Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for December 05, 2013

A wait job with good insurance? Unemployed engineering and microbiology PhDs? What were you smoking while working on “Alpha House,” GT? Stop waiting for post-doc grants and get jobs in the private sector that you spent years training for.

She’s a waitress. What did you think it meant?

We waited four months for a dumb story line like this? Looks like Doonesbury has finally jumped the shark.

Those that can, create. Those that can’t, whine and b!tch about those that can.

people here so far be dumb – and ignorant of the news. the strip accurately depicts our present day upside down reagan structured economy. merit often gets one nothing. being a sleazoid dipsh1t banker or trader without ethics or a clue about humanity, on the other hand, gets one amazing tax preferences and get-out-of-jail-free status for life. as a country we are investing in nothing of value – hence the unutilized education of (and predicament of) wait staff and babysitters.

So will these two be BFF or bite each other?

Restaurant people have not had health insurance in the past. That should be changing however.

Either of their professions are excellent! Of course, neither of them are willing to start their careers at less than six figures – and they want tenure conferred because of their academic prowess.

Feeding at the public trough has advantages and disadvantages …

There are many unemployed PHDs in this country. I’m one of them. The market is terrible. A PhD at the end of your name does not guarantee a job.

I have a Masters Degree in Business Administration. The best job with benefits that I could get was slinging Fritos in C stores. Loved the job, hated the fact that I was passed by for promotion for recent college graduates with no experience. got fired for saying my Zone Manager was dumb as a box of rocks. deserved it. (both of us)

All politics aside. I hope she has Zonkers old wait job. It would be interesting to see how the imitation TGIF has changed over the years.

American business was shipping jobs off shore long before Obama came on the scene. American business hasn’t seen a slave or slave wage it didn’t like.

Not only that, she will probably be “hot” to Leo.

Scholarships.org reports 3% unemployment rate for microbiologists with PhD although I think I noticed some 6% or 7% were underemployed and starting pay a mere $67,000 per year but surely there are benefits to make up for the low pay.(It’s fun to listen to Bernadette describe all the dangerous things she does at work.)

Mike’s buddy, Bernie, would hire her or find her a job.Alex should consider using her resources, her social support network of friends, family and relatives

Most people don’t get PhDs to go into private industry. The get them to go into academics. And yes, this is exactly what it is like trying to get a job in academics today. Son has a PhD in physics and is on his 2nd post doc an was holding his breath after the dquestered funds. I koow another person who did leave a pos doc to go to work for private industry and regrets it – individual LIKED working wiht grad students, teaching classes, and doing basic research.

I have a MSEE from Ohio State. I’m working part time at Wal-Mart (and I don’t have insurance).

ask again why they are not employed…… Any companies hiring want grads with some intern experience, in the same industry. someone with a Masters or a Phd, unless their thesis work was directly related to that business, will pass them over, they figure that they will get offered what they are worth by someone else in a year or so and would be insulted to work for H1B worker pay.

‘This strip accurately depicts our present offshore obama structured economy’.So now Obama runs every corporation? As I recall, under bush they got a tax break to offshore. The Democrats have been struggling with the republicans to change that, to no avail.BTW, rmoney was the poster child for offshoring, and I’m sure you adored him.

“Restaurant people have had the right to choose the health insurance that best meets their needs.”True, but at $800 or more a month, they could have health ins. or a roof over their head.With the ACA that WILL be changing.

What they are referring to is the number of academic post-doctoral jobs on hold, as federally funded positions (most research grants, folks!) await the resolutions of FY14 budgets. The sequester and furlough have hit young scientists particularly hard.

And my mother wondered why I joined the military after getting my science degrees. Much safer employment, for paying off student loans.

Our domestic PhDs in engineering are in high demand by industry and the military since International Docs can’t work on classified projects. Plus industry wants domestic PhDs since there is no H1B or Green card hassles.

‘During the eighties, I still had a great job with exceptional wages’Anecdotal evidence indicating nothing.Reagan didn’t take your job, he (or his handlers, I don’t actually credit him with knowing anything) set us on the path of “supply-side economics” (or per David Stockman, who helped, “a Trojan horse”). Also known as tinkle-down on the peons, and that’s where we are to this day.

“I can’t leave [my job] because it has good insurance.”

Wow. Is that the real reason why the Right oppose the ACA? Because it would empower workers to change jobs?

C’mon, America. Go single payer. You have nothing to lose but your chains.

So they’re struggling to make ends meet, but have money to spend on a Nanny while her parents want to move next door and help with the kids? Sorry, don’t feel a bit sorry for them.

Alex presumably wants to be a scientist doing innovative basic research. Last I checked, that’s not happening in the private sector unless you get excited by crap like Google Glass. It’s done in universities and is supported by the government in advanced industrial societies (ie other than the GOP conceived US). That means she needs a post doc. Going to industry is one-way ticket to serving corporate profits and away from science.

The comic is sadly true. American business is looking for the cheapest possible, not the best possible. Unless “best” means: living next door in your parent’s house so you can walk to work and your overhead is low.

According to the American Institute of Physics, the percentage of US non-citizens receiving PhDs from US institution surpassed 50% in 2008 and has only increased since (see figure 1 and page 8 on the link below).-http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/reports/physgrad2008.pdf-This represents a dual threat for the present and future. In the present, it means we are not producing enough citizen scientists to do research in the necessary fields. The second threat is that many of the non-citizen students return to their native countries. Currently, US universities provide the highest level education in the sciences. US universities may not be able to do so in the future if they do not have the qualified professors.

Welcome to the world.

‘Cause Reagan signed a law that says if you go to the ER and can’t pay, everybody else will pay for you..Love that “I’ve got mine, screw you, Jack” attitude. Looking forward to stepping over dead bodies in the street under that system.

Actually GT is stone-cold sober here. Contrary to popular belief, we don’t have a scientist shortage in most STEM fields, we have a glut of PhDs. Soon we’ll have lots of nannies with PhDs in science and math.

Check out my commentary on this strip at

http://www.thefourthhelix.com/2013/12/05/mamas-dont-let-babies-grow-scientists/

Thank you GT for telling it like it is!

P.S. industry isn’t any better.

RIP Nelson Mandela

Despite what is being suggested here, according to the BLS, people with doctorates are less likely to be unemployed than others: http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm

Here is a job for Alex in the DC area:

Software Systems EngineerLeidosWashington D.C. Metro Area – Dec 4, 2013Job Detail:Software Systems Engineer (Job Number:601576)Description:Leidos’s Autonomy and Analytics (AAA) Division currently has an opening for a Software Systems Engineer/Computer Scientist specializing in natural language processing/computational linguistics in Herndon, VA.A Top Secret/SCI clearance is requi…-or, if she specializes in mechanical engineering:-Job Detail:Level III-IV (Associate or Project) Engineer Position; Mechanical (ME) / Materials Engineer (MatE); Non-Supervisory Position Summary Candidate will work under general direction of a Department of the Navy (DoN) Government Civilian Program Manager in support of the Lightweight and Modern Metals Manu…-

@rpmurray

“This strip accurately depicts our present offshore obama structured economy, where H1B workers come to this country and take the jobs of qualified American workers.”

Odd. My memory tells me those jobs were offshored long before Obama got anywhere near a presidential run.

These Phds have the wrong kind of plumbing to get ‘good’ jobs anyway. Geez, one of them has already pumped out TWO babies … who do you think is going to hire them for responsible positions?

“I think our nation needs people who know how to read and write….I am not impressed by what I see….so many words to say so little…”

Well, you are right – but the propaganda machine … sorry, schools … might well be seen as the crux of the problem.

We need to raze them to the ground, and find some actual educators who can still read and understand language to rebuild it.

There must be a few literate survivors, don’t you think?

" Also that it isn’t just a contract job with no benefits. Also that it pays enough to actually save a little money when it is gone."

There’s that, too – did MS ever settle that suit with all their long term contract employees?

Sure, contracts are available – those are not ‘real’ jobs, either, and though there are people who enjoy that sort of lifestyle, it is much more a desperation stop gap for those who can’t get any other work and have run out of unemployment benefits.

Anything at all to destroy their workforce. What kind of government sets out deliberately to destroy their workforce, and what could their goals possibly be?

None of the plausible answers are very encouraging, much less heartwarming.

Yep, the Ebola thing and many like it.I think she explained the need for cleanliness to Sheldon by stating his drinking container had previously held urine from a syphletic (or whatever) elephant. He quickly decided he had not been sufficiently obsessive/compulsive about washing

It’s a shame about the laws forbidding living under bridges. That always appealed to me. I remember 10% of the interstate highway system budget originally included construction of civil defense shelters built integrally part of all the bridges. It would have come in handy following floods, hurricanes, wildfires and just temporary shelter for those needing a place to stay while in college or homeless..Sadly, civil defense was banned by the ABM treaty when the USA and USSR promised to not protect our citizens or their subjects..Such is life.

@DavidHuieGreen: Hmmm, now that you think of it….

No, fox is a blatantly obvious organization set up to deliver the world to Rupert Murdock and his fellow .1%ers.

Is she homely enough for you, Alex?

By the way, blond baby-sitter is going to be a regular character. I still would have preferred the red (raspberry) beret girl from yesterday.

And puhleaseee fix her hair, somebody? Anybody.

Back in the 1970’s, our newspaper (in Eugene, OR) ran a story about the huge numbers of people with PhD’s waiting table, and the large number of people with Master’s (in Arts or Science) who drove our buses! Underemployment was rampant in that timber-industry state (since diversified and better off).

My kid has a new PhD in molecular immunology and due to the sequester could not find a job in research and is out of the field now.