Squirrlnutz

[quote name='MichaelWeston' timestamp='1328837872' post='1095006'] Here you go Here you go How do I post a picture [/quote] If the picture is hosted on a website copy the url, click the image button, paste the link. I'm not very tech savvy

[quote name='Jamie_B' timestamp='1314304996' post='1021001'] Well your right about the ladder anyway. [/quote] Haha what?

[quote name='Xombie' timestamp='1310086773' post='1000006'] The only problem with this is the fact that [b]our collective laziness and inflated sense of worth[/b] "bars" many of our healthy, unemployed to take jobs they find demeaning and the sea of job opportunity [b]has evolved[/b] to be service industry-centric, which, in many cases, is truly underemployment. The American workforce of today must accept some responsibility for [b]pricing themselves out of jobs[/b], and not solely blame corporate greed. 40-50 years ago, and this quote would be spot on. Now, at best, it is very debatable. [/quote] The first bolded statement seems rather presumptuous, the second is loaded as if there was a natural progression as opposed to concerted efforts on behalf of the suppliers to eliminate labor (costs), and the third can be seen as dishonest because in many cases we never see a decline in corporate revenue, in fact we see bold increases as jobs are eliminated or shipped elsewhere. As I've come to understand it, from the beginning of the industrial revolution until the 1970s there was generally an increase in American workforce welfare. Representation in legislation, safety conditions in work environments, child labor laws, wage increases all brought the general welfare of the labor force up. But since the dawn of globalization the welfare of the worker has not risen at the same rate as the profit of corporations. What examples can you offer that would help me believe "Americans priced themselves out of jobs" as opposed to "Corporations seized the opportunity to exploit slavery abroad." I'd be inclined to believe that if corporate profits grew at a relatively stable rate from a time prior to globalization through now as opposed to the exponential growth "hockey stick" graphs that their profits were soon reported as once they abandoned the symbiotic relationship they developed with American labor and leeched onto slave labor abroad.

[quote name='Xombie' timestamp='1310063419' post='999975'] I -NEVER- said they were a force for good. I offer they are only a force. Period. And your point about them moving to China is exactly my point. [b]Why, if I were an owner of a large business/conglomeration, would I want to produce my product here?[/b] My company is lambasted for making a profit within legal means, viewed as a villain for obeying the letter, if not the spirit, of tax laws, providing my investors with an ever-improving portfolio, and offering jobs that may or may not jive with some peoples' views of entitlement versus their actual worth, while praying that a mistake, whether it is an accident, a broken law, be it through ignorance or malicious means, or a random act of God/Chaos, does not ruin the business plan for the next decade. How is it different that we, as employees, union or not, look out for our self-interest and then not expect our employers not to do the same? We need this to be a symbiotic relationship before every company realizes we are needing them alot more than they may need us as a workforce. [/quote] I'd be fine with letting any conglomerate shift all their business overseas, so long as we tax the shit out of anything they import here. If they want to make billions off American people, then they need to operate under a regulatory system that has the American people's best interest in mind. I'd be interested in hearing your opinion on how the current regulatory model is designed for and efficacious in protecting the average american from predatory business models because it appears to me that many laws are written with the opposite in mind. [quote]Do you -truly- believe that...there is going to be some immediate wasteland installed if some of the EPA regulations are loosened? Are you just going to ignore the billions upon billions of dollars, by and large rightly, spent and generated in the small, quiet cottage industry known as the Green Movement?[/quote] We're what, 400ish days since the Deep Water Horizon explosion? Exxon just leaked 40,000ish gallons of oil into Yellowstone this week? I'm sure someone with more knowledge could point out a litany of examples of small businesses that teeter on the edge collapse if a legitimate accident pushes them squarely into the EPA's cross-hairs. But at the same time we have monster corporations who post multi billion-dollar profits quarterly and we can't even get them to inspect their own equipment. The big guys are already taking advantage of the system and gaming it for their own benefit, if we loosen the belt to help out the little guys...lets just say I have a hard time imagining the big guys won't exploit that even further.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/RcvHu.jpg[/img]

[quote name='John~Galt' date='07 February 2010 - 02:29 PM' timestamp='1265570971' post='861967'] I can toss out quotes too, but I prefer to form my own opinions rather than espouse the opinions of others. A truly free market would be governed by one principle: Rational self interest. It is not in the interest of participants in any market to engage in unethical or destructive behavior. [b]Those that do will fizzle out [/b]while the fundamentally sound participants will continue to grow and prosper. The market place is made up of consumers and producers. The consumer will eventually punish producers that fail to compete with other producers or engage in unethical, self-destructive behavior. (See General Motors) Government bureaucracy by nature seeks only to preserve itself. These "representatives" make decisions and regulations from a purely CYA view point. This government proceeds to destroy the dollar, actively take part in creating a mortgage crisis, stifle progress and creativity then have the audacity to tell us that the problems in this country stem from corporate greed and Wall Street avarice. [/quote] For accuracy I'll add: ...will fizzle out with tens of billions of dollars in the board members' pockets and leave thousands unemployed. Fizzling out is taken too lightly. Would you really care if your corporation failed after you banked 18 billion dollars? I wouldn't fucking care, I would be fine, because I was thinking about ME throughout the whole process and not the market or the thousands of people I employ.