denverite – that’s it exactly, as I commented on the “House of Cards” thread. We lost a lot of jobs and outsourced many. The real estate bubble created jobs: contruction, realtors, appraisers, etc. etc. and we played w/monopoly money and insurance on home loans was exported.
Take all that away and you end up where you started. No jobs. The real estate industry cannot be propped up forever. New and lasting jobs need to be created – and not just a job at McDonalds. That means education, too. People need to be skilled at something.
All that requires work. There won’t be any easy money as in the dotcom era or the real estate era. Personally, I like to work. But many Americans are lazy (I think that’s why many Mexicans are opportunistic and take the jobs the lazy Americans won’t do – I digress)
So creating jobs and getting an education takes time. There is no overnight fix here. Many people have acquired the easy money lifestyle and it will be a foreign concept for them to actually work to make money.
On “House of Cards” they said pizza delivery guys were making 20k a month doing loans and on This American Life’s Giant Pool of Money, it was bartenders doing loans.
The reality is that only in some kind of mega-bubble can a bartender or pizza delivery guy go out and get a job w/their limited education and make 20k a month. I mean, I don’t know. I’m thinking attorney or doctors make 20k a month, engineers. I’m thinking you better have a nice piece of paper from some school when you make that kind of dough. 20k a month is reserved for someone well-educated.
