I guess this is where I disagree. I would disagree that $20/hr is a low wage job, it is a farm workers salary. Is it hard work? Sure, less hard than my job. People rather sit at home on welfare than take it. Rather smoke meth on welfare than take it. Mom and dad with no college education, maybe no HS education making 80k a year and free housing. That's not a terrible life. I don't see exploitation there. Obviously it requires that a person is willing to move to where this is possible. Why do 4 generations of welfare recipients stay in WV? Why not move to Cali and go get after it? They are not illegal, they speak the language, they have better education than the guy walking up from Honduras.
Frankly I don't buy into the education argument, we have more degrees than you can shake a stick at (our family) and even a short listed nobel prize candidate, I don't see any correlation that is meaningful other than that jobs simply require a college degree and in college you may meet someone with better connections. I think that most of the work being performed by people with "degrees" is basically simple work that does not require a degree but a willingness to learn and work hard. Take bankers - they used to go into banking with no degree, pretty recent that it was a requirement. Most office work the same. Why can't a kid out of HS do most of this work when they can do that in Europe? Or Korea & Japan. Having lived many years overseas and having worked in big consultancies and big companies I completely reject the "they need education" argument. Then take the Mennonite and Amish community. Hard work and very good incomes. Almost all of Ohio Amish are down in Sarasota on vacation during the winter. Over a bus a day just from one company I know about. Every day but Sunday all winter. Full of these poor, uneducated, people being forced to do low paid work. Or they are full of fairly wealthy people without a single higher education degree, heading from farms to spend a month or two week or 4 months in the family vacation home in a warm sunny spot.
One gentleman that runs a table factory buys logs from us, Amish. Sharp guy. He can run and fix anything in his factory. He purchases some 7 million bdft of lumber a year (that's say $7 million min) to build tables and table parts, he buys logs for special tables. Our forest are good so he travels 6 hours one way to buy from us. You know what the difference is between that factory owner and the college educated factory owner in NC that shut down his factory because he couldn't compete? The guy in NC could do literally nothing but work a telephone and meet with his banker. They both bought from us. The difference is that the Amish owner can literally do anything, he shows up early, works late, his son is being taught to do the same (12) working with dad when not in school, does everything with him. This past weekend they were changing all the fluids in a wheel loader, fluid and filter changes are critical to keeping the equipment running in top shape for long periods of time. So the kid, not even a teen really, is learning to do something that the NC factory owner could not begin to do. It's not that the Amish guy does not have a mechanic. It is that his son needs to learn to do everything, balance books, buy logs, negotiate a contract, work hard, fix equipment, understand the complexity of solvents and finish that impacts customer experiences, arrange a complex logistical challenge of moving sawn lumber, logs, people, equipment and finished goods. He'll learn it all. By 18 I would put that kid up against harvard kid and I would win 9/10 when it came time to starting and running any manufacturing business. 1/10 is when someone figures out how to change faster than the Amish can change. Our buyer comes with an ipad strapped on his arm and a bluetooth headset. But really fast change ...that's hard for them. Mostly, hard work wins out, combined with an ability to create change then you'll be on to something. When the Amish get FSD robo teslas they'll be in heaven. Amish have plenty of issues but I find it sad that in today's technologically dependent world, with education in any field almost free for the taking, that simple repressive religious group can out compete.
How many families in the US get to take a few weeks off and everyone goes on vacation. Seriously, only the 1% of 1% do a month vacation in winter.
My computer savvy programming and math problem solving son is learning to fell trees, how to identify tree diseases, how to plan around the conundrum of regeneration and death and aesthetics in a forest, how to negotiate with lawyers, NGOs, Board of Appeals, Fox Hunts Clubs (yes, just like the english red jacketed type of hunt), how to plant a tree, how to recognize a healthy seedling vs one to toss. Etc etc.
We are implementing some monitoring and measurement practices that are literally state of the art, people have talked about it but we'll do it. We have a rough beta of a block chain based chain of custody to provide attestation on our sustainable harvested wood products. He has no college degree. In 6 years I'll put him up against any forest management company executive in the US, maybe not Finland but he'd hold his own I hope. Once you strip off the social relationships that you develop in college, instead of learning to work, many people literally gain nothing from college. Obviously this does not hold true for some things such as Engineering. Don't get me wrong either, I'm a huge fan of education. I wish we as a nation invested much more in fundamental science. I also wish we would make a distinction between education and college degrees. Education is a pursuit.. a degree is a certificate .
Rant over... apologies
