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Open letter to Romney from Mike Rowe; Obama got the same letter 4 yrs ago and ignored it.
Topic Started: Sep 9 2012, 02:56 PM (541 Views)
Kerri P.
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http://www.mikeroweworks.com/2012/09/the-first-four-years-are-the-hardest/
The First Four Years Are The Hardest…

Dear Governor Romney,

My name is Mike Rowe and I own a small company in California called mikeroweWORKS. Currently, mikeroweWORKS
is trying to close the country’s skills gap by changing the way Americans feel about Work. (I know, right? Ambitious.) Anyway, this Labor Day is our 4th anniversary, and I’m commemorating the occasion with an open letter to you. If you read the whole thing, I’ll vote for you in November.


First things first. mikeroweWORKS grew out of a TV show called Dirty Jobs. If by some chance you are not glued to The Discovery Channel every Wednesday at 10pm, allow me to visually introduce myself. That’s me on the right, preparing to do something dirty.

When Dirty Jobs premiered back in 2003, critics called the show “a calamity of exploding toilets and misadventures in animal husbandry.” They weren’t exactly wrong. But mostly, Dirty Jobs was an unscripted celebration of hard work and skilled labor. It still is. Every week, we highlight regular people who do the kind of jobs most people go out of their way to avoid. My role on the show is that of a “perpetual apprentice.” In that capacity I have completed over three hundred different jobs, visited all fifty states, and worked in every major industry.

Though schizophrenic and void of any actual qualifications, my resume looks pretty impressive, and when our economy officially crapped the bed in 2008, I was perfectly positioned to weigh in on a variety of serious topics. A reporter from The Wall Street Journal called to ask what I thought about the “counter-intuitive correlation between rising unemployment and the growing shortage of skilled labor.” CNBC wanted my take on outsourcing. Fox News wanted my opinions on manufacturing and infrastructure. And CNN wanted to chat about currency valuations, free trade, and just about every other work-related problem under the sun.

In each case, I shared my theory that most of these “problems” were in fact symptoms of something more fundamental – a change in the way Americans viewed hard work and skilled labor. That’s the essence of what I’ve heard from the hundreds of men and women I’ve worked with on Dirty Jobs. Pig farmers, electricians, plumbers, bridge painters, jam makers, blacksmiths, brewers, coal miners, carpenters, crab fisherman, oil drillers…they all tell me the same thing over and over, again and again – our country has become emotionally disconnected from an essential part of our workforce. We are no longer impressed with cheap electricity, paved roads, and indoor plumbing. We take our infrastructure for granted, and the people who build it.

Today, we can see the consequences of this disconnect in any number of areas, but none is more obvious than the growing skills gap. Even as unemployment remains sky high, a whole category of vital occupations has fallen out of favor, and companies struggle to find workers with the necessary skills. The causes seem clear. We have embraced a ridiculously narrow view of education. Any kind of training or study that does not come with a four-year degree is now deemed “alternative.” Many viable careers once aspired to are now seen as “vocational consolation prizes,” and many of the jobs this current administration has tried to “create” over the last four years are the same jobs that parents and teachers actively discourage kids from pursuing. (I always thought there something ill-fated about the promise of three million “shovel ready jobs” made to a society that no longer encourages people to pick up a shovel.)

Which brings me to my purpose in writing. On Labor Day of 2008, the fans of Dirty Jobs helped me launch this website. mikeroweWORKS.com began as a Trade Resource Center designed to connect kids with careers in the skilled trades. It has since evolved into a non-profit foundation – a kind of PR Campaign for hard work and skilled labor. Thanks to a number of strategic partnerships, I have been able to promote a dialogue around these issues with a bit more credibility than my previous resume allowed. I’ve spoken to Congress (twice) about the need to confront the underlying stigmas and stereotypes that surround these kinds of jobs. Alabama and Georgia have both used mikeroweWORKS to launch their own statewide technical recruitment campaigns, and I’m proud to be the spokesman for both initiatives. I also work closely with Caterpillar, Ford, Kimberly-Clark, and Master Lock, as well as The Boy Scouts of America and The Future Farmers of America. To date, the mikeroweWORKS Foundation has raised over a million dollars for trade scholarships. It’s modest by many standards, but I think we’re making a difference.

Certainly, we need more jobs, and you were clear about that in Tampa. But the Skills Gap proves that we need something else too. We need people who see opportunity where opportunity exists. We need enthusiasm for careers that have been overlooked and underappreciated by society at large. We need to have a really big national conversation about what we value in the workforce, and if I can be of help to you in that regard, I am at your service – assuming of course, you find yourself in a new address early next year.

To be clear, mikeroweWORKS has no political agenda. I am not an apologist for Organized Labor or for Management. mikeroweWORKS is concerned only with encouraging a larger appreciation for skilled labor, and supporting those kids who are willing to learn a skill.

Good luck in November. And thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Mike Rowe

PS. In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that I wrote a similar letter to President Obama. Of course, that was four years ago, and since I never heard back, I believe proper etiquette allows me to extend the same offer to you now. I figure if I post it here, the odds are better that someone you know might send it along to your attention

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genny6348
Genny6348
What a great letter! I also support 'Junior Achievement'. It was an incubator for aspiring entrepreneurs. I was a member in high school and learned many things about business that has served me will throughout my life. It also gave me the confidence to start my own business in my forties.

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foxglove

The awfulness of college debt. Maybe Mike Rowe has a good idea.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2928561/posts?page=13

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/business/once-a-student-now-dogged-by-collection-agencies.html?_r=1&partner=MYWAY&ei=5065

"...As the number of people taking out government-backed student loans has exploded, so has the number who have fallen at least 12 months behind in making payments — about 5.9 million people nationwide, up about a third in the last five years.

In all, nearly one in every six borrowers with a loan balance is in default. The amount of defaulted loans — $76 billion — is greater than the yearly tuition bill for all students at public two- and four-year colleges and universities, according to a survey of state education officials.

In an attempt to recover money on the defaulted loans, the Education Department paid more than $1.4 billion last fiscal year to collection agencies and other groups to hunt down defaulters.

Hiding from the government is not easy.

“I keep changing my phone number,” said Amanda Cordeiro, 29, from Clermont, Fla., who dropped out of college in 2010 and has fielded as many as seven calls a day from debt collectors trying to recover her $55,000 in overdue loans. “In a year, this is probably my fourth phone number.”

Unlike private lenders, the federal government has extraordinary tools for collection that it has extended to the collection firms. Ms. Cordeiro has already had two tax refunds seized, and other debtors have had their paychecks or Social Security payments garnisheed. Over all, the government recoups about 80 cents for every dollar that goes into default — an astounding rate, considering most lenders are lucky to recover 20 cents on the dollar on defaulted credit cards.

While the recovery rate is impressive, critics say it has left the government with little incentive to try to prevent defaults in the first place.

Though there are programs in place to help struggling borrowers, the companies hired to administer federal student loans are not paid enough for lengthy conversations to walk borrowers through the payment options, critics say. One consequence is that a government program called income-based repayment has fallen short of expectations. Under the program, borrowers pay 15 percent of their discretionary income for up to 25 years, after which the rest of their loan is forgiven. But participation has lagged because borrowers are either not aware of the program or are turned off by its complexity.

“If people were well informed, how many defaults could be averted?” asked Paul C. Combe, president of American Student Assistance, a loan guarantee agency based in Boston. “We are hurting people here.”

For borrowers, the decision to default can be disastrous, ruining their credit and increasing the amount they owe, with penalties up to 25 percent of the balance. ..."
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retiredLEO
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A college education is not the end all be all of our unemployment. When I have car problems, I have a mechanic who know how to fix it, he didn't go to college, but he knows how to to fix cars. The dems with all the liberal and progressive programs think that without a college education, will fix this are absolutely out of the minds. How far can you go with a BA in AA studies or Urban Studies, I have come to believe that a degree that ends is studies is worthless out in the real world. We keep spending more and more on education and get less and less of qualified people in the sciences and math professions. All the degrees in the social fields are experiments on building a new society. Looks to me like our new society is a society that sits around collecting benefits from the government, until someone hires them for some worthless job. What exactly does a social engineer do, I know what an electrical engineer does. I know what a carpenter does, but I don't know what an AA student does, other then teach. I have a friend that was the CFO of Purdue Chicken, he quit, because he wanted to be a carpenter, he is a great builder, he helped me put new windows in my house. This president want to invest in things that we don't need, that is the bottom line. Why do we all need a college education? I never graduated from college, became a police officer, stayed in the Marine Reserves and am now retired from both. We have turned this country into indoctrinated sissy's and whimp's who think they cannot accomplish anything without a college degree. Just look at Steve Jobs (God rest his soul) and Bill Gates, non college grads that not only fulfilled their own dreams, but the dreams of many people around the world. These 2 men made it on their own no matter what the president or Elizabeth Warren says, these billionairs are both products of the American Dream, how many more are out there that we haven't heard from, that Obama is trying to destroy?
Edited by retiredLEO, Sep 9 2012, 07:05 PM.
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kbp

foxglove
Sep 9 2012, 05:44 PM
The awfulness of college debt. Maybe Mike Rowe has a good idea.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2928561/posts?page=13

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/business/once-a-student-now-dogged-by-collection-agencies.html?_r=1&partner=MYWAY&ei=5065

"...As the number of people taking out government-backed student loans has exploded, so has the number who have fallen at least 12 months behind in making payments — about 5.9 million people nationwide, up about a third in the last five years.

In all, nearly one in every six borrowers with a loan balance is in default. The amount of defaulted loans — $76 billion — is greater than the yearly tuition bill for all students at public two- and four-year colleges and universities, according to a survey of state education officials.

In an attempt to recover money on the defaulted loans, the Education Department paid more than $1.4 billion last fiscal year to collection agencies and other groups to hunt down defaulters.

Hiding from the government is not easy.

“I keep changing my phone number,” said Amanda Cordeiro, 29, from Clermont, Fla., who dropped out of college in 2010 and has fielded as many as seven calls a day from debt collectors trying to recover her $55,000 in overdue loans. “In a year, this is probably my fourth phone number.”

Unlike private lenders, the federal government has extraordinary tools for collection that it has extended to the collection firms. Ms. Cordeiro has already had two tax refunds seized, and other debtors have had their paychecks or Social Security payments garnisheed. Over all, the government recoups about 80 cents for every dollar that goes into default — an astounding rate, considering most lenders are lucky to recover 20 cents on the dollar on defaulted credit cards.

While the recovery rate is impressive, critics say it has left the government with little incentive to try to prevent defaults in the first place.

Though there are programs in place to help struggling borrowers, the companies hired to administer federal student loans are not paid enough for lengthy conversations to walk borrowers through the payment options, critics say. One consequence is that a government program called income-based repayment has fallen short of expectations. Under the program, borrowers pay 15 percent of their discretionary income for up to 25 years, after which the rest of their loan is forgiven. But participation has lagged because borrowers are either not aware of the program or are turned off by its complexity.

“If people were well informed, how many defaults could be averted?” asked Paul C. Combe, president of American Student Assistance, a loan guarantee agency based in Boston. “We are hurting people here.”

For borrowers, the decision to default can be disastrous, ruining their credit and increasing the amount they owe, with penalties up to 25 percent of the balance. ..."

Who OWNS you now?????
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cks
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foxglove
Sep 9 2012, 05:44 PM
The awfulness of college debt. Maybe Mike Rowe has a good idea.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2928561/posts?page=13

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/business/once-a-student-now-dogged-by-collection-agencies.html?_r=1&partner=MYWAY&ei=5065

"...As the number of people taking out government-backed student loans has exploded, so has the number who have fallen at least 12 months behind in making payments — about 5.9 million people nationwide, up about a third in the last five years.

In all, nearly one in every six borrowers with a loan balance is in default. The amount of defaulted loans — $76 billion — is greater than the yearly tuition bill for all students at public two- and four-year colleges and universities, according to a survey of state education officials.

In an attempt to recover money on the defaulted loans, the Education Department paid more than $1.4 billion last fiscal year to collection agencies and other groups to hunt down defaulters.

Hiding from the government is not easy.

“I keep changing my phone number,” said Amanda Cordeiro, 29, from Clermont, Fla., who dropped out of college in 2010 and has fielded as many as seven calls a day from debt collectors trying to recover her $55,000 in overdue loans. “In a year, this is probably my fourth phone number.”

Unlike private lenders, the federal government has extraordinary tools for collection that it has extended to the collection firms. Ms. Cordeiro has already had two tax refunds seized, and other debtors have had their paychecks or Social Security payments garnisheed. Over all, the government recoups about 80 cents for every dollar that goes into default — an astounding rate, considering most lenders are lucky to recover 20 cents on the dollar on defaulted credit cards.

While the recovery rate is impressive, critics say it has left the government with little incentive to try to prevent defaults in the first place.

Though there are programs in place to help struggling borrowers, the companies hired to administer federal student loans are not paid enough for lengthy conversations to walk borrowers through the payment options, critics say. One consequence is that a government program called income-based repayment has fallen short of expectations. Under the program, borrowers pay 15 percent of their discretionary income for up to 25 years, after which the rest of their loan is forgiven. But participation has lagged because borrowers are either not aware of the program or are turned off by its complexity.

“If people were well informed, how many defaults could be averted?” asked Paul C. Combe, president of American Student Assistance, a loan guarantee agency based in Boston. “We are hurting people here.”

For borrowers, the decision to default can be disastrous, ruining their credit and increasing the amount they owe, with penalties up to 25 percent of the balance. ..."
There was a column in the local paper (Cincinnati Enquirer) this past Saturday in which a young woman bemoaned her college debt and asked for someone to explain to her and her generation why they had so much debt and what could be done about it. Believe me, it was a pity trip par excellence - I will be interested if the paper publishes my response. She attended two expensive schools for her undergraduate and graduate degree and owes 188.000.00 + in loans to the bank. She complains that although she is working two jobs, she has had to put her dreams on hold and how unfair that is. It is part and parcel of this whole idea that someone else (read that to be the government in the form of the taxpayer who should fund others with no strings attached).
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kbp

cks
Sep 9 2012, 07:53 PM
There was a column in the local paper (Cincinnati Enquirer) this past Saturday in which a young woman bemoaned her college debt and asked for someone to explain to her and her generation why they had so much debt and what could be done about it. Believe me, it was a pity trip par excellence - I will be interested if the paper publishes my response. She attended two expensive schools for her undergraduate and graduate degree and owes 188.000.00 + in loans to the bank. She complains that although she is working two jobs, she has had to put her dreams on hold and how unfair that is. It is part and parcel of this whole idea that someone else (read that to be the government in the form of the taxpayer who should fund others with no strings attached).
There is a little something to be said about any institute that would loan some youngster so much money. It's not like many have a clue how much it will all add up to at that age ...there are many at any age that are clueless in this area!
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Duke parent 2004
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Mike Rowe, who grew up here in Baltimore County and graduated from a nearby high school, must have talked with my plumber.. On his most recent visit to my abode, that most venerable man of the wrench told me that his biggest problem (he's now of retirement age) has been getting and keeping young men willing to learn the trade.. For a square ten miles on a side and which includes my house, he added that he and his brother, and their few employees, could not promptly get to everybody who called for service.. Keep in mind that experienced plumbers often make more than $100,000 a year.

This business of the absurd inflation of expectations regarding the need to go to college reminds me of what Joe Epstein wrote regarding reading many books:. Perhaps the only way fully to understand how overrated that book-reading can be is, alas, first to plow through all those books.
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cks
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Duke parent 2004
Sep 9 2012, 08:19 PM
Mike Rowe, who grew up here in Baltimore County and graduated from a nearby high school, must have talked with my plumber.. On his most recent visit to my abode, that most venerable man of the wrench told me that his biggest problem (he's now of retirement age) has been getting and keeping young men willing to learn the trade.. For a square ten miles on a side and which includes my house, he added that he and his brother, and their few employees, could not promptly get to everybody who called for service.. Keep in mind that experienced plumbers often make more than $100,000 a year.

This business of the absurd inflation of expectations regarding the need to go to college reminds me of what Joe Epstein wrote regarding reading many books:. Perhaps the only way fully to understand how overrated that book-reading can be is, alas, first to plow through all those books.
My plumber says much the same thing as does the gentleman who services my air conditioner and furnace. Both are very intelligent, well read men who I find enjoyable to talk to when they come to do work at my home since they will talk about books they have read, politics, etc. The mistake that so many make is that a college education is the sole mark that someone is intelligent. My mother and her siblings were some of the most intelligent people I ahve ever known - not a single one graduated from college (my one aunt went to nursing school back when one did not have to graduate from college to go into the profession) yet all were voracious readers who were hard workers with many talents. A person with a college degree still puts his or her pants on one leg at a time just like everyone else.
Edited by cks, Sep 9 2012, 08:29 PM.
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chatham
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Duke parent 2004
Sep 9 2012, 08:19 PM
Mike Rowe, who grew up here in Baltimore County and graduated from a nearby high school, must have talked with my plumber.. On his most recent visit to my abode, that most venerable man of the wrench told me that his biggest problem (he's now of retirement age) has been getting and keeping young men willing to learn the trade.. For a square ten miles on a side and which includes my house, he added that he and his brother, and their few employees, could not promptly get to everybody who called for service.. Keep in mind that experienced plumbers often make more than $100,000 a year.

This business of the absurd inflation of expectations regarding the need to go to college reminds me of what Joe Epstein wrote regarding reading many books:. Perhaps the only way fully to understand how overrated that book-reading can be is, alas, first to plow through all those books.
A very great need in many places are for welders. The pay is very very good and the need is so great that some companies are actually trying to talk high school kids to learn the trade. This is only one area where a college education is not needed and the rewards to the high school graduates are great. A few years ago we had a hard time convincing our community college that a course in welding would be beneficial to the companies in our community.

Priorities are all messed up.
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Concerned
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It's also hard to find people to solder wires and run a molding machine.
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foxglove

kbp
Sep 9 2012, 08:06 PM
cks
Sep 9 2012, 07:53 PM
There was a column in the local paper (Cincinnati Enquirer) this past Saturday in which a young woman bemoaned her college debt and asked for someone to explain to her and her generation why they had so much debt and what could be done about it. Believe me, it was a pity trip par excellence - I will be interested if the paper publishes my response. She attended two expensive schools for her undergraduate and graduate degree and owes 188.000.00 + in loans to the bank. She complains that although she is working two jobs, she has had to put her dreams on hold and how unfair that is. It is part and parcel of this whole idea that someone else (read that to be the government in the form of the taxpayer who should fund others with no strings attached).
There is a little something to be said about any institute that would loan some youngster so much money. It's not like many have a clue how much it will all add up to at that age ...there are many at any age that are clueless in this area!
I agree. Many haven't been taught that debt equals slavery. But look at the example our government has set? It almost looks like a trap has been set.
Edited by foxglove, Sep 10 2012, 06:02 AM.
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foxglove

Duke parent 2004
Sep 9 2012, 08:19 PM
Mike Rowe, who grew up here in Baltimore County and graduated from a nearby high school, must have talked with my plumber.. On his most recent visit to my abode, that most venerable man of the wrench told me that his biggest problem (he's now of retirement age) has been getting and keeping young men willing to learn the trade.. For a square ten miles on a side and which includes my house, he added that he and his brother, and their few employees, could not promptly get to everybody who called for service.. Keep in mind that experienced plumbers often make more than $100,000 a year.

This business of the absurd inflation of expectations regarding the need to go to college reminds me of what Joe Epstein wrote regarding reading many books:. Perhaps the only way fully to understand how overrated that book-reading can be is, alas, first to plow through all those books.
Mike Rowe is definitely on to something.
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