Inflation 👂👂📌📌

[Cabrillo]

Lets talk about workers rights.
I do not believe in unions that require an employer to pay all an equal wage regardless of productivity.
I dealt with this for 40 years. While I consistently out produced those I worked with, my employer was not allowed to pay me more because it violated the union contract.
No worker should be forced to pay union dues that are used to pay union employees more that those they work for and support candidates they do not support, just to work.
Today, there are kids at McDonald that make more money flipping burgers that cashiers at grocery stores that have to pay union dues and can not be given a raise because it would violate the precious union contract.
This is just wrong.

I worked for years in a shop where 12% of the daily gross went to payroll and every one got a sizeable share but the size of the share was based on skill level. Everybody got a piece of the pie but not the same size slice.

I loved it and we all worked together. No quarreling so each job could have several employees engaged in it while helping each other. At closing time we had a nightly meeting and figure out how much we earned. We didn't get paid by the hour.

 

[RichMan]

I worked for years in a shop where 12% of the daily gross went to payroll and every one got a sizeable share but the size of the share was based on skill level. Everybody got a piece of the pie but not the same size slice.

I loved it and we all worked together. No quarreling so each job could have several employees engaged in it while helping each other. At closing time we had a nightly meeting and figure out how much we earned. We didn't get paid by the hour.

Obviously you did not have a union contract nor paid dues to support people who could not earn an honest living.

 

[JTB]

Obviously you did not have a union contract nor paid dues to support people who could not earn an honest living.

While there is abuse in every human system, unions included, is it just coincidence that while union membership has declined since the late 80's, worker compensation has also declined, and those same workers have lost pensions, vacations, health care, etc while the fat cats got fatter?

 

[Handyman62]

While there is abuse in every human system, unions included, is it just coincidence that while union membership has declined since the late 80's, worker compensation has also declined, and those same workers have lost pensions, vacations, health care, etc while the fat cats got fatter?

And a lot oif those fat cats are union leaders.

 

[arthurfleminger]

I'll be honest with you, I think that the media and press are fanning the flames about inflation in an attempt to scare the Amercan public. As for me, I'm retired. I have no debt, I own my own condo with no mortgage, I only have my Social Security income to live off of. But I'm doing okay. I don't drive that much so I don't feel the pinch of the high gas prices (the high gas prices occurred immediately after Russia's attack on the Ukraine and the sanctions imposed. Gas/oil will prices will fall quickly when that war ends, temporary situation). I'm not noticing too much a price increase for necessities such as food.

So, I'm personally doing okay with inflation, driving a bit less and always looking for bargains/sales. I get about $1800 a month in Social Security and am actually able to save about $400 month after all expenses are paid.

I do believe that others are feeling the pinch of inflation, especially renters and home buyers, the price of housing has soared incredibly, and I believe those working families with children are also suffering from inflation.

The price of housing, renting/buying, is the worst problem when it comes to inflation. People are being shut out of the housing market.

 

[arthurfleminger]

To show you how bad inflation has bitten for renters, I offer you this example. In the early 1980's I began working as a professional electronics Technician for Honeywell. I made $10 an hour, $20,000 a year, and $25,000 a year with the overtime I put in. The rent for my apartment at that time was $350 a month, about $4,200 per year. That worked out to me paying 16.8% of my salary for rent.

Today, with people earning $20 an hour, $40,000 per year, and $50,000 with overtime, they have to pay $1,700 per month for the same apartment, $20,400 per year. And that's 40% of their income.

As per the American Dream of home ownership, it has disappeared for most. Houses in most areas are running $400k and higher and the prices continue to rise fast at 12% per year. So no matter how much a young couple, both working, can save up yearly, they can't save up enough to keep up with the rising prices.

Things didn't used to be this way. I was in high school, working part time washing dishes and earning the minimum wage of $1 an hour in 1966. One day, the short order cook, the hamburger griller who made $2 an hour, asked me to help him over the weekend. He wanted me to help him paint a very nice 3 bedroom house he'd just bought as he was getting married and was ready to move in. But, today, there are no unskilled workers who can afford to buy a house.

My father was a career military man, not college educated and rose to the rank of Major. The pay for the military in those days was very poor. My mom was a stay at home mom with plenty of work to do, raising 5 children. But our family always owned our own home, they were affordable in those days. And our family never really wanted or lacked for anything, food/clothing/etc. The last house my father bought was in 1963, for $17,000, less than 3 years of his salary. Today, that same house is rated at about $500,000. And there's no family with 5 children or a stay at home mom that could afford to buy a house like that.

So, with housing prices rising 12% each year, very few can afford what was taken for granted, the American Dream of home ownership.

 

[Nehemiah6]

So, with housing prices rising 12% each year, very few can afford what was taken for granted, the American Dream of home ownership.

The evil Communist/Democrats want the American dream to be totally destroyed. They are doing everything in their power to make the US another third world hellhole where people can barely survive. And the so-called Republicans are standing by and helping them destroy America.

Speaking of gas prices, the Communist "Green Agenda" is to destroy the energy industry altogether. And they have almost succeeded. Therefore pipelines throughout North America were shut down and oil was imported from Russia when there was absolutely no need to do so. At the same time gasoline prices have skyrocketed for absolutely no good reason.

The billions of dollars paid to Russia for oil helped to fuel Putin's megalomaniac ambitions against Ukraine. But here is a fact which has been suppressed -- EU nations such as Germany and France have actually been selling arms and ammunition to Russia in violation of sanctions, while Biden is planning to give Russia 10 billion dollars to assist with the destructive Iran nuclear deal. So we have traitors at the top of the Western nations pretending to uphold freedom and democracy while undermining them at the same time. Why hasn't Biden already been removed from office, when Trump was hounded daily because he was trying to "Make America Great Again"?

 

[arthurfleminger]

With housing and rental prices out of reach, the USA is becoming a nation of 'haves and have nots'. And that doesn't bode well.

I own a small 2 bedroom condo, 743 sq ft. And, according to Zillow/Redfin/Realtor.com, the price for my unit has increased by $13,600 in only the last 30 days. My residence wouldn't even qualify as a 'starter residence/home'. So, at this rate, what young people can save up enough to keep up with the soaring price of housing? Not many!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 'haves' are doing okay, the 'have nots' have a real problem. This is not a remote problem, it is a problem for our children and grandchildren.

 

[RichMan]

While there is abuse in every human system, unions included, is it just coincidence that while union membership has declined since the late 80's, worker compensation has also declined, and those same workers have lost pensions, vacations, health care, etc while the fat cats got fatter?

Many of those pensions, vacations, health care, etc were only a pipe dream because the cost could never be maintained.
I saw that happen during the 80's when the chief competitor of my employer, that had the same basic union contract, suddenly closed all locations.
This led to a sudden cut in pay of $1.00 hour for all of us.
Union leaders never asked the members, nor was it ever voted on. Just agreed to, to "save our jobs."
Strangely, none of the union employees lost a single penny in their pay.
A year later, when a new contract was signed, it allow for a substantial decrease in pay and benefits for all new hired employees.
The process then began to push us old workers out.

 

[RichMan]

With housing and rental prices out of reach, the USA is becoming a nation of 'haves and have nots'. And that doesn't bode well.

I own a small 2 bedroom condo, 743 sq ft. And, according to Zillow/Redfin/Realtor.com, the price for my unit has increased by $13,600 in only the last 30 days. My residence wouldn't even qualify as a 'starter residence/home'. So, at this rate, what young people can save up enough to keep up with the soaring price of housing? Not many!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 'haves' are doing okay, the 'have nots' have a real problem. This is not a remote problem, it is a problem for our children and grandchildren.

A house is only worth what a person is willing to pay.
As long as people have a mind set that "I must own my own home" and are willing to pay more than they should, more than they can afford, this will only get worse.
Sometimes we must just say NO, I will not be suckered into this madness.

 

[arthurfleminger]

A house is only worth what a person is willing to pay.
As long as people have a mind set that "I must own my own home" and are willing to pay more than they should, more than they can afford, this will only get worse.
Sometimes we must just say NO, I will not be suckered into this madness.

For those of us that are lucky to own our own homes/residences/condos/townhomes, it does absolutely no good for any of us to see the price of our residences soaring. If the home I bought soars in value, I still live in the SAME house, whether it's value is $100,000 or $1million. I can't afford to sell and take the profits because I'd have nowhere to move to as ALL the houses have become just as expensive. The only people to benefit from the rise in the prices are our heirs, and of course, the taxman who claims demands much higher real estate taxes each year. The real estate taxes are based on the value of the house.

 

[JTB]

And a lot oif those fat cats are union leaders.

No argument there but ya didn't answer the question

 

[JTB]

Many of those pensions, vacations, health care, etc were only a pipe dream because the cost could never be maintained.
I saw that happen during the 80's when the chief competitor of my employer, that had the same basic union contract, suddenly closed all locations.
This led to a sudden cut in pay of $1.00 hour for all of us.
Union leaders never asked the members, nor was it ever voted on. Just agreed to, to "save our jobs."
Strangely, none of the union employees lost a single penny in their pay.
A year later, when a new contract was signed, it allow for a substantial decrease in pay and benefits for all new hired employees.
The process then began to push us old workers out.

There's good and bad in any situation. Our union did right by us.

I'm not buying that the cost cannot be maintained. There's only one problem with unfettered capitalism ... human greed. And greed at the top is what brought it all down. That and a successful divide and conquer campaign that allowed greed to pool at the top.

 

[Handyman62]

No argument there but ya didn't answer the question

You didn't ask a question. You made a statement and put a question mark at the end of it?

 

[Moses_Young]

Im curious to those who really believe that inflation is only at 7.9% I think it is more around 20% inflation.

Do you believe things will get worse?
Do you believe we will see a total market collapse worse then the great depression.

It depends what you're looking at and when. The nature of inflation is that it moves at different rates for different commodities. As an example, the price of oil might increase first, followed by the price of commodities later, as higher fuel prices are passed on. When governments measure inflation, as most are corrupt, they typically try to find ways to make it seem less than it is. There are all manner of ways to do this without outright lying, but it is easily conceivable that if a government is reporting 7.9% inflation, the goods or services you are interested in have been inflated 20%.

This is only the beginning. The governments of the world have generated lots of money, and put it in circulation. Now inflation is going to come, unless they increase interest rates to compensate, and take it back out of circulation.

 

[RichMan]

There's good and bad in any situation. Our union did right by us.

I'm not buying that the cost cannot be maintained. There's only one problem with unfettered capitalism ... human greed. And greed at the top is what brought it all down. That and a successful divide and conquer campaign that allowed greed to pool at the top.

Human greed?
What about the employee that demands to paid an equal wage when he refuses to produce equally?
What about the union leaders spending your dues on supporting corrupt politicians without asking you first?
What about union leaders always paying themselves a much higher wage than those they work for again without asking you first.
If you choose to support and defend such corruption, that is your choice. I will not.
I never gave these leaches on red cent.

 

[JTB]

You didn't ask a question. You made a statement and put a question mark at the end of it?

No, grammatically that was a question. But obviously your intent is to dodge so I'll wish you well and move on.

 

[Nihilianth]

Lets talk about workers rights.
I do not believe in unions that require an employer to pay all an equal wage regardless of productivity.
I dealt with this for 40 years. While I consistently out produced those I worked with, my employer was not allowed to pay me more because it violated the union contract.
No worker should be forced to pay union dues that are used to pay union employees more that those they work for and support candidates they do not support, just to work.
Today, there are kids at McDonald that make more money flipping burgers that cashiers at grocery stores that have to pay union dues and can not be given a raise because it would violate the precious union contract.
This is just wrong.

This of it like this:

Your time and labor are a commodity, right? It can be bought and sold on the open market place. Correct?

The First Amendment give people the right to peaceably assemble, which includes the right to associate. So things like technical guilds would be legal. (You should look up the history of the large cracker company called Nabisco! It started out literally as a guild of bakers back in the early part of the 20th century.)

So. To review:

Time and labor are a commodity that can be bought and sold on the open market place. The right to assemble and to associate is a protected right spelled out directly in the very first amendment.

We also have the right to enter into contracts. That's how business in a free market is typically done.

So. What's a union, then? It's everything that is exactly described above.

Disallowing union dues, such as so-called "right to work" laws have been doing, is entirely unconstitutional. It violates the rights of a legal entity (unions) to operate freely. It would be like the federal government telling Ford Motor Company they cannot charge more than $25,000 for a brand new F-150.

As for McDonalds workers making more than whatever other profession you want to compare it to, all I can say is....

And.....? Pick up trucks these days cost as much as the house I grew up in did 20 years ago! There is no point to this argument at all. It's called "capitalism." McDonald's has a certain required need for a workforce. They want work to be completed so they can earn a profit. They have to pay what the workforce demands that it's worth. Nobody is willing to sell their previous commodity of time and labor for an outdated $7.25/hour minimum wage that hasn't increased in....what...? 15 years...? Even though the prices of virtually all goods have been increasing the entire time.

If a group of workers think they're time and labor is more valuable than McDonald's workers', then it's their responsibility to do something about it.


I forgot something:

Unconstitutional "right to work" laws are only meant to destroy unions. Sorry, but you do not get the advantages of a union (legal representation, and a workforce that has your back), if you don't pay union dues. These laws are meant to make it optional to lay the dues, while requiring the union to continue to use precious resources to pay for attorneys and court fees to protect it's members from illegal corporate policies.

 

[JTB]

Human greed?
What about the employee that demands to paid an equal wage when he refuses to produce equally?
What about the union leaders spending your dues on supporting corrupt politicians without asking you first?
What about union leaders always paying themselves a much higher wage than those they work for again without asking you first.
If you choose to support and defend such corruption, that is your choice. I will not.
I never gave these leaches on red cent.

There's no doubt that these things happen.

But to assume and proclaim guilt upon ALL is equally wrong. There ARE those who do right by their workers. I was blessed to be represented by one. Didja ever think of running for a position within the union to change this?

That's a danger in this all-or-nothing society. Tossing the baby with the bath water has become an art.

 

[Billyd]

I'll give you an example of union vs non union (same job)

My grandson. Master Electrician.

Non Union. Same work.

$24 - $38 / hr
pays own health care
pays own tools
provides own transportation
pays own retirement
no vacation or sick leave
out of work 2 to 3 months / year

Union
$36 - $60+ / hr after dues
union pays family health care (including up to 12 months lay off)
union pays for his tools
union provides his transportation
union provides remote site to home trip every month
union provides retirement fund and allows him to invest additional money into it.
rarely out of work more than a month.
union pays sick leave and vacation.

My personal experience.

Non union set up for a conference. Haphazard and rarely on time.

Union set up for the same type conference. Ready when we got there. Supervisor on site to keep things running smoothly. All our equipment was at the loading dock ready to pick up three hours after conference ended.

I'll gladly pay the union for the quality of work that I've always received.