Occupy Wall Street « Economics Job Market Rumors

11 years - 76 posts - Latest - RSS
Thread: 5 Goods vs 5 No Goods

Economics Job Market Rumors » Job Market » General Economics Job Market Discussion

Occupy Wall Street

Economist
f317

These are not the 99%. They are the lower quartile to lower half. As one person said: We are better off than 90% of the world. OK, so why the hell are you complaining then?
Read their stories, but it's clear that many of these people either made poor choices or were unlucky. What they want is to eliminate bad luck and to have poor choices absolved. That cannot and should not be done, ever.

Ahh, insurance with unobserved actions? Clearly, no mechanism can improve on the 'sorry bra, you're ****ed' outcome.

11 years ago # QUOTE 4 Volod 0 Vlad !
Economist
f00c

Ignorant political activists piss me off.

11 years ago # QUOTE 2 Volod 4 Vlad !
Economist
98f4

haha... very good

These are not the 99%. They are the lower quartile to lower half. As one person said: We are better off than 90% of the world. OK, so why the hell are you complaining then?
Read their stories, but it's clear that many of these people either made poor choices or were unlucky. What they want is to eliminate bad luck and to have poor choices absolved. That cannot and should not be done, ever.
Ahh, insurance with unobserved actions? Clearly, no mechanism can improve on the 'sorry bra, you're ****ed' outcome.

11 years ago # QUOTE 0 Volod 0 Vlad !
Economist
8fa0

There is nobody to blame here, not Wall Street, not guidance counselors, not supposedly spoiled grads, not parents. Nobody foresaw that we were going to go into a deep recession that would raise the unemployment rate seriously for a long time and undo all the expectations that everybody had about the future college grad job market some years ago. All this finger pointing is just ridiculous, including by the protestors, although the incomes earned on W.S. are outrageous, and the income distribution in the US has become ridiculously skewed unevenly for no productive purpose.

As it is, it would help if these folks actually made some specific demands, even if unreasonable, such as maybe a universal Tobin tax or something. As it is, this is just a lot of blowing off steam from the accumulated frustrations of the long bad job market we have been seeing, with nothing likely to relieve that at all coming from this.

11 years ago # QUOTE 3 Volod 2 Vlad !
Economist
f317

^ Selling a worthless degree to 18 year-old kids to finance your generous pay package? For MBAs OK, but for undergrads I think it's unethical. So blame professors in social sciences and humanities.

11 years ago # QUOTE 3 Volod 3 Vlad !
Economist
3da2

^ Selling a worthless degree to 18 year-old kids to finance your generous pay package? For MBAs OK, but for undergrads I think it's unethical. So blame professors in social sciences and humanities.

Except for economics, those degrees ARE worthless. But they are also compensated that way -- humanities professors make ****-all, and so do sociology/anthro professors. Political science is okay wage-wise. And that is as it should be.

It is also not my job to tell parents not to borrow to pay for their dumb kid's worthless education. If they're not smart enough to read the tea leaves, more money for me.

11 years ago # QUOTE 3 Volod 0 Vlad !
Economist
6813

Ahh, insurance with unobserved actions? Clearly, no mechanism can improve on the 'sorry bra, you're ****ed' outcome.

Like I said: some made poor choices, and including useless majors, not saving, and not taking a job they might not love but which paid the bills.

Are you implying these people had no means to self-insure? I don't agree. Or that we need to give everyone a lower bound on income/lifestyle? I vehemently disagree; incentives matter.

11 years ago # QUOTE 1 Volod 4 Vlad !
Economist
7f8e

College grads still make 50% more on average than high school grads, and the premium is only rising with each passing year. Some people with college degrees still have shitty work experiences because, well, the world ain't perfect. But not going to college is a heck of a lot worse.

One thing that stands out in the tumblr is the number of people whose financial problems basically stem from health conditions. It would help a lot to have a sane health insurance system in this country.

11 years ago # QUOTE 2 Volod 0 Vlad !
Economist
946b

Bro, dont confuse correlation with causation. These people would have made more money regardless of their education.

College grads still make 50% more on average than high school grads, and the premium is only rising with each passing year. Some people with college degrees still have shitty work experiences because, well, the world ain't perfect. But not going to college is a heck of a lot worse.
One thing that stands out in the tumblr is the number of people whose financial problems basically stem from health conditions. It would help a lot to have a sane health insurance system in this country.

11 years ago # QUOTE 2 Volod 0 Vlad !
Economist
9372

^doubtful for engineering or any sciences related work. But for non-accounting business degrees yea all you really need are some week long excel classes. The rest you can pick up on the job.

11 years ago # QUOTE 0 Volod 0 Vlad !
Economist
b0d3

Of course college grads make more than high school grads. Think of the typical demographics that finish college, and then think of the typical demographics that don't go to college at all. Suburban rich white/asian kid versus urban black dropout. Doesn't mean that college made them earn more, and there is very strong evidence suggesting that some humanities majors actually decrease their income (think of how four years of critical theory would do to your math/science knowledge that you gained from high school).

11 years ago # QUOTE 0 Volod 1 Vlad !
Economist
3da2

Of course college grads make more than high school grads. Think of the typical demographics that finish college, and then think of the typical demographics that don't go to college at all. Suburban rich white/asian kid versus urban black dropout. Doesn't mean that college made them earn more, and there is very strong evidence suggesting that some humanities majors actually decrease their income (think of how four years of critical theory would do to your math/science knowledge that you gained from high school).

We have hit on the solution -- eliminate humanities departments! You could hire two or three good economists for the price of one critical studies department, if there were 15 of them.

11 years ago # QUOTE 3 Volod 0 Vlad !
Economist
4327

(chuckle) you guys are really dumb

11 years ago # QUOTE 2 Volod 5 Vlad !
Economist
3df5

I'll venture that at least 50% of college students shouldn't be in college to begin with. They should be doing menial labor or picking up a trade. I heard plumbers make good money and are in short supply. Read somewhere that people are being paid 200k for 6 months to drive a truck in North Dakota (oil boom). Those who insist on getting a fluff college degree that teaches no tangible skills deserve to be unemployed.

11 years ago # QUOTE 4 Volod 1 Vlad !
Economist
5598

To help these people government should cut the taxes of those who create jobs and wealth. But I don't think that it makes much sense to try to explain them.

11 years ago # QUOTE 2 Volod 3 Vlad !
Economist
b0d3

There's just no way you can make a decent living in this country as long as you make financial decisions responsibly and are willing to work hard. Many of these unemployed protestors - especially the young recent college grads - are simply unwilling to recognize the fact that their degrees are worthless and they will have to do some hard labor to earn a decent wage. It's perfectly fine to prefer leisure over hard work - given the choice, I would probably stay unemployed too. But that's your preference, so don't whine about how corporate fat cats are stealing your money. Just compare your standard of living to those who grew up in countries without these mega corporations - such as mine.

11 years ago # QUOTE 2 Volod 1 Vlad !
Economist
b8dc

Capitalism is organized crime and we are all the victims.

11 years ago # QUOTE 2 Volod 4 Vlad !
Economist
b8dc

There's just no way you can make a decent living in this country as long as you make financial decisions responsibly and are willing to work hard. Many of these unemployed protestors - especially the young recent college grads - are simply unwilling to recognize the fact that their degrees are worthless and they will have to do some hard labor to earn a decent wage. It's perfectly fine to prefer leisure over hard work - given the choice, I would probably stay unemployed too. But that's your preference, so don't whine about how corporate fat cats are stealing your money. Just compare your standard of living to those who grew up in countries without these mega corporations - such as mine.

What is everyone did that? Worked hard, majored in useful things...there would still be losers. Why? Because capitalism is a zero sum game.

11 years ago # QUOTE 2 Volod 8 Vlad !
Economist
5598

The problem is not "useful things" or "useless things". Nobody wants to livbe in a world without literature, philosophy, Byzantine studies. It is that you need to be good at what you do.

What is everyone did that? Worked hard, majored in useful things...there would still be losers. Why? Because capitalism is a zero sum game.

11 years ago # QUOTE 1 Volod 3 Vlad !
Economist
9a1f

Did an economist, a ****ing PHD'D ECONOMIST, seriously sit there with a straight mother****ing face and type "capitalism is a zero sum game"?

11 years ago # QUOTE 8 Volod 1 Vlad !

« Previous 123 4 Next »

Recently Announced

Upcoming

Economics

Job Market

Off Topic

Math

Job Market Wiki

Job Market Candidates

Updates

Occupy Wall Street

Reply »