there is a built in problem in the u.s. , first they want a minimum wage now of $15 an hour which is nice but what happens to the person already making $15 an hour there purchasing power just dropped and that works its way up through the wages , rather then raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour making the dollar worth more makes more sense ! so how do we do that well here we go again, Walmart tries to keep wages down and by buying goods from other countries and they seem to do ok, people bitch about Walmart practices but guess who buys there goods ? sears and macys and other name brand stores are going out of business because why ? because people can get stuff cheaper at Walmart and amazon , we as American's want higher wages and lower prices well guess what kids we reached that limit , u.s. business are trying to move to places that production costs are lower ! they cant afford higher wages because they will have to raise prices and nobody will buy their products ! our wages and prices are out of control look at the wages we pay any body in sports , medical costs, legal costs construction costs , my kids make more money then I ever did , banks are still giving out million dollar bonus money awards after we bailed them out ! some how we have to cut production costs to be able to keep business here and raising wages by forcing employers to pay higher wages here isn't the answer ! nor is a greedy company charging to much for their product !
@MJ fantastic research about alternatives forms of energy, but unfortunately what command all is simply $$$ so great corporates only think in how to earn more money ever more money
@Tiger-1: And -THAT'S- why I won't do it (meaning I wouldn't release it to the world). I have no desire to feed the corporate machine. Not to mention I'd probably end up on some corporate hit list, and found dead in a shroud of mystery.
your post is a recipe for making america a third world country.. by forcing those companies to pay better wages, people can handle medical costs, decent housing, food, education.etc.. there is a built-in problem in the third world, fyi, the norm should be what you can get there for $ 15/hour, with decent work, as opposed to what you get for nasty, underpaid work, pollution, dangerous health and safety circumstances, minimum wage?? you never had it so good, americans!
@nodnar: I hope you don't mean me. Because if it was up to me, I'd give that technology to the 3rd world countries for free. And yes. we Americans do have it very good. Many of us simply don't appreciate what we have. That's because many of the do not know what it means to be homeless, abused as children and battered. (Did I say too much?)
Every community which has raised the minimum wage has seen an increase in jobs. You have shallow reasoning. Sears, Macy's, etc. are losing business because they have not changed their business model. They need to change with the times. Also, unemployment goes up in communities with Walmarts, and others like them. They pay low, fire often, and rely on the U.S. government to subsidize workers' pay with EBT (Food Stamps.) I live in a small community which used to have a local pharmacy, hardware store, etc. until Walmart, and Walgreens moved in. Raising wages benefits everyone in the long term. People have more money to spend, and more jobs are created. You really need to do some good solid research on this subject like I have.
i just meant zen, mj. by depriving the bigmac waitress her $15, on the grounds that the work will go to third world countries, you [he] is making a big mistake. because that waitress is gonna need that $15, to have a half-way decent existence, it is all about dividing the spoils in western society. it is the same basic mistake that the good president-elect is making, imho. they should have taken an iq test on him. just my 2 cents. that leaves 1498 cent to be filled in. in zens`book anyway.
The problem your overlooking is that by raising the min wage, your increasing the cost of living because Corporate America is not going to foot the bill for higher wages, they will simply pass that cost to public sector and they will pay more for products and services. So the more it cost a company to do services/sell products, the more it will cost you. In the long run, min wage increases are detrimental to the financial stability of this country Increasing the value of the U.S. dollar and going back to the gold standard will be the way to better living in this country
the definition of an economist is that he does not know either.. this thread is walking away from global warming and puts its foot in into the brown sh**ty realms of economy. i remember owning postage stamps of one million german marks. at that time, sending a postcard by snailmail, cost about 12 cents, dhjohns does not overlook anything, imo.he merely described a decent community as it was before globalisation. and corporate america will just have to foot the bill, because they will have an angry population on their hands, as was demonstrated by their voting into power a complete village idiot.
@nodnar: I beg to differ with you as to how dhjohns sees things. I have highlighted the key problem, and the main reason why the idiot Trump was elected. The US populus has made it crystal clear that they do -NOT- want globalization or socialism, nor they want to give up their lifestyles for the sake of other countries. We don't mind sharing, but we do not want to be forced to, nor do we wanted to be tricked into it by legalese sleight-of-hand. Trump is the case of the lesser of two evils. And this may very well be bad for us, but in the minds of the majority, they're willing to accept that hit. When you're doing well, it's easy to criticize those who are not. And the more successful we are, the easier it is to have a cavalier attitude towards those who are struggling. What I do agree with is the fact that these discussions have moved away from Climate Change and more towards the slippery slope of economics. "Grant that I may not criticize my neighbor until I have walked a mile in his moccasins".
lol. i never agree with him, not about operating systems, but now i do. and i guess that there are people in africa, who want to share in the luxery of 1.something cars per family. they are invading europe at the moment, and the signs are on the wall already. i am afraid that the old continent does not care to share either..
I feel with you, trust me. I had a few more decades to see what goes on, and I lived all over the world. So, the sound of some of my commentaries maybe rude and upsetting, but I see too many people making excuses for their own actions and on top of it show that they are unwilling to learn anything at all.... There is this wonderfull saying in the english: I am no longer willing to suffer fools gladly. You may loose a lot of so-called friends, but you gain a lot of quality of life. The bad news is, TINA, there is no alternative. "I too have looked at this garbage for about a half century, And I just don't know what we can do. We try to put our trust in our politicians, only to be betrayed for the almighty dollar." You are being tricked by what in mythology is called the box of Pandora, I am sure you know that. I had that hope that came from there still somewhere in a small corner of my mind. It ended the day Obama got elected, I had to admit my conservative opponents were right, people are blind and stupid, and refuse to see reality beyond their own interests. "We try to put our trust in our politicians..." what else can you do? And even those with good intentions fail against all-mighty Dollar. Almost always they do not have any good intentions from the beginning and if they are serious about them, they will not last... What I really missed, even in the MDL forum, was an adequate reaction to the candidates of last year, most of the educated world had one. How can people not rise up, when they see, they are given a "choice" between Hilary and Trump? And being told this is a democracy? And pointing that out, I get insulted. You had Bernie, who got screwed by his own party! And that party was ths supposedly good one! Is it really helpful, when you tell one another that Russia and China are worse? Nationalism turns people into useful idiots. And your politicians know that and use it. The US even had the choice of a woman, and she would have defeated Trump with a quarter of Hilary's money. Imagine Elisabeth Warren and her VP Sanders being sworn in in two weeks And then look at what a mess the american people have made of it.... You may not like it but, "A paradise where no one can live..." so, do not live there! The world is very, very beautiful and huge...
There is no solution to this. I think it is hope that gets you stuck in that hamster wheel, running till you drop dead... Reality exists, there is mass murdere sitting in the white house about to be replaced by, what Bill Maher called, a orang utan. In your Germany you have the prototype of mediocrity and purest opportunism as chancellor. Many people who have nothing to do with the AfD, begin to see, that the old Germany died somewhere in Sep 2015, and will never return. Everyone begins to understand the changes that were produced by 1 Million refugees in 2016 and the next million in 2017... Surely you understand that the car tax system is a fraud? You have any idea how expensive petrol is in Germany? You have heard of the coming maut? You have heard of the coming of privatisation of the autobahn? Take a look at the toilets in the schools... To clean up that mess would require a few hundred million Euro... And if you look into Germanys "quality media"... NOT ONE OF THEM reported that one of the smaller banks, the HSH Nordbank, with its moronic management now requires total of 30 Billion Euros. That is 30.000.000.000.000 Euros And in court their managers fought in court to get bonusses of up to 5 Million, AND there lifelong pensions? And now the germans actually believe that the primitive right wing garbage will fix it?
Nice one... "...we hopefully learned something from it, of course we do need to take of our planet and ecology." Allow me to be frank... You have NOT leared anything, and even even you would learn, you still have no power at all to do something abouit it. You are childish, and using your time and energy to fight against the status quo makes you a useful idiot and absobs your against into the system and thus prevents change. Do you know what a freudian slip is? In that sentence I quoted you "forgot" the one word that matters: care Think about it and look at yourself ralistically... or don't.
You are missing the point. A civilised society is one that raises its very bottom to an acceptable minimum of quality of life. If that might be $15, so be it. However... in a capitalist society maximising short tern profit is the one true value that "trumps" all. Blaming people who have no choice but living in a society that has degenerated to the lowest level, for buying at Walmart is the kind of retarded left wing thinking, that has ruined ALL so-called leftist parties in Europe, as german Yen will be able to explain to you.