Education needed for kids to benefit

We keep hearing about how bad the economy is unemployment too high, home foreclosures, etc. Yet new homes are again being built and sold. Realtors tell us that there actually is a shortage of inventory of homes to sell. Property values continue to climb, record amounts of retail sales over the holiday, U.S. automakers are again thriving. Local companies, Boeing, Amazon, Starbucks, Microsoft, among many, are doing well. The lottery sold a record amount of tickets even to some that shouldn’t be buying. So where’s the recession?

At the same time food banks are overwhelmed with demand. The amount of homeless folks keeps climbing and unemployment remains higher than it should be. Even some with college degrees have trouble finding jobs.

Now we’re starting to hear that our present economy may be the new normal with occasional ups and downs. No politician exists that will tell us this of course, but we should be able to see the handwriting on the wall by now. Without either a college degree or advanced training in some sort of trade or profession, your chances of ever being financially secure, owning a home, or retiring comfortably, are becoming more remote as the years go by. Our young have to learn to live responsibly, dropping out of school or becoming a parent before you are ready almost guarantees that you are likely to struggle financially for the rest of your life. Get the message, kids.

Don Curtis

Clinton