"I've got my masters degree and it's come down to me cleaning houses"
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In some ways, WE: Women's Entertainment's new reality series, "Downsized," premiering on Saturday, Nov. 6, is a cautionary tale for the modern middle class.
Once upon a time, the blended Bruce-Rumsey family of Phoenix, was living the good life. Dad Todd Bruce was a general contractor with a growing and thriving business; wife Laura and their seven children (two of his, five of hers) were shopping, eating out, cheerleading and playing sports.
Then the bottom fell out of Bruce's business.
More quickly than the family probably envisioned possible, the comfortable lifestyle gave way to foreclosure, bankruptcy and the necessity of going on such public assistance programs as food stamps.
"We don't look like we're on food stamps," Laura Bruce says. "Some people hide. A lot of people don't want to admit those things. … We just want to be able to relate to people and for people not to feel alone.
"We're the working poor. We're working. It's not that we sit around the house. We work. It's sad, because people can work very hard and go out there every day and still not be able to pay their bills."
"That's what you pay your taxes for," Todd Bruce says. "When you need a little bit of help, you welcome that help. Then when you can get off, you get off."
Of course, this kind of equanimity doesn't come immediately.
"It comes to a point," Todd Bruce says," when you go, 'Should I really be in charge of the checkbook?' You question yourself.
"Then you realize, like with so many other things, you're either going to wallow in that mess or you just go forward."
Laura Bruce has become an avid coupon user, but she doesn't believe the grocery store is the place where her family wasted the most cash.
"I'd say dining out, because we're so busy, because we're both working," she says. "Even at McDonald's, it's $60 for us."
Her husband adds, "I think you'll see families return to cooking at home, bringing the family unit back together. It's what we grew up on."
http://www.zap2it.com/news/zap-downsized-story,0,930217.story
Once upon a time, the blended Bruce-Rumsey family of Phoenix, was living the good life. Dad Todd Bruce was a general contractor with a growing and thriving business; wife Laura and their seven children (two of his, five of hers) were shopping, eating out, cheerleading and playing sports.
Then the bottom fell out of Bruce's business.
More quickly than the family probably envisioned possible, the comfortable lifestyle gave way to foreclosure, bankruptcy and the necessity of going on such public assistance programs as food stamps.
"We don't look like we're on food stamps," Laura Bruce says. "Some people hide. A lot of people don't want to admit those things. … We just want to be able to relate to people and for people not to feel alone.
"We're the working poor. We're working. It's not that we sit around the house. We work. It's sad, because people can work very hard and go out there every day and still not be able to pay their bills."
"That's what you pay your taxes for," Todd Bruce says. "When you need a little bit of help, you welcome that help. Then when you can get off, you get off."
Of course, this kind of equanimity doesn't come immediately.
"It comes to a point," Todd Bruce says," when you go, 'Should I really be in charge of the checkbook?' You question yourself.
"Then you realize, like with so many other things, you're either going to wallow in that mess or you just go forward."
Laura Bruce has become an avid coupon user, but she doesn't believe the grocery store is the place where her family wasted the most cash.
"I'd say dining out, because we're so busy, because we're both working," she says. "Even at McDonald's, it's $60 for us."
Her husband adds, "I think you'll see families return to cooking at home, bringing the family unit back together. It's what we grew up on."
http://www.zap2it.com/news/zap-downsized-story,0,930217.story
If you've got highly educated people doing unskilled labour, you're putting the country into a defecit cycle. Because graduates can't afford to pay their borrowed finance back.
However, everyone has to work, no job is beneath someone who really needs the money.
However, everyone has to work, no job is beneath someone who really needs the money.
eek
tell me which master degree programs don't mean "shit"
Shit I don't understand? enlighten me.... *Should be entertaining*
explain what you mean when you said that"some master degrees don't mean shit?"
cam elle toe
Banned BY User's Request
D'uh...I have one and I'm not taking offense...:willy_nilly:
He means that in this day of NO jobs and LOTS of people looking for work...it doesnt matter what qualifications you have in the long run....ANY job is a job.
(well...thats what I thought he meant...I dont see anything offensive):dunno
He means that in this day of NO jobs and LOTS of people looking for work...it doesnt matter what qualifications you have in the long run....ANY job is a job.
(well...thats what I thought he meant...I dont see anything offensive):dunno
degrees over all don't mean shit.... In business its about experience and who you know...
pretty much
depending what you get the degree in...Sociologists and Historians do not get the same rate of pay in industry as those who do have business degrees. at the seminar I was just at people who teach sociology in academia make over 75k, but that requires you to get your doctrine. yet if you went into the work force with just a bachelors degree you will find some jobs that pay as little as 30k....so it is a matter of how much education one gets and not in who one knows...
The comment you made, "boohoo suck it the fuck up" makes it sound like you believe that 4 years of college and degree not everyone can get doesnt earn anyone the right to make more or have a better job than the person that didnt. In this economy, there are little jobs out there and thats the context that you misconstrued
As much as I love you... and you know I do... I wish you would have let Dana answer that question. It would have been much less educational and more entertaining.
cam elle toe
Banned BY User's Request
ahh well..."suck it up":24:
As per usual...he was jumped on...for giving his opinion. I agree with him...a job is a job....and often..especially here where I live..it IS who you know and not WHAT you know:dunno
That's the case in most areas I believe so I don't think you're unique in that regard. I've never been afraid or too proud to do something nobody else would want to do but I axe myself what's the point of spending all that cash on a supposed good education if you can't put it to use after you graduate.ahh well..."suck it up":24:
As per usual...he was jumped on...for giving his opinion. I agree with him...a job is a job....and often..especially here where I live..it IS who you know and not WHAT you know:dunno
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