Swiss to vote on $25 an hour minimum wage

[Angel]

Walmart killed all the retail jobs, and Monsatan killed all the agriculture jobs. So it's a little late to worry about that.

Walmart hires people with disAbilities instead of temp foreign workers. I like that...

[Angel]

Surprised no one has mentioned Seattle's proposed $15/hr mimimum wage...

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/05/15/four-lessons-from-seattles-60-percent-minimum-wage-hike/

[DrMaddVibe]

Walmart killed all the retail jobs, and Monsatan killed all the agriculture jobs. So it's a little late to worry about that.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/05/17/walmart-is-falling-apart-before-our-eyes.aspx

[ELVIS]

Good bye and good riddance...

[FORD]

Ah.... so maybe that's the real reason why Walmart is trying so hard to repaint themselves as a "green" company in recent months, with the hybrid trucks, the planned solar panels, and such.

But as long as they're still having most of their shit made in China, they're far more the problem than the solution.

Old Sam Walton was a greedy ruthless bastard who gutted the business cores of small towns to build his chain of stores, but at least he had the sense to only sell American made products. His kids - who did nothing whatsoever to earn their billions - are probably more responsible than anybody other than the BCE for the rise of China as an economic (and pollution) power, at our expense. Not that other companies aren't just as guilty now.... but how many only did it because Walmart got away with it?

[Nitro Express]

I really don't know what to think of Sam Walton. When none of his stores existed where I lived he was just the guy you read about. He was the multi-millionare who drove the old beater truck and ate breakfast at Denny's. Basically he was touted as the visionary who didn't compete in the crowded city world of retail but took something new to the small towns. Maybe he wasn't greedy. He just saw a market where there was little competition.

It's a common story. The parent builds a great company and the kids sell out. It's amazing how quickly corporate culture changes as soon as a founder and major stockholder passes away. I've seen it first hand. Once the company becomes owned by Wall Street it's fucked.

I was voting proxies and I was amazed at how blatant the board of directors were about auditing themselves and giving themselves pay raises. In many cases they get what they want. Amazing. They are ripping off the shareholders. I think the problem is very few people own individual stocks anymore. They own funds. Nobody is voting proxy anymore and the boards are getting full power to do whatever they want. With a complacent government. Not only can they abuse at will they can get government bailouts and stick their loses to the taxpayer.

No surprise. Most citizens don't vote. Most shareholders don't vote their proxies. If people would vote more and vote intelligently these problems would not exist.

[Nitro Express]

A lot of new trucks do but some companies still use trucks with manual transmissions. My nieces soon to be ex husband works for a trucking company out of Ft Worth. All their trucks still have manual transmissions. The automatics are alot more expensive to maintain, repair and replace.

Automatics have always been that way. If you buy a used car many times fixing the automatic transmission is more than the car is worth. With a manual transmission they last a very long time; especially, if the gear oil has been changed on schedule. You just change the clutch when it's worn. One Toyota mechanic said they had a Toyota come in with 500,000 miles on it. Original engine and transmission. He said it still ran pretty good. The owner ran Castrol motor oil in it and changed the gear oil. Amazing how long engines last with modern oils.

That car probably would have been scrapped a long time ago if it had an automatic transmission. I'm interested in seeing how many miles that transmission can go before the synchronizers finally wear. It's just had 90 weight in it. No fancy synthetic blends.

I would say unless you are operating in extreme cold or extreme heat synthetics are a waste of money.

[Nitro Express]

Ah.... so maybe that's the real reason why Walmart is trying so hard to repaint themselves as a "green" company in recent months, with the hybrid trucks, the planned solar panels, and such.

But as long as they're still having most of their shit made in China, they're far more the problem than the solution.

Old Sam Walton was a greedy ruthless bastard who gutted the business cores of small towns to build his chain of stores, but at least he had the sense to only sell American made products. His kids - who did nothing whatsoever to earn their billions - are probably more responsible than anybody other than the BCE for the rise of China as an economic (and pollution) power, at our expense. Not that other companies aren't just as guilty now.... but how many only did it because Walmart got away with it?

Every company is selling itself as "Green". It's the current trend. Most of it is marketing and PR bullshit. Most of the solar panels are MADE IN CHINA. I mean yeah you can run some things off batteries and inverters but you aren't going to be running heavy industry on solar and solar is expensive. Everyone I ever saw go solar eventually takes the panels off their home. Heck even if you lived in a wigwam off the grid someone would be coming after you because your wood fire is polluting and putting too much carbon in the atmosphere and shitting in a hole isn't an ecologically safe way to process waste.

There is always something. Even if you shot yourself in the head, you would be cited for polluting because your rotting dead body gives off dangerous gasses that go into the atmosphere. Also your carcase may draw in dangerous predators like wolves. Oh wait. Those are good. I forgot.

[Nitro Express]

As far as minimum wage goes I don't see the point. The only thing that pays minimum wage are entry level jobs. Nobody can live on a minimum wage and young people need entry level jobs to get some experience. The problem we have is we lost our industrial base. You only can run on paper pushers and services so far. I mean nobody is gong to flip burgers their whole life. If you make the cost of a burger too much people will just brown bag it.

[DONNIEP]

If you make the cost of a burger too much people will just brown bag it.

No they won't. Because they won't be able to afford brown bags. Or the food to go in them. Plus, they'd probably get tired of waiting in huge lines at the grocery store because the owners wouldn't be able to pay every employee 50 grand a year to bag groceries and stock shelves.

But this is all just make believe. We all know every small business owner is a millionaire and can afford to pay their employees 50 grand a year. Without raising prices.

[cadaverdog]

As far as minimum wage goes I don't see the point. The only thing that pays minimum wage are entry level jobs. Nobody can live on a minimum wage and young people need entry level jobs to get some experience. The problem we have is we lost our industrial base. You only can run on paper pushers and services so far. I mean nobody is gong to flip burgers their whole life. If you make the cost of a burger too much people will just brown bag it.

Entry level jobs are careers in some places. There's not too many manufacturing jobs in Southern California and people don't quit good jobs to get better ones much anymore. Fast food jobs might be filled by youngsters where you live but they're filled mainly by Mexicans here. They don't hire many people that don't speak spanish. They hire plenty that don't speak english but not too many that don't speak spanish. Considering spanish speaking people are the majority here they have to.

[cadaverdog]

No they won't. Because they won't be able to afford brown bags. Or the food to go in them. Plus, they'd probably get tired of waiting in huge lines at the grocery store because the owners wouldn't be able to pay every employee 50 grand a year to bag groceries and stock shelves.

That's the main problem with raising minimum wage. When minimum wages goes up so do prices. That's why they charge 6 dollars for 6 dollar burgers at Carl's Jr now. They used to be about 3 dollars. Getting a 6 dollar burger for 3 was a good deal. The next time they raise minimum wage you'll pay more than 6 dollars for a 6 dollar burger. They'll have to change it to a 20 dollar burger to make it appear like a good deal. If profesional sports teams gave back 25% of the profit to the community and split the rest between owners and players every city that has a professional sports team would have a lot more money. Instead they pay people millions of dollars a year to play sports and they piss it away on huge houses, parties, cars, jewelry and entourages.

[ELVIS]

Entry level jobs are careers in some places.

No they're not, dickhead...

They're entry level jobs...

Some places don't have careers...

[Dr. Love]

It was voted down by a 76% majority.