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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
Insurance misery has no easy cure
Health-care matchup finds Ohio falls short
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Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Four teens restrain man, take items from his Akron home
Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Complaints against officer keep coming
Kerrigan family disputes autopsy
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
Winter storm warning downgraded to advisory
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
A few words from Uncle Walt
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Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
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Late surge gives Zips ugly road win
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
Singletary helps KSU dominate MAC West
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
What "We Now Know"
Akron Law Café:
Citizens United v. F.E.C. (Part 4): Kennedy's and O'Connor's Basic Approaches to Constitutional Decisionmaking – Top Down and Bottom Up
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
Track HR Research
Akron Gamer:
'Tecmo Bowl' recreation of Super Bowl XLIV
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
Published on Sunday, May 25, 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.
Mario Nemr, 29, of Akron: ''I look at myself at age 17, when I graduated from high school. I wasn't ready for college. I would've been much better off laying bricks somewhere. . . . You feel like if you don't go to college, you are a loser. But I know a lot of guys who didn't go to college, who are doing great.''
Tom Fuller, 62, of Akron: ''You have a whole population of people who would love to have a manual job, a factory job, an assembly-line job. And they're not there. I mean, the jobs aren't there. So what happens to those folks? I'll tell you. Where I see some of them, they're sitting on their cans and in some cases getting into trouble.''
Marguerite Coffield, 50, of Stow : ''The area is so dry. If you lose your job, there's very little opportunity. I'm now in my 15th month of nonpermanent employment. My father worked at Goodyear for 40 years. We never wanted for anything. We didn't grow up worrying. Now I have three adult sons — 19, 21 and 25 — and they are the most pessimistic people you've ever met. They don't believe in America or the American dream.''
Mark Nicol, 49, of Uniontown: ''I can remember I worked for General Tire in the late '70s when I first got out of high school. It was a good-paying job — I was making $8 an hour and living at home. Back then, I felt like I was rich. At that time, people thought that was just a blue-collar job. But right now, I think a lot of people would give anything to see that kind of job come back. . . . Not only did they pay a good wage, they had tuition reimbursement for employees attending the university. If you were willing to try to help improve yourself, they would help out. That was a priceless benefit.''
Louella M. Reynolds, 51, of Akron: ''One thing I see [that] is very disturbing is the bonuses awarded the higher officials at the end of the year, when you're fighting to get 2 and 3 percent increases and they're giving themselves big, fat bonuses at the end of the year. . . . These CEOs and their assistants and their chairpeople are just cushioning their pockets while the little underdogs are there scuffling to get a 3 percent raise.''
Bill Jelen, 43, of Uniontown: ''The Friday layoffs became a regular occurrence at Telxon in Fairlawn. You hated to see anyone from H.R. headed your way with a box on Friday afternoons. I worried about getting fired for 13 years.''
New century brings fewer jobs to U.S.
Ohio doesn't bounce back after last recession
Ohio manufacturing jobs decline
Mixed picture for Ohio service sector
Ohio's winning and losing occupations
U.S. occupation trends: How jobs counts have changed since 2000 and annual earnings in 2007
Ohio occupation trends: How jobs counts have changed since 2000 and annual earnings in 2007
U.S. job counts for high-technology industry sectors
Ohio job counts for high-technology industry sectors
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.
Mario Nemr, 29, of Akron: ''I look at myself at age 17, when I graduated from high school. I wasn't ready for college. I would've been much better off laying bricks somewhere. . . . You feel like if you don't go to college, you are a loser. But I know a lot of guys who didn't go to college, who are doing great.''
Tom Fuller, 62, of Akron: ''You have a whole population of people who would love to have a manual job, a factory job, an assembly-line job. And they're not there. I mean, the jobs aren't there. So what happens to those folks? I'll tell you. Where I see some of them, they're sitting on their cans and in some cases getting into trouble.''
Marguerite Coffield, 50, of Stow : ''The area is so dry. If you lose your job, there's very little opportunity. I'm now in my 15th month of nonpermanent employment. My father worked at Goodyear for 40 years. We never wanted for anything. We didn't grow up worrying. Now I have three adult sons — 19, 21 and 25 — and they are the most pessimistic people you've ever met. They don't believe in America or the American dream.''
Mark Nicol, 49, of Uniontown: ''I can remember I worked for General Tire in the late '70s when I first got out of high school. It was a good-paying job — I was making $8 an hour and living at home. Back then, I felt like I was rich. At that time, people thought that was just a blue-collar job. But right now, I think a lot of people would give anything to see that kind of job come back. . . . Not only did they pay a good wage, they had tuition reimbursement for employees attending the university. If you were willing to try to help improve yourself, they would help out. That was a priceless benefit.''
Louella M. Reynolds, 51, of Akron: ''One thing I see [that] is very disturbing is the bonuses awarded the higher officials at the end of the year, when you're fighting to get 2 and 3 percent increases and they're giving themselves big, fat bonuses at the end of the year. . . . These CEOs and their assistants and their chairpeople are just cushioning their pockets while the little underdogs are there scuffling to get a 3 percent raise.''
Bill Jelen, 43, of Uniontown: ''The Friday layoffs became a regular occurrence at Telxon in Fairlawn. You hated to see anyone from H.R. headed your way with a box on Friday afternoons. I worried about getting fired for 13 years.''
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