Financially rewarding and you will always have a job

I mean, depending on the context, you might absolutely be the asshole

Out of the 8 cousins in my family the 2 of us that didn't go to college are the only ones who own a house. I didn't finish 10th grade and I'm looking at buying my second house and trying to figure out how to keep my current one to give to my mom.

My cousins are pretty cool (aside from a couple who are very spiteful) but my aunts and uncles act like I scammed them all for everything they had.

Your personality didn't work out, but mine did? Oh, how my dominance displays! I have no justification for my existence!

The boomer energy is strong with this one.

"I graduated high school, got a good job at the Mill, married my high school sweetheart, had five kids, bought a second house with a boat, retired at 60, went insane reading Facebook memes and watching FOX News, then decided to shoot up the Harvest Music Festival in 2017. Why can't you young people do that?"
If they were boomers then the phd one should've paid off more of that student debt
- The Boomer term has shifted to being about state of mind.
  This started after "ok, boomer" caused all these people to out themselves.

Give it 5-10 years and every college age person being funneled into the trades, then they will be oversaturated again and we will go back to overpacking STEM

My wife graduated law school in 2010, Summa Cum Laude, and just barely got a job at a low rent firm.
Five years later, she's earning twice the money at a much nicer place for not much more work, because the glut of students from '08-'10 caused grads in '11-'14 to look elsewhere. Suddenly there was a huge supply gap and you could write your own ticket.
Moral of the Story: Get good at something and stick with it. Markets go up, markets go down, but skills pay the bills in the end.
It’s almost as if the real problem is opportunity. Hmm.
- We need jobs programs

I became a homeowner recently and a bunch of people I know just reacted with absolute jealousy and negativity. People suck

People typically get paid to earn a PhD, so this person's debt likely came from elsewhere, unless they grossly overpaid for their undergraduate education.

Don't forget that loans are probably deferred through the PhD, so that's like 4+ years of accumulated interest on top.
- If they're proper student loans then interest doesn't accumulate while you're a student.
thats probably it, undergrad in a expensive college is way more likely., or if hes did a MS as well, which is tuition only as well.

Or education could be free. Just a thought.

free? people should be paid to get an education
- Not sure if it's still a thing but I knew a girl from Norway who basically went to college from age 18-30 getting like four different degrees because as long as she remained in higher education, the government would keep paying for her education + living expenses.
  Not sure if that was the original intent but it sure does result in a highly educated populace.
- From where I am anyways. You do get paid for grad school. You have to TA various things, but you get paid.
- Students benefits are pretty much that where I live
It is in first world countries, if we define first world as having good educational system, healthcare system, public transportation…
- The best universities in Brazil, the ones everyone wants to study at and the ones producing cutting edge research... Are all free, they're public universities. The private ones can't compete on most metrics.
  So yeah, maybe americans should drop the whole "first world" tag to pretend they're special and rebalance their priorities.

Probably a lot of missing context with this one

He did the plumbing for the brother's place.
Set up the toilet to pipe to the kitchen sink. "eat shit" as they say.
shrug

anti intellectual propaganda

Oh. I hadn't read it like that. I thought the brother was a hypocrite because if he has a PhD he SHOULD be able to pay his debts and get a hose (I'm not from the us so I'm guessing that part) but I stead seems to not ba able to manage his own money while criticizing OP
- College graduates (PhD or otherwise) drowning in debt and not being financially able to pay it off is common enough here in the US that it's a trope, and likely the basis for this "joke".
- Oh no PhDs here are like the worst financial choice.

I haven’t been to 9gag in forever, not sure if this is a really bad meme or a great shitpost

Ph.D. in what?

I have a lot of respect for the people that do it but I couldn't. I have two left hands and am fairly skittish when it comes to human excrement.

Then it sounds like HVAC/Refrigeration it the trade for you. It's kind of funny because we tend to get all the people who dropped other trades for various reasons. I work with ex plumbers who didn't want to deal with shit, I work with journeyman electricians who didn't want to spend 8 years becomming a master electrician, I work with ex building automation guys who got tired of trying to automate busted equipment. A lot of my coworkers started in other trades, went "This fucking sucks" and switched to HVAC-R.
It's not all just poopoo peepee stuff. A lot of plumbers do mechanical work in commercial buildings, boiler retrofits, repiping, construction. I'm in commercial HVAC and work with a bunch of plumbers whose skills and scope of work have great overlap with mine. I've also helped them out doing boiler retros/repipes. We offer similar services, subcontracting each other to our own customers, just they do more of the gas fired work and fix leaks in heating loops and I do the AC/Refrigeration stuff
- That's a pipe fitter
There’s other hand-craft trades that don’t involve sewage. If you get into the commercial space, there’s a good chance you’d deal with it a lot less if at all since they would need a specialist for biohazards.
You haven't lived the Great Australian Dream?
Where would you rather be mate?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEt0dXsxORE
Plumbing isn't exactly rocket science. And with some infra companies you don't have to deal with any nasty parts.
- Depends on what level you're at. I had a friend help us install a new septic system. Holy shit was there a lot more to it than I ever guessed. Had no idea surveying gear was required.
  At a higher level, same guy drafts plans for military bases and hospitals. Then he goes in the field to troubleshoot issues. Plumbing includes gas if applicable!
  Most of us are familiar with, if not doing the work, the principles behind fixing a leak, replacing a sink or toilet, etc. I can do all of the above, but I don't know the fine points in doing it right. There's far more to residential plumbing than most see.

Pretty sure that didn't happen

Nothing unbelievable about it imo

So why are they not helping their brother?

Their brother is a grown-ass man and should be helping himself.
- He should pull himself up by the bootstraps to proove his manly manliness?
  I love how we all agree on the general problem of capitalism but God forbid we apply it in our daily life.
You mean pay off the other brother's loan or what?