wcfvw69 wrote:One other thought on this subject. At some point, us SAME Americans have to step up and take responsibility for shipping our American jobs overseas due to cheaper labor costs. Why has Wal-Marts business model been so ridiculously successful? It's because Americans are cheap. We want to pay the least amount of $ we can for what products we purchase. When American companies couldn't sell their products to Wally world at a price point that made both them and the public happy, they went to companies who could. I know I need to own it. If I can buy a product that is made in Asia or other third world county that's the same quality as an American made for 40% less, I'm going to do purchase it.
True. But at the same time, our real purchasing power has eroded so noticeably that we often cannot exercise our discretion. I am a fabulously tasteful high-quality shopper who is devoted to buying only the best available. The bad news is, I cannot afford to exercise my consumer power. WalMart has used this argument before too, but they have indentured their own employees to have to buy their cheap trash. This is where government tax policy can have a real effect on corporate decisions. If a corporation feels that it does not have a responsibility to the nation that hosts them and the citizens that make up that nation, its leadership can damn well leave this country all together. See how many take the offer . . . .
wcfvw69 wrote:
I remember a TV interview with a very sharp CEO about 10 years ago. He was asked why their was such a mass exodus of American manufacturing jobs leaving to go off shore. He was very forthright in saying American companies can't pay $20 dollars an hour plus another 30% for benefits to do a $10 dollar an hour job. There's a LOT of truth in that. Lazy American workers with no skills or education want to be paid so they can live the American dream vs. doing ANY self investing in themselves to help them climb a companies ranks to higher pay scales. "What do you mean I can't make $25 an hour for inserting this bolt in a car door all day long on the factory line?
I don't buy this Race To The Bottom argument for a couple of reasons. Number one, flat out, the minimum wage in this country was $22.00/hr in 1969 adjusted for today's dollar. That sharp son-of-a-bitch CEO may have the sheer arrogance to declare that the job is only worth $10.00/hr, but that is NOT how we establish the value of a man's TIME on the job. Pushing computer keys as an "investment manager" does NOTHING for the wealth of the country, does not add an iota of value, has been proven to require NO discretion, monkeys got an equal return, yet these guys skim millions of dollars in income in some cases. Do you think the argument for that kind of pay is any less bullshit than adding to the wealth of the country one car door at a time?
Now please read carefully here (I often get shoeboxed as a "marxist libtard bleedingheart socialist" but read and memorize . . . I am happy when entrepreneurs get rrrrriiiiicccccchhhhh! Make money if you make this world a better place! Go! Invent! Design! Be brilliant! Beat every other nation's best! Make great beautiful stuff! Got it? Now pay your taxes.
That is all I want. Play hard, but play fair and stop being such utter assholes as those who sneak in tax dodges for themselves, that is despicable as hell. Pay your taxes and be grateful that workers get a decent education, safe water, good roads, chip IN you selfish bastards. There are many rich people who are glad to pay their taxes! I would never hold their wealth against them, but they need to pay their taxes.
Wage pay HAS to reflect the serious truth that it is not about "talent" so much as time. If a Gift From God human being gives you, Mr.SnottySharpCEO, his God-given time on this Earth to make you insanely wealthy selling the cars he put together, he DESERVES to make a self-supporting living, PERIOD. No arguments.
And you wcfvw69, need to keep your eye on the FACT that your fellow American who drags himself out of bed at 6:00AM to go to the factory to work each day, is worthy of all due respect and a living wage. The FACT is that your fellow Americans are not "lazy" by any metric. We work harder and longer than any other industrialized country on Earth, we have fewer sick days, shorter vacations, and lousy maternity leave, but the doubling of our productivity in the past thirty years, has been rewarded by a drop in our real incomes. Look it up. Why would anyone here dump on the rest of us down here in the trenches? When I meet autoworkers, I hope they enjoy every damn nickel they take home. Same for these poor motel maids and clerks and convenience store cashiers, they deserve a living wage. Sharp CEO needs an adjustment comeuppance and it will be richly deserved. You know why? Because as he sneers at lazy Americans who "don't deserve $25.00/hr", he has managed to take an undeserved 500% pay increase in the last thirty years and his "productivity" and hours worked have actually dropped.
To paraphrase you, "At some point, us (RICH) Americans have to step up and take responsibility for shipping our American jobs overseas due to (greed)".
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles