was pretty grim across the board, stagnation, increasing costs, regulation, stuff that's still there but now the feeling is that there is a chance to dig out. The last 8-12 years have been a long downward spiral and Hillary only showed us more of the same. These three guys had put their lives into their businesses and felt it was time to admit defeat, if by some miracle Trump won they would give it one more chance. Well here we are now and I've personally got more work now than I've had since '06 so there's a lot to be said about confidence in the economy. We'll see where it goes from here.

originally posted by: Aazadan

originally posted by: underpass61
Well those three businesses are open today and doing better than they have in years. Just electing Trump saved these jobs, so there's that.

I don't think there's any way you or any other liberal can spin that and give the credit to Obama, though I'm sure you''l try.

But isn't this also saying you're going to keep your business or not open based on a person, and their celebrity rather than any substance to their decisions?

You don't get it, it wasn't just Trump that drove their decision as much as it was where things were headed under Hillary. His business background was a refreshing change for sure. Nobody I know gives a crap about his celebrity.

a reply to: underpass61

You still have not given a concrete change other than feelings. I hope that is sustainable.

originally posted by: MOMof3
a reply to: underpass61

You still have not given a concrete change other than feelings. I hope that is sustainable.

Any hope would have evaporated under Hillary. Like I said we'll see where it goes from here.

originally posted by: underpass61
You don't get it, it wasn't just Trump that drove their decision as much as it was where things were headed under Hillary. His business background was a refreshing change for sure. Nobody I know gives a crap about his celebrity.

So they had an anybody but Hillary mindset? How is that an endorsement of Trumps policies that things will improve?

a reply to: Aazadan

Trump's policies gave them a measure of hope, Hillary's were the last nail in the coffin. He's an imperfect politician, still light years better than the alternative.

a reply to: underpass61


Since we are playing the "if" game, what if congress and the president do not get the tax cuts and regulations they promised, will the sentiment and feelings still be the same? Anyone but Hillary?

I’m sure somebody mentioned the GOP has taken away the controls on the banks so don't expect much but another crash sooner or later.

The economy is always ruined when the politicians let he rich use all their extra millions to speculate and that eventually rips apart the economy. It happened in the great depression, it happened in 2007-8 where Glass Steegle was removed, and the rich were allowed free reign to do what they wanted….Result:

The economic crass.

Trump will destroy the economy if he’s allowed his tax cuts on the rich, that along with the GOP taking controls off the rich will ignite another crash….Bet on it!

a reply to: MOMof3

Wouldn't be the first time a politician failed to deliver on a promise, so far he seems to be one of the few actually trying. I've got a business to run and a family to support, whatever goes on in Washington or even in my own state is way beyond my control (Conservative in California = voiceless nobody). I'll just keep pushing ahead and taking care of my own, which currently is a little bit easier than it was before.

a reply to: underpass61

Idaho is a red state. You could always move your business this way. The min wage is 7.25 per hour.