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White House Under Pressure to Pay Its Interns

Uh, yeah. The emphasis on unpaid internships have essentially just resulted in not paying people to do actual jobs. Internships are legally mandated to resemble apprenticeships, being aimed at educating and training the intern, not merely benefiting the employer. If your interns are essentially just doing work like anyone else on the job, they must be paid. Unpaid internships are one more reason why my generation is poorer than our parents. We're expected to work for free for years before earning any money, all while accumulating debt, and to be grateful for the opportunity.

The white house should definitely be paying its employees, rather than exploiting this trend for unpaid labor.
 
Uh, yeah. The emphasis on unpaid internships have essentially just resulted in not paying people to do actual jobs. Internships are legally mandated to resemble apprenticeships, being aimed at educating and training the intern, not merely benefiting the employer. If your interns are essentially just doing work like anyone else on the job, they must be paid. Unpaid internships are one more reason why my generation is poorer than our parents. We're expected to work for free for years before earning any money, all while accumulating debt, and to be grateful for the opportunity.

The white house should definitely be paying its employees, rather than exploiting this trend for unpaid labor.

Obama's White House Internships are comparable to indentured servitude or picking cotton during the first half of the 19th Century.
 
Obama's White House Internships are comparable to indentured servitude or picking cotton during the first half of the 19th Century.

Yes, but having on your resume that you did an internship at the White House might carry more weight than if you were an intern at a small company in the Midwest. Truth be known, you'd probably learn more business sense at that small company, but that's a different subject! :lamo:

Good evening, Apacherat. :2wave:
 
They should stop taking such jobs then. However, the compelling argument is that, being unpaid full time labor, only those from wealthy backgrounds can realistically access those career starters. Making them paid would give others a chance.
 
Yes, but having on your resume that you did an internship at the White House might carry more weight than if you were an intern at a small company in the Midwest. Truth be known, you'd probably learn more business sense at that small company, but that's a different subject! :lamo:

Good evening, Apacherat. :2wave:

Hi Polgara :2wave:

There are many of the nation's top lawyers who interned for Supreme Court Justices and some of the top law firms in the country. Fox News has a summer internship every summer for those who want to get into the business. I think just about every radio station has an internship program. So I have no problem with internship programs that are designed for high school and college students. It's part of their education.

Being an intern at the White House may look good on one's resume but having on your resume that you interned for the Obama White House could keep you in the unemployment line for life. The Obama White House is the most incompetent administration in America's history. All are second rate, very few had any experience in the private sector and probably couldn't hold down a real job in the private sector.

If your goal in life is working at your local welfare office, then being an intern at the Obama White House might look good on your resume.
 
Obama's White House Internships are comparable to indentured servitude or picking cotton during the first half of the 19th Century.

Now that you completed that highly qualified sentence, now complete this one...

"While Bush White House Internships are comparable to..."​
 
Hi Polgara :2wave:

There are many of the nation's top lawyers who interned for Supreme Court Justices and some of the top law firms in the country. Fox News has a summer internship every summer for those who want to get into the business. I think just about every radio station has an internship program. So I have no problem with internship programs that are designed for high school and college students. It's part of their education.

Being an intern at the White House may look good on one's resume but having on your resume that you interned for the Obama White House could keep you in the unemployment line for life. The Obama White House is the most incompetent administration in America's history. All are second rate, very few had any experience in the private sector and probably couldn't hold down a real job in the private sector.

If your goal in life is working at your local welfare office, then being an intern at the Obama White House might look good on your resume.

:agreed: Especially with this administration's apparent opinion on business, with the possible exception of "too big to fail" banks! A potential employer might be concerned that you may have learned some bad habits! :mrgreen:
 
Now that you completed that highly qualified sentence, now complete this one...

"While Bush White House Internships are comparable to..."​

Seems to me everyone who worked or interned at the Bush White House are doing very well in the private sector.

I doubt that will be true with those working in Obama's White House. The vast majority will go back living off the tax payers. There are still a whole lot of ACORN splinter groups out there.
 
I think if you have someone working for you, you should pay them.

I think you can pay interns less than fully veted employees, but you should pay them nonetheless.

unpaid interns are stupid... and exploited.
 
Seems to me everyone who worked or interned at the Bush White House are doing very well in the private sector.

I doubt that will be true with those working in Obama's White House. The vast majority will go back living off the tax payers. There are still a whole lot of ACORN splinter groups out there.

Just as I thought. You'd opt for HUGE dodge instead... You may now continue with your referring the black president's interns as slaves. Stay classy! :peace
 

Good. It's about damned time. Let the White House set the example. Unpaid internships exploit students under the guise of "Hey!!! It's the best experience money can't buy." Unpaid internships favor the wealthy, hold interns hostage with the hope-and-prayer they'll get a job out of it, and are basically unpaid staff for those companies/governmental agencies for which they slave.

Time to outlaw 'em.
 
They should stop taking such jobs then. However, the compelling argument is that, being unpaid full time labor, only those from wealthy backgrounds can realistically access those career starters. Making them paid would give others a chance.

You don't necessary have to be from a wealthy family but it sure helps getting an allowance from Mom and Pop while making coffee, sharpening pencils and emptying out the waste bucket.

Internships are designed for high school and college kids.

Some internships like at television stations and radio stations are more like "go for" (gopher) positions. Wannabe news anchors, camermen, program directors and DJ's. That's how many DJ's, program directors and those in the television and news industry got their start. It's a foot in the door.
 
Just as I thought. You'd opt for HUGE dodge instead... You may now continue with your referring the black president's interns as slaves. Stay classy! :peace

I'm curious if those interns are of color ?

You are aware that the Obama White House staff are the highest paid of any other administration in history even though they are the least productive and incompetent than any other administration.
If the Obama White House staff were to be paid by incentive type of wages or salary, they would make more money being on welfare.
 
Good. It's about damned time. Let the White House set the example. Unpaid internships exploit students under the guise of "Hey!!! It's the best experience money can't buy." Unpaid internships favor the wealthy, hold interns hostage with the hope-and-prayer they'll get a job out of it, and are basically unpaid staff for those companies/governmental agencies for which they slave.

Time to outlaw 'em.

We gotta stop blowing loopholes into laws and just apply the damn laws. I think of this intern bull**** as well as paying wait-staff WAAYYYYY below minimum wage as egregious loopholes. I can't believe that "oh but they get tips to offset the below minimum wage" as somehow legal. A tip is simply put, a transaction between two people who are NOT the employer. So the employer should not have any say or benefit off of that transaction. Also, tax exempt status. Knock that loophole off. So many exceptions to laws that we can't possibly be a nation of laws anymore.
 
You don't necessary have to be from a wealthy family but it sure helps getting an allowance from Mom and Pop while making coffee, sharpening pencils and emptying out the waste bucket.

That's not what they do. They're unpaid labor. The same people that will argue for unpaid internships will clamor for $15/hour for a completely inexperienced kid who's probably still picking his nose at McDonald's.
 
I'm curious if those interns are of color ?

You are aware that the Obama White House staff are the highest paid of any other administration in history even though they are the least productive and incompetent than any other administration.
If the Obama White House staff were to be paid by incentive type of wages or salary, they would make more money being on welfare.

Wtf does any of that unsourced BS have to do with anything being discussed in this thread or this forum whatsoever? Other than you wanting to post how much you hate Obama I mean?
 
Why can't unpaid interns give White House tours?
 
That's not what they do. They're unpaid labor. The same people that will argue for unpaid internships will clamor for $15/hour for a completely inexperienced kid who's probably still picking his nose at McDonald's.

Isn't picking your nose at McDonalds a health code violation ?

They no longer enforce those codes any longer anyways.
 
Those tour guides are probably unionized.

Every time I took it it was done by a female Secret Service agent I think.

I have no problem with unpaid internships in government and non-profits. If it takes years to bounce into a paying job off a government internship, you are probably doing something wrong. It is a good way to get whippersnappers involved public service (just so long as they aren't zippersnappers too)
 
Wtf does any of that unsourced BS have to do with anything being discussed in this thread or this forum whatsoever? Other than you wanting to post how much you hate Obama I mean?

I just took it for granted you were well informed. I didn't notice that you identified yourself as a liberal. If I knew you were a lib before I posted it, I would have provided a link to a reliable source. Well, chalk it up as "How Obama got elected and how he was given a second chance by being reelected."

>"First rule of Obama transparency: If it’s a holiday, it’s time for a White House document dump. Over the Independence Day weekend, the administration released its 2011 annual report to Congress on White House staff salaries. < 2011 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff | The White House > While economic data for the rest of America remains bleak, the financial outlook for Obama flacks looks rosier than the president’s complexion after his latest round of golf.

In total, President Obama’s 454 employees at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. will rake in $37 million. That’s up $4 million from the income of George W. Bush’s staff in 2008, back when the unemployment rate was three points lower, the federal government workforce was 12 percent smaller and the massive deficit was still measured in hundreds of billions, not trillions. One in three of Obama’s employees makes more than $100,000 a year.

Of particular interest to me are the high-paid Obama aides assigned to the apparently vital task of “engagement” — that is, politicking, pandering and partisan cajoling — on the taxpayers’ dime.

I found at least 17 staffers listed in the report with titles referencing the “Office of Public Engagement” (OPE) or “online engagement” (otherwise known as liberal blog hand-holding and crisis management). These “engagers” are among the top earners in the White House. Fourteen of the 17 earn $50,000 or more. Chicago crony Valerie Jarrett, the White House senior adviser who oversees OPE, receives a salary of $172,200 a year. Michael Strautmanis, deputy assistant to the president and counselor to the senior adviser for strategic engagement, earns $150,000. Nathanael Tamarin, a special assistant to the president for public engagement, makes $96,900 a year."< Michelle Malkin | All the President’s High-Paid “Engagers” «
 
Were there any intern when Bush was in office ....and were they paid?

I don't understand ...is Obama the first President not to pay interns?

Can anybody help me understand this?
 
Were there any intern when Bush was in office ....and were they paid?

I don't understand ...is Obama the first President not to pay interns?

Can anybody help me understand this?

who the President is, and what party he belongs to, is irrelevant to the issue.
 
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