Please cut me a break! Who do these clowns think they are? Executives think the recession is a good lesson for their kids, according to a survey released today by TheLadders.com, an online recruiting service catering to top executives and those earning more than $100,000. The recession shows them that opportunity will not be handed to them.
Aah, but they'll still have meals handed to them. Chances are they'll be able to continue to live in their homes. Oh, drat, maybe now isn't the time to buy that flat-screen television, especially if they are still going to their beach house. Thank God there's a recession so rich kids can learn a lesson while other people lose their jobs, can't keep their houses and have to visit food pantries.
Slightly more than half of the executives polled (54.4 percent) had that point of view. About a quarter said the recession had no impact on them and another quarter, sensibly, worried that their kids might not have the same opportunities that they had.
OK, now that my vitriol has subsided somewhat, I'll say that it is important for all of us to try to understand how others feel, and perhaps this is especially true for the children of the wealthy, who may be able to walk into executive positions by virtue of their contacts. And in fact, it may be that "lesson for the kids" is, at best, their efforts to find a silver lining for this dreadful cloud. Later in the survey, the executives say they are frustrated by the recession, with other emotions being fear, confusion, and anger. Only 13 percent mentioned positive emotions of hope or relief.
Jane, how on earth do you think that 54% could say they have not been affected and take those results seriously? Please. It's junk. Unless they interviewed ONLY top Pharma, Alcohol, movie Studio heads and maybe our Generals at war, everyone has been affected; those industries less than others, but still.— MichaelZoe- I cannot stand when people suggest that people of privileged backgrounds are never hard workers and intelligent. People don't "walk into executive positions by virtue of their contacts" and then KEEP those positions and get PROMOTED if they don't put their nose to the grindstone and crank it out. Enough with the class warfare and bitterness. This country offers more opportunity to more people than any other- be grateful for that, stop complaining, and get out there and WORK!— Bud Fox
- Of course people from privileged backgrounds need to work hard to keep their positions once they get them. And you can not say that executives don't work. They work all the time -- with no assumption of time off. I get that. But I also think that people like myself and many people with decent jobs don't have a real understanding of the difficulties of others. For example, my sister is an entrepreneur. She has to buy her own health insurance. She constantly reminds me how fortunate I am to have my insurance covered at work. I remember one time reading a book by a former Inquirer colleague, David Zucchino. Titled "Myth of the Welfare Queen," it opened with a vignette of a grandmother raising a grandson. He needed one of those marble composition books -- what's the cost -- $1 or so? And she needed to buy milk. She couldn't buy both. I've never had to make that choice. But I've often had to buy milk and a marble composition book at the same time and I was easily able to do it. To me, as a mother, it was a powerful example. People can have so much money that their lives really aren't affected, because they don't need to make any hard choices, like milk versus a composition book.— Jane Von Bergen
Every day for 60 days, Inquirer staff writer Jane M. Von Bergen profiled someone from the ranks of the region’s unemployed.
-
Cold winter for the jobless
- Ranks of long-term jobless are growing.
-
How a printing plant failed
- Big gambles and bad decisions, oil prices and credit crises, even a New Zealand tycoon: All played a role in Downingtown.
- Jobless60
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
