👏👏👏the truth hurt 😖so sad it’s the truth I’m a union carpenter my kids school says I’m below the poverty level . Live better work union my ass . my union is so corrupt our president is in jail and no one cares to know why

Live in North Texas employed in the real estate industry’s northern subur*bs: Plano, Frisco, Prosper, McKinney, Allen & Celina TX. This is one of the “hottest” new home building markets in America! Why? JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! Born in Dallas, TX. & never left Big D! Have been in real estate since 1973, it is not ROCKET SCIENCE in Texas to figure out, why it has employment tradesmen shortage issues. During the PANDEMIC many, many workers went back to Mexico, Republicans(the DO NOTHING ABOUT IMMIGRATION PARTY) made it a permanent issue – sheer foolishness! These undocumented immigrants just want to work & return to Mexico & other countries to help their families financially but are forced to “hide in the shadows” fearing deportation – nonsense! I am a Hispanic a born here LEGAL CITIZEN but the THE PREVIOUS PRESIDENT caused me so much concern for my safety(fear of being illegally deported) began carrying my PASSPORT as proof CITIZENSHIP! MADNESS! If all these tradesmen decided to leave the states the price of housing would DOUBLE OVER NIGHT here in Texas! Let’s be SMARTER & begin work on an intelligent fair immigration policy & stop bussing them to NYC from Texas & Florida! America is better than this???? USA passed a BILLION $$$$ bill to provide “seed money” to get “chips” manufactured once again in America, we can work on this immigration issue & make it work! Otherwise one day, a day of reckoning will crash the housing industry & the cost of homes will be unaffordable for the majority of Americans except for the wealthy! Inflation rates will skyrocket!

Construction workers are underpaid, by a lot. A typical tradesman has the education equivalent of a BS degree with many beyond that with equivalents of MS and even PHD degrees. They work in abysmal conditions with high safety risk and high personal expenses for worn clothing, tools, vehicles and more. Still, they are paid less, oftentimes far less than a teacher who has less education, better working conditions, a vastly safer work environment and has a 1200 hour work-year while a construction worker has a 2000 hour work year, if s/he remains fully employed.

Retirement plans for construction workers are horrid, at least compared to other workers. A teacher can retire young thanks to government retirement plans that allow it. That same government punishes construction workers if they dare to draw from their retirement fund(s) early.

Maybe someday will be the time to become a construction worker, that day is not today.

Thom Wright, AA marketing, BA economics, MBA finance, former public school teacher, retired builder.