When your house payment is low because you have an incredible interest rate through the teacher's credit union, and the overall cost of the house is low. A 35k car isn't that big of a reach. Toss in the fact that I'd say most of my son's teachers actually make no less than 45. Toss in the fact that almost all of their spouses work in the district as well and have cushy, decent paying jobs with the summer off. Now, you mix in the fact that they pay almost nothing for insurance that offers incredible coverage.. they are saving even more money. Another thing I noticed (and this goes back to my days in California) is that a great many teachers use that money they stock away during the school year to eventually start a business. They usually start off networking within the district. Quite often, these businesses are cash heavy, easy profit seasonal businesses like Landscaping companies or Boutiques. Eventually, they build a strong enough base from that business so they can now hire someone to manage it for them and run that business all year long. These perks add up fast if you're smart. A person managing a fast food restaurant on the average makes right about 35k a year. He works all year long, often working 10 hour days since he is salary. We have new teachers here making right about 35k a year and they work from Sept to mid-May. Aside from the 3 and a half months off, including gratuitous holiday leave, the biggest difference between the fast food manager and the new teacher is that the fast food manager will get fired if he doesn't produce.
3 1/2 months off? I may be picking at straws but here in Fla. mys son starts on Mon. the 12th and the kids didn't get out till mid-Jun. 7 or 8 weeks tops plus a week here or there during the year which adds up to just enough perk to entice my son to take the job. As I said to him a job as a newbie in the private sector may net a higher 60K type salary but his family would probably never see him and the bennies would suck..... like they do at 90% of the companies in America today..... except for where T Tom works of course. :wink:
Moderator alert... Bill and Terry may want to take action on this and I wouldn't blame them. However, I am fed up and Dave has pushed my last button. Dave, you say that with what I read as contempt. I have had enough of your 3 year old whining to last a lifetime. Dave, you can kiss my fat ass!
Tom... didn't mean to hit your button... just brush by it maybe. I know in the past you have said your benefits are pretty good.... but that is increasingly more rare in today's working America.
Not every company is out there to screw their employees. Not everyone that loses a job/career throws in the towel and becomes cynical of everyone and everything. It gets very old.
One thing comes to mind every time I read one of Dave's posts: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1okb5EIo1nw" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Miami-Dade school schedule (days off): Summer (2014 to 2013 assuming is representative): June 5 (2013) to August 15 (2013) = 10 weeks Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving (2) = 4 days Winter recess = 2 weeks MLK, President's day = 2 days Spring recess = 1 week Memorial day = 1 day 7 days off = 1.4 weeks hmmm...making an "equivalent salary" with 14.4 weeks off seems like a pretty significant perk. Don't cry your woes to me about 3+ months off "paid" every year. Extrapolating a 45k job working a year-round job is equivalent to making 60k.
I think Dave, and a lot of other Americans like him have forgotten (or maybe never knew) what job benefits are, and where they came from. Back in the day... there used to be this thing called competition. Companies wanted the best workers, so they started adding "perks" to their salaries to entice the best to come to their jobs. Somehow... as time has passed a lot of folks have somehow equated those benefits to rights. Wait... maybe I'm wrong. They aren't rights, they are ENTITLEMENTS! Every worker is ENTITLED to benefits! And we know who gives the best ENTITLEMENTS! So all we have to do is ALL work for the government, and life will be perfect! How could I have missed it?
Scott, you have hit on something here. I have always shown gratitude to my company for the benefits I receive. I never considered them entitlements. I was paid three months salary as a bonus to come to work for this company 13+ years ago. Knowing what I know now, I would have paid them to join.
Since about Jan 21 of 2001 benefits have been steadily declining for working Americans. You're right.... when there is no competition for workers there are no reasons for companies to offer good benefits. You could almost call it collusion but really.... when there is no place else to go the the employee has no choice..... no incentive but to accept it. Its the reason wages have been stagnant since the onset of the recession. It's a great legacy for W and Dick.
Well, if he can't blame W then the only alternative is reality. This administration has destroyed jobs in the oil sector with it's denial of drilling permits on and off shore. It's destroying coal industry jobs with it's policies. Thousands of jobs could be generated by the construction of the Keystone pipeline. The abomination called Obama care is destroying full time jobs and forcing employers to move employees to part time. And those are just some of the ways in which this administration destroying jobs and increasing the rolls of people forced to government dependence. Let's face it, he never is about the country's business. He's either on the road campaigning, on vacation or at the White House for a private concert or welcome to a championship sports team. Oh yeah, and occasionally he go on the Hay Leno show to answer some tough questions like "what's your shoe size."
It's all Obama's fault: :lol: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 Unemployment skied to 9.4 in 2009 due to W's failed policies and lack of oversight of a greedy and dishonest financial sector. In July the rate was 7.4 so I guess Obama has been quite the bastard eh? " One of the brightest stars in the labor market now is the construction sector, which added 48,000 jobs in February, and 151,000 jobs over the past five months. This sector single-handedly accounted for a quarter of the 8.8 million jobs lost in the financial crisis, but had largely sat of out of the recovery until recently. Momentum there is a welcome sign that the economy is improving, said Sal Guatieri, senior economist with BMO Capital Markets. "It's largely because of the construction sector that the U.S. has yet to recover all of the jobs lost in the Great Recession," he said. "As long as the housing recovery remains intact -- and it should -- we should see the construction sector lead a return to a healthier labor market."
Unemployment was 7.8% the day Obama took office. Until July, in 5 years it had never been lower. As to construction jobs, the Fed. has been holding interest rates down by printing money and the housing market is finally running out of forclosure properties. Just what the hell has Obama done to effect the construction industry? Oh yeah, he had Jay Z play at the White House.
NO Actually, the unemployment rate under Obama was the same or higher up until this past Jan. Look at the unemployment rates under Obama compared to those under Bush. He's a joke.
So Gipper..... I do believe you lived on this planet the past decade and yet... http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 In Jan. of 2007 the unemployment rate was 4.6 and over the last two years of W's tenure it fell to 7.8 on it's way to 9.8 a year later. That's a drop of 5 % in three years...two of which W was in office and yet... in spite of recorded history you think it was all Obama?? We're done here.
You're done here. Under Bush unemployment was 4.6. It will never be close to that under Obama. He's a complete incompetent.