Dunkin' Donuts Worker's Death Reveals The True Cost Of Our Low-Wage, Part-Time Economy

a reply to: beezzer

Give me a break!

Corporations!

Again.

Who makes the laws?

Who?

WHO MAKES THE LAWS?

Corporations do, the elected just propose and pass them... then their buddies regulate them. How are these facts even remotely deniable or debatable anymore?

what a horrible story.

She had EXTRA gas in her car so she could work?

Thats a horrible and terrible situation never mind the fact she died from it.

What a total trooper working like that to live. She needs a medal not a funeral.

originally posted by: beezzer
Okay pork chops!

We've isolated the issue.

Poor woman, working 4 jobs, died.

But focusing on Reagan, lower taxes, economics of the 80's is like having a person come into the ER bleeding from the abdomen.

Some are arguing to put bigger and bigger bandages on the wound.

Others are blaming the knife.

No-one is looking at ways to STOP THE BLEEDING!

So gee golly!

What are your brilliant suggestions, ATS?

beezer you're right....dumb ass woman didn't have the right approach, and that led her down this tragic path to her death...she should have been a lot smarter than this, nothing or nobody else is to blame...crap happens, right?....(sarcasm intended)

originally posted by: BlubberyConspiracy
Automation makes labor less and less required in our world today

That statement right there is why we better sort this # out...because in the not too distant future, there won't be a need for even low wage employees. Just as soon as *any* worker can be replaced by a robot. - they are.

Then what?

originally posted by: eManym
I always considered low wage unskilled service jobs as starter jobs for those moving into the job force or older workers using that type of employment to supplement their retirement. Apparently many are choosing these types of jobs as a career choice.

For many it's not a choice. It's the only option.

It surprises me that these workers are demanding wages that entry level skilled workers make.

They are demanding a liveable wage so they don't have to work 100 hour weeks.

For people that work these jobs that have the opportunity to better themselves, why don't they have the motivation to raise their standard of living?

Thus the 4 jobs.

I understand the economy is bad but for someone working four jobs, it wouldn't last long because sleep deprivation has its problems.

Agreed. But people do what they have to do to survive. I know tons of people with multiple jobs. I worked 3 jobs and went to college part time. The other option is to ask for a handout. So there is the rub...to work for one's better life or to ask for government assistance? Which one is the better choice?

I worked 3 jobs for almost ten years not only to support my family, but to also make sure my wife could stay home to raise the kids. There were times that I didn't have the time or gas to go home to get a little sleep....so I crashed in my truck in the parking lot.

Nothing but respect for this woman and sad that she had to go out like this.

There's definitely a problem in America today. Hard work and an education doesn't cut it anymore...and we no longer make products to sell to the world. We flip burgers, wait tables, sell insurance and screw each other with crappy bank loans.

We have lost what made America great......the ability to work at the factory or the local shop and make enough money to feed the family and take them to Yellowstone for a couple weeks every summer. Now we work our lives away and hope that someday we can retire, but we will have to find a job when we retire because the money we paid into social security will not cut it.

But hey, what do I know. Just tighten your bootstraps and get back to work!

originally posted by: kosmicjack

originally posted by: BlubberyConspiracy
Automation makes labor less and less required in our world today

That statement right there is why we better sort this # out...because in the not too distant future, there won't be a need for even low wage employees. Just as soon as *any* worker can be replaced by a robot. - they are.

Then what?

i would go as far as to say move into the elites hidey holes,take over the deep underground bunkers using squatters rights and let them fight it out on the surface while we watch it on their big ass tv screens...

hang on a second maybe thats what they have planned for us....

not possible i am just paranoid....

originally posted by: eriktheawful
Yep. Between SS and Fed Tax, comes to about 14.4% of each pay check.

Depending on your wage, that can add up to quite a bit of money that one would have, if it were not being taken out.

For my wife, that would be 2 weeks of food (for a family of 4), or several tanks of gas in the car, or a large chunk of say, the power bill.

Certainly someone on minimum wage could most certainly use that money back in their paycheck.

You are mistaken. There is a hidden 8% social security tax not shown on every paycheck. Social Security is a way of taking away 16% of everyone's money and then giving it back 40 years later at 0% interest. I'm not sure how someone could be considered "helped" by that. Its very obviously a scam that involves extortion and racketeering when done by anyone except Uncle Sam.

Very basic ethics are the solution to the current financial disaster of the US and other places. Oh, taking without asking is stealing. Oh, we shouldn't do that. Hmmmm. So that gets her to the point where she retires like a queen. Then you eliminate all but one business regulation and she can use that savings to start her own fast food business. Instead of costing tens of thousands of dollars she could start with a few thousand. Nice deal. The one business regulation you don't eliminate is the only one we need... the ability to create a lawsuit against a business that has wronged you. Instead of making regulations you make it cheap and effective for individuals to file complains against corporations without the need for a lawyer.

And without doing any of that there is something simple we could do. Instead of asking politicians to solve our problems for us, we solve them our selves. My God, that solves virtually all our problems 500% more effectively overnight.

originally posted by: CranialSponge
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

are you sure you are not mistaking revenue with profit...profit means just that...

I'm talking about the bottom line on the income statement, net profit from operations (revenues minus expenses).

What you don't see is the balance sheet, the liabilities that have to be carried in order to make those profits.

It's no different from your net paycheque. What you take home is what you've "profited" from earned income (minus deductions). But then you take that net pay, deposit it into your bank account, and have to turn around and pay your creditors from it (car loan, mortgage, etc), so what you're actually left with in the bank at the end of the day is far less than what you "profited".

Businesses are no different.

Businesses have to pay creditors, shareholders, dividends, etc out of those net profits. Those costs of doing business do not show on the income statement.

Just like how your car loan payment doesn't show on your paystub, neither do the creditors of business operations.

So if your functioning with a very low profit margin, you may find yourself struggling to pay your creditors even though you're showing a profit each year.

People see "50 billion profit" and think: "Holy crap that company is making a ton of money, those greedy bastards !"




So no, profit is not just profit... there's a lot more going on than just what you're seeing in dollars or share values.

I'm not trying to defend the greed of some corporations, I'm just clarifying some things for those who may not understand the true meaning of the numbers they're looking at.

the remedy for your post is to Incorporate yourself, create an LLC & all those 'cost-of-doing-business expenses' are then adjustments to income....

if people had not done that LLC strategy they have been paying the IRS an inflated tax rate for their whole wage-earning career...
as an LLC, you become a contractor instead of a wage slave tax burden payer

I have utilized the 'dba' _~(name here)_~ for decades

originally posted by: beezzer

originally posted by: pikestaff

originally posted by: beezzer
I think one of the things we need to do is phase out Social Security.

Put the onus of retirement on the backs of the people who are actually going to retire.

If that safety net isn't there, people will focus on what they are actually making/spending/saving/earning and plan for their own darned futures instead of relying on government.

Social security is paid for from the tax paid by the workers, did you do economics at school?

Yeee-ees, I am aware of that. (rolling eyes)

What's your point?

Get rid of Social Security and the "worker" will automatically HAVE MORE MONEY!

yes it would probably also open alot more jobs up because all those who are now volunteering to work in our hospitals and libraries and such for free will now have to earn a living again!! heck get rid of the social programs also and we might see the cost of labor go up some since every low paid working family will than have to earn a living!!! unless you want to watch people starve to death the cost to keep them alive is pretty much consistant and will have to be paid one way or another!

by the way much of the cost of the war on terrorism never made it into the budget so your numbers are off considerably.
if you add the costs of those wars along with the cost of the banking bailouts you get around the same amount as our deficit!

originally posted by: beezzer
I think one of the things we need to do is phase out Social Security.

Put the onus of retirement on the backs of the people who are actually going to retire.

If that safety net isn't there, people will focus on what they are actually making/spending/saving/earning and plan for their own darned futures instead of relying on government.

I'll take your point on much of what you have said. I don't agree with the perspective on all of it, but the facts are true enough. This one though... I don't know if it is true. Most people know social security is not that much of a safety net and take that into account. I don't think that most people are behaving like their retirement is in the bag because of Uncle Sam.

ENOUGH!!!!!

The name-calling, bickering and personal side discussions end here and now!!!!!!! You are responsible for your own posts.

Go After the Ball, Not the Player!

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a reply to: KeliOnyx

I've seen it first hand.

When my father passed away, my step mother loss his income, which at that time was his military retirement pay and his retirement pay from the job that he had after the his 30 year military career. 50 years of work in which SS was widthdrawn.

His mistake was not renewing his life insurance policy that would have paid all their debts off.

The SS survivor benefit that she received? A pittance. Was barely enough to buy food with.

Within 2 months of his death, the wolves were at the door, ready to take her land and home. Social Security didn't do JACK SQUAT for her.

What saved her was this: our family and her determination to get a job again. Her youngest son and his wife, with their 2 daughters moved in with her, both working and used their income to help her pay the bills, while she hit the streets looking for a full time job.
She was lucky enough to find one, though she has to fight to get hours to work....and of course, she has to be careful, because if she works too many hours, she looses the SS.

Social Security is a JOKE.

If you asked my wife what she would do this that money (and it's a HELL of a lot more that $15 per paycheck as someone here said), she would add it to her 401k plan that she has.

So I have seen it first hand. Which helped more? SS or our family? It was the family that helped more. Not the government.

We would much rather had that money that is taken out of her check (and all the money that was taken from me) and had been allowed instead to use it with our own personal retirement plans, that pay out a LOT more than SS ever has.

a reply to: jimmyx

This isn't about the gas in the car although that's what killed her. Its about the Bilderbergers causing the death of a hard working woman. It is sad but its hard to understand what the 4 jobs and the Bilderbergers had to do with it. (sarc intended)

And by the way.....the op said "particularly for women".....what the heck does that have anything to do with?

Back to my original post then, we are focusing on the wrong thing.

While it is tragic that people have to work service-related jobs and may die trying to work all of them, we need to alter our focus on WHY there are ONLY service-related jobs out there.

I offered losing Social Security as an option to place more money in people's pockets.

Not met with much success.

The point is, "government" has been in control forever and has done a crap job of being our leader and representative.

Why run to them when they (government) are the ones responsible for creating the mess in the first place?

40 hour work week grows to 47-60 hours

www.infowars.com...

The old “9 to 5” work week is becoming about as obsolete as the American Dream.

A new Gallup poll finds that economically-stressed Americans are now working an “average” of 47 hours, with a growing number clocking 60 hours or more.Adults employed full time in the U.S. report working an average of 47 hours per week, almost a full workday longer than what a standard five-day, 9-to-5 schedule entails. In fact, half of all full-time workers indicate they typically work more than 40 hours, and nearly four in 10 say they work at least 50 hours,” said Gallup, based on their 2014 Work and Education survey.

originally posted by: Logarock
a reply to: jimmyx

This isn't about the gas in the car although that's what killed her. Its about the Bilderbergers causing the death of a hard working woman. It is sad but its hard to understand what the 4 jobs and the Bilderbergers had to do with it. (sarc intended)

And by the way.....the op said "particularly for women".....what the heck does that have anything to do with?

uhhmm...your quoting someone else, I never said anything about the Bilderbergers, or the gas in the car.

a reply to: eriktheawful

Social security is not good enough but millions of people would starve to death in the US if it weren’t there.

Millions of disabled would be destitute

I think it should be bulked up where your mother would have gotten a better deal

originally posted by: beezzer
Back to my original post then, we are focusing on the wrong thing.

While it is tragic that people have to work service-related jobs and may die trying to work all of them, we need to alter our focus on WHY there are ONLY service-related jobs out there.

I offered losing Social Security as an option to place more money in people's pockets.

Not met with much success.

The point is, "government" has been in control forever and has done a crap job of being our leader and representative.

Why run to them when they (government) are the ones responsible for creating the mess in the first place?

I get what your saying but I dont think attacking welfare will get anywhere but more misery.

All it will do it cut millions off with no jobs to go too.

It will just make the situation worse as you will get a flood of million more into a job market that offers very few viable jobs.

Not to mention the women in the OP was not on welfare but working 4 jobs. All cutting welfare off will accomplish is making those 4 jobs even less stable and giving here LESS chance of finding a viable job. All for a measly few $ extra a week.


What needs to be fixed FIRST is the lack of real career jobs.

All I can think of is penalising US company's that try and move parts overseas, encouraging growth in domestic manufacturing, cheaper higher eduction access, business start up schemes ect.

Cutting welfare nets now, without a growth in viable jobs to go too will just lead to mass disaster.

Social security IS NOT THE PROBLEM people.
Don’t be sidetracked by ignorance.

Social security is the retirement plan for most Americans, whether we like it or not.

And a disability plan for the disabled

It was here when the economy in the 50’s and 60’s was roaring away.

It has NOTHING to do with the economy going bad

The problem with the economy is the US trade policy that has sent manufacturing jobs out of the country and makes us compete with slave wages internationally

Also the Tax issue is paramount because the rich and super rich are getting away with murder because Reagan cut their taxes so much in the 80’s

Then there is the anti union issue which has caused many problems such as lowering wages and benefits

Also we need a huge investment in the infrastructure that the GOP congress is constantly stopping

All of this is pre-planned to make America descend into austerity

When and if we have a GOP congress and senate and president again the US will be near total destruction