What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class

Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by chongli on Saturday November 12, 2016 @02:18PM (#12939638)

I'm not who you're replying to but I'll interject anyway:

Retraining for millions of jobs in the skilled trades. This is the program championed by Mike Rowe [0]. It also happens to dovetail perfectly with Trump's so-called $1 Trillion infrastructure plan. If he actually puts his money where his mouth is, he stands a good chance of being the most popular Republican president in history (while simultaneously being the most hated).

[0] http://profoundlydisconnected.com/

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Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by knz on Saturday November 12, 2016 @03:08PM (#12939893)

> he stands a good chance of being the most popular Republican president in history (while simultaneously being the most hated)

Trump isn't hated because he is Republican. People are afraid of losing hard won rights like marriage equality or the right to healthcare if they are unfortunate enough to have a preexisting condition. The violent rhetoric he used during his campaign doesn't help at all - condoning crowds chanting "kill her/hang the bitch/lock her up", saying that he wishes he could "smash the shit out of protesters", and offering to pay the legal costs of people who assaulted protesters. That is not normal in a health democracy and sets a dangerous precedent.

If Trump is a moderate on issues such as gay marriage and somehow manages to control healthcare costs without people losing their coverage he could be popular.

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Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by toomuchtodo on Saturday November 12, 2016 @10:56PM (#12941775)

Small correction: Trump is now keeping the most popular provisions of the ACA, such as no exclusions on pre existing conditions, after his discussion with Obama at the White House.

I see Trump as a necessary evil to shake up the establishment, and I believe he will be tempered as he adjusts to the gravity of the office (as he has already started to do).

What gets you into office is it what you say once in office.

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Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by jordanb on Saturday November 12, 2016 @03:19PM (#12939955)

I'm sorry I am from a working class background and know plenty of skilled tradesmen. In good times they get enough work, in bad times they spend a lot of time on furlough. It simply isn't true that we need millions of more people in the trades, the supply is meeting demand just fine.

Actually many highly skilled trades were absolutely decimated by the collapse of American industry: machinists, tool and die makers, boiler makers, to say nothing of all those plant supervisors and other blue collar management positions.

And it can and probably will eventually happen to us digital tradesmen too.

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Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by chongli on Saturday November 12, 2016 @03:31PM (#12940006)

The whole argument behind Donald Trump's infrastructure pledge is to create the demand for millions more of these jobs. To build or rebuild untold numbers of road, rail, plumbing, sewage, water treatment, electrical, and on and on and on. Trillions of dollars worth of this stuff, creating millions of jobs and modernizing the country's infrastructure!

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Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by jordanb on Saturday November 12, 2016 @04:24PM (#12940297)

Yeah Trump's infrastructure project will great for tradesmen while it lasts. Obama had a similar program if you recall, the stimulus. It was also great while it lasted.

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Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by toomuchtodo on Saturday November 12, 2016 @11:00PM (#12941783)

10 years (Trumps projected duration) should be sufficient runway to match infrastructure work required with labor. Remember, millions of Boomers, especially in the trades, are headed to retirement over the next decade.

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Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by lwhalen on Sunday November 13, 2016 @04:32PM (#12945794)

Are you referring to the 'cash for clunkers' boondoggle, or something else?

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Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by RandomOpinion on Saturday November 12, 2016 @03:09PM (#12939901)

>Retraining for millions of jobs in the skilled trades.

Are you under 40? I assure you that it's really quite challenging to undergo retraining after 40 and then essentially start your career all over again as a fresh graduate. Yes, having had life experience helps somewhat but not all that much.

It's easy to say "Just do X" but pretty much everything becomes harder to do after 40 or so.

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Re:What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class by chongli on Saturday November 12, 2016 @04:10PM (#12940236)

Are you under 40?

Yes.

I assure you that it's really quite challenging to undergo retraining after 40 and then essentially start your career all over again as a fresh graduate.

You don't have to retrain everyone. Retrain younger people as machinists and toolmakers. The older people can have their old jobs back, working in the same supply chain as the newly-retrained tradespeople.

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