RECESSION PANIC MEGAPOST: Bad economy threads go here! Forum

[imchuckbass58]

See, this is why I got my Medicinal Chemistry PhD first. IP law dominates. The best quote I've ever heard around here:

"Cities rise and fall but IP remains."

Something to that effect. Classic.

You'd still be safer going to med school.

I'm surrounded by MDs every day who make crap after they pay their insurance premiums. There is no safe bet in this economy and anyone who can fool themselves into believing there is one - regardless of what school they get into - is an idiot. You have to make your own luck.

Not to mention doctors go to four years of med school (more debt), and spend up to 6 or 7 years as residents/fellows during which they make about $50,000 per year. It's not uncommon for doctors to be paying off loans well into their 40s.

Also while the job security is better (almost everyone gets placed in a residency program), primary care practitioners and some specialties are getting squeezed between falling insurance reimbursements and budget crises at many hospitals.

[James Bond]

Honestly, how many Law School? Think again, proceed with caution, not the best choice, etc. threads do we really need? The people who it'll effect know it already. The rest are going to go to law school anyhow. We really need a super-thread for this like politics or something and delete all the others.

I thought we already had a super-thread for this.

Thank you, well done

[CE2JD]

Markets are down in Asia. L-shaped depression, here we come!

[Matthies]

We are a society of entitled-special snow-flakes. Thanks Dr. Phill and co.

Its not Dr. Phils’ faults, its this generations parents fault. Car seats, knee pads, helmets for bikes, plastic covers on electrical sockets, locks on the canbit below the sink where all the tasty chemicals are. Back when I was a kid we had nether car seats, not seatbelts, and the dashboards of 70s station wagons were made of solid steel with lots of pointing things on which to impale yourself in an accident. It was population control, stupid kids did not survive to go to college much less law school. They stuck a fork in a light socket and we never had to deal with them.

Now they have all survived and think the worlds owes them an Ivy league law degree because they took AP classes in high school and studied for months for a standardized test. Every god damn kind born in the last 20 years is “gifted” I have yet to meet a single parent who thinks there kid is average or dull. And if he freaks out, tortures animals, plays with matches, and get bad grades in school, he’s still fucking gifted, only the schools are not “challenging” him enough so he acts out. (Suffwhite people like makes the point better than I do).

[CE2JD]

Welcome to the new normal (where we all work for Commissar Obama).

America's economy is becoming like the old eastern European countries.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1358960787&play=1

[Rsrcht]

A Law School Carol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-_wDwmO ... 98&index=0

[Eric_Arthur_Blair]

I'm surrounded by MDs every day who make crap after they pay their insurance premiums. There is no safe bet in this economy and anyone who can fool themselves into believing there is one - regardless of what school they get into - is an idiot. You have to make your own luck.

+1 One of the more solid employment-related statements on this board...

What are you talking about? Are you aware of the amount of wealth that is inherited? How many people get jobs based on connections instead of merit? Are you saying a person who goes to Harvard is somehow on even par with someone who goes to Cooley?

I also don't agree with the IP poster. I think the next 10-20 years or so will see some serious, serious changes in the way we look at IP that will make IP practice largely obsolete. It's just highly unsustainable the way it is going right now.

I would advise going into an area of law that you truly love learning about and can see yourself loving to practice, not with an eye on prize money or prestige.

I would love to practice IP law, so that is something I would love to learn about. And IP law is going to maintain its size and I'll tell you why. I hold 2 patents on novel chemical entities and their use. I've participated in filing 8 preliminary patents on other chemical entities in the last 2 years.

Every step of the way, we've needed our tech transfer office and an outside patent law firm to help with the filings. Lets just consider this, every lab in the country files before it allows anyone to view their work and that includes publication in journals. The number is only rising. Even at a time when fewer drugs are making it to market, all of the intermediate drugs - that may never work - need to be patented just in case there is another use for them.

I'm just talking about this in terms of my field.

That's cool--I think it's an interesting field as well. I thought about it when I first started thinking about law school because I wanted to be on the other side of the bench; stopping appropriation of intellectual commons, fighting against the privatization of genetics, etc...

You're right as well about it growing, and that's where I think the problem is. At a certain point quantitative turns to qualitative--whether its a law that solves a problem or just a different way of doing things. I don't think such a practice (slapping patents on any and every thing to protect possible profits) is sustainable or desirable. I could be totally wrong, though, seeing has how rational doesn't seem to be playing a large role in society these days...

[vanwinkle]

FUCK, this is soo credited. Kids these days are protected more than WWII soldiers. It's like reverse darwin. And, on top of that, these kids of all been instilled with this "worth" and drive to succeed, and so even the successful ones have no idea what they are striving for besides getting into a school that makes mommy or daddy proud and for "prestige." If only you could actually buy something with prestige...

My parents hated when I took the job I did. It was a good salaried job with benefits, I was making more money than my siblings combined, but they just kept saying I was wasting so much potential and I should be going to law school or something. It was suffocating. I stayed there mostly because they weren't proud of me for doing it, and it was good money to support myself while I figured out what I did want to do.

Finally I decided I actually wanted law school, even after they stopped wanting it for me. Now that I'm here they're back to being proud and suffocating again. God damnit.

[jdubb990]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_TjBNjc9Bo

This clip explains how bad off our National Debt is, I recommend everyone watches it. And by everyone, I don't just mean everyone on this board, I mean every American. Spread this link and video to anybody you know who is concerned with the economy.

[PrudenceNeverLied]

Relax, people. Everything is fine. The whole economy thing is a political ploy to create chaos and fear, like the moon landing and the death of Elvis. We all know that Elvis is not dead. Don't fall for it. Santa Clause still has a job. I bought booze at a liquor store last night, and the guy behind the counter had a job. Just relax before you start a war or something.

[los blancos]

We are a society of entitled-special snow-flakes. Thanks Dr. Phill and co.

Its not Dr. Phils’ faults, its this generations parents fault. Car seats, knee pads, helmets for bikes, plastic covers on electrical sockets, locks on the canbit below the sink where all the tasty chemicals are. Back when I was a kid we had nether car seats, not seatbelts, and the dashboards of 70s station wagons were made of solid steel with lots of pointing things on which to impale yourself in an accident. It was population control, stupid kids did not survive to go to college much less law school. They stuck a fork in a light socket and we never had to deal with them.

Now they have all survived and think the worlds owes them an Ivy league law degree because they took AP classes in high school and studied for months for a standardized test. Every god damn kind born in the last 20 years is “gifted” I have yet to meet a single parent who thinks there kid is average or dull. And if he freaks out, tortures animals, plays with matches, and get bad grades in school, he’s still fucking gifted, only the schools are not “challenging” him enough so he acts out. (Suffwhite people like makes the point better than I do).

Best quote I've read on this forum. Bravo.

[los blancos]

So let's say I go to a Top 10 (think MVP) and graduate at median... How much stress should I carry about getting a job ITE if I matriculate Fall 2010? I'm reading a lot of conflicting stuff.

[RVP11]

So let's say I go to a Top 10 (think MVP) and graduate at median... How much stress should I carry about getting a job ITE if I matriculate Fall 2010? I'm reading a lot of conflicting stuff.

Getting any job? I don't think you'll have too much of a problem.

Getting a BigLaw job might be dicey, though. There are still median people with BigLaw offers, but there are a ton who've given up and chosen something else for 2L summer. Just don't go to any law school without a Plan B (assuming your Plan A is the usual DOJ or major market BigLaw aspirations most of my classmates seem to have).

And keep in mind the economy could get worse/better in 2 years.

[CE2JD]

VIX @ 20 = GTFO of the stock market. We're taking a 10-15% haircut for the next few months.

[vanwinkle]

VIX @ 20 = GTFO of the stock market. We're taking a 10-15% haircut for the next few months.

VIX @ 20 only implies an anticipated change of 5% in the next month, and doesn't even tell you which direction the change will occur in. 20 implies relatively low volatility in the near future, not a large drop (or gain for that matter).

[CE2JD]

VIX @ 20 = GTFO of the stock market. We're taking a 10-15% haircut for the next few months.

VIX @ 20 only implies an anticipated change of 5% in the next month, and doesn't even tell you which direction the change will occur in. 20 implies relatively low volatility in the near future, not a large drop (or gain for that matter).

10-15% over a few months is not a large drop. It would be a very small drop. And given the runup that we've seen this year, do you really think there's a 50/50 chance the market will go up or down? REALLY?? I find it implausible that, given the credit markets (or lack thereof), the stock market will continue to rally over the next 3 months.

Historically, a very low VIX after an extended runup signals an oncoming correction (see e.g. 2007).

[rogerlodge]

See, this is why I got my Medicinal Chemistry PhD first. IP law dominates. The best quote I've ever heard around here:

"Cities rise and fall but IP remains."

Something to that effect. Classic.

You'd still be safer going to med school.

I'm surrounded by MDs every day who make crap after they pay their insurance premiums. There is no safe bet in this economy and anyone who can fool themselves into believing there is one - regardless of what school they get into - is an idiot. You have to make your own luck.

Not to mention doctors go to four years of med school (more debt), and spend up to 6 or 7 years as residents/fellows during which they make about $50,000 per year. It's not uncommon for doctors to be paying off loans well into their 40s.

Also while the job security is better (almost everyone gets placed in a residency program), primary care practitioners and some specialties are getting squeezed between falling insurance reimbursements and budget crises at many hospitals.

Pharmacy school is a pretty sure bet. Everyone I know has gotten multiple job offers even ITE. You are paid hourly so everything over 8 hours a day or 40 a week results in overtime pay and starting salaries are over 100K, but max out at about 150K. Insurance is $140 a year. Lots of different places to work: drug industry, research, hospital, retail, etc.

[Doritos]

Cheer up everyone. I am 110% sure everything is going to miraculously turn around in less than a year and all of us are going to be doing this after we graduate...



edit: I have no proof

[YCrevolution]

..

[sibley]

I want to make a ton of $$$ straight out of law school without having to sell my soul to some big and boring firm =(

[dgouzoul]

diddy and jim jones throwing money around is proof

[los blancos]

Today I don't think the world is going to end

http://nymag.com/news/businessfinance/d ... und/62878/


(But I'm going to return to thinking the world is going to end tomorrow)

[Yimbeezy]

I want to make a ton of $$$ straight out of law school without having to sell my soul to some big and boring firm =(

And I want to live on a yacht with all the Victoria Secret girls. I want the boat to be stocked with a lifetime supply of champagne, ten million Cuban cigars, ten trillion chicken nuggets, a dolphin, two ballpoint pens, and peanut butter.

[Doritos]

I want to make a ton of $$$ straight out of law school without having to sell my soul to some big and boring firm =(

And I want to live on a yacht with all the Victoria Secret girls. I want the boat to be stocked with a lifetime supply of champagne, ten million Cuban cigars, ten trillion chicken nuggets, a dolphin, two ballpoint pens, and peanut butter.

In this scenario you can have anything in the world you want and you choose chicken nuggets and peanut butter...

I like your style

[vanstone22]

I want to make a ton of $$$ straight out of law school without having to sell my soul to some big and boring firm =(

And I want to live on a yacht with all the Victoria Secret girls. I want the boat to be stocked with a lifetime supply of champagne, ten million Cuban cigars, [strike]ten trillion chicken nuggets[/strike] a built in chipotle, a dolphin, two ballpoint pens, and peanut butter.