I sincerely believe that a college education is a good thing. The problem is that most of the college students I encounter might have been best served by a trade school education had they been born in the 1990s. That's not available to them, for we have lost a huge portion of manufacturing jobs due to globalization and free trade. Then we outsourced a ton of service jobs, something I posted a pdf on. There really are no good jobs save in Nursing, Engineering, and working for the government.

The fact that some Nurses are having trouble finding employment when fresh out of school is alarming. In the USA, we've had a 40 year shortage of RNs. If they can't find work, that's scary, especially considering Obamacare and 45 million new patients.

There must be a curtailment of the growth of government, for the tax base is not there. This means a loss of new growth in government jobs. We know of course that the military is cutting back, and hence any defense related industries will also see cutbacks. Perhaps drone and surveillance tech and robots will continue to grow, but otherwise, I doubt it.

While our infrastructure is crumbling, and despite enormous lip service in the last eight years to boost the economy by construction and engineering jobs, it hasn't panned out.

What we should do, for the benefit of our respective nations, if ban free trade. If each country created their own items and services, then we wouldn't be in this mess. Then working people can purchase homes. We must try to put the genie of Free Trade back in the bottle.

In the USA, and now in Australia, there are oil reserves, and so we could do more domestic production and get away from Middle Eastern oilfields. In essence, if we cut off the purchase of their oil, those Muslim nations lack any other products save dates to pay for terrorism. They are too unstable, and it would behoove us to invest locally rather than in the Middle East. That sucks for Europe, but that's their problem.

It's not up to the USA to be a world policemen. It doesn't pay. It doesn't create wealth. In history, the only times a military paid was by plunder. Today, we plunder oil from the Middle East by helping corporations. We sell our armaments globally, and all this does is foment discord.

The USA needs to invest domestically. It's the only logical solution. It's that or eventual slavery and kowtowing to corporate masters.

Most young people have no common sense and zero ancestral skills. They can't build a fire and they can't hunt. How will they make it if they can't grow crops?

That diploma is only getting them a job waitressing, and that won't pay the loans off. Worse, they can't get enough hours to actually improve their situation enough to get benefits. Many college grads are working jobs that pay minimum wage and only by luck are getting tips. If that dries up, and it will because in a down economy people don't eat out as much, then they're screwed.

Minimum wage in the USA varies but is around $7.25. Waitressing pays half of that, because it's calculated that they make tips. No one can live on that, not without living with their mom and dad.
[link to www.paywizard.org]