Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 01-07-2013, 10:04 PM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,572,966 times
Reputation: 101051

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan View Post
Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers (Update3) - Bloomberg
A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said.

Ahh, so owners of a private company committed fraud against the US military, was caught, charged, and the owners convicted. Doesn't sound like the Pentagon was "OK" with this fraud.

The Pentagon was expected to be able to recoup the losses from the company's assets.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-07-2013, 10:06 PM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,572,966 times
Reputation: 101051
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darkatt View Post
So, what does a lower enlisted get paid? Add in the benefits, housing, comrats, etc. Tell me what you come up with.

Military Compensation: Army Benefits and Pay | GoArmy.com

That's an E-5 with 4 years of service,

An E-3 is probably only 14- 16K less.

BTW, I started out in 1980 as an E-1, and when I made E-3 I was making a bit over 600 a month, basic pay only. After completion of submarine school, and assignment to a submarine, I was making a comfortable income. When I got married, in 85, that income, along with base housing, was comfortable for my wife and I, and even more so, when we had out first child, 2 years later, as an E-4, working towards E-5.
That's nice.

Like I said, some of the lower ranks QUALIFY for food stamps and WIC. In my opinion, and apparently the federal government's opinion as well, those men and women are not well paid.

It's a temporary problem - solved by time in service and progression through the ranks. But it's still a problem at the time for many young families.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-07-2013, 11:24 PM
 
Location: Great State of Texas
86,052 posts, read 84,321,515 times
Reputation: 27718
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon View Post
Ahh, so owners of a private company committed fraud against the US military, was caught, charged, and the owners convicted. Doesn't sound like the Pentagon was "OK" with this fraud.

The Pentagon was expected to be able to recoup the losses from the company's assets.
Think..someone OK'd that $998K to ship the washers.

Just imagine the fraud that is not getting caught ?

Of course they got caught. How else would we even know of this ?
One small fish in the sea of defense contractors.

That's like catching Bernie Madoff and saying "Wall Street's problems are all solved now. We caught the guy."
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-07-2013, 11:29 PM
 
7,359 posts, read 5,453,393 times
Reputation: 3142
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheHurricaneKid View Post
Explain to me...

Even if the work is "entry-level", how do you suggest minimum wage is used to live to "start out" and how would such a person gain skills and such?
The obvious answer is the answer. By going to school. We have guaranteed student loans. This includes trade schools, not just college. And the loans cover living expenses, not just tuition and books.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-07-2013, 11:35 PM
 
10,553 posts, read 9,629,169 times
Reputation: 4784
Quote:
Originally Posted by kidkaos2 View Post
The obvious answer is the answer. By going to school. We have guaranteed student loans. This includes trade schools, not just college. And the loans cover living expenses, not just tuition and books.
Not everyone in the world has the time and energy to work full-time and go to school.

And as I already posted some people are already working in the job of their choice, like child-care workers, who make a median hourly wage of ~ $9.86 an hour. Many of them already have associates degrees in Early Childhood Education. It's important work, and we need child-care workers, yet many are not paid a living wage.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 01:17 AM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,652 posts, read 60,572,966 times
Reputation: 101051
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan View Post
Think..someone OK'd that $998K to ship the washers.

Just imagine the fraud that is not getting caught ?

Of course they got caught. How else would we even know of this ?
One small fish in the sea of defense contractors.

That's like catching Bernie Madoff and saying "Wall Street's problems are all solved now. We caught the guy."
I never said that the problem was solved. I have already clearly stated that there is massive waste and fraud rampant through every part of our Federal government - including but not limited to our defense department.

The fraud was noticed. The fraudulent contractors were sentenced. The money was recouped. I would hope that whatever idiot(s) OK'd the bill were also punished. Do you know if they were or if they weren't?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 01:27 AM
 
7,359 posts, read 5,453,393 times
Reputation: 3142
Quote:
Originally Posted by ellemint View Post
Not everyone in the world has the time and energy to work full-time and go to school.

And as I already posted some people are already working in the job of their choice, like child-care workers, who make a median hourly wage of ~ $9.86 an hour. Many of them already have associates degrees in Early Childhood Education. It's important work, and we need child-care workers, yet many are not paid a living wage.
Then they shouldn't be child care workers. That's about all I can say. It sounds callous, but I don't mean it that way. What we can't do is set minimum wage laws so high that small businesses cannot afford to employ people. Some people will fall through the cracks. That's unavoidable, and there should be a safety net for them. But supermarkets, for example, simply couldn't function if they had to pay the bagboys $40k salaries.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 01:36 AM
 
10,553 posts, read 9,629,169 times
Reputation: 4784
Quote:
Originally Posted by kidkaos2 View Post
Then they shouldn't be child care workers. That's about all I can say. It sounds callous, but I don't mean it that way. What we can't do is set minimum wage laws so high that small businesses cannot afford to employ people. Some people will fall through the cracks. That's unavoidable, and there should be a safety net for them. But supermarkets, for example, simply couldn't function if they had to pay the bagboys $40k salaries.
They shouldn't be child care workers, they shouldn't be waiters, they shouldn't be janitors --- the problem is we need those people. We need someone to do those jobs! And if they work hard at those jobs full-time it should be enough of a wage not to leave them in poverty. You can argue all you want about it only being temporary (which it's often not), and that people should better themselves (which circumstances don't always allow), but the reality is that some people work at these jobs for their entire lives.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 02:06 AM
 
Location: California
37,097 posts, read 42,098,467 times
Reputation: 34962
Quote:
Originally Posted by ellemint View Post
They shouldn't be child care workers, they shouldn't be waiters, they shouldn't be janitors --- the problem is we need those people. We need someone to do those jobs! And if they work hard at those jobs full-time it should be enough of a wage not to leave them in poverty. You can argue all you want about it only being temporary (which it's often not), and that people should better themselves (which circumstances don't always allow), but the reality is that some people work at these jobs for their entire lives.
Many people doing those jobs are not living in poverty. They must be doing something different than the people doing those jobs who are living in poverty. What do you think the difference is?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 02:48 AM
 
7,359 posts, read 5,453,393 times
Reputation: 3142
Quote:
Originally Posted by ellemint View Post
They shouldn't be child care workers, they shouldn't be waiters, they shouldn't be janitors --- the problem is we need those people. We need someone to do those jobs! And if they work hard at those jobs full-time it should be enough of a wage not to leave them in poverty. You can argue all you want about it only being temporary (which it's often not), and that people should better themselves (which circumstances don't always allow), but the reality is that some people work at these jobs for their entire lives.
You only responded to one sentence out of my post. What about the rest? Sure it would be great to pay everyone a living wage for any job, but how do you propose to afford that? The majority of jobs created in the nation are from small business, not giant corporations with hundreds of millions in profits.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Politics and Other Controversies
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:06 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top