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Old 09-01-2018, 10:35 AM
 
2,129 posts, read 1,776,727 times
Reputation: 8758

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Quote:
Originally Posted by skeddy View Post
life isn't fair and never will be.
Not as long as we insist on being pigs at the trough, crowding everyone else out and hogging all the resources.

Life is as fair as we choose to make it. The fact that an awful lot of people out there insist on using "life isn't fair" as an excuse to make it even MORE unfair for others is reprehensible. We should be doing our level best to MAKE it fair.

Only people can do that for each other. You have to decide to treat others fairly. Instead the majority are still stuck in this "greed is good" mentality and take "life isn't fair" as an excuse to tramp all over others. Who cares, I've got mine, and I'm taking yours, too.
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Old 09-01-2018, 11:47 AM
 
Location: Silicon Valley
7,650 posts, read 4,597,880 times
Reputation: 12708
The problem is unequal risk. To get a skilled manufacturing team means becoming very specialized in a certain portion of a trade. If that company closes its doors, you're in trouble unless you have a similar competitor nearby that's going to be loving the free talent they pull in at a cheaper rate. There's no bargaining power there.

However, as an accountant, my skills are transferable to any industry. So if I go into a division, I get to play with a net, knowing full well that a division's destruction on my part doesn't really hurt me. Same goes with execs, marketing, hr etc....

Current gig I've taken on I already see that I'm working for the takeover team. Lady knows a couple of experts that she feeds overpriced consulting work too. They're actually profiting handsomely cleaning up the last place she was at. As "her" team frees up, she clears the area by setting up that role to fail....and then magically has the replacement. There's no real attempt to actually solve the problems, just use them as handy targets to pin on people. They come in like locusts, consume the company money to make further relationships and enjoy the good life, and then move on to the next company.

The workers that are trying to neutrally just get there things to work are blocked, their best ideas stolen and if they're in bed with opposition they are targeted. In meetings they dominate the agenda, they block out competing discussion, frame opposition as wrong and quickly concur with one another. It's like a play.

Sadly, too many innovative engineering type company founders fall for it. They're so busy trying to get their next innovation to work that they don't have time or experience to monitor their own growing monster. Besides, they are always close, whispering sweet nothings into their ear and building trust. These naive thoughts of not having differing camps make the perfect breeding ground for this type.

This is what destroys companies, and the unequal weighting of need is what keeps Americans struggling.

There is no punishment too great for these silver tongued ones.
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Old 09-01-2018, 07:42 PM
 
Location: Spain
12,722 posts, read 7,574,122 times
Reputation: 22634
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyewackette View Post
Because he can't. The wage date in face shows exactly what the other guy said - that costs are increasing faster than wages. We ARE becoming a low wage, high COL country.
Well, except I DID in this very thread two hours before you posted this claim that I can't. Are you thinking that if you keep repeating a false statement enough times it becomes true? Real wages are generally static, and higher now than any time since the 70s. See chart below, do you understand what "constant dollars" means? If costs are increasing faster than wages, wages in constant dollars would be a downward trend, which it isn't. Feel free to start with the feeble "inflation data is all wrong because I personally spend more at the supermarket and that can be interpolated to represent everyone in the country" battle cry.





Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyewackette View Post
Insisting otherwise is just disingenuous at best.
Irony.
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Old 09-01-2018, 08:11 PM
 
2,129 posts, read 1,776,727 times
Reputation: 8758
Quote:
Originally Posted by lieqiang View Post
Well, except I DID in this very thread two hours before you posted this claim that I can't. Are you thinking that if you keep repeating a false statement enough times it becomes true? Real wages are generally static, and higher now than any time since the 70s. See chart below, do you understand what "constant dollars" means? If costs are increasing faster than wages, wages in constant dollars would be a downward trend, which it isn't. Feel free to start with the feeble "inflation data is all wrong because I personally spend more at the supermarket and that can be interpolated to represent everyone in the country" battle cry.





Irony.
The charts you originally posted show EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what you claim they show.

It is clear from the original post that COL keeps going up but wages have been flat relative to COL.

Like I said - claiming otherwise is disingenuous.

You need to look up the definition of "irony" as well, since it is clear you have no idea what that means either.
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Old 09-01-2018, 08:22 PM
 
23,177 posts, read 12,216,625 times
Reputation: 29354
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyewackette View Post
The charts you originally posted show EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what you claim they show.

It is clear from the original post that COL keeps going up but wages have been flat relative to COL.

Like I said - claiming otherwise is disingenuous.

You need to look up the definition of "irony" as well, since it is clear you have no idea what that means either.

Hahaha, it is YOU that doesn't understand the chart you are looking at. The wages are expressed in 2018 dollars so if that remains constant it means the wages are rising proportionately to costs. If wages had been flat but costs had been increasing then purchasing power could not have remained steady. What you are seeing are two lines expressed in different measurement units. Read the Notes.

It's a misleading chart though because both variables should have been expressed in constant dollars or both should have been in real dollars.


Btw, if wages are flat relative to COL that means you are not any worse off.
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Old 09-01-2018, 09:20 PM
 
Location: USA
185 posts, read 143,290 times
Reputation: 374
Quote:
Originally Posted by ddm2k View Post
Vices and addictions, whether legal or otherwise, are telltale signs of an individual's impulsiveness. This can be drugs, tobacco, alcohol, or even an addiction to expensive caffeine beverages such as Starbucks lattes or energy drinks. The inability to cut these products out of your budget when making room for rent and utilities indicates a spending behavior problem that must be addressed before one can claim that they are indeed struggling.

On the flip side, we have seen expenses of many goods and services rise well above inflation:

- Your cell phone and cable bill now look like a car payment
- Your car payment and health insurance now look like a mortgage payment
- Your mortgage payment now looks like a biweekly paycheck

I've tracked the numbers, average household and per capita income has been slowly increasing while these expenses are out of control and outpacing income.

There are a few things that are important to me, so I pick and choose those things to my preference. For the things that aren't as important, it hurts less to compromise on them.

Pick the right employer - my cellphone is subsidized 50% and employee health contributions are capped at 15% of the total cost of premiums.

I make $88,600 but I just bought a $1600 car with less than 100,000 miles, working a/c, and no body damage. The loan amount I took on my home is 1:1 with my annual income.


Very nice for you, congrats.

Strong Economy just means that those who own it are going strong. And hint: its not the poor and never will be.

Our problem is that the middle class is being demoted to working poor and poor (sadly, they all think they're still middle class ---- chuckles). Another hint: There's only room in the top 20% for..... wait for it..... 20 percent! The bottom 80 will always be the bottom 80.

So your $89K pay is probably in the top 10%, or above the other 90%. Now if the other 90% went from $89K to a low of $70K, it wouldn't be so bad, would it? Then they too, could buy a $1600 car for cash, and borrow one year's pay for a home. But here's the problem: the floor isn't $70K, IT'S ZERO OR LESS. And that fall from $89K/yr to less than $30K/yr is FAST! I'm making a number up, but probably the bottom 40% earn $30K or LESS per year.

As the income inequality gap continues to increase, the bottom 40% will become the bottom 70%. Ouch.

So, since you're doing great @ your $89K job, HOW MANY OF THOSE JOBS ARE AVAILABLE?? Hint: not that many... About the same number that we have now. However, you need to continue to save. Technology continues to enable employers to CUT those jobs and re-introduce them at lower paying levels like $49K/yr (with 10 yrs exp).
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Old 09-02-2018, 04:13 AM
 
Location: Spain
12,722 posts, read 7,574,122 times
Reputation: 22634
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyewackette View Post
The charts you originally posted show EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of what you claim they show.

It is clear from the original post that COL keeps going up but wages have been flat relative to COL.

Incredible. You either don't know how to read a chart or don't understand the concept of constant dollars. Then you hilariously keep doubling down by saying others don't understand it.



Hint = if wages weren't keeping up with cost of living the green line would be going down, because purchasing power would fall. If you keep looking at it and concentrate real hard maybe you'll be able to wrap your head around it.
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Old 09-02-2018, 04:15 AM
 
Location: Spain
12,722 posts, read 7,574,122 times
Reputation: 22634
Quote:
Originally Posted by oceangaia View Post
Hahaha, it is YOU that doesn't understand the chart you are looking at. The wages are expressed in 2018 dollars so if that remains constant it means the wages are rising proportionately to costs.
I know right? Basic stuff, yet apparently it is bewildering to some.
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Old 09-02-2018, 04:18 AM
 
106,668 posts, read 108,810,853 times
Reputation: 80159
so wages go up with inflation to match but the claim is wages are not going up ?

that makes zero sense . if wages did not go up you would be earning a fraction of what you are today .

the same old job should not be worth anymore then it was in real wages and in fact may be worth less with automation today so except for keeping up or close to inflation why should that same job be worth more in inflation adjusted dollars ? it shouldn't is the answer
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Old 09-02-2018, 06:20 AM
 
Location: Twin Cities
2,388 posts, read 2,340,968 times
Reputation: 3093
Quote:
Originally Posted by mysticaltyger View Post
These articles always cherry pick the most sympathetic cases and ignore all the others where people are just stupid or reckless. Or worse, they try to make reckless people into victims.
Exactly. One big reason why the recession/housing crash happened was due to stupid reckless people spending more than they could afford.
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