Posted on 03/02/2009 9:23:05 PM PST by Chet 99
Will Part of Professional Class Be Wiped Out by the Downturn?
Posted 14 hours, 55 minutes ago By Debra Cassens Weiss
A Wall Street Journal column asserts that the safety net doesn’t extend to the growing professional class in the United States, and airs the possibility that part of these jobs will be “wiped out.”
The Microtrends column in the Wall Street Journal says the United States is “totally unprepared” for professional job losses. “We have safety nets for the chronically unemployed, for the fast-food workers let go (oddly they may be the only ones keeping their jobs in this recession), and for the manufacturing plants that have been shuttered. The stimulus will create construction jobs galore.” But there are no jobs for the professionals such as writers and editors who “can’t build roads,” according to the article.
The column notes job losses at top law firms and says lawyers are hit hard. “They principally had their savings in the stock and housing markets, which have been decimated. Unlike many blue-collar and public-sector workers, they have no union protection, limited pensions and suburban-family expenses. And as professionals, they have perfected how to do their narrow job well. But many have little direct business sense or experience.”
It’s unclear how long and deep the recession will be and “how much of this class will be wiped out,” the article says. These professionals worked and studied hard to become successful, but now many face lost jobs and financial security.
(Excerpt) Read more at abajournal.com ...
Not much, in an illiterate, declining society.
I'm not sure circulating money by itself is good for the economy (Keynes may disagree), but anyone who provides a service people want, including artists and journalists, is contributing something to the economy.
Government lawyers are likely to stay employed. Their numbers may even grow. Democrats always expand government when they destroy free enterprise and loot the private sector. Government lawyers may not get rich, but they do alright.
I absolutely agree.
when Obama puts you on a six-month waiting list for medical procedures,
Six months would be lucky. I know Canadians who have waited a year for bypass surgery. In Britain it seems to be worse.
I can’t examine the motives of all the people I know who went to law school as a second career, but presumably most have done it not to get rich but because they thought they could make a difference or because some aspect of the law intrigued them. Clearly they thought it would be a good career.
Most people anticipate that they’ll like practicing law. Unfortunately I don’t know anybody who practices law who actually likes it, and too many really hate it. I have been troubled when I’ve heard of friends preparing to go to law school for this very reason. My own lawyer tells me that the profession has changed in the last twenty years and he told his own kids he wouldn’t pay for them if they wanted to go to law school, he hates it that much.
But the credential is a good one to have even if you’re going into some other field. Or at least, it used to be.
The article IS refreshing in that they state that these idiot lawyers who inhabit congress "have NO business sense nor experience."
Nam Vet
NOTHING brings me greater happiness that lawyers losing their jobs or unable to find work. I hate lawyers-ALL LAWYERS!
They are the ticks on society.
No doubt. It’s amusing how many expensive rides I’ve seen with Obama stickers. I wonder how many owners are regretting those purchases.
My children are learning at age 8 and 6 that university degrees mean nothing. They are being bathed in the ideals of entrepreneurial enterprise. They are learning that academia does not teach people how to think for themselves and pursue their own unique talents and passions. They have already earned more than $500 selling cookies, spiced cider and other goods at various fairs and parades in our area. They both already understand the concepts of product/labor costs, marginal profit and taxes. They scour circulars to obtain the cheapest ingredients to maximize their profits. In addition, my 8 year old son has already completed enough study to become Microsoft certified for Windows Server 2008. I had him come into my office and setup a Server, Exchange Server and SQL Server. He will become certified and earn $40/hr when his friends are doing paper routes on their bikes. My children will learn that they can channel their talents and passions into CASH, and that they don’t need to rely on anyone else to provide them a paycheck. I sincerely believe that this course of education is the best route to their success and happiness.
My children are learning at age 8 and 6 that university degrees mean nothing. They are being bathed in the ideals of entrepreneurial enterprise. They are learning that academia does not teach people how to think for themselves and pursue their own unique talents and passions. They have already earned more than $500 selling cookies, spiced cider and other goods at various fairs and parades in our area. They both already understand the concepts of product/labor costs, marginal profit and taxes. They scour circulars to obtain the cheapest ingredients to maximize their profits. In addition, my 8 year old son has already completed enough study to become Microsoft certified for Windows Server 2008. I had him come into my office and setup a Server, Exchange Server and SQL Server. He will become certified and earn $40/hr when his friends are doing paper routes on their bikes. My children will learn that they can channel their talents and passions into CASH, and that they don’t need to rely on anyone else to provide them a paycheck. I sincerely believe that this course of education is the best route to their success and happiness.
They’re going to be finding out that an Obama bumber sticker does not buy immunity from an ebbing tide lowering all boats.
Oops...sorry for the dupe post.
I wonder how many were Obama voters.
I wonder how many will be willing to do jobs that no American is willing to do, but will not be able to find work because an illeagal is taking that job.
“writers and editors who “can’t build roads,”
I hope the administration is forced to make these drones do some real work, like building roads. Would build character.
You’re naive.
Also, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, etc. sure managed to screw up the country, didn’t they?
As people in the Real Estate and particularly the mortgage industry have discovered.
We keep getting resumes from very well qualified, senior mortgage folks who are getting out of their industry since there are no jobs there any longer.
Most of CURRENT Congress are lawyers. Enough said!
T”But there are no jobs for the professionals such as writers and editors who “can’t build roads,” according to the article.”
—
Well, they can always get on as Walmart greeters... LOL...
[ ... not feeling too sorry for them... ]
Businessmen are the one group that distinguishes capitalism
and the American way of life from the totalitarian statism
that is swallowing the rest of the world.
All the other social groups- workers, farmers, professional
men, scientists, soldiers- exist under dictatorships, even
though they exist in chains, in terror, in misery, and in
progressive self-destruction.
But there is no such group as businessmen under a dictatorship.
Their place is taken by armed thugs: by bureaucrats and
commissars.
Businessmen are the symbol of a free society- the symbol
of America.
AYN RAND
My daughter is a journalist for a business journal and I am extremely proud of her and her work. She works for an editor that requires sources and factual reporting. Their paper continues to add subscribes while the two main dailies in the state lose subscribers due to their lax reporting. Shows when you put out a quality product that you can count on the stories being factual, then you won’t have trouble selling that newspaper.
Your comments were very well written and correct IMHO. Too many people are quick to throw everyone in the same pot when it is not true.
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