Absolutely, because as you can see, after NAFTA real earnings dropped like a rock.
Posted on 05/26/2005 6:27:37 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Because of Wal-Mart's inadequate wages and benefits, Wal-Mart employees are eligible for $2.5 billion in Federal assistance, which comes from your tax dollars.
(Excerpt) Read more at wakeupwalmart.com ...
Yup, sure hope you take your own advice.
Any luck backing up that made up fact about incomes yet?
Any luck finding the real inflation number? Is it really 90%?
I guess reading is still a skill you can't capture. I already answered you, you'll have the book, page and publisher after I get home. Till then just keep reading this and hope it sinks in.
Yes, you are focusing on what was most of America a couple of generations ago or so.
Most people rented and lived with multiple people to a home.
Most if they had a clunker of a car were grateful.
I think there needs to be a law passed that all government union jobs may not exceed in wage the paycheck and benefits of similar jobs in the private sector.
You'd see the government wage jobs be cut in half by that, and IMO they should be.
Why is WalMart a target, and how is it "we the people" have to pay double wage value with benefits to government workers and unions.
If not for the government cash cow, unions would already be dead now.
Let me know about that inflation book too.
Well said and absolutely correct about public unions and the excessive benefits taxpayers have to pay for public employees.
WalMart give pretty high wages for the industry they are employing people in.
If anything, the poverty pimps that have kept WalMarts out of ghettos would be the biggest criminals. Because of poverty politics, WalMart is out and $5 gallon milk stays in.
It's also felt at the docks with the longshoreman's union where a 4 hour a day job gets a $170,000 a year pay out.
well, yes unfortunately the unions, even though in their inception, the cause was necessary, although now they're notably overpaid and underworked employees. I grew up in a very blue-collar, union-friendly town, and all the guys couldn't wait to graduate, not so they could go to college, but so they could get a union factory job, making total bank and do nothing, with an inability to get fired for doing so. Add in a pension and hey, you have yourself a tidy little nest egg for doing marginal labor and forcing the wage margin up so high that nothing else could match it.
Thanks, but you don't have to defend me. Cleanup is needed on aisle marked with post numbered 752 and aisle with post numbered 763. Notice how they get off on my pain, just like fans get off on peoples' troubles on Oprah and similar shows?
Wal Mart doesn't sell a cleaner strong enough to clean that kind of dirt up.
I worked with lots of people like that. Women were usually the worst, but after having been on FR for awhile, there aren't many gentlemen in the bunch. There are a few in the memory book in my mind that were nice and would never be gleeful over someone else's agony, but they are counted in the minority.
Catch up with ya later. I got my spunk back but it cost me. They don't like that. They like you down so they can kick you in the stomach and pour salt in your wounds. In the case of the male of the species, they get emasculated, not literally but figuratively.
Third domestic dispute in my neck of the woods in as many weeks. Nobody killed this time, but a crazed 19-year-old ran into four squad cars in a two-state chase across a scenic bridge. Shot out all the tires of his car so he took off on foot. Foot chase and he's incarcerated for now. Soon we will know if he makes bail. Some mother's son who may have loved him as much as I love my son.
Nothing unusual. It's happening all over the country and people wonder why.
That's BS put forth by retail unions. Fact is ... there are tow motor operators at WalMart distribution centers around the country that are millionaires ... thanks to WalMart stock option plans.
More so- IF these EMPLOYEES didn't have ANY job at WALMART, then WHAT would be the total WELFARE $$$$$$ we would be dumping into their households to keep them raising another generation of the same??????
The unions are just pissed that they cannot break into Wal Mart and drive them up in prices and out of business.
Someone needs to remind the UNIONS of what happened in the 30's to Kohler plumbing products. I recall that old man Kohler closed the factory for almost 3 years because the "union organizers" were trying to muscle into the place. Kohler was already paying more than ANY OTHER foundry in the region.
When the plant opened up again after all those months, everyone was happy to have a job. The unions have to realize just who is the dinosaur here. Besides, just how many products are sold in Wal-Mart that are produced all or in part by union shops? If Wal-Mart shuts down, how many union jobs will be lost and gone forever?
There are still people in South Bend Indiana who are waiting for Studebaker to re-open.........
I think you ought to do that, only cover more of the country if you can. Use this thread as a backdrop, kind of interweaving, flashback style. Don't quote more than you are allowed or you will be in copyright violation.
As for myself, I need to publish my book of WWII letters. Might give our troops some inspiration. I sincerely regret that I didn't include them in my list of people I stick up for too many posts back. God bless our troops.
Later maybe we should talk more about how they suffer on the home front in their service of our country. It puts a strain on the best of marriages, and they get in trouble financially. During 'Nam, one of my husband's fellow soldiers got into financial difficulties and jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. I saw what some of the others went through and how they were treated as trash and exploited with rent deposits by the locals. About a chapter's worth. They (the troops and their wives) never complained or stuck up for themselves. There was much sadness when one got shipped off to 'Nam and the wife went back home to wait it out and/or file for divorce.
Ah, I wondered when I would hear "that sucking sound". Well, it must be a whisper since Mexicans are still swarming to get into the United States. If they had a healthy economy down there, there would be no reason for them to want to come here.
There must be a need for enough services, products, goods, etc. in this world to employ most everybody if we could just get the world settled down and at peace and get rid of corruption in governments.
You would think so. I hate unions. I don't know why anyone would want to belong to one. A union can't do anything for you that you can't do for yourself except take your money away from you.
They did, they just call the plant Hummer now.
LOL I'm sure Aliska wouldn't like to hear that my friend makes a decent pay check and receives benefits to boot. :^)
I admire you. You have really worked hard and have made your own way in life just like my father and my late husband. You are an excellent role model for your children.
Go ahead and rant. You deserve it! ;)
Very true.
If Walmart annonced it was closing tomorrow, do you think all those "high paying jobs" would suddenly reappear? Not as long as Kmart, Costco, Target etc still were in business selling goods. These people never will learn that high priced labor and huge benefits drove manufacturing out of the country, not Walmart.
One thing America has realized it does not need and that is a large unskilled, unionized labor pool. It will not come back into demand in my lifetime(unless you count the unionized government workers who are a BIG drain on our economy).
You are right on both counts. I did not realize that government workers were unionized! How did that happen?
Sorry so long in responding....I've been working at my slave labor job of planting fruits and vegetables for the evil pickle, preserve and sauce manufacturer I must supply.......and am using seeds and other products purchased at Walmart.
Amazingly everything purchased at Walmart was made in the USA, thus so will the finished products of the fruits of my labor........because not only do I supply the slave labor for hte planting and harvesting - I'm the manufacturer of the products made! Thank you Walmart for assisting me in being able to start a small business thus be able to continue to be a stay-at-home-mom!!!
I totally agree with you about "Oprah" types (I like that title, BTW........ They are generall y lots of fun - for amusement purposes only :)
My grandma always told me "poor is nothing but a state of mind."
Absolutely! My EX-husband is a union truck driver. He used to work for a company that was driven out of business by the union! They wouldn't give any concessions in wages to keep their jobs so what happened??? The company folded. He couldn't understand that just maybe it would be worth giving up a few $$ per hour and still have a job.
While I occassionally will pick up some groceries I Walmart, I do so only if I am there for other things. Walmart is 15 miles away and I have a perfectly good grocery store, that I like very much, only 5 miles away!!!
The Walmart circular came today - they have a particular style of sandal I have been looking for and a particular chair on sale this week - and I want both!!! I also need more seeds and tomato plants!!!! For my specialty herbs and veggies I go to the local nurseries - but I like the seed brand the local WM carries for basics.
That's exactly the attitude I have about this.
Your local Walmart sounds just like the one I shop in - I've run into my state Delegate, who also happens to be my attorney, many of my daughter's teachers, and even some of the wealthier residents of the area. In many ways it's no different than a local 5 & 10 or the hardware store - you're always ging to run into someone you know - or at least meet someone new :)
It also seems that everytime I turn around another new store or restaurant or office is opening up in the vicinity.
I'm glad Mrs.Nooseman has been participating in this thread and setting some of these people straight - whether they believe her or not, at least we know that the impressions we have gotten of the local Walmarts we patronize are not out of the ordinary.
You'll never get an arguement from me about that.
City folks, bless their hearts, just need a little kindness I guess.
BTW - I was born and raised in NYC :)
No, no, no - you can't ask them to get away from their feeeeeeeeelings aagainst Walmart. It doesn't matter what the others pay, only that they believe Walmart doesn't pay anything but the barest minimums (/sarcasm)
Starting hourly wage at the local Walmart is nearly $3.00 and hour more than the identical job in any other local retailer.
That and over-regulation, much of which has been brought on by the enviro-whacko tree huggers and the NIMBY contingent. Then of course you can add in what the trial lawyers have done - and I won't even get into OSHA........
But no - it's all Walmart's fault if you listen to the chicken littles on these threads.
Love your article from The Economist. Bookmarked and saved.
I don't believe in coincidences................
Market is a concept, a convention behind which the real people hide. See my tagline.
Yep,
That is the experience we have here, too!
There are more businesses shooting up all around here and they all seem to like the closeness of WALMART!
Fine, I thought you would. Remember that movie "Reds". Remember "Schindler's List" and the black and white frames with the only color being the little girl in the red coat? A combo like that with b&w photos mixed with colored and two-tones, sepia would be an effective way to present your photos.
Now for narrative, voices such as you can pick up here would tell the story; if you don't quote them but paraphrase them, it's not a copyright violation. Or real people out there like the old people in "Reds" telling their experiences, then the photos. That's just a general outline.
I've got a few more ideas but I just got into a mini dogfight up at the gas station. The bullet proof Plexiglas was down for the night, the clerk was agitated, the guy who I paid $25 to haul my tree stumps the other day was yakking at me and all of a sudden here's the cops, a guy waiting in a car outside for the guy talking to me, the cops special duty guy checking for a counterfeit $10. I offered that they needed a portable scanner, all this in front of the store camera. Smile. Suddenly the guy outside is po'ed because the guy in the store is taking too long, so the inside guy loses it and runs outside going off on the guy in the car. I go out and he's on the pay phone while the guy is backing up the car and I figure he's going to mow down the guy on the phone and pin him to the wall. Then he comes back in the station and I tell him to cool it, that guy out there is acting crazy, I'll give you a ride home, but in front of the cops I tell him if he goes off on me like that, I'm driving him down to the police station. Asked the cops if they were going to cuff anybody and I didn't want to be dragged in as any witness. No, he's free to go so we exit station and I take him home. He's drunk, but not too drunk to have a little chat about unions and that he's thinking of taking a civilian job in Iraq 'cuz they pay $85 thou. I suggested he think long and hard about that because if he gets in trouble, he's on his own and there aren't going to be any rangers coming in to rescue him. Whew. And I thought I'd had enough for one day.
I have to start another book, too, and I wish I had someone like Ann Coulter with her acerbic wit or that Robert Bork guy to help ghostwrite it for me. Nobody will read it, but there will be some good stuff in there. They won't give me the time of day; I'm on my own. I'm going to record the anecdotal material and organize and transcribe it later.
Here's a sample. I once went to a Christmas party out in California during 'Nam and had too much to drink. The big boss, in this case an Air Force Colonel stops by. I tell him he's no damn good and he's fired and get back to partying. He's laughing. Monday I'm a little late for work. I get a call from his secretary to come down, the colonel wants to talk to me. No sweat. I saunter down to his office and sit down in front of him and he proceeds to tell me it's ok, I'm not in trouble and he thought I was late because I was afraid to come to work. So that was that. He's kind of on my good guy list because I could have been fired. There's much, much more of interest to military types . . .that was just a teaser.
And Mr. Landry, out there in Taxachusetts, if you are still alive, you are on my good-guy list. I'll explain why in the book.
Whew again. Time to call it a night. Let me know if your book is feasible or just idle talk.
Could someone please steer me to the emplyer that isnt govt related,who has benefits better than wallmart,and is in the 6.00 to 12.00 hr wage scale? Oh and is'nt a union.
And who decides when people don't have a choice? If someone offered her a job at 10 cents an hour would she take it? Of course not, ergo she has a choice. The problem with minimum wage is it assumes a certain amount of income is fair and another amount is not, across the board. Is digging a ditch in the hot sun for 5 dollars an hour the same as flipping hamburgers? Shouldn't the ditch digger get 6 dollars an hour? What if I offer you a job in my bicycle repair shop for 3 dollars an hour because it's all I can afford to pay you, but you want to take the job because you primary goal is to learn how to fix bicycles? According to the government, you are not allowed to work for me. My point is, when the government gets involved more people have fewer choices, no one is any better off, and more people end up unemployed.
I'd suggest you read Henry Mayhew's The London Poor. It was written in the 1800s, so I believe it's non-copyrighted and should be available free online.
Capitalism, market forces, etc. are powerful engines capable of truly astounding things. We owe most of our modern world to the miracle of capitalism. But there is a dark side to it, which must be mitigated. That's where minimum wage comes in.
If you know how to splice genes, run a complex piece of equipment, cut cancers out of people, create pastries (sic), formulate computer models for movements in the stock market or have one of a thousand other sophisticated skill sets, then the bidding for your services/expertise goes no place but up. On the other hand, if you have a non-sophisticated skill set, even if you are willing to work hard, then the bidding for your services points downward.
If we, as a nation, devolve into a two-tier economic systems, then we'll be in for a rocky road ahead. It'll be like some South American countries where the rich fly in sushi chefs for parties behind high walls manned by armed guards.
Absolutely, because as you can see, after NAFTA real earnings dropped like a rock.
And only the light side of government can stop the dark side of capitalism??? That's funny.
Simple Economics
A minimum wage operates by removing the lowest rung on the economic ladder – it doesn’t just take away current jobs, but also future job opportunities. So how many rungs will Congress knock out this time?
Good for him and you. Too bad you all don't live in Virginia. You don't have to belong to a union to work anywhere. Good luck.
Your Grandma was so right!
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