[quote=“Julio Geordio, post: 764922, member: 332”]Stateside there is a load of people with 100k’s + of debt for fucking ART, yes ART degrees. I read a very interesting article about this lately, comparing Ze German model to the USD one. The Germans train their workforce for industry etc. no degrees just apprenticeships, right job.
[/quote]
This makes sense alright. Foot soldiers who are very good at following instructions, throw them a curveball and they go in to a tailspin however
[quote=“Bandage, post: 764939, member: 9”]Did you lads have student loans and pay your own way through college or was it a case of the folks picking up the bill until your education was completed? I had part time jobs which contributed towards day to day to expenses but they would have paid my rent and whatever college fees were applicable* and thrown me some more pocket money too. Though I’m now a very successful international businessman (as evidenced by the number of red eye flights I take per month to places like London) and lavish them with gifts, I sometimes feel quite guilty about the sacrifices they would have made back then.
Couldn’t imagine paying 75k, or have it paid on my behalf, to go to college. I learned next to nothing there.
[quote=“Bandage, post: 764939, member: 9”]Did you lads have student loans and pay your own way through college or was it a case of the folks picking up the bill until your education was completed? I had part time jobs which contributed towards day to day to expenses but they would have paid my rent and whatever college fees were applicable* and thrown me some more pocket money too. Though I’m now a very successful international businessman (as evidenced by the number of red eye flights I take per month to places like London) and lavish them with gifts, I sometimes feel quite guilty about the sacrifices they would have made back then.
I worked during the summer and saved up. Then about 5 weeks into the year after living like a King, I was bust and had the hand out.
Better than a college student who is trained at nothing. We took on a lad before with a masters and I had to teach him the basic aspects of excel*.
*Not the Puke
[quote=“Bandage, post: 764939, member: 9”]Did you lads have student loans and pay your own way through college or was it a case of the folks picking up the bill until your education was completed? I had part time jobs which contributed towards day to day to expenses but they would have paid my rent and whatever college fees were applicable* and thrown me some more pocket money too. Though I’m now a very successful international businessman (as evidenced by the number of red eye flights I take per month to places like London) and lavish them with gifts, I sometimes feel quite guilty about the sacrifices they would have made back then.
Same as.
Well I made the smart decision not to go to college after I left school way way back in 92. I hadn’t got a clue what I wanted to do and really had no interest in third level education, ended up on a FAS course and doing my work experience in Paris, then back here to work in a warehouse before getting a job in call centre doing tech support and been on the up since then. Just completed my application in work to do a degree in computing and IT with my employer picking up the bill, hopefully. 
That’s a heartwarming rags to riches story to start the day.
In my own case I left school and went into one of the traditional dead end jobs of the time, that were supposed to be the be all and end all of your ambition. After a couple of years, I could take no more and I resolved to leave. I saved up enough for my first year in college and then left the job. I paid for the other years by doing insanely shit and dangerous but very highly paid work in America in the summers. These jobs, which were legit had the added benefit that you got a tax refund halfway through the year, which got me through to the year end and paid for the next years flights.
College experience same as Bandage et. al for me.
I don’t see a problem with getting into debt for college if it will lead to a highly paid job. I had a few friends in the States that went to Ivy League schools and they all ended up in very high paying jobs pulling in bonuses of $80-100k within two or three years of leaving college. The only way to get into those jobs is by going to one of the top schools so the education can pay for itself quite quickly. If I ever have offspring I will urge them to strongly consider this route.
Up capitalism.
[quote=“Julio Geordio, post: 764950, member: 332”]Better than a college student who is trained at nothing. We took on a lad before with a masters and I had to teach him the basic aspects of excel*.
*Not the Puke[/quote]
But he possibly didn’t have a masters in excel?
[quote=“briantinnion, post: 764987, member: 6”]College experience same as Bandage et. al for me.
I don’t see a problem with getting into debt for college if it will lead to a highly paid job. I had a few friends in the States that went to Ivy League schools and they all ended up in very high paying jobs pulling in bonuses of $80-100k within two or three years of leaving college. The only way to get into those jobs is by going to one of the top schools so the education can pay for itself quite quickly. If I ever have offspring I will urge them to strongly consider this route.
Up capitalism.[/quote]
That’s not capitalism, that’s cronyism.
Nothing wrong with cronyism, as long asyou are one of the cronies.
Obtaining some very good insider information and being unable to use it 
You are what is wrong with our country.
There’s a lot of things Wronger than me Kev. [quote=“caoimhaoin, post: 765531, member: 273”]You are what is wrong with our country.[/quote]
Things that could happen here.
Icelandic voters have dumped the Social Democrats from power, returning a centre-right government that ruled over its stunning financial collapse just five years ago.
Once a European financial hub, this windswept north Atlantic island of glaciers, geysers and volcanoes has been limping along for years, still crippled from a crash that brought it to its knees in just a matter of days.
“We are offering a different road, a road to growth, protecting social security, better welfare and job creation,” Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson, the favourite to become the next prime minister after his party took first place in the vote, said.
“What we won’t compromise about is cutting taxes and lifting the living standards of people,” said Mr Benediktsson, 43, a former professional soccer player.
The victory caps a remarkable comeback for Mr Benediktsson.
Just two weeks ago he considered resigning after record low poll ratings prompted calls for him to hand over his party’s leadership to his deputy.
Hailing from a wealthy family with extensive business interests, Mr Benediktsson, an avid trout and salmon fisher, was considered out of touch and tainted by the financial collapse.
Instead of stepping aside, he fought back with a rare personal television interview, giving voters a glimpse of his human side and propping up his party’s ratings.
His Independence party took 26.5% of the vote, giving it 19 seats in the 63-seat parliament.
The Progressive Party collected 22%, winning 18 seats, while the ruling Social Democrats got 13.5 percent and 9 seats, according to results with over two-thirds of the vote counted.
Mr Benediktsson’s first task will be to form a coalition, although a tie-up with Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson’s Progressive Party, an ally in several governments over the past three decades, is a widely expected outcome.
In a country where Nordic civility prevails, the president walks without security and members of parliament are listed in the phone book, coalitions are usually formed in just days.
“Historically two-party coalitions are the strongest and … if you look at the (results board) the choice seems to be clear,” Mr Benediktsson said. “We’ll go into coalition with whoever we can govern with.”
The Independence Party has been part of every government between 1980 and 2009, presiding over the privatisation of the banks, the financial sector’s liberalisation and its eventual demise.
Campaigning on a platform of tax cuts, it promised relief to households whose inflation-indexed mortgages have kept growing, despite several write-offs since the crash.
It also argued that foreign creditors of its failed banks, now locked into the country because of capital controls, will have to accept a massive write-off, perhaps as much as 75 percent, before they would be let out.
The write-off and the refinancing of other corporate debt, for example to Landsbanki and Reykjavik Energy, could let Iceland ease capital controls within 12 to 18 months, Benediktsson predicted.
Still, Gunnlaugsson was not yet ready to concede the premiership: “Sometimes the biggest party delegates the prime minister, sometimes not. We’ve seen all sort of governments.”
My hangover. Very wrong.
I had one of them yesterday. Grounded me for the entire day. Holy mother of Jesus.
It’s all in your head.
When as ye going to get some sense lads?
its a muggs game.