It's been a long time since I've worked any, but doesn't basically everything at Walmart pay minimum wage? I don't think a guy unloading trucks or doing stocking ought to be getting minimum. Maybe only a little premium but SOME premium. That's heavy lifting and it does require some skill to unload a semi trailer without destroying product or injuring yourself. Not a lot, but some.
To me minimum wage means totally brainless work, like move that pile of dirt type work.
Yeah, I'm pretty interested about that too. "Fruit and Vegetable picker" I would consider unskilled rather than blue collar. Unskilled labor isn't worth a huge amount of money. If those laborers want to make more money they should get skills.
Are you saying that the non-management workers at Walmart count as blue collar workers?
Guys unloading trucks and running a stockroom I think count as blue collar, yeah. Not like, trade union level but not cashiers, either. Maybe I need another term, but I don't think hard physical labor is in the realm of minimum wage.
Guys (and gals) working out in a field in the hot sun picking vegetables, same thing. That's not minimum wage work in my book. I realize what goes on right now in reality but I don't think that should fly. Being able to tolerate grueling conditions and be productive is itself a skill.
Well I'm not arguing that grocery stockers should be getting paid like tradesmen, but I do think that hauling palettes around deserves more than the least amount of hourly wage legally allowed.
Unemployment needs to be nearly eliminated in order to get rid of the race to the bottom that leads to shit like this. Wealth concentration at the top is the single biggest culprit leading to unemployment, I think. The economy grows when people have cash to spend, not when millionaires have cash sitting in vaults and investment instruments.
I have for a long time been an advocate of "guaranteed universal employment." Anyone willing to work (and possibly relocate) is guaranteed a living wage for the area where they end up living.
It has a side effect that basically anyone jobless is either lazy or mentally/physically disabled, as opposed to now where they may be lazy, mentally/physically disabled, or crushed by a cruel world and an uncaring employment framework. ;^)
Seriously, though. No society/economic system, not even capitalism, is really intended to create a class of ultra-wealthy. They're a bug in the system. Society exists to keep us from dragging off each other's women and murdering each other for water and livestock, and to aggregate our productivity in such a way that we get to have iPads and televisions. The ultra-wealthy are a bug that exploits itself until the system breaks down.
I have for a long time been an advocate of "guaranteed universal employment." Anyone willing to work (and possibly relocate) is guaranteed a living wage for the area where they end up living.
It has a side effect that basically anyone jobless is either lazy or mentally/physically disabled, as opposed to now where they may be lazy, mentally/physically disabled, or crushed by a cruel world and an uncaring employment framework. ;^)
Sounds great. How do you implement this? Infrastructure building jobs programs might be a start, but not everybody can labor and there would only be so much room for administrators, and really we hardly need secretarial staff anymore...
I have for a long time been an advocate of "guaranteed universal employment." Anyone willing to work (and possibly relocate) is guaranteed a living wage for the area where they end up living.
It has a side effect that basically anyone jobless is either lazy or mentally/physically disabled, as opposed to now where they may be lazy, mentally/physically disabled, or crushed by a cruel world and an uncaring employment framework. ;^)
Sounds great. How do you implement this? Infrastructure building jobs programs might be a start, but not everybody can labor and there would only be so much room for administrators, and really we hardly need secretarial staff anymore...
Our country is gigantic and its infrastructure is ancient. We can never have enough people working on upgrading and maintaining it. If we actually decided to upgrade and maintain all of our infrastructure it will create a near limitless demand for labor. That will only end when we reach a point where the infrastructure can not only maintain itself, but can also upgrade itself without labor of humans. So Skynet.
I have for a long time been an advocate of "guaranteed universal employment." Anyone willing to work (and possibly relocate) is guaranteed a living wage for the area where they end up living.
It has a side effect that basically anyone jobless is either lazy or mentally/physically disabled, as opposed to now where they may be lazy, mentally/physically disabled, or crushed by a cruel world and an uncaring employment framework. ;^)
Sounds great. How do you implement this? Infrastructure building jobs programs might be a start, but not everybody can labor and there would only be so much room for administrators, and really we hardly need secretarial staff anymore...
Our country is gigantic and its infrastructure is ancient. We can never have enough people working on upgrading and maintaining it. If we actually decided to upgrade and maintain all of our infrastructure it will create a near limitless demand for labor. That will only end when we reach a point where the infrastructure can not only maintain itself, but can also upgrade itself without labor of humans. So Skynet.
While I don't necessarily disagree with you, I think the fact that the country is still functioning just fine with its broken down, outdated infrastructure kind of flies in the face of this. Sure, we could probably be WAY more efficient with better infrastructure, but some of that efficiency is siphoned off by the maintenance costs. It's a hard sell to the country at large when people can say shit's not falling down and be mostly right.
Yeah, I'm pretty interested about that too. "Fruit and Vegetable picker" I would consider unskilled rather than blue collar. Unskilled labor isn't worth a huge amount of money. If those laborers want to make more money they should get skills.
But how do you get skills if you can't afford school and no one will hire you to train?
Yeah, I'm pretty interested about that too. "Fruit and Vegetable picker" I would consider unskilled rather than blue collar. Unskilled labor isn't worth a huge amount of money. If those laborers want to make more money they should get skills.
But how do you get skills if you can't afford school and no one will hire you to train?
Grants and subsidized training. This is where an oversight body should step in and help out. If people want training and cannot get it, there should be mechanisms to assist them. Preferably one that doesn't put them in debt for the rest of their natural lives.
I have for a long time been an advocate of "guaranteed universal employment." Anyone willing to work (and possibly relocate) is guaranteed a living wage for the area where they end up living.
It has a side effect that basically anyone jobless is either lazy or mentally/physically disabled, as opposed to now where they may be lazy, mentally/physically disabled, or crushed by a cruel world and an uncaring employment framework. ;^)
Sounds great. How do you implement this? Infrastructure building jobs programs might be a start, but not everybody can labor and there would only be so much room for administrators, and really we hardly need secretarial staff anymore...
Our country is gigantic and its infrastructure is ancient. We can never have enough people working on upgrading and maintaining it. If we actually decided to upgrade and maintain all of our infrastructure it will create a near limitless demand for labor. That will only end when we reach a point where the infrastructure can not only maintain itself, but can also upgrade itself without labor of humans. So Skynet.
While I don't necessarily disagree with you, I think the fact that the country is still functioning just fine with its broken down, outdated infrastructure kind of flies in the face of this. Sure, we could probably be WAY more efficient with better infrastructure, but some of that efficiency is siphoned off by the maintenance costs. It's a hard sell to the country at large when people can say shit's not falling down and be mostly right.
But shit is falling down. We have bridges collapsing. We have houses that get destroyed by hurricanes. We have power that goes out. We have Internet that is slow as balls and expensive as hell. There is limited, or no, wireless coverage in many places. Public transportation fails all the time. If we upgrade our shit, we can laugh at hurricanes and floods. We can have crazy fast Internet everywhere.
Chinese Train
USA Train
If there was a public music hall, it might still be using gramophones. In our private homes we have the latest and greatest technologies. You wouldn't tolerate living without modern conveniences in your private home, why do you tolerate having 100 year old technology rusting away in public?
You're preaching to the choir, but still, conservatives can still plausibly claim that our infrastructure is still working. I think you'd need a bridge collapse per month before people would stop saying that and getting away with it.
Everyone knows that they have waste disposal units inside the armor, which also recycles liquid waste into a drinkable liquid. They would not be using a toilet.
Everyone knows that they have waste disposal units inside the armor, which also recycles liquid waste into a drinkable liquid. They would not be using a toilet.
Anyway, starting with Mark 2 armor fluid recycling was a thing. Also, the suit would be far too heavy to sit on a porcelain throne. God, Steve. Get it right.
You're preaching to the choir, but still, conservatives can still plausibly claim that our infrastructure is still working. I think you'd need a bridge collapse per month before people would stop saying that and getting away with it.
I mentioned this before, but the old cartoon I read back in high school pretty much describes this exactly, even involving trains! The liberal responds to a request to build a new train station (assuming there is merit to the request) by doing what it takes to build the new train station. The conservative responds by stating that the current station is adequate and doesn't need to be replaced. Then we get to the reactionaries and radicals, but that doesn't quite apply here.
Personally, while I consider myself a moderate, I do lean towards the liberal side of things when it comes to infrastructure improvements. We need a better train and mass transit system.
Infrastructure investment was once a conservative ideal driven primarily by a desire to maintain a strong framework with which to wage war (military or economic).
Meanwhile, a right for citizens to bear arms was a very liberal idea.
Funny how things progress when progress is one's goal. Luckily we tend to make progress despite the best efforts of conservatism/reactionary thought.
Comments
To me minimum wage means totally brainless work, like move that pile of dirt type work.
Guys (and gals) working out in a field in the hot sun picking vegetables, same thing. That's not minimum wage work in my book. I realize what goes on right now in reality but I don't think that should fly. Being able to tolerate grueling conditions and be productive is itself a skill.
Unemployment needs to be nearly eliminated in order to get rid of the race to the bottom that leads to shit like this. Wealth concentration at the top is the single biggest culprit leading to unemployment, I think. The economy grows when people have cash to spend, not when millionaires have cash sitting in vaults and investment instruments.
It has a side effect that basically anyone jobless is either lazy or mentally/physically disabled, as opposed to now where they may be lazy, mentally/physically disabled, or crushed by a cruel world and an uncaring employment framework. ;^)
Chinese Train
USA Train
If there was a public music hall, it might still be using gramophones. In our private homes we have the latest and greatest technologies. You wouldn't tolerate living without modern conveniences in your private home, why do you tolerate having 100 year old technology rusting away in public?
Personally, while I consider myself a moderate, I do lean towards the liberal side of things when it comes to infrastructure improvements. We need a better train and mass transit system.
Meanwhile, a right for citizens to bear arms was a very liberal idea.
Funny how things progress when progress is one's goal. Luckily we tend to make progress despite the best efforts of conservatism/reactionary thought.