Saturday morning links

Skilled semi drivers........Many years ago a semi coming towards me on the highway began to jack-knife for some reason. As the side of the cab came directly towards me the passenger side door opened and I could see everything in the cab. The skilled driver, while regaining control over the truck and trailer reached across the seat, grabbed his belongings that we starting to go out the door and closed the door. Now that is the kind of driver I wanted to see when I myself was driving across country for business in a smaller box truck. Unfortunately many of the young drivers think they are still driving their pick-ups and expect the semi to react the same as a much smaller and lighter vehicle. Glad the guy driving the FexEx double semi came out of it so well due to his skill. Also, the car drivers caused most of the dangerous situations with the trucks, idiots think a semi can stop on a dime.

#1 JC on 2017-01-14 07:49 (Reply)

Six...

#2 JJM on 2017-01-14 08:15 (Reply)

This is excruciating!!

#2.1 mudbug on 2017-01-14 09:53 (Reply)

Re: American millennials paid 20% lower salaries than baby boomers at same age

If you read into this "study" it's being touted by an advocacy group called Young Invincibles and I'd recommend not looking into what they're advocating for because it's awfully depressing. (Hint: they're applauding California taking steps to "remove barriers to food access on college campuses" and, no, that doesn't mean taking the locks off the dumpsters behind the school cafeteria. It means expanding the Food Stamp program so college kids can get free food. Not giving them free food is apparently erecting barriers to food access.)

The "study" largely points out that millennials are worse off financially than their parents were at the same age despite being better educated than their parents. If you look at the facts and think about it a minute, they're not worse off despite being better educated - they're worse off because they're better educated. At the same age, their parents had 4 more years of OJT and work experience and 4 years less spent racking up a 6-figure student-loan debt.

But the education scam always makes me wonder why more businesses don't reorganize as schools. Instead of paying employees to work in your widget factory, say it's a widget manufacturing school and your employees are suddenly students who will now be paying you to teach them how to make widgets. "You're not making quota there, Jimmy, I'm going to have to give you a D for the semester."

#3 Jerryskids on 2017-01-14 09:49 (Reply)

They're not "better educated", they're better indoctrinated.

#3.1 Sam L. on 2017-01-14 10:02 (Reply)

Jerryskids: If you look at the facts and think about it a minute, they're not worse off despite being better educated - they're worse off because they're better educated.

That's close to the mark. At last part of the difference in current income is due to the extended “childhood” in modern American society. Don’t count out the Millennials. Over the long run, those with education will likely have increasingly high incomes and asset accumulation.

#3.2 Zachriel on 2017-01-14 10:05 (Reply)

Our ambition is to become Climate Scientists working for non-profits.

#3.2.1 I am not a snow flake! on 2017-01-14 11:29 (Reply)

Better educated? You other old timers who graduated from fair to middlin' smallish colleges in the '50s, get out one of your catalogs and compare graduation requirements, faculty qualifications and such with today's offerings (with a few exceptiions, i.e. the Hillsdales). That will explain a lot of the better educated paradox.

#3.3 BillH on 2017-01-14 10:29 (Reply)

BillH: You other old timers who graduated from fair to middlin' smallish colleges in the '50s

We can be sure they learned the latest in computer technology, genetics, and how to find information through the library card system, but things have changed somewhat.

#3.3.1 Zachriel on 2017-01-14 10:59 (Reply)

What gives you the idea that Millennials know anything about genetics? They don't even know how to tell males from females.

#3.3.1.1 mudbug on 2017-01-14 15:38 (Reply)

mudbug: What gives you the idea that Millennials know anything about genetics?

You might try visiting a university. Some of the best colleges for the study of genetics are found in the U.S., and there are some great millennials doing excellent research in genetics. Or you could check out some of the students who work with established geneticists, such as Richard Lenski at Michigan State University.

#3.3.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2017-01-14 16:15 (Reply)

Got me again! Thanks for the laugh. Of course, it's the truth of it that makes it funny.

#3.3.1.1.2 mary on 2017-01-14 16:27 (Reply)

mudbug: They don't even know how to tell males from females.

About one in 1,500 human births have genitalia ambiguous enough that it requires a specialist in sexual differentiation. Many other forms of sexual ambiguity may not become apparent until later in life. Note that male and female sex organs have a common embryonic origin.

That's just humans. Among other species, sexual differentiation can be even more fraught with difficulties and complexities.

#3.3.1.1.3 Zachriel on 2017-01-14 16:28 (Reply)

You and I know I'm not talking about people with ambiguous genitalia. We're talking about the people who say gender is a social construct (some also say race is a social construct but don't explain why some races are more susceptible to certain diseases such as sickle cell anemia, but that's for anther day). These are the people who subscribe to "gender fluidity". One person who ascribed to that actually told me that their chromosomes actually changed when their gender changed. These are the people who say that by identifying as a certain gender, you are that gender.

#3.3.1.1.3.1 mudbug on 2017-01-14 17:38 (Reply)

mudbug: We're talking about the people who say gender is a social construct

You made your comment in the context of genetics. In any case, sex and gender are not identical terms. Gender is "the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex". Among humans, cultural aspects are very important, and vary from one society to the next. Even within a society, there are often gender ambiguities. Some people identify with a gender that does not match their biological sex. This is not new.

mudbug: (some also say race is a social construct but don't explain why some races are more susceptible to certain diseases such as sickle cell anemia, but that's for anther day)

There is certainly a great deal of genetic diversity in the human family, but that genetic diversity doesn't always comport with cultural conventions concerning race. Per your own example, the sickle cell trait is associated with exposure to malaria, and is not confined to Africa.

#3.3.1.1.3.1.1 Zachriel on 2017-01-15 09:23 (Reply)

Also, the study found that "Education attainment still an individual’s best pathway to financial security.".

#3.3.2 Zachriel on 2017-01-14 11:04 (Reply)

Algebra is still algebra and Trig is still trig and ditto for Calculus. Check out how many of these classes are currently required at your alma mater. Same goes for foreign language--Latin anyone?

#3.3.3 rocdoctom on 2017-01-14 12:17 (Reply)

rocdoctom: Algebra is still algebra and Trig is still trig and ditto for Calculus. Check out how many of these classes are currently required at your alma mater.

All those are typically taught in high school (algebra is generally required for all students), and more advanced courses are required in most engineering or scientific college undergraduate curriculums.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3eKzmozvrI

rocdoctom: Same goes for foreign language--Latin anyone?

QUOTE:

Arma virumque canō

Instead, they learn C++ and Python and Spanish.

#3.3.3.1 Zachriel on 2017-01-14 12:38 (Reply)

Engineering and scientific majors still involve a reasonably rigorous curriculum, it's true. Move outside those areas and things get silly fast. Thus you get humanities-majors types who will fall for essentially anything stated in the ostensible form of a technical argument. I think the phrase "trust the science" became popular in direct proportion to the number of students obtaining their degrees with no other possible attitude toward a scientific dispute than faith.

#3.3.3.1.1 Texan99 on 2017-01-15 06:45 (Reply)

Texan99: Engineering and scientific majors still involve a reasonably rigorous curriculum, it's true. Move outside those areas and things get silly fast.

One can always find silly things, but whether those silly things are representative is another matter or whether they really are silly rather than just misunderstood. Many people consider philosophy to be silly, for instance. And learning Latin may have some value, it is hardly the basis of a modern education.

#3.3.3.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2017-01-15 09:28 (Reply)

And not to go off on a rant here (too late!), but my nephew's boy just started classes at the local vo-tech college. In my day, the vo-tech was like an alternative high school, kids on the vo-tech track spent the 11th and 12th grade with half a day at the high school taking English and math classes and half a day at the vo-tech taking trades classes - welding, auto body repair, cosmetology, nursing, graphic arts, electronics - so when they graduated high school they had completed essentially a 9-month program in some trade and could go get a job in that field.

My nephew's boy had to graduate high school to even get into the vo-tech, it's a two-year program with about 2/3 of his classes being English, math, social studies, and even PE, and the two-year program is going to cost him nearly $15k. When he comes out of there, he's going to be just about as well-trained as somebody with about 6 months of OJT. Or any of my cohort who merely attended high school on the vo-tech track.

Why has the bloated educrat industry been allowed to ruin education this way, just for the sake of a bunch of over-paid administrators getting a fat paycheck? That's just evil, man. Don't they care about the kids?

Apprenticeship programs, what happened to the idea that somebody who actually does the work might be willing to teach somebody his trade as long as he doesn't have to pay for the privilege and a student might be better off learning from somebody actually doing the work if he's not actually having to pay for the privilege. Instead of paying $15k to learn how to draw blueprints at a school, wouldn't my nephew's son be better off working for free at an engineering firm in return for them teaching him how to draw blueprints?

#4 Jerryskids on 2017-01-14 10:21 (Reply)

But that's ILLEGAL, now. Which is a real bummer, as is Minimum Wage.

#4.1 Sam L. on 2017-01-14 10:57 (Reply)

Just teach dem kids how to WORK and they will be fine,even with all the dimlight education stuff here and about.
Don't let your bag drag!

#5 RL on 2017-01-14 10:30 (Reply)

Imagine how upset the millennials would be if they adjusted for inflation. I know what inflation has done to my dollar and I'm not happy about it.

#6 Karen on 2017-01-14 10:32 (Reply)

Inflation is part of the problem but the biggest part is importing cheap labor to replace what was once good paying jobs. In college in the mid 60's I got a job to fill in for vacationing/sick meat packers at an Armour hog slaughter on the night shift. I worked about one night per week along with several other students. They paid us nearly $4.00 bucks an hour. It was rather messy work and some of the jobs definitely left something to be desired but it was great money for that time. A silver dime, which was all that circulated at the time is now worth $1.30 per dime. In current pay that is $52.00 an hour. But the government allowed employers, like Tyson foods among others to bring in cheap foreign labor and often looked away as they employed illegal aliens. It destroyed nearly every good paying job in meat packing and continues to do so today. So its not just inflation...a lot of it is policy and it is most disastrous to less educated and politically ambivalent people. That is one reason for Trump among many others.

#6.1 indyjonesouthere on 2017-01-14 16:50 (Reply)

indyjonesouthere: A silver dime, which was all that circulated at the time is now worth $1.30

A gallon of gas in 1950 was about $0.25, or 2½ dimes. The weight of silver in a silver dime is about 2.25 grams, which is worth about $1.20; so 2½ dimes are worth about $3.00. In other words, gasoline costs roughly the same now, in terms of silver as it did in 1950.

#6.1.1 Zachriel on 2017-01-14 17:12 (Reply)

In the mid 60's where I lived and made $4.00 an hour it was 32/33 cents. In 1999 when Clinton/Gore were selling off the Elk Hills reserve to Armand Hammer, it was 89 cents. Government likes to buy high and sell low but make up the difference in volume. Or maybe they just have needy friends.

#6.1.1.1 indyjonesouthere on 2017-01-14 17:24 (Reply)

indyjonesouthere: But the government allowed employers, like Tyson foods among others to bring in cheap foreign labor and often looked away as they employed illegal aliens.

It also resulted in the erosion of worker rights, e.g. people who get injured rarely get proper compensation. They often don't even report injuries, because it could mean they lose their jobs.

#6.1.2 Zachriel on 2017-01-14 17:15 (Reply)

The uniparty continues to not give a damn about people in this job category and that is why Trump got elected. Can he destroy the uniparty circus? I sure hope so. They keep increasing vista limits to this very day and I want to see Trump end the clown car parade of billionaires ripping of the good middle class jobs by importing cheap and illegal labor. American jobs for American citizens and end immigration now.

#6.1.2.1 indyjonesouthere on 2017-01-14 17:35 (Reply)

The other day, someone was writing about their father. ObamaCare had literally saved his life, but he still voted for Trump. Such is the nature of identity politics.

#6.1.2.1.1 Zachriel on 2017-01-15 09:32 (Reply)

Perhaps most Americans today simply don't recall when health insurance was nearly unknown and not considered a "right" by the socialist class. In the 50's and 60's it was pretty well unknown in rural America and we all lived quite normal lives in spite of it. That "right" was established by depression era blue city employees and employers trying to get around Rooseveltian wage and price controls. There really is nothing new under the sun. It would seem that many now consider someone else paying for their birth control a "right".

#6.1.2.1.1.1 indyjonesouthere on 2017-01-15 17:35 (Reply)

indyjonesouthere: In the 50's and 60's it was pretty well unknown in rural America and we all lived quite normal lives in spite of it.

Once upon a time, if your daughter got sick, you could pay the doctor with a couple of chickens for a prescription to honey and ginger root. The daughter hopefully got well, and the doctor had fried chicken for Sunday dinner.

Nowadays, thanks to modern science, medical treatment may cost the equivalent of a hundred thousand chickens, somewhat more than most people have scratching around their yard, and more than the doctor could possibly eat.

#6.1.2.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2017-01-16 09:25 (Reply)

And I thought the science was settled.

#6.1.2.1.1.1.1.1 indyjonesouthere on 2017-01-16 13:33 (Reply)

Indy lots of things have gone into making the problem. My observation was only that the article failed to adjust for inflation. I prefer an apples to apples comparison. An average boomer making 50K in the day would have to be making about 95K in today's dollars. Brown has an interesting point about benefits. I'm not convinced benefits as part of pay are all that different as a percentage but it should have been included in the article, inflation adjusted. I remember 1989. We had medical and a pension. Going back even further, my grandfather bought a house on an acre of land, sent his son to college (engineering) and had a pension. He set news type for a regional news paper. Such a living is not to be had today for an equivalent job.

#6.1.3 Karen on 2017-01-16 08:56 (Reply)

Karen: My observation was only that the article failed to adjust for inflation. I prefer an apples to apples comparison.

The report isn't very clear on the point, but it does seem they used values adjusted to 2013 dollars (see notes to various charts including Figure 2.2).

#6.1.3.1 Zachriel on 2017-01-16 09:32 (Reply)

Thank you, I am glad to hear that.

#6.1.3.1.1 Karen on 2017-01-16 12:39 (Reply)

I think that the problem with millennials is that things are too easy. Life is easy, everything is free, you don't have to work if you don't want to and there are no storm clouds on the horizon. We are forced to make up crises because none exist. What made the greatest generation great were the challenges they had to overcome the constant effort necessary to keep on keeping on. Our welfare state and free everything is a terrible mistake. No self respecting parents would want this for their own children but we foist it onto other people's children. I do honestly believe that the Democrats and LBJ did indeed intentionally create the great society program to enslave an entire generation of poor and minorities into a dependence culture that would always vote for more free stuff. They destroyed families with the way the system is designed to work and they encouraged babies without families which inevitably produced a tsunami of criminal teens. We created the problem for political reasons.

There is good news however. Thanks to the penchant our leaders have for borrowing and printing money I do believe that the current generation will once again be challenged by economic and international events and be forced to once again become a greatest generation. I hope they are ready for it.

#7 GoneWithTheWind on 2017-01-14 10:42 (Reply)

Re: Millions Escape to States With Right-to-Work Laws and No Income Taxes... And bring their blue culture with them

One would think that having to go to all the trouble and expense of moving out of state would have a bit more awareness about why they want to leave their state and why they like where they are going. That appears to be asking a lot.

#8 mudbug on 2017-01-14 10:55 (Reply)

"American millennials paid 20% lower salaries than baby boomers at same age"

Well, they report on cash wages, not compensation. In the last 30 years, benefits have grown as a percentage of compensation and this cut into the growth of the cash wage part. Especially for the lower income earners where a $2000 increase in the employer-paid healthcare costs is in effect a $2000 raise, but it is a greater percentage raise on the lower wage earners than the higher wage earners. Thus the compensation for lower income earners has increased as their cash wages, i.e., take home pay, i.e., that part of their earnings they are given discretionary control over, has remains stagnant.

But yes, those that do not get benefits and earn only cash income, have lost ground due to the comparison of apples and oranges in worker income when some are compensated at a higher rate through benefits.

QUOTE:

What's the difference between, say, compensation and take-home pay for a worker?

Mark Warshawsky: Well, there are many, many differences between the two. For most workers, they get a whole package of both pay and benefits when they work for an employer. They may get a pension or they may get a contribution to a 401k plan. And what's particularly relevant here is they very frequently will get health insurance whose costs will be shared between the employer and the employee. But it's very important to remember that for most workers, most of the cost is paid for by the employer. And as we'll discuss, health insurance is very expensive. So this is a major cost for an employer and a major part of the compensation package. There are [?] other benefits that an employer will give to workers: certainly, vacation time and other types of leave, perhaps other types of benefits. And then, of course, added to the pay that a worker actually takes home. So, there are a lot of components to compensation, and part of the issue that is included here in this research and also in the politics of this matter is: take-home pay is pretty noticeable. And it's pretty easy to measure. It's in official records and tax records and earnings and so on. But the other parts of compensation, the benefits that workers get, are harder to measure and aren't as [?] measured, and so they are sometimes not noticed as much in terms of their cost, it's not noticed as much to the worker and it's not noticed as much to the researchers who look at these matters. But I can assure the employer knows very much what all this costs. And it's very much part of the employer's consideration in terms of how to design the compensation package and what they can afford to pay given the profits in their business--what they can afford to pay in terms of, you know, [?] earnings. The employer really pays attention to these costs very carefully.

#9 JK Brown on 2017-01-14 13:59 (Reply)

"Why Is Obama Expanding Surveillance Powers Right Before He Leaves Office?

I hate spying on Americans. We pay for it "

Notice that many of those "entrusted" with access to these surveillance powers just attempted to overthrow the election and undermine the duly elected incoming President.

#10 JK Brown on 2017-01-14 14:07 (Reply)

At 27,000 square feet , it's NOT the largest house in DC . That would be the White House at 54,900 .

#11 treefroggy on 2017-01-14 17:26 (Reply)

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Saturday, January 14. 2017

Saturday morning links