Still more pro-corporate propaganda from 60 Minutes

[markpkessinger]

Tonight's segment on a jobs training program was nauseating. Here is the text of two comments I posted to 60 Minutes' website:

Once again, 60 Minutes does its audience a disservice with a puff piece. 60 Minutes accepted at face value the claim advanced by many Fortune 500 companies that "there are hundreds of thousands of good jobs available that companies are finding hard to fill." That there are "hundreds of thousands of good jobs" out there may well be true, but, particularly in the technology sector, the reason corporations are having a hard time filling them is not because of any shortage of "qualified candidates." There are hundreds of thousands of middle-aged, experienced workers, whose experience corporations have decided they no longer want to pay for. These workers are more than capable of learning any new skills their former employers might require. The training program discussed in the segment is certainly commendable on many levels, but we shouldn't be so naive as to think that corporations such as JP Morgan Chase are embracing these programs out of any great sense of social responsibility; rather, programs such as this provide a means for corporations to acquire highly skilled labor on the cheap. And they provide corporations with a measure of cover, diverting attention from the fact that hundreds of thousands of loyal, experienced, middle-aged workers are being brutally cast aside at a time when they have very little hope of even landing another job, let alone a job that pays anywhere near what they were previously earning.

and a follow-up:

Note also that the average starting salary for these trainees is $30K/year -- a salary that will barely support a single adult in any major metropolitan area in this country.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jobs-program-aids-fortune-500-underprivileged-youth/

[blkmusclmachine]

1. 60 Minutes is garbage for your brain. Garbage in, garbage out. Just like FN. All IMHO.

[markpkessinger]

2. Quite so! n/t

[yeoman6987]

8. To be fair

They did have jobs for 50K to start if you were into computers. 30K to start is not horrible. Teachers make that in a lot of areas. They are just trying to do SOMETHING to help. I didn't see this segment as a negative. I guess because it was big businesses hiring these guys I can see your point.

[markpkessinger]

10. But the corporate clients they are talking about are Fortune 500 . . ,

. . . which are mostly located in major metropolitan areas where, frankly, $30K is pretty horrible.

[yeoman6987]

11. Oh yeah

Oh gosh, I did forget the major metropolitan part….gosh I am so glad I am on this site to REALLY get the full picture of the stories I hear. I shutter to remember the incredible ignorance I had before joining DU. I was always progressive, but sometimes didn't understand the stories I was hearing or wasn't paying attention enough or correctly. Joining and having you guys help really explain things has been incredibly great. Thank you and everyone!!!!

[blackspade]

3. 60 minutes is plumetting to the bottom of the news barrel....

faster than the Titanic on it's way to the sea floor.

[IDemo]

4. With Jamie Dimon portraying an expert human resources professional

[FarCenter]

5. They appear to sort through a lot of applicants, and then wash out 25% of trainees

Looks like a good program, but any claims about its scaleability are bogus.

[jimlup]

6. I heard a small segment while driving home from work ...

And recognized it as a propaganda piece about training people to become non-questioning servants of the powerful. Yes it was nausiating.

CBS is proud though. They have done their service to the corporate elite.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. But the interview with Sen. Deeds was spot on.

It put light on the issue of getting help for people with mental illness, and the difficulty people have getting that help. Lack of resources and no effort to make it easier.

[Cha]

9. They're on an ugly ugly

roll!

[tofuandbeer]

12. Is that show still on?

[Enthusiast]

13. I refuse to watch CBS.