Sen. Marco Rubio doubled down on his previously debunked claim that “welders make more money than philosophers” with the The Brown-Haired Guy That Isn't Steve Doocy on this Wednesday's Fox & Friends.
November 11, 2015

Sen. Marco Rubio doubled down on his previously debunked claim that “welders make more money than philosophers” with the The Brown-Haired Guy That Isn't Steve Doocy on this Wednesday's Fox & Friends.

Here's the transcript via Media Matters:

BRIAN KILMEADE (HOST): Now I want to talk about something else -- welding. You said we need welders, that welders get paid more than philosophers. We're getting too many people with philosophy degrees. Here's your tweet. 'The Google trend, searches for welding classes are spiking 1300%.' Are you happy to be behind the welders today?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL): Well, look, it's not just welders. Machinists, airplane mechanics, car technicians, these are good paying jobs. For the life of me I don't know why we stopped teaching Americans to do that kind of work, to work with their hands. These are good paying jobs. We can be teaching kids to do that when they're 16 or 17 years of age. And there's a shortage of people. You go around the country as I do, to these manufacturing facilities, they can't find qualified workers. We should be training more young Americans to take on vocational careers, good paying jobs.

KILMEADE: Plato would have been so much more successful if he had just welded and stopped yapping about his philosophy. Senator --

RUBIO: Well, if you can find a philosopher that can weld, that's pretty good.

KILMEADE: That's great. Senator, I'm off to do some research. Senator Marco Rubio, thanks so much. The day after.

As Raw Story's Travis Gettys noted, Rubio's remarks about welders' pay were just one of many that went unchecked at last night's debate.

Here's more from Think Progress on this one: Why Marco Rubio Owes Philosophy Majors An Apology:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) set his sights on an unusual target during Tuesday night’s GOP debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin: philosophy majors.

“For the life of me, I don’t don’t know why we stigmatize vocational education,” he said in answer to how he would counter Democrats’ free or subsidized college education proposals. “Welders make more money than philosophers. We need more welders than philosophers.”

Since launching his bid for president, Rubio has repeatedly make snarky comments about the value of a philosophy degree. In speeches in March and again in August, he scoffed at the idea that any student would choose to go into debt to obtain a philosophy degree, insinuating that such a degree won’t help a graduate earn enough to pay back that debt.

Yet this is not the case, and neither is his claim about welders. According to the salary database PayScale.com, the average annual salary for graduates with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy is $97,000, while those with an associates degree in welding technology earn just $58,500. Read on...

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