"If you were looking for a consensus, then I think you got it with a resounding NO!
But it seems every time someone says NO, you just can't seem to take that as a 'final answer'.
Why is that?"
It's not a matter of whether I can take a final answer or not. I have tried to reply to the main points that people have been posting here without repeating myself. So for example I did not respond to every single "start your own business" post which if people would have taken a little bit of time and effort they would have seen that suggestion hat already been posted about ten times and could have saved themselves the time.
And I don't think that I necessarily got a definitive answer in this thread as to what the general consencus is. Because those that agree with me are not going to be so motivated as to post that while on the other hand those who disagree with me are sounding rather angry and bitter and that is causing them to easily reach for the post button.
In this light from seeing the large number of hostile posts and in some cases blatant personal attacks I would most definitely say that the silent majority agrees with me and at this point there are 5874+ views and 390 replies so I would put those that actually agree with me at about 5000. That's 5:1 in my favor, not bad in my book :)