One confusing aspect of governmental controls that is a bit crazy to me is the imposition of a minimum wage. Personally, I feel that those people that work should receive a fair compensation for their labor. Anyone withholding wages from a worker to keep exorbitant profits for themselves should be prosecuted in a court of law. A minimum wage to me however, is counterproductive in many ways.
#1- Minimum wage, as dictated by government, does not take into consideration market, demand, costs or any other conditions regarding any particular business and the profitability to remain operational.
#2- Minimum wage, as dictated by government controls, removes the competitive nature of international commerce and manufacturing. Countries without minimum wage produce and manufacture cheaper than we can. Fair or not, that is a fact.
#3- With far less jobs available due to the competition in non regulated countries, right here in the United States, far more people are on government assistance. Government assistance is funded (supposed to be anyway) by income taxes of working people thereby reducing their take home pay.
#4- The higher the minimum wage, the less competitive our products and services, the less competitive these things are, the less companies there are, the less companies there are, the less people are employed at any wage, the less people employed, the more people on government assistance. The more people on government assistance, the more taxes needed to pay for the assistance. With less people working, the higher taxes they pay so minimum wage or not, their take home pay is taken away by excess taxes.
#5- With more and more people losing their jobs because we cannot compete with other countries, more and more people are buying the imported products from other countries because they are way cheaper. Resulting in a reverse cash flow from the united States to the other cheaper countries draining our cash resources so fewer and fewer companies remain open. Creating a downward spiral in our economy.
#6- In my opinion, wages too high to compete=fewer people employed=more people on assistance=higher taxes=fewer people to pay those taxes=an overall lower wage and our currency becomes worthless. So, what did the minimum wage dictated by government to increase our standard of living actually accomplish?
Oh, wait a second. Am I talking about the United States or is it Greece? I forget sometimes. I'm probably just a bit tired, need coffee. Have a good day.
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Pet peeves in the middle of the night
What ever happened to visiting a library or grocery store to meet someone of the opposite sex? Right now there are so many dating sights on the Internet the advertisements overwhelm the average mind. No, I'm not on the dating scene. That's not the issue. It's the torrent of those advertisements and the claims they make that are a real pain in my book/backside. Some sights are brazenly racist while others appeal to a person's faith life or heaven knows what. One of those places goes so far as to speak for God! Hey folks, pay us money and find out who God wants you to be with. Huh? Who made them spokespeople for God? I guess I missed that part in the bible.
Who decides how many pieces or pounds or ounces of a certain product get put into a container?: Six donuts, Ten hot dogs, Eight hot dog buns, (that one really gets me.) Fifteen and a half ounces of peaches in a can, .05 ounces of seeds, and then the ever decreasing size of what once was a three pound can of coffee, now?: 869g, in other words 1lb, 14.6 ounces. Yup! That's how higher prices sneak up on us. Rolls of toilet tissue are made over an inch narrower than only a few short years ago. Truthfully I don't get that one, people are getting heavier with each generation whilst TP is getting smaller.
There is an attack being formed to eliminate cordless microphones and turn the airwaves spectrum over to telephones or TV or radio. I guess it'll be back to those megaphone things. Nah, not really. We will simply return to the days of yards upon yards of lines leading to microphones in churches, auditoriums and the sidelines of football fields. American Idol will have to have those people audition wrapped in wire and the TV news reporters will have thick wires hanging down their back. We did it all before, we'll deal with it again I guess.
The new health care system is a point of contention for a lot of people these days. Something that people have always aspired to get as a part of a good employment package or earn enough to afford is health insurance. Not everyone has health insurance and that is the issue being dealt with politically right now. Realistically what is being done, be it right or wrong is: some health care is being taken away from those that have it and given to those that do not have it. It's such a hot topic not because any of us want anyone to go without health care, it's because we really don't want any of the health care we worked so hard and sacrificed so long to obtain to be taken away. It's not that something shouldn't be done, it's how it's being done by people that aren't being affected by it.
Products being made in China are a source of contention to a huge number of folks that blame our high unemployment figures on imports. Not so long ago Chinese products were called junk and sold in novelty stores. The same with other imports. There was a time when Japanese cars were the laughing stock of the world of transportation. The manufacturers around the world felt no competition or need to be concerned. Today a Japanese car manufacturer sells more cars than any other manufacturer anywhere. And, the loyalty of it's customers is incredible. Thanks to the work and ethical standards of the Japanese they have an excellent standard of living. The Chinese are attempting the same climb to the top. Other countries are making stuff we want for cheap to get the money to make stuff we want that is higher quality than we make here. Is the answer to stop buying from them or is it to make some stuff they want cheap and sell it to them and use the money to make even better stuff and get even more money and everyone winds up happy. Is that possible? Besides, who is left around here that needs to do the manual labor when they are given for free what the people in most Asian countries have to work for? In India they make a new car that will sell for around $2000. Now that is something to think about. At one time the Americans were the innovators.
This pet peeve thing is what goes through a person's mind when he can't sleep I think. During daylight hours there are so many other distractions and input of information that one's innermost thoughts are suppressed to the point of boiling over into the night. That's where I'm at now. Not that any of this stuff is really any more important than anything you can think of. We all have our own perspective and opinions. All equally valid. It's just that at this particular moment everyone else is sleeping and I get a chance to express myself and air out my mind to make room for other stuff. It won't be long and the pressures of the day will take the place of anything as trivial as a pet peeve. Actually it'll be seven minutes from now. That's a whole nother story, er peeve of mine. Later.....Joe
Who decides how many pieces or pounds or ounces of a certain product get put into a container?: Six donuts, Ten hot dogs, Eight hot dog buns, (that one really gets me.) Fifteen and a half ounces of peaches in a can, .05 ounces of seeds, and then the ever decreasing size of what once was a three pound can of coffee, now?: 869g, in other words 1lb, 14.6 ounces. Yup! That's how higher prices sneak up on us. Rolls of toilet tissue are made over an inch narrower than only a few short years ago. Truthfully I don't get that one, people are getting heavier with each generation whilst TP is getting smaller.
There is an attack being formed to eliminate cordless microphones and turn the airwaves spectrum over to telephones or TV or radio. I guess it'll be back to those megaphone things. Nah, not really. We will simply return to the days of yards upon yards of lines leading to microphones in churches, auditoriums and the sidelines of football fields. American Idol will have to have those people audition wrapped in wire and the TV news reporters will have thick wires hanging down their back. We did it all before, we'll deal with it again I guess.
The new health care system is a point of contention for a lot of people these days. Something that people have always aspired to get as a part of a good employment package or earn enough to afford is health insurance. Not everyone has health insurance and that is the issue being dealt with politically right now. Realistically what is being done, be it right or wrong is: some health care is being taken away from those that have it and given to those that do not have it. It's such a hot topic not because any of us want anyone to go without health care, it's because we really don't want any of the health care we worked so hard and sacrificed so long to obtain to be taken away. It's not that something shouldn't be done, it's how it's being done by people that aren't being affected by it.
Products being made in China are a source of contention to a huge number of folks that blame our high unemployment figures on imports. Not so long ago Chinese products were called junk and sold in novelty stores. The same with other imports. There was a time when Japanese cars were the laughing stock of the world of transportation. The manufacturers around the world felt no competition or need to be concerned. Today a Japanese car manufacturer sells more cars than any other manufacturer anywhere. And, the loyalty of it's customers is incredible. Thanks to the work and ethical standards of the Japanese they have an excellent standard of living. The Chinese are attempting the same climb to the top. Other countries are making stuff we want for cheap to get the money to make stuff we want that is higher quality than we make here. Is the answer to stop buying from them or is it to make some stuff they want cheap and sell it to them and use the money to make even better stuff and get even more money and everyone winds up happy. Is that possible? Besides, who is left around here that needs to do the manual labor when they are given for free what the people in most Asian countries have to work for? In India they make a new car that will sell for around $2000. Now that is something to think about. At one time the Americans were the innovators.
This pet peeve thing is what goes through a person's mind when he can't sleep I think. During daylight hours there are so many other distractions and input of information that one's innermost thoughts are suppressed to the point of boiling over into the night. That's where I'm at now. Not that any of this stuff is really any more important than anything you can think of. We all have our own perspective and opinions. All equally valid. It's just that at this particular moment everyone else is sleeping and I get a chance to express myself and air out my mind to make room for other stuff. It won't be long and the pressures of the day will take the place of anything as trivial as a pet peeve. Actually it'll be seven minutes from now. That's a whole nother story, er peeve of mine. Later.....Joe
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