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Degree vs Trade

Andy Black

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MJ DeMarco

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Incredible post and I agree wholeheartedly. Tremendous respect for those tradesmen.

(Just don't read the comments.)

I'd rather stick my thumb in a Cuisinart over reading Twitter comments.
 

socaldude

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One of my biggest regrets is not learning a trade and instead getting a useless degree.

I don’t know when people are gonna wake up to the giant con academia is running. They just want more students so they can load them with debt so they can build buildings and over pay their staff. It’s inefficient.

I’m sure these trade jobs come with a lot of satisfaction and passion. Theres nothing like coming home after doing a good job at work.
 

Mathuin

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When I was growing up, all the families around me that had the huge houses usually had one thing in common: Their Dads owned a construction or a trade (plumber,hvac etc) company.

Like one of my favourite humans of all time, Felix Dennis, said in 2002: "There are far too many people in university in Britain. If you want to make money, be a plumber."

It is good to see more companies in other industries having apprenticeship schemes.
 
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MJ DeMarco

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Missed the point where Adam tried to force Chris to pay for his 100k debt.

And call him a racist for remotely resisting the idea.
 

socaldude

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Adam consults with his school counselor for advice. The counselor recommends a Master’s Degree program that costs an extra $100k. Which Adam promptly accepts because his parents would approve.

By the time Adam finishes, Chris has already paid off his house and beat inflation by 10 percent per annum. Adam still lives with his parents and still works at Safeway helping people bag their groceries.
 
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Andy Black

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Adam consults with his school counselor for advice. The counselor recommends a Master’s Degree program that costs an extra $100k.
So schools recommend more schooling? Funny that.

“Become a producer by consuming more!”
 

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10 years into his “career” making 38k per year as a shift manager at the mall department store. It is time for a little bit of the good life. Adam leases a BMW for $499/month for 36 months for “well qualified buyers.” He isn’t well qualified and pays $650, but he sure looks cool when he drives it around his “haters.” Sucks to pay $100 for an oil change though. His solution is to vote for Elizabeth Warren.

Chris now owns his business. He has a small crew that does the service calls. He focuses on getting big contracts for his crew. He buys an F150 platinum, literally a nicer vehicle than Adam’s entry BMW and writes $75k off of his taxes. He’s building a million dollar house, that he can afford. His oil change is $20. Doesn’t put his hopes and dreams in politicians stealing from other people.
 

socaldude

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His solution is to vote for Elizabeth Warren.

Frustrated and suffering from extreme cognitive dissonance. Adam votes for Bernie Sanders hoping to have his college debt canceled sponsored by a scorched-earth taxation agenda.

:rofl::rofl:
 
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Kak

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Frustrated and suffering from extreme cognitive dissonance. Adam votes for Bernie Sanders hoping to have his college debt canceled sponsored by a scorched-earth taxation agenda.

:rofl::rofl:

Or Biden…

Adam sees this:

After expectations of receiving huge promises of other people’s money. His dreams are ruined. Promptly tries to kill himself, but doesn’t own a gun like the beta pussy communist he is. Fails yet again. Ends up in state funded psychiatric care because it is somehow “in the taxpayers interest” to take care of him.
 
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Redwolf

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No more student loans should be issued for arts and humanity degrees. If you have parents with enough money to pay for your degree - Godspeed.
 

daveclapham

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I and many of my friends were apprentice tradesmen. I got paid off in 2008. Bounced around, got a degree In accounting.

fast forward to 2021, I work for an asset manager/hedge fund making a multiple of any tradesman I knows salary. I have multiple offers coming in weekly for different roles through recruiters that pay a premium for my niche knowledge and skill set. And I don’t have to clean shit out of people toilets for it.

I make 6 figures (GBP), my friends who stuck to trades are scraping a living in industries that are saturated with people. Low barriers to entry = too much competition. When there are 100 local joiners, how can the pricing be competitive. And the industry is fickle, the housing market goes tits up and all building work comes to a screeching halt. A lot of the work drys up in winter.
 
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Johnny boy

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After expectations of receiving huge promises of other people’s money. His dreams are ruined. Promptly tries to kill himself, but doesn’t own a gun like the beta pussy communist he is. Fails yet again.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
 
D

Deleted78083

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Or Biden…

Adam sees this:

After expectations of receiving huge promises of other people’s money. His dreams are ruined. Promptly tries to kill himself, but doesn’t own a gun like the beta pussy communist he is. Fails yet again. Ends up in state funded psychiatric care because it is somehow “in the taxpayers interest” to take care of him.

He receives covid 19 vaccine and dies
 
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Kak

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No more student loans should be issued for arts and humanity degrees. If you have parents with enough money to pay for your degree - Godspeed.

The best way to deal with student loans is to privatize them. The banks issuing the loans will actually examine the risk profile of the applicants and consider such things.

An art degree might have a 20% interest rate.

An in demand degree might have a 7%.

This is the free market doing its job. The funny thing, with this in place, the market would get the the labor resources it demands the most and there would be less losers with art degrees and the college price bubble would pop hard.

When it is a real lender having to decide what they are willing to lend on, this starts making a lot more sense.
 
D

Deleted78083

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The best way to deal with student loans is to privatize them. The banks issuing the loans will actually examine the risk profile of the applicants and consider such things.

An art degree might have a 20% interest rate.

An in demand degree might have a 7%.

This is the free market doing its job. The funny thing, with this in place, the market would get the the labor resources it demands the most and there would be less losers with art degrees.
This is where we see differences between EU and US.

You want to privatize, I want to reorganize.

I think that some programs should be limited to the number of students through a "numerus closus".

Useless programs in communication, art-history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy etc should welcome x number of students max each year, accessible through an entrance exam.

Likewise, I think the government should pay students that study engineering and computer science to attract more candidates so that we stop hiring Indians and import them to Brussels for work while Alexandra is unemployed because she has a master in gender studies.
 

Jon L

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This is where we see differences between EU and US.

You want to privatize, I want to reorganize.

I think that some programs should be limited to the number of students through a "numerus closus".

Useless programs in communication, art-history, sociology, anthropology, philosophy etc should welcome x number of students max each year, accessible through an entrance exam.

Likewise, I think the government should pay students that study engineering and computer science to attract more candidates so that we stop hiring Indians and import them to Brussels for work while Alexandra is unemployed because she has a master in gender studies.
I'm genuinely curious about your response to this question:

How is your suggestion to improve things any different from communism? And, is central planning better than the market? Why? Consider that central management of infinitely complex stuff like this results in 5000 tons of extra toothpicks and no toothbrushes.
 
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D

Deleted78083

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I'm genuinely curious about your response to this question:

How is your suggestion to improve things any different from communism? And, is central planning better than the market? Why? Consider that central management of infinitely complex stuff like this results in 5000 tons of extra toothpicks and no toothbrushes.
You whether take care society, or don't at all. When you do half, it doesn't work.

Let's imagine you are the government.

Eg: You refund healthcare to citizens -> citizens don't take care of their health -> the healthcare system is bankrupt.

Solution: you raise taxes on everything that contains sugar or is fried in vegetable oil, you decrease taxes on meat, dairy, and vegetables, and you refund part of people's gym or sport membership.

This lead to less healthcare cost, a more productive workforce, and so more taxes for you.

So in my example, since it is the state paying unemployment benefits, the state must approach "minimizing people that study degrees leading to unemployment " like a company. They need to raise barriers to the bad degrees, and decrease them for the good degrees.

Voila!

How is this different from communism?

People have choice and freedom. Where communists would forbid or ban alright everything that doesn't work, I just ask for a higher price when people do something that will cost society later on (those fries sound damn good, but they may be responsible for your 100k cancer treatment in 20 years, so you gonna have to pay higher taxes on that).

I see what you mean though. You do not like the idea of the government influencing people's lives as it is infringing the idea of 100% freedom.

The problem with 100% freedom is that it also means 100% responsibility. And let's be honest, not even 10% of people can take 100% responsibility for themselves, which is why the state must intervene.

If the state intervenes, it might as well influence what people do in their lives, by pushing them towards the "right choice".
 
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Kak

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@monfii the US doesn’t even come close to a free market appetite. They, given the choice, will commie this all up just like your EU example.

The way I see these options…

Way one, the free market way, is based in reality. Interest rates set by competitive risk assessments, in the free market, actually know the “right choice.” They consider, most accurately, supply and demand and reward better choices naturally, without force. The most perfect solution for the problem imaginable.

Way two, meddling with reality and obviously less efficient. The government doesn’t know the right choice. It rewards all choices, regardless of how good they are, and punishes people who decide not to make the choice. This meddling is what currently exists and is responsible for super high tuition costs, egregious student debt, and useless degrees.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
 
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Tom H.

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OMG this thread went from funny to terrifying
 
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