Posted on 07/14/2011 10:38:49 AM PDT by US Navy Vet
There are over 81 million young people unemployed worldwide. Not to mention tens — if not hundreds — of millions more that are underemployed. In the U.S., youth unemployment is just shy of 20 percent, nearly 40 percent of Gen Y has been either unemployed or underemployed at some point since December 2007 and college graduates are so poor that they are being forced to move back in with their parents and default on student loans in record numbers.
(Excerpt) Read more at smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com ...
Pinging myself for later
I wish the kids luck. They are going to need it.
Exactly. And what is "underemployed" for the entry-level workers, in this writer's mind. The college degree of today isn't nearly what it used to be. Many college grads I've seen could use a few years of "under"-employment to get up to entry-level professional positions. While I encourage the creation of better positions, creating a bunch of unsustainable businesses isn't a great idea, either.
From the article:
Think about it. If you were in a casino with your friend and he was losing his shirt at the craps table, wouldn’t you try to get him to walk away and make a better decision with what he had left? Why isn’t that same mindset applied to failed job searches? [...]
A better analogy is to convince your friend to start gambling after he's lost money from his pocket just walking down the street. But is it right to gamble with other peoples' money? I can just hear it now, "we need to give more unrepayable loans!"
Here’s a thought. Where are these young people or even old people who are unemployed and without resources going to be able to obtain another loan or resources to enable them to be entrepeneurs? Like my high school counselor told me in 1968 with regard to a college scholarship or student loan: “if you are not black, hispanic, american indian or female you need to give up and just enlist”. Sadly, even enlistments are being drawn down. Well-honed skills and experience is not finding many openings for older unemployed and for the young without experience or assets it is much worse so building your own startup without any assets or experience is for most a vertical climb without a rope with very few possibilities for success.
Until the National Socialist Democrat party is permanently removed for our political landscape, job-killing laws and regulations are thrown out and the economy is recharged for growth this concept will fill only a very few of the jobs required. I hope every unemployed person in the country seriously considers this but it will not provide a solution to the damage that the democrat party has done to our economy.
I know that feeling. Back in 1976 as a married veteran student I was offered the opportunity to invest $10,000 in a startup company (Genentech) whose stock split numerous times over the following years. It would have set us up for life but the credit for that type of loan was not there so on graduation I was commissioned and reentered the military and completed a career. No regrets, but for current young people the opportunities are even worse than mine were then.
“I hear you, but as my dad used to say, “it takes money to make money.”
Yep...and you also need a willing market. And given the economic climate right now, that’s easier said than done. If one is fishing in a pond with no fish, they’re just wasting their time and money.
Yep...and you also need a willing market.
don’t worry... any small success you may achieve will be immediately taken via taxes
of course, this feeds the dem/progressive anti-capitalism machine
“But most of all, you need permission from the govt.”
Yep...you’re right. Land of the free, huh?
Some number of young people will start their own business and a minority of those will find some long-term success, as it has been for years. But to suggest that self-employment is some general solution for the level of current unemployment is nonsense.
“But most of all, you need permission from the govt.”
Yep...you’re right. Land of the free, huh?
I talk to my kids all the time about finding their own way. Used to be that the guy in the blacksmith shop was the owner, and anyone behind the counter was the owner - saloon, hotel, bank, barber, etc. Then came the industrial revolution, and we became a nation of employees. I guess that is about the timing.
I remember thinking when I was younger - who am I gonna work for when I grow up? I look back on that, it was a sad mindset. I am bright, capable, know how to work - I should start my own thing. Just yesterday a friend and I talked about our ‘golden handcuffs’ - in good jobs (maybe not golden, but you know what I mean), afraid to do something else. But I still dream, still am learning skills that I hope will someday provide for me.
One of the guys I read is Dan Miller: http://www.48days.com/
He is all about encouraging you to find your passion and then figure out how to make money doing it. My kids are almost out of high school. I wish they had grown up in the house of a small business owner, but I am an employee...trying to break out of that, but here I am.
This is when churches are supposed to be ‘storehouses’. I have hired guys from work to do stuff around my house (that I usually do myself). If we can’t depend on each other, then who?
Anyway, sorry for the rambling...not really directed at anyone, just frustrations that we go thru. Return to your freeping...
Your dad’s philosophy is right. But given what’s happened over the last few years, I’m not sure starting businesses on credit is such a hot idea either. Most businesses will fail. Or at least take a looong time to get off the ground. If you’ve extended yourself on credit, you are in big trouble.
I started a business with just whatever I had in my bank account. Never borrowed on anything but a credit card, and even that was paid off in full every month.
You gotta start tiny, use assets you already have, choose your expenditures very carefully, and move forward slowly as you claw together the necessary funds. If it busts, no big deal, you start again. But at least you are not in debt.
In my opinion, credit is overrated as a business tool.
“I have been having discussion and some even involve beer, and we cannot identify a business idea that does not have govt regulation.”
Interesting...I may need a beer to help come up with that (the impossible dream? Or perhaps stupor induced.)
Even if there was one business you’d come up with, there would be some regulation you’d have to comply with or obtain approval—like zoning.
Sickening, ain’t it. The key to freedom is absolute property rights—that’s gone.
As long as you can survive on tiny profits, that is the way to go. But I think for many it isn't really an option. I agree with you as regards to credit. My economic training was in the eighties and nineties, when leverage was king and he who died with the most debt won. It led me to make some very bad decisions that I am still paying for.
Oh man. That bites. In my case the business in question folded after a couple years. I gather the initial investors made a small profit but the latecomers got hosed.
Yeah, the money can be a problem. The way to go is to get another job that pays the bills while you build your business. But of course, that cuts into your time.
Isn’t that funny the attitude we all kinda had about credit until 2008? I never really got into it, but all the same, I was watching startups go gangbusters on credit and I was thinking “what the heck am I doing wrong?” :D
Sometimes (not always) it’s possible to start with what you already have. My sewing business started with a sewing machine that had been in the family for ages, and a costume shop owner who was willing to supply the fabric.
I was lucky, though.
There used to be a bunch of Freepers who would box your ears if you talked smack on credit. I don't see them around much anymore...
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