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The myth that banks approved loans due to lower standards has been widely debunked. Most the lending institutions involved in the mortgage fiasco were not even subject to those rules. They were operating in free market style and not forced to approve loans to any unqualified applicants. Plus, sub prime loans actually performed better during the crisis.
Bottom line is that everyone involved from applicants to appraisers to WS investment banks were on a money grab and cared not what the fallout was.
If we learned anything, it was that these huge institutions could not even be trusted to look out for their own self interest. Making the very concept of libertarian free market economics laughable. Human behavior is the main component of economics and clearly humans cannot be trusted not to take the whole system to it's knees for short term gains.
What was the total value of mortgages held by Fannie and Freddie right before the implosion?
I opt to avoid those services anytime possible. I like self checkouts (used 2 yesterday), and self ordering kiosks (used 1 yesterday).
Did a machine stock the shelves? Keep them relatively organized throughout the day? Did a machine go through any perishables and pull the out-of-date items off the shelf?
Did a machine wander the parking lot periodically to retrieve carts that were not returned inside?
If you ran into an issue with a purchased item, would a machine be handling the return or replacement?
Self order kiosk? For food? By chance did a machine make the food for you?
Because unless all of that is happening, regardless of whether or not you dealt with a cashier... you were still demanding and using the services of low-income employees. Completely serious, perhaps instead of snubbing those types of jobs, how about learning to be grateful for the services they render and how it makes your life that much more convenient?
Sure, some people work at places like McD's or Walmart because they are "lazy" and "uneducated", but I absolutely do implore you to try and get to know some of the associates at the stores you shop at most often. Right now, you're losing the chance to hear some pretty amazing (and some tragic) stories because you're too busy looking down on them.
For all of you who think that a decent minimum wage kills businesses, consider one example that is contrary to that myth.........Costco. Costco's MINIMUM starting wage is $11.50 per hour, and the average salary is $21.50 per hour. Costco is thriving and has VERY LOYAL employees. A while back their CEO gave his bonus back to the company and had it divided up among the employees.
However, most companies are greedy and, while their CEOs are making multi million dollar paychecks and huge bonuses, the people in the trenches make starvation wages. The CEO of the company I work for makes $1.6 million a year, plus bonuses, and we start people at minimum wage and they do not end up making much more than that after a lot of years of service.
A decent wage CAN be paid, but companies have to start thinking differently. All this doom and gloom over businesses failing is stupid. If companies want to be in business they have to step up and pay their people a wage that lets them live a somewhat normal life. The owners of these businesses just need to change their way of thinking.
Another example would be Aldi's and Lidl. Their lowest paid employees, cashiers, are starting at $12/hr. Full benefits package. Yeeeeet their prices on most things is even cheaper than Walmart.
Lidl just opened up last Thursday, but our Aldi's has been going strong since December.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobNJ1960
Aides jobs will be here. I see no need for any more immigration.
Aide jobs pay crap.
Or perhaps you didn't realize that the median salary for a caregiver is $10/hr? And there are caregivers earning <$9/hr?
The result of one early experiment in a citywide $15 minimum wage is an ominous sign for the state’s poorer inland counties as the statewide wage floor creeps toward the mark.
Consider San Francisco, an early adopter of the $15 wage. It’s now experiencing a restaurant die-off, minting jobless hash-slingers, cashiers, busboys, scullery engineers and line cooks as they get pink-slipped in increasing numbers. And the wage there hasn’t yet hit $15.
...
A recent study by Michael Luca at Harvard Business School and Dara Lee Luca at Mathematica Policy Research found that every $1 hike in the minimum wage brings a 14 percent increase in the likelihood of a 3.5-star restaurant on Yelp! closing.
Many on C-D, like myself, have been claiming that job losses will happen with high minimum wages. There is still time to reverse course for those who would rather have people working than forcing business to pay labor more than certain jobs are worth.
Can we apply the same principle to manufacturing jobs. You should get paid whatever it's worth to put a brake pad on box or drive a forklift.
Its not contempt. Its reality. Cashiers are going away to automation. Deal with it. FF cooks, too. Deal with it. Stockers too..deal with it.
I do not see elderly aides automated.
Years ago, Paul Fussell in his critique of the U.S. class system noted that self-service means no service. Sometimes, I think that the stress on self-service in the U.S. has to do with Americans being so bad (and getting worse) at personal interactions.
Did a machine stock the shelves? Keep them relatively organized throughout the day? Did a machine go through any perishables and pull the out-of-date items off the shelf?
Did a machine wander the parking lot periodically to retrieve carts that were not returned inside?
If you ran into an issue with a purchased item, would a machine be handling the return or replacement?
Self order kiosk? For food? By chance did a machine make the food for you?
Because unless all of that is happening, regardless of whether or not you dealt with a cashier... you were still demanding and using the services of low-income employees. Completely serious, perhaps instead of snubbing those types of jobs, how about learning to be grateful for the services they render and how it makes your life that much more convenient?
Sure, some people work at places like McD's or Walmart because they are "lazy" and "uneducated", but I absolutely do implore you to try and get to know some of the associates at the stores you shop at most often. Right now, you're losing the chance to hear some pretty amazing (and some tragic) stories because you're too busy looking down on them.
No one shops to hear stories, nor should they. Like any other job, at store, employees simply provide a service. No customer should be grateful, as they are buying the right to the time of employees. Just like in any service job.
No one shops to hear stories, nor should they. Like any other job, at store, employees simply provide a service.
Well, that's where you're wrong. There's many people that get to know the longtime employees of their favorite stores. Makes shopping that much more enjoyable. And gets ya better customer service.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobNJ1960
No customer should be grateful, as they are buying the right to the time of employees. Just like in any service job.
Well, then that's the big difference between you and I. Whether it's the person folding clothes in softlines or the cashier scanning my items, I can appreciate how their work makes my life that much more convenient. But hey, you do you. But I can assure ya that I get far better customer service and have left many a store with extra freebies. Amazing how being nice is beneficial for everyone.
Also, to double down. It's pretty gross to look down on someone while simultaneously demanding their services.
Well, then that's the big difference between you and I. Whether it's the person folding clothes in softlines or the cashier scanning my items, I can appreciate how their work makes my life that much more convenient. But hey, you do you. But I can assure ya that I get far better customer service and have left many a store with extra freebies. Amazing how being nice is beneficial for everyone.
Also, to double down. It's pretty gross to look down on someone while simultaneously demanding their services.
My preference is first online shopping followed by self checkout. I patronize stores I know well, so I need not ask where something is. Online discounts are often spectacular. My last jcp.com order arrived at my door for 45% less than the lowest price in a jcp..due to coupons online being far superior.
I like Amazon, also. When I want something today, Wal Mart is perfect for me.
Ironically, the fact that wages are so low is doing exactly that, handing many of these jobs to third world immigrants, legal and illegal. They are willing to do unappealing work for very low wages.
Back around 1990, a former employer suggested that the former Soviet Bloc countries were perfectly situated to provide cheap long term care for American Boomers as they age
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Amazing how being nice is beneficial for everyone.
