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Unfortunately, I think most believe it was caused by the stock market crash.
Yes education, is a major problem, which I don't know how we'll fix it when the majority of the problems start at home. My sister is a 3rd grade teacher in a relatively poor area of a larger city. Most of her incoming students can't read or hardly count. She had her meet the teacher night a week ago and not one parent showed up.
Maybe some had to work a second or third job etc, but none of them called in either, just didn't show up. Absenteeism/tardiness is a problem and they rarely will do their homework. As long as the parent/parents don't care, it will be almost impossible to fix our education problems. Why are other countries beating us? I'll bet $100 the parents care and are involved.
I live in an upper middle class small town. I attended both my daughter's (1st and 4th grade) back to school meet the teacher nights. Between the two classes I looked and found maybe 3 parents that weren't there.
I know life is tough when you're barely getting by, but it still comes down to priorities, self pride, and motivation. I'm starting to believe that our growing entitlement beliefs are slowly killing this country.
Along with grandpappy Bush...
" Our standard of living is headed down to meet the rest of the World's coming up"
Hopefully steep enough of a decline to create a revolt...before the one worlders can send everyone who balks to gulags, that is. That's going to be the future. Globalization will be the death of the first world and western civilization.
That is exactly right. My sister in law teaches in the small town we were raised in. It is mostly lower middle class working people. The school requires parents come in to meet the teacher for admission to school. Most years she gets at least 4-5 volunteers to help out with her class of 22 kindergartners. This year she did not get one volunteer. My wife has volunteered in her class once a week for about 6 years now. Parent involvement is imperative to the learning process. The inner cities do not seem to have the parental involvement that the outlying areas get. That is just part of the generational welfare mentality.
I think that some of the Unions have pushed that same mentality of being entitled to a Piece of the Pie. Workers are entitled to pay equal to what the market will bear. If 3 people can all do the same job in the same time, why would the employer pay more than what the lowest bidder offers to work for? Our whole system is based on giving the job to the lowest bidder. Why is it not the same for labor? The more the worker has to offer the employer the more that person is worth. That wraps back around to education. The more you have the better chance you have to survive these downturns in the economy.
Regarding workers competing, direct competition without equal responsiblity at the place the work is performed is simply unethical. This ideal will be the death of the first world, all in the name of short term corporate gain as wealth continues to consolidate more than it has since before the depression.
The masses are too anethesized to revolt. They have TV, Ipods and Video games to satisfy them. They will go to their jobs at the car wash and WalMart lamenting the fact that the government was not giving them what is rightfully theirs. Globalization is a fact of life. What we do is up to US. A good example of the revolt you will see is the people in NO during Katrina. Stealing from each other and blaming everyone but themselves for not getting out of the way of a hurricane.
Knock things down enough, create a large enough underclass with no legitimate hopes of improvement, and you will be sowing the seeds for something massive.
Everything is reversible, including globalization. Altough it might take a civilization-ending war to arrest the cancer.
Possibly. You have to accept that guys like Rockefeller amassed far more in today's deflated dollars. Just reading of Joe Kennedy going from $4 million in 1929 to $180 million in 1935. While serving as Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission under FDR.
Greed has always been with us. I just think that it is easier to see with all the sources of information. I don't recall any revolt over Rockefeller's domination of Oil. Did people want to revolt against Vanderbilt or Corning when they controlled the railroads. They amassed huge fortunes on the backs of labor.
I don't see the deep decline you are talking about. It will be gradual like starting with cold water in the pot with a frog.
US union membership up substantially in 2008, study shows
Buoyed by a rising tide in California in general and Southern California in particular, U.S. unionization levels rose substantially this year, defying a decades-long trend of decline, according to a report by UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.
"The State of the Unions in 2008: A Profile of Union Membership in Los Angeles, California and the Nation" shows unionization rates nationwide rising half a percentage point over the 2007 level, to 12.6 percent of all U.S. civilian workers in 2008. The rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point between 2006 and 2007. Prior to that, the last time U.S. unionization rates registered an increase was in 1979.
"This is good news for organized labor," said Ruth Milkman, lead author of the report and outgoing director of the UCLA labor institute. "It shows that despite an extremely hostile environment, unions can grow."
Milkman and UCLA sociology graduate student Bongoh Kye analyzed U.S. Current Population Survey data on union membership for California, Los Angeles and the nation. They report unionization rates by race, immigration status, gender, age and education for the first six months of 2008. This year's report and earlier such studies of unionization data going back to 1996 are available at www.irle.ucla.edu/research/unionmembership.html.
According to the report, in the first half of 2008, the number of U.S. workers on the membership rolls of labor unions increased by 583,300 over the 2007 average.
Fueling the nationwide increase was the recent growth in unionization in California, which currently accounts for 16 percent of all the nation's union members, more than any other state. California's unionization rate in 2008 is 17.8 percent, up from 16.7 percent in 2007 and 15.7 percent in 2006.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/09/21/workers-joining-afl-cio-unions-at-highest-rate- -in-two-generations/
False McCain Attack: "For workers in industries that have been hard hit, we'll help make up part of the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower paid one while they receive retraining that will help them find secure new employment at a decent wage."
The Facts: McCain Has Repeatedly Opposed Vital Training for Workers in Hard-Hit Industries
McCain Opposed $1 Million In Job Training Programs For Young People. In 2003, McCain sponsored an amendment to delete several provisions from the war supplemental spending bill, including $1 million for the Jobs for America's Graduates school-to-work program for at-risk young people for Training Employment Services. [2003 Senate Vote #118, 4/3/2003, McCain: Y]
McCain Voted Against a Pilot Program to Provide Low-Interest Loans to Workers in Job Training or Assistance Programs. In 2002, McCain voted to kill an amendment requiring the Labor Department to establish a pilot program providing low-interest loans to workers in job training or job assistance programs to enable workers to continue making their mortgage payments. (CQ) McCain: Y [2002 Senate Vote #119, 5/21/2002]
McCain Voted Against Providing Additional $4.1 Million For Job Training And Other Domestic Programs. In 1992, McCain voted against transferring $4.1 billion from defense to domestic programs, including Head Start, child immunization programs and the Job Corps program. (CQ) McCain: N [1992 Senate Vote #208, 9/16/1992, McCain: N]
McCain Voted Against Providing $1 Billion In Economic Assistance, Including Job Training. In 1992, McCain voted against providing $1 billion for various programs designed to help those struggling economically, including job training funding. [1992 Senate Vote #146, 7/2/1992, McCain: Y]
So all the talk about the Clinton years being great for Unions is not true? Union membership declined through the 1990s? At least that is what your article is saying. That the only Union growth since 1979 was during 2006 - 07. So the Bush administration has added 583,300 union jobs so far in 2008. More than all during the Clinton years. At least according to the AFL-CIO website. So tell me why they would back a Democrat for the Presidency? CA for sure should be voting Republican.
I know my conservative socialism, scares the heck out of many of ya'll !!!
That all depends..., who are you suggesting for your running mate? Ron Paul?
John Edwards., Ralph Nader?2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Boeing is riding high, even with the 787 Dreamliner production delays. So, these guys and gals want a piece of it. It's a classic Union-Company showdown. Some are saying this pup will go on for a while. I'm not so sure, lots of these guys are young. My son's friend is an IAM mechanic for Boeing in Everett and he has kids to support, I'll bet if he were to call us he'd say something like..."Yeah, I really wanted to vote NO, but, and it is a big butt, these guys are mean that I work with."
Whether or not he'd admit that, I don't know. But this one is going to be interesting because Boeing is booming once again. And no, I am way much more a happy person working as an Allied Health Care worker in sunny Arizona, in Geronimo's old stomping grounds.
This new Boeing strike is one that some of these guys have saved for a long time. One guy mentioned that he has 3 months living expenses saved up for this barnstormer. Boeing will lose something like $100 million per day that the strike drags on. It's classic!
With Airbus struggling with A380 wiring(the super bumble jumbo that airports are having to re-design their terminals to accommodate!!)Boeing has globbed on to the status of being the "most-super-cool worldwide airplane maker." The machinists simply want some more of that money. Boeing is offering a minimum of $5,000 as bonus money on the average(just for voting "yes" to this latest offer), some getting $6,600. Raises of 5%, 3%, 2% over three years. Healthcare costs are a sore point, but something tells me that these guys just want some quality burn-barrel time off. The average machinist makes $54,000 a year. But overtime almost always becomes a part of the Boeing work experience.
rockford, man, I still think ya ought-ta sail away from Michigan and apply at Boeing, dude. Seriously! Look at the fun you could be having right now, for instance. :P
With Boeing, there's foreign competition, like GM and Ford and Chrysler have. But it's much more focused and limited. And airlines are wanting to save jet fuel, which the Dreamliner hails as a forte. Strike or not, that's a great job to score. I recently asked for a look at what my retirement bene's look like after working for Boeing for 20 years, and, hey, if McCain or Obama come up with a way to save SS payouts for us baby boomers, retirement from Allied Health at age 65 isn't looking all that bad!
rock, Boeing has Security jobs, too.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
That is my biggest problem with the Free Choice Act. I recall very well the Teamster thug mentality when we went Union in 1970. Most of the techs wanted IBEW for our Union. A few militant technicians were able to convince the majority to vote for the Teamsters. My retirement would be about $2000 per month more if we had gone IBEW.
I have to wonder each time the Unions flex their muscles on a major company like Boeing, how much longer will they stay here. As productive as we are in this country, we are not irreplaceable. Someone in India, China or Mexico can be trained to do the job we do. For a whole lot less.
With the new NAFTA open border for trucks coming into the USA, Mexico or Canada can manufacture and deliver to our door just about anything. Why did the 110th Democrat Congress allow this to go through? Could it be pandering for the Hispanic vote?
I just don't have the union mentality. Then watch, go to SeattleTimes.com and see what they just turned down. I mentioned a lot of the numbers in my previous post, so you can look up and re-read them if you want. Watch what they finally ratify...it'll turn your hair gray(er). I could say dumb as dumb is...but that would be disingenuous, yep. That offer turned down looked pretty good to this far-from-Boeing-former Boeing worker looking on from the SW desert with casual interest.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Unfortunately, I think most believe it was caused by the stock market crash.
By itself, the 1929 stock market crash wasn't enough to cause the Depression. What transformed a garden-variety economic downturn into a full-blown depression was the passage in 1930 of the Smoot-Hawley Tarriff Act, which jacked up tarriffs on thousands of imports. Our major trade partners - Canada, France, Great Britain & Germany - retaliated with their own tarriffs, & world trade dried up within 3 years. As a result, millions of jobs were lost & the Depression lasted until the beginning of WWII.
This is why almost all economists, whether Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, oppose tarriffs.
In the 70s, when I was a kid growing up in India, the economy was mostly closed and followed the Russian centralized planning model, where all heavy industry was owned by the government, and run for the employees (so almost did not need a union, since the union was running the company anyway). There were only two car models to choose from, and just two (government owned) black-and-white TV channels. Print media was thankfully not controlled (after all, India was a democracy), so we would occasionally get hold of American magazines / comics, and marvel at the colored pictures and the lifestyle shown there. In short, India was a democratic Cuba.
Then in the 80s, US made a big push to open up the Indian market (and China too), and India, struggling on the verge of bankruptcy (since the state owned organizations would generate no return on capital), agreed to do it gradually. Indian companies had to sink or swim (when competing with overseas competitions), WIPRO – a very successful IT company now – almost had to abandon it PC assembly business then since it would not compete with the US companies, and a number of main frame servicing companies went out of business when IBM came back to India. For some time, things were so bad that when I graduated, I took the first job overseas I could get and migrated to Japan.
It turned out that Japan was undergoing its own transformation too (under pressure from – guess who – the US). The currency appreciated 100% in just a few months (against the USD), and large state organizations were privatized (National Railways, Telecom, banking). There were significant job losses – especially in the unionized organizations, and this went on in the 90s even though Japan had a decade long recession (Rocky, NTT, the national telecom company, actually was forced by the shareholders to submit a plan for workforce reduction – see their SEC filings http://www.secinfo.com/dsVQy.6428.htm).
So what is my point? Just that USA forced economies with low levels of consumption (India and China are the best examples) to open up and follow the US model – which implied opening up their markets to US companies. All these economies went through the pain of transformation – and managed to come closer to the US in terms of competitiveness in the process (US is still the most competitive country, I believe .no need to worry about that for the next 5-10 years). That is what opening up (or globalization) of market does. But it did unlock a huge amount of efficiency / productivity gains, which benefited everyone.
However around the late 80s US started running significant current account deficit (http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeat_econindicators_capict_20060616) – indicating that the US started borrowing money to fund its lifestyle at a rate that the productivity gains could not match (but perhaps thought that these were the “justified gains” of having taught the heathens how to use a knife and fork .?). And despite this being visible to everyone, the message still was “Consumption good, saving bad” (I know a lot of Indians – including my sister - who after arriving in the US would go through a period of “shock” while trying to adjust their core values from saving a certain percentage of take home income, to having multiple credit cards).
Hence my conclusion is that President Rocky Lee will find it hard to take the moral high ground here since :
1. USA started the process of globalization, despite opposition in countries like India or China (the Hindu philosophy looks down on consumption – for all we know the wise men of the past realized that making consumption fashionable in a large country like India could destabilize the equilibrium in the distribution of natural resources consumption .and now Indian youth is a part of the MTV/Nike generation .but that is another story), for it to now reverse this would result in it loosing whatever respect / moral authority it has (after 8 years of GWB). This would have serious repercussions on the international society, starting with 2 below.
2. There would have to be a dramatic change in the US lifestyle to adjust for the 700 Bn USD per year of capital that US requires to fund itself today. It is not just the current account deficit of today that would have to be managed, but also the destruction of the US export industry (Boeing is not getting its 340Bn USD of back orders from US airlines ..). Americans are unlikely to put up with a “back to stone ages” movement (I mean, if they could, then why pay Mid East governments 700 Bn USD a year for high oil prices, when this money could have well been collected by the US government by pricing gasoline at 4 USD / gallon ten years ago?)
So we can have a theoretical discussion around this election manifesto, but expecting a revolution to reverse the growth of Anglo Saxon model of capitalism is futile. Only religion has the power to reverse it – and I don’t think that will happen in the US.
Or will it .?
stock market crash of '29 was a symptom rather than a cause. The primary problem of course was that banks had no reserve requirement. How a bank operates optimally is to loan 100% of it's capital. But when Bob comes and says I want my money and you tell Bob you can't pay him until Joe pays you back, problems happen. Hence the development of the federal reserve and the requirement of a15% reserve requirement. Now on to the crash of '29, the margin requirement at that time was 10% .You had bell boys in NYC earning $8,000 a year controlling $120,000 portfolios. Leverage is a tough and demanding boss. It hurts so good. Massive selling due to leverage unwinding. Thank you sir, may I have another?
Anyway so much for the economics lecture.
dieselone also wrote : 'I know life is tough when you're barely getting by, but it still comes down to priorities, self pride, and motivation. I'm starting to believe that our growing entitlement beliefs are slowly killing this country. "
Right on, the lack of personal responsibility saddens me greatly.
Lemko, thanks for your support pal !!!! :shades:
iluv, I hear Boeings, security is contracted out thus I have nary a clue how to apply for such a position and I'm not sure what it pays ??? I support the Boeing, strike because they are fighting for job security and with $13 billion in profits the company should guarantee future job security especially with decades worth of contracts. They don't want a bonus they want a job guarantee saying they will not be replaced by the Chinese. If you've paid any attention to the global "Dreamliner" project well you would know it's been a completely utter disaster and most of the pieces wouldn't fit togeather thus they had to spend millions hauling these things back to Washington, so qualified union people could solve the problems. I'm glad that bit Boeing in the [non-permissible content removed] !!!!
I went to my CCW pre-qualifier class today and passed of course.
I also am going to apply with a airplane manufactor in Witchita, Kansas tomorrow and yesterday I applied for a supervisor position at the dairy in Dalhart, Tx. so ya'll can't say Rocky's not willing to pack up and move. I just refuse to move for peanuts with no future :sick:
"The Rock"
P.S. gagrice, you continue to amaze me pal !!! That's about all I can say !!! :confuse: Good job Fintail, showing gagrice the flip-side of the coin !!!!
P.S.S. To be quite honest imidazol97, Lou Dobbs, would be my #1 V.P. pick because we agree 99% of the time !!!!
People like Rocky would like to see US go back to the 1950s. Are they willing to give up their iPods, flat screen TV and new cars to do that?
You just don't see the big picture. That is exactly why GM is on the verge of bankruptcy. They guaranteed people work when they have no one buying their cars. If Boeing gets a bunch of cancellations because the high cost of fuel, they cannot justify keeping a machinist on the job. Why should the stockholders keep paying a machinist when there is no work to do? Why should they keep paying a CEO that screws up? You take the wages while they are there. If you are no longer needed you go somewhere else. The more skills an individual has the better chance of keeping a job. You are not going to ever dip into the Walton or the Kennedy families coffers. They are too well protected. Obama is not going to take any more money from Warren Buffett than he is now. That is all political BS to get your UAW vote.
The Philadelphia Inquirer had a big ad placed by the Fed. Govt U.S. Customs and Border Protection. that they need Border Patrol Agents.
Go to www.BorderPatrol.gov and use code SBUN or call 1-800-775-6270. Good pay and good benefits and pension.
Good luck, their are several manufactures in Wichita. When I lived in Wichita a few years ago, I know Cessna had a backlog almost 3 years long on their private jets. Don't forget all of the companies around Wichita that support the aerospace industry. I don't know about now, but when I was there, the job market was pretty good and the cost of living low. Good luck.
Regards,
OW
New cars? Heck cars of the 1950s are exponentially more awesome than the bland, soulless cars of today. I would be immensely enjoying my black 1957 Cadillac Fleetwood, mint condition gold 1939 Cadillac Fleetwood V-16, blue 1938 Buick Roadmaster jalopy, and girlfriend would definitely appreciate her 1955 Buick Special.
But, I was just on the cell talking to my son, he's watching the Seahawks-Bills game. His buddy who's an IAM mechanic for Boeing in Everett loves the IAM union and relishes a strike! These guys are rockylee serious about striking Boeing right now. He told my son that he loves their meetings and rallies and that the union heads have them brainwashed..ummm...I mean convinced that they ought to get more pay and benee's and more job security.
They do have a point, I remember when I was still there in 2003, the union people(IAM and Engineering SPEEA)could not stop talking about out-sourcing. Boeing is adamant about using out-sourcing and ya know, it is irritating. They train you exactly how to do your job, utilizing your skills you've learned throughout your upbringing in school, how to do do it "The Boeing Way." Then, if Airbus gains more of a foothold on backorders and jet fuel rises a titch, they try and off-load your job.
If these guys wanna strike, have at it, they are feisty and determined and I remember that attitude so well, after spending 20 years working at Boeing. Ya know, if SPEEA can gain me some higher pension benefits during one of their strikes I will perk my ears up.
Sort of. The layoff in 2003 was my 2nd at Boeing and I am now done with them, and them with me. Except retirement benefits that I am looking forward to. I earned the credits for them, afterall. But the IAM mechanic's union is a monster of it's own kind and making...these people are really determined to earn their future benefits this very way. It's a classic battle going on. No jets will be put together during this strike but some already-built jets will be prepared for delivery and delivered.
rock...of course I have followed the Boeing Dreamliner's progress, or really it's lack of progress. I know that the outsourcing has been a disaster, I don't know whose Starbuck's and raspberry jelly donut meeting decision that was! I agree, take that you company thugs...I mean, Boeing Company upper-level coffee and donut imbibers. :mad:
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
Why would you want to break up WalMart???...he started with one store, expanded as do many companies (Starbucks comes to mind...are you going to break up Starbucks since no one sells as much coffee as they do???), learned how to CUT COSTS in distribution (read Sam Walton's autobiography...a fascinating 2 day read where he tells what he did and how he did it) so getting mechandise into the stores more efficiently allowed him to grow...he also was one of the first to utilize computers to their fullest to run the company inventory and satellite technology...
Just because someone gets bigger then YOU think they ought to be and they should be broken up under antitrust???...has it ever dawned on you that most of the jobs in WalMart are unskilled and barely require someone to be able to read???...stocking shelves does not require a college degree, may even be one of the few places that a high school dropout can get a job...cashier???...thanks to bar codes and scanners, dropouts can do the same thing...proof, now they have self-checkout lanes where we scan our own stuff, pay with cash and get proper change...no cashier needed!!!...how are you going to argue that cashiers are worth more than minimum wage, if that, when machines can check me out without the living cashier???...by the way, the computer rarely makes an error on change, but most cashiers, if the computer did not tell them the amount of change, could not think enough to make proper change...so much for gov't schools taught by unionized teachers, their "graduates" can't make change from a $20 bill...so rocky applauds the teachers unions, who basically "manufacture" a student that can barely read or write, similar to the UAW union junk of the last 30 years...but don't tell rocky, as long as a union member got paid, the quality of the product means nothing to him, because he wants laws that will FORCE us to buy the union product, even tho it has no value and it incompetent...private school kids and home schooled kids have no problem, but
publicgovernment-unionized schools can barely graduate kids who can read "Dick & Jane"...One other thought...you rail at the wages at WalMart...no one ever said that clerks at WalMart would be raising a family on WalMart earnings...they never could and cannot now...rocky, just because a human shows up at a job does not mean it is worth $50K a year...cashier, as noted above, greeters and floor sweepers...who, in their right mind, thinks they will support a family on these earnings???...they are, and have always been for a little pocket money, that's all...are door greeters worth $50K???...you think if door greeters unionized they would be paid more???...one day after unionization the greeter would be replaced by a motion sensor for $10, and when you break the beam, the machine would say "Welcome to Walmart"...
That, rocky, is your mental handicap that you are incapable of overcoming...you think the kid selling lemonade on the corner should be able to buy a home and 2 cars from what s/he makes from 25 cent glasses of lemonade...you have no conception that many jobs are simply of little value...AND you expect too much...where is it written that everyone deserves a home, 2 cars, plasma TV, Armani suits, an iPhone for $500, satellite TV, yada, yada, yada...even in your own life you simply EXPECT that any job, no matter how menial, should give someone an income to support a $500K home, full with pool and servants...that expectation is where your union welfare mentality comes into play, and will hold you back forever...
rocky: SOME JOBS SIMPLY HAVE LITTLE VALUE AND PAY LITTLE BECAUSE OF THAT...NOT BECAUSE SAM WALTON WAS CHEAP, BUT BECAUSE A DOOR GREETER IS NOT EVEN WORTH MINIMUM WAGE FROM THE GIT-GO, BUT WHO, OTHER THAN SAM, EVEN THOUGHT TO HAVE DOOR GREETERS IN HIS STORES???
I can only guess when they created the concept of rose colored glasses, somebody was thinking of you...
Good luck in the job hunt...
"Rocky,
The Philadelphia Inquirer had a big ad placed by the Fed. Govt U.S. Customs and Border Protection. that they need Border Patrol Agents.
Go to www.BorderPatrol.gov and use code SBUN or call 1-800-775-6270. Good pay and good benefits and pension "
I might add that knowledge of how to mend and repair fences would be a definitive plus in your cv.
" cashier, as noted above, greeters and floor sweepers...who, in their right mind, thinks they will support a family on these earnings???...they are, and have always been for a little pocket money, that's all...are door greeters worth $50K???... ? "
As another tribute to the much maligned purveyor of cheap merchandise, I will add that almost all of the greeters are geriatric. How sad not to have had the common sense to prepare for your retirement but how noble of Wal-Mart to be one of the few employers who will even employ someone of that age and give them the opportunity to supplement their social security, meager though it may be. The image of ever even in the most catastrophic of conceived possibilities, with thunder, hail and locusts thrown into boot keeps me faithfully plowing into my 401-k and saving into investments after that. The mental image of the yellow plastic vest with the smiley face on the back is too much to bear. Welcome!
I might add that Walmart hires a lot of mentally challenged folks. This gives them a job and a sense of pride in themselves. I am sure they are not very productive. If Walmart was forced to pay Union wages those people would be out of a job.
"I might add that Walmart hires a lot of mentally challenged folks. This gives them a job and a sense of pride in themselves. I am sure they are not very productive. If Walmart was forced to pay Union wages those people would be out of a job. "
True, so very true. Though they get a bad rap typically, they do hire the mentally challenged, physically too that other corporations thumb their nose at. And as you stated, they would hardly be eligible for membership in any union.
OT but years ago Merck discovered a cure for African river blindness. Unfortunately the people afflicted not only don't have the pot to pee in, but neither the pee. Though they are portrayed as illigitimate rodent offspring, they pay to manufacture the drug. Ship it to Africa, pay motored couriers to bring it inland. Couriers on donkeys after that so that they can give it away for free . Heartless bstrds. But as we say in Texas, to those that talk the talk but don't walk the walk. All hat and no cattle.
" This is why almost all economists, whether Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, oppose tarriffs "
Well at least some of them do ; The Uaw has always championed tarriffs since they've been so poorly advised. Great imput jim. And very correct as well. The GD is a complex subject and what you say is absolutely correct. If you have to raise other prices via Tax or Tariff higher so that your own inefficient manufactured goods can compete, you have a problem. That's right you've got trouble, right here in river city. Spot on that the majority think that the crash of '29 was a reflection on the stock market, when in fact it was only a symptom.
Well I don't believe that is neccessarily true garice. I'll tell you why pal, and that is because if everything was made here the wages for everything would go up as a consequence thus the economic internal trade life cycle of the U.S. economy would flourish like it did in the 1950's. It was Ronald Reagan, who was responsible for giving large tax breaks to american business to off-shore. That is just one reason why I have such a strong dislike for Ronnie Regan, because my family lost good paying union jobs which in some cases piad more back then than the jobs they have now !!!! :surprise: I will goback and say it again a UAW, workers paycheck exchanged hands 7 times on average. That is the trick-down/supply-side economics needed once again in this country !!!
-Rocky
The evidence is provenin the way politicians vote and quite frankly I don't want someone who voted with President Bush, 90-95%of the time and claim he's a Maverick for change because he crossed the aisle once with Feingold. :confuse:
Boeing, like any large corporation will screw it's workers over in a heart beat. Look at iluv ??? The guy put 20 years into the place and they decided to start out sourcing despite making profits. My step-grandfather put 37 years in at Boeing, and told me a lot of stories about different jobs he has done. The bottom line is with $13 billion in profits the company has a huge back log of orders it needs to complete thus the "what if they cancel the orders" is well a big "what if " Jet fuel costs under an Obama, administration would certainly go down as you wouldn't have a big oil man as president. Now Exxon John ??? I think it's safe to say it would be well more of the same !!!!
-Rocky
I will have to check it out pal. I never went that route because of what happen to the honarable agents Compean & Ramos. I went so far to signed a petition from Lou Dobbs, for there immediant release. Until the border patrol gets some type of real guidelines I'm not sure if I'm ready to go to jail for shooting a known dangerous drug smuggler trying to make illegal entry into my country. I would of pulled the trigger also and would be in the same hot water. What type of justice system do we have where we punish people for doing their job. I'm still outraged this ever happen in the first place and the fact that President Bush, will not pardon these two agents is strange. Am I the only one that finds this very strange. Like some sort of cover-up or something ???? :mad: I will definetly look further into it but wished the pay was a little better. Now if I could get the northern border like say here in Michigan ??? "It would be my Rock-On, Birthday !!!!" :P
-The Rock
P.S. Thanx again nortsr1
"The Rock"
-Rocky
ROTFFLMAO @ iluv !!!!
-Rocky
Checkout the NRA, and you will see I'm not alone as far as democrats go supporting the 2nd amendment !!!
Why would you want to break up WalMart???...he started with one store, expanded as do many companies (Starbucks comes to mind...are you going to break up Starbucks since no one sells as much coffee as they do???), learned how to CUT COSTS in distribution (read Sam Walton's autobiography...a fascinating 2 day read where he tells what he did and how he did it) so getting mechandise into the stores more efficiently allowed him to grow...he also was one of the first to utilize computers to their fullest to run the company inventory and satellite technology...
I don't hate the old man but I do strongly dislike his children and what they became. they have stabbed him in the back as far as philosophy (core values) goes. I promise you he's like a rotisery checken in his coffin !!!!
Just because someone gets bigger then YOU think they ought to be and they should be broken up under antitrust???...has it ever dawned on you that most of the jobs in WalMart are unskilled and barely require someone to be able to read???...stocking shelves does not require a college degree, may even be one of the few places that a high school dropout can get a job...cashier???...thanks to bar codes and scanners, dropouts can do the same thing...proof, now they have self-checkout lanes where we scan our own stuff, pay with cash and get proper change...no cashier needed!!!...how are you going to argue that cashiers are worth more than minimum wage, if that, when machines can check me out without the living cashier???...by the way, the computer rarely makes an error on change, but most cashiers, if the computer did not tell them the amount of change, could not think enough to make proper change...so much for gov't schools taught by unionized teachers, their "graduates" can't make change from a $20 bill...so rocky applauds the teachers unions, who basically "manufacture" a student that can barely read or write, similar to the UAW union junk of the last 30 years...but don't tell rocky, as long as a union member got paid, the quality of the product means nothing to him, because he wants laws that will FORCE us to buy the union product, even tho it has no value and it incompetent...private school kids and home schooled kids have no problem, but public government-unionized schools can barely graduate kids who can read "Dick & Jane"...
Has it ever occured to you Rocky, hasn't been in a Wal-Mart, since he's left Texas, because up here in the north we have other wiser choices !!!!
One other thought...you rail at the wages at WalMart...no one ever said that clerks at WalMart would be raising a family on WalMart earnings...they never could and cannot now...rocky, just because a human shows up at a job does not mean it is worth $50K a year...cashier, as noted above, greeters and floor sweepers...who, in their right mind, thinks they will support a family on these earnings???...they are, and have always been for a little pocket money, that's all...are door greeters worth $50K???...you think if door greeters unionized they would be paid more???...one day after unionization the greeter would be replaced by a motion sensor for $10, and when you break the beam, the machine would say "Welcome to Walmart"...
I agree every job has it's worth, but on the flip side you think ever job in a store or in a manufactoring plant should be paid illegal alien wages and those same people have to rob, steal, sell drugs, just to make ends meet. The proof is in the pudding. Look at any large city where once proud union industries stood and look at em' now !!!! They are crime havens !!!! :mad:
That, rocky, is your mental handicap that you are incapable of overcoming...you think the kid selling lemonade on the corner should be able to buy a home and 2 cars from what s/he makes from 25 cent glasses of lemonade...you have no conception that many jobs are simply of little value...AND you expect too much...where is it written that everyone deserves a home, 2 cars, plasma TV, Armani suits, an iPhone for $500, satellite TV, yada, yada, yada...even in your own life you simply EXPECT that any job, no matter how menial, should give someone an income to support a $500K home, full with pool and servants...that expectation is where your union welfare mentality comes into play, and will hold you back forever...
You have taken what I said and went off the deep end and only Michael Phelps, can save you !!!! :P I believe that this country can pay a fair minimum wage, one that allows a person to have a modest apartment and be able to feed themselves. Hell you can't hardly do that on $14 an/hr. now days in most places.
rocky: SOME JOBS SIMPLY HAVE LITTLE VALUE AND PAY LITTLE BECAUSE OF THAT...NOT BECAUSE SAM WALTON WAS CHEAP, BUT BECAUSE A DOOR GREETER IS NOT EVEN WORTH MINIMUM WAGE FROM THE GIT-GO, BUT WHO, OTHER THAN SAM, EVEN THOUGHT TO HAVE DOOR GREETERS IN HIS STORES???
Door Greeters.......Come-on, some of those people that greeted me looked like they just got out of the pen !!!! :surprise:
I can only guess when they created the concept of rose colored glasses, somebody was thinking of you...
LOL, well the same could be said about the world you live in !!! I know Alanta, isn't suffering the economic affects as we are here in Michigan, but even Alanta, has a pretty strong union base mainly developed by the large African American, population.
Good luck in the job hunt...
Thanks, I'm going to need it appears........
"The Rock"
As long as it's hooked up to a Nuclear Power Plant, to supply the electrical current I'd want to run through that fence !!!
"The Rock"
I remember and still see old people working beyond their retirement years. Some do it for something to do and others don't have a choice. Some old folks have to cut their pills like a piece of pie just so they can stay alive another day. For many it's not by choice. We can blame he, she, or whatever else as to why some don't have squat. My great uncle invested his money in different area's and didn't make the return he expected. He also lost a lot of his money to his ex wife, faced economic down turns in his small automobile mechanics business. He tried and never expected the price to live to rise to such levels.
"The Rock"
duke23,
If that's the case then why have anything left here in the U.S. ???? Why build a damn thing here ??? China, India, can do it cheaper. Hell why were at it why don't we pay the Chinese, to serve our cause in Iraq, since they will do it cheaper. Hell I'm sure we can convince then if they got a arm blown off or leg missing they are on their own !!! That is why some economist, are such idiots and need a UAW made noose, along with a floored UAW-Made GMC Sierra Denali with a rope attached to the noose and hitch !!! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: What ever is the cheapest right, Mises !!!! :sick: :sick: :sick: :sick:
-Rocky
Ford Motor Co. and the UAW will host an annual meeting this week in Dearborn, starting Tuesday. Hundreds of leaders from UAW-represented Ford facilities across the country and from Ford will discuss the state of the company and the company's strategy for the future. There will also be training events for the union officials.
Coming up: Ford CEO Alan Mulally is to address Inforum on Monday, delivering a keynote luncheon speech for the professional women's alliance at Ford's Conference and Events Center in Dearborn.
Lawyer writes of support for loans
A Royal Oak lawyer who has worked on immigration issues for Chrysler has taken issue with a Los Angeles Times editorial, "Bail Out the Big Three?" that criticized efforts in Congress to give loans to automakers.
Steven Roby wrote a response printed in the Times that noted that U.S. automakers are burdened with growing health care costs that foreign automakers don't have to bear. Foreign automakers are helped by government subsidies and protectionist trade, tax and currency rules, Roby said.
"No free market actually exists in the automotive sector -- never has, never will," he wrote.
Coming up: Jim Press, a Chrysler president and vice chairman, is to speak at the APA luncheon Wednesday.
18 models to get 30 m.p.g. or more
For 2009, GM said it will offer 18 models getting at least 30 m.p.g. on the highway:
Chevrolet: Aveo sedan, Aveo5 (34 m.p.g. with automatic or manual); Cobalt coupe and sedan (30 m.p.g. for SS Turbocharged; 33 m.p.g. for 2.2-liter automatic); Cobalt XFE (37); Malibu 2.4 liter (30 m.p.g. with four-speed automatic; 33 m.p.g. with six-speed); Malibu Hybrid (34), HHR (30 with 2.2 liter and automatic or manual) and HHR Panel (30 with 2.2 liter and automatic or manual).
Pontiac: G5 (33 m.p.g. automatic, 35 manual); G5 GT (32 m.p.g. automatic, 35 m.p.g. manual), G5 XFE coupe (37); G6 2.4-liter sedan (30 m.p.g. with four-speed automatic, 33 m.p.g. with six-speed); Vibe (1.8-liter model, 31 with automatic, 32 with manual).
Saturn: Astra 5-door, Astra 3-door (all 30 m.p.g. with automatic, 32 with manual); Aura four-cylinder (33); Aura Hybrid (34), and Vue Hybrid (32).
Coming up: GM celebrates its 100th anniversary Sept. 16.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080907/BUSINESS06/809070398/10- 19/BUSINESS
-Rocky
So when you conduct that experiment in the US, the outcome is likely to be the same - i.e. reduction in choice, higher costs, and ultimately a less competitive economy. The outcome (for the world's most powerful country) can be even worse if other countries continue to trade with each other, and US simply gets cut ouf of the global economy. Also, this experiment is easier to conduct in poorer countries (where the accompanying inefficiencies are not clearly visible due to their already low level of productivity), but in a rich country like the US, the downward adjustment of living standards would be near-cataclysmic in the first few years.
Of course, you would have the satisfaction of everthing being "Made in USA", and a high level of public sector employment (since Governments tend to play a much larger role in such controlled economies). I experienced that in India, and trust me, it is not fun. But yes, it is a matter of philosophical preference, so I am aware that I cannot convince you.....as you cannot convince me.
My previous post was referring to Rocky's statement above - but I feel Rocky you have two issues going on :
1.Globalisation causing job losses
2. CEOs getting a much bigger share of the value that the company generates.
My post was related to 1, and my argument is that not globalizing has some very serious consequences, which you underestimate. Hence my example of experiences in India (the trickle down theory does not work well in a closed economy....).
2 has nothing to do with globalisation, but is a part of the American dream. Look at Fannie and Freddie - nothing can be more domestic than them, yet the CEOs who drove them into the ground will be leaving with generous severance packages (Daniel Mudd gets 10 Mn USD for waking away from Fannie) while the tax payers will be left with the bill.
So if you have strong feelings about 2, no need to blame globalisation for that. Other global companies do not have that problem.
Ain't it the truth, brother! I live with it every day. I'm sure if all these young guys out here had decent-paying union jobs, they wouldn't be out there slingin' rocks and getting locked-up or Glock'd-up! So many great industries have up and left Philly: Budd, General Electric, Merck & Co., Botany 500, After Six, Philco, Whitman Chocolates, Stetson Hat, Baldwin Locomotive, Dodge Steel...and the list goes on and on.
If they don't let the immigration officers do their jobs, don't surprised if someday there won't be roving bands of vigilantes just shooting illegals for sport and leaving their carcasses to rot in the Mojave Desert.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080907_Editorial__The_Economy_People_ar- e_hurting.html