We've had it this town since July. Already some of the small restaurants
and businesses have closed. The weird thing was watching people who I
thought had brains become ideologues about the issue (and other things
as well). I point out the problem isn't wages it's an inflated cost of
living.
Minimum wage jobs are not supposed to be a career. There a way for
someone to make some money while going to college or high school kids
doing dumb jobs after school for some pocket money. At that some of us
can recall when people could not only survive on a minimum wage (like in
the late 1960s) but rent a house (or own one), buy a decent car (I
bought a brand new Datsun wagon in 1973 for $1800), dine out and go to
movies.
In this town the price of a sandwich has gone from $5 to $8 and now $10
at some places. The other thing is we have economic microclimates. That
same same sandwich for $10 may go for $7 the next town over or even $6
in Berkeley.
My mortgage payment on a small 4 bedroom house in a nice part of town is
less than what it costs to rent a single bedroom studio apartment in
this town. And then there is San Francisco where the rent on studio
apartment can run around $4K a month but food is cheaper than here.
If you as me the economy is really out of whack and it started getting
really weird after 9/11. You'd think it was a conspiracy. These
conditions can't go on forever without there being an uprising.
On 10/03/2015 08:59 PM, steve.sun...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife] wrote:
Well, I can tell you that a $15.00/hr. wage would be pretty disastrous
for many small businesses. It would put many of them out of business,
and you'd be stuck with pretty much only the big guys.
And then there's this wrinkle that where that wage has been
implemented, workers request fewer hours so they can retain the
benefits they had by having a lower income.
On 10/03/2015 08:01 PM, awoelflebater@... <mailto:awoelflebater@...>
[FairfieldLife] wrote:
Maybe, but in our current system (capitalism) that might be a
bit hard to implement. On the other hand, I hear in America
some politicians are gunning for a $15/hr minimum wage. Good.
So when you say "the vast majority keep them at home for
protection." then you agree with what my point was! This is
what I'm saying. Too many feel they need protection from the
threat from their fellow citizens, their (geographically
speaking) neighbors, for crying out loud! And why would this
be? I think there are a multitude of reasons but the
disparity in economic conditions between Americans is one of
them, for sure.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>, <awoelflebater@...>
<mailto:awoelflebater@...> wrote :
But, such high profile mass shootings are bound to create
media hyper ventilation and the resulting outrage and
lamenting is continuously ignited by these relatively common
occurrences in schools, movie theaters and elsewhere. It is a
subject that deserves attention because it also indicates
something deeper - is a barometer for other social disease
rampant in (in this case) the US. Guns seem to accompany fear
and rage and mental illness but not necessarily in all cases
when their use is against a neighbor, a classroom, an
employer.The need to own guns, to have them handy at all
times, is an indicator or a society in rough shape.When you
can't feel safe unless you have a gun in your possession it
points to economic reasons as well. Drug addiction, poverty,
lack of resources can lead citizens to assume they can take
what they need at the point of a gun, for example. Whole city
blocks and blocks of substandard living conditions or
millions of people scraping by all over America are testimony
to the sorry state of our society. Even the vehemence with
which gun lovers defend their (and by default everyone's)
right to own and carry a gun is based in fear and a distorted
idea that to change the Constitution with regard to gun
ownership rights would somehow be un-American or even
sacrilegious. This whole gun issue reveals far more than just
how people feel about arms.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>, <awoelflebater@...>
<mailto:awoelflebater@...> wrote :
More than 10,000 Americans are killed every year by gun
violence. By contrast, so few Americans have been killed by
terrorist attacks since 9/11 that when you chart the two
together, the terrorism death count approximates zero for
every year except 2001. This comparison, if anything,
understates the gap: Far more Americans die every year from
(easily preventable
<http://www.vox.com/2015/8/11/9126891/gun-suicide-rate>) gun
suicides than gun homicides.
The point Obama is making is clear: We spend huge amounts of
money every year fighting terrorism, yet are unwilling, at
the national level, to take even minor steps (like requiring
background checks on all gun sales nationally) to stop gun
violence.
