tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post9116071257461116361..comments2024-02-29T03:21:35.007-08:00Comments on The Great Depression of 2006 : “Dumpster Journalism”Jim in San Marcoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09435296419912935381noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-90518442258221746212016-12-17T21:24:45.494-08:002016-12-17T21:24:45.494-08:00The "financial engineers" (graduates of ...The "financial engineers" (graduates of MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, etc.) will continue to work at changing the natural laws of economics and human behaviour until things are so broken and far afield that we're all living in caves again. Out of control. Someday they'll be a return to common sense and sanity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-147070135031688402016-12-17T07:41:38.626-08:002016-12-17T07:41:38.626-08:00Hi Anon 1:38
The point of the my reasoning was th...Hi Anon 1:38<br /><br />The point of the my reasoning was the fact that government can dictate a minimum wage and all that does is force the employer to cut costs by cutting employees. Obamacare for full time workers turned a lot of jobs into 30 hour part time ones.<br /><br />A landlord can set a rental rate for his apartments, the price pretty much determines whether it rents or not and how long the tenant stays. Supply determines his price. <br /><br />The same is true of labor, supply determines price. Instead of getting paid by the hour, you'll get paid for piecework, like 1.00 to make a shoe. You'll be an independent contractor paying both sides of social security and health care. The individual, as a subcontractor, isn't going to report earnings, they'd lose their food stamps and health care entitlements.<br /><br />Right now with a world oversupply of labor willing to work for two dollars a day, jobs are going to other countries. You can equalize the difference by lowering the minimum wage and putting tariffs on goods imported.<br /><br />Technology as you suggest offers hope for future employees. But the economic rule of supply and demand cannot be rewritten.Jim in San Marcoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09435296419912935381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-4962577640210863672016-12-17T01:38:21.514-08:002016-12-17T01:38:21.514-08:00"The $15 dollar an hour wage is showing emplo..."The $15 dollar an hour wage is showing employers, how easy it is to train patrons to use self service kiosks. I can go into UPS at Christmas time login to the computer with my telephone number, pull up every address I've sent packages to in the last 10 years, address the package, calculate the delivery costs and pay for it using one clerk servicing 6 of these stations."<br /><br />And what's wrong with that? why don't you stop using your washing machine and hire a person to that? Yes, technology will displace certain workers but those workers will be trained to do even higher skill work, thank to the help of technology, and earn a better wage and standard of living.<br /><br />You organization went from 200 to 12 bc it could and it should. It's called efficiency, funny how when the same workers that are displaced with technology, are the same ones that use it in their every day life, like the internet and blogs, but still complain that it replaces old inefficient process's.<br /><br />You have to continue to learn and evolve, if you don't, you will be stale and displaced, simple. <br /><br />Become Amish, or don't use technology when it helps you and hate it when it takes jobs.<br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-18313014519146343662016-12-14T00:00:24.458-08:002016-12-14T00:00:24.458-08:00The mainstream media is sure pushing the pathetic ...The mainstream media is sure pushing the pathetic attempts of the Democrats and the Deep State to derail Trump (Russians, vote recounts, electoral college faithless votes, etc.). The media is one of the biggest enemies of the American people. So glad to see that they are losing readership circulation and eyeballs on TV and the internet. RIP you traitorous commies. The majority of Hollywood and the entertainment industry is pretty much in lockstep with them as well. Bunch of commies too. Leave it up to these people and our country would be gone in no time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-79912130359211394892016-12-11T08:34:20.318-08:002016-12-11T08:34:20.318-08:00Steel? It depends on your costs. If you buy iron...Steel? It depends on your costs. If you buy iron ore from the cheapest source, and coking coal, and can carry them cheaply (i.e. by sea) to your blast furnaces, then you can make cheap steel as long as you're not paying top dollar for wages, taxes, regulatory burden, and so on.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-37160840542682115782016-12-10T21:19:02.918-08:002016-12-10T21:19:02.918-08:00Hi dearieme
I tend to agree with you on some of i...Hi dearieme<br /><br />I tend to agree with you on some of it, but when it comes to dry wall and steel, I have to wonder, how can shipping it across the ocean can be cheaper than making it locally?<br /><br />Tariff polices are not a cure, but when someone can ship drywall across an ocean and make money, it gives one room to pause and say, what gives?Jim in San Marcoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09435296419912935381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-89009752491479498172016-12-10T12:29:02.994-08:002016-12-10T12:29:02.994-08:00Oppenheim has bought into the black propaganda of ...Oppenheim has bought into the black propaganda of the immoral democrat establishment of this country (which has been a cancer in us for too long).<br /><br />The liberal socialist democrats operate off of falsehoods and destructive impulses and will so anything to remain in power (and destroy the USA). <br /><br />Trump incites no violence at all. His intention is to fix things and get things happening. And he's doing it as an outsider. Better that, then the direction we've been going in with our recent "leaders". Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-60713096193758084892016-12-09T11:49:28.546-08:002016-12-09T11:49:28.546-08:00"the dramatic increase of hate crimes incited..."the dramatic increase of hate crimes incited by the president elect": delusional.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-74031640609646085022016-12-09T11:48:16.909-08:002016-12-09T11:48:16.909-08:00Tariffs can't reduce the burden of having to c...Tariffs can't reduce the burden of having to compete with countries where competent workers are far cheaper. They presumably would redistribute the burden - that would be the whole point of them. So you should end up with more people employed in factories than you would otherwise have had, but with a higher cost of living for everyone.<br /><br /><br />At a guess "more people employed in factories than you would otherwise have had" would be a great disappointment, because the remorseless advance of automation would mean that you'll never get back to the days of huge factory labour forces. You might as well hope for a 19th century scale of agricultural employment.<br /><br />People talk of the success of tariff policies in the US in the 19th century, but they were combined with large scale copying of the industrial advances of Britain and Germany, and paying nothing for what now would be seen as breach of patents. You'd be hard pressed to carry that off again.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-35729884763944306012016-12-08T23:00:03.654-08:002016-12-08T23:00:03.654-08:00It is already not working out except for those who...It is already not working out except for those who like the dramatic increase of hate crimes incited by the president elect. Joseph Oppenheimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09037175611181710409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-35999757823893349492016-12-08T21:37:30.387-08:002016-12-08T21:37:30.387-08:00Hi AIM
Thank you for the complement. I voted for ...Hi AIM<br /><br />Thank you for the complement. I voted for Trump and even sent in money which I have never done before.<br /><br />I am not sure how it may work out, but I think that our imaginations have the propensity to exaggerate what may really happen. It may not be as bad as we anticipate.<br /><br />But prepare for the worst, and enjoy if it doesn't happen.Jim in San Marcoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09435296419912935381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-36818563005157864182016-12-08T21:14:56.648-08:002016-12-08T21:14:56.648-08:00Hi Everyone
Joseph brought up the "new Renai...Hi Everyone<br /><br />Joseph brought up the "new Renaissance of Science and technology" and I see a serious downside to it.<br /><br />In 10 years time at our organization, I have seen our infrastructure go from 300 people to 12. What is not understood well, is that there are a lot of laborers in our country and not enough jobs for even half of them.<br /><br />The $15 dollar an hour wage is showing employers, how easy it is to train patrons to use self service kiosks. I can go into UPS at Christmas time login to the computer with my telephone number, pull up every address I've sent packages to in the last 10 years, address the package, calculate the delivery costs and pay for it using one clerk servicing 6 of these stations.<br /><br />I think I mention a while back, the guy ahead of me in line at a supermarket being told by a checker, that "There was no waiting at the self service check out" and he said "No thanks, I already have a job." I still laugh over that.<br /><br />There is a glut of cheap labor on the world markets. There will always be someone there to take advantage of it. One thing not realized about our country during the first 100 years, was that the government was completely financed by tariffs and other assorted taxes on imported goods. If we go back to that, it could become a lot easier to start up new enterprises that can undercut the tariff price.<br /><br />Remember a rather obvious thing, those reading this blog are probably not unemployed or in very bad financial shape. So us, as observers of this Great Depression, haven't really experience much or any suffering because of it. So what might seem very dire times to many is not really that bad for the general reader.<br /><br />Having said that, I apologize for putting everyone to sleep.Jim in San Marcoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09435296419912935381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-88148735104673136472016-12-08T13:24:35.556-08:002016-12-08T13:24:35.556-08:00Jim,
I believe it will be a Reformation period, Fo...Jim,<br />I believe it will be a Reformation period, Fourth Turning, Great Unraveling, Great Shakeout, or whatever you want to call it. <br /><br />I'm very hopeful that Trump and a new administration will continue to disrupt and dismantle our broken and corrupt governmental system and fix many errors. <br /><br />Yet, I sure don't see calm sailing in peaceful waters in the future or "happy times are here again", do you? AIMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-79802862438574759232016-12-08T13:19:31.823-08:002016-12-08T13:19:31.823-08:00Oppenheim: Has nothing to do with the US or global...Oppenheim: Has nothing to do with the US or global economies and the headwinds that Trump will be facing. And is quite a Pollyanna viewpoint. The internet and digital toys are not economy boomers. There are a LOT of issues coming to be dealt with, and ALL the past issues and circumstances that the big dam has been holding back for decades to be dealt with. It will be a rough ride with lots of changes to go through.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-72564501067778233872016-12-08T12:12:27.886-08:002016-12-08T12:12:27.886-08:00Call me biased, but I'd prefer some sort of Re...Call me biased, but I'd prefer some sort of Renaissance in medicine, rather than in toys for teenagers.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-30352710710329387152016-12-07T13:50:48.175-08:002016-12-07T13:50:48.175-08:00Knowledgeable people already know we are in a new ...Knowledgeable people already know we are in a new Renaissance which began around 1990, much like the original one of about 1450-1550, because of the technology/science blow away advancement with global impact. As for journalism/media, parallels between Gutenberg and Zuckerberg, spreading free speech. Trump using social media so well, is such an example. Just today, Senate hearings testimony on the AT&T-Time Warner proposed merger, that there is no anti-competitive large concentration of media power, because Facebook, Google and Apple are each much larger companies with media power.Joseph Oppenheimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09037175611181710409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-998695575934191822016-12-07T12:40:29.978-08:002016-12-07T12:40:29.978-08:00Jim,
Very well written post. The USA has been walk...Jim,<br />Very well written post. The USA has been walking a tightrope almost throughout its history or lifespan. That tightrope has moved upwards in height, increasing the distance to the floor of the abyss, with every wrong turn we've taken. It's a very long way down now. We are either moving forward into a Reformation or Renaissance, or into a debacle, yet, somehow we are still here. Unfortunately, as you say, we are in the middle of something we are not aware of and/or can't describe, and it won't be clear what that is until it is articulated by historians 50 years from now. <br /><br />Trump has a lot of headwinds to fight. His/our situation is like an echo of Teddy Roosevelt. Meanwhile, the natural laws of life continue to act upon us, and the aberrations of humanity in economics, politics, etc. will be crushed by those laws. <br /><br />I believe the domestic and global recession/panic/depression (or whatever you want to call it) continues to approach us like a slow-moving and unstoppable steamroller. (Actually, we are already being flattened but our leaders, bankers and media are anesthetizing us to that.)<br /><br />The Fed raising interest rates, the drop in world trade, global populist uprisings, collapse of EU, desperation of the elites, etc. will soon cause the veneer (and the past indulgences, corruption, misguided policies, unusual solutions, etc. behind it that has kept things "propped up") to blow away and the "unraveling" to be exposed. We will be the collateral damage of the power elite. <br /><br />I believe we are in for the ride of out lifetime. AIMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27697009.post-17016478001992027802016-12-05T17:29:30.623-08:002016-12-05T17:29:30.623-08:00The factual bits in newspapers are usually at the ...The factual bits in newspapers are usually at the back: the sports results and the stock exchange prices. The nearer you get to the front page, the more fiction you are wading through.deariemenoreply@blogger.com