It's all about the jobs....

[Pockets]

This probably sounds too idealistic, but in a perfect world, people should be able to chose what they do for a living, within reason of course.

Not everyone can be rock stars or play pro sports, obviously, but people should be able to get jobs in their fields, for instance, if they dedicated their time to learn and become educated in fields like psychology, sociology, engineering, computer science, etc etc etc.

If someone isn't the best in their field, fine, then they'll get paid less, but they should at least be able to work in their field and get paid enough to survive.

People who want the adventure of going to far off lands and blow things up certainly can fulfill their dreams. Why not the rest of us?

We are turning into a communist nation where people are persuaded by the government what they should do for a living. Actually corporations also decide for us, but they are intertwined with the government. I know cons want to say it's just laze faire economics, but a totally free economy allows business leaders to control everything, every detail of our lives.

[Warpy]

1. Most people would be willing to settle

for doing something they don't particularly like in exchange for enough money to live on. By that I mean not only provide the bare necessities of food and shelter, but to allow them enough to raise a family and have discretionary income to spend or save for retirement. Most jobs don't provide that now, as anyone with the ever shrinking work provided health care package who is unlucky enough to get sick will tell you.

Consider that 40% of bankruptcies involve people who were insured when they became ill, probably enjoying a decent salary and what they thought was a middle class lifestyle. Illness proves to them that in reality they had fallen into less than subsistence.

Choosing one's work is generally not possible except in the most general way: indoor or outdoor; dealing with machines or dealing with the public. Most people can cope with this very well. It's working, giving your best, and being kept artificially poor that rankles, as it should.

And the economy is slowly being choked to death because of it.

[Pockets]

2. This is a bigger problem...

...than most people think.

I was even unable to choose indoor-outdoor for years, and not just me, I was working with someone with a computer engineering degree (think a masters) that was working on a loading dock because he could not find anything else.

I think most people are just too embarassed to talk about it.

[demnan]

5. You are right

post-WWII most people were happy enough in their jobs. The depression and war were over and they were just happy enough to have good appliances, a safe, nice home, and a steady income. That is what post-WWII did for our country.

We are going backwards. Young couples today, without a college education, if they live in areas where the average can seek jobs, will not have a single family home. If they are lucky, they may start up with a half way decent trailer, or an apartment in the suburbs. They will never have what their parents had - if the parents had a similar background, because housing is too expensive where jobs are available. In a few years, if they have good credit, they may qualify for a nice condo. They can look out over their skinny-assed deck and see the earth below, if they will. In contempt, they will probably drop lighted cigarette butts onto the patio below of a more lucky person who happened to get that patio, as I did.

[jojo54]

3. Yeah, in a perfect world.

I wish this were so, too. Hell, I'm old enough to remember when you actually got cost of living raises every quarter. That stopped during the 12 years of Reaganomics, of course.

I don't know too many people who are really happy in their job. The ones who are REALLY, REALLY happy are the PIP (people in power) like chimpy, who don't do actual work, they just ride their bikes and go on vacation all the time.

[tx_dem41]

4. What if a large number of people want to work in a field...

that the customer base just doesn't support that many employees?

[lectrobyte]

6. not sure what you are getting at with this one... which field are

you thinking of specifically?

[tx_dem41]

8. What I'm getting at is that the OP seemed to assume that the job..

market should be driven by the desire of the employees. But, we are all aware that business revenue (part of which pays employees) is driven by the customer market. The two, in many cases, are quite contradictory.

[lectrobyte]

7. Yes, lowered expectations for sure. My father owned his house

(modest by today's McMansion stds, but still a nice house), supported his family, sent two kids to college, and enjoyed life on a single income with a high school education.