Your churchmate is very lucky to have a generous friend like that. What happens to people who don't have family or friends to whom they can turn? I'm sure this guy would either be homeless, turned to crime, or a suicide statistic without the generousity of this friend.
They will make up for the poor wages by robbing him blind. I can see tools, plumbing fixtures, copper pipe, etc. going out the back door into some crook's van.
Like income makes a difference. 1/2 my FIL's tools have LTV inscribed on them, same with my grandpa. Before LTV went belly up, he always was sneaking crap out of the mill for his projects at home. He new the union would allow him to keep his job. Or what about the Walmart executive a few years back that was fired for embezzlement over a gift card scam? This crap happens at all levels.
My wife fires people on a regular occasion for stealing product and/or fudging time sheets and these are people making $130k/yr with a 40 hr work week plus they get paid time and a 1/2 for o/t over 40hrs. AND SOME STILL STEAL PRODUCT AND/OR TIME.
A clerk position at a retail store is not a $10/hr job for a new hire. These have always been near minimum wage level positions whether union or non-union. If you want to make a decent living in retail you have to work hard and get promoted to better positions. I know some on this board consider trying to move up [non-permissible content removed] kissing, but standing out as a worthwhile employee can pay off.
My wife started with her current employer at minimum wage while in HS in '89 as a cashier. She stayed with them through HS. She was promoted to Pharmacy tech when we was a senior. They liked how she performed and helped pay for her Pharmacy degree. She is now in a regional manager position earning over 4x UAW wages. Some may think she should earn 1/2 her current salary so a cashier who 1/2 the time can't properly count change can earn twice their current rate and twice quite frankly what the job is worth, but tell me, where is the incentive to improve yourself?
the dance instructor no longer teaches because no one will pay...if the dance teacher has a $2000 monthly mortgage payment and applies for the hardware job, is that any reason why the hardware job should pay more???...no...the dance instructor, for that job, becomes simple unskilled labor, barely worth minimum wage...
An unemployed dance instructor will most likely become a stripper or prostitute where she will make WAY MORE than that cheapskate hardware owner will give here. Chances are, Mr. Cheapskate hardware store owner will become one of her clients as such a tightwad isn't going to attract a girlfriend or wife.
I have a 401k where they pay me 0.2% interest on an amount about equal to my 1st ever home mortgage. I get $7 a month minus $3.33 in fees. I used to pay $531 a month in interest to borrow that much money in the early Reagan years.
I'm down less than 10% from the current downturn because I moved my money in Jan 2008 into safe havens based on a 7% DOW drop in 3 weeks following xmas of 2007. I will suffer the low returns that temporarily make my fees seem high. There will be better days ahead.
Another possible scenario is that the "greedy" hardware store owner is up to his armits in debt, upside down on his mortgage, leveraged to the hilt, and has creditors banging down his door 24/7. So minimum wage might be all he can afford to pay for this position. He might not be as well off as he appears.
I think many don't have a clue how tough it can be to be in business for oneself and they think anyone who owns their own business is filthy rich capitalist pig.
The person who owns the hardware store probably is getting under cut by Lowes, HD, and the likes of Walmart, while his business line of credit has been cut in half, so he has to put up more cash for inventory and meeting business expenses.
Those on here saying he's taking advantage of the employee by paying minimum wage are probably the same people who would complain his prices are to high while taking their business to Walmart if he raised them so he could pay the clerk $10/hr!
I'll say it's reasonable only if those crony capitalist "entrepreneurs" are willing to do the work themselves under sweatshop conditions for meager wages. If you can hack it yourself, then you can set that standard! Chances are the flabby, pampered, soft-living, gout-ridden slob will drop dead in a few hours under the same conditions under which he subjects his employees!
If the Taxpayers only had a Brain and were able to ADD GM employees (or did) 400,000 Tax payers that for over 100 years built millions of cars that were Taxed by the Government hundreds of times on sales as well as rentals that if not for GM the safety rails wouldn't be and the cites that employees worked for GM built schools and Hospitals too for their kids to attend. and universities the GM employees sent their kids (black and white) too isn't it enough that the farmers sold to the GM workers that bought their produce? The kids that became Lawyers and Doctors because their education came from GM mothers and fathers. This is SICK when you think of the ingrates that have been given everything and not earned a dime ,to sit back and whine like a dog lapping up vomit ! to take a stand on the TAX payers that don't pay what the employees have over the years of giving to America
Those on here saying he's taking advantage of the employee by paying minimum wage are probably the same people who would complain his prices are to high while taking their business to Walmart if he raised them so he could pay the clerk $10/hr!
Competing against the likes of Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart is MUCH tougher than GM competing against the imports. I was just letting Rocky & Lemko babble as they seem clueless about being in business for themselves. I personally try to support our little hardware store as it saves me 10 miles each way to Lowes and Home Depot. I would doubt seriously if the owner has ever made as much for himself as the average UAW worker. You could not give me a business in CA as the headaches are not worth the low return on investment.
Bush made it illegal to get our drugs from Canadian sources. I had hope Osama would switch that back as part of the change, but that ain't going to happen.
I don't think it will matter who we put in there because the people in the New World Order are calling the shots. The only viable way out is voting in a 3rd party but the sheeple have been dumbed down to never allow a 3rd party. :sick:
Healthcare costs are hidden taxes in part. In Ohio the Governor promised no taxes so he's raised 130-150 fees. Who says men of the cloth don't lie. He's a reverend and ran heavily on that as support of his honesty despite his party affiliation. So much for the Bible. He has $400 million + in new fees for hospitals proposed. That's a tax on the users--including me and mine. That won't lower healthcare costs.
imidazol97, that is freaken crazy!!!
Reagan was right: government is the problem.
Yep his government was filled to the gill with lobbiest and special interest groups. That is the problem pal. The people haven't been represented in decades. It doesn't matter if you are a democrat or republican you are screwed unless you are in that top 1% :sick:
In Ohio the Governor promised no taxes so he's raised 130-150 fees.
Hell, how could they possibly raise taxes much more!!! I lived in Ohio from '99-'03 and the state income tax at state and local level on top of high sales tax rates were insane. I just loved the fact that we lived in Summit Co., my wife's office as in Cleveland. She might have actually been at her office once a week, and those crooks in Cleveland had a 2% income tax on top of the state income tax. What a crock.
Here in Illinois it isn't much better. Insanely high property taxes and the crooks in Springfield are talking about a 50% hike in state income taxes. This is getting way out of hand.
Of course it's not. But it's the whining by the UAW that $67/month for health care is somehow outrageous that's the issue.
No one said they were whining. I do think it's ridiculous how they went decades with zero cost for this benefit because employers paid reasonable rates for insurance to the point that we see people in the healthcare and insurance industry making record profits and the working class are obligated to pay a huge chunk like yourself for healthcare costs.
That means someone else - the employer, taxpayers - is paying the bulk of the cost for those gold plated benefits.
Vent your anger at the system.
This is the point that has been made hundreds of times in this forum - that the UAW and it's workers have been divorced from the realities faced by most people in this country for such a long time, and that their sense of entitlement just plain wears on others.
Well unions are tired of being the lone voice fighting the greed. If you and millions of others would form a group and march in DC then maybe the crooked politicans would go oh [non-permissible content removed] we have a problem. The sheeple are fed up with our greed and we can no longer dumb them down with cheap trinkets from China.
>his government was filled to the gill with lobbiest and special interest groups.
And what do you think is in there now? Same thing despite all the campaigning of no lobbyists, etc., etc., etc. That's why he's now running scared of the TEA parties. Today after 4 trillion dollars spent by him and Pelosi, he has the nerve to come out and say that one department (Homeland Security) could save $52 million dollars in FIVE years by buying office supplies in bulk. Gimme a break. Another department would save a few million over FIFTEEN years.
And the news at 6 will have all kinds of breathless coverage of how BO is saving us money. :sick:
TEA parties and liberals trying to minimize them: the local ultra lib editor of the paper posted this column. Read the responses...
The day of he posted this in the blog which usually has editorials and off eds. Notice the 180 responses are deleted now. They jumped right on him. I suspect they added lots of new blog topics quickly to get the original blog off the front page of the blogs.
Here in Illinois it isn't much better. Insanely high property taxes and the crooks in Springfield are talking about a 50% hike in state income taxes. This is getting way out of hand.
CA has to be close behind. Hawaii is looking better all the time. NO income tax on defined pension income. Sales tax which they call general excise tax is 4% on everything. Shop at the farmers market and no one charges tax on your fruits and veggies. Eat very healthy for little cash. Property tax is reasonable. Mine is under $700 per year for house a cottage and 2 acres of flowers under shade.
The best part is NO UAW to run the price of everything sky high.. Let the Midwest suffer as a result of over paying unskilled labor.
The point is Norways income gaps aren't what you thought nor is there tax rate. They have a better standard of living then we do. I know my relatives certainly do
I sent my tea bag to BO and have not even received a thank you card. No class at all. I did not expect an iPod or DVDs. A nice little note saying we are watching you would do.
This guy is worshipped by many. He is the father of the modern liberatarian movement.
Abe had it right. You go out and work hard and you reap the fruits of your labor. If memory serves me right Abe spent his days splitting wood for fence posts and his evenings studying by candle light. His statement in NO WAY says that you are entitled to a high paying job. It says to get off you butt and work hard and you will make money. You have got your thoughts so corrupted by the UAW think, you cannot see that the over paid jobs for unskilled workers, are no longer available.
As I told you before the New World Order has one. It's a race to the bottom now. :sick:
That means if you got to work hard digging ditches for $6 per hour to put food on your table, so be it. You want to emulate Abe, get out and work like he did. He would roll over in his grave knowing how lazy the American people have gotten.
He would roll over in his grave if he knew how his party was today filled with corporate lobbiest from foreign nations and that they don't have the best interest of the country and people he loved at hand. I did one of my class projects on Lincoln.
I would gladly patronize the small hardware store if his merchandise is of superior quality to the crap at Lowe's or Home Depot and he's an all-around decent guy who's fair to his customers and employees. However, if it's the same garbage at premium prices and he treats his employees and customers with disdain, he deserves to starve like a diseased dog.
Rocky, I would like to go to Norway with you just to meet some of those drop-dead gorgeous Scandinavian women!!! Are they truly that beautiful or is it a myth?
The point is Norways income gaps aren't what you thought nor is there tax rate. They have a better standard of living then we do. I know my relatives certainly do
Jesus, they have a VAT (Value Added Tax) ranging from 12-25% and duties of up to 8%. Plus a wealth tax. Even food is taxed at 12%. So not only are items more expensive there, the taxes levied on those items are huge. No thanks, you can have it.
Basing the whole county based on your relatives is hardly objective evidence. I don't know anyone from Norway, but I had a neighbor that was from Sweden. He moved here while in HS with his dad. All he told me was he'd like to go back (most of his family is there), but he said it would be much harder to maintain his standard of living there due to the cost of living. Instead he visited there once a year to see everyone. Maybe he was full of it. I don't know.
".....That means if you got to work hard digging ditches for $6 per hour to put food on your table, so be it. You want to emulate Abe, get out and work like he did. He would roll over in his grave knowing how lazy the American people have gotten."
I'd also believe that, if he considered what the cost of living is like in America today, he'd be rolling in his grave at the thought of paying a ditch digger a "slave wage" to do that job. Now, that's not to say he'd be thrilled at $30/hr for the same job, but if you said $10-15 (depending where you live) that's more like it.
That may be sadly so. I am a Duncan Hunter Republican. Which is one of the few things Rocky and I agree upon.
Yep it is!!!
I would not treat illegals quite as violently as Rocky. I do think we need to ship illegals back.
I wouldn't treat them violently. It would be there choice to walk across my border of landmines and razor wire.
If they come across a second time pay Sheriff Joe Arpaio to look after them in one of his tent prisons.
Under my border rule they wouldn't make it here a 2nd time unless they can survive land mines, razor wire and radiation poisoning. If they can live through that I would grant them citizenship.
I don't believe they should be given automatic citizenship for being born here. And I do not believe we should be obliged to give them medical care or any other public assistance. Such as Obama's aunt living illegally on welfare in Boston for the last 5 years. People coming here legally and 3 years later collecting SS is also wrong. It is more of a Democrat thing to avoid the issues, as they are the ones expecting to get the votes. It will bring down the standard of living for many in the lesser skilled fields.
I agree with that but remember many in your party want amnesty also. :sick:
Yeah, higher education costs are one of those things that's really gotten out of hand. I remember my first semester at the U of MD College Park was around $900, plus books. That was fall of 1988. My last semester, May 1993, it was around $1500. That's a 66% jump just in 5 years, and we thought it was bad at the time! But I just checked their webpage, and tuition is around $4,000 per semester now!
Glad we agree it had gotten out of hand.
What the hell was your Ex studying for, to run up a $50K loan?!
Criminal Justice at Western Michigan University and I miss spoke and it was $45K
I did not say it was built on solid economics. How was the housing bubble any different than the Dot.com bubble? my 401K lost more in the 1998 crash than the 2008 crash. I did not agree with the lending and the consequences caused by giving every tom, dick and harry a long with no stated income. We could argue who was behind it all day, and probably not agree.
I don't think we would disagree to be quite honest because based on the campaign contributions both democrats and republicans received money from the banks and insurance industry to make a short-term profit with ridiculous risks at the sacrifice of long-term growth using good judgment. Now the banks aren't loaning money even to people who should get them.
If you are a history buff you should know the good and the bad about FDR. Most Democrats are blind to his mistakes. I think our friend fintail could more eloquently clue you in.
FDR made mistakes but he was dealing with a crisis this nation never faced before. He had to do something. The public demanded action kind of like they are now. I don't agree with everything Obama is doing policy wise. I think I've made that pretty clear. However McSame, would of more/less handled the situation the same way. He agreed we needed to bail out the banks remember???/
I am afraid we will both be unhappy with the amnesty bill that will go through this year. It is all about votes. That is all politics amount to anymore. There is NO MORALITY IN WASHINGTON DC. You think ACORN is OK. They were signing up illegals by the truck load in the South West. I would bet those indictments will all fade into the woodwork. They are due to get a couple Billion of your Stimulus money. I say yours because I will not be around to pay it back.
I don't like ACORN. They are fraud. The democrats want the votes and the republicans want the cheap labor for there business buddies. That is the simplest way I can boil it down in a few sentences. :sick:
.(go get a Job because the Government is taking on staff to cover this disgrace)
Good luck finding one if you are unemployed. I've been looking since the beginning of the month. I and my ex are unemployed. She has a CJ degree and can't find one that pays more than unemployment. I'm going tomorrow to a job fair at a RV place selling RV's. That is how bad it's gotten around here. Next year can't come fast enough when there will be some decent respectable jobs created that I can apply for. :sick:
Medicare, which last time I checked, was a program administered by the Federal Government. Medicare costs those of US on SS at least $126 per month. Some SS retirees are paying $275 or more per month. I repeat the gold plated plan for UAW retirees is unsustainable. No wonder they don't want on Medicare. It will cost them a lot more than they are paying now. Sometimes the entitlement mentality is beyond all belief.
Medicare needs to be overhauled and a real national healthcare plan instituted. People can then buy supplemental insurance which probably won't be very exspensive to further help cover costs. That is the direction we need to go. The biggest cost right now for employers is healthcare costs. Small business in a universal system with thrive. Big corporations will have the capital to invest in R&D like battery technology to create even more jobs. That is why I'm a huge national healthcare advocate because I think it will create and save jobs.
Well why did Reagan, added more debt to the deficit than any other president if he was such a social conservative. I worked at one of the biggest cash cow facilities called Pantex. You might remember his "Star Wars" program????
Now, that's not to say he'd be thrilled at $30/hr for the same job, but if you said $10-15 (depending where you live) that's more like it.
I am really only familiar with CA, AK & HI wages. All can be high cost places to live. I know my son was getting $12 per hour as a cook in a decent restaurant till they went out of business. During the summer he gets $15 in construction. I would consider him semi skilled in the building trades. Hawaii it is cheaper for labor as there are a lot of people living there because the just love the place. Not many jobs under $8 per hour and not many over $15 per hour. CA the legals and illegals that hang out at Home Depot charge $100 per day plus a hot meal. Some are highly skilled some are not. It is a real crap shoot. A very skilled carpenter is lucky to get $22 per hour in San Diego. I know that because I have several friends in Construction. Now it is hard to get more than about $18 with the excess of workers going after every job.
That is what I have to base my opinions on. I know it is not as expensive to live in Michigan as the aforementioned states. So to tell me that $15 per hour is poverty makes me laugh. Would I like working for $15 per hour. No, but I would to feed my family and work two jobs if necessary.
PS My wife's nephew that was laid off from 3 jobs last year in Ohio never got to $20 per hour. He has both his AP & PP license and was maintaining jet engines for a now defunct airline in Columbus. I dare say that has a much higher skill level than an auto plant worker and a heck of a lot higher responsibility. He moved his family back to San Diego and had 3 job offers the first week. I have not asked how much he makes working on CH73 helicopters for the Marines.
Yeah, I saw it. It's like anything else, their are good plans out there and bad ones. The 401(K) is only one piece of the puzzle. It was never intended to be main source of retirement funding, but a tool to supplement other retirement vehicles such as SS, pensions, IRAs, and other savings.
I agree it was a vehicle but now employers are making it a primary vehicle for retirement and my former employers encouraged everyone to stick money in it because you will be a millionaire at retirement. They had graphs to "prove" to us how much money we were all going to make based on "history" something I was more than skeptical of at the time because I knew this day was coming. I like to think of myself a little smarter than your average person. I knew Ross Perot was going to be right. The UAW knew he was going to be right regarding NAFTA as did all the other unions. Now the sheeple instead of voting for people who would change it like Duncan Hunter and Dennis Kucinich well instead they get caught up in the media hype and vote for free-marketeer capitalist like Obama and McSame. :sick:
It's not different than pension plans and SS as far as who has their hands in the til. If you think Pension funds aren't paying such fees, think again. You have to save your own money, PERIOD!!. Because putting 100% trust into one of the following: 401k, pension (if you have one), and SS is a recipe for a poor retirement. You talk as if a defined benefit plan is the only way to a secure retirement and that is 100% false thinking. I know very few people that have a pension that provides enough monthly income alone. Most retirees I know still have to rely on personal savings. Hell, I know several people who's pensions were turned over to the PBGC meaning a 50% cut in monthly benefits for some. Not having personal savings to fall back on could mean eating dog food.
I respectfully disagree. The GM pension fund has enough money to cover all current retirees for the next 50-60 years. At one time there was enough money to cover them all for the next 80 years but it lost some wealth during the crash. If they invest this large pot of money right they can make it back during the next boom in the stock-market which might not occur for a while. Look at General Electric's pension fund and the Teamsters pension fund for reference. Each of them are worth several billions. GE's was worth $30 billion at one time. I'm not sure what it's worth now. I had the opportunity to invest in it earning a 7% return. I at the time choose not too because that was right around the time I found out my wife was frauding me.
-Rocky
P.S. So which do you prefer diesel??? Kal-Kan or Alpo??? :P Yummmy!!!!
Remember my ex has a 95' Lumina with 310K on it she is still driving.
If she can squeeze that many miles out of a Chevy she was not all bad. I have only bought one new vehicle that I kept to 100k miles. A 1974 Dodge Van. It was probably UAW built and a decent vehicle.
My point is college does not have to be expensive. If you are on a tight budget you go to a local college and live at home. Most kids in our church do just that. Nothing wrong with getting a cheap education. Unless you go to a high powered Ivy league school it has little to do with your wages 10 years after graduation.
$10-$15 an hour is certain poverty in Philadelphia. The only way you're going to survive on that is to live with Mom and Dad forever, have at least two roommates, or marry somebody wealthy. Nobody will make it on their own at that level unless he has a second job or is slingin' rocks on the corner.
Well we have pretty much seen what a PhD will get you. Ask gagrice about his church friend who is working for a lot less. Welcome to your "Brave New World" lemko. :sick:
That was the same year mine was. Is yours a stick with the tech pkg??? I had summer tires with the brembo brakes. I took mine up to 147 mph in 5th gear at around 11 at night like a dumb [non-permissible content removed]. I did have my xenon lamps on bright but it was still a dumb move. I have a few pics of mine on my carspace.
Yep that is a likely scenario. You aren't going to get the highest moral character in most cases offering mininum wage. Meijer's certainly had to learn that lesson the hard way but they didn't change.
I'm not sure who runs the site??? Is it domestic biased well obvious. It's about as fair and balanced as Fixed News. However there are some good facts in there.
My point was, which I'm sure you understood, is that not all degrees are just pieces of paper, not worth anything in the real world, and are granted haphazardly. Most are worth many, MANY times their cost in lifetime earnings.
An unemployed dance instructor will most likely become a stripper or prostitute where she will make WAY MORE than that cheapskate hardware owner will give here. Chances are, Mr. Cheapskate hardware store owner will become one of her clients as such a tightwad isn't going to attract a girlfriend or wife.
I read that decent looking women are going into "adult" lines of work because it pays better. :surprise:
I think you will agree lemko that many of these elites went to school on mommy and daddy's money and have never held a real job in there life. There minds are polluted with "Misean" ideals and because they went to a ivy league school they now know it all and feel "entitled" to a high paying job because they got a McDegree. They have nary a clue what it's like to have to work and their arrogance and ignorance call people that are making them money "floor sweepers" or "lawn mowers" despite never doing any of those menial jobs themselves in there lives. They can't comprehend what it's like to tear a machine apart and put it back togeather again and get there hands dirty.
This guy is worshipped by many. He is the father of the modern liberatarian [sic] movement.
He's my main man, & he was right on the money about socialism:
Robert Heilbroner acknowledged after the fall of the Soviet Union, that "It turns out, of course, that Mises was right" about the impossibility of socialism. "Capitalism has been as unmistakable a success as socialism has been a failure. Here is the part that's hard to swallow. It has been the Friedmans, Hayeks, and von Miseses who have maintained that capitalism would flourish and that socialism would develop incurable ailments."
"Under my border rule they wouldn't make it here a 2nd time unless they can survive land mines, razor wire and radiation poisoning. If they can live through that I would grant them citizenship."
For all of your crazy entitlement attitudes, which will change over the next 2 years as reality sets in, this is something I absolutely agree with you...but you forgot the nuclear bombs, 100 starving pitbulls, and laser beams...
And then , if they survive that, it would only grant them ANOTHER try to start all over again...if they survive 5 attempts (do I hear 6, can I get 6, do I hear 7?) maybe we will grant them temporary residence for 6 months...and then go thru it all over again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
gagrice, if I could, I would build a 20 story high wall that went into the ground another 20 stories, and fence it off with razorwire and bombs...I have had it with illegal immigration, and I do not agree with either the Repub or Democratic reasons for it...
If 20 million of us decided to stop paying our taxes, the IRS (another good reason for the Fair Tax) would find all 20 million of us in an hour...then they can find all 20 million illegal immigrants and deport them...since I also classify them as foreign invaders, border patrol with orders to shoot to kill would help...all you need is about 50 shot dead and another 50 million would think twice about coming here...
I am getting a little nauseous and must leave...the sensation of being in total agreement with rocky is having a detrimental effect on me...any more of this and the next thing you know I might even eat in the same restaurant where known Democrats eat...perish the thought...fortunately, with Hapeville (Ford) and Doraville (GM) closing, I do NOT have to deal with active UAW...thanks for small favors...
BTW...post a picture of Beth in a car...nobody asked for you...and don't forget the cleavage...HERS... :P :shades: :):):):):):):)
Comments
Like income makes a difference. 1/2 my FIL's tools have LTV inscribed on them, same with my grandpa. Before LTV went belly up, he always was sneaking crap out of the mill for his projects at home. He new the union would allow him to keep his job. Or what about the Walmart executive a few years back that was fired for embezzlement over a gift card scam? This crap happens at all levels.
My wife fires people on a regular occasion for stealing product and/or fudging time sheets and these are people making $130k/yr with a 40 hr work week plus they get paid time and a 1/2 for o/t over 40hrs. AND SOME STILL STEAL PRODUCT AND/OR TIME.
A clerk position at a retail store is not a $10/hr job for a new hire. These have always been near minimum wage level positions whether union or non-union. If you want to make a decent living in retail you have to work hard and get promoted to better positions. I know some on this board consider trying to move up [non-permissible content removed] kissing, but standing out as a worthwhile employee can pay off.
My wife started with her current employer at minimum wage while in HS in '89 as a cashier. She stayed with them through HS. She was promoted to Pharmacy tech when we was a senior. They liked how she performed and helped pay for her Pharmacy degree. She is now in a regional manager position earning over 4x UAW wages. Some may think she should earn 1/2 her current salary so a cashier who 1/2 the time can't properly count change can earn twice their current rate and twice quite frankly what the job is worth, but tell me, where is the incentive to improve yourself?
An unemployed dance instructor will most likely become a stripper or prostitute where she will make WAY MORE than that cheapskate hardware owner will give here. Chances are, Mr. Cheapskate hardware store owner will become one of her clients as such a tightwad isn't going to attract a girlfriend or wife.
I'm down less than 10% from the current downturn because I moved my money in Jan 2008 into safe havens based on a 7% DOW drop in 3 weeks following xmas of 2007. I will suffer the low returns that temporarily make my fees seem high. There will be better days ahead.
I think many don't have a clue how tough it can be to be in business for oneself and they think anyone who owns their own business is filthy rich capitalist pig.
The person who owns the hardware store probably is getting under cut by Lowes, HD, and the likes of Walmart, while his business line of credit has been cut in half, so he has to put up more cash for inventory and meeting business expenses.
Those on here saying he's taking advantage of the employee by paying minimum wage are probably the same people who would complain his prices are to high while taking their business to Walmart if he raised them so he could pay the clerk $10/hr!
YES!!!
YES!!!
Then you must be one of those elitists Fintail talks about! :P
Competing against the likes of Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart is MUCH tougher than GM competing against the imports. I was just letting Rocky & Lemko babble as they seem clueless about being in business for themselves. I personally try to support our little hardware store as it saves me 10 miles each way to Lowes and Home Depot. I would doubt seriously if the owner has ever made as much for himself as the average UAW worker. You could not give me a business in CA as the headaches are not worth the low return on investment.
Canadian sources. I had hope Osama would switch that back as part of the change, but that ain't going to happen.
I don't think it will matter who we put in there because the people in the New World Order are calling the shots. The only viable way out is voting in a 3rd party but the sheeple have been dumbed down to never allow a 3rd party. :sick:
Healthcare costs are hidden taxes in part. In Ohio the Governor promised no taxes so he's raised 130-150 fees. Who says men of the cloth don't lie. He's a reverend and ran heavily on that as support of his honesty despite his party affiliation. So much for the Bible. He has $400 million + in new fees for hospitals proposed. That's a tax on the users--including me and mine. That won't lower healthcare costs.
imidazol97, that is freaken crazy!!!
Reagan was right: government is the problem.
Yep his government was filled to the gill with lobbiest and special interest groups. That is the problem pal. The people haven't been represented in decades. It doesn't matter if you are a democrat or republican you are screwed unless you are in that top 1% :sick:
-Rocky
Hell, how could they possibly raise taxes much more!!! I lived in Ohio from '99-'03 and the state income tax at state and local level on top of high sales tax rates were insane. I just loved the fact that we lived in Summit Co., my wife's office as in Cleveland. She might have actually been at her office once a week, and those crooks in Cleveland had a 2% income tax on top of the state income tax. What a crock.
Here in Illinois it isn't much better. Insanely high property taxes and the crooks in Springfield are talking about a 50% hike in state income taxes. This is getting way out of hand.
No one said they were whining. I do think it's ridiculous how they went decades with zero cost for this benefit because employers paid reasonable rates for insurance to the point that we see people in the healthcare and insurance industry making record profits and the working class are obligated to pay a huge chunk like yourself for healthcare costs.
That means someone else - the employer, taxpayers - is paying the bulk of the cost for those gold plated benefits.
Vent your anger at the system.
This is the point that has been made hundreds of times in this forum - that the UAW and it's workers have been divorced from the realities faced by most people in this country for such a long time, and that their sense of entitlement just plain wears on others.
Well unions are tired of being the lone voice fighting the greed. If you and millions of others would form a group and march in DC then maybe the crooked politicans would go oh [non-permissible content removed] we have a problem. The sheeple are fed up with our greed and we can no longer dumb them down with cheap trinkets from China.
-Rocky
And what do you think is in there now? Same thing despite all the campaigning of no lobbyists, etc., etc., etc. That's why he's now running scared of the TEA parties. Today after 4 trillion dollars spent by him and Pelosi, he has the nerve to come out and say that one department (Homeland Security) could save $52 million dollars in FIVE years by buying office supplies in bulk. Gimme a break. Another department would save a few million over FIFTEEN years.
And the news at 6 will have all kinds of breathless coverage of how BO is saving us money. :sick:
TEA parties and liberals trying to minimize them: the local ultra lib editor of the paper posted this column. Read the responses...
http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/opinion/ent- ries/2009/04/19/editorial_tea_parties_not_star.html#comments
The day of he posted this in the blog which usually has editorials and off eds. Notice the 180 responses are deleted now. They jumped right on him. I suspect they added lots of new blog topics quickly to get the original blog off the front page of the blogs.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
CA has to be close behind. Hawaii is looking better all the time. NO income tax on defined pension income. Sales tax which they call general excise tax is 4% on everything. Shop at the farmers market and no one charges tax on your fruits and veggies. Eat very healthy for little cash. Property tax is reasonable. Mine is under $700 per year for house a cottage and 2 acres of flowers under shade.
The best part is NO UAW to run the price of everything sky high.. Let the Midwest suffer as a result of over paying unskilled labor.
-Rocky
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
You could of fooled me!!!
Ludwig von Mises
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises
This guy is worshipped by many. He is the father of the modern liberatarian movement.
Abe had it right. You go out and work hard and you reap the fruits of your labor. If memory serves me right Abe spent his days splitting wood for fence posts and his evenings studying by candle light. His statement in NO WAY says that you are entitled to a high paying job. It says to get off you butt and work hard and you will make money. You have got your thoughts so corrupted by the UAW think, you cannot see that the over paid jobs for unskilled workers, are no longer available.
As I told you before the New World Order has one. It's a race to the bottom now. :sick:
That means if you got to work hard digging ditches for $6 per hour to put food on your table, so be it. You want to emulate Abe, get out and work like he did. He would roll over in his grave knowing how lazy the American people have gotten.
He would roll over in his grave if he knew how his party was today filled with corporate lobbiest from foreign nations and that they don't have the best interest of the country and people he loved at hand. I did one of my class projects on Lincoln.
-Rocky
For now, anyway.
Jesus, they have a VAT (Value Added Tax) ranging from 12-25% and duties of up to 8%. Plus a wealth tax. Even food is taxed at 12%. So not only are items more expensive there, the taxes levied on those items are huge. No thanks, you can have it.
Basing the whole county based on your relatives is hardly objective evidence. I don't know anyone from Norway, but I had a neighbor that was from Sweden. He moved here while in HS with his dad. All he told me was he'd like to go back (most of his family is there), but he said it would be much harder to maintain his standard of living there due to the cost of living. Instead he visited there once a year to see everyone. Maybe he was full of it. I don't know.
No worse than the ideals of the born on third base "capitalists" you will die to protect, no?
Why is an entitlement mentality for a group worse than an entitlement mentality for a few?
Why should the western world commit suicide so the one worlders can reap a few more profits?
I'd also believe that, if he considered what the cost of living is like in America today, he'd be rolling in his grave at the thought of paying a ditch digger a "slave wage" to do that job. Now, that's not to say he'd be thrilled at $30/hr for the same job, but if you said $10-15 (depending where you live) that's more like it.
Doesn't that have more to do with it being a tourist haven than anything else???
Yep it is!!!
I would not treat illegals quite as violently as Rocky. I do think we need to ship illegals back.
I wouldn't treat them violently. It would be there choice to walk across my border of landmines and razor wire.
If they come across a second time pay Sheriff Joe Arpaio to look after them in one of his tent prisons.
Under my border rule they wouldn't make it here a 2nd time unless they can survive land mines, razor wire and radiation poisoning. If they can live through that I would grant them citizenship.
I don't believe they should be given automatic citizenship for being born here. And I do not believe we should be obliged to give them medical care or any other public assistance. Such as Obama's aunt living illegally on welfare in Boston for the last 5 years. People coming here legally and 3 years later collecting SS is also wrong. It is more of a Democrat thing to avoid the issues, as they are the ones expecting to get the votes. It will bring down the standard of living for many in the lesser skilled fields.
I agree with that but remember many in your party want amnesty also. :sick:
-Rocky
Glad we agree it had gotten out of hand.
What the hell was your Ex studying for, to run up a $50K loan?!
Criminal Justice at Western Michigan University and I miss spoke and it was $45K
-Rocky
-Rocky
I don't think we would disagree to be quite honest because based on the campaign contributions both democrats and republicans received money from the banks and insurance industry to make a short-term profit with ridiculous risks at the sacrifice of long-term growth using good judgment. Now the banks aren't loaning money even to people who should get them.
If you are a history buff you should know the good and the bad about FDR. Most Democrats are blind to his mistakes. I think our friend fintail could more eloquently clue you in.
FDR made mistakes but he was dealing with a crisis this nation never faced before. He had to do something. The public demanded action kind of like they are now. I don't agree with everything Obama is doing policy wise. I think I've made that pretty clear. However McSame, would of more/less handled the situation the same way. He agreed we needed to bail out the banks remember???/
I am afraid we will both be unhappy with the amnesty bill that will go through this year. It is all about votes. That is all politics amount to anymore. There is NO MORALITY IN WASHINGTON DC. You think ACORN is OK. They were signing up illegals by the truck load in the South West. I would bet those indictments will all fade into the woodwork. They are due to get a couple Billion of your Stimulus money. I say yours because I will not be around to pay it back.
I don't like ACORN. They are fraud. The democrats want the votes and the republicans want the cheap labor for there business buddies. That is the simplest way I can boil it down in a few sentences. :sick:
-Rocky
Good luck finding one if you are unemployed. I've been looking since the beginning of the month. I and my ex are unemployed. She has a CJ degree and can't find one that pays more than unemployment. I'm going tomorrow to a job fair at a RV place selling RV's. That is how bad it's gotten around here. Next year can't come fast enough when there will be some decent respectable jobs created that I can apply for. :sick:
-Rocky
Medicare needs to be overhauled and a real national healthcare plan instituted. People can then buy supplemental insurance which probably won't be very exspensive to further help cover costs. That is the direction we need to go. The biggest cost right now for employers is healthcare costs. Small business in a universal system with thrive. Big corporations will have the capital to invest in R&D like battery technology to create even more jobs. That is why I'm a huge national healthcare advocate because I think it will create and save jobs.
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
I am really only familiar with CA, AK & HI wages. All can be high cost places to live. I know my son was getting $12 per hour as a cook in a decent restaurant till they went out of business. During the summer he gets $15 in construction. I would consider him semi skilled in the building trades. Hawaii it is cheaper for labor as there are a lot of people living there because the just love the place. Not many jobs under $8 per hour and not many over $15 per hour. CA the legals and illegals that hang out at Home Depot charge $100 per day plus a hot meal. Some are highly skilled some are not. It is a real crap shoot. A very skilled carpenter is lucky to get $22 per hour in San Diego. I know that because I have several friends in Construction. Now it is hard to get more than about $18 with the excess of workers going after every job.
That is what I have to base my opinions on. I know it is not as expensive to live in Michigan as the aforementioned states. So to tell me that $15 per hour is poverty makes me laugh. Would I like working for $15 per hour. No, but I would to feed my family and work two jobs if necessary.
PS
My wife's nephew that was laid off from 3 jobs last year in Ohio never got to $20 per hour. He has both his AP & PP license and was maintaining jet engines for a now defunct airline in Columbus. I dare say that has a much higher skill level than an auto plant worker and a heck of a lot higher responsibility. He moved his family back to San Diego and had 3 job offers the first week. I have not asked how much he makes working on CH73 helicopters for the Marines.
I agree it was a vehicle but now employers are making it a primary vehicle for retirement and my former employers encouraged everyone to stick money in it because you will be a millionaire at retirement. They had graphs to "prove" to us how much money we were all going to make based on "history" something I was more than skeptical of at the time because I knew this day was coming. I like to think of myself a little smarter than your average person. I knew Ross Perot was going to be right. The UAW knew he was going to be right regarding NAFTA as did all the other unions. Now the sheeple instead of voting for people who would change it like Duncan Hunter and Dennis Kucinich well instead they get caught up in the media hype and vote for free-marketeer capitalist like Obama and McSame. :sick:
It's not different than pension plans and SS as far as who has their hands in the til. If you think Pension funds aren't paying such fees, think again. You have to save your own money, PERIOD!!. Because putting 100% trust into one of the following: 401k, pension (if you have one), and SS is a recipe for a poor retirement. You talk as if a defined benefit plan is the only way to a secure retirement and that is 100% false thinking. I know very few people that have a pension that provides enough monthly income alone. Most retirees I know still have to rely on personal savings. Hell, I know several people who's pensions were turned over to the PBGC meaning a 50% cut in monthly benefits for some. Not having personal savings to fall back on could mean eating dog food.
I respectfully disagree. The GM pension fund has enough money to cover all current retirees for the next 50-60 years. At one time there was enough money to cover them all for the next 80 years but it lost some wealth during the crash. If they invest this large pot of money right they can make it back during the next boom in the stock-market which might not occur for a while.
-Rocky
P.S. So which do you prefer diesel??? Kal-Kan or Alpo??? :P Yummmy!!!!
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=2830890&page=1
-Rocky
If she can squeeze that many miles out of a Chevy she was not all bad. I have only bought one new vehicle that I kept to 100k miles. A 1974 Dodge Van. It was probably UAW built and a decent vehicle.
My point is college does not have to be expensive. If you are on a tight budget you go to a local college and live at home. Most kids in our church do just that. Nothing wrong with getting a cheap education. Unless you go to a high powered Ivy league school it has little to do with your wages 10 years after graduation.
Well we have pretty much seen what a PhD will get you. Ask gagrice about his church friend who is working for a lot less. Welcome to your "Brave New World" lemko. :sick:
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
-Rocky
My point was, which I'm sure you understood, is that not all degrees are just pieces of paper, not worth anything in the real world, and are granted haphazardly. Most are worth many, MANY times their cost in lifetime earnings.
I read that decent looking women are going into "adult" lines of work because it pays better. :surprise:
-Rocky
-Rocky
LOL!
-Rocky
He's my main man, & he was right on the money about socialism:
Robert Heilbroner acknowledged after the fall of the Soviet Union, that "It turns out, of course, that Mises was right" about the impossibility of socialism. "Capitalism has been as unmistakable a success as socialism has been a failure. Here is the part that's hard to swallow. It has been the Friedmans, Hayeks, and von Miseses who have maintained that capitalism would flourish and that socialism would develop incurable ailments."
For all of your crazy entitlement attitudes, which will change over the next 2 years as reality sets in, this is something I absolutely agree with you...but you forgot the nuclear bombs, 100 starving pitbulls, and laser beams...
And then , if they survive that, it would only grant them ANOTHER try to start all over again...if they survive 5 attempts (do I hear 6, can I get 6, do I hear 7?) maybe we will grant them temporary residence for 6 months...and then go thru it all over again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
gagrice, if I could, I would build a 20 story high wall that went into the ground another 20 stories, and fence it off with razorwire and bombs...I have had it with illegal immigration, and I do not agree with either the Repub or Democratic reasons for it...
If 20 million of us decided to stop paying our taxes, the IRS (another good reason for the Fair Tax) would find all 20 million of us in an hour...then they can find all 20 million illegal immigrants and deport them...since I also classify them as foreign invaders, border patrol with orders to shoot to kill would help...all you need is about 50 shot dead and another 50 million would think twice about coming here...
I am getting a little nauseous and must leave...the sensation of being in total agreement with rocky is having a detrimental effect on me...any more of this and the next thing you know I might even eat in the same restaurant where known Democrats eat...perish the thought...fortunately, with Hapeville (Ford) and Doraville (GM) closing, I do NOT have to deal with active UAW...thanks for small favors...
BTW...post a picture of Beth in a car...nobody asked for you...and don't forget the cleavage...HERS... :P