I agree that there are many things that go into determining wages, Frank. As a matter of fact, I don't think there's anything in economics that doesn't have many determinants.
@Joyce Senior I only had one semester of Economics, but was well-enlightened to the fact that most top-level decision-makers relating to our country's economic welfare proved to be wrong about 50% of the time! Frank
Such is the progress of any science. The difference between economics and other types of science is that, in most cases, the public doesn't know about the experiments that don't back the hypotheses. But that's a strong point of science. These are published and people learn from the errors and go from there -- but they don't make the headlines or policies. The opposite seems to me to be the case with economics.
@Joyce Senior If I perceive correctly, or perhaps rather understandably, traditional "schooling" consisted of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. None related to fiscal topics. But the term "fiscal topics" encompasses a great number of possibilities, does it not? How would we choose from them? Frank
I think it depends upon how far you go back to "traditional schooling," Frank. Mine included all sorts of other subjects including civics which is no longer taught very much. Anyway, curricula are determined by individual states and school boards. If I were on the committee, I'd include a combination of fiscal and economic policy -- at least the basics. What are capitalism and socialism and the various kinds of welfare states and the pros and cons of each? What are the markets? How does the global economy work? Just an overview of these topics. I find today that many people really don't understand any of this and how they interact. They get their information from sources of propaganda (on all sides) rather than from a good, academic explanation. Once they have an understanding of what these terms and policies really mean, they can, if they choose, see to it that they form their opinions based upon something other than what they're being fed by one side. When I was teaching (before the Internet), I used to say to my students: Watch the Sunday news panel interview shows.) Watch what the Republicans are saying that the Republicans are saying. Watch what the Republicans are saying that the Democrats are saying. Watch what the Democrats are saying that the Democrats are saying. Watch what the Democrats are saying that the Republicans are saying. Then, make up your minds.
Explain staying out of debt!!! Use a Dave Ramsey book as a textbook. The world is nuts. I had a tenant lose her job 'because of covid' recently. I told her she could get a cheaper apartment. Mine is expensive but rents easily. She became offended that I would say she could not afford my house. She said all she needed to do was get another job. Welllll she is out on the deck still smoking and I just got an email saying her rent will be paid till March when her lease is up, by a government program. The kids today (and their parents) don't realize that nothing is free and letting big brother 'care' for us will come back and bite us in the butt. They will end up with nothing ("and they will be happy")
During my High School days there was a saying floating around that said that the voting age should be reduced since the students knew more about our government than did grown-ups. Now, (some of) our politicians are afraid to have civics taught.
I don't know about that though. I do know that the mature mind will think of what will add to his bank account or career most of the time but the young will go overboaod the other way. Both are good at giving other peopls money away. " If your not a liberal up to 30,you have no heart, if your still a liberal after 30 you have no brain". Forgot the authur.
I think some unions were needed but like everything else they too got greedy and conrolling.Till the union ended up costing the job of the employee. There were lots of abuse from manufacturing jobs like coal miners,auto workers and ag workers. But they threw the baby out with the bath water.
I agree with you about today's generation, Mary; then, again, that's been said of all generations. I don't know when your situation happened. Until recently it was just about impossible to find another job; now, it's a different story. However, we also have to keep in mind that anecdotes don't necessarily (they may or may not) reflect the majority of situations. Sure, there are plenty of people who take what they can; but there also are many people who honestly need the help. The trick is separating them out and that's just about bureaucratically impossible.