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Do we even trust our leaders to help?
Retiring old ideas about retirement
Social Security more solvent than most Americans realize
Focus group participants discuss retirement
Series looks at middle-class angst
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Health-care matchup finds Ohio falls short
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New 'Call of Duty' could set entertainment record
Published on Sunday, Apr 13, 2008
SPEAKING OF . . .
After publishing findings that show Americans are earning less than their parents, the Beacon Journal invited readers to participate in focus groups. Here's some of what they said:
Theresa Brown, 57, of Akron: ''That's the American dream: You graduate high school, go to college, get your degree, get married, and then have those 2.5 kids and the house out in the suburbs.''
Robert Caetta, 56, of Ravenna: ''When your toilet backs up, do you want the guy with the Ph.D. or do you want the plumber with a snake who knows how to unplug that toilet? This is the problem. We are not focusing that much anymore on the trades. Everybody's got this idea that their kid's going to come out of high school, go to college and become a vice president of Microsoft. That's just not going to happen that much. What we really need are the people to start focusing again on the trades — carpenters, plumbers.''
Mark Nicol, 48, of Green: ''The kids are coming out of school with fifty-, sixty-, seventy-thousand dollars' worth of debt. . . . College is a double-edged sword.''
Lyn Gwinn, 58, of Akron: ''The cost of college from 1998, when she (her daughter) graduated high school, to 2004, which was the last time I looked at it, went up 74 percent. There's no way people can afford that. I'm an H.R. manager. And we hire a lot of B.A.-level kids right out of college. I want them to join the 401(k) and reap the benefits — the 50 percent match — and they can't afford it because they have school loans to pay. Even with parents helping out, as we did, and the kids taking loans for the other half, those kids are leaving school with a B.A., starting at making $27,000-$28,000 with a B.A. level, owing $15,000 to $20,000. They can't afford to buy a house or move into an apartment. They can't hardly buy a car.''
Sean Djuricic, 29, of Akron: ''(I'm) still paying for school. It will be years and years till school's paid off. . . . I look at my debt and I think I'm never going to get that paid off. It's very, very stressful. That old cliche, like, there's a gorilla in the room; try not to look at it — but every two weeks, I just wonder if I'm going to make rent. And I'm doing somewhat well. It just doesn't make any sense.''
Sue Kelewae, 43, of Uniontown: ''If you're very wealthy, paying for college is not a problem. If you're very poor, paying for college is not a problem. If you're in the middle, it's a huge problem, because all they offer you are loans.''
Louella M. Reynold, 51, of Akron: ''(My daughter is going to school) because she knows, first of all, that she can do better. And she also knows that's what she needs to do to take care of herself and her children and to live independently and be a responsible person in society. That's part of the American dream.''
Middle class hanging by thread as rich get richer, poor get poorer
Meet the family: Census data form American portrait
Today's story about a middle-class family is unusual for us
The very things that define the middle class slipping out of reach for many Ohioans
Story behind the story: five decades of data
Speaking of... Voices from The American Dream series
Median annual pay in the U.S. over the decades (pdf)
SPEAKING OF . . .
After publishing findings that show Americans are earning less than their parents, the Beacon Journal invited readers to participate in focus groups. Here's some of what they said:
Theresa Brown, 57, of Akron: ''That's the American dream: You graduate high school, go to college, get your degree, get married, and then have those 2.5 kids and the house out in the suburbs.''
Robert Caetta, 56, of Ravenna: ''When your toilet backs up, do you want the guy with the Ph.D. or do you want the plumber with a snake who knows how to unplug that toilet? This is the problem. We are not focusing that much anymore on the trades. Everybody's got this idea that their kid's going to come out of high school, go to college and become a vice president of Microsoft. That's just not going to happen that much. What we really need are the people to start focusing again on the trades — carpenters, plumbers.''
Mark Nicol, 48, of Green: ''The kids are coming out of school with fifty-, sixty-, seventy-thousand dollars' worth of debt. . . . College is a double-edged sword.''
Lyn Gwinn, 58, of Akron: ''The cost of college from 1998, when she (her daughter) graduated high school, to 2004, which was the last time I looked at it, went up 74 percent. There's no way people can afford that. I'm an H.R. manager. And we hire a lot of B.A.-level kids right out of college. I want them to join the 401(k) and reap the benefits — the 50 percent match — and they can't afford it because they have school loans to pay. Even with parents helping out, as we did, and the kids taking loans for the other half, those kids are leaving school with a B.A., starting at making $27,000-$28,000 with a B.A. level, owing $15,000 to $20,000. They can't afford to buy a house or move into an apartment. They can't hardly buy a car.''
Sean Djuricic, 29, of Akron: ''(I'm) still paying for school. It will be years and years till school's paid off. . . . I look at my debt and I think I'm never going to get that paid off. It's very, very stressful. That old cliche, like, there's a gorilla in the room; try not to look at it — but every two weeks, I just wonder if I'm going to make rent. And I'm doing somewhat well. It just doesn't make any sense.''
Sue Kelewae, 43, of Uniontown: ''If you're very wealthy, paying for college is not a problem. If you're very poor, paying for college is not a problem. If you're in the middle, it's a huge problem, because all they offer you are loans.''
Louella M. Reynold, 51, of Akron: ''(My daughter is going to school) because she knows, first of all, that she can do better. And she also knows that's what she needs to do to take care of herself and her children and to live independently and be a responsible person in society. That's part of the American dream.''
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