The travel job typically has housing built in too and often per diems. So probably closer to 4-5k equivalent! But quality of life isn't great to your point. Software is the objectively better job there unless you're really passionate about nursing!
239 karma · joined January 21, 2011
That said, this is also a clear shift in consumer demand too - a 1970s $3500 car is going to be a sedan, small, and pretty featureless. Compare that to a $20k Corolla today - which is the same proportion of median income that the $3500 car was in the 70s. It's larger, more reliable, safer, and has a whole bunch more features.
The bigger issue imho is that these employees don't seem to have been in a tornado shelter during a tornado warning?
The lack of tornado shelter is the problem here - or more likely, they probably had one but weren't instructed to use it...
5 minute charging would be a game changer. That means urban dwellers could use EVs the same as gas engine cars and that road trips look exactly the same as they do now (presumably gas stations would add EV stations with enough market penetration). This cable isn't the big issue in making that happen, but it's needed. Battery chemistry and power distribution become factors at that point, but we're on the way to solving those issues too
The interesting point that this one misses is that the children of this class are often not counted as part of the 9.9%, but are effectively part of it nonetheless because of the backstop an benefits that the 9.9% confer onto them. And their beliefs, etc. are pretty well in line with the 9.9. So really, it's more like the top 20% that's in this category, even though it doesn't look like it on paper.
This applies to something like half the population right now (in the US). And we're on the path to alleviate issues for the other half of the population in the next few to several years.
The other major issue (which is probably the bigger one) is that car manufacturers other than Tesla can't seem to actually get out enough cars to do anything other than supply California and maybe NY. Teslas are expensive and have a litany of quality issues that push "regulars" away from them. Once Hyundai has an electric that has inventory nationwide at a reasonable price, then we have a revolutionary orderly transition on our hands.
Non-Tesla (i.e., cheaper) EVs have been in the same boat - the ones that people want just flat out haven't been available in most locations.
Or...instead of working across the aisle to peel off a moderate Republican (tell me there isn't one Republican that won't go for a bill that gives their district a new military base or national lab?), we bend over backwards to coal interests (Manchin) instead of passing a climate-oriented bill!
It's like our politicians just want to bluster and point fingers instead of actually working to pass sensible legislation...
We should subsidize moving.
The other point to make here is that labor constraints are largely a good thing right now. We went 50 years where the power balance was on the corporate side. Now that it's shifting, labor is finally seeing the benefits of increased productivity over that time. All it took was a global pandemic to push a few million boomers into finally retiring...
So...they're getting pretty close.
Health-wise is highly debatable as well (I'd claim functional equivalence there, though there are people in both camps). Neither is good for you!
If you went for perfection, you'd never use any form of motorized transport, never eat any foods shipped across state lines, set your thermostat for survival temperatures, and go full "freegan" for everything you consume. There's a point at which better is all you really can do - just how much better is the question.