Careers Are Dead. Welcome To Your Low Wage, Temp Work Future

[Jimaz]

... Then all we need to do is figure out how to stop a handful of elites from sucking up all the wealth....

... all the unearned wealth sucked up by a handful of the parasitic saboteurs in power.

[JBMcB]

If we get to the point where virtually all jobs have been mechanized out of existence and we can enjoy a high standard of living without having to work for it, I think that's a pretty good problem to have.

That won't be the case - virtually all low-skill and entry-level jobs will be mechanized, leaving a lot of people out in the cold. You'll need people to fix the machines, those are already fairly skilled and well paying jobs and will continue to be.

So pick your poison - low paying jobs with low unemployment, or well paying jobs with more unemployment. Which do you prefer?

Personally, if we are going to do welfare anyways, I think ditching minimum wage and just going to a "mincome" model is preferable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincome

[Papasito]

If you notice, a lot of the luxury car lines are moving away from big boats to smaller sporty cars. This is not because they want to ditch the elderly, it's because this nation is losing it's wealthy retirees. Our elderly no longer is getting fat pensions, they are broke.
These companies are going after people who are working and making money WHILE they are making money.

The era of working hard and retiring is over.
This is Modern America, where you work until you die broke.

[Jimaz]

For a while now I've been hearing that corporations are just sitting on $3 trillion. They have it but aren't doing anything with it.

Today I received a letter from a company announcing its intent to repurchase its stock using $50 million in "unencumbered cash."

Just for kicks I calculated that 500,000 $100-dollar bills would form a stack 179 feet high weighing 1,020 lbs.

Must be nice.

[JBMcB]

For a while now I've been hearing that corporations are just sitting on $3 trillion. Supposedly they have it but aren't doing anything with it.

A lot of that is in the form of bonds bought by the treasury in the course of it's open-ended quantitative easing program over the last few years. So, no, they aren't going to spend it, they are going to invest it in stuff that can make them money until they have to pay off the bonds [[at an insanely low or non-existent interest rate)

The treasury has pumped multiple trillions of dollars into banks and large corporations this way. I'm somewhat surprised it's *only* three trillion.

[Jimaz]

... So, no, they aren't going to spend it, they are going to invest it in stuff that can make them money until they have to pay off the bonds [[at an insanely low or non-existent interest rate)

The treasury has pumped multiple trillions of dollars into banks and large corporations this way. I'm somewhat surprised it's *only* three trillion.

So how is that not "unencumbered cash"?

Sincerely.

[JBMcB]

So how is that not "unencumbered cash"?

"Unencumbered" just means there aren't any liens or other settlements against a chunk of money they own. Any liquid asset that meets that criteria is "Unencumbered cash"

[old guy]

"Unencumbered" just means there aren't any liens or other settlements against a chunk of money they own. Any liquid asset that meets that criteria is "Unencumbered cash"

That statement is debatable.

[MizMotown]

Seattle council passes $15 minimum wage. Good for them.\

http://news.yahoo.com/seattle-counci...--finance.html

[GUSHI]

if you say so, shit is already expensive without these minimum wages hikes, it going to just get more pricey. Welcome to Mcdonalds $9.99 menu.

Seattle council passes $15 minimum wage. Good for them.\

http://news.yahoo.com/seattle-counci...--finance.html

[oladub]

Battling Higher Minimum Wages: McDonald's Just Bought Touch Screen Cashier Kiosks for Its 7,000 European Locations

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2014/05/battling-higher-minimum-wages-mcdonalds.html

My son reports that he used such machines in France and was impressed. The user interface was very intuitive he said. The machine accepts credit cards and allows orders to be made. A real human still hands the customer his/her tray containing the order. Someone still has to make the kiosk although they probably live in China.

[Jimaz]

Heh. Maybe automats will come back into vogue.

[GUSHI]

that is the future, raising minimum wage is just going to make the changes happen faster,

Battling Higher Minimum Wages: McDonald's Just Bought Touch Screen Cashier Kiosks for Its 7,000 European Locations

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com...mcdonalds.html

My son reports that he used such machines in France and was impressed. The user interface was very intuitive he said. The machine accepts credit cards and allows orders to be made. A real human still hands the customer his/her tray containing the order. Someone still has to make the kiosk although they probably live in China.

[Jimaz]

Conversely, reducing the minimum wage to $0.00 — or less — would produce rainbows and unicorns in the minds of wannabe deadbeat slaveholders.

Is that really the depiction that any reputable citizen would want to adopt?

Which way do we want to move as a society? Forward or backward? Progressive or regressive?

Do we choose to not pay the bills that we owe? How is there any valor in that?!

[old guy]

if you say so, shit is already expensive without these minimum wages hikes, it going to just get more pricey. Welcome to Mcdonalds $9.99 menu.

Good, I finally quit smoking 6 months ago because smokes got so expensive. I'm glad they did. Should have done so after my heart attack 13 years ago. If you eat McDonanlds food, you're probably at more of a health risk than I was smoking. You couldn't get me to eat at McD's if it was free.

God help us if the price of an extruded tube of ground beef at Wallytown goes up. Buy local, Grow your own food if you can. Find local food merchants and utilize a bit of wisdom. You'll live longer. There's a new paradigm out there, utilize it.

[old guy]

If you go to a "The Home Depot" or other places that have self checkouts, don't use them. Go to a checkout counter where they have a cashier. Guess what, they'll hire more cashiers. Reasonably simple logic to keep businesses hiring employees. Or, you could go the other route for your convenience and wonder why unemployment is so high. Consumers... hmm... they are the basis of how business is conducted.

I do however believe that unless a nationwide standard on wages is agreed to, it will hurt certain communities that are forced to pay higher wages and compete with other locales that have the ability to produce products at a lower wage. I think that needs to be addressed.

[Patrick]

I've seen those touchscreen kiosks in Germany as well, especially in Frankfurt. Problem is that all the American fast food places are overloaded and overcapacity in many European cities, so I wonder how effective the kiosks will be. I will say, however, that for as much as the Germans dislike Americans, they sure love our fast food and 1990s sitcom reruns.

[gazhekwe]

Even though I ended my career in management, I am union all the way. I never use those self checkout things. At the Home Depot I frequent down south, I have to check out in Garden to avoid the darn things, and I drag everything down to Garden even though the line is usually tediously long. The one poor clerk that manages the self checkout worries about her job, but I just tell her she can get paid to manage just one register and have several more people working as well.

[JBMcB]

That statement is debatable.

No, it's not. Unencumbered has a very particular meaning, especially if a publicly traded company is bandying it about.

[old guy]

Actually, any statement is debatable. i could be wrong, but it is debatable.

[jackie5275]

If you go to a "The Home Depot" or other places that have self checkouts, don't use them. Go to a checkout counter where they have a cashier. Guess what, they'll hire more cashiers. Reasonably simple logic to keep businesses hiring employees.

Theoretically, yes, they will have to hire more cashiers. In reality, they will just get rid of all cashiers, install more self checkouts, & force you to use them. I've seen it already on the move at Meijer & Kroger. After a certain hour at night, self serve is only way to check out.

[Jimaz]

Who needs employees when customers will work for free? Well, this customer is on permanent strike against depressing stores like that.

Things change. A few years ago replacing human phone reps with voice-recognition machines was going to be the next big thing. You won't find many of those machines anymore. Hell, I remember hearing one customer yelling at one of the damned things.

Who needs customers when you...? Oh, wait. What? DOH!

[bailey]

Who needs employees when customers will work for free? Well, this customer is on permanent strike against depressing stores like that.

When my choice is between using the self check out that is empty or waiting in a line for some clerk to figure out why the coupon some old lady is using for her adult diapers isn't working, then sit there while said old lady writes out check ...and has to then have that check approved by the manager, or better yet pays in weird small denominations and change causing the clerk to have to actually count it and do math, I'll save the half hour of my life and use the self check out.

If a self serve kiosk can do your job, it's not the minimum wage's fault.

My time is more valuable to me than sitting around and waiting for a job to be performed badly.

[Cliffy]

I used to work for Best Buy back when I was in High School and some old lady would come in and buy VHS movies every Sunday [[this was in 1998) and would pay half in cash and half with a credit card. What a pain in the ass she was. But look at Meijer. They have no baggers anymore. They don't even need to price the food anymore either with the new law. Its basically become self service in there. If they were allowed to, they would let you scoop your own ground beef and put it in the bag yourself to save on wages.

[Jimaz]

... If they were allowed to, they would let you scoop your own ground beef and put it in the bag yourself to save on wages.

Or even butcher your own cow.

At some point you have to ask yourself what purpose are they really serving? And why are they trying so hard to avoid serving any purpose?

The answer is increasingly obvious: unearned profit — shameful naked greed disguised as "virtuous" free market capitalism.

It's become a disgusting habit of the Parasitic Saboteurs in Power™ that increasingly reveals their very own welfare dependence that they ironically rail so often against.