The true state of our economy

[Dragonbreathp9d]

I am an 18 year old male high school grad about to go off to college and I am working a really nice summer internship getting paid $11.50 an hour. I got the job because my friend's dad is upper-level.

Ok, background done.

The other day I was with another friend of mine who works here as well, and her uncle was in town with her cousin. We got to talking to them and starting talking about our job. When we said how much we made, I could immediately sense a bolt of tension, of depression, strike through the air. My friends uncle (in his mid to upper 40's) said in a very disparaging tone "Wow... you guys get paid really well..." Thats when I truly realized just how bad the economy truly is... I, at 18, make more than a 40 something college-grad. It broke my heart.

[Tace]

1. Here's Another Facet...

When I was 15, I got a summer job making minimum wage, about $2.50/hour then. The value of the dollar has fallen 80 percent since then. So, it would be the same as making $12.50 today.

My point is that you're actually making less than I was at 15, making minimum wage... and your uncle thinks that's "paid really well." It's amazing how the economics of American life have changed this past 35 years.

[LiberalEsto]

3. Back in 1969, minimum wage was $1.60 an hour

and I was working to save money for college expenses. 1968-69 was the last time the minimum wage was actually worth enough to survive on. Tuition at Rutgers University back then was $250 a semester, plus $65 in fees. My dad earned $12,500 a year -- too much for me to qualify for financial aid.

[Warpy]

2. Success in this economy is 100% inherited

and you're benefiting from family contacts and your position through birth. As long as you're fully conscious of that, you're on the right track.

That is the world the GOP wants us to have, a caste system determined by birth into one's economic class, with an inherited aristocracy of wealth at the top controlling everything and making damned sure people like your uncle stay at the bottom of the heap, no matter how much education he may have.

Your job, should you decide to accept the thankless one of pursuing justice, is to overturn the people in both parties who are working to make that sort of society a permanent one.

I wish you better luck than my generation has had.

[4_TN_TITANS]

4. $10.32 per hour college grad here....

I've been at the same office job for 5.1/2 years. Including the overtime that they make, there are uneducated people out in the factory that make more than me.

Also, I've never had a job that I couldn't have gotten without the four year degree - what a waste of time and money.

[mnhtnbb]

5. My 19 yo high school degree son is making $16.+/hr

working for an international software company headquartered in Cary, NC

I think that pay is regionally dependent. The rust belt midwest is hurting, badly. The economy is not so bad around here(Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Research Triangle). My son only has a high school diploma, but has been a tech geek since he was introduced to computers in kindergarten.

Right now, his friends who are in college are envious. We'll see how things look in 10 years. Maybe he'll still be making less than $40K/year.