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Catherine Gacad

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The New Normal

I was just reading some interesting articles written about an economist and this thoughts on today’s new normal economy. He has bold view points that are blowing away what generations have believed for so long.

John Silvia said, “I think a lot of people don’t get it. They’ve been sold the American dream and been damned fooled. Romney goes to Michigan and tells people the jobs are coming back! That’s not going to happen. Here’s $10,000 – go to a community college and get skills. Obama said a few weeks ago that everybody should go to college. No! They need to go to high school, yes, and they need to take Microsoft Office. How many high schools require Microsoft Office? Go to high school, then to trade school or community college. Why do anthropology? You’re not going to be Margaret Mead. Get something useful!”

This goes back to my belief that no parent should force their children to go to college. I have so many friends who insist that college is the baseline. That everyone needs a college-level baseline of education. That may have been ok in the past, but that’s not how the economy works now. My college degree was pretty useless. There are a couple benefits. 1) It pads my resume. 2) During cocktail conversations, people tend to be impressed when I tell them where I went to college. But getting a bachelor degree did nothing for me. I could have become a teller after high school and, career-wise, been exactly where I am right now. It’s also likely I would have been in a better position that I’m in right now!

Let’s not robotically steer the next generation into doom. Or vote a certain way because that’s always the way you’ve been voting. Let’s get creative, think of solutions, and get ourselves out of this mess.

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10.16.10

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Welcome to my site, derived from an advice column I wrote while getting my MBA. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I give helpful, opinionated advice based on my own experience and from the expertise of my extensive network. For more, click here.

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