Upper-Middle-Class Dropouts

Forbes ^ | 6/23/03 | Rich Karlgaard

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Whatever you think of them, (and for whatever reasons), the last line of this article in Forbes is worth repeating:

"Millions of American families are just like the Smiths. Politicians, take heed. The Smiths will decide the election of 2004."

[Samwise]

He would like to go for a sauna and a massage, but the $95 that costs would blow the Smith's weekly budget.

Poor baby!

[Torie]

California housing in desirable areas attracts a global clientel. That's why.

[hedgetrimmer]

Because at least 52% of California land is owned by state and federal governments, and they don't let people live on it. Less land available to build, higher home prices. Areas with the highest prices have greenbelts, scenic viewsheds and land trusts that drive up the price of buildable land.

Every development that gets built in almost every California city has to have so many low income houses as well. This drives up the price for the poor sods paying retail. In Salinas, CA, the city council is about to pass a law that for every development ok'd by the planning department %40 of the houses have to be low income. That is a whopping percentage don't you think?

The socialists running the government in Santa Cruz County CA have come up with a devious way to raise the cost of housing. For individual builders, if you want to build a new home you have to upgrade the plumbing(install low flow toilets, showerheads) in enough of your NEIGHBORs houses so there is zero impact of your home on the water system. How many houses is that? For one builder, it was five homes. He had to pay for their plumbing upgrades. It added $7000 to the cost of his home.

[Alberta's Child]

This has to be the most bizarre job market I've seen in years. The same big engineering firms in my area that are laying off some of their staff are also posting a bunch of "help wanted" ads in every professional journal I read.

It is still possible to make a decent living in this country. If you are good at what you do (almost regardless of what it is you do), then you will make a VERY good living.

Despite the soft job market, it's still damned near impossible to find a good young civil engineer these days.

[Zeroisanumber]

Cry me a frigging river.

At $95,000 a year he's still making more then a good 80% of his fellow Americans. Can't afford those $7-dollar a glass mochas and weekly $95-dollar rubdowns at a spa? Don't feel like the master of your cubicle farm? Welcome to the real world code-jockey.

[oceanview]

well I can't comment about civil engineering. But for IT, those job ads are a required part of the process to "comply" with the H1B law. No one will actually be hired for many of those jobs, its just a pro-forma ad, then the company can claim they tried to find a qualified american but could not, and had to hire a foreign worker at 40% of the wage level.

[oceanview]

that's why I said, this story is a poor example of what is really going on. they should have focused on people who actually lost their jobs, that's the real story.

[Alberta's Child]

There are plenty of H1B folks in civil engineering, but to be honest with you they are primarily involved in the "hi-tech" work that doesn't require much imagination. The young engineer who has good writing and speaking skills and who understands the business of consulting can practically name his price even in this job market.

[Torie]

Being a literate techie is a good strategy. No doubt about it. Few can swing both ways.

[america-rules]

Right on !

[Alberta's Child]

Ironically, I don't look for "good" engineers when I hire recent graduates out of school. I'm more interested in someone who can have a conversation about anything except engineering, and who has a lot of practical experience doing other things. The best prospective engineer I ever interviewed was a part-time student who drove a bulldozer for a contractor while paying his way through school.

[Torie]

If you can combine literary, with technical skill, with an extrovert personality, you have a real winner. It is all about supply and demand. I make my living with being a cross dresser in the law, writing skills and finance and accounting. It makes up usually for my lack of charm, typically, at least enough to get to the beach.

[Alberta's Child]

If you can combine literary, with technical skill, with an extrovert personality, you have a real winner.

I hate to brag, but I think you just described me pretty accurately. LOL.

[sweetjane]

Why do so many people insist on living near the coasts?

There exists in the heartland of this country, also known as "fly-over country," a great place to earn a living, buy a home and educate your children. I say this to all business-savvy Americans, move your business here and start over. You'll be glad you did it.

[technochick99]

they should have focused on people who actually lost their jobs, that's the real story.

Actually, I think the real story is that perceptions will have a significant role in voting. Therefore, when there is fear in the air, even those in fear are "safe", and Bush does nothing about it, he may very well lose votes. In other words, it's not just the unemployed that the administration needs to worry about.

[Torie]

So will the tecno-bubble yearners go for a Dem to vent their frustration for the exposure of Camelot as an emperor with no clothes? I tend to doubt it. I suspect they will simply retool themselves, and get to work. Most of them are not into the blame game, and victimology.

[KCmark]

Plenty of people have downsized before you.

---

A family of four in 1900 sqft, not a lot of room to downsize. Keep in mind this is a software engineer. This guy invested his time and money for himself, but also for our society.

It turns out the Priceline.com was not worth more than Delta, United, and USAir combined.

---

While I understand the excesses of the 90s, I'm glad it happened. We do have eBay, eTrade, PayPal (Some of these I would avoid), Amazon, Travelocity, CNN, Drudge, FR, DU, Hotmail, .... The explosion gave us choices and the best business models made it. The Y2K scare had much to do with driving the up the cost of IT labor too.

Yeah, we should have seen it coming. But when you see hundreds and thousands of jobs being outsourced, and CEOs taking pensions and 300 million dollar bonuses,its not a stretch to feel a little sorry for the loss of one's status. We need all the classes. If we lose one, the system will grow stale.

I personally think software engineers should earn enough to be part of the upper middle class. Geez, if engineers (of any type) don't qualify, who should? They don't just give those degrees away.

[cyborg]

yeah he needs to suck it up. I used to get my nails done and hair done every week, and be a regular at Starbucks. I need to save money so I'm not splurging anymore.