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In Reply to: RE: perhaps. But bigotry is bigotry posted by bean on April 26, 2015 at 17:35:13
Last I checked even the healthiest fittest people drop dead at some point.
I never understand why people can't just live their own life without the need to hammer on other people.
Gays? I look at it selfishly but the more gay men the better - leaves more women for me. Win win - if I could invent a pill that would make strait guys gay I would be dropping it in drinks at every bar I could find. Win win. Lesbians? Well heck I have lots in common - we both like women and they have lots of good advice.
I think one of the problems here is a woeful lack of scientific knowledge and certain cults promoting patently absurd notions that being gay is a choice. It is physiologically/biologically proven that Homosexuality is "born that way" and part of the brain in autopsies have proven it - and it's also common in the animal kingdom. But trying to use irrefutable 100% proven, without doubt, facts to a lot of people - seemingly in the evangelical south - is a no hope lost cause. They're only going to listen to the off crank with a phd from the Pat Robertson school of Morons-R-Us where you get your degree in 3 years and you only need to read one book.
Racism is difficult to beat - personal experiences are different for people and the media certainly doesn't help matters. I look at people like Ice-Cream and Chocolate - some are dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate (or dark roast, light roast, cappuccino - gotta bring the food back in here)- I never met a chocolate I didn't like - good coffee is good coffee and bad coffee is bad coffee if it's badly made or badly grown.
I must say when I was in Vegas I saw a lot of folks in motorized wheelchairs due to their weight. This is something that is rooted likely in a kind of depression - they need some help - not to be made fun of. But unfortunately most countries have a reactionary view to solving societal/personal problems. Instead of crime prevention by addressing the issues before the crime is prevented many - not all - western countries spend the money on punishment and incarceration (which doesn't exactly work well). Partly because human beings have difficulty seeing beyond their own scope of senses and reduce things to simple black and white solutions.
We'd all be a bit better off if we tried the ole "empathy" and imagine walking in the other man's shoes growing up in their situations.
Certain concoctions of food may be as addictive as smoking and it's a very difficult cycle to end especially for people in a depressed state. Like Smoking, food serves to heighten dopamine levels - it's a shot to the pleasure centers of the brain and indeed salt in potato chips increases electrons firing in the Myelin sheath as well - the meal at McDonalds is a veritable orgasm concoction with the sugar, salt, fat, sweet/sour and the possibility that the diet drinks are suppressing one's abilities to feel full. And if you had parents that fed you this stuff in fairly high doses when you were a kid it is very very hard to stop when you become an adult. Just like smokers who started at 15 and smoked 2 packs a day for 20 years. At 35 yes some people are fortunate to be able to kick the habit but I am betting their in the vast minority.
I've Been there and when you get a bit fat - you don't want to go to the gym because everyone is watching the fat guy and snickering - and maybe you truly like swimming which is maybe the best exercise out there but because you're heavy you don't want people to see your fat exposed.
It becomes almost a circular problem - where the very place that can reduce your weight is a place that can hurt your esteem even more and make you feel even worse about your appearance.
The low carb high protein diet worked for me but it's generally considerably more expensive to eat so the poor people can't stay on it. Buying Salmon, Halibut, Cod, Lean Steak, Chicken, Ham, Bacon, Eggs, Walnuts, Macadamia nuts, most of the berries and lots of green vegetables, peppers, beans etc is a lot more expensive than pastas, cheese macaroni, breads, potatoes, and cereal. And McDonalds can feed your kids for $4. It will cost maybe 5 times that to eat something healthy. Everyone in the US should be able to work an 8 hour day and be able to feed a family of 4 pay rent, pay for transportation, have full medical for said family of 4, pay utilities and internet and basic cable with the ability to save for a modest vacation or entertainment (one movie a week for said family of four). If the minimum wage can't provide those basic things - then minimum wage is too low.
Follow Ups:
If the minimum wage can't provide those basic things - then minimum wage is too low.
What does this have to do with audio?
Our esteemed Supreme Leader need to lift the min wage, how else can the avg man afford a good hi-fi system, everyone deserves a good hi-fi system and of course , yes, high speed internet for downloads..
Regards..
"Our esteemed Supreme Leader [sic] need [sic] to lift the min wage"
I'm not sure where you are located, but in the USA the legislative branch of government e.g., congress, passes laws and the leader of the executive branch is titled 'president.' To ensure a separation of powers, the U.S. Federal Government is made up of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. To ensure the government is effective and citizens' rights are protected, each branch has its own powers and responsibilities, including working with the other branches.
Hey Pal ..:)
There seem to be a few things you are not privy to, 1. Sarcasm 2. Washington...
God bless ....
Edits: 04/28/15
?????
Mr. Obama can write those in his sleep now.
Oz
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
Take the initiative to better yourself!
The Welfare State is not the answer.
A lot of people are better today - better trained and better educated than a lot of (though certainly not all) people who are holding down full time employment.
And the problem with your thinking is that you still believe that we are "taking care of" drug addled, alcoholic rejects with no education or drive.
Welfare states are designed to temporarily assist people. In Canada the supposed evil Socialist nation there is Employment Insurance - you lose your job the government steps in and gives you a wage for a specified period of time. To get it you needed to work full time for a specified period of time and you pay into EI in order to get it should you need it. I don't think this policy is unreasonable or a welfare state
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/types/regular.shtml#eligible
Anyone who goes to university puts in the four+ years to do the copious amount of work have the drive and have the smarts. So the notion of bettering yourself is odd. You can be better and still not have a job. The African mother carrying water on her head for 16 hours a day works harder than any CEO on the planet but gets paid nothing. Better herself? How - the CEO had rich parents who paid full ticket to Harvard and likely paid a bunch of people off to let in lesser quality candidates on the promise of new library wing. The African Mother for all we know has 40 higher IQ points but without a silver spoon up her butt and a failing social network to help her so it goes.
What we have is far too many people not working or working lousy jobs WITH degrees out the ying yang. They lack a job to go to.
My dad was fortunate - he remembered 80%+ of everything he ever read and when you read 3-4 books a week for 50+ years that is a nice storage bank of knowledge. He worked for Canadian Veterans Affairs and applied for a managing job. The government gives a test to applicants. My dad had not only a high score he was the only person who passed the test. The job was for a finance position. He had no degree and all the other candidates were certified accountants, MBAs etc.
Good job dad!
Today however my dad would not only not get the job he would not even be allowed to apply because he had no degree. The moral of the story is that you can be the best at something - you can be better than the other guy and it doesn't mean squat if the system is set-up to be a certain way.
Businesses are kind of dumb to think they can sell pricey goods to a workforce that can't afford a movie ticket.
If I run a company I want lots of people making lots of money so that they can afford to buy the higher margin widget that I want to sell - if only a few people have any money then I can only sell to a few people.
Last I checked you want your customer base to have plenty of disposable income. Instead of 1% of the population that can buy my item I want 80% of the population to be able to afford my item - I can sell 79% more of them making me far richer - and all I had to do was pay my employee a living wage. Henry Ford knew this - but it seems to have gotten lost since.
In 1995 I was making $45,000 as an Accounts Payable clerk. I doubt people in BC are being paid $45,000 TODAY - 20 years later with inflation that same job should be earning people considerably more. It's not - I see postings for Accounts Payable clerks at $12-$15 an hour.
Teachers have 50% of the buying power they had in 1985.
So forget all the minimum wage nonsense - how about paying wages that JUST and ONLY keep up with inflation? If a company can pay a CEO $30,000,000 a year but claim poverty when confronted with 2% inflation or relatively moderate medical benefits someone is lying to someone.
Now in my case - I don't complain too much. I'm a teacher - 11-1 teacher to job ratio - pretty lousy pay, governments cutting education to the bone - I says to myself - forget that - choice A) leave the field so I have money to retire or choice B) find a teaching position in a country that pays teachers. Since I like my job, was single, like traveling - I went to Asia where they actually pay a decent wage.
If the minimum wage can't provide those basic things - then minimum wage is too low.
As usual, you use far too many words to say very little in this wordy diatribe.
Anyone who goes to university puts in the four+ years to do the copious amount of work have the drive and have the smarts.
I wouldn't call anyone "smart" who chooses a career with little to no job demand.
So forget all the minimum wage nonsense...
This is what I'm saying.
The job demand was there. I worked in Accounting - the government put out calls that "in 5 years we'll be short teachers" so people went into teaching.
But what changed was the right wing lunatics came to power and decided that it was a good idea to make sure all schools run at a profit (or at least a draw) and when a teacher retired they didn't replace the teacher - they just made the classes bigger and added portables - turning schools into trailer parks. They cut all the specialist teachers by 3/4 and froze the pay for 5 years - inflation goes up 15% the pay did not effectively cutting pay 15%.
Of course by then you're in year four of a degree program with 1.5 years left so you stick it out because you're $30,000+ in student loan debt and if you quit you have a pretty worthless BA in on of the arts.
Nope I didn't complain - I took my degree and moved to Asia where I get paid like a doctor (we put money into health but not education which even philosophers back in the days of Plato questioned). The fact is everyone is going to get sick and die - not everyone is going to be educated properly so why society puts money into stopping the inevitable but doesn't put it into education is ridiculous. Asia seems to get it. Smart people tend to live longer because they get better jobs and can eat richer quality food which in turn lowers the health care costs for them and a nation rather dramatically.
Any person around the boomer age that has a high paying job and does not have a degree in their specific field who rips young people for not woprking hard is a blow hard fop. These people if they were put back in time as a 30 year old with no degree - would not get the job they're in now and would be making min wage - and if you're making min wage - gee I think these blow hards would have a lot different things to say about how much it should be.
But like most your the type that says "I got mine so screw everyone else" "I got it because God loves me more." Or "I got it because I am BETTER/SMARTER than everyone else." No one helped them right. They went to schools that had music programs, arts, school discipline, no fear of being shot in the classroom etc. Yup the boomers had no help from anyone - lol.
is moving in the right direction!
BTW, my Gen X wife is also a teacher which is most certainly an honorable position - she is a pharmacy professor.
I worked in Accounting
So you're not a teacher.
and decided that it was a good idea to make sure all schools run at a profit
Are you that inept?
Yup the boomers had no help from anyone - lol.
Sorry, you're absolutely clueless.
"Welfare states are designed to temporarily assist people"
Oh but were that only true in the U.S.
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
I am not for a welfare state in a sense of cradle to grave security - you have to work and you need a motivation to work. If a guy who works 40 hours a week makes $25,000 a year and another guy can sit on his butt and the government will give you $20,000 a year - umm I would choose the latter any day - I can sit home and play video games and listen to my stereo for $5,000 less - pretty easy choice.
"Everyone in the US should be able to work an 8 hour day and be able to feed a family of 4 pay rent, pay for transportation, have full medical for said family of 4, pay utilities and internet and basic cable with the ability to save for a modest vacation or entertainment (one movie a week for said family of four).
If the minimum wage can't provide those basic things - then minimum wage is too low."
What a bunch of crap. Who is stupid enough to try and support a family on a minimum wage job? A minimum wage job is just that, and no one with even half a lick of sense would consider starting a family on such an income. In fact, anyone stupid enough to do such a thing shouldn't be allowed to procreate.
A big problem in this country (USA) is we have a bunch of self-entitled idiots who think the government owes them something. It's this kind of thinking that is sinking Greece, and several other so-called progressive countries are heading down the same road. We're following close behind.
People need to grow the hell up. You want to have a family someday? Well then, what you do is improve your station. That means educating yourself in some manner so that you have something more worthwhile to offer than just an ability to flip burgers. What you don't do is go out and get married too young or have kids before you're able to provide for them. Self-discipline is required. Immediate gratification needs to take a back seat.
THIS IS HOW IT IS DONE IN THE ADULT WORLD. Unfortunately the USA has become overrun with whiners who make bad decisions then expect the taxpayers to bail them out.
Now, having said all of that, if the minimum wage needs to go up to some extent so be it. But expecting it to go up to a level upon which a family can be supported is just ludicrous and displays a complete lack of understanding of how healthy economies run. It's this lack of understanding that has the USA heading for a big fall soon. The money printer can't run forever, and the federal government can't keep spending excessively indefinitely. Those chickens coming home to roost are going to land hard.
The Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves. The principles have been betrayed, and those who thought they were smarter/wiser than those who started this nation are going to learn a hard lesson.
Minimum wage is useless. Regardless of how much we pay at the entry level, if it increases, do does the overall cost of living. Does anybody REALLY think the lowest level of pay will go unnoticed by the the owners of businesses? Go ahead, increase minimum wage to $20 an hour. Watch the cost of items increase 250%. The business owners ARE NOT taking a loss.. I grew up in an idealistic country. I'm a realistic now.
"It's all fun and games until someone doesn't pick up on the sarcasm"
Nothing progresses without idealism.Indeed and according to some research the older people get the more conservative they tend to get. When you have nothing you can risk everything you have. When you have a lot you don't want to risk losing it.
I worked (past tense for E-Stat) at McDonalds for 3 years, in Accounting for 8 years and now teaching.
My view of this is that all jobs in a given city.country needs to be done. We need the street cleaned, the streets protected, the fires put out, the server to bring me my dinner at a nice restaurant, the person to clean the office place of work, taxi drivers, bus drivers, etc.
The job market is cone shaped with the largest amount of jobs at the bottom of the cone and the best paid jobs at the top narrow end.
People put in typical 35-50 hour work weeks (more at the bottom end of the spectrum). Here is the idealism - which is pretty pathetic - that everyone putting in that work week ought be able to LIVE on the amount of money they get paid.
But what you have is the largest demographic not even being able to remotely live on the salary while at the other end you have someone who can buy thirty 3,000 square foot homes, two private Jets, a baseball team, feed their cats Lobster from an on staff Michelin star chef (who only cooks for the cat), a castle complete with moat (head of Papa John's pizza who whines about paying $20 a year extra for medical for employees), a fleet of Bentley's, private Lady Gaga concerts for the kid, etc etc.
And then some ass will say well they bettered themselves or work harder. I can tell you working at a busy McDonalds location is HARDER actual work than any desk job unless the desk is in Iraq.
So in fact hard work arguments don't fly. Let's see Donald Trump last 3 weeks picking blackberries in the bush for $1 a day.
I'm not saying everyone should get paid the same - hardly - society can;t progress without a desire to better yourself through eduction etc which in turn should warrant more reward - a higher salary - but one should not work 40 hour weeks and still be destitute.
The reason min wage even exists is because the owners of all companies who pay min wage - would peer to just bring back slavery and not pay them anything. What you expect money to "better yourself."
In the US you have mini-dictatorships. Sure you can vote between two parties but every boss in an at will state is a dictator. They can fire you because your gay, black, female, a smoker etc and come up with a nicer sounding excuse to can you. They can even drug test you and if your girlfriend happens to be a dominatrix you're gone.
But people are dumb enough to think that one day they too will get the chance to be a mini-dictator rather than fixing their current station in life. On the silly dream that one day they too will be a billionaire one day.
When determining if min wage needs to be something you can actually LIVE on or weather Slavery is bad you simply apply the Philosophical tool called the "Veil of Ignorance."
"Imagine that you have set for yourself the task of developing a totally new social contract for today's society. How could you do so fairly? Although you could never actually eliminate all of your personal biases and prejudices, you would need to take steps at least to minimize them. Rawls suggests that you imagine yourself in an original position behind a veil of ignorance. Behind this veil, you know nothing of yourself and your natural abilities, or your position in society. You know nothing of your sex, race, nationality, or individual tastes. Behind such a veil of ignorance all individuals are simply specified as rational, free, and morally equal beings. You do know that in the "real world", however, there will be a wide variety in the natural distribution of natural assets and abilities, and that there will be differences of sex, race, and culture that will distinguish groups of people from each other."[2]Such a concept can have grand effects if it were to be practiced both in the present and in the past. Referring again to the example of slavery, if the slave-owners were forced through the veil of ignorance to imagine that they themselves may be slaves then suddenly the practice does not seem to be justifiable. Perhaps the entire practice would have been abolished without the need for a war to settle things. A grander example would be if each individual in society were to base their practices off the fact that they could be the least advantaged member of society. In this scenario, freedom and equality could possibly coexist in a way that has been the ideal of many philosophers.
For example, in the imaginary society, one might or might not be intelligent, rich, or born into a preferred class. Since one may occupy any position in the society once the veil is lifted, the device forces the parties to consider society from the perspective of all members, including the worst-off and best-off members."
Under this philosophy and behind the veil - you are not a boy born into upper class White family home with parents who had a million bucks in the bank - instead you're a girl born into an impoverished African American Family living in a violent drug addled ghetto where the father is in jail the mother is working 16 hour days and where walking through metal detectors at school is the norm. Not to mention being shot by cops if you look at them funny.
And I am coming from the white guy position from good parents and I make good money. So I got mine - but not everyone had it as good as me - or come from a country with the social safety networks to provide me the opportunity. Not everyone has that - they go to work they work hard - they should be able to support themselves on their paycheque.
Would prices got to 250% - doubtful - because America is a competitive market after all and so if McDonald's raised their prices 250% and Burger King keeps prices the same Burger King's sales would increase 3 fold and they'd be making more money than ever.
With a better salary they would not have as high a turnover (which is expensive) - they can hire better people who will take the job more seriously will perform better offer better service and get more customers who aren't worried about the dregs who spit in the food.
Edits: 04/30/15
Actually what you say does make a lot of sense. Minimum and "low" paid jobs used to be mainly stocked by 15/16 year olds. I worked at 15 at McDonalds - the jobs were meant to give some pocket money for High School Students and or to people wanting a side job going to university. You were not meant to live on these wages - 100% agree with what you're saying.
But the problem is that we currently don't live in that world and now what is happening is that a bunch of people who came out of university and landed $45,000 (equivalent) a year jobs find that those jobs don't exist in any sort of numbers.
I'm a teacher in British Columbia and you talk to all the boomers and it basically they had their pick of schools. They got their University teaching certificate (for some that meant high school diploma with one year of teacher training) walked immediately into a full time teaching job and stayed for 40 years - no student loan debt, low housing costs, and better than your average job pay.
But that's all gone. Now you have to 5.5 years full time University and land yourself $50,000 in debt - probably more in the US. So you come out in debt and there is no full time job to go to. Indeed, in Canada there are 11 teachers for every 1 full time position. So you work as a sub - fine but the problem is you are on call and you MUST show up when they call - if you turn down 3 call-outs you are dropped from the sub list for the year and have to reapply. But you may only get called once every 2 weeks to teach. So 2-5 work days a month is difficult to live on. But remember you MUST be available Monday to Friday if called so you absolutely can't take a job that requires you to work on those days.
So that leaves you weekends and evenings - not exactly the jobs where you will be paid much if anything over minimum wage. But you take your job at McDonalds or Starbucks and work 6pm-12am and Saturday and Sunday from 10-6 to make ends meet - but then you get lucky and some teacher goes on maternity and you land 4 months full time. So now you're working 8am to 4pm Monday to Friday - 6pm-12am Mon to Friday, Sat/Sun. Do you quit those other two side jobs?
Well you shouldn't because once the maternity leave is up you're out of work again and the line of university graduates working at McDonalds and Starbucks or department stores is getting pretty long.
And then someone will say - tough luck go into another line of work - which is a fair argument but the system isn't geared (like it used to be) to hire people who don't have "specific" degrees for a specific so called skill set. A teacher can't roll into a management position even though they manage people and time well - if you don't have the specific degree in management or the field it is next to impossible to convince an HR manager to hire you - too risky for them to put their butt on the line.
The average age of the min/low wage work is now 35. More than half are over the age of 30. When you take hundreds of thousands of jobs and you put them in China/Mexico and you don't replace those positions with anything then what are people to do? I don't think the massive number of university graduates want to be working at Subway or Wal-Mart.
And with growing wealth disparity and companies wanting to sell premium goods well the population needs to be making enough money to HAVE disposable income to spend. The billionaire may buy five Rolex watches but it is a LOT better for a society to trade the billionaire for 10,000 people each with a $100,000. They can then sell 10,000 Rolex watches. Rolex sells more, they grow, economy gets better, more people hired into better paying jobs.
The only reason we get into the mess of raising minimum wages is because the minimum wage low wage job is no longer the 15 year old looking for pocket money it's because there's 11 people competing for 1 position all of whom are equally talented have degrees but the hiring manager liked one or pulled a name from a hat.
Economies can't survive when large amounts of money sit and do nothing - stuff has to be bought and sold.
i believe in we stay on this course in the U.S., everyone will be making minimum wage.
The country was gutted, and ripped off. It has been going on for decades.
Hard work and education don't pay off, just ask me. After taxes to pay for paying for everyone and everything else but me I am left eating tuna out of a can some nights, I am serious.
I am not complaining, I will not even fight to keep the broken system going. I gave up.
To hell with it, Rome fell too.
...You may be eating tuna out of a can but you also have a five figure stereo AND a computer or two AND the means to play with the occasional component upgrade AND music streaming service(s). Within the hierarchy of needs, I'd say you're doing OK. Need to get married or at least a serious SO to move up to the next level. And maybe a decent camera.
count blessings is a nice way of saying shut the f*ck up and get back in the goosestep in this New World Order system.whatever I smoke Winston cigarettes, how ironic in this 1984 scenario we are in, Winston Smith I guess smoked Winstons too. Maybe I'll be re-educated or shot.
Edits: 04/27/15
Just to be clear here, I wasn't suggesting you STFU and start goose stepping again. More to point out that for you at least, an education did bring significant material benefits and it shouldn't be discounted. You eat tuna out of a can by choice. Some do this out of necessity: they don't the $$ for the stuff to make a casserole out of it and the electricity was shut off so they can't cook it if they did have the stuff.
Count your blessings while you goose step to whatever regime you choose.
I know that :)
my regime is no regime, just me.
:)
where folks many residents are consistently overweight, not far from Chicago. For me it is a money issue. It has to do with how expensive my health insurance has become, in spite of how healthy my family eats or how much I work out to circumvent my 62 years. This is due to having to supplement the financial health care for people without nutritional education or any semblance of self control. I no longer take my family to 'all you can eat buffets'. As related to audio, many audiophiles also understand the term, lack of self control.
"It's all fun and games until someone doesn't pick up on the sarcasm"
And as I noted the costs increases are reactionary. People smoke or become obese health care rises - as you note then premiums go up (or in slightly more socialist nations taxes go up) but HMOs are essentially a tax - the only difference is the name - TAX/HMO but either way money is taken to support the needs of others. (albeit in general a tax will help the person in need where as the HMO uses the money for the CEO to buy a billion dollar corporate jet and then deny as many people as possible from receiving the care they need - there's a leaky bucket if ever there was one!
But in either case - if the money started at the root problem and was put to education for parents of children, education to critically thing in general, and various programs set up to stop the problems BEFORE they become problems then all the costs would drop.
If the clowns in government pulled their heads out of their butts they would both wind up being happy - the Liberals would be happy that obesity and healthcare issues would be alleviated and the conservative who care very deeply that they save a few bucks on their millions will actually save those few bucks (albeit in the long run).
With more education and prevention you will get a lot more of the obese going to the gym - hey good for business too. Coca-Cola might go belly up - but then maybe not maybe they would actually sell something you can safely drink as opposed to a "bird poop on the car" remover.
The problem is the (albeit in the long run) part. I may be wrong but conservatives want to see clear profit in the next quarter - kind of the GM mentality that no other consideration in any way shape or form matters OTHER THAN making a profit in the next 3 months. Preventative programs ask for money up front without any hard figures of financial gain. Putting lives before money doesn't work with the right. Appealing only to their bank accounts works so unless someone comes up with a way to prove to them that they will have more money in their pocket then the infernal lefty liberal prevention ideas can't pass.
If you ever want to convince someone of anything - convince them by improving their bottom line. Rarely do people choose the right thing over the selfish thing. Rarely do people choose the good of the many over the good of themselves.
"This is due to having to supplement the financial health care for people without nutritional education or any semblance of self control"
Amen brother! We are "supplementing" far more than that these days.....
Oz
Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you.
- Winston Churchill
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