Recent comments

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Your job.

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Quit what?

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    @#12,

    Why did you quit?

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    I remember in my teens when minimum wage went from $1.25 per hour to $1.35 per hour. It was a really big raise to me. I worked my way through college on crappy jobs that mostly paid minimum wage. Hard to do today.

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Kend,

    You just brought up one of the big problems in some union shops. A manager does not have the ability to pay a worthy worker a higher wage than one that does not carry his own weight. We ran into this along with the seniority issues that constantly affected our drivers routes. A competitor of ours went non-union and found they could get better production with fewer employees but paying well over union scale. We lost our top workers to them and three years later they bought us and continue to thrive today.

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Deepspace, I am a Canadian doing business in the US. I pay taxes in the US as a non resident. I only bring money in to your country do not use any schools or healthcare as I provide my own, which is the total opposite from a illegal. I also provide employment to those I hire as I not allowed to work there. That would be wrong because I would be taking a job away from a US citizen. I can only invest as I do not have a work visa. I choose to follow the law. Those who don't should be caught and send home like every other country in the world does. That would naturally drive wages up. The problem with a high min wage is as a business owner I will just pay my best workers more and give them work that is what causes a larger wage gap. From my experience a $30 / hr guy usually does twice the work as two $15 / hr guys and I only have to pay benefits to one. If they are only making a forced min wage chances are very high they are not very skilled, it is also expensive to train them and also getting harder and harder to fire them. This is a horrible idea.

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    The social safety net should be expanded while low-wage employers who abuse the social safety net should be ostracized by the community and offered unincorporation insurance assistance.

    If the Government of the people were run properly, a safety net wouldn't be needed for half of the population. Safety nets are for emergency situations, not standard operating procedure.

    It would be great if corporate charters were approved or denied by the communities they operate in. They would be answerable to the community where only the best, brightest, and most profitable to all the employees would be chosen to operate. As a result, would the corporations flock to communities who accept the worst and dullest corporations paying the employees the least? It seems the entire nation has become a community of the later type.

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Haha! Sorry for ruining your relaxing evening, Oldskoold.

    I also constantly hear the dog-whistle racism and bigotry in my neck of the woods. White Americans in general, certainly not all, seem oblivious to their white privilege, with some even proud of it. Many are convinced that America has moved beyond racism to an enlightened age. How far from the sad reality! While we have made great strides in some ways, we are still largely a racist nation in so many other ways.

    FYI: At the top of the comment window is the "ABC" drop down menu: select "Enable SCAYT" -- that is the spell checker. However, it doesn't carry a very large vocabulary, so it can lead you astray with prefixes, suffixes, slang, and other less-formal or less-used words.

    G'nite. Now, it's time to relax.

    };--))

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    I wish I could be so eloquent as you deepspace! That was great. I decided to take tonight and relax but after just reading your post I felt compelled to at least bid acolades to your response. Yesterdays experience with real Republican's who won't stand up frustrated me so. Even with the gerrymandering, if the Fascist side of their party didn't use the dog whistle and racism, which I still hear as a southern white male almost daily, we would have a much better anticipated outcome that I see on the horizon. Kudos! That's the playbook the Fourth Reich has used anytime in a pinch. To see these good people let the "corn get so high they can't see" is appauling! I do wish spell check was part of this...... Hate to have to check if appauling is one p or not! LOL. God's speed.

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Kend. If you legally set the minimum wage at a livable wage, then immigrants, illegal or not, can't drive it down -- unless illegal employers are breaking the law, right?

    In the U.S., as far as legal immigrants driving down salaries in professions that require advanced skill sets is concerned, there has been a below-the-radar weakening of work-visa laws as a result primarily of Republican legislative policies.

    A good example of this cause-and-effect interrelated dynamic is their privatization obsession, which, as an unintended (hopefully not deliberate) consequence, has put higher education out of the financial reach of more and more young people in a dwindling middle class. When fiscal right-wingers cut funding (or try to divert it to the profitized schools of their big political campaign donors) it forces public colleges and universities to raise tuition. So thanks, Republicans and corp-Dem enablers, for making America too ignorant to compete for better jobs!

    From some of your previous posts, in which you have briefly described your relationship with employees, I believe you are an ethical employer. I was curious though: If, hypothetically, you hold dual citizenship as a Canadian doing business in the U.S., doesn't that make you an immigrant in a sense? If so, doesn't that also demonstrate that immigration per se is not a bad thing, that there are many worthy immigrants who not only add to the richness of culture but to the economy as well?

    I'm not fishing for personal information, Kend, but was just wondering about your take as a matter of general philosophy.

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Bernie Sanders proclamations are way above the narrow views of comment so far

    Kindly expand!!!!!

  • Is There Any Pride Left In Being an American?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    #18 - I guess you are all so insecure that you have to have a blasted gun to give you all some personal identity

    Get human and lose your ego

  • Is There Any Pride Left In Being an American?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    #12 - Who can they fleece?

    The mass!!!

    History repeating

    The mass will awake

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Paul Krugman does an admiral job laying out the staggering lies of Republicans and Trump about their so-called tax "reform." Naturally, the world of corporate media punditry will debate the huge significance of these blatant lies into meaningless babble.

    Following are the ten bullet points from the article, which Thom discussed on his 10/16/17 radio program. Krugman breaks down each lie in detail:

    https://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/lies-lies-lies-lies-lies-lies-lies-lies-lies-lies/

    "Lie #1: America is the most highly-taxed country in the world.

    Lie #2: The estate tax is destroying farmers and truckers.

    Lie #3: Taxation of pass-through entities is a burden on small business.

    Lie #4: Cutting profits taxes really benefits workers.

    Lie #5: Repatriating overseas profits will create jobs.

    Lie #6: This is not a tax cut for the rich.

    Lie #7: It’s a big tax cut for the middle class.

    Lie #8: It won’t increase the deficit.

    Lie #9: Cutting taxes will jump-start rapid growth.

    Lie #10: Tax cuts will pay for themselves."

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Trump's massive tax break for billionaires will eventually be the reason those safety net programs will end up getting cut. Walmart will be the first and largest employer to feel the low wage employee heat from Crooked Swamp Donny's insider greed.

    This bill will be far more devastating than Trumpcare would have been, or still could be, yet most still seem oblivious to it. Corpse news sure is hell isn't sharing the truth about it. Just like the Medicare for All, and Raise the Cap, there's hardly a peep.

    Remember the last time we had a war and massive tax breaks for the rich simultaneously?... and the war I allude to will dwarf all the ones the Fascists currently profit from.

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    "Get all the wonders and benefits and freebies and goodies that you get running a business"

    Things must be different in the US here in Canada I get none of the above. I just pay and pay. What is Thom talking about.

    If you want to raise wages, deport the 35 million illegal immigrants there that are driving down the wages, you have more illegals than Canada has population.

  • Why Are We Subsidizing Low-wage Employers?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Turning on call waiting....

    Call Wait On SOUND Effect

    https://youtu.be/duout9IH_Kw

  • There's a 1 in 20 Chance of the Apocalypse. Shouldn't We Act Now?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Thanks deepspace. There were so many good little tidbits that the right wing loons must still be savoring on them. Proof that human evolution progresses at an extremely slow pace.

  • Daily Topics - Thursday October 26th, 2017   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Thom,The Jones act was passed specifically to preserve the US Merchant Marine which has always been in jeopardy of disappearing completely, due to foreign flagged vessels undercutting the shipping trade. It states that vessels plying our own waters must be US flagged. This means they will be inspected for safety, proper officer training and Coast Guard licensing, and manned by unionized US Citizens. Without these safeguards, our fleet would disappear, with all the implications for trade, and national defense. Once the ships and men are gone, a key component of our transport system would be left to the tender mercies of the Greeks, Panamanians, Koreans, Chinese, etc. who already sail and control the majority of our trade.
    Thanks,

    Mike

  • Is There Any Pride Left In Being an American?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Hey Thom.

    Listening to you and noticed your interest in the Puerto Rico recovery efforts by Tesla.

    Check out this article- it comes from a tech blog that I have been reading for years.

    https://cleantechnica.com/2017/10/25/tesla-sonnen-working-overtime-power...

  • Is There Any Pride Left In Being an American?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    I have listened to Thom for many years, and he is not one to parrot talking points from any source. When he has conversations with right wing folks, the conversation coming from the right is usually mostly fact free. Trying to force control is what the right wing is all about, especially forcing women to accept their notions of reproductive rights by trying to criminalize anyone who does not agree with their beliefs.

  • Is There Any Pride Left In Being an American?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Oldskoold: The content of my post had nothing to do with your post. I hadn't even read your post yet....not sure how I could change the subject if I was replying to the very first post...LOL.. that was the subject. What would it matter anyway? How about being truthful about what ticked you off. So you disagree with what I said...be clear about what that is and I will reply.

  • Is There Any Pride Left In Being an American?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    Thoms limited knowledge with respect to firearms comes solely from word for word talking points pushed out by Michael Bloomberg. Any knowledgeable opponent would bury him with facts compiled directly from the ATF and FBI statisitcs which is why he will never allow that to happen.

    Typical leftie/socialist, it's not about gun control, it is all about control.

  • Is There Any Pride Left In Being an American?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    I have posted many times that gun buyers should have to take the MMPI (you can find it on Wikipedia) a mental health evaluation test. So many of the mass murder shooters are nuts, without a criminal background. This would show on the test. Also it would help anyone to know where they stand on such an evaluation.

  • Is There Any Pride Left In Being an American?   7 years 15 weeks ago

    First let me say that I am all for background checks, and I think a mental health evaluation would be a good prerequisite to gun ownership. I would, however, like to make a technical point of fact on silencers. Despite what you see in the movies, silencers do not make most guns silent. There are two components to gunshot noise, the muzzle blast from the hot gases escaping the barrel and the sonic boom of the bullet breaking the sound barrier, which is about 1,100 feet per second. This is not a high velocity where most ammunition is concerned, many air rifles can break the sonic boom velocity barrier. A silencer reduces, but does not eliminate, the muzzle blast noise, but does not do anything to attenuate the sonic boom noise. The bullets coming from the Las Vegas shooter's guns were most likely around 2,500 feet per second or above, so there would have been plenty of noise even if he had used a suppressor. Making an argument that legalizing supressors would lead to more shootings because no one could hear the shots is factually incorrect, and as we know from Trump's continuous disregard for facts, causes the point to be ignored by those who do know the facts.

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