Most Americans live paycheck to paycheck

a reply to: fleabit

That people would defend this model boggles the mind.

I know ,yet here they are in this thread defending them, must be some sort of Stockholm syndrome , as most of the members here commenting are reasonably intelligent, I guess it could be wilful ignorance but I doubt it.

This is exactly why Union's are so important, , yet we have the minions, at the bottom, bashing unions because they are brainwashed by the anti-union agenda.

Union's is they are well run are looking at all the overall numbers of the companies, and businesses they are working for, then they are able to negotiate good pay rates for them.

The guys at the top are getting huge bonuses, and ridiculous salaries.

Do they deserve outrageous salaries and bonuses while they profit off of other sweat equity, and their underlings are barely getting by paycheck to paycheck?

Divide and conquer. The filthy rich will get richer, unless people wake up a bit.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: toysforadults


The money is being made, but it isn't be shared. This is a major reason you can't afford medical services, everything but wages have gone up.

.

a reply to: Realtruth

Correct. The CEO's don't have their team of people make one decision with out a very specific contract for pay, benefits and what happens when they get canned. So if the CEO needs a contract, shouldn't the rank and file have a one?

originally posted by: jacobe001
Would you care to elaborate?
The most simplistic explanation imho is for the customer to negogiate the price of what he is buying and for the worker to negotiate what is selling his labor for.

When government and foreign trade pacts comes into the picture, if business is allowed to have a say in it, then so should workers and consumers

Consumer: I don't think we should trade with China because their items are low quality
Worker: Supply and Demand will cut into my compensation

If we start with the first premise in the beginning, it has everything to do with money.

Workers and Consumers were not invited to the bargaining table with regard to our trade pacts
It was all done by Corporate Suits

Sure. At different points in the process people have varying levels of power. At the end of the process when a product is being sold for example, the customer has all of the power. Even if it's a necessity, you can always go to another store or another competitor. There's no monopolies on food, water, rent, transportation, etc... all of the power in the transaction lies with the end user.

At other points in the process, such as the hiring process, the business has most, but not all of the power. Any employee can still say no to signing a work contract. This gets a little more tricky though, because the majority of us need an income and interviews tend to be rare. This is why unions formed, in order to bargain collectively. Rather than each person making their own individual deal, the workers could band together and better leverage their ability to say no.

I don't know that we need to go back to unions, but I do think we need workers who can better leverage their ability to say no. In order to do that, we need more jobs so that more people can obtain competing offers. We also need higher quality employees that businesses want to hire.

Quality is the easy part, we just need a better educated work force, and in my opinion a better system to take care of people who just don't want to work, so we can get them out of the employee pool.

Adding more jobs is harder. That requires a better alignment between degrees being produced, and the jobs we want domestically.

Plenty of jobs created now in South Texas.

a reply to: olaru12

I heard that a lot of property owners don't have flood insurance.

I hope Congress is kinder to Texans than they were with Sandy victims.

originally posted by: Aazadan



Sure. At different points in the process people have varying levels of power. At the end of the process when a product is being sold for example, the customer has all of the power. Even if it's a necessity, you can always go to another store or another competitor. There's no monopolies on food, water, rent, transportation, etc... all of the power in the transaction lies with the end user.

Yes, the consumer has all the power on the individual level, but at the macro level, it is managed by Corporations.
The Bilderberg and CFR Meetings are a collection of corporations, banks and politicians deciding the direction of the foreign and domestic markets via policy.

They do not leave the market place to chance and fate when it comes to the Big Players
Small Business on the other hand have to play by the old rules.


The supernational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries.”
David Rockefeller

a reply to: jacobe001

#Bilderburgdid911?

originally posted by: face23785
a reply to: jacobe001

#Bilderburgdid911?

Hehe
No....but the Neocons certainly used it to their benefit.

Zbigniew Brzezinski was a regular attendee at these meetings
Recall when he said the USA needs a new pearl harbor type event in his book the Grand Chessboard
Then a few years later 911 happens...

Zbigniew Brzezinski in his 1997 book had said that for the United States to maintain global primacy, it needed to gain control of Central Asia, with its vast petroleum reserves, and that a new Pearl Harbor would be helpful in getting the US public to support this imperial effort (127-28)

This dream had been articulated by many neoconservatives, or neocons, throughout the 1990s, after the disintegration of the Soviet Union made it seem possible. It was first officially articulated in the Defense Planning Guidance of 1992, drafted by Paul Wolfowitz on behalf of then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney---a document that has been called "a blueprint for permanent American global hegemony"10 and Cheney's "Plan . . . to rule the world."11

Achieving this goal would require four things. One of these was getting control of the world's oil, especially in Central Asia and the Middle East, and the Bush-Cheney administration came to power with plans already made to attack Afghanistan and Iraq. A second requirement was a technological transformation of the military, in which fighting from space would become central. A third requirement was an enormous increase in military spending, to pay for these new wars and for weaponizing space. A fourth need was to modify the doctrine of preemptive attack, so that America would be able to attack other countries even if they posed no imminent threat.

All this being played out exactly as written years ago
Military Spending increased under Obama when you compare it to Bush and it has increased under Trump


www.thenation.com...
America’s Secret War in 134 Countries
JANUARY 16, 2014

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: Realtruth

Correct. The CEO's don't have their team of people make one decision with out a very specific contract for pay, benefits and what happens when they get canned. So if the CEO needs a contract, shouldn't the rank and file have a one?

Absolutely!

I truly hope that people start to see that organizing unions are important for a more than surviving wage. Union's have taken such a beating in the last 50 years, and what is sad is that people that are below minimum wage actually believe that Union's are evil for some reason.

Goes to show ya the power of the elite's and MSM.

For a strong middle-class nation we need Union's for protection.

originally posted by: MOMof3
Homeowners and renters are supporting their community through property taxes that increase every year. So the rich CEOs can get more. The aveage income in Idaho is less than 50k per yr.

Homeowners and renters are supporting their community through property taxes that increase every year. So the Teacher and Public Sector Union members can get more.

Fixed it for you.

a reply to: JIMC5499

Perhaps union workers are the only workers who's wages have kept up with inflation?

Although I can tell you police, fire and teachers are NOT getting rich.

a reply to: JIMC5499

I looked up teachers salary for Idaho. The low is 33k to a high of 66k. Do you think that is too much?

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: JIMC5499

Perhaps union workers are the only workers who's wages have kept up with inflation?

Although I can tell you police, fire and teachers are NOT getting rich.

It varies by the union. Our local grocery chain is unionized. Their wages are $10/hour instead of the 7.40 minimum. They're doing better than some, but considering that if wages had kept up, they would be at $26/hour today... I would argue that they haven't kept up either. Police, fire, and teachers haven't kept up either.

a reply to: Aazadan

Agreed, does anyone here wonder why we can't afford medical care?

It is as simple as the raises that "should" have gone to the workers are now going to the top. OR the job is gone and a 3rd world worker is fattening the profit margin, it was even cheaper to export your job than pay the deflated wages.

Unions are the only peaceful way to solve this.

originally posted by: Aazadan

It varies by the union. Our local grocery chain is unionized. Their wages are $10/hour instead of the 7.40 minimum. They're doing better than some, but considering that if wages had kept up, they would be at $26/hour today... I would argue that they haven't kept up either. Police, fire, and teachers haven't kept up either.

Another fact that is true, many unions have become shadows of their former selves, only to fight for crumbs tossed to them, and to become slaves to their new masters.

I have to say I'm in one of the oldest and strongest unions here in the Detroit area, maybe even the US. Although they do have their problems first year apprentices start at about 18 dollars an hour, plus full benefits after 3 months. The full spectrum medical we receive is equivalent to a $1200 a month policy. We also get about $137 a year every year we work toward a pension, meaning when we retire we get $137 per month for each year we work, plus we can differ 20 k a year tax free into an annuity.

The wage scale goes up every apprentice year to full journeyman at about $40 per hour, and all in with benefits our per hour package is around $63 per hour.

Being Union we have a choice to not work more than 40 hours per week, we have 2 breaks, plus lunch, and if we don't like the employer we are with we can tell them to Feck off, and the next work call be working at the same rate for another employer, most likely in about 2 days.

For the little guy in the USA the Union's are the only way to fly, and the stronger they become the more bargaining power they have.

We need to stop Union bashing and really dig in and understand how they really work for the benefit of the common people.

a reply to: MOMof3

See if you can date that info and see if you can get a breakdown district by district. It might change your mind. It should be public info.

Using economics as a means of trade is not the solution to people wanting a better quality of life.
Using economics is not the solution when trying to get people to cooperate with each other.
People have to be willing to cooperate with each other in order to reach a solution.

One day somebody will be called upon to wipe my ass for me, I hope it will be someone that actually loves and cares for my quality of life as much as their own.

a reply to: JIMC5499

This was the most detailed info I could find. I know they raised a little just recently because they were losing teachers to other states.
The following figures show average salaries for teachers in Idaho, as compared to those in the rest of the country.

Occupation Annual mean wage in Idaho Annual mean wage in U.S.
Business Teachers, Postsecondary $62,120 $119,410
Physics Teachers Postsecondary $70,400 $90,570
Psychology Teachers Postsecondary $50,450 $76,060
Education Teachers Postsecondary $51,240 $65,630
English Language and Literature Teachers Postsecondary $43,700 $68,360
Preschool Teachers Except Special Education $26,600 $31,420
Kindergarten Teachers Except Special Education $42,050 $52,840
Elementary School Teachers Except Special Education $46,260 $56,320
Middle School Teachers Except Special and Career/Technical Education $45,830 $56,630
Secondary School Teachers Except Special and Career/Technical Education $46,510 $58,260
Special Education Teachers Kindergarten and Elementary School $43,230 $56,690
Special Education Teachers Middle School $48,980 $39,370
Special Education Teachers Secondary School $49,180 $39,370

The information below shows how much Idaho teachers can expect to earn in the three biggest cities in the state, according to the most current statistical data.

City Annual mean wage
Boise City – Nampa, ID $37,180
Idaho Fall, ID $31,780
Pocatello, ID $41,530
www.teachingdegree.org...

a reply to: loveguy

I hope you don't need it wiped too soon. As of right now they are paid min wage and are stretched way too thin in the care facilities that cost over $1200 a week.

We are in deep doo doo (no pun intended).