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Posted By: I take offense to that on 2008-10-29
In Reply to: Bringing up from below about taxes/unions - gourdpainter
I have not lost the reasoning side of my brain or the ability to reason, my intelligence has not digressed, and I do not believe everything the media or anybody else tells me and I am still able to, and do, think for myself. I just don't think the same as you do, so you think you can insult my intelligence. I do find that offensive.
You ask "So that car you drive.........how much do you think of the price tag is labor?" I think that the car I drive is 5 years old and I will drive it for another 10 years as I did the last one. It is a plain old Chevy, no fancy options, and not a Lexus, BMW or Mercedes, like everyone seems to think they need now. I didn't buy a car until I had saved enough to pay for it, something else no one does anymore. They just want new, bigger, better and more expensive, and while the gripe about the cost, they do not save for it; they just take a loan for it.
You say "Anything to increase the bottom line profit. This is true in every industry. They like to blame labor for everything. Well, how the heck can you buy a $2+ loaf of bread and $5 gallon of milk on minimum wage, ya know?" Yes, of course businesses want to make money. Isn't that the point. if they didn't make money, why be in business? And yes, some are greedy, actually most are, at the expense of workers, but many are just trying to stay afloat. If a minimum wage employee wants to better their situation, go ahead and educate yourself and move up the ladder. If you don't like your situation, change it. Blaming only the business is totally unfair but not unexpected in our current society. Reality is Americans have to take some of the responsibility too. yes, business left. Some for reasons of greed but some because they simply couldn't afford to stay here. Business taxes are high here, whether you are willing to accept that or not. The American worker, in many cases, priced themself right out of the market. They demanded more and more, and got more and more, but where did they think it would all come from? Did people not think the costs of products and services would have to rise to cover the increased wages? Pretty naive, don't you think? And the greed is not all management. people want everything and want it now whether as evidenced by the numbers of people now holding mortgages they do not have a prayer of paying back, the amount of credit card debt amassed by the average consumer in this country, and the sorely lacking savings acct balances. And much of this is not for necessities. We have 5000 square foot homes on 2 acre lots for families of 4. Who needs that? We have 5 car garages, second homes, cars for every child in the household, cell phones for every member of the family, etc., etc. Do you think that all the blame goes to industry, 'cuz I sure don't. My BIL owns a business employing about 25 people. Small business. He still pays 100% of the insurance costs for all of his employees, medical, dental, vision, and he pays all or their deductibles. He pays them well, too. Guess what? They still find something to complain about. They have to work weekends. It is a funeral home. Of course they have to work weekends. But they are well compensated for it, and I'd be happy to work some weekends to have someone cover my insurance costs. I'll bet a lot of people here feel the same way. My point here is that people are never satisfied. My mom's old saying - give them an inch and they take a mile.
you say "Well, then, how is it that people can't afford to pay their bills with all the excessive wages they're supposedly receiving." I say maybe many people could afford to pay their bills if they hadn't made bills for themselves for all of this stuff they don't have to have, if they had saved for something instead of just charging it or borrowing for it, and when they did borrow, making sure that the payments were actually something they could afford. Too many people dug their own holes so deep and then they just expected that their companies would increase their wages to keep up with their cost of living - which they let get out of control.
There is plenty of blame to go around here so please don't take the easy way and blame it all on industry, government or anyone else. Until people take responsibility for their own part in the current crises we are facing and make the sacrifices necessary to affect change, nothing will change. The effort here will have to be made by work the industries/business and the people who want to work for them.
I still respect your opinion although it differs from mine, and I am sure as heck not going to go around calling you less intelligent or insulting you in anyway. You have your side, I have mine. Neither one of us is all right or all wrong, no matter what you say. I am willing to listen to both sides of every story but if you go calling me less intelligent, I will certainly lend less credibility to your side.
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