I Am Part Of The Declining Middle Class.
When I arrived at work today, I was greeted with this posting.
While I'm sitting here trying to figure out how I'm going to juggle the bills, and pay for the kids going back to school I realized I am part of the declining middle class.
I am a Journeyman Tool Maker. This career used to be considered a top manufacturing position. To be able to claim this position I was required to have an associate degree and complete 6 years of on the job training with quarterly performance reviews. I earn a competitive wage for this area.
Sadly this career path is on the decline do to outsourcing and disposable tooling. I have looked for other work in the area and if I was to leave and start at a different company I would lose my house. Most starting positions are close to a $13 an hour or more pay cut.
With such low starting wages in the area, I have felt trapped. Unable to afford a career change and unable to afford more schooling for myself or my wife. Due to not qualifying for assistance because we make to much. That's a odd thing to think about. My wife and I work very hard for what we have and we are unable to afford more schooling. But if we weren't married she would be able to get assistance for schooling. How is this fair for the middle class?
Earlier this year in Indiana, Carrier announced plans to eliminate 1,400 low- to midgrade manufacturing jobs during the next three years and move its production facility to Mexico.
You might recall seeing this video on YouTube
The Mexican workers replacing Carrier employees will earn a base wage of $3 an hour, which is $23 less than some of the top-paid employees in Indianapolis.
Last year, Carrier produced a significant chunk of total profits for its parent company, United Technologies. Of $7.6 billion in earnings in 2015, $2.9 billion came from the Climate, Controls & Security division, where Carrier resides. Profits from this division have expanded steadily in recent years, which is not what you’d expect from a unit desperate to cut labor costs. United Technologies in 2014 also accepted a $5.1 million taxpayer-funded federal tax credit.
Now I'm not saying that the company I work for is going to close its doors, but it could very easily happen with the new plants in China and India How can we compete with the wages they are willing to accept? What can the middle class do to stand up and stop the corporate greed that's running rampant? With new laws like Right To Work limiting the power of unions, how do we fight back without first losing everything first?
The traditional 9-5 lifestyle is not as rewarding as it once was in the past. Today, we may not have as much opportunity in the corporate world, but we do have tremendous opportunity to become successful in the online world. Today it is easier than ever to earn money online. Creating meaningful content on YouTube and Steemit are just two examples of platforms where this is a possibility. There are so many more opportunities out there too when you start looking into it. Entrepreneurs follow market demands and change their business models to profit from these demands. Today the demand is in the online world. Now more than ever, we have an opportunity to join in on the success and earn some of the profits, if we are willing to spend a little less of our time watching Neflix and a little more of our time researching and venturing out into these new markets, we have so much opportunity for success.
That's why I started getting into cryptocurrency and have been looking for a good trading class to take online. Also I have been trying to figure out a way to get my son into programing. I would love to find a game that would introduce him to it.
I actually teach programming on one of my YouTube channels. Paul Programming However it covers material that is geared towards people who have some C++ experience already. I am planning on creating some intro to programming tutorials on Steemit. Feel free to check out my Blog. I have already created one Intoduction to C++ on Steemit that you may find helpful already. It is here. I also have another introduction to programming in the works that I plan on pulishing to Steemit either today or tomorrow. I wish you the best in your online journey to success!
Thank you I will be looking at them. Do you know of any games for the younger generation? What got you into programing?
MIT has a free website aimed at getting kids into programming. It is called Scratch
I stumbled across programming when I was required to take an intro to computer science class to satisfy a math degree I was working on. I instantly fell in love with programming and ended up getting a Computer Science degree as well.
That would be great. Most of the stuff for beginners is targeted at kids rather than adults. Would be nice to have something targeted at people over 25 who have never done any programming at all.
thanks @veryscience i will show my son that tonight.
Why does your computer UI look like it's from an 80s hacker film?
Lol the company hasn't updated the software in a long time
Gave you an up-vote all the same... But, you can't "fight back" in the way that you are thinking. Unions will continue to bankrupt any one who does not use robotic automation for everything. Sales positions are soon to be the only positions left for humans who don't program robots or computers.
I believe that the only jobs that will be available are services jobs. The next industry that is going to take a major hit is trucking.
I think even with those kind of jobs - most of those things will be done by machines with the "humans" being a niche that only cater to and can be afforded by the rich.
Until we have AI salespeople and the robots program themselves!
I was taking more like Matradees, hair stylist, care takers. Jobs that will always need a human touch. when you want a human to interact with.
"robots program themselves" that would be equivalent to easier programming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_programming_language .... "AI salespeople" not all that possible, something about a real human wanting you to make the purchase encourages the buy. This is why homeless people with signs on the side of the road make so much money. Watch "Poverty Inc." to learn about why that is. http://www.povertyinc.org
No I disagree. True AI will not require programming once it reaches a certain level.
As for the second point It is a matter of culture. The way that buying has shifted online has already made many sales jobs obsolete. I believe it is short sighted to believe that real humans will be required to make purchases in the future. Sales jobs are no more secure than any other sort of job.
Homeless people selling things on the side of the road get sales because people are trying to help them and see it as being charitable. It is nothing to do with salesmanship or sales jobs so I'm not sure why you would use that as an example.
It's only going to get worse. Not from outsourcing but as AIs and machines replace pretty much ALL our jobs. Nothing is safe. That is why some places are considering universal income plans. It's not politically popular right now but it might be the only choice eventually.
Yes I seen a documentary on 3D printing and was floored. It's going to be the next "industrial revolution". They will be able to roll up to a job site and print a house. That's how we are going to Mars, we will send Printers first lol.
Video: The Shepard tells the SHEEP they are about to get slaughtered...
it seems to me that if a guy is willing to do the job for less then he deserves the job. That's called 'fair'. Fair might not be feeling good right now. but if a guy in mexico is willing to do the same work for less money, why should he get screwed just because he was unlucky enough to be born in the wrong place? He deserves to send his kids to college too.
How is it fair on the person who loses his job? He can't afford to live on less because of the cost of living where he resides. Anyway eventually machines will replace everyone because they will become cheaper than even the cheapest human workers.
how is it fair to let a company take tax breaks from a state then the next year move to a different country. there is no loyalty any more just the rich getting richer..........
It is only fair if you are the CEO of the company and a sociopath.
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