Had a friend in the day named Mike. Mike was horrified when he found out the government burned worn out bills.
"We should be giving that money to poor people!" By which Mike meant "ME!"
"So Mike, do you realize the government could easily print $1,000,000 for every citizen and just give it to us?"
"Fuck yeah man! Why don't they do that?"
"I mow lawns for a living, $20 a pop (this was 90's money and I was cheap). If I had a million and you had a million, everybody had a million, fuck I want with $20?! Now it's $20,000 to even consider mowing your yard."
Mike did not see the problem with this because my original price, $20, would still buy me a McDonalds meal. Mike was dumber than a rock.
Tax the snot out them and spread it to the public good, but it's childish thinking 2 billion people would suddenly not be poor.
It's a bit messy for the employer. You can't just hand out 20% raises every time someone threatens to leave. Then everyone would be threatening to leave. And that's a hefty cost to add to what's likely your largest operating expense. Also, that's not just 20% in the employee's pocket, there are additional costs like unemployment insurance and the like.
OTOH, unless your employee plain sucks or the job is simple, it's almost always better to keep them than train a replacement. Tribal knowledge is valuable knowledge.
And no, only very small-time employers expect loyalty. They understand the game, and we should as well.
Funny that lemmy whines and moans about capitalism all day, without realizing they can play as well. Jumping jobs over the last 11 years got me $14 > $22 > $39. Been at this place 5-years, thinking about jumping ship again. Probably put me over $100K with a little luck. Oh, and I've never had such fat benefits or worked less. From home to boot.
Related: When we first moved here, a friend started at an oil change place, well below his skill set and previous pay. Kept job hopping and stacking his resume, now he's the top service manager at the largest auto dealer group. He quit moving, guess he's fat and happy. Sure drags in the $.
Fine. They all claim to have offers. It's not like employers don't track turnover and market rates. Some of them just decide it's cheaper to allow high turnover. Not like they can't work an Excel sheet.
Having said that, I've found many employers wholly ignorant of metrics that aren't easily tracked. For example, 2 jobs ago I was a key player at my shitty little shop. Kept the customers rolling in, despite their aggravations with the company. You can't put a solid number on that. (And many told me they left for the competition when I quit.)
Last job, I quit for an offer doubling my pay and benefits. They loved me, wouldn't go for it. The next year they paid far more in IT costs than it would have cost to keep me.
Back to my point, work hard, achieve something to be proud of on your resume, jump ship. The game is only rigged for the employer is you're in a shit job that requires almost no skills. As to that, see the example I talked about with my oil change buddy.
Do you think employers are stone ignorant of market rates? Who said anything about mass quitting? The people not moving on are the people who can't. Hell, that's where I'm at. Pretty sure I've attained the Peter Principle for now.
We could probably make a lot of progress by educating people concerning their rights. Every instance of wage theft I read about is people being ignorant. Learned a lot working for a payroll company, think most would be surprised how the law actually works.
Basically what it says in the title. I did a lot of searching in Internet. I think small form factor computers are mt best bet. But I still feel they are costly for my purpose....
i recently lost my job and it’s horrible being in the ‘unemployed’ class – you’re made to feel worthless, you have to take advice from people, perfectly well meaning of course, that are basically encouragement on digging your own grave - i love being in the position where i have to do some fake elizabethian courting...
It’s telling, and sad, that everyone thinks networking is shmoozing and disingenuous. Networking is nothing more than meeting people and building relationships, if those relationships make sense.
I’m tight with my customers and vendors. Know why? Because I like them treat them like friends. We look for each other. They’re familiar with my experience and personality. If I ever need a new job, I could probably get with one of those businesses quick.
It’s nice to know people. Sometimes you can help them, sometimes they can help you. And if you treat it like some kind of filthy ladder climbing exercise, they’ll know you’re fake.
See how you’re being downvoted for stating some simple, human, truths? That kinda thing makes me think lemmy is mainly a bunch of pissy teens with no real-world experience.
This explains the phenomena better than anything I ever read. I’m not being funny, I really mean it. I’ve seen both sides, this rings true. Rings LOUD and true.
alt text: 18 of our 40 employees are located in the Philippines. Insanely competent, great judgement, and $5 per hour. If you run a small business and don’t have overseas help you’re at a disadvantage
Thank you. ITT: Bunch of spoiled, outraged clueless people.
Just ask my Pilipino wife if $5/hr. is good money back home. She stared at me for a beat, “Oh yeah! That is very good!”
You can live damned well on $40/day. Her ex went over there and took her whole family out to dinner at a nice restaurant in Manila. 12 people, $50 including a generous tip. I make $81K/yr. and I couldn’t take half that many people out to eat on a day’s pay.
Explain how $5/hr. is exploiting a Pilipino. I’ll wait.
EDIT: I note there are no explanations. My wife says it’s damned good pay back home. And for you economic geniuses, $5 there buys 2-4 times what it buys in America. $10-$20/hr. is exploitative? Beats American minimum wage by a long shot.
Anyway, we’re retiring there. I’ll live like a king on the little I’ve saved. Y’all keep paying 2-4x for the same loaf of bread and bottle of milk.
Showed my Pilipino wife your post (she doesn’t understand social media like lemmy):
“Who is this person? Why do they say these things? I do not understand. This is not true.”
LOL, she just shook her head and walked off.
Her son is working tech for Amazon and another for a different American firm. They’re WELL off in the Philippines. You should let them know they are not, in fact, doing well.
This might not be so bad if they were being paid more or even up to the amount that they make for that American company
Well hell yeah! Let’s flood the country with American dollars, spike inflation through the roof and exacerbate the wealth gap. You should be running the Federal Reserve.
And I question even those numbers! From what my wife and her friend’s American husbands have told me, and from the videos I’ve watched, it seems even cheaper than that.
Then there are the idiots saying we should flood the country with American dollars, blow up inflation and the wealth gap. Sound economic planning right there.
If we took that wealth and magically allocated it to 700 million people, inflation would explode. Had this argument back in the day with a friend.
Mike finds out that the US government shreds worn out paper currency. Mike is outraged, wants to know why that money can’t be given out, wants to know why the government can’t just give us $1,000,000 each. Tried to explain it like this:
“Of course they can! You know I have a little lawn business? I charge $20 to mow your lawn. If I suddenly had $1,000,000, fuck do I care about $20? Now I’m charging $10,000 to mow your lawn or it isn’t worth my time.”
Mike did not get it.
I’m not so concerned with billionaire’s dollar value. At that level of wealth, we’re not talking about liquid assets we can take and spread around. Also, money is not a zero-sum game. Wealth is created and destroyed constantly, mostly created. People often imagine wealth like water molecules, i.e., they think there is a finite number. Both things are created and destroyed. As to wealth, fuck me, wealth creation exploded over the last century, for the whole planet. There are fewer people living in poverty than ever, and there’s more of us.
The concerning thing is the outsized influence these few people have, your 21 people. Classic reddit post on that:
EDIT: My 8th grade teacher told us (early 80s), as an example of corruption, that 20% of Mexicans owned 80% of the wealth. LMFAO! I wish America was only that corrupt.
Every time I look at wage theft stories and comments, I see people who don’t understand their rights under current law. Y’all aren’t helpless and getting robbed, you just don’t know your rights.
Maybe a government funded ad blast would work better? Kinda like the “crying Indian” ad back in the day?
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is facing backlash after she was asked on Wednesday what caused the Civil War and failed to include slavery in her answer, instead saying the conflict was about state's rights. On Thursday, she attempted to walk back the comments, saying that slavery was an "unquestioned" aspect of...
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.
Boomer mother started going off about voting Trump because “illegals”.
“Nah, we handled that shit in Florida. Passed legislation scaring 'em right the fuck out of here. Of course our crops are rotting in the fields, we got no medical helpers, maids or janitors. But they left! Sure, there were 100 business owners interviewed saying they supported the bill, but didn’t think the consequences would work out like that. They need to hire real Americans. If they can find 'em for $5 an hour…”
We also got the “gay agenda” under control around here. Woke companies taking their convention business, and business in general, away, but at least we made a stand!
“Afterhours” isn’t the thing. Having the flexibility to work the hours when you feel, and are, productive is what benefits everyone.
Put in 11-hours today, very unusual. But I was having a good time and jamming out. Kinda wanted to work more! But I was getting burnt, making mistakes, everyone else gone home, didn’t want to annoy them with messages.
Tomorrow? Hell, I may fuck off the rest of the week until vacation starts. I’ll have Slack on, check my calendar and email, bet money I sleep in till 9:30 or 10, catch up on my novel.
As to PTO? I can almost take every Friday. Hell, HR came in last year and said, “Taking a 3-day weekend is essential to your mental health and productivity. You now get a Monday or Friday off, every month, on top of PTO. This is mandatory, do not test us.”
Let us do the fuck we want. Given clear management expectations and making it happen? No one cares the hours you keep. Not getting the job done? Fired. FFS, we’re all adults here.
My new boss, “I do not believe in micromanaging. If you find me micromanaging, I’m already hunting your replacement.”
My boss would say something very similar, and mean it.
LOL, in the same vein, he also told me, “I don’t believe in micromanaging my people. If you find me micromanaging you, it’s because I’m looking for your replacement.”
Over the objection of three conservatives, the court left in place a state law that bars therapists from counseling minors to change sexual orientation or gender identity, a practice favored by some conservatives.
More proof that this court doesn’t automatically make the conservative ruling. While I want several of them gone, they’re not as bad as lemmy makes out.
If you are one of the people who dread forced holiday fun, it may be a surprise for you to learn that some companies actually require attendance at work social events — either explicitly or implicitly.
And we can pretty much double the numbers by what it actually costs to employ someone vs. what they are paid.
Want nice things like healthcare and other benefits, worker’s comp, unemployment insurance and the like?
Worked at a small payroll firm for 5-years. I was the IT manager, so not like I’m an expert, but I had a lot of questions and worked closely with payroll and accounting. Very eye opening.
If you get paid $15/hr., you probably cost the company $26-29/hr. And we had small clients like churches, restaurants, convenience stores, thrift shops, places paying shit wages and shit benefits. I make ~$80K with stunning benefits, so I figure my company’s actual cost to keep my ass in the seat is maybe $200K?
That’s actually rather easy if you work for a publicly traded corp, at least to ballpark it.
Company profits / total workers. (<-this seems facile, what am I missing?)
OTOH, beware comparisons of pay scales.
“CEOs make too much!”
Do the math. CEO pay is typically 1/100th of a penny earned, sometimes 1/1000th, not a drop in the bucket. Don’t matter. When I was a kid, sports star pay was the thing to rage about. LOL, haven’t seen a single lemming comment about that. Whatever.
“I don’t make enough!”
And that’s very likely true, but you cost far more than you think. Good rule of thumb? Double your pay, that’s what you actually cost. You make $15/hr.? Company probably pays $30, or a bit more. Company has to pay worker’s comp insurance, taxes, benefits, unemployment insurance, payroll processing fees, all that and more.
SOURCE: Worked IT for a payroll company, got the inside scoop.
I was the IT manager for a small payroll company, but I was really tight with the payroll processors and got all the scoop on how things work.
These kind of stories always stun me. We had 250 small clients, of various levels of weaselly, and none of them would fuck around with the rules. And the majority of them were places you would expect fuckery from; Churches, restaurants and the like.
Underage workers? Hell no. You’re not setting foot onsite without a verified ID.
Unpaid overtime? LOL no.
Worker’s comp? You bet it was covered.
How exactly were they getting away with this? One person making one call to the state labor board would/should ignite a shitstorm.
When one human has the power to kick another one’s ass at will, they often do. It’s Psych 101.
When we don’t have that option, we figure out how to navigate the situation. LOL, a couple of months at my first tech support gig taught me to dial the haters down in a hurry! Hell, I talked a psycho down from literally torturing me one time. 3rd closest time I’ve come to meeting the scythe wielding skeleton.
What’s the answer? Fuck I know. Cops have to have power, or they’re toothless, and therefore useless. Maybe training that involves them being on the other end?
“You have no weapons, no authority, and I’m going to kick the living shit out of you unless you calm me down!” 🤷🏻♂️
Or, and this is madness, we could find a way to pull the teeth out of their unions? I’m all for worker’s unions, but cops are, by necessity, a different category of citizen.
OR, if they want to be badass military dudes, maybe the actual military could come in and school them on rules of engagement? (I’m liking this the more I think about it.)
It was either Dr. Who, or more likely Star Trek, where the protagonist said, “Police officers. I’d recognize them in any century.”
He’s my rep, so I have a close eye on this dirtbag.
He’s young and already loaded with baggage. You can have one or the other, not both. He kept his mouth shut while his court case was in the air, since that fell off the radar for lack of evidence/testimony, and he gave it some time to blow over, he thinks he can get mouthy again. He cannot.
He makes headlines and has an R in front of his name. Fair enough for the good people of NW Florida. Not good enough for the GOP leadership.
Leadership has to be thinking, “If this young asshole would have piped the fuck down, we might have done something with him in a decade or so.”
Like Boebert and Greene, he thinks anything goes after the GOP anarchy of the last few years. Nope. I’d wager he gets his ass handed to him, like that one young pup from NY.
All agreed except the localities bit. These smaller cities councilmen are too cheap to bribe. A $1,000 check will have them hanging on your every word. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Probably best bumped up to state level.
But yes, we should ban corporations at some well-defined point. I mean, what if I incorporate myself? Now I can’t buy another house?
If Ryan Cohen took a salary in that leauge the bear thesis would still be alive and the turnaround of GameStop might never happen (or be significantly delayed). My executive chairman has other plans 🙌
Give up. These conversations are dominated by teenagers who are bringing their vast experience working a shit job for an hourly wage.
They think they’re making some moral/social outcry against a symptom of capitalism, thinking that if we could just cure the symptom, the disease will improve. (Same people say nothing about athlete’s pay, but here we are. LOL, that one used to be a source of public outcry.)
CEOs get these salaries and benefits because the market is willing to pay it, thinks it’s a fair deal. There’s nothing more to it.
If you have a billion-dollar company, and you want the best leadership, you pay for that. Want some dude who says, “Sure, I can handle it. Only need $250,000/yr. I got this.”? Of course not. You want someone with a track record of handling… whatever it is you’re hiring for.
Sure, sometimes they fuck up, just like any employer. But do these people think they’re smarter than the Alpha board of directors?! Yes they do.
And spare me the, “They don’t work 1,000% harder!”. Yeah. We know because it’s obvious to any simpleton. That’s not a point worth making.
And spare me, “The workers should get that money!” Dude was bitching on reddit about American Airlines, their CEO and pay. I did the math. If you stripped him of every penny and spread it around, worked out to $.02/hr. more for each employee.
CEO pay ain’t the fucking problem. It’s only a symptom of unfettered capitalism.
And one last addition to my rant. :)
Listen: People pay you for what you can do for them. That’s how you make money. Hard work barely figures in.
Don’t get me started on making social connections. Somehow these people forget we’re apes and that sort of thing is important.
I disagree with much here, but maybe you’re onto something with the stock option thing. It would have to be legislated, and the devil’s details are legion, but what if?
What if we said, “Your company profits/grosses >$X, then you can’t offer executive stock options.” Again, devilish details, and it’s not realistically passable legislation. But what if major CEOs were thereby forced to look past the next quarter?
I work for a software dev, only 130 of us. Our CEO reports to a board of directors and will tell them quick, “We expect to lose money next year because we’re investing in personnel and dialing in tech debt.” And it works and the board loves it. (I know this because he shares such things in front of the whole company, every month. And shows us the numbers.)
Crazy thing? Because of his forward thinking, we keep making more money, even when we expect to lose. Nuts how that works out. :)
Problem is, the military DOES create jobs. And you missed the part where that same military budget pumps money not only into the general economy, but more so local economies. We often see these expenditures as waste, but that money comes back around. Well, after the top dogs skim their pieces.
From a regional point of view, yanking military bases around here would create a blast crater of nuclear proportions. From a personal point of view, there are plenty of high-paying IT jobs around here, all military. Yank those? Do you imagine those same people could just go work IT in an elementary school or train depot? (Disclaimer: I’m in IT, private enterprise, but I see the jobs, know how the industry works.) Sure, lots of IT is WFH, like me, but much requires boots on the ground.
So how do we dial this back? I haven’t a clue. Democrats are already perceived as weak on defense, and a Republican reformer would get primaried. You want to run for office on the promise of cutting military spending? Keep in mind, you generally have to work your way up the food chain from local -> state -> federal. Gonna tell these locals you intend to kill their livelihood?
Here’s where you say, “Put that money into sane projects like schools, parks, trains, housing, etc.!” How to you propose talking voters out of giving up a sure thing, a thing their economy and workers have been geared to for decades, for a nebulous future? FFS, we can’t get conservatives to agree that education, or any of those items, are GOOD things. Even if we ALL agreed to go for it, these things take time, and meanwhile people are unemployed.
Only thing I got is to attack it from a waste point of view. But even that tack can fail! Had a client tell me one time that every cut to the military cuts from the private troops, while the generals (and contractors!) continue to live high on the hog. Kinda hard to argue that one.
I don’t know if, or where, you work, but if I came into your hypothetical business and said, “We’re making cuts so we can have a healthier company! We’re going to invest in the future!” Do you think those cuts would come from executive pay, or would you suddenly have to requisition staples, in triplicate? Probably get laid off.
Fuck it. I’m old and cynical, but I’m open to ideas.
It was taking around 24 hours to drain just ~1—3 liters of water in my kitchen sink. Probably comparable to IV drip speeds. After a huge effort and expense, I finally fixed it without demolishing the kitchen – which would have been my next and final move¹. Sequence of events:...
Thanks! That makes sense. I’m American, so our sewers aren’t nearly as old as other parts of the world. Plus, people like me aren’t even on a sewer system. If I want to jam out my septic system, and pay for it to be cleaned more frequently, that’s on me.
Are there other human traits like light skin which people developed to adapt to the "new" environment they settled in?
I'm referring to the human race evolving in the African continent and then migrating to the rest of the world....
A Tax of 5% on The World’s Multi-Millionaires and Billionaires Could Raise $1.7 trillion, Enough to Lift 2 Billion People out of Poverty ( medium.com )
Employees Who Stay In Companies Longer Than Two Years Get Paid 50% Less ( www.forbes.com )
Wage theft now outnumbers all other types of theft in the U.S., reaching $482 million ( medium.com )
Paramount Has A Plan To Bring Star Trek Back To The Big Screen, Says Roddenberry Entertainment Exec ( trekmovie.com )
Suggestions for cheap enterprise grade hardware to run linux headless.
Basically what it says in the title. I did a lot of searching in Internet. I think small form factor computers are mt best bet. But I still feel they are costly for my purpose....
I love gen-Z's attitude towards corporate culture ( lemmy.world )
i recently lost my job and it’s horrible being in the ‘unemployed’ class – you’re made to feel worthless, you have to take advice from people, perfectly well meaning of course, that are basically encouragement on digging your own grave - i love being in the position where i have to do some fake elizabethian courting...
'It was so scary': Trump fans at Missouri Caucus 'literally attacked fellow Republicans' ( www.rawstory.com )
Saying the quiet part out loud, with pride ( sopuli.xyz )
alt text: 18 of our 40 employees are located in the Philippines. Insanely competent, great judgement, and $5 per hour. If you run a small business and don’t have overseas help you’re at a disadvantage
Richest 1% own more than 40% of country's wealth: Report ( www.livemint.com )
Proposed Wage Theft Legislation Would Strip Violators of Ability to Do Business ( documentedny.com )
To combat pervasive wage theft in New York, three new bills were introduced in the legislature that would punish violators.
Nikki Haley walks back Civil War comments after backlash ( www.cbsnews.com )
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is facing backlash after she was asked on Wednesday what caused the Civil War and failed to include slavery in her answer, instead saying the conflict was about state's rights. On Thursday, she attempted to walk back the comments, saying that slavery was an "unquestioned" aspect of...
Texas companies say Republicans are ruining their business ( www.newsweek.com )
The surprising connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity ( slack.com )
From the No-Shit-Sherlock Dpmt .
If you really thought this, it'd be company policy and the employee wouldn't have to ask. Faked for engagement? ( sopuli.xyz )
Supreme Court rejects challenge to Washington state ‘conversion therapy’ ban ( www.nbcnews.com )
Over the objection of three conservatives, the court left in place a state law that bars therapists from counseling minors to change sexual orientation or gender identity, a practice favored by some conservatives.
Food doesn't crawl into mouth ( i.imgflip.com )
Why Your Office Holiday Party Is A Secret Evaluation — And Possible Job Interview ( www.forbes.com )
If you are one of the people who dread forced holiday fun, it may be a surprise for you to learn that some companies actually require attendance at work social events — either explicitly or implicitly.
The United States spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined ( climatejustice.social )
Source (2023-04-24): pgpf.org/…/the-united-states-spends-more-on-defen…
How Long It Takes the Largest Companies in America to Make One Employee's Average Annual Salary ( lemmy.world )
Found on imgur imgur.io/gallery/gqItf8e
Companies lower salaries in job postings as pay transparency laws take effect ( www.cnbc.com )
A Poultry Plant in Ohio Is Under Federal Investigation for Hiring 24 Children ( truthout.org )
“For too long this industry has been given carte blanche to disregard laws,” an advocate told Truthout....
De-escalation ( lemmy.world )
"No one can stand him at this point": House GOP plots to expel Matt Gaetz amid McCarthy catfight ( www.salon.com )
Homes "unaffordable" in 99% of nation for average American ( www.cbsnews.com )
Trump and sons rage after judge delivers "the corporate death penalty for the Trump Organization" ( www.salon.com )
Top 20 CEO pay in the S&P 500 is disgusting ( www.visualcapitalist.com )
If Ryan Cohen took a salary in that leauge the bear thesis would still be alive and the turnaround of GameStop might never happen (or be significantly delayed). My executive chairman has other plans 🙌
Opinion: The Pentagon doesn’t need $886bn. I oppose this bloated defense budget | Bernie Sanders ( www.theguardian.com )
As a nation, the time is long overdue for fundamental changes to our national priorities
Fixing my drain required breaking laws, pissing off IRC users, breaking tools…
It was taking around 24 hours to drain just ~1—3 liters of water in my kitchen sink. Probably comparable to IV drip speeds. After a huge effort and expense, I finally fixed it without demolishing the kitchen – which would have been my next and final move¹. Sequence of events:...