"Obamacare" was a concession to the Republicans. Otherwise we may had gotten single payer like other countries have or Medicare for all. My congressman, George Miller co-sponsored a bill like that. The Repubs are the best congresscritters money can buy and the insurance companies money is quite green. Unlike my fellow liberals I'm not going to cheer that even Obamacare got passed because single payer (which I now have since last year when I turned 65) is the way to go.
On 11/24/2012 09:35 AM, Mike Dixon wrote: > Buck the problem is, if they are only working 29 hrs per wk, they probably > need a second or third job. Leave one and go to the other. Many employers are > cutting back on full time employees to avoid having to provide Obamacare. > Part time employment usually means smaller wages with fewer benefits so you > need to work lonerger hours at more jobs to make up the difference. Obama > *leadership* is shooting himself in the foot. Nice idea on your part but not > well thought out. > > > > ________________________________ > From: Buck <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2012 4:42 AM > Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Black Thursday > > > > > > > --- In mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com, "raunchydog" <raunchydog@...> > wrote: >> >> >> --- In mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com, Mike Dixon <mdixon.6569@> >> wrote: >>> I'm just thankful it's not being made a racial issue...yet. >>> >> Yeah. Those brown people always cause such a fuss just so they can get more >> stuff. >> >> "A half century ago America's largest private-sector employer was >> General Motors, whose full-time workers earned an average hourly wage of >> around $50, in today's dollars, including health and pension benefits. >> >> Today, America's largest employer is Walmart, whose average employee >> earns $8.81 an hour. A third of Walmart's employees work less than 28 hours >> per week and don't qualify for benefits. >> > I should like to see our David Lynch Foundation work with the TM-Raja towards > developing a subsidy to enable retail workers to learn meditation. If these > workers are only working 29 hours a week they certainly have the time to help > everything by meditating. Scale the price of meditating to the 29 hour a > week worker earning $8.81 an hour. That would be helpful. Magnanimous even. > -Buck, the Apostle > >> There are many reasons for the difference – including globalization and >> technological changes that have shrunk employment in American manufacturing >> while enlarging it in sectors involving personal services, such as retail. >> >> But one reason, closely related to this seismic shift, is the decline >> of labor unions in the United States. In the 1950s, over a third of >> private-sector workers belonged to a union. Today fewer than 7 percent do. >> As a result, the typical American worker no longer has the bargaining clout >> to get a sizeable share of corporate profits. >> >> Despite decades of failed unionization attempts, Walmart workers are >> planning to strike or conduct some other form of protest outside at least >> 1,000 locations across the United States this Friday – so-called "Black >> Friday," the biggest shopping day in America when the Christmas holiday >> buying season begins. >> >> At the very least, the action gives Walmart employees a chance to air >> their grievances in public – not only lousy wages (as low at $8 an hour) but >> also unsafe and unsanitary working conditions, excessive hours, and sexual >> harassment. The result is bad publicity for the company exactly when it >> wants the public to think of it as Santa Claus. >> >> Consumer spending is 70 percent of economic activity, but consumers are >> also workers. And as income and wealth continue to concentrate at the top, >> and the median wage continues to drop – it's now 8 percent lower than it was >> in 2000 – a growing portion of the American workforce lacks the purchasing >> power to get the economy back to speed. Without a vibrant and growing middle >> class, Walmart itself won't have the customers it needs. >> >> Most new jobs in America are in personal services like retail, with low >> pay and bad hours. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the >> average full-time retail worker earns between $18,000 and $21,000 per year. >> >> But if retail workers got a raise, would consumers have to pay higher >> prices to make up for it? A new study by the think tank Demos reports that >> raising the salary of all full-time workers at large retailers to $25,000 >> per year would lift more than 700,000 people out of poverty, at a cost of >> only a 1 percent price increase for customers. >> >> And, in the end, retailers would benefit. According to the study, the >> cost of the wage increases to major retailers would be $20.8 billion — about >> one percent of the sector's $2.17 trillion in total annual sales. But the >> study also estimates the increased purchasing power of lower-wage workers as >> a result of the pay raises would generate $4 billion to $5 billion in >> additional retail sales." >> >> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/dont_shop_at_wal_mart_on_friday/ >> >>> ________________________________ >>> From: Bhairitu <noozguru@> >>> To: mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com >>> Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2012 11:45 AM >>> Subject: Re: [FairfieldLife] Re: Black Thursday >>> >>> >>> Â >>> >>> This is also probably a generational clash. I know a lot of younger >>> people who might have gone to a movie or played a video game would >>> probably like to make the extra dough on Black Thursday and Friday. >>> Many find family gatherings "old fashion" and have not much interest in >>> them. I even recall in high school that after turkey dinner at my >>> cousins we (the younger set) would go out to a movie. >>> >>> But hey, this is Kapitalist Amerika where kapitalism is celebrated by >>> the masses though most of them couldn't give you a proper definition of >>> it. :-D >>> >>> On 11/21/2012 03:59 PM, Mike Dixon wrote: >>>> And if they(shoppers) do that, they(retailers) won't open on Thanksgiving >>>> next year. Market forces at work. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ________________________________ >>>> From: awoelflebater <mailto:no_reply%40yahoogroups.com> >>>> To: mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com >>>> Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 1:55 PM >>>> Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: Black Thursday >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> --- In mailto:FairfieldLife%40yahoogroups.com, "raunchydog" <raunchydog@> >>>> wrote: >>>>> This year, Black Friday has become BLACK THURSDAY. Employees will work >>>>> 12-14 hour shifts, beginning at 4 or 6 pm on THANKSGIVING DAY. Workers >>>>> have been told that "there will be consequences" which means getting >>>>> fired. Workers need their jobs. The message needs to come FROM THE >>>>> PUBLIC that the big box retailers have chosen an irrational and >>>>> offensive way to do business. Tell the people who run those stores that >>>>> you will not shop on Thursday. Tell them that disrespecting a national >>>>> holiday for families to be together bothers you. 1-800-WALMART, >>>>> 800-440-0680 is the number for Target. >>>> The whole thing is patently ridiculous. Can people not stop shopping for >>>> 24 hours?! Everyone should just stay home and eat on Thanksgiving. Maybe >>>> even spend a little time with family. How's that for a concept? >>>>> [https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lL87ygk3F94/UK0O33nU-cI/AAAAAAAABos/\ >>>>> mbmM4hVwhF8/s512/WalMart.jpg] >>>>> >>>> > >
