tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post4745019303583381644..comments2024-03-27T18:00:02.032-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Chills, Thrills, Skills & ShillsKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-62217508080109046192014-03-31T23:05:05.472-04:002014-03-31T23:05:05.472-04:00Thank you, Pearl!
The subject matter is really to...Thank you, Pearl!<br /><br />The subject matter is really touching a nerve. Krugman also followed up on his blog post and devoted a whole column to the same topic -- there were some great Times reader comments there too.<br /><br />People appear to be getting wise to the bipartisan con, and most important, getting fed up. Time will tell if Occupy re-emerges. My Magic 8 ball says it looks auspicious. Karen Garciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-53408230323094626632014-03-31T23:00:13.144-04:002014-03-31T23:00:13.144-04:00Karen: Congratulations!!! Two days after you poste...Karen: Congratulations!!! Two days after you posted Thrills, Skills, Chills,<br />and Shills in Sardonicky, Truthout posted your great column on their <br />website.<br />I predict there will be lots of comments (one lengthy one already there). It made my day. and yours too I hope. I know I speak<br />for all of us when I say how proud we are of the work you do.<br />Pearlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-36306563662873637852014-03-31T11:50:14.399-04:002014-03-31T11:50:14.399-04:00HBO and The Shriver Report Present ?Paycheck to Pa...<br />HBO and The Shriver Report Present ?Paycheck to Paycheck: The Life and Times of Katrina Gilbert? <br />http://shriverreport.org/hbo-and-the-shriver-report-present-paycheck-to-paycheck-the-life-times-of-katrina-gilbert/ <br />via @ShriverReport<br /><br />This is a very interesting documentary being shown on HBO and featured on Oprah Winfrey's TV show tonight with candid hardhitting reports from women in the audience. What was shocking is how low the pay is for women with education and skills and having to take care of their children while being on the edge of poverty with no fallback even with husbands working. It was well done and Maria Schriver was very effective as was Oprah on speaking out about the new poor and what it does to people's lives. Oprah said they want to start a dialogue about this important issue. It connects with your column Karen about unemployment and lack of skills and the mythology involved. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Pearlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-1710978600257965472014-03-30T16:47:42.779-04:002014-03-30T16:47:42.779-04:00Yeah, the 'lack of engineers' bit has been...Yeah, the 'lack of engineers' bit has been a scam for as long as I can remember. What they mean is a shortage of engineers at the right price as Tweedie has pointed out. The same goes for a lot of other techie positions. It's even worse now since I was a footloose 'engineering technician' picking up courses at night towards a degree. And teachers have always been 'failing their students' - it's the American way.<br />I said to hell with it eventually and started to study animals and plants. Never looked back.James F Traynornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-20038415602873900162014-03-30T13:54:48.625-04:002014-03-30T13:54:48.625-04:00Pearl,
I tweaked my post and added some new links...Pearl,<br /><br />I tweaked my post and added some new links to better explain the skills gap mythology. Karen Garciahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-18492441774825387492014-03-30T07:38:04.952-04:002014-03-30T07:38:04.952-04:00This is an incredibly dangerous idea that was floa...This is an incredibly dangerous idea that was floating around in the schools when I taught in Washington state. Schools were "failing the kids" because they weren't equipping students for the jobs that industry needed to be filled. There was the cry from industry - "Where are the engineers?" Well, I was married to a highly trained one and it turns out they wanted engineers but at bargain basement prices.<br /><br />The fact is, THIS is the oligarchy's big excuse for off-shoring jobs. There are plenty of people who want to work - They just aren't happy working for peanuts and no benefits. All the computer programmers, scientists and engineers they are FORCED to hire from China, India and elsewhere could be had in the U.S. if they would offer these people a decent wage. <br /><br />But this is the elephant in the room with globalization - many,many jobs can now be outsourced to countries where the outsourcer doesn't have to pay them much of a wage at all and certainly doesn't have to pay health insurance or retirement benefits. And since we have NOTHING to discourage them from this practice.<br /><br />When will we realise that it is better to pay more for our stuff (and have less of it) and keep jobs in our communities, states and nation than it is to get everything on the cheap and have no Middle Class?<br />Valerie Long Tweedienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-59210852069541919822014-03-29T19:56:07.627-04:002014-03-29T19:56:07.627-04:00Karen: I had to read your column a second time aft...<br />Karen: I had to read your column a second time after the dizziness in my head cleared enough to get some idea of where, how and to whom this latest ideology is going or, coming from. First of all, there are questions. The figures of 30% of the unemployed do not have appropriate skills - for what? <br />Filling only jobs for the corporations that bring in profits? And if any of <br />them had jobs before, how come they are suddenly unskilled? And what about the other 70% supposedly have (had) skills so how come they are not working?<br />And among the 30% of unskilled workers, and skilled 70% are any of them of sound enough mind and body to help repair the crumbling infrastructure, assist in areas of need for people, etc.? Oh yes: I forget, they would have to be hired by the government and be paid just like in the WPA or CCC days and that will not happen under Obama's watch. So all these useless unskilled, or jobless people can rot along with the country.<br />It is also interesting to follow where all the people who have left the current administration go to rest up from the stress they have undergone but seem to move into more stressful jobs, But then all that money they get for lobbying, seats on prestigious corporations, right wing think tanks and <br />requests for expensive speeches makes it all worthwhile. I know our President of the people can hardly wait to see what is awaiting him as well <br />in 2016.<br /><br />And Bernie Sanders, you had better start getting your running shoes on. As to the question of whether or not he should stay in the Democratic Party or run as an Independent may have the same results. He will probably help more Republicans get into power by dividing the votes of the former democrats and be blamed for it. But it doesn't matter and I for one hope he makes a dent <br />somewhere, somehow, by giving decent citizens a chance to thumb their collective noses at both parties.<br />We had better all get our running shoes on to get active in what is coming down the pike. Karen, I hope this column will also get to Truthout.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Pearlnoreply@blogger.com