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#61
August 7th 04, 07:25 AM
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on Bush and his crashes
"Todd Kuzma" wrote in message ... We're hard to beat when it comes to slavery though! Well, actually, we are. We abolished it many years ago. It still exists in Africa. http://www.iabolish.com/today/features/sudan/ Dave 
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#62
August 7th 04, 05:02 PM
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on Bush and his crashes
gwhite wrote:
Would that be the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, or Bush administrations whose Cuba policies you find inconsistant? I guess it must be Bush 43,... right? Well, our trade with China and Vietnam were pretty much nil under Johnson and Nixon and haven't reached any significant levels until the 1980s at the earliest. I don't claim that any party or president is better in this regard. The fact is, whether we trade with a communist country or not has little to do with the fact that they are communist. It has to do with various political and economic realities. For Cuba, the political benefits of refusing to trade are greater that the economic benefits of opening trade. China's communist government ensures that wages will remain obscenely low compared to the West. That means that WalMart can offer the lowest priced goods. You cannot get those wages in a free market economy. So, if what's good for WalMart is good for America, then communism is good for America. We are a country of people who demand fair wages for ourselves but refuse to pay them for others. Todd Kuzma Heron Bicycles Tullio's Big Dog Cyclery LaSalle, Il 815-223-1776 http://www.heronbicycles.com http://www.tullios.com
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#63
August 7th 04, 08:03 PM
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on Bush and his crashes
Todd Kuzma wrote:
... So, if what's good for WalMart is good for America, then communism is good for America. We are a country of people who demand fair wages for ourselves but refuse to pay them for others.... Do people in the US really demand fair wages for themselves? The minimum wage has fallen well behind inflation over the last three decades to the point where it is not a living wage, and only the bloated salaries of top executives have kept overall real wages from falling over the same period. Every year, lower and middle class people in the US work for longer hours for the same or lesser compensation. There is a class war between the holders of capital and labor in the US, and capital has been winning for the last 25 years. Of course, the "liberal" media (owned by capital) denies this is occurring, and manages to fool most of the US population into believing they are better off than the Europeans and Japanese in quality of life when this is not the case. -- Tom Sherman – Quad City Area
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#64
August 8th 04, 02:22 AM
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on Bush and his crashes
The outsourcing of certain high tech jobs, like customer support,
software testing and some software development, shows that some wages in America are much higher than can be obtained elsewhere for equivalent work from an educated, skilled, hard-working, and eager workforce. Some Americans expect a standard of living higher than their wages or productivity warrant, while others such as in India or Eastern Europe are overjoyed to use their education and skills to advance economically. A large number of high-tech startups today, even US based ones, have some portion of their effort come from offshore sources. Not because it's their preference, but because US labor in some cases has priced itself out of the market.
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#65
August 8th 04, 03:41 AM
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on Bush and his crashes
In article ,
Tom Sherman wrote: Todd Kuzma wrote: ... So, if what's good for WalMart is good for America, then communism is good for America. We are a country of people who demand fair wages for ourselves but refuse to pay them for others.... Do people in the US really demand fair wages for themselves? The minimum wage has fallen well behind inflation over the last three decades to the point where it is not a living wage, and only the bloated salaries of top executives have kept overall real wages from falling over the same period. Every year, lower and middle class people in the US work for longer hours for the same or lesser compensation. There is a class war between the holders of capital and labor in the US, and capital has been winning for the last 25 years. Of course, the "liberal" media (owned by capital) denies this is occurring, and manages to fool most of the US population into believing they are better off than the Europeans and Japanese in quality of life when this is not the case. I've been to Europe (have in-laws in Greece) and have read a fair bit about Japan. European visitors are typically amazed at the land-holdings and houses that normal middle-class people (like my normal, hourly-wage, non-management parents) on this continent have. There is much to like about Europe, and I would happily live there (and intend to at some point). But pretending the US is some sort of hellhole held together by collective illusions is to miss a pretty key point: most people in the US like their lives, and would probably point to things you dislike (expansive suburban housing, roomy cars, big portion sizes) as what they like. De gustibus et cetera. Japan...at the recommendation of an acquaintance who spends considerable time in Tokyo and the US, I read a book called "Dogs and Demons" which details some of the strange problems Japan has. I don't entirely agree with the book, which verges from some of the amazing (and resource-draining) weirdness associated with, oddly enough, Japan's concrete industry and its public-works bureaucracies, to some rather petty irritations about minor details of Japanese life and culture (I don't think Manga are as big a symbol of Japanese infantilization as the author, for example). Japan is sufficiently prosperous that it doesn't have to deal with its problems at the moment, but the problems are sufficiently serious that they're a major drag on the life of the average Japanese. -- Ryan Cousineau, http://www.wiredcola.com Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.
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#67
August 8th 04, 08:12 AM
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on Bush and his crashes
Ryan Cousineau wrote:
... European visitors are typically amazed at the land-holdings and houses that normal middle-class people (like my normal, hourly-wage, non-management parents) on this continent have.... The reason that many people in the US have these houses and property is that they or their parents purchased them in the three decades following WW2 when real wages were increasing, the tax burden was much more progressive, and much of the workforce was unionized. Over the last three decades, the upper classes in the US have through their funding of right-wing "think tanks", ownership of the media and copious campaign contributions changed the balance to greatly favor capital over labor. The result is that US workers spend far more time at work than they used to (the most of any industrialized nation), while their real hourly compensation continues to drop. This is concurrent with the massive growth in income of the top wage earners (corporate executives) and the increased concentration of wealth to the economic elite. -- Tom Sherman – Quad City Area
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#68
August 8th 04, 02:08 PM
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on Bush and his crashes
Todd Kuzma wrote in message ...
gwhite wrote: Would that be the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, or Bush administrations whose Cuba policies you find inconsistant? I guess it must be Bush 43,... right? Well, our trade with China and Vietnam were pretty much nil under Johnson and Nixon and haven't reached any significant levels until the 1980s at the earliest. I don't claim that any party or president is better in this regard. The fact is, whether we trade with a communist country or not has little to do with the fact that they are communist. It has to do with various political and economic realities. For Cuba, the political benefits of refusing to trade are greater that the economic benefits of opening trade. China's communist government ensures that wages will remain obscenely low compared to the West. That means that WalMart can offer the lowest priced goods. You cannot get those wages in a free market economy. Wal-Mart can offer lower priced goods because they subsidize low wages with taxpayer money. Wal-Mart claims that 70% of their workforce is fulltime. Wal-Mart defines fulltime employment as "28 or more hours per week."
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#69
August 8th 04, 03:15 PM
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on Bush and his crashes
Tom Sherman wrote:
Ryan Cousineau wrote: ... European visitors are typically amazed at the land-holdings and houses that normal middle-class people (like my normal, hourly-wage, non-management parents) on this continent have.... The reason that many people in the US have these houses and property is that they or their parents purchased them in the three decades following WW2 when real wages were increasing, the tax burden was much more progressive, and much of the workforce was unionized. Errrr, Tom... the size of the average house has grown dramatically since the post WWII boom and the 70's (if you don't believe it do some checking on realtor.com). Look at the size of the bedrooms. Look at how large the garages were (try to find a new house with a ONE car garage). You're probably right about one thing though - many large, luxurious houses were built by union leadership. Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame
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#70
August 8th 04, 03:47 PM
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on Bush and his crashes
Mark Hickey wrote:
Tom Sherman wrote: Ryan Cousineau wrote: ... European visitors are typically amazed at the land-holdings and houses that normal middle-class people (like my normal, hourly-wage, non-management parents) on this continent have.... The reason that many people in the US have these houses and property is that they or their parents purchased them in the three decades following WW2 when real wages were increasing, the tax burden was much more progressive, and much of the workforce was unionized. Errrr, Tom... the size of the average house has grown dramatically since the post WWII boom and the 70's (if you don't believe it do some checking on realtor.com). Look at the size of the bedrooms. Look at how large the garages were (try to find a new house with a ONE car garage).... But how many of the purchasers of these new, larger houses had capital in the form of a smaller, older residence that they could sell to partially finance the new residence? If one has no inherited wealth (including financial support from living relatives) but comes from the lower classes, it will take a long time for even a person of above average ability and determination to achieve middle class status, as the barriers are considerable. This is not something the upper classes want people to understand, as they benefit from the erroneous belief that all that holds people back is government. Therefore, they still promote "America as the land of opportunity", even though that place ceased to exist several decades ago. -- Tom Sherman – Quad City Area
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