Two weeks ago we discussed “boomerangers,” young adults who moved back home with mom and dad because they could not find employment. A reader with a daughter who is graduating high school challenged me to tell the high school senior the field of study which will guarantee success when she graduates from college four or five years from now. Sorry but I cannot predict the future.
What I can do is tell her about the present. And just how do I do that? Simple. I clicked on Careercast.com. Using the following criteria — income, work environment, hiring outlook, stress and physical demands — this website examined the possibilities for jobs. Adding data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and relevance in the current labor market, it ranked 200 jobs from best to worst. Here are the top-10 best for this year:
1) Software engineer
2) Actuary
3) Human resources manager
4) Dental hygienist
5) Financial Planner
6) Audiologist
7) Occupational therapist
8) Online advertising manager
9) Computer systems analyst
10) Mathematician
Education plus perseverance may equal success. Ambition will also help. But you know something? A little luck couldn’t hurt.
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To my postmaster, I cannot help but notice many customers at my local post office picking up free priority envelopes, 15 or 20 at a time, and I suspect that they are using them as personal folders, not for mailing. If that is so, and I strongly believe it is, this costly waste can be prevented by charging a deposit of a quarter for each and then return that quarter by reducing the postage cost for mailing by the same 25 cents.
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Since Vice President Joe Biden took office in 2009 he has earned $1.1 million. His charitable contributions, according to his current income tax records are $16,710. Mr. VP is not such a generous giver. In fact, there are those who have referred to him as a cheapskate. Some on the left have excused the man by saying that he and others in politics prefer to remain anonymous about their benevolence. What? No way. I heard it and I shouted at the TV screen. No such thing. Politicians thrive on publicity.
I’m quoting some on the right who offer this advice to kids looking to make a killing on Halloween: “Don’t go trick or treating at the Biden house.”
Here are a few more quotes.
Last month my president said, “There are no silver bullets to reduce gas prices.”
Maybe not, Mr. President, but to most of America, you’re not even trying a slingshot.
Roland Martin of CNN complained, “Racism is in the DNA of America.”
Yes, and it is alongside of anti-semitism, anti-gay, anti-illegal aliens, anti-one percenters, anti-Hispanic, anti-white, anti-Obama, anti-Bush and everything that’s out there. Whenever folks are unhappy, dissatisfied, and angry it’s always someone else’s fault.
Last week Nancy Pelosi said, “I wish people could earn more so they could pay more.”
She’s talking about taxes. I wish people could earn more so that they could live a better life and not have to rely on entitlements.
And just this week an unnamed senior State Department official stated, “The war on terror is over.”
Really? Who won?
That State Department official could be right, and I hope he is, but he’s certainly in the minority. The most recent Rasmussen survey tells us that only 11 percent of likely voters agree with him. But 79 percent say that war, declared after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America, is not over. I am StanGershbein@Bellsouth.net assuming that the rest are busy watching “Dancing With The Stars” and haven’t the foggiest idea of what’s going on.
Read Stan Gershbein's column every Monday on BrooklynDaily.com.