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Of course there are those willing to accept minimum wage simply because they love the work and the group. That is fine and many become competant doing so but eventually most will want to move up and find their way hindered by the next guy willing to work for less. After all, he did.

Smartest thing I ever did was to get out of the booth. I was working union jobs but the typical contract is a buck raise over 3 years and less jobs. And this has been going on for 20 years. Same buck.

Get educated. Do your job very well and insist that you get paid well for what you do.

This weeks headline article in "Parade Magazine" was how much do you earn in your career. One of our local news casts followed up the article in relating to Tucson, AZ.

After doing their research, they found that a cab driver or waiter/waitress in a fancy restraunt can earn just as much or more than a professional college grad w/a Masters. They compared being a cab driver or waitperson against a veternian, college professor and some other professionals. In fact, around here, many college grads opt for working in these labor/service professions because they can earn more than if they were in their chosen professional field of study.

Someone else earlier in this thread pointed out that the reason theaters only pay minimum wage for important positions like projectionists is simple: People will do the job for that level of pay, and do it more or less competently. So why would theaters pay more? It seems they don't need to. If you want to make more money, you probably need to find a different career field.

[Full Disclosure: I was "downsized" last year and am currently unemployed, so technically I am making NOTHING right now except unemployment]

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In my absence a whole lot of bad stuff happened and so I'm back by popular demand...this time as an independent contractor.

At first, they agreed to pay $100 per hour but I saw where that would become a disincentive to call for help...they'd probably wait for all hell to break loose before calling. The other option was to call the guy from Miami...he could easily cost over $1,000.00 per day.

We needed a compromise of what was fair to me and, yet, affordable for them. I was also in favor of not letting those machines go to hell in a handbasket. I remember installing them and it's hard to see your handiwork torn apart.

Eventually, we struck a deal whereby I would do preventive maintenance (which includes one session of my six-week operator training program) and non-electrical repairs for a "kinder, gentler" monthly fee.

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And, hey! Let's be careful out there.

~Manny.

And to think of all the Stasi agents out of work too...

Unlike real heros like James Stewart and Bob Hope who either served actively in the US Armed Forces or were involved in the USO, like Reagan and John Wayne managed to stay put in Hollywood where all was safe and cozy~I have never heard of Reagan or Wayne having so much as participated in a USO show, even on the homefront.

I believe that Reagan hopped onto the Joseph McCarthy coattail, was a snitch/rat, and helped to shatter many innocent lives.

During Reagan's Presidency, more of his staff were either indicted or went to prison than all of the other U.S. Presidents combined.

Who can forget the Iran/Contra affair and how he weaseled out of that one?!

It seems that Reagan took complete credit for the downfall of the European Eastern Block/USSR. This is not true! This was an accumlation of decades and several Presidentcies. What Reagan did was to escalate a military spending war which bankrupted the former USSR. In the process, he also screwed up the American economy/defecit which took years to clean up! Who can forget his "Star Wars" plan, what a joke that was!

What about Reagan's attitude towards Labor Union busting and the deregulation of the air traffic controllers. I can personally tell a few stories about this! It was during Reagan's time in office that many skilled jobs took a downturn, IATSE being one of god knows how many examples!

An of course, he did take credit for the hostage crisis when he first came into office, when in fact he had nothing at all to do with it.

Mike Spaeth stated:
>The reason that the deficits grew is not because REVENUES went down
>... but because the Democrats in the Congress had to spend it on
>everything. Hmmm ... let's see ... he RAISED revenues, but there
>was still a deficit. Sounds like time to reign in expenditures.

That is flatly incorrect. Under Mr. Reagan spending on most domestic programs was cut. The record deficits were run up because of a combination of a tax cut and the huge increase in military spending. For example from $155.1 billion in 1979 to $251.2 billion in 1987 (both are given in 1982 constant dollars).

Will Kutler wrote:
>What about Reagan's attitude towards Labor Union busting and the
>deregulation of the air traffic controllers.

Air traffic controllers were not "deregulated." They went on strike. The strike was illegal. They were fired. They knew the law when they took the job. I am no fan of Reagan but I saw nothing wrong with the action he took in this case.

>It was during Reagan's time in office that many skilled jobs took a
downturn, IATSE being one of god knows how many examples!

Apparently you were asleep during the Eighties, or you would have noticed the largest peacetime economic expansion in history..

Reagan's military policies? Before Reagan took office, our military was in such bad condition that it could not handle a hostage rescue. The post-Reagan military crushed Iraq with minimal loss of life towards our troops.

Welfare spending went down? GOOD! "He that does not work, neither shall he eat." Welfare is a stupid idea. The govt should not be taking my money to pay some bum not to work, which is exactally what was going on before limits were placed on welfare.

More than half of Reagans staff went to prison? Can you name them?

Iran-Contra? Who cares? We sold spare F-14 parts and missiles to Iran, which they used up vs Iraq (making Iraq easier for us to defeat), and in return got the Iranians to pressure radical Islamic groups to release Americans they were holding. If you were a hostage, wouldn't you want your President to do something?

Scott, maybe you should move these posts to Yak...

Individual income tax revenues increased from $286 billion in 1981 to $349 billion in 1986.

Overall tax revenues increased from $599 billion in 1981 to $769 billion in 1986. Reagan's 21 million NEW jobs saw to that.

Social Security spending rose from $118.5 billion in 1980 to $287.5 billion in 1992. Medicaid increased from $14 billion to $67.8 billion. Food Stamps from $9.1 billion to $21.8 billion. AFDC from $6.9 billion to $15.1 billion. From 1980 to 1992, defense spending rose 30 percent, while social spending rose 44 percent.

The last three Reagan years, the deficit dropped into the $150 million range, which BEATS the first few years of Clinton's presidency ...