Minimum wage & The cost of living

pocketspeed said:
man we all like to complain dont we? welcome to the free market system my friends. you know what the alternative is? socialism/communism. how has that worked out? is that what you really want here? upset about high gas prices? you want the government to regulate those? how many SUVs with one person in them do you see going down the road getting 15 mpg? theres the real reason gas prices are so high. we love our gas hogs. i'm not saying its wrong. this is the land of the free. do what you want. but when you could be driving cars that get 50 mpg but choose to drive an SUV that gets 15 and drives up demand thus price, dont *****. dont blame the government.

bush the worst huh? since the war on terror began, how many attacks have taken place on american soil? oh yeah, none. your governement protecting you, doing its job. what about the clinton years? made a mockery of the presidency. talk about morally bankrupt. and when given the chance to prevent the war on terror but nipping the whole thing in the bud, he chose to do nothing. yep great president there.

if you love freedom, democracy and the free market system, sometimes that means you gotta pay $5 for milk.

everything has a price

brian
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Brian, I agree with your point about the SUV's, but not about the safety issue. It's a specious argument that we are safer now. In my mind, we are definitely less safe in this country, thanks to Bush's war on terror. This administration has fostered a breeding ground for anti American sentiment worldwide. And we will pay the price sooner or later, sad to say.

3,690 young American lives lost at last count in Iraq, and what has been accomplished there. Total chaos mostly. Can anyone say Viet Nam?
 
punter said:
I'm guessing your acquaintances are either in debt up to their eyeballs, or have a meth lab in their garage.
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they are in debt, and they still complain that they can't seem to "save" money on thier wages....ridiculous. Go back a couple of generations (grandparents, and great-grandparents) and see what they did without materialistically. Families of 6 or more living in under 1K square foot houses, and one car...Today most would not even think of that. Gotta keep up with the Jones's.

I grew up in a very limited income part of town, and yet the number of Lincolns, and Cadillacs was amusing. Oh, and the kids all wore the latest Jordans. No kidding. We lived there not because we "had" to...my father worked at Caterpillar, and had a very good paying UAW job. We did without cable, the nice cars, the Jordans, the high dollar clothes, etc. Mom and dad now travel a ton, and can retire worryfree. Not just because of his pension either....just saved, and saved, and saved.

I'm somewhat guilty of it too (large home - two newer vehicles, etc.), but I don't have debt....that's right, none. If I can't afford to pay for something, I don't buy it. Or, I look at it in another way....$300 to pay for this or get by with something a 1/3 of the price, and use the remaining $200 some other way.
 
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ShaneS said:
The U.S. has the 2nd highest GDP per capita in the world; #1 in the world compared to countries even remotely close to our size.

Luxembourg-- $54,285.46 (2004) population = 459,000 (2004)

United States -- $39,535.28 (2004) population = 295,409,600 (2004)

Macao -- $39,294.51 (2004) population = 440,000 (2004)

I think we are fine.

-Shane
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those numbers are a little misleading to me when you have to factor in that no other country has as many,athletes,rock stars,actors and numerous other celebrity type occupations where people make 10's of million a year.
 
Nine Ball said:
I know this is not pool related so if you have a problem with it just let it slip to the back of the line. I've overlooked many things being raised in cost but today it really ticked me off. I was in Wal Mart and the price for a gallon of milk was $5.12. Give me a break... This is such a joke. I mean think about it. They recently raised the price of minimum wage for workers because so many people are on the struggle. Yet at the same time they go ahead and raise the prices of everything during the same period to make up for the increase in pay. What's the point for the increase? Does it not work out to be about the same as before the increase? So you make $1 more in min wage. Now you pay $1 more for everything else you buy. I really have to say the prices for almost anything you buy today is total robbery. Again, I apologize for writing this here as it has nothing to do with pool but seeing a gallon of milk at $5.12 just really got under my skin, and I don't even drink milk.
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I get triple pi$$ed about cost of goods. Who in their right mind would pay that much for milk? Make a substitute or quit drinking milk. Problem is most just pay the price. Blame it on what ever you like but when items sit on shelves prices will come down.

Rod
 
bob_bushka said:
why don't a few more vote for our glorious leader, Bush. what a joke. worst president I have ever seen and I've seen them all since Ike. I wish he'd get blown by an aide so we really had a reason to impeach him. Seems like lying to the American public over reasons for war isn't an adequate reason. More loss of privacy in over 200 years. Lets not kill embryos that get thrown away, for the possibility of great medical gains but lets kill a bunch of adults and children in Iraq. Seeing how Cheney can hit a target, I think he should go on the front line in Iraq. Please come soon 2008 so we can get rid of this recovering????druggie and alcoholic with his dillusional belief systems.
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The sad thing is, the whole country knew he was a horrible leader and still re-elected him. He probobly would win again if he was able to run. All they do is play into people's fears and make the election truthfully about something totally ridiculous. I am so sick of hearing about peoples stance on abortion, there are so many more important issues than abortion. The fact is the last election was basically decided by the whole "gay marriage" issue.
We are going to keep having these problems as long as we keep voting for the guys who raise the most money. When we see these amounts of money that Hillary, Obama, or Giullani are raising, that should be a giant red flag. Lets face it, they will owe lots of people. Those are the people they we be loyal to first, not the American public.

Please do your homework this time, vote for
Ron Paul for president!
 
dimes33 said:
those numbers are a little misleading to me when you have to factor in that no other country has as many,athletes,rock stars,actors and numerous other celebrity type occupations where people make 10's of million a year.
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It's also misleading when you think of the families that live well beneath the poverty line, and keep having children that they can't afford....
 
Trustyrusty
I don't think we disagree. I couldn't make it on the 3.75 an hour 20 hours a week. I have no idea what other people can live on.
Jay, priorities are definatley ****ed up in our country. People want and can't tell the difference between that and need. I think we all have good examples of people we know that you just want to smack in the head when they start talking about their toys. Financing TVs,couches stereos etc etc so the friends will be impressed. My wife makes abouy 50k a year I make about 5k. We shopped at yards sales for the furniture for our house, trade kids close with other families, bought used cars. So we can pay cash (remeber cash) for the toys we like to have. Cues, running shoes, vacations etc. We have a nice house in a nice neighborhood with a couple of 10 year old cars in the driveway and a 15 inch yard sale Tv in the family room. Life is good, I'm going fishing.

Andy
 
I don't know how anyone who witnessed the terrorists attacks of 9/11 can think that these obsessed maniacs need a new reason to hate us. Do you really think a more passive approach in dealing with them is better? How many more attacks on U.S. soil is it going to take before we realize that it is better to be on the offensive rather than playing defense?
 
trustyrusty said:
It's also misleading when you think of the families that live well beneath the poverty line, and keep having children that they can't afford....
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another statement i cant agree with.that would be a personal decision and not of government regulation,unless that's what you feel it should be.
 
8ballEinstein said:
The "they" you say are raising the minimum wage and the "they" who raise the prices, are not the same people. The alternative would be to have the price milk go up and the minimum wage stay down. In the end it's about the dollar losing it's value - about 94% or more since 1913.
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Bump.

Jeff Livingston
 
punter said:
I don't know how anyone who witnessed the terrorists attacks of 9/11 can think that these obsessed maniacs need a new reason to hate us. Do you really think a more passive approach in dealing with them is better? How many more attacks on U.S. soil is it going to take before we realize that it is better to be on the offensive rather than playing defense?
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All that we are doing now, is insuring there will be future attacks on this soil. We don't need to be in Iraq, we are just creating more hatred for our country over there. Would they really hate us if we weren't over there trying to make them like us.
 
dimes33 said:
another statement i cant agree with.that would be a personal decision and not of government regulation,unless that's what you feel it should be.
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don't disagree with you at all. I think the government should stay out of that too. But, the government should also stop giving them "my" money. Have your 8 kids on a $15K income...don't look for me to pay for it though.

Oh, and take that money and fix the bradge that I take to work, so it doesn't collapse when I'm trying to make my money.
 
punter said:
I don't know how anyone who witnessed the terrorists attacks of 9/11 can think that these obsessed maniacs need a new reason to hate us. Do you really think a more passive approach in dealing with them is better? How many more attacks on U.S. soil is it going to take before we realize that it is better to be on the offensive rather than playing defense?
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Agreed again, but we should pick the right battle. And we haven't by any means. Our forces have been misused and misdirected, at a cost of countless lives, MORE than were lost in 9/11. The fact that we haven't been attacked is an illusion. We are NOT safer now. Sorry to tell you the bad news.
 
jay helfert said:
Brian, I agree with your point about the SUV's, but not about the safety issue. It's a specious argument that we are safer now. In my mind, we are definitely less safe in this country, thanks to Bush's war on terror. This administration has fostered a breeding ground for anti American sentiment worldwide. And we will pay the price sooner or later, sad to say.

3,690 young American lives lost at last count in Iraq, and what has been accomplished there. Total chaos mostly. Can anyone say Viet Nam?
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jay i have to respectfully disagree with you on the safety issue. the US was already hated. otherwise 911 wouldnt have happened. its unfair to liken the war on terror to viet nam. in viet nam our country wasnt directly attacked. it was an ideology conflict with communism which may well have been lost for lack of political will and over worrying about public sentiment. it turned out to be a dark chapter in our history.

3690 casualties is sad. as i already said everything has its price. they were soldiers. their job was go to into harms way for this country's benefit. no one forced them to be soldiers. nothing accomplished? since 911 how many enemy strikes have taken place on US soil? you really think thats b/c they dont want to strike "the great satan"? those soldiers did gave their lives doing what they signed up to do. protect this country (you and i). to suggest their sacrifice was in vain devalues that very sacrifice. they are heroes.

everything has its price. where would we be without brave men and women willing to pay it?

brian
 
TX Poolnut said:
Man, it only took 4 posts to blame the price of milk on Bush. You liberals are on fire this morning.:rolleyes:
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:D lol,this could go on for dayzzzzzzzz but at least we can all agree to disagree in this great country!
 
jay helfert said:
Agreed again, but we should pick the right battle. And we haven't by any means. Our forces have been misused and misdirected, at a cost of countless lives, MORE than were lost in 9/11. The fact that we haven't been attacked is an illusion. We are NOT safer now. Sorry to tell you the bad news.
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Well, I'm glad to get the definitive news Jay. Sorry but I believe we ARE safer by all the steps that have been taken after we were attacked. And the FACT is we haven't been attacked since ... no illusion.
 
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pocketspeed said:
jay i have to respectfully disagree with you on the safety issue. the US was already hated. otherwise 911 wouldnt have happened. its unfair to liken the war on terror to viet nam. in viet nam our country wasnt directly attacked. it was an ideology conflict with communism which may well have been lost for lack of political will and over worrying about public sentiment. it turned out to be a dark chapter in our history.

3690 casualties is sad. as i already said everything has its price. they were soldiers. their job was go to into harms way for this country's benefit. no one forced them to be soldiers. nothing accomplished? since 911 how many enemy strikes have taken place on US soil? you really think thats b/c they dont want to strike "the great satan"? those soldiers did gave their lives doing what they signed up to do. protect this country (you and i). to suggest their sacrifice was in vain devalues that very sacrifice. they are heroes.

everything has its price. where would we be without brave men and women willing to pay it?

brian
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Why were we already hated? Because we try to dictate the way other countries handle there affairs. We have done this ever since the end of World War 2.
As far as our country not being attacked since 9/11. We have been both lucky and we have caught some in the act. Do you think that us being in Iraq has stopped anyone from attacking us. I've worked for the Dept. of Homeland Security from day 1. This Dept. was a knee jerk reaction to 9/11I really don't see the country any less vulnerable to attacks now than it was 6 years ago.
 
TX Poolnut said:
Man, it only took 4 posts to blame the price of milk on Bush. You liberals are on fire this morning.:rolleyes:
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I'm not a liberal...... And it is Bush's fault!
 
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