I Called In Sick Today

[CobaltBlue 662]

where does the meme that teachers don't make enough money come from?

Well, my wife is a teacher for Palm Beach, makes like $41k/yr* and they haven't gotten a raise in 10 years? (Benefits and tenure tho.)

 

*I might be misremembering this...it might be lower.

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

They Work 9 months a year. Extrapolate that pay and they do ok.

 

I have plenty of teacher friends and the starting pay isn't great. I don't think the no raise in 10 years is correct. I have heard my teachers mention 2%, 3% raises and their union. Maybe it's just COLA raises. Definitely Not gonna get rich and it's not easy work, but they do ok

 

Don't work in June, July and usually part of August. Usually a 5 day weekend for thanksgiving. Two weeks from before Xmas through New Years. A week for spring break and most of the federal holidays. Teachers do ok

[brvheart 1,752]

where does the meme that teachers don't make enough money come from?

 

Democrats and unions.

[brvheart 1,752]

They Work 9 months a year. Extrapolate that pay and they do ok.

 

I have plenty of teacher friends and the starting pay isn't great. I don't think the no raise in 10 years is correct. I have heard my teachers mention 2%, 3% raises and their union. Maybe it's just COLA raises. Definitely Not gonna get rich and it's not easy work, but they do ok

 

Don't work in June, July and usually part of August. Usually a 5 day weekend for thanksgiving. Two weeks from before Xmas through New Years. A week for spring break and most of the federal holidays. Teachers do ok

 

All this is true. It also depends heavily on the state, and obviously I'm speaking about public school teachers. Private school teachers are drastically underpaid.

[hank213 1,823]

blondie teaches. has a masters degree. has been at the same district for the majority of her career (something like 16 years or more) and brings in about 42k per year. by way of comparison that is roughly the equivalent to minimum starting salary for a carpet cleaner or entry level truck driver. her insurance is good but pricey for the family option so the kids are insured through other avenues. she will finally be getting a COL raise this year after a few years without. she will also get a step increase (basically a raise for years in district) after a couple of years without. maybe it'll be enough to cover inflation, maybe not. that's all ground she can never make up because even if she goes elsewhere she will assuredly have to start at a lower step than where she is currently. basically it's not like the private sector where if you are undervalued you can go elsewhere, teaching essentially punishes you for moving.

 

yeah they teach 9 months a year but it's not like they can go out and get high paying jobs for 2.5 months a year. if they're lucky they can teach summer school through some youth organization and make $10-$15/hr, for the most it's min wage and part time baby. also, there are in-services, continuing ed requirements etc to meet during the "off" months. During the school year the hours are roughly 7:30 or 8:00 AM to anywhere between 7 and 11 PM plus hours on weekends. The amount of prep and paperwork required is a little shocking and would send an efficiency fetishist like strat into conniptions.

[InternetExplorer 2,609]

don't get me wrong, I'm not emotional about the issue. I just saw the situation and wondered how it was possible. typically there is a pension involved that offsets the aforementioned unfairness, and the equation is for sure stupid if that pension is in jeopardy.

 

I just watched Clinton, Rhodes scholar, former president, etc. devote several minutes of his speech to the story of Chelsea's birth. I know why it's necessary, but it still makes me a little sad. also, says a lot about how little influence I currently have over what I do during this fcking conference. I want to be back home, in my $4200 bed.

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

blondie teaches. has a masters degree. has been at the same district for the majority of her career (something like 16 years or more) and brings in about 42k per year. by way of comparison that is roughly the equivalent to minimum starting salary for a carpet cleaner or entry level truck driver. her insurance is good but pricey for the family option so the kids are insured through other avenues. she will finally be getting a COL raise this year after a few years without. she will also get a step increase (basically a raise for years in district) after a couple of years without. maybe it'll be enough to cover inflation, maybe not. that's all ground she can never make up because even if she goes elsewhere she will assuredly have to start at a lower step than where she is currently. basically it's not like the private sector where if you are undervalued you can go elsewhere, teaching essentially punishes you for moving.

 

yeah they teach 9 months a year but it's not like they can go out and get high paying jobs for 2.5 months a year. if they're lucky they can teach summer school through some youth organization and make $10-$15/hr, for the most it's min wage and part time baby. also, there are in-services, continuing ed requirements etc to meet during the "off" months. During the school year the hours are roughly 7:30 or 8:00 AM to anywhere between 7 and 11 PM plus hours on weekends. The amount of prep and paperwork required is a little shocking and would send an efficiency fetishist like strat into conniptions.

 

That cape fits you nicely

 

I would guess her salary is on the low side. Maybe a product of where she lives? As for the rest, it would seem like she's doing more than most. Maybe she should incorporate more movie days.

 

So sweet though. Awwwww. I'm moved

[Essay21 2,385]

At this point it's common knowledge teachers can be overworked and underpaid. And even if that isn't true in every case, you go into that field you get that life, then I don't want your bitching. I wanted to be a teacher and a coach but I also wanted to make money. I chose money. Sometimes I'm not sure I made the right decision. That's life. You live it, you die.

 

Next question.

[iTommyGavin81 288]

The climate in our state from teachers and public employee unions was created by the politicians. When you sign up for these jobs you expect the pay to be less than other jobs but in return you get a pension and decent benefit packages. But we turned into Union thugs who are bleeding the taxpayers dry with our "Cadillac health benefits." So then the benefits that were promised are cut down. The cost of living raises are taken away. I've been on 4 years and haven't gotten a raise yet. But I have had my insurance premium tripled. Pension contribution increased 6.8%. Our last contract had a wage reopener in it that said if we show savings as a department we get that amount back in raises. We showed 7%, asked for 3% and the city said 1% at the end of this year and 0.5% in the middle of next year and that was that because cities don't bargain anymore.

[brvheart 1,752]

I can tell you why your health insurance costs have tripled.

 

 

Teachers are definitely underpaid if you count their "hourly" salary. Good teachers work a lot from home and many buy teaching supplies that the schools can't provide out of their own pockets. However, their overall compensation is more than enough to live a strong middle class existence, especially when coupled with another breadwinner in the family. My MIL retired with 45 years experience and she was pulling in high 70's in Ohio. She still makes low 50's in retirement.

 

To Strat's point though, pensions are bankrupting a lot of businesses, municipalities, states, and countries because they spend money they don't have and then can't meet their obligations. It's going to crash hard at some point. Thankfully a lot of places are shifting to 401k's so they don't have the option to spend our money.

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

Fck pensions. They can pay into it like a 401k with matching.

 

Nobody is forcing anyone to be a teacher, cop or firefighter. If they aren't getting people to take these jobs, then you pay more.

 

The insurance and medical industry is out of control, that's why, brvy. Oh wait, it's Obama's fault. But Massachusetts was surviving with this same plan before affordable care act was around, right?

[Essay21 2,385]

Ronny comes off the top rope with an elbow to brvys solar plex. Let's see how brvy responds.

 

I feel the same about nfl players and pole crying about concussions. Nobody held an nfl player at gunpoint and forced them into the uniform.

[Ron_Mexico 4,219]

Ronny comes off the top rope with an elbow to brvys solar plex. Let's see how brvy responds.

 

I feel the same about nfl players and pole crying about concussions. Nobody held an nfl player at gunpoint and forced them into the uniform.

 

Well, that's a little different, because there was no science and they were lied to for years. Going forward, I agree

 

It's kind of like smoking. I don't blame old folks for being mad at big tobacco

 

But if you're 24 and a smoker, you're an idiot. Hell, even my age, 44. Ugh

[Essay21 2,385]

I just can't escape the idea that football is pretty clearly a danger to your health in ways the other sports are not, even if the nfl withheld info. But yeah I guess. Maybe I'm just super tired of lebatard crying about it.

 

 

[mrfritz 885]

So we hired a new secretary at work and she smokes--no big deal, right? Welllll her stomach keeps getting bigger and bigger, I'm pretty sure she's pregnant.

 

I want to ask a co-worker to confirm this pregnancy so I can judge her accordingly, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

[Napa Lite 3,278]

I say go ahead and judge until you're proven wrong.

 

I don't have any work to do right now so the annoying lady in the cube row next to me is extra infuriating today. Also, another of the other young guns of our company quit today. I'm pretty sure he was going to be tapped to do most of our new analytics, too. Just makes me all that more valuable.

[Essay21 2,385]

Haha, some dumbass blind cc'd like 5,000 people on an email by mistake and every one of these dumbasses is replying all to tell him it was a mistake. I have 1200 emails of it. It's no wonder our stock is in the toilet, we're employing thousands of mentally disabled people and paying them above average salaries.

[Napa Lite 3,278]

Those are my favorite. If you screencap some and send them to deadspin they'll def run it.

[InternetExplorer 2,609]

Haha, some dumbass blind cc'd like 5,000 people on an email by mistake and every one of these dumbasses is replying all to tell him it was a mistake. I have 1200 emails of it. It's no wonder our stock is in the toilet, we're employing thousands of mentally disabled people and paying them above average salaries.

I use 'ignore conversation' in outlook to avoid the reply all dumbasses.

[InternetExplorer 2,609]

401ks are sweet and all, but the standard match (2-4% tops for most companies) is simply not equivalent to the pension benefits people got in years past. my understanding is that a company is not able to negotiate on the match on a case by case basis, that may be wrong. but anyway, I'm not saying it's a moral obligation or something, just a situation where base pay wasn't increased enough to offset the benefit cut, and people haven't figured it out yet, nor will they until they sit down and do the math on retiring, or run out of assets in retirement.

 

I'm literally saving an assload of money every month now, and none of the calculators I've used show me as potentially stepping away before 60. sigh.

[CobaltBlue 662]

They Work 9 months a year. Extrapolate that pay and they do ok.

 

I have plenty of teacher friends and the starting pay isn't great. I don't think the no raise in 10 years is correct. I have heard my teachers mention 2%, 3% raises and their union. Maybe it's just COLA raises. Definitely Not gonna get rich and it's not easy work, but they do ok

 

Don't work in June, July and usually part of August. Usually a 5 day weekend for thanksgiving. Two weeks from before Xmas through New Years. A week for spring break and most of the federal holidays. Teachers do ok

Beth said that in 2009 that the teachers were set to get a 3% raise...and then Rick Scott said that they had to contribute 3% of their pay to some retirement pool...so it essentially wiped it out.

[brvheart 1,752]

401ks are sweet and all, but the standard match (2-4% tops for most companies) is simply not equivalent to the pension benefits people got in years past. my understanding is that a company is not able to negotiate on the match on a case by case basis, that may be wrong. but anyway, I'm not saying it's a moral obligation or something, just a situation where base pay wasn't increased enough to offset the benefit cut, and people haven't figured it out yet, nor will they until they sit down and do the math on retiring, or run out of assets in retirement.

 

I'm literally saving an assload of money every month now, and none of the calculators I've used show me as potentially stepping away before 60. sigh.

 

 

60 is still way earlier than most people... so that's good. Make sure you plan on living to at least 100 when you do your calculations. People are getting much older really quickly. Thanks, Science!

 

Beth said that in 2009 that the teachers were set to get a 3% raise...and then Rick Scott said that they had to contribute 3% of their pay to some retirement pool...so it essentially wiped it out.

 

Doesn't that just mean that they get the 3% now and then also another 3% later in her retirement pool? Or is this pool for other people and she's not expecting to ever see that money?

[brvheart 1,752]

Fck pensions. They can pay into it like a 401k with matching.

 

Nobody is forcing anyone to be a teacher, cop or firefighter. If they aren't getting people to take these jobs, then you pay more.

 

The insurance and medical industry is out of control, that's why, brvy. Oh wait, it's Obama's fault. But Massachusetts was surviving with this same plan before affordable care act was around, right?

 

You are really weird politically, and I love it.

 

The insurance and medical industries are out of control, I agree. Mainly insurance. And while it's definitely not Obama's fault that that is the case, it IS Obama's fault that CHEST's insurance has tripled in the last few years.

 

I really don't think that there is any doubt that in 50 years we will have 100% of our population on medicare or something similar to what Europe has, so I'm solidly in the camp to get there quickly. However there are MANY problems with us doing that.

 

1) Currently we R&D basically everything and then the rest of the world just steals the patents and sells the pills for dirt cheap while telling everyone else how terrible America is for selling their pills for so much money. It's very very similar to a recording artist creating a CD and then everyone stealing it, because "Why should they be selling this disk for $15 when it only cost them 10 cents to print". The creation should be compensated greatly, and if the government is running it, costs will be capped, and that will ABSOLUTELY reduce innovation. What's the point of innovation if you don't get rich off of it.

 

"What you think I rap for, to push a fucking RAV4?" - Kayne

 

2) Romneycare wasn't good for Massachusetts. Read this: http://www.cato.org/...fall-romneycare

 

3) Costs skyrocket for everyone, which only hurts the middle class, but especially the lower middle class (like young teachers making 35-50k). Very poor people have a lot of help in this country. I have a friend who just lost his job. He has 7 kids, and they get $1600/month in food stamps. That's a lot of money. You have to get a REALLY good job offer to give that up. You could eat huge steaks every night. Do you really want to take a job working at Publix, when it drastically reduces how much free stuff you get? That doesn't include Obamaphones, welfare, or Section 8 housing either. Every extra dollar you make, exponentially reduces what you get for free. That actually encourages people to not work. As a society, we need to support the people that we have historically oppressed, but encouraging them to stay uneducated and "needy" is detrimental for society as a whole, and especially for the poorest of the poor. Nobody wants to live in a crappy apartment, but it takes a LOT of work to get out of that situation. And then lets say you go to school and get your degree, and get a job for 40k. Well congrats, now you are totally screwed, because you don't get any free stuff, but don't have enough money to do anything; in many cases, including pay all your bills. And if you just raise taxes or raise the poverty line, then all you're doing is shifting that line up to the next group, who will get no free stuff, but have to pay this massive tax to pay for everyone else's stuff. It's encouraging people to not work and not innovate on a macro scale, and that's awful for society as a whole.

 

4) Giving the government a monopoly on anything removes competition, and it's competition which drives prices down and customer service up. If the government is in total control, then there is absolutely nothing encouraging hospitals to not make you wait longer. (Where will you go?) If doctor's salaries are fixed, then those doctors may choose another profession entirely, where their earnings aren't capped. This will cause doctor shortages (which is already happening). It will also drive down the line for standard of care. If the best of the best are now working for NASA or in business, then the average quality of doctors has fallen. That's not good for any of us.

 

What are you thoughts on how to fix it?

[Napa Lite 3,278]

"What you think I rap for, to push a fucking RAV4?" - Kayne

 

"Now all I need is y'all to pronounce my name, it's Kanye but some of my plastic still say Kayne" - Kanye West

[hank213 1,823]

sorry, I'm not reading a cato institute anything for economic policy analysis. try and find something a little less blatantly biased, it shouldn't prove to difficult as you could basically throw the metaphorical dart to hit one.