ECON What Happens When The Competent Opt Out?

lanningro

lanningro

Veteran Member
Out at 57. That was in 2017, SR IT analyst for gigantic cable company. Had already bought house and land in the Ozark Nat Forest. Debt free. Best thing I ever did, in better physical shape than I have been in decades. Down 40 pounds. Between the gardens the vineyard and the animals, climbing up and down off a tractor 30 times a day during hay season keeps you moving.
 
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raven

TB Fanatic
One should remember, if you have read the book "Atlas Shrugged", . . .
no one wins . . . civilization is not restored . . . life, liberty, and happiness does not spring forth.


Instead, a few people, deemed the most competent, retreat to an isolated valley, undisturbed by the incompetent to attempt to start over. All the rest are left to lives in a continual state of decline.
 
Dux

Dux

Veteran Member
I left in 2001, during the great tech layoffs. So 22 years managing properties. Moved to Washington in 2015, starting over. In 2021, the state changed the rules. No longer fun. I bought a vacation rental business, doing both short & long term, furnished & unfurnished. Now the city of Port Angeles is looking into governing vacation rentals. It may be time to start selling properties again. Get the hell out...
 
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catskinner

Veteran Member
Our local rural water companies have to have someone licensed by the state to run the facilities. They have to be able to figure the proper amount of chemicals to use as well as repair work etc.

BIL ( mid 50's) has been helping at a few of the towns, different water companies, just an extra set of hands when repairs were needed and doing meter readings. One of the facilities is run by a man in his 80's. Can't find anybody with a license so he can retire. Another town has just discovered that their guy has been giving free water to his friends and family for decades. They can't fire him because there is no-one to replace him. There is a real need in this area of work, but nobody wants to do it because they don't have the math skills or don't want to work in mud and water year round.

BIL has had my 18 y/o new high school graduate son helping out some too. It was just something to do until he starts at the local college in the fall. Well, BIL, son and another man (late 40's) are currently taking the last of 3 classes required to take the license exam.

Son doesn't "like" math, but is good at it. He says it's hard, but not harder than what he did in his honors classes in high school. He has enjoyed working with his uncle , so plans to get the water license and continue part time. Rural water companies are small so work there is mostly part time anyway. He said people will always need clean water, so if things get really bad, I can fall back on that. Smart kid. He has a full ride scholarship at the local college and is not going to blow it off. He pointed out that he could go to class in the morning and work afternoon and weekends.

He was a late in life child, so is a Gen Z, raised by Boomers. He's a good kid who does like his video games, but you are more likely to find him reading a book. Most importantly, he knows how to work and isn't afraid of it. In other words, there is hope yet.
 
colonel holman

colonel holman

Veteran Member
Many factories where I have done employee wellness consulting openly complain to me that they fear factory closure purely from loss of skilled maintenance staff that keeps things running. Vast majorities of their various staff will be (many already are) of retirement age within the next 3-5 yrs, with literally nobody in the pipeline to replace them. Many offer full ride scholarships and guaranteed well-paying jobs to high schoolers to learn the skills needed (welding, electronics, hydraulics, carpentry, instrumentation, etc), but no takers. Many retirees are being offered big $$ to come in as “consultants” to fell critical needs. But too little too late.

The few ambitious students choose college simply because that is the “traditional” path to success. But the tide may be turning. In our state, college enrollment is down 15%, while vocational schooling is up 15%. That trend, too, may be too little too late with the current demographics.
 
ainitfunny

ainitfunny

Saved, to glorify God.
It was made obvious to me that the incompetant were in control when i worked for IBM and objected to GROUNDED metal worktables on which we mechanics had to work on live electrical equipment without the double insulated covers which protected us from equiment short corcuits. I said grounding the table was the SAME as requiring we work on electrically hot equipment with bare feet on a water filled concrete floor!

If the equipt chassis was hot from a short circuit and you took the cover off, the insulated feet kept the equip from grounding on the table, but the second you touch the bare chassis YOU are THE IMMEDIATE conduit fot electric current between the shorted chassis and the grounded table!

I was reprimanded for "not knowing my safety is insured by grounding the table, and the "equipment was double insulated for safety" I gave up because the person judging me DID NOT KNOW BASIC ELECTRICITY but they were in authority!

We mechanics just disconnected the table grounding wire
before working on equip and reconnected it after we were done (to please the boss.)
 
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ShadowMan

ShadowMan

Designated Grumpy Old Fart
MinnesotaSmith said:
What does that mean?
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"Billet gaped for 2-3 years" means that there would be NO REPLACEMENT for that period. A "Billet" is a specific opening or job assignment position. A Billet being gaped means that there was no one in the pipe line of that rank and specialty that is available for assignment. Most assignment rotations are for from 3-6 years at one command.

Background:
It takes most Corpsman 12-18+ years to achieve the rank of Chief Petty Officer (E-7). My specialty was NEC 8425: Independent Duty Corpsman (Surface) which is a Hospital Corpsman that has the advanced medical training required to operate independent of a medical officer....basically at the level of a Physician Assistant when independent. We also were trained to perform emergency dental, minor surgery, basic medical laboratory, monitor nuclear medicine, preventive medicine, water and food quality, health and hygiene and a plethora of medical support duties. I also went through Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Advanced Trauma Life Support training, but we were not "officially" certified because we were not doctors. Basically, IDC's are sort of a jack of all the medical trades with none of the rank, pay, or glory.

IDC's are usually found on smaller warships (destroyers, cruisers), submarines, isolated stations and special operations, where no medical officer is assigned. They act as a Special Staff Officer to the commanding officer of the ship or unit. IDC's also serve on larger ships with medical officers and with the Marine Corps units at Battalion Aid Station level on up, where they serve as Chief of the BAS, Division Officers, Clinic Supervisors and such in a more administrative positions.

There's not that many IDC's around in the overall manpower scheme of things in the navy. Most Hospital Corpsman won't meet the minimum requirements to attend Advanced Hospital Corps School until they are First Class Petty Officers (E-6) or Chief Petty Officers (E-7). Minimum time in service to reach retirement in the military is 20 years.
 
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homecanner1

homecanner1

Veteran Member
I watched in a kind of mute horror in the mid to late 90’s as the children’s lit section was being taken over by witches and vampire young adult fiction. I made my objections to it known. Barnes and Noble was the same but with even more corporate sorority girls in charge. And nobody under 30 knew how to change the bag on the vacuum to clean the carpets nightly.

Left gladly and now we have drag queen storyhour nationwide and they stripped Laura Ingalls Wilder name off the children’s lit award. ALA does not want traditional librarians.
 
vector7

vector7

Dot Collector
BUBBAHOTEPT

BUBBAHOTEPT

Veteran Member
ShadowMan said:
The last job I had in the navy was as a Sick Call Supervisor in the main clinic in Quantico, Va. We had these TWO dipstick junior nurses as co-department heads :sheep::sheep:that couldn't find their arses with both hands nailed to them. It was a total Charlie Foxtrot every time they were around. When it was coming up time for me to retire I was told that "You will have to pay for your retirement ceremony and party out of your own pocket!" It was a "new" command directive.

So I just quietly put in my papers and a little later put in for Leave, which they signed off on both. But they didn't read the fine print. Two weeks after I left on TERMINAL RETIREMENT LEAVE and was halfway across the country in the middle of a final self move they asked one of the senior Corpsman in the department when I was getting back from leave. He laughed and laughed and laughed. After he stopped laughing and the the two nurses were standing there looking puzzled he told them "The Chief RETIRED and is not coming back.....EVER!!"

"But he didn't have a retirement ceremony?"

"He doesn't have to."

"Yes he does!!"

"Well, he's retired now and halfway across the country....good luck with that!"

When they called the Detailer regarding my replacement they were told that my billet would be gapped at least two to three years and they had no recourse because THEY HAD APPROVED BOTH MY RETIREMENT AND TERMINAL LEAVE PAPERWORK!! :rofl:
:prfl:
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They live by those rules, they die by those rules…
Samuel Adams said:
FAFO
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Atlas Shrugged in a nutshell… :kaid:

And below is the book cover for Atlas Shrugged. It’s just missing Obama grinning in the background….
 

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gunnersmom

Veteran Member
earthbud said:
I sold business phone systems, and most of the add-ons like voicemail, software cards, and trunk cards. I also did board level repairs on some of the equipment I sold.

I worked in the telecom industry for 40+ years and this is what I was most familiar with. Much of what I sold has now faded away and is being quickly replaced by online/cloud-based systems.
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thankyou
 
von Koehler

von Koehler

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Southside said:
Thanks. Read the book 2x, time to see the movie.
The DW & I watched pt. 1 last night on Hulu. No ad's

Part 2 & 3, no such luck, I see. The DW enjoyed pt 1, despite the B acting.
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The producers had an enormous problems making this series. The budget shrank with each succeeding movie. They failed to produce enough ticket sales to even cover production costs.

Instead of using the same actors, each movie had different players. This caused a lot of confusion as some actors were better in their roles. Apparently they had a limited time to make the first movie before their filming rights expired.

I often wonder if someone like a director like Clint Eastwood instead filmed all three films. He filmed two different movies about Iwo Jima at the same time, to great success. Their could have been cost savings and a much better sense of continuity.

I recently re-read the book Atlas Shrugged and was amazed how little actual dialogue there was; Rand wrote pages and pages of exposition. The longest speaking lines were the two key speeches by Frisco and Galt. I wonder if the films had more narrative content it would have made more sense to the general public?

The narrator could have been the voice of a native Russian speaker, to minic Rand

And this book is clearly an example of female hypogamy: Dadney is with three alpha males. Most men don't care if a woman is a business boss babe or how much she makes.
 
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