Riots in the streets 2008-2013 style.

[Alabamaboy!]

 
 
Yes, and that reason is to elect Democrats.
 
Screw the unions!
 
 
 

Unions were of use around the beginning of the 1900's when the workers were getting blatantly taken advantage of. But at this time, they seem to be nothing more than a gang of thugs who extort cash. They look for the quick fix and ignore the big picture.

A good example is what has happened to the Steel industry where I am from originally. The cost of doing business here in the States exploded with the fat salaries and benefit packages of the workers, and they were unable to compete with other countries. So the steel mills began to lose a lot of money. The management showed the financial reports to the Unions, but the unions refused to accept enough cuts to make any difference. So one by one almost every single steel mill closed. At this time, I believe there is not even one remaining steel mill in Allegheny County in which Pittsburgh is located.

Now there are still some steel mills which survived sort of. They closed down or were sold, then reopened as non-union places. And they are able to compete and make a decent profit. And the workers are glad just to have jobs. Most of the other displaced workers did not ever work again in that industry because of course, the Union mills did not reopen again.

[Researcher]

Unions were of use around the beginning of the 1900's when the workers were getting blatantly taken advantage of. But at this time, they seem to be nothing more than a gang of thugs who extort cash. They look for the quick fix and ignore the big picture.

A good example is what has happened to the Steel industry where I am from originally. The cost of doing business here in the States exploded with the fat salaries and benefit packages of the workers, and they were unable to compete with other countries. So the steel mills began to lose a lot of money. The management showed the financial reports to the Unions, but the unions refused to accept enough cuts to make any difference. So one by one almost every single steel mill closed. At this time, I believe there is not even one remaining steel mill in Allegheny County in which Pittsburgh is located.

Now there are still some steel mills which survived sort of. They closed down or were sold, then reopened as non-union places. And they are able to compete and make a decent profit. And the workers are glad just to have jobs. Most of the other displaced workers did not ever work again in that industry because of course, the Union mills did not reopen again.

       I agree AB.I have never been a union member and am glad of it but companies need something to motivate them not to treat workers badly.

     Researcher

[Alabamaboy!]

       I agree AB.I have never been a union member and am glad of it but companies need something to motivate them not to treat workers badly.

     Researcher

I see what you mean, but I think that sort of thing was more an issue in the early 1900's. These days if an employee is being treated badly they only need to call the State Labor Board or an attorney. I have done this myself when an employer was scamming me out of paying overtime pay. It got fixed very quickly.

[Jeff S]

The best motivation to treat employees well is competition. Toyota plants in the US have FAR higher employee satisfaction than GM. They get paid better, treated better and are more productive. Toyota is non union and GM is UAW. Coincidentally, Toyota has been a LOT more profitable than GM also.


Same thing with the plants I ran in Mexico, we could steal all the employees we wanted from the union shops nearby by just putting the word out we were hiring. We paid better, had better benefits, but expected more in return, than the union shops. So we ended up with the best employees and stuck the union shops with all the deadbeats.

[piglett]

Especially if there was a small VAT tax in place until the debt is paid off.

once you add the VAT you will N E V E R get rid of it. also it will only go higher & higher. "oh i will only be 1%" .....ya then 2% then 3% & up & up & up next thing you know it's at 10% , i think i'll pass on that.
the problem is the whores we elected in washington is they don't want to pay off the national debt, they only want to keep filling their pockets with cash.
 
 
pig

[euforia51]

Fortunately now American cars are being produced which rival the quality of foreign cars.

No shame in owning a foreign car brand nowadays as many are actually built here anyway. But I'm a dinosaur loyalist to the Fords and once upon a time ... the GMs. I still want to believe that being loyal to an American brand will do something good for the country even though I've never bought new. We took an informal poll at work one time ... what kind of vehicle would you drive everyday if money was no object ... my answer was a Ford Explorer. They all laughed because it's so everyday and typical. But every one I've ever owned was an absolute peach.

[Alabamaboy!]

once you add the VAT you will N E V E R get rid of it. also it will only go higher & higher. "oh i will only be 1%" .....ya then 2% then 3% & up & up & up next thing you know it's at 10% , i think i'll pass on that.
the problem is the whores we elected in washington is they don't want to pay off the national debt, they only want to keep filling their pockets with cash.
 
 
pig

If this was a couple years ago, I would agree with you. But today, people are really sick of government and will make sure they do what they are supposed to, or they will be [snip] canned very quickly. Look at what this Tea Party has done in just about a year or so. They are already wielding more power than either of the other parties. That has been demonstrated clearly in the debt ceiling negotiations and the last election cycle. It is not like there are a lot of options out there.

Just because taxes are raised for a period of time does not mean they are here to stay. The Bush tax cuts have been in play for how many years now? They just got extended again for this year. Taxes have been a lot higher years ago than they are now.

It would be very difficult, but it could be done.

[Researcher]

The best motivation to treat employees well is competition. Toyota plants in the US have FAR higher employee satisfaction than GM. They get paid better, treated better and are more productive. Toyota is non union and GM is UAW. Coincidentally, Toyota has been a LOT more profitable than GM also.


Same thing with the plants I ran in Mexico, we could steal all the employees we wanted from the union shops nearby by just putting the word out we were hiring. We paid better, had better benefits, but expected more in return, than the union shops. So we ended up with the best employees and stuck the union shops with all the deadbeats.

       I disagree.Toyoyta and the other non-union plants are afraid of the UAW.The best position to be in is a non-union plant with the union wanting to get in.At least if you are an average Joe working in a non-union plant anyway.

  Researcher

[piglett]

Just because taxes are raised for a period of time does not mean they are here to stay. The Bush tax cuts have been in play for how many years now? They just got extended again for this year. Taxes have been a lot higher years ago than they are now.

It would be very difficult, but it could be done.

how much was the federal income tax when it 1st went into effect? 1% maybe  & how much is it now?
i rest my case.
 
 
pig

[Researcher]

     I agree with the Father of Free Market thinking Adam Smith when it comes to taxes. He believed that everyone should pay taxes.The more you make the more you pay. He believed that the rich should pay more and wear it like a badge of honor because they would be helping support the government.Too bad patriotism is a thing of the past.

       Researcher

[Alabamaboy!]

how much was the federal income tax when it 1st went into effect? 1% maybe  & how much is it now?
i rest my case.
 
 
pig

You got me wondering about those tax rates. This is what I found. Pretty interesting.

http://ntu.org/tax-basics/history-of-federal-individual-1.html

[euforia51]

You got me wondering about those tax rates. This is what I found. Pretty interesting.

http://ntu.org/tax-basics/history-of-federal-individual-1.html

Interesting, indeed. I heard a couple of financial experts on the radio this past week or so talking about tax rates being at 50% ... and even 90% at one time and I almost didn't believe them; until I saw your chart. Thanks for posting that, BTW. One look at that and it makes you think we've actually got it pretty good, huh? I'm kidding.
 
Pile on the state income taxes, local and sales taxes, and other fees and you could easily be right back up to that 50% and then some; depending on how much you consume, etc. I'm still against a VAT for the debt. You mentioned how much people were sick of government earlier ... and with good reason. Let these elected officials quit the finger pointing and come together for once to do something right like manage the money they already collect and get us back on the right track to being solvent.

[piglett]

     I agree with the Father of Free Market thinking Adam Smith when it comes to taxes. He believed that everyone should pay taxes.The more you make the more you pay. He believed that the rich should pay more and wear it like a badge of honor because they would be helping support the government.Too bad patriotism is a thing of the past.

       Researcher

I think we should all pay 10% when we buy something & i don't care if it's a car, boat, house, or whatever.the only thing i would not tax is food.
if the federal government can't run on the revenue they get then they will need to get smaller wouldn't they
not that that would be a bad thing.
the rich like to spend lots of money so they would be paying much more taxes each year, therefor it would be fair for all IMHO.
 
pig
 

[Bob_S]

The fact is that plant outside of Charleston, South Cackalacki is being constructed and is close to being finished; if it isn't already. And they will assemble and deliver the new 787 Dreamliner from that facility.

Not yet [finished], but soon.  They got a lot of finishing work to do inside.  Tooling, mostly.  But I wouldn't be surprised if they got planes coming out of the doors by the end of the year.
 

However, as I understand it, it is not the government that is impeding ... it is the machinists unions that are/were pitching the major bitch and attempting to block Boeing from constructing this facility and assembling in a non-union state.

You misunderstand a bit.  It is the National Labor Relations Board that brought the suit on behalf of the union, and the NLRB is appointed by the president.

They are a little too late. And in my mind, this is where the Obama administrations morals and ethics will either shine or tarnish.

Oh, they are most definitely tarnished.  A "blue" president-appointed agency suing to stop economic improvement in a "red" state on behalf of a "blue" state workers union that contributes big donations to that same said president?  This goes beyond Washington business-as-usual.  This is Chicago-style dirty politics.
 

On a side note, if you've never been in a commerical airplane factory,  I highly recommend visiting the facility in Everett, WA where they build the 74's and the other wide-bodies. It's the most awesome thing you can imagine if you're into that sort of thing. I'm a huge fan of Boeing and I approved this post. 

We in the business call them '47's, as in '37's built in Renton, '47's, '67's, '87's in Everett.  Except the 777 which we say "triple 7's".  Now you can talk the talk.      I think I read somewhere that the Everett FAD building (Final Assembly and Delivery) is the largest enclosed volume in the world.  But the size is deceptive from the inside, appearing smaller because it is divided up into assembly lines.  But then those assembly lines are huge, really hitting home when you see several '47's lined up in Final for power-on tests ready to go out the door to Paint and across the road to Flight Line.  It reminds you that Americans are still capable of doing things BIG. 

[Alabamaboy!]

Another blood bath in the markets today. Again, it is a global event. The writing is on the wall, I can't imagine how anyone can be thinking this is going to improve within the next few years. Everyone is getting further and further in the hole. My business is down about 33% so far this year. During the 2005-2008 dump we actually did better year over year. But this one is different. I see every single thing taking a dump from services, manufacturing, retail, government, real estate, private, schools, hospitals, domestic, international, emerging markets, energy, everything but Gold. That is a bad sign.

[Colgando]

Another blood bath in the markets today. Again, it is a global event. The writing is on the wall, I can't imagine how anyone can be thinking this is going to improve within the next few years. Everyone is getting further and further in the hole. My business is down about 33% so far this year. During the 2005-2008 dump we actually did better year over year. But this one is different. I see every single thing taking a dump from services, manufacturing, retail, government, real estate, private, schools, hospitals, domestic, international, emerging markets, energy, everything but Gold. That is a bad sign.

Uncertainty and fear produce irrationality in the markets. I would wait until the 3rd quarter profits post before reading too much into these wild swings. Lots of things driving the markets in these wild up an down swings, it is a traders market, my buddy who trades the market is getting paid right now. The market is trading well below book value, many companies could liquidate all their assets and have more cash on hand than their market capitalization. Stocks are cheap, I would not bet on the American Middle Class though. The outlook for us middle class americans is not good IMO. If 3rd quarter profits cool off, that would not be good. Money managers are lowering their year end S&P targets though, GDP forecasts.

[fathertime]

Our dictator president has decided that he will NOT be deporting illegal aliens.  The Dream Act FAILED to pass, but the president is directing ICE to only deport those illegals with criminal records, members of gangs, etc.  I’m all for deporting those criminals obviously, but it is an outrage that he is essentially giving the green light to any other person who wants to cross into our country.  Next time I hear the president or any other congress member say ‘we are a nation of laws’ I would like to laugh hysterically and vomit in their face.  It will be ironic and fitting if someday these illegals wind up participating in the rioting in the street. 


On another note, we are just WEAK.  Today, a college basketball team got their asses kicked in a brawl with a chinese team in china.  Check out the photos and video.   
In addition to this, Joe Biden (the hair-plugged gasbag) couldn't Stfu and sparked another brawl in which chinese officials wound up roughing up (American) reporters among others.   Say hello and bow to our new chinese leaders! 


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2027576/Joe-Bidens-visit-China-marred-mass-fight-goodwill-exhibition-game.html?ITO=1490

Fathertime! 

[Ray]

 
A few minor corrections FT...
 

Our dictator president has decided that he will NOT be deporting illegal aliens Undocumented Democrats.  The Dream Act FAILED to pass (Note: California just recently passed their own Dream Act), but the president is directing ICE to only deport those illegals Undocumented Democrats with criminal records, members of gangs, potential Republican voters, etc.  I’m all for deporting those criminals obviously, but it is an outrage that he is essentially giving the green light to any other person Undocumented Democrat who wants to cross into our country.  Next time I hear the president or any other congress member say ‘we are a nation of laws’ I would like to laugh hysterically and vomit in their face.  It will be ironic and fitting if someday these illegals wind up participating in the rioting in the street (already happened in LA). 


On another note, we are just WEAK.  Today, a college basketball team got their asses kicked in a brawl with a chinese team in china.  Check out the photos and video.   
In addition to this, Joe Biden (the hair-plugged gasbag) couldn't Stfu and sparked another brawl in which chinese officials wound up roughing up (American) reporters among others.   Say hello and bow to our new chinese leaders! 


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2027576/Joe-Bidens-visit-China-marred-mass-fight-goodwill-exhibition-game.html?ITO=1490

Fathertime!

 
 
 
 

[Alabamaboy!]

One of my clients is a former Saudi fighter pilot who was talking to his father who is a big shot over there. And he was telling him how everyone is hating the US soooo bad because we are dragging down the world economy and especially with oil being pegged to the dollar. He was saying that the Arab countries are being pushed to adopt another currency for the oil trade other than the dollar. The rich citizens, like his father and his cronies, are really pushing for it. These rich Saudis are saying that they are reaching out to China or whoever and want to distance themselves from anything US related.

[Alabamaboy!]

More bad news locally here. In the newspaper I read that the beautiful new Hilton Hotel and Conference center was sold at an auction after not being able to pay its bills. It had bills of $24.3 million. It sold for $10 million after nobody else put a bid. It opened in 2009!

I am off from work today due to lack of clients. I took inventory of our business for the month of August 2011 vs. August 2010. This year, for the third week of August we had 117 clients. Last year during the same week we had 212. This year total client visits for the first three weeks of August have been 384. Last year 632.

And this is for a fully developed business which has been in business for 10 years and has survived all the other economic downturns. But this time, there is nothing that can be done. There is no cash. I talked to other businesses and they are reporting the same dismal numbers, so it has nothing to do with anything we are doing.

I gave our general manager until the end of Sept to get things up to break even numbers or the layoffs will begin. The first two people will include a single mother with two kids and another girl who has a one year old and her husband has just gotten laid off from his job as well.

To give you an idea of how fast and hard things are dropping.....last year our company was donating and distributing clothes, food, toys to the super poor areas of Mexico along the border. This year we are planning on doing the same thing, but to our own employees and the families of the people we will need to lay off!!! That is crazy.

[Alabamaboy!]

I called a person who used to do marketing for us in the past to see if she would be available to try a last ditch effort to try to boost the business. It would only pay her $500/month. She was chomping at the bit to do it because the hospital where she works is empty. Hardly any patients. They have already laid off a bunch of people and have more layoffs ready to roll. She has like 15 years working there and thinks she will be losing her job soon.

She said many people are losing their jobs due to Obamacare fallout.

[fathertime]

A few minor corrections FT...
 
 
 

Thanks for those corrections Ray!


I see more reason not to follow our laws then to follow them.  It seems obvious to me, that any man rejected for a spousal visa should talk with a coyote and bring his wife/fiance right on over.  Once the lady is here, nothing will be done to deport her.  If these laws are going to continue to broken, us stupid citizens may as well be allowed in on the action too.  If I were a citizen of any country in Latin America and I heard what obozo is now doing, I'd know there is no threat for me to cross over.  Right now the problem is that jobs are not easy to find, but there still our entitlements out there for a creative illegal alien.


Fathertime!

[fathertime]

More bad news locally here. In the newspaper I read that the beautiful new Hilton Hotel and Conference center was sold at an auction after not being able to pay its bills. It had bills of $24.3 million. It sold for $10 million after nobody else put a bid. It opened in 2009!

I am off from work today due to lack of clients. I took inventory of our business for the month of August 2011 vs. August 2010. This year, for the third week of August we had 117 clients. Last year during the same week we had 212. This year total client visits for the first three weeks of August have been 384. Last year 632.

And this is for a fully developed business which has been in business for 10 years and has survived all the other economic downturns. But this time, there is nothing that can be done. There is no cash. I talked to other businesses and they are reporting the same dismal numbers, so it has nothing to do with anything we are doing.

I gave our general manager until the end of Sept to get things up to break even numbers or the layoffs will begin. The first two people will include a single mother with two kids and another girl who has a one year old and her husband has just gotten laid off from his job as well.

To give you an idea of how fast and hard things are dropping.....last year our company was donating and distributing clothes, food, toys to the super poor areas of Mexico along the border. This year we are planning on doing the same thing, but to our own employees and the families of the people we will need to lay off!!! That is crazy.

well buddy maybe it is time to suck every last drop of money out of the business and go belly up.  It is only downhill from here as far as the eye can see. You can be beach bums in San Diego!


Fathertime!

[Alabamaboy!]

well buddy maybe it is time to suck every last drop of money out of the business and go belly up.  It is only downhill from here as far as the eye can see. You can be beach bums in San Diego!


Fathertime!

yeah that is what I was planning on doing. I had a contract to sell my share of the business to my partner because I saw this all coming. But thought it was going to happen over a 2-3 year period, not over 9 months. So my business partner, who is Colombian, was served well by his procrastination and "I'll do it tomorrow attitude" which is so prevalent in Colombia, because now with the stats piling up in front of him, he does not want to buy.

I really don't have much confidence in the economy anymore. I think it will be like 10-15 years for things to recover for most people. When my wife gets here we will get this house shined up as good as possible and put it on the market before the prices drop any further. At this time there are still military and border patrol folk coming here and have the sweet housing allowances, salaries, and benefit packages. But as the economy continues to tank, this will all dry up as well.

The plan is when the company is no longer viable we will conserve cash, squeeze into the 1 BR apartment in San Diego. Maybe buy a VW van and have some extra sleeping area there. And if things get really bad, just pack up the whole crew and boondock in the van in Ray's driveway. You wouldn't mind would you Ray?

Also one component of my "getaway plan" is that next month I have an interview for me to receive my COLOMBIAN spousal visa. So if we need to, we will have that option to move over there for at least part of the year to help save some cash.

Wow how the times have changed.

[Researcher]

    Chalk it up to the ever shrinking middle class here in the US.Many, many jobs are over seas and the people who are doing them don't make enough to buy the products they are producing.To me it is that simple. The US government has always ran big deficits and went about things very inefficient that is nothing new.What is new is an unemployment number above 9%. This has been in the works for a while now. Jobs have left this country by the boat load and all those politicians assured us that it would be OK.Now Obama says we need those illegals here and that everything will be OK. Well, it's not OK. It always worries me when I see something like jobs leaving and illegals being allowed to stay without any resistance on the part of our government.There has to be big money behind it somewhere. I guess we'll all go down the tubes together. Small businesses with no customers because customers lost their jobs to someone willing to do for much less. The problem is these new workers can't afford the products and services the old workers did.

        Researcher