Top 3 things that give your life meaning.

[Yppej]

People with kids do not just get to pass on those costs. I know people who have not paid their child support and gone to jail. When is the last time someone went to jail for defaulting on their student loans?

[Ultralight]

No I have always exercised and ate well.

Privileged.

My husband risked life and limb in Vietnam.

That was his choice.

We didn’t have AC and our bedrooms were upstairs.

We have something in common. Except that my parents had an AC unit they put in the window unit of the room they slept in. So they slept fine. But again, not the end of the world. The tough part was those Ohio winters when I would shivering all night.

I laid awake many nights sweating.

Sucks, doesn't it?

My parents had tough lives but loved us very much like I loved my kids.

What does it mean to love one's kids?

I have known people with horrible lives that turned out well.

Do you think I turned out well?

Justify all you want. I don’t care. Sorry you had a shitty childhood.

Spoken like a true social worker! LOL

[Ultralight]

Teacher Terry, I appreciate your integrity and values. Do not let others blame you for high medical premiums which are a function of your age not your lifestyle.

I would say her high premiums are probably because of our rigged profit driven privatized medical system and possibly her bad lifestyle choices, but I am not entirely certain about that. Just speculating.

Honesty is a large part of integrity.

When I was a kid my mom told me: "Integrity is when the person you are on the outside is the same as the person you are on the inside."

So I guess technically someone could be a petty, bitter, insulting person on the outside AND on the inside. What do you think Jeppy? Might be time for some introspection.

Saying you will not comment on things but then doing so is dishonest.

Think of it like a constitutional amendment. Sometimes they have to happen.

Going back and editing your post to cover up your lie is doubly dishonest.

That was to be funny! LOL

Signing papers that you will pay back a loan and then not doing so is dishonest.

I am your bogeyman. haha

Acting like you are noble and helping poor students with your high overhead salary which drives tuition inflation is dishonest.

I want to do some real public good. I am in public service, so why not do things that are good for the public? If I was not in this line of work, I would probably do some other government or non-profit work anyway, or work for a labor union again.

The work that I do has HUGE ROI.

Andrew Yang has a plan to cut off Federal financial add to institutions that don't reduce and control their ever spiralling administrative costs.

I will have to read about this, if what you say is factual (which I am always dubious about).

Teachers are what adds value to educational institutions, not administrators who pay for expensive degrees to get expensive academic jobs in a pyramid scheme that is crushing students.

You are uninformed. The work I do creates scholarships, research funding, etc. The ROI is massive.

Teachers add value the way doctors and nurses add value to medicine.

Some of the work I do creates professorships and funds the research and teaching endeavors of professors.

Administrators don't add value the same way insurance companies don't add value in health care.

This is a laughable false equivalency.

[Ultralight]

Jeppy, Teacher Terry, I think I figured out what the real fundamental difference between you all and me is. And it comes down to values.

I am just more of a forgiving person than a punitive person, whereas you all are the opposite.

Like if someone has kids they cannot afford, I don't say: "You are a sleaze bag! Pay for your own dang kids!"

I say: "Hey, you should think about not having any more. But the ones that are here, I am cool with paying my taxes to help pay for their healthcare and education and such. People make bad choices sometimes. It is about making better choices in the future and about taking care of each other when we can."

That kind of forgiveness is really not your mentality. I get that. I just disagree with your punitive mentality.

[iris lilies]

Explain to me how working three jobs just to cover the basics makes any sense to anyone. I grew up deep in the working poor. I have never seen someone have to work three jobs to cover their basics.

But you are digressing from the topic. So let's get back to that, if we can.

Working three jobs is pretty common, but I suspect you have to expand the definition of “job” to make it apply.

Having a punch-a- time-clock job, a casual job, and a side hustle all at the same time is not at all unusual.

Now, is that effective use of time? Not always IMHO. Some of the side hustles are money -losing propositions like MLM sales. Some of the casual jobs are hit or miss such as raking Mrs. Brown’s leaves and shoveling her snow. Helping a sister at her crafts sales booth. Babysitting the kids down the block 2 x per week. Etc.

[Ultralight]

Working three jobs is pretty common, but I suspect you have to expand the definition of “job” to make it apply.

Having a punch-a- time-clock job, a casual job, and a side hustle all at the same time is not at all unusual.

Now, is that effective use of time? Not always IMHO. Some of the side hustles are money -losing propositions like MLM sales. Some of the casual jobs are hit or miss such as raking Mrs. Brown’s leaves and shoveling her snow. Helping a sister at her crafts sales booth. Babysitting the kids down the block 2 x per week. Etc.

Duly noted. But I would also ask, how common?

From Census.gov:

"Even though the majority of workers held a single job in 2013, 8.3% of workers had more than one job..."

Also:

"While most of these multijob workers only had two jobs, a small percentage (6.9%) worked more than two jobs."

[iris lilies]

Duly noted. But I would also ask, how common?

From Census.gov:

"Even though the majority of workers held a single job in 2013, 8.3% of workers had more than one job..."

Also:

"While most of these multijob workers only had two jobs, a small percentage (6.9%) worked more than two jobs."

Well, the Census data is the most accurate data we can get. I wont demean it to say that people wouldn't always answer those questions truthfully especially if it came to unreported income, but that is something to consider.

Maybe my view is skewed by my demographic. A fair number of my friends are semi-retired, each with a couple of little jobs and side hustles. I have written here before about several people in their 80s who are still working. One couple, fairly close friends of ours, made so much money last year that they paid $20,000 in income tax, at least that’s what they said. Yikes that still seems super high to me. They also take expensive trips out of the country multiple times a year so the jobs fund their vacations. Getting off track…

[catherine]

In Vermont, I would guess that many people have more than one job, and could have 3 jobs. It's hard to make a living up here. Every time I've hired someone to fix a tire, or deliver wood, they wind up handing me a card for their carpentry business or landscape business. Cobbling together a string of jobs to make ends meet is very common up here. My son's ex-gf's father sold antiques, had a standing music gig at a local hotel, and taught bridge.

[Tammy]

There was a time I had three jobs if we stretch the definition. My 40 hour a week job was at a regional jail, my part-time job was consulting 8 to 10 hours a week for an outpatient mental health center, and my side hustle was picking up shifts a few times a month at a local hospital. That was when we needed a lot of money for those expensive teenagers. At the same time my husband had 3 part time gigs which totaled about 50 hrs a week.

There was a time when we were raising three little kids on less than 20,000 a year and did not have health insurance. Our values dictated that we did not accept any public assistance in spite of our near poverty status. We could’ve had full insurance for free for all three children and 400 a month in food stamps. But for four years we didn’t accept any of that because of our values.

My values have since changed and I’m angry with my former self for not accepting some help so life could be easier for all of us. We were working and I was in college - it only would have lasted for 4 years but it sure would have helped. There were a few times we were down to two or three days worth of food in the house and almost no cash.

[LDAHL]

Supporting my family as we progress through life

Doing what I can where I can for other people.

Interesting ideas.