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No person in their right mind envies or is jealous...It is a form of insanity. You can envy and be jealous all you want and it does not change a thing.
Would you want the heirs of the Walmart estate to repay the taxpayer subsidies they get from paying substandard wages? I mean, shouldn't a full time job pay enuf that the worker doesnt live in poverty and qualify for public assistance. Shouldn't Walmart et al fund that public aid they benefit from?
Maybe if it wasn't for Walmart, some of these people wouldn't even have jobs? Did you ever consider that? I mean with 2.2M employees I am sure that is a very possible scenario, especially considering some of their workers are not really of the highest and/or most valuable skill sets.
I don't understand how in your eyes it becomes the responsibility of the private sector to make up the gap for what is likely the result of a failed educational system, poor parenting, poor life decisions or a variety of other scenarios. Walmart is in business to make money, part of that is finding the equilibrium between salary, profits, and happy workers.
Plenty of their more skilled workers make good money, there are store managers, pharmacists, and corporate employees that make $100k+ all employeed by big bad evil Walmart.
See, this is certainly true, but by stopping there, that's what ticks me off about conservatives who want to blame me for not being a whiz-bang genius entrepreneur.
I could have been born with some skills that are marketable in this day and age. Silly me!
Darn my parents, they gave all the science and math genes to my brothers, and I got all the esoteric writing genes from a more distant side of the family. (Who, as it happens, were quite famous in an earlier era when intelligence and academics were revered, instead of reality TV stars. Go figure. )
Anyway, I never expected to be rich, because I always knew that my skillset would never allow me to become Bill Gates. I also never expected my salary/earning power to become less and less as my 40s wore on until I am now in my mid-50s and making $20,000 a year less than I did 10 years ago. And then I'm told repeatedly by rightwingers that it's my fault and I should get off my butt and start a company, that it's my fault I was laid off twice in the '00s, that health issues without insurance would eat up my children's college fund, and so on and on. I should just suck it up, dammit.
Yep, that really frosts my cookies. Some people just aren't cut out to invent Facebook. Some people fall on hard times in this country no matter how hard they work. Not everyone who struggles to succeed is lazy. Why is that so hard to understand?
I don't even have an Obamaphone. [pout]
That's the one thing everyone seems to ignore in all this talk of "you too could be rich if you weren't so lazy and instead worked your butt off, or started your own company, or got educated" .
If you don't already have money, getting the capital to start a business is a big challenge. Donald Trump didn't start from scratch, his father was already a wealthy developer. The majority of new small businesses fail within the first two years despite all the blood, sweat and tears that go into them. Not everyone can go back to school when they're working and supporting a family. Not everyone is cut out to get advanced degrees. Not everyone has perfect health and unlimited energy. Many perfectly hard-working, intelligent people get laid off and struggle to find employment again.
Dude, your blog "story" based theory LIE on the same wiki-answer site... In fact if you had double checked your lame blogger's source you could have avoided the embarrassment.
So what makes your "lame source" true and mine false, if they are one and the same? Furthermore, my link included other links to Moochelle's outrageous spending including .gov documents.
Maybe if it wasn't for Walmart, some of these people wouldn't even have jobs? Did you ever consider that? I mean with 2.2M employees I am sure that is a very possible scenario, especially considering some of their workers are not really of the highest and/or most valuable skill sets.
I don't understand how in your eyes it becomes the responsibility of the private sector to make up the gap for what is likely the result of a failed educational system, poor parenting, poor life decisions or a variety of other scenarios. Walmart is in business to make money, part of that is finding the equilibrium between salary, profits, and happy workers.
Plenty of their more skilled workers make good money, there are store managers, pharmacists, and corporate employees that make $100k+ all employeed by big bad evil Walmart.
I'm not saying we don't need retail workers. America needs its "unskilled" labour pool. I don't see retail workers as failures. People have different abilities, skills, inclinations and opportunities.
I do think though that the people working those jobs should at least make a living wage. Otherwise, as I've already noted, they are forced to rely on public assistance and the taxpayers are subsidizing Walmart's profits. I mean, do you think that is a good use of taxpayer's money?
Nope not in my nature to be like that, or to judge those who have more then i. Actually i applaud those i know who have and are sucessful.
I have very sucessful wealthy friends, but on the other spector, i have many many middle class friends also. I don't judge the friends i have, by the clothes on their back, or who has the larger home. I don't care. How they got to be sucessful, i do, a lot of very long hard working hours, and a lot of college. Going to College, i knew a lot of these people also worked 2 and 3 jobs at the same time they were in College. I know people who have dreams and goals, but have achieved them. Anyone can say they have a dream, but to actually achieve that dream, is a great achievement i think.
Some of these people saved for college from the time they were very young, for they did come from a two working family household. As did i, a lot of working hours, taking care of kids, the home, the bills have to be paid, and everything else.
I think to hold on to envy, or to put those down, who have achieved status and wealth, is not good for the soul. It really isn't.
We have worked hard to have our own business, and there were many many sacrifices while we were young. We did without, because we knew one day, where we wanted to be. It truly was going without, buying things on sale, actually everything on sale. Wearing handouts, getting a car repossessed, actually a prized classic mustang, i have been there.
I know where we are today, and every second of going without, i made sure my kids had everything they needed, but i and hubby went without. I have been there on both sides of the specturm. I have been where we struggled every day, hard times paying bills, i have been there. But what did i do about that. Worked 2 jobs on the side, did craft work on the side and sold it. Worked nights at a Montessori School, cleaning and doing janitorial, worked for a Christian School, watching children, so i have been there.
I have no regrets about where we are today, or how we got here, we are in a pretty good place, not Wealthy by todays's standards, but live very comfortable. And i care not about what others think about where we live, or what we own, or how we got here. I have learned in life, you have to do for youself, and what is good for your family.
The most important thing, is if you are not happy from inisde, and if you put others down for what they have, and envy, that is so not good. Do for youself, what others can't do for you.
I'm not saying we don't need retail workers. America needs its "unskilled" labour pool. I don't see retail workers as failures. People have different abilities, skills, inclinations and opportunities.
I do think though that the people working those jobs should at least make a living wage. Otherwise, as I've already noted, they are forced to rely on public assistance and the taxpayers are subsidizing Walmart's profits. I mean, do you think that is a good use of taxpayer's money?
Not saying we dont need retail workers? Where did you get that from, I never implied that you said that.
Retail workers are failures? Never said that either. In fact I worked in retail for 6+ years in HS and College and credit that work experience with a lot of my success today although I'm not doing anything retail related. It is a great starting point for understanding how to work with peers and how to make your manager happy and show the value you add and how invaluable you can be by working hard. It also gave me a great starting point for investing and saving for retirement. Retail jobs are essential especially for those with no work experience just starting out.
I will not answer your question in bold because that is NOT what is happening, regardless of how many times you want to post that Huffington Post article. Walmart is in business to make money, the labor pool that they have access to has an incredibly low amount of competition, and the value that some of the workers add to the business do not warrant the additional cost of paying them more. Walmart is 100% within their legal rights to pay their employees what they do, and they do it above the legal requirement in many cases.
In regards to your "living wage" you never sufficiently addressed the issues around that which I presented yesterday, but I'll repost to see if you have more than a one sentence generic and unrealistic answer:
Quote:
Originally Posted by t206
Please explain to me how a living wage works, I have the following questions:
1. Does a single working mother with 2 kids get a higher wage than a single working mother with 1 kid if they both work just as hard?
2. Does a single woman that has a new car and lives in an expensive apartment get a higher wage than a single woman that has an old car with no payments and lives at home with her parents?
3. Does an employee with huge student loan debt get a higher wage than an employee that didn't go to school and has no debt or isn't currently paying for school?
4. What happens if one of the single parents has a child that turns 18 and gets their own job and is now out on their own, does the parent get a cut in pay?
5. Who should pay the difference for the extra labor costs that these wage increases? You the consumer, or should the employer take in less profit now?
Assume all of these people work equally as hard and in the same positions, how do you calculate their "livable wage" for them?
Not saying we dont need retail workers? Where did you get that from, I never implied that you said that.
Retail workers are failures? Never said that either. In fact I worked in retail for 6+ years in HS and College and credit that work experience with a lot of my success today although I'm not doing anything retail related. It is a great starting point for understanding how to work with peers and how to make your manager happy and show the value you add and how invaluable you can be by working hard. It also gave me a great starting point for investing and saving for retirement. Retail jobs are essential especially for those with no work experience just starting out.
I will not answer your question in bold because that is NOT what is happening, regardless of how many times you want to post that Huffington Post article. Walmart is in business to make money, the labor pool that they have access to has an incredibly low amount of competition, and the value that some of the workers add to the business do not warrant the additional cost of paying them more. Walmart is 100% within their legal rights to pay their employees what they do, and they do it above the legal requirement in many cases.
In regards to your "living wage" you never sufficiently addressed the issues around that which I presented yesterday, but I'll repost to see if you have more than a one sentence generic and unrealistic answer:
I thought I just put in a link to a definition of living wage, maybe it was another thread.
"In public policy, a living wage or subsistence wage is the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet basic needs (for an extended period of time or for a lifetime). These needs include shelter (housing) and other incidentals such as clothing and nutrition. In some nations such as the United Kingdom and Switzerland, this standard generally means that a person working forty hours a week, with no additional income, should be able to afford a specified quality or quantity of housing, food, utilities, transport, health care, and recreation."
And no, a living wage would not be designed for all kinds of different circumstances as described in your list of questions. It is based on the above. Some definitions state that a living wage should be enough to support a family on, but most, like the above are for an individual.
And there is a ton of information on the internet about the number of Walmart workers on food stamps, on Medicaid, and other public assistance. Just google it. I'm not making it up.
When you see a rich person do you feel anger, jealousy or bitterness?
No.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ObserverNY
I absolutely do not envy, begrudge, despise or feel anger towards the wealthy. Furthermore, I believe our Commander in Chief should have some class:
Maobama needs a lot more than a shoe shine!
Hmmm, you post a picture of Obama wearing what is obviously an old pair of shoes, and yet if he was wearing a new pair of shoes you'd be lamenting how much he spends on shoes. Seriously deranged.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ObserverNY
Blah blah blah Moochelle......
How disrespectful to refer to the First Lady is such a derogatory fashion
I thought I just put in a link to a definition of living wage, maybe it was another thread.
"In public policy, a living wage or subsistence wage is the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet basic needs (for an extended period of time or for a lifetime). These needs include shelter (housing) and other incidentals such as clothing and nutrition. In some nations such as the United Kingdom and Switzerland, this standard generally means that a person working forty hours a week, with no additional income, should be able to afford a specified quality or quantity of housing, food, utilities, transport, health care, and recreation."
And no, a living wage would not be designed for all kinds of different circumstances as described in your list of questions. It is based on the above. Some definitions state that a living wage should be enough to support a family on, but most, like the above are for an individual.
And there is a ton of information on the internet about the number of Walmart workers on food stamps, on Medicaid, and other public assistance. Just google it. I'm not making it up.
Sorry, but that is a total joke to think that Walmart should somehow be responsible to feed, clothe, and put shelter over the head of every employee they have. That is not, and should not be their role. Their role is to pay workers commensurate to the value they provide to the business. Some people just do not have the skill set to earn the money that it takes, and this is NOT Walmart's problem just because they decided to go into business, nor would it be my problem if I opened up a store with 2 workers.
But basically you think that regardless of work output, everyone should be paid the same minimum wage that would be significantly higher than what it is today? I'm sure there are plenty of Walmart workers and workers for other companies that are on social assistance programs, but again, that is not for the private sector to be held legally accountable for.
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When you see a rich person do you feel anger, jealousy or bitterness?
