Ok, I was talking with a good friend the other day who is in his first year of med school. I asked how it was going, and he explained how busy he was, and how long he has yet to go. I told him it would pay off, and he proceeded to tell me that doctors are not paid what they used to. We found it odd looking back at our college buddies some of whom dropped out of college to party more, others who got generic worthless degrees, all are very successful now. I can think of at least 6 friends who are making over 150k right now, and have been for the past few years. A few doing real-estate, one bought a franchise through the 60k+ he earned each summer doing sales. One selling medical supplies, etc, etc, etc.
So with the time value of money, and invested properly, they can retire early. Sure my buddy in med school will be doing great in 7 or 8 years, but during that time he is missing out and working extremely hard and will have 200k+ of student loans.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with working hard, but today’s economy seems to favor the less educated sales type.
A bit frustrating when the economy favors those with no responsibility for peoples lives. And those who have a minimal contribution to society.
Any thoughts?

Don't feel too sorry for your doctor buddy. He'll do just fine financially.

Less-educated people who succeed usually have something else going for them...Higher education is still the way to go, in my book.

Yeah it's frustrating looking at it that way. But I don't remember when I was 5 talking about wanting to sell houses or medical supplies when I grew up. I doubt many of those people did either. I wanted to fly planes. We do what we want, and enjoy it (hopefully for the most part). Maybe that's a bit too optimistic of a view; I'm still a cfi and have yet to delve into the glamorous regional pilot lifestyle.

And yes, I do think that pilots should be paid more, given the responsibility. But I don't think I'm breaking any new ground with that thought...

This is something I've been saying for a while. I'm working on a BS in Meteorology. It is a VERY VERY DIFFICULT field. Very complex science that involves alot of complex math and confusing principals. With just an undergrad degree I'm looking at a starting salary of anywhere from $20K to $35K depending on who it's with an what city it's in. And that's if you can get a job with just a BS. Science fields really require at least an MS to make decent money. In science and even some engineering fields you'll see people with their MS and even PhD making about as much as semi-senior RJ captains. In contrast people with generic degrees will be making alot more. It actually ****es me off seeing as how science/engineering/medical fields are far more difficult.

Entrepreneurship is the rarest, and least tanglible, form of human capital. It's also the form most conducive to generating wealth. Either you have it or you don't, and those who don't barely understand what it is. We have to resort to the path of higher education to become successful.

Kind of strange how those who contribute the most to society, and have the most complex jobs are now being paid much less.

In a capitalist system, we're paid based on our ability to generate wealth, not on an arbitrary hierarchy of what jobs are most important.

Very true, Looks like the jobs that used to generate the most wealth are fast becoming those that produce the least. Those jobs just happen to be the jobs that contribute the most to society. What direction are we heading?

Well good news, your buying power with paultry regional wages is about to take a nose dive. With the increase in minimim wage the extra dumb and extra useless will be gaining buying power which will in turn cause inflation. Since our jobs will not be compensating for this, anyone working above minimum wage just got a kick in the balls.

This is all true. I know that a lot of us may just sit here and play monday morning quarterback, but if you think about it, the jobs that shape our society should be the ones that pay the most right? Well in a perfect world yes. But thats not the case. You would think that someone who is responsible for getting in a metal capsule full of 50 people, taking it up to 30,000 feet, and traveling through the air at blazing speeds to another destination somewhere on the other side of the country would get paid a little more than the same salary that the local junior college drop out could make at a fast food chain. The jobs that really shape our society teachers, police officers, fireman, aren't ever going to make the money that they really deserve. KZ1000Shaft said it perfectly. Its a kick in the balls.