What People Earn: How Did You Do?

Parade ^ | March 12, 2006 | Lynn Brenner

[somniferum]

I'll be a 1st year law student in August.. don't tell me these things ;P

[oceanview]

I've been saying this here for years.

private sector middle class wages are falling. take the wage figures, strip out government workers and public school teachers who get consistent wage increases due to union contracts, remove those in the private sector at the very top of the wage scale ($250K+) to remove the concentration of wealth effect - and the wage pattern for those that remain - private sector middle class workers - is doing poorly. this is why in poll after poll, even though the macro economic numbers are outwardly good, americans do not give good marks to the performance on the economy.

offshoring of jobs is the reason for this.

[Hunble]

Although I took a pay cut after 9-11, it did have a good side.

My salary was reduced from $70,000 to $64,000 but I only had to work three days a week!

In 2004, when my salary was returned to $70,000 my work week was extended to four days.

If you factor in the actual days that I work each week, I have done rather well.

[oceanview]

and here you see another thing supressing wages:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1596525/posts

[woofie]

I work for myself and if I didnt make so much money Id get fired or Id quit

[mylife]

I do a 4 day work week as well, but they are 10-11 hour days

[speedy]

Best response on this thread, even though I'm not completely sure what it means!

[Hunble]

I do a 4 day work week as well, but they are 10-11 hour days

Like you, in actuality, I am working 24 hours, 7 days a week. The only difference is the location where I am working.

As a Software Engineer, some of my most brilliant innovations were created around 2:00 AM while at home. Heck, most of the time, while reading or postings on Free Republic!

My job is to create and invent new things to make our company profits. How and when that happens, even I do not know.

[FreedomCalls]

The stats in this article don't sound right to me. Median lawyer income is in the mid-70s annually? Half are making less than that? They must be well hidden.

For every big-shot lawyer defending someone there is a poorly-paid public prosecutor and sometimes there is a poorly-paid court-appointed counsel on the defendent's side as well. But that's just the criminal-justice side of the courthouse, not the civil-suit side.

[John W]

"I go in crippled and come out much better."

Think about that.

How often in 20 years has this happened?

Reminds me of the maintenance man:"Don't tell me how to fix this, I've done it a thousand times."

[mylife]

Funny how solutions pop into your head at the oddest times

[proxy_user]

"What an absolute waste of Food and College Tuition

I wouldn't say that. Even those who are buying a house for $50K in Faraway, Nebraska need a lawyer to look over the papers.

And how about the guys arrested for disorderly conduct in the parking lot of a bar in Wyoming? Who is going to represent them for a fee they can afford?

[Ursus arctos horribilis]

As a foreman in the oil patch when I retired in 1991, was making 65 grand a year. These so called todays average wages just don't stack up for me.

Maybe we need more low paid illegal aliens to really raise the boat for everyone. S/

[Billthedrill]

Well, I took a 35% pay cut to move to a job and location that I adore, busted my butt, got a monster merit raise after a year, paid off the credit cards and own my house. What I like best is when I hear a soft-handed Democratic politician who's never had an honest job in his life tell me that it's an economic disaster. It isn't, actually - his pension is safe enough.

[umgud]

I make my employer a lot of money and he rewards me accordingly. I'm happy, he's happy.

[Mase]

“Corporate profits’ share of the national income is at a 60-year high—and that has come directly out of wages and salaries, which are at a record low.”

There is a great deal of misinformation in this article beginning with this statement. The link below helps to explain why the author may believe the above to be true when it is not.

Mythology of Wages vs. Profits

[Hunble]

Last Tuesday, I cleaned my office and left. The issue was rather minor in retrospect, but if they can not trust me, then there was nothing else I could do.

This Monday, during a Minnesota blizzard, my car was stranded. Out of the snow, the owner of our company saw me walking across an open field to get to the office. Eventually, he and I were able to locate where the road was and used the snow plow to clear the way for mine and other vehicles.

To be honest, I have no idea if I am even being paid!

I returned to work on Monday and have been making some major scientific advances. For me, it no longer mattered, since this is what I do.

We simply do not talk about what happened last week. That is rather wise, since we are all walking on egg-shells at the moment.

[Congressman Billybob]

Ease off a bit. There are some good guys in the legal profession. I'll be making my tax returns public as a part of running for Congress. Despite being a lawyer, my income hovers around $40,000 a year -- but that's because I've given away half my time every year to worthwhile purposes since 1976.

True, some lawyers have their ethics surgically removed at birth. But not all of us, okay?

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "Daniel in the Lion's Den -- A Red Candidate in a Blue Meeting"

[mylife]

Dedication of spirit tends to pay off.

Thanks for your spirit Hunble

[Washi]

I have been seeing a chiropractor for almost 20 years. As much as you want them to be a fraud, mine is not. I go in crippled and come out much better.

How often do you go in "crippled?"

Is this a family friend?

Chiropracty, Reflexology, Phrenology, and Psychology are all sham sciences that far too many people pay far too much money to believe in.