generation limbo: 20-somethings today, debt, unemployment, the questionable value of a college education

I'm sorry to say I actually have less respect for Warren after that proposal, which strikes me as obvious grandstanding.

also it would do nothing to control the cost of college tuition and might even inflate it further.

ARGH -- JUST -- AGREED -- WITH -- MEGAN -- MCARDLE -- GAG!

I'm finding it really hard to get data to work out whether my feeling that having a degree in the UK is actively bad for getting jobs is correct.

Recruiter during phone interview: 'But they need a people person. Looking at your CV I have to ask if you're a people person?'

cardamon: 'Absolutely, I mean I put a lot of effort into getting on with everyone, any age, whether or not they've got the same interests as me - I think it's important to do that, to make the working day go as smoothly as it can, you know?'

Did not get job. Who knows, eh. Possibly shouldn't have said 'I put a lot of effort into'.

http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-somers-web-developer-money/

hopelessness.

aeon is kinda ponderous sometimes but i like it a lot

Correction, June 9, 2013: An earlier version of this essay misstated the terms of the job offer extended to the author in October, 2012. In the previous version, the author stated that he was offered a salary of $150,000. This has been changed to reflect a more complex sequence of events, during which the author was approached by a recruiter about a position paying $140,000-$160,000, followed by an interview, a firm offer of $120,000, and a raise to $150,000 three weeks after the author began work.

not sure what to think about the fact that they bothered to put that in

here's what I think: lol

i thought that was a good piece

http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/06/women-are-more-likely-than-men-to-be-engaged-in-their-jobs/277107/

Most workers hate their jobs or have "checked out," headlined the Los Angeles Times last week about a new Gallup poll, "2013 State of the American Workforce." A jaw-dropping 700 million people--about 70 percent of full-time workers--are emotionally disconnected at work, meaning they only "go through the motions" to perform their jobs or worse: they do things to weaken or sabotage the organization and its mission.

Gallup's June report from its ongoing survey of employee engagement describes three groups of American workers. About one third of full-time employees are "actively engaged"--that is, committed, invested workers. Over half (52 percent) are "not engaged"--emotionally absent and "sleepwalking through their workday, putting time, but not energy or passion, into their work." Another 18 percent are "actively disengaged" from their jobs, hampering productivity--not to mention killing the organization's culture. These people "aren't just unhappy at work; they're busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine what their engaged workers accomplish."

yesssss

http://www.processedworld.com/History/history.html

Yeah, that's me to an extent. And the thing is, my job kind of requires you to not just go through the motions, so I go through the motions of not just going through the motions.

I'm glad I'm not in a job where it's possible to just go through the motions because otherwise I totally would.

I would say that maybe 0-10% of the time most weeks, and more in a good week, I'm presented with something intellectually challenging enough that I feel motivated and engaged. Which is better than my last job, which was pretty much a pure 0.

c'mon earth-destroying meteor, save us

It's easy to imagine the end of the world — an asteroid destroying all of life, and so on — but we cannot imagine the end of capitalism

"700 million" is a typo, right?

the US census doesn't count slackers, hence its low population estimate for the nation

xp lol! i didn't even know that quote. but he's right

http://www.policymic.com/articles/48829/why-you-should-never-have-taken-that-prestigious-internship

ha treeship

This made me pretty sad
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/22/young-and-isolated/?_r=0

that column describes so many of my peers (and teens who will be entering that world)

= the world

uff.

in orbit's link was cool until the interviewee namechecked ilx fave @umairh :(

aim higher, SK!

also, "tweeting truth to power" is yet another variation of "<something> truth to power" that makes me annoyed

farting truth to power

a wet fart at authority

fart the power

http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20130627.png

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-25/why-are-so-many-college-graduates-driving-taxis-.html

how much is the typical monthly payment on student loans debt in the US? and is it only charged once you start earning above a certain level, like in the UK?

that would be pretty cool

You would think that a student loan program would be designed for maximum benefit to students seeking a post-secondary education, but in the USA the student loan program was designed to let banks hold students as hostages until they squeezed out sufficient profits to pay their ransom or they died trying.

yup, exactly

"how much is the typical monthly payment on student loans debt in the US? and is it only charged once you start earning above a certain level, like in the UK?"

bitter lols

Do US students get tax relief on loan payments, at least?

those are complicated questions to answer. The "typical" payment -- really depends what you mean. Median? Average? Private college? Public college? You'd probably be shocked at how wide the distribution is.

We do have an income-based repayment program that limits the size of your payments when you're below a certain income, but I'm not sure it applies universally.

And I believe the interest paid on student loans is tax deductible but not the principal.

Yeah, the interest is deductible. It's something, but much.

The income-based repayments are specific programs and don't apply to most loans.

Does anyone have links to really good data on the debt loads of recent grads, not just average but distribution, median, etc? I'm in the middle of a really annoying argument with smug older lefty types who don't get what this overblown student debt crisis thing is all about.

which thread?

not here, on facebook

that was a joke

haw

http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/testimony/vermilyea20130625a.htm

there are some recent numbers and distributions there

argh expensive private college professor blathering on about knowledge for knowledge sake cliches. Fuck that at $50K a year. Blood boiling.

A book is a set of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page. A set of text-filled or illustrated pages produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book, or e-book.