“There are individuals on the streets who have masters degrees and no jobs.”

[Breeze54]

Bad economy is creating a new generation of homeless people

http://www.tbnweekly.com/content_articles/071608_pco-02.txt

(Editor’s Note:
This is the first of a two-part story on Pinellas County’s homeless problem. ?? :grr:
The second part will be published next week.)

By THOMAS MICHALSKI

Article published on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

PINELLAS COUNTY –

The plummeting economy coupled with skyrocketing food, fuel and other higher cost
of living prices is creating a new generation of poor and homeless people.

So severe are economic times that people are reduced to begging at gasoline stations
for loose change to purchase fuel to standing at intersections begging for food money.

Although many social programs that were nonexistent just a few years ago are in place,
there are growing numbers of new poor and homeless people that society is often
unwilling to recognize.

Many organizations such at the Suncoast Haven of Rest Rescue Mission in Pinellas Park
are hurting for funds in an economy that worsens each day. Local jobs are not
filled or are shipped overseas. Mortgages go unpaid. People and the organizations
that help the destitute are, in a word, hurting.

“We just suspended our bag lunch program due to the lack of money,” said the Rev. Lionel
Cabral, executive director of the Suncoast Haven. “Last month we were within two hours
of having our electricity turned off for nonpayment.”

The lunch bag program provided meals for street people each day at various locations.
On Saturdays the mission provided free meals at the sprawling Pinellas Hope facility
in incorporated Pinellas County.

“I have seen a dramatic increase in new homeless people,” Cabral said. “The bad economy
is forcing people out of their homes because they cannot afford rent and mortgage payments.”

The mission not only feeds the homeless, but the poor who have shelter as well. Each month
the “working poor” obtain bags of bread, boxed and canned goods and other food. But food
contributions have steadily decreased in recent months along with the dollars to keep the
mission operating.

“The demand for helping the poor and the homeless is higher than ever before, and donations
are down,” Cabral said.

The mission collects food from such establishments as Publix, Sweetbay, Pizza Hut, Red Lobster
and Wagon Wheel Flea Market, to name a few. To get those items the mission has two trucks on
the road. Higher fuel prices pushed the mission’s annual fuel budget past the $25,000 mark.

The alternative is to take one of the trucks off the road and combine runs when possible.

“People are losing jobs and that means bills, such as rent and mortgages, go unpaid,”
Cabral said.

Snip-->

And the face of homelessness has changed due to more families with children on the streets

and additional working poor households. Coalition statistics show that more than 33 percent

of homeless adults work full or part-time, and about 23 percent receive disability, veteran

or retirement benefits, but not enough to maintain an apartment or home.

“Just recently,” he said, “I was able to get a homeless man and his three children into a shelter.

There are many families like that.”

The housing slide has crushed contracting jobs, the mainstay of day labor establishments that assign
such positions to homeless people. Out of work carpenters, bricklayers, painters and landscapers abound.

“It’s not only hurting the low wage people, but the middle income folks as well,” Butler said.

“It’s a trickle down problem that will not stop tomorrow or next week.”

“The bad economy is creating more poor and homeless people,” Herring said.

“There are individuals on the streets who have masters degrees and no jobs.”

more.........

:(

C'mon November!!!!!! :grr:

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. Jesus, if I met a homeless person with a master's degree...

...they're coming home with me to live as my scribe and tutor, on the spot.

That's what's so crazy about all this is the wasted human potential. Anybody who can contribute to the economy should be, and we should do what it takes to make that happen. The fact is that anybody with any masters degree is worth SOMETHING, how we got in a situation where we are blind to the human potential is the real mystery here.

[Breeze54]

4. All the homeless are worth something, not just those with Masters degrees but

the reason we are in this place is GREED!!!! Pure and simple.

Usury...

I agree we need to turn this around and fast!!

This is reminding me more and more of the raygun years. :grr:

[napoleon_in_rags]

8. I know, I've been one myself.

Its hard to get over the hump...for instance, filling out job apps with no phone #, no address and a big gap in work history. All things that can be remedied, but usually when a person is homeless they are so paralyzingly depressed that they can't do the extra effort needed to escape.

[Breeze54]

9. And once they are homeless, it's very, very difficult to climb out of that hole...

It can take years to get back up to speed and on their feet. Not just economically but as you said, depression and other factors. Many of the new homeless are working! That's what should be really frightening to those that are working and living on the edge.
Or even in the middle class. It only takes a lay off or a health care issue and no insurance to push many off the cliff.

[napoleon_in_rags]

16. Yeah, the healthcare is what nobody talks about.

I met a working, smart guy living on the streets of Seattle because he had to pay for antiretroviral drugs. I'll never forget that.

[Breeze54]

20. Back in 2001, I was working after graduation and I met a new worker there

and he quietly told me he had his PhD and I asked him why he was working as a tech at a help desk and he said he couldn't find work anywhere else. I think he had BS'd on his resume' to get the job. He'd been out of work for awhile. I saw more and more people coming into that place with engineering degrees, working at jobs that they clearly shouldn't have been working at, imo. It may have been right after the Dot Com crash.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

25. In another thread, I was lectured by a "flat earther"

Who claimed that every American worker displaced by an H1B visa worker went on to something better. I haven't seen any evidence of that.

[2Design]

48. that new book really has been propoganda for globalization while

not looking at the reality of what is really happening to people

[Virginian]

52. With over 20 years experience in IT

I was displaced by H-1b.
I've been out so long now that I will never be able to get back in.

At age 57, it's time to learn to work in the service industry. No more vacation leave, sick leave or contributions to my 401b or IRA.

[coalition_unwilling]

44. Only 25% of my Ph.D. cohort (English) went on to get tenure-track

academic positions upon completion of the dissertation. (I was not among the 25%.) I ascribe this as much as anything to the moral vacuity of top-tier grad schools accepting way more graduate students than there will be positions available.

Still, I got into academia with my eyes 'open' and thus got out of it without too much debt around my neck. So I suppose I should consider myself lucky.

[Runcible Spoon]

51. I don't see it quite that way.

there will always be a larger number of PhD's than tenure track positions, no matter what the state of the economy. Professorships are comfy, well-paid, with great benefits, and you can sit in one until you die. Literally.

The difference is the attitude towards educated workers. A PhD used to get you a really nice position in private industry as a consultant or whatever, depending on your area of specialization. Now, while some industries snap up PhD's, there are many more over-educated people unable to find decent work. PhD programs don't take too many students; that wouldn't benefit anyone and is unbelievable since schools have to offer fellowships/assistantships 99% of the time.

Now, schools DO make money from us by having us teach increasing numbers of intro classes, but the adjuncts that would normally teach those get paid even less than we do. The schools probably make some money from loading up PhD students with classes, but you can't argue that the adjuncts were making a real living anyway.

The real problem is over-specialization leading to too many BA's with really specific degrees; this leads to less job availability in their specific field and no desire for companies to hire a PhD who is more expensive. I don't even put my post-BA education on job applications anymore unless the position specifically requires advanced degrees.

[lpbk2713]

2. Phuck Bush.

It's incomprehensible why those BushCo assholes aren't behind bars yet.

[davidnc76]

3. That Limbaugh gif made me dizzy as hell!

[Breeze54]

6. No thanks... I don't want to 'do' him! Yuck!!

He should be behind bars and his side kicks too! :grr:

This is getting insane.... like in the '80's. :(

[Dr.Phool]

5. I know a woman across the bay in Hillsborough, who got her Doctorate.

And she can't find a job! It's been over a year now.

[Breeze54]

7. That's awful.... I hope she finds something soon.

Maybe she shouldn't be telling all her experience. Sometimes, sorry to say, I've heard that
can hurt you too. Corporations are assholes these days, not all of them but a lot of them!!

[rockymountaindem]

11. That doesn't surprise me a bit

if she's trying to find a job in academia, as many people with doctorates do. I'm in a Ph.D program myself and a lot of my fellow students who want to become university instructors aren't looking forward to actually graduating.

[dysfunctional press]

35. what field is her degree in...?

and what were the employment prospects in her chosen field when she decided to pursue a ph.d.?

[Bill McBlueState]

42. and also...

Did the faculty in that department design a program that prepares their students for a changing job market, or did they design it only to train future professors?

[noamnety]

10. There's a part of me that wants to rewrite that quote

"There are white individuals on the streets who have masters degrees and no jobs"

(Around here, black men with master's degrees have been unemployed or working minimum wage labor jobs for years and years - that's nothing new.)

[Breeze54]

12. What?

I didn't see race mentioned in the article. If the black men with masters
degree's haven't found work there in years then they need to look elsewhere.
Why stay there? Seems like a waste of time. I'd get the hell out of there!

[noamnety]

18. No, I didn't see it mentioned in the article.

I'm just saying that's been the situation for a long time for a lot of people - the only thing new seems to be that now it's starting to affect white people, too.

I don't think there's much of a sense that it would be different elsewhere - no point in selling everything and randomly moving to a different town where you still have no job leads. One guy I talked to a couple years ago at a bus stop was an honorably discharged veteran who got his MBA with the GI bill. He was smart, too - really up on current events. He'd been doing civil service exams, kicking butt on them, claiming veterans' preference. But everyone getting hired for the open positions was hired cause they knew somebody - and the folks that new each other were all white. That's how networking is.

Wasn't much I could say to that, I got my (former) government job through people I knew - I never took the exam and had no competition for the job itself as far as I know. The application form was a formality after we'd already talked details.

[Breeze54]

21. White people have also been out of work... maybe not as many professionally degreed one's though.

I realize AA have gotten the short end of the stick as far as employment goes, at least I've read
that but up here I see lots of people of all nationalities working everywhere. But we've also lost
over 135,000 jobs in the last few years here and a lot of people, of all colors, are out of work.
The only jobs that are really available, from the state unemployment outlook are professional jobs.
Like biological researchers and rocket scientists. I groaned when I read that. Tech jobs are almost gone.

[lumberjack_jeff]

28. I thought the same thing. "Educated? Well, then it must be a real problem!" n/t

[Romulox]

30. Funny how you consistently try to divert conversation about economics

with divisiveness. Hmmm...

Are you friends with the "progressive" poster "MiltonF", by any chance?

[dysfunctional press]

36. nothing new or earthshaking about this part too:

So severe are economic times that people are reduced to begging at gasoline stations
for loose change to purchase fuel to standing at intersections begging for food money.

that's been going on for quite awhile as well.

[noamnety]

40. Yeah, that's true, too.

The thing that bothered me was exactly that - acting like it's a new thing cause it's suddenly not the "invisible" class doing these things that they've been doing all along. Now it's affecting the classes that are supposed to be above it, and there's that weird little undercurrent that THIS is what makes it unacceptable, when it's been unacceptable all along for a whole lot of people.

I'm glad they are reporting severe economic problems, I just wish they wouldn't present it quite so much like it's something they just discovered.

When they present it this way, it looks like a short term problem bush caused, or a specific fluke of mortgages caused ... it hides the systemic nature of problems inherent in the system itself.

[dkf]

13. Part of the problem is that we are going to prop up the housing market

keeping prices unaffordable.

Yet if we let them fall to where they are affordable, people who recently bought and others who used their houses as piggy banks will be in trouble.

Its a no win situation.

A housing bubble is waaay worse than a technology stock bubble.

[Breeze54]

15. They should let Frannie and Mac die and help those that got ripped off !

And the job outsourcing is also a huge problem and now we're seeing
the effects of that and the housing market crashing in the article above.

[TreasonousBastard]

22. Heh! something no one talks about is...

the people who cashed out early in the boom and made hundreds of thousands on their houses.

Greedy banks, realtors, speculators... Everyone has them in their sights, but nobody notices Grandpa who bought a house for $12,000 in 1968 and just sold it for $850,000. That's where the real money went, and it's untouchable.

Oh, and Grandpa didn't have to pay any taxes on the profit.

[dkf]

23. Yes, those are the people who made out.

The banks are paying for it, but the realtors have made their money and they should be sitting pretty. I wonder if speculators took their money out though. If they plowed it back into real estate, they are pretty desperate now too.

[dysfunctional press]

37. actually, grandpa WOULD have to pay taxes on the capital gains...

you're allowed a $250,000 lifetime tax-free capital gains on the sale of a home...$500,000 for married couples.

my wife and i bought our previous home for $131,000 in 1996, and sold it last year for $425,000. had we sold it a year earlier, we probably would have done better- the slide had already started.

[CrispyQ]

38. And why shouldn't Gramps make out?

In your example he bought in 1968. That's 40 years. That's the original concept of the American Dream -- buy a house, pay it off over 30 years. During that time there are bound to be some highs & lows in the real estate market, but over all, if you can weather the bad spells, real estate always goes up. Gramps put in his time. He deserves his $700k profit.

I'm pissed about the flippers who have used ARMs to get into hot real estate deals in hopes of selling it a few months later & are now whining because they are caught with houses they can't sell; or home owners who have bought houses they really can't afford, with questionable loans, in hopes that the value would escalate quickly; or home owners who refinanced to cash in their equity to piggy bank high life styles. Those are the ones that piss me off.

[dysfunctional press]

50. not to mention the improvements gramps made and the money and effort he put into the place...

we made a bunch on our place- but it also meant completely remodelling both units(it was a two-flat)-both bathrooms and kitchens were torn out to the studs and rebuilt/updated from scratch.
we used the money to buy the place we're in now, and hopefully we'll get a little something for all the efforts we'll be putting into it over the next 5-10 years.

[KingFish019]

14. Sadly, not too surprising...

When I was getting my BA, I strongly considered going to graduate school. After some investigation (Robert Peters has a great book on this), however, I decided it was not worth it. Having a Masters degree means little today without knowing what the degree is in. Not applying for a M.A./Ph.D. was one of the best decisions I ever made.

[Breeze54]

19. I guess all that talk we hear about college graduates earning Millions more isn't true after all.

At least not if the jobs aren't here anymore!

Welcome to DU, KingFish019 ! :hi:

[BlooInBloo]

17. Like two maybe....

And one of them has a coke problem and would be on streets during the best of times.

I'm all for raising consciousness levels of the homeless problem, but this kind of caricature isn't the way to do it, imo.

[intheflow]

24. I'm close to being homeless with a Master's degree.

I work 15 hours a week which is not enough to live on. I've been applying to full- and part-time jobs for a year, had a few interviews, but nothing's come through. I have a friend helping me out financially, but without his help I would be homeless. :(

[billyoc]

26. Bush has a Master's degree, why would that impress anyone anymore?

Iraq War: 3 trillion dollars
Mortage collapse: 5 trillion dollars

Putting the lie to the myth of higher education: Priceless

I'll always be grateful to George W. Bush for that.

[erpowers]

32. Most People Earn Their Master's Degree

I guess the reason it would impress people is the fact that most people, unlike George W. Bush have to earn their Bachelor's and Master's degrees. It is at least debatable as to whether Bush should have been allowed to go to Yale and Harvard. I would say Bush did not disprove that the idea that a higher education is better than none or less education. The problems that were caused under the Bush Administration were not because getting a higher education in not better than not getting a higher education, but for other reasons. Bush and his party put forward bad policies. It is possible that he and his party were just that stupid or it is possible that he and his party did a number of the things they did purposely in that he wanted to starve the government. Starving the government is something that many conservatives always want to do. So while many people will say Bush and the Republicans failed some republicans will say he succeeded in that he did exactly what they wanted to be done.

In addition, the idea that people with higher degrees make more money than those with only a high school diploma is mainly an average. On average a person with a higher level degree will make more money than someone with a high school diploma. Depending on what type of Bachelor's degree or Master's degree a person gets they can start off working out of college making $60,000-$100,000 per year. I think it is very hard for someone right out of high school to make $60,000-$100,000. It is very possible that people with business and law degrees skew the average in that people with those degrees can make so much money. There are some situations in which people with only high school diplomas make more money than people with advanced degrees, but I think that is a very small number of people. In addition, think in those instances a person with a degree has possibly chosen to work on a lower pay scale. However, their are certain jobs that people cannot get without having a degree.

[intheflow]

34. That's why I got my degree.

I couldn't get the job I wanted without it, but have been unable to do that job for health reasons now. :(

[billyoc]

41. Well, I disagree. I submit that *nobody* earns them, they just buy them.

And after the painful example of George Bush, from here on in the burden of proof will be on the purchasers.

[earth mom]

27. This is happening in pockets of the country I think. It hasn't started up here....

yet. :scared:

[flashl]

29. Negative job creation erases 'benefits' of a degree, its been true for years. But, the $85B edu

industry is of great benefit to somebody.

Florida seem to have relied heavily on the tourism and retirement industries, in these service sectors, there is no master degree requirement yet to change sheets.

[B Calm]

31. and the REPUBLICAN ECONOMIC DISASTER continues. . . .

[LiberalEsto]

33. The plan is working

They want to destroy the middle class, and it's happening.

[pork medley]

39. who says there's no social mobility in the USA?

[Firespirit]

43. I had an interview recently

It was for a tech job, in a university town. The interviewer commented that they'd had difficulty finding anyone qualified. I was really shocked, because there is a pretty good engineering school nearby, and I asked if they'd spoken to any graduates. He said yes, but what they really wanted were people with "experience." One current developer had no degree but had been hired because of work experience. It honestly made me quite irate, but it was an interview, so I hope I hid that... To me it was code for "An education is utterly worthless."

[Breeze54]

45. No, that's code for you'll cost more than an actual trained tech support person.

Tech Support people do not earn as much as engineer's. It's less education and pays less.
Tech support can be a one year certificate or a two year, not a BS degree. They are the
one's taking the jobs from techs besides all the outsourcing or they were in 2001.

[Sanctified]

46. During economic down turns the formely wealthy have a tendency to jump out of buildings while...

the poor just keep on trucking. I have a friend who is pretty educated and unemployed, unfortunately he has it set in his mind if he does some remedial labor jobs to make ends meat it will prevent him from getting a job later. I really don't understand the logic but to him it makes perfect sense.

[mulsh]

47. if they have MBA's - being homeless might do them some good

I've seen way too many businesses and individual workers fucked up by newly minted and seasoned execs with MBA's. yep, I'm bitter.

Just think about the current credit crisis, fueled in large part by people with MBA but no real smarts.

Besides earning a degree is not a guarantee of success. It makes the odds slightly better.

[katty]

49. yes, it happened in Argentina

[asteroid2003QQ47]

53. A high percentage of degree holders are simply...

herd members willing to jump through hoops. A stint in the streets might (emphasis on 'might') actually do them some good!

As Calvin Coolidge once said:
"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

Cal's message is clear, persistent drones rule, though I doubt that's what he meant it to mean.

If the rule of no talent drones has ended it will be a step in the right direction.