Over-educated, under-employed, jaded, new political party: Members wanted!

Welcome! If you are like me and my closest associates, you are probably too smart to be properly employed in the current scheme of the world economics game. That is unless, of course, you have valuable friends who place you in the ever shrinking positions that are profitable.

I would like to suggest a new political party. Realistically, this could encompass many countries. Being in the U.S., I will base the premise from my experience here. It is direly necessary for the educated and under-employed in this country to start speaking out, shouting out about the absolute abuse of power and callous depravity of the people in power. Narcissism and Nepotism rule, and no other rules apply to those who got invited to the club.

So, what do we do with our educations and our thoughts, creative energy and brilliance? I would rather make something happen, than work multiple part-time jobs doing things that a child could do.

It is time for a fundamental change. We need to get the greedy, lying, corporate b!@!@#!@ out of office. We need to take back control of our lives and offer a future to our children. You know they won't do it

I am going to offer a segment from Zerohedge.


Fired Before Hired: How Corporations Rigged The Job Market And Killed The American Dream
Tyler Durden's picture
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2015 19:04 -0400





Submitted by Daniel Drew via Dark Bid - Truth in Dark Markets blog,

The latest corporate scam is to blame workers for the high unemployment rate. They say there is a skills gap. Even President Obama is in on the joke. In his most recent State of the Union address, Obama called for Congress to make community college free. Because nothing will get you a job more than an associate's degree from your local college.

The real skills gap is the other way around: too many skills for the low-wage menial jobs that pervade the labor market. The person who makes your coffee or your Big Mac might be able to design the next major bridge or write for The New York Times. Instead of high school kids cooking up your lunch, true professionals are behind the counter, and the future of the country is behind it too. The longer they stay there, the odds increase that America will take a permanent backseat in global power. In one short century, we have gone from superpower to super size me, a plutocracy, a nation that wasted its most valuable resource: the energy and innovation of its own people.

As you send your resume for the latest job ad, do you ever feel like the labor market is rigged against you? The job boards have turned into such black holes that we need Stephen Hawking to come work out the equations for us. You send your resume in, and it disappears.

In 2012, Eric Auld, an unemployed 26-year-old with a master's degree in English, decided to find out what was on the other side of the black hole. He created a fake job ad as an experiment:

Administrative Assistant needed for busy Midtown office. Hours are Monday through Friday, nine to five. Job duties include: filing, copying, answering phones, sending e-mails, greeting clients, scheduling appointments. Previous experience in an office setting preferred, but will train the right candidate. This is a full-time position with health benefits. Please e-mail résumé if interested. Compensation: $12-$13 per hour.

If you have ever applied for a job like that, I offer my condolences. You have better odds at the casino. Auld received 653 responses in 24 hours. 10% of the applicants had more than 10 years of experience, and 3% of them had master's degrees. Presumably, one of them would get the job. But what does that mean? It means that all the other experienced applicants and master's degree holders would remain unemployed. That is about 64 experienced workers and about 19 workers with master's degrees. The only way to get a job like this is if you are sleeping with the human resources manager. And this is for a job that pays $12 in Manhattan. If this doesn't qualify the United States as a third world country, what will?


Applicants by Experience

Applicants by Education



Peter Cappelli, author of Why Good People Can't Get Jobs, received an email from an employee who said their company accepted 25,000 applications for a single engineering job, and the human resources team said no one was qualified. Cappelli said, "Not being able or willing to pay the market price for talent does not constitute a shortage."

A New York Times reporter wanted to find out if the skills gap was real. He visited the engineering technology program at Queensborough Community College in New York City. There are no excuses here. This isn't medieval literature or art history. This is engineering. It is also a community college, which will soon become free if Obama has his way. In this particular tech program, the goal is to create manufacturing employees who can keep up in the era of automation. This is a textbook case for Obama, who said 80% of manufacturers have jobs they can't fill. The National Association of Manufacturers estimates that there are 600,000 jobs waiting for anyone who has the right skills.

Well - what they really meant was the right skills and the desperation to work for McJob wages.

The New York Times reporter quickly discovered how much of a sham the skills gap really is. Eric Isbister, the CEO of GenMet, a metal-fabricating manufacturer near Milwaukee, said he would hire any skilled workers who showed up. He received over a thousand applications, but only 25 had the alleged proper skills. Eventually, he fired 15 of them. Apparently, they were not happy at work. Perhaps it's because he started them out at $10 per hour. If you had an associate's degree, you could get $15. If you were lucky enough to still have a job after a few years, you might get $18 per hour - depending on performance. The local McDonald's manager makes $14.

Mark Price, a labor economist at the Keystone Research Center, called their bluff, "If there’s a skill shortage, there has to be rises in wages. It's basic economics." But according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of skilled jobs has declined along with wages. There is no demand for skilled jobs. The true demand is for McJobs.

Think those manufacturing employees were unlucky to be doing high-skilled work at McJob rates? Think again. According to the Economic Policy Institute, for every two American college graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics, only one of them is hired into a job in their field. In an analysis across every industry, they offer some important conclusions for us:

"Millions cannot find work no matter what they do because the jobs simply are not there.

Workers with a college degree or more still have unemployment rates that are more than one-and-a-half times as high as they were before the recession began.

In every occupational category demand for workers is lower than it was five years ago.

There are between 1.4 and 10.5 times as many unemployed workers as job openings in every industry.

In no industry does the number of job openings even come close to the number of people looking for work.

In no occupation is there any hint of wages being bid up in a way that would indicate tight labor markets or labor shortages.

There are simply no structural changes capable of explaining the pattern of sustained high unemployment over the last five years. What we have, i

Before I would comment further, what exactly is your educational background that makes you think you are over-educated?

Thank you for asking. Over-educated is a masters degree in finance for my husband and a bachelors degree for myself. My thought is that there is a surplus of people world-wide that have great minds to offer and are denied the privileged .

We could pool our resources an come up with a better plan for the worlds' governments opposed to what we are currently running after. reply to: TycoonBarnaby

a reply to: frayedknot

Yes, this has been the case for a lot longer than most people realize.

The government is certainly culpable for the policies which have caused a variety of counterproductive trends.

However, I have thought about this problem extensively and I believe I have an additional cause which deserves consideration.

Since the end of any semblance of employer/employee loyalty there has been very little motivation for managers to improve the productivity of their departments.

If a manager expects to be miffcanned anyway, what possible reason could they have to improve anything. If they have had their job for over a year, any dramatic increase in productivity will likely prompt termination (for not making that improvement from the get go). Furthermore, if they can improve efficiency and cut costs, those cuts cannot be reallocated within their department, they simply lose that much of their budget.

Obviously, there are plenty of nepotistic placements that drag on the whole thing too but, they pale in comparison to the apparent self-destructive nature of corporate culture rot itself.

originally posted by: frayedknot
Thank you for asking. Over-educated is a masters degree in finance for my husband and a bachelors degree for myself. My thought is that there is a surplus of people world-wide that have great minds to offer and are denied the privileged .

We could pool our resources an come up with a better plan for the worlds' governments opposed to what we are currently running after. reply to: TycoonBarnaby

I guess I would argue that at those levels, you are merely at the status quo for employment these days. I don't agree with how it all works, but gone are the days that a simple bachelors will earn you employment in your field (and it certainly varies from field to field. That masters in finance is pretty much the necessary baseline to secure a good job in the financial sector at this point.)

Do you think there is a place for idealistic, intelligent people to make a real stand in the world of politic without the hand-outs of corporate lobbyists? Not to mention wealthy families and fraternities that shape and mold our policies? sa reply to: greencmp

Dose of sad reality. How much do you have to spend and invest in your education in order to have a say? Sometimes it is nothing more than a mention of a name.

This is the point I am trying to express. Sometimes, no matter who you are, your ideas get tossed asside because you don't have a power influence behind you.

What would happen if hundreds of thousands of peaceful brilliant minds came together to form a new political party with the health and welfare of mankink as an objective?

Do you think we could effect a difference?a reply to: TycoonBarnaby

a reply to: frayedknot

I think someone would come along and destroy you. Health and welfare of mankind does not make money.

originally posted by: frayedknot

What would happen if hundreds of thousands of peaceful brilliant minds came together to form a new political party with the health and welfare of mankink as an objective?

Do you think we could effect a difference?a reply to: TycoonBarnaby

Not Likely.

I'd guess that 80% of the politicians in DC hail from the Big Corporations and Banks in this country, not the small and medium size business.

You would have to put an end to the Corporate Fascism that has a stranglehold on our government first.
We could put a person in that has the best interest at heart for the entire nation but the Fascists in Government would never go along with anything he wants to pass if it does not benefit them exclusively.

They would run a smear job on him along with the people that support him in the media.

The ones running the government think they are royalty and that we are here to serve them and their cronies rather than the other way around where the government should be serving the best interests of all citizens

originally posted by: frayedknot
Do you think there is a place for idealistic, intelligent people to make a real stand in the world of politic without the hand-outs of corporate lobbyists? Not to mention wealthy families and fraternities that shape and mold our policies? sa reply to: greencmp

Within business, there is no place for idealism per se though, proper ethics are crucial. Businesses are beholden to consumers who are not known for being willing to subsidize unproductive elements. If they try to introduce elements which are not economical, they should be displaced by competitors who will stay focused on the product and its quality.

If these problems are not an obvious element of your profession, you are not economically productive or you are in a unionized profession and therefore do not participate in the national economy in any constructive manner.

I love to converse with intelligent people but, I have to say that I don't automatically consider a university education as a positive. Indeed, considering how much people pay and what they do while matriculating, a university education is indicative of a desire to avoid the free market for as long as possible. Usually, the only place left for such folks is the university itself or some political appointment to a bureaucratic position.

Modern economics don't need you or me anymore.

a reply to: frayedknot

I totally agree with you man. I'm in!

I'm waiting for our next bid to come back so got nothing but time right now where do we start and what do we do?

originally posted by: frayedknot

What would happen if hundreds of thousands of peaceful brilliant minds came together to form a new political party with the health and welfare of mankink as an objective?

Do you think we could effect a difference?a reply to: TycoonBarnaby

The problem is that there are not hundreds of thousands of brilliant minds, let alone requiring them to also be peaceful. Sadly, most brilliant minds tend towards manipulation of others for personal gain. It becomes a second nature as I imagine it has been for all of human history. This is why we are where we are.

Thank God for the black market

Exceptional people with educations could and probably should create their own businesses. Creating your own business through entrepreneurship both allows you to be employed in something you love and to potentially provide jobs for others. The days of 'looking for a job' are over.

Having interviewed numerous job applicants for positions, I'd say 80% of applicants simply don't know how to effectively apply for a job. I see poorly worded resumes, mismatch of skills for the job in question, not doing proper research on the company, poor interview skills, lack of networking, etc.

a reply to: frayedknot

I had an idea about this i called it the open source party.

The idea was complete and total transparency and we would use a direct democracy to manage our vote.

So we vote on an issue and the open source candidate would have to vote with the party.

The reason for the voting was to show solidarity and to minimize the amount of petty bickering over issues facing the party. I figure we all directly vote yes or no on issues and our candidates vote with the party in every area they represent. Then also we would do a mini vote for voting for candidates and they would all vote for the same candidate to make sure they had enough local strength to organize grass roots movements.

originally posted by: Edumakated
Having interviewed numerous job applicants for positions, I'd say 80% of applicants simply don't know how to effectively apply for a job. I see poorly worded resumes, mismatch of skills for the job in question, not doing proper research on the company, poor interview skills, lack of networking, etc.

Yes, and the elephant in the room is the complete and utter lack of any work ethic which you discover once you make a hire.

a reply to: greencmp

No i have personally been involved in hiring people for our construction crews and our best worker is an alchoholic who barely makes it to work everyday.

Hes the most skilled to. Hes homeless spends all his money on alcohol.

I can tell you as someone who works in healthcare it is NOT the panacea of job security and high pay the media and non medical people make it out to be. Nursing for example is becoming such a joke. There is this huge push now for Bachelor degree nurses. They have pretty much phased our LVNs at hospitals and are now doing the same with ADN or associate degree nurses. Idiot managers and these idiot nurse theorists etc. who themselves are an over credentialed joke think requiring a bachelors is a good thing to gain entry into the profession. What morons! 2/3 of nursing even in a hospital is task oriented. They argue BSN nurses have better critical thinking skills etc. WRONG! Once you step foot in a hospital experience counts for more than ANYTHING! What these credential obsessed idiot nurses are is driving up the cost of healthcare and the turnover rate. The minute a bedside BSN nurse gets a couple of years under their belt they leave to find other less stressful less demanding nursing jobs. If you run a business why pay a person with a BSN to do the same Job an LVN can do. Healthcare is such a disaster right now. I've worked it for 8 years and I'm so done! I've basically hit the fork, get my BSN or MSN or leave the profession. See ya! I'd never recommend any male with any self respect to enter such a female, bureaucratic, bs profession. Sad thing is nursing unions are becoming so popular because nurses are nothing but punching bags and working conditions are terrible. No other self respecting professionals would put up with what nurses do. Oh but it's all about the patients!!!