As Retirement Money Disappears, Older Workers Flock Back to Job Market
By Susie Madrak Sunday May 10, 2009 3:00pmIn the meantime, my friends are telling me their college-aged kids can't find summer jobs. Thanks, BushCo!
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Jose Villareal once had a successful career as a franchising executive with Pepsi Co. Now, at the age of 67, he can't even get a job as a school custodian.
Mr. Villareal is among the growing numbers of retirement-age Americans battered by financial losses who are trying to get back into the work force -- or never left it.
Participation in the labor force by workers over age 65, which has been creeping upward in recent years, hit 16.9% in April, the highest for that month since 1971, the Labor Department said Friday. Meanwhile, unemployment for workers in that age group was up sharply in April from a year earlier, to 5.8% from 3.5%.
"We're just living day-to-day," Mr. Villareal said.
In an April survey, 22% of workers nationwide said they were "not at all confident" that they will have enough savings for a comfortable retirement, surpassing the number who are "very confident" for the first time since the survey began in 1993, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute, based in Washington, D.C. A fifth of those workers said they now plan to work into their 70s. One in 10 doesn't plan to ever retire.
Retire? What's that? I'll probably have to keep plugging until the day I keel over.
Mr. Villareal's predicament is increasingly common in this Sunbelt city, where a fifth of the 215,000 residents are 65 or older, compared with one-in-eight nationwide.
Scottsdale's economy has long thrived on retirees, tourists and second-home buyers bringing their wealth to the city. Now, the massive loss of wealth in the U.S. has left the city vulnerable.
[...] The Villareal family's money troubles started earlier this decade, but have been exacerbated by the bad economy.
They lost much of their savings and cashed out their retirement funds in 2000 after a string of pizza restaurants Mr. Villareal opened in Mexico went bust. He then turned to running a small consultancy, but business dried up over the past year as the economy slowed.
Taking a big cut in pay, Mr. Villareal spent several months working in the cafeteria of a local high school, his daughter's alma mater, until a back injury ended that stint. Among other efforts, he applied for a custodian position in the school district, for which he was judged overqualified.
"I don't buy $200 shoes like I used to," said Mr. Villareal, dressed in a white polo shirt bearing a EuroDisney logo, chino shorts, loafers and ankle socks. "I'll wear these clothes for another 11 years -- what do I care?"
Because Mr. Villareal can't get a job, his 62-year-old wife, who had left the work force two decades earlier after the birth of their daughter, started working at a discount retailer where she earns $10 an hour.
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I've been seeing/hearing more than a few "heartwarming" human interest stories of just how great this is. How it shows that we "value" our elderly. "Gosh, Ada is one our best workers. She brings eighty-six years of life experience and is real cheap to feed."
Of course, this message is brought to us by the same folks who blame greedy workers and their pension requirements for American non-competitiveness, and who marvel at the per worker cost of a pension fund while ignoring the tens and hundreds of millions of dollars which have been pulled out of corporations by executives.
If the good ole days were the 50s then go back to the 90% tax rate on the top earners, like little dick, the last he worked ( Hee,Hee) he pulled $34 Million for a year and with that tax rate he would have to squeaked by on $3.4 Million for the year. Whoa is me !!!!
This crime or torch has now been passed to Obama and his is doing the same as Bush..
Obama's Creation of Jobs is the same as Bush trickle down theory.. Just as the trickle down theory it will never happen...
H... Corporations are still outsourcing our jobs and manufacturing while expanding the visa program to bring in more citizens from India to take the Technical jobs..
H... by all the foreign people coming to steal our jobs it is/will not be counted in the unemployment rate....
Just as all other promises made by Obama he now even refuses to make good on his promise to renegotiate the free trade bill...
Of course all other countries are bitching about that because they have our jobs and still receiving them...
As Kucinich stated ,,,,, WAKE UP AMERICANS before it is too late...
We have to be in the 11 th hour now if not later..
What has Obama done or where are his plans which will help Americans instead of this Global Empire and also feeding our tax money to foreign nations to help them with their infrastructure and lively hood , while we lose our...
It is money and policies to help the Global Empire and foreign countries now and out of OUR tax money ,,,,, While he Claims??? our will not having until years from now...
Sound like Bush and Republicans lies , propaganda and BS>>>>
me, too. In January, at 66, I got layed off my admin ass't job in a steel mill.....my teeny 401K from 3 1/2 years working there took a 25% loss hit and since I never worked for anyone who had benefits other than medical insurance, that's all I'll have for retirement.....about $13,000. My social security is about $1200 a month, so I NEED a job. I am efficient, smart, adaptable, well-trained loyal, and excellent with people. I am never sick, so I am dependable. But, although I look 10 years younger, I still can't get a job. The only good news is that I am eligible for Medicare, so that plus the Medi-gap insurance will only cost me $175 a month, as opposed to $472 a month, the amount COBRA would extract. I am divorced, no siblings, an aging mother, and all 3 of my kids are struggling. And nobody wants to hire me. So, I feel for all you "seniors" out there who are on the brink of becoming homeless. We all seem to be in the same boat, and it's sinking. Good luck!
Americans high on Obama, U.S. direction
So it seems, Americans are just fine with grandma and grandpa working themselves to death to try to survive.
started swinging from the chandeliers and wearing lamp shades again with all this great new economic stimulus and "investment".
...so lacking in logic, or is it just you?
perpetual state of childishness, illusion, and fantasy. They are pretty good at distinguishing between truth and fiction.
And are the RCMP really mounted? Why?
But mostly, do the Canucks really have a chance in Chicago tomorrow?
They originally rode horses and still put on a horse riding show.
No. But whoever wins between Detroit and Anaheim is a virtual Stanley Cup Champ.
It is a straw man argument though Evet. Just because people are happy that Obama in in office doesn't mean that they "are just fine with grandma and grandpa working themselves to death to try to survive." Anybody with any kind of analytical brain knows that there is no way Obama can reverse this in a couple months or even in a couple years. What Bush did to this country will be felt for a long long time and can not be turned around overnight. Certainly you know that. I'm one of the 64% and I can't think of anybody I would rather have in the White House right now.
Nobody. Just one question then. Do you consider yourself a liberal, yes or no.
Yes!!
Obama is NOT the best person for the job, for he is NOT liberal and has very few liberal policies.
I believe he is liberal. A pragmatic liberal. And your argument above is still lame.
there where you live, and then... you can tell us how it is done, m'kay?
Here's CC's argument:
48% of Americans approve of the direction in which the country is headed. Some elderly Americans have been forced to take jobs. Therefore, 48% of Americans approve of the fact that elderly Americans have been forced to take jobs.
It's a fucking non sequitir.
Poll after poll, and poster after poster, show their unquestioning support for Obama, while this stuff is going on. But you're ok with that, because hey, it isn't his fault, it's Bush's right? WRONG. Bush is no longer Prez dude. Remember that woman that came forward at one of those famous "Town Hall" meetings living out of her car for help? Well, she got it didn't she? NO she didn't. She got a temp home, and STILL can't find a job anywhere. Now, the Prez, being rich and having many rich friends, could have got this woman instant help. He didn't. It was as fake a moment as those Xmas season Coke ads.
Some people live in reality. Obama can sign a statement and instantly help out any elderly that are suffering in this poor economy. Instead he is helping his bank fraudster buddies. Those that don't see that are either blind, or lacking the collective reasoning gene.
Wiping out a lot of people's retirement savings?
And:
So you're saying there's a way that he can bypass Congress, and just start giving away money on his own? Do you want to see a dictatorship in MY country?
Canuck's argument is exactly like Anne Coulter's:
i want nafta repealed
buy your own shit...i dont want it anymore
btw....8 years vs 3 months
ya...blame obama
you doosh
dude. Bush has been out of office 4 months and now nothing is his fault right? I certainly am not holding Obama up on a pedestal. But to blame Obama for all of our woes is just not correct. And your anecdotal example of the media created woman at the town hall meeting is weak to prove your invalid and condescending points.
First off, the lady at the town hall.
Do you know what would happen if he directly intervened on her behalf? He'd get a shit-storm of requests for help from every individual in bad shape, far more than he could hope to help. Then when he's at the point of being unable to help, he looks like an asshole when he says no, and you know what Faux News is going to do with that. It would be a very bad political move.
Secondly, "Obama can sign a statement and instantly help out any elderly..."
I don't know the government process there in Canada, but I can tell you don't know the process here in the U.S. The president (any president) can't just "sign a statement and instantly" do anything on the sort of scale you're suggesting.
In fact... I'd sure like to know what your source of information is, that a president can just "sign a statement"?
is a kool-aid-besotted naif with illusions of exceptionalism...
as you seem to be...
it's just to bad The Establishment ultimately controls the economic matrix they are bound to.
Explain the lacking of logic. Suzie's informative posts show that all is not well in this new Kennedyesque Administration, and anyone that actually agrees with her, are called "lacking in logic". Explain. Oh this should be good. Oh wait. Let me get some popcorn and a cold one. I want to read this logic.
And you might as well be blaming Roosevelt for Hoover's horrible presidency. Suzie isn't doing that. YOU are. There's nothing in her post that supports your horribly fallacious argument.
has done a fantastic job of showing alot of the crap that is going on in this administration, that is ignored. She is truly a fantastic addition to this site. I'm just surprised she hasn't been attacked by all the so-called liberals, that despise any realistic reflections of this administration.
You've been scammed. Perhaps you'll realize it by next election. I'll bet anyone, that if this economic mess continues, Obama will be booted. And I'll wait patiently for all those "but he's only been in power X amount of days" people to eat crow.
What Suzie is describing here is the tanking of the US economy, which has been happening for a long time. Or do you just ignore that Suzie includes in the post:
?
[emphasis added]
Canuck you are correct in the sense that Obama will not have all this fixed in his first term but you don't seem to have the brains to figure out that this mess is so deep that it will take more years than the first term to get it ironed out. I realize there will be many liberals here and everywhere who will be frustrated but the reality is that it can't be fixed in a short time. It is too complicated.
But CC wants it all done NOW!
NOW! NOW! NOW!
So we'll just print up an assload of new money, because that will work, right CC? With one wave of the Magic Presidential Pen?
measures of our economy just like unemployment stats. * COUGH * Oh they wouldn't lie to us.
In hedonic adjustments we trust! LMAO!
Yeah, keep believing in the American Dream. When African Americans finally give up on this cad and realize they have been lied to, look out. This guy duped me and I am pissed off. Nothing but a Corporate water boy. Just keep soaking up his bullshit and lies.
than Cheney's hot methane. I was getting really tired of his demonic flatula on the airwaves.
Fortune 500 Co is eliminating their pension, (a company that specializes in managing benefit programs of other companies)...expected savings of 40 million per year. Would place a big bet that this large company is not the only company eliminating their Pension plan. Just think of all the money being directed away from the Wall Street financial pirates and feeder funds...does not look good for the future.
on Wall Street. Never before in history have so many people bet their retirement on the stock market. It was either foolishness or one hell of a sales job to get people to believe they could save for retirement in a mutual fund, IRA, CD etc.
Today money “IS” debt, a Federal Reserve note is an IOU, from 2000 to 2008 America’s biggest export was debt. Today the dollar is Monopoly money. Too bad Keynes failed to realize the importance gold had on our dollar.
Get ready for inflation people, it won't take but a few years. Inflation is nothing more than a stealth tax to rob the people of their wealth even more. Keynesian supporters are in for a rude awakening soon.
an arbitrary meassure of value, that was easily manipulated, and was based around a finite element like gold would have in the economy.
It is time for libertarians to get another record, the whole gold standard one is really worn out and it has been skipping and repiting for the better part of the last half century.
There is nothing more "real" about the arbitrary value imposed on a precious metal, than fiat money. Deal with it. There have been credit crunches on gold-backed systems all the way to the Roman empire.
Sweet mother! You have absolutely no idea, and you just read what Keynes himself said about the debasing of paper currency. There is nothing easier to manipulate than paper. What do you think those derivatives that unraveled on Wall Street were made out of?
Can you explain the difference between price and value? Because value is what is being robbed from you now on paper. Inflation is in the pipe, its only a matter of time for higher prices, that is known as stealth tax, your wealth being robbed from you via monetary policy.
Dollar's purchasing power is annihilated - The Chart the FED doesn't want you to see
http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2009/5...
Sound familiar? Funny how a games rules are essentially the real rules. We are now engaging in exactly what Keynes warned was "no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency".
You think gold is out dated? The banks don't, every central bank counts it in their reserve assets because it is real money. You can't manipulate physical gold, it has globally recognized intrinsic value. It is no ones debt. It can easily can broken down in to equal measurable units of measure and serves as a base store of value. No one is suggesting people start toting gold and silver coins around, they are talking about a foundation of value, all the FED has to do is revalue gold.
Can paper make the same claim? Did you not just observe the failure and manipulation of paper in front of your eyes over the last year? Keynesian economists are in for a brutal lesson over the next few years.
China Says Global Easing Policies Risk Devaluation (Update2)
Global central banks risk inflation, currency devaluation and a 'big consolidation' in bond markets by pumping cash into their economies, the People's Bank of China said in its quarterly monetary policy report.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=appz...
Don't Be Fooled by Inflation
http://europac.net/externalframeset.asp?from=...
Gold rises as ECB rate cut raises inflation worries
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=appzGzSLS6bw
there's NO doubt that china designed their own unFAIR advantage by manipulating
their currency for trade purposes.
Like we sterilized gold in the 20's and 30's to halt the inflationary potentialities. The key difference is China is now sitting on a pile of worthless paper and so they have cut up our credit card.
I'm not sure how many people are aware of that yet, the Austrian camp warned of it, the Keynesian's said China couldn't do it. Oh they did all right, starting last January.
China has 'canceled US credit card'
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/China_has_cancel...
is not manipulation? No currency on earth is tied to gold. Yeah go ahead and pour money into gold as it plunges back to its real value of ~300 an oz. Gold is in a bubble. Just like all the other ASSETS the us public is duped into propping up.
Somebody not too long ago said land never goes down in value....
Just sayin.
Manipulated maybe, it should be at $2500 now. Gold itself doesn't rise or fall in price, currencies rise and fall against it as does silver. If it took 5 ounces of gold to buy a particular class of automobile in 1950 you could today buy that same quality of car with the same amount of gold. That is the difference between price and value.
Gold isn't in a bubble yet, we are on the edge of once in every 200 to 300 year event where a currency fails. It's happened throughout history over 3000 times and here in the US at least twice. First with the Continental and then the Greenback dollar, both paper fiat currencies failed. When the world begins to lose faith in paper currencies, they will move towards assets with intrinsic value as a store of wealth.
The charts don't lie, we are destroying our currency now. Here are the FED's own charts, the US is insolvent, so where did we get all this money?
Currency in Circulation
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/C...
Total Borrowings of Depository Institutions from the Federal Reserve
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/b...
Reserve Bank Credit
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2...soid=1...
print print print
If you are old enough then you will recall when being a millionaire was really something, and then it was a billionaire, soon it will be a trillionaire. Gold's new cheap price will be much higher than it is today, and you will tell your kids I remember when Gold use to cost only $200 and ounce and if I only had bought a little at $900 an ounce. You might have a shot though, it will likely fall to $700 over the next few months. This process will likely take a 3 to 5 years to play out. Given our current course the end result is obvious.
What if you took all the gold in the world and put it in the vaults of all the nations in the world, so that it did nothing but back currency. How would you value that gold then?
Remember money is just an idea, it's not that gold is and end all be all asset. It's the function gold plays in currency, it's called God's money or honest money because it's hard to manipulate.
I don't know what the amount would be, I have heard numbers ranging from $3000 to $10,000 and ounce. What is important is they get a mechanism that will create a baseline backing for our currency and stop this manipulation of paper crap. That is what is hurting us now. Gold does that, if they make it work with chocolate bunnies then by all means use chocolate bunnies.
here is the word for you for the day: speculation.
Gold, because it is a finite commodity, can be far more easily manipulated than fiat. That was the reason why fiat systems were established, there were plenty of economic crisis due to the manipulation of gold prices.
As usual, those who do not know history...
Although I always get a chuckle when you condescendingly told me "I had no idea" and then you proceed to give some links that had nothing to do with your original claim... LOL.
but stealing the money in the funds for other purposes...
They turn it over to a Govt agency which was starved and shrunk under (guess who), but which is still under-funded for the programs it was supposed to back-stop...
and you know Steny Hoyer put SS cuts on the Table again...
He's a Dim, iirc...
He's a flaming asshole! I wish some repuke would take his seat. Same with harry Reid. They are useless corporate whores.
of course there are several reasons for seniors re-entering/staying in the work place from boredom to
rising cost of living.people are living longer and the cost of benefits is NOT keeping pace with funds
available. the pure free market/Darwinian Capitalists love it. i really believe they're developing a class
system. i personally believe we are going to see a lot of changes from what we are use to. actually
some people are pleased with how they perceive of the direction the country is going because it could be/ get worse. i think some of us forget to consider, could things be worse NOT just are they better. i feel people will eventually change their spending habits. lifestyle will NOT return to that of last 8 yrs. for some time if ever.with CHINA less involved in buying our debt and their growing middleclass things are going to change a lot over the next 10 yrs.
not me brudder !done workin for the man, get your sheepskin , spend 80.000 , wind up with a great vocablary, and hope for a job at burgerkings! next stop , outtah here! enjoy the shitslide to the bottom!
BurgerKing isn't hiring Tyree. Or McDonalds. Go figure.
yeah well fugem i got mine , they cant touch me now!and you were absolutly correct concerned ,obama is no liberal!hes right of center and you spell that!repig!
Yep! He's a Clinton republican-lite. And I was no fan of Mr. NAFTA, let Larry Sommers deregulate everything. Glass-Stegal? Who needs it! Phil Gramm says lets get rid of it. Okey dokey.
Nelson, Specter, Reid, Hoyer, Lincoln........I don't know if I am even going to vote anymore.
Like Carlin said; "f**k em,' f**k em' all. They are owned by the corporations, the rich c**k-suckers, and they don't give a f**k about us. Its a big club, and we ain't in it!"
egg zactly, we aint in it, carlin was a smart guy , the voters were the suckers they still believe in politicians !
Did you hear about the older Korean woman who has failed her driving test 800 times? Or the American man who has filled out job applications at 25 Pizza Huts in 20 cities without being hired? Or the British artist who has completed over 5,000 paintings even though no gallery has ever shown his work? Is there is something about you that resembles those persistently frustrated people -- or at least has resembled them up until now?
The most innovative, creative and most effective way to really really boost the economy and spend a lot less than the $2 trillion it looks like we are spending on the present bailout of industries would be to do the following:
Pay off the remaining balance of every single outstanding existing student loan. This would free up billions of dollars that college graduates and students could spend on consumer goods, automobiles, homes, vacations, etc. pumping billions into the economy.
Pay off the remaining outstanding balance of every Americans credit card up to a maximum balance of $50,000 per family. This would also free up hundreds of billions of dollars in money that would be a tremendous boost to the economy enabling Americans to buy homes, cars, consumer goods, etc.
Institute a system of free (or almost free) public college education, pumping hundreds of billions into college education so that students and families could spend that money $30,000 a year in many cases on consumer good, autos, homes, etc.
Institute a system of single payer universal health care which would free up about $1 trillion in savings that Americans could then spend on auto, homes, consumer goods, travel, vacations, restaurants, etc. instead of needing to spend all of their discretionary spending money trying to alleviate their illness, sufferings and staving off the grim reaper.
A freeze on foreclosures of primary residences from mortgages taken out in the last 8 years and on foreclosures due to unemployment.
A system or a National Goal of 0% unemployment whereby jobs are created in place of unemployment benefits as an alternative with massive employment programs within local and State Governments being funded by the Federal Governemnt.
A doubling of the number of doctors and nurses graduating from medical schools.
Tight and constant regulation of the banking industry and the pharmaceutical industry and the oil industry with special emphasis on thwarting wild, risky, non-transparent behavior and false and misleading advertising claims (with prohibition against TV prescription drug ads).
Its pretty sick when we have reached the point where we celebrate that only 540,000 people have been laid off instead of 600,000.
The bailout can't work because it's not bailing out the people. It's bailing out Corporations which consist of shareholders, owners, CEO's, Executive Staffs and the workers remaining after massive layoffs have already taken place.
8000 home foreclosures a day. 10,000 a day losing health insurance.
I dont see anyone building windmills yet. As a matter of fact I read the Chinese are already ramping up production of Chinese windmills.
Oh well, I'm not President, so I cant do anything.
Almost forgot--------end the War in Iraq and Afghanistan leaving only a small expeditionary force of Marines for emergencies, saving about $200 billion a year at least.
Obama can't do any of that Evet, cuz he's only been Prez for 100 days or so, and every one of those ideas would take decades to implement! Snark.
all those programmes the previous poster would cost significantly more than $2 trillion. And... And.. And.. the US is actually the largest produced of wind-generated electricity:
http://www.atfindia.org/content/us-became-wor...
But by all means, do not let silly things like facts and real figures get in the way of your awesome "armchair" presidentin'. I am not saying Evet's idea do not have merit, they do. But let's be serious with the reality of things, OK? Alas, if I understand it correctly that sort of would get in the way of you perma-contrarian bullshit stream CC. It is not like you guys don't have your very own set of problems up in Canada, eh?
and if you don't understand it, please get an adult to read it for you. Almost everything Evet has in his post, could realistically be done by Obama if he were even remotely liberal or progressive INSTEAD of bailing out banks and corporate CEOs. But why let truth and reality interrupt your daily Dem Party talking points, ok Tyler? It's not like you guys don't export your problems to other countries, eh?
Oh and be sure to thank Rush Limpballs and Karl Rove for the new improved faux liberal's attitudes of posters on the internet. Meet the new Democratic Party faithful.....Republicans in Blue!
There you go again Brownie.
...to other countries, eh?"
Yeah, and you know what the ironic thing about that is? I've never read anything by you that's critical of Canadian politicians who do little to nothing to change that situation. Don't Canadians have the balls to get rid of those sycophantic Republicans in tuques?
Just wants to blame the U.S. for the world's problems, regardless of who's in office. Mayor Gavin-fucking-Newsom could be president and we'd still be reading his same exact you're-doing-it-wrong posts.
Canuck, do you know what would happen if another big bank went under? Just curious.
I believe he is an unemployed getting his nice unemployment checks. And by the volume of posts it doesn't look like he is trying real hard to get an actual job.
So as far as he is concerned, money must grow on trees or something...
way back at the beginning of this crash (in Sep/Oct when they were talking about authorizing billions upon billions to bailout the banks, AIG, etc.) I made the suggestion that the money should be given instead to the citizens of the US. Large amounts of money $500k or more to adult citizens - (the particulars to be worked out).
If they had give us large sums of money - we would have spent it - immediately, buying houses or vehicles, investing in new technologies, whatever.....the economy here and in other countries would've had a huge boost.
The fact that this was not considered seriously certainly adds evidence that the whole economic mess was engineered to transfer as much wealth as possible - while DICK and Dubya are still alive to spend it.
You're talking sense. Stop that right now!
That mean that people would think they don't have to be responsible for their own finances, just like the banks. You are pushing zero accountability? Really stupid.
I was laid off in March with a wife that stays home and kid. We have no debt except our mortgage. We have enough savings to last a year with unemployment coming in. I took responsibility for my finances. I cannot have empathy for folks that run up huge credit card debt and student loans, or take idiot mortgages. The people that do that are either financially ignorant or don't care. Either way, each individual must work their way out of the mess they made. This country is full of pathetic whiners that cry when they can't have something right this second.
As for the banks, I don't agree with the bailouts, but I guarantee you the situation would be so much worse now had it not been gov't intervention. I think the banks are run by scum, BTW, so don't believe that I support those criminals.
Things have been changing since the 80s. Every employer wants to cut the cost of "the high cost of labour." That's not going to change, it's going to continue to get worse. Capitalism.
Disaster capitalism? Economic collapse, start reneging on pensions, health care, and any other "unnecessary benefits" for workers. Just watch. Not new. Been going on for some time.
your correct they HATE labor cost always have and always will. that of course is a big part of the motivation to allow undocumented workers in, who i feel have undercut organized labor. i find it
somewhat humorous listening to pro-wallStreet talking heads blame the automaker crisis on unions.
unions came to the table and bargained and management agreed. management/shareholders did
or have NOT had any vision beyond their own noses. if these people who have worked in the auto industry weren't able to bargain/organize they would have be half as much as they did...now with concessions. in the earlier years for these line workers their bodies were abused a lot of repetitive
damage. they knew that was a consequence so they bargained wages to compensate. the elites don't care.
they will move to "cheap labor" areas of the world and keeping moving that's the strategy. there's NO
loyality. some people in other parts of the world are envious and hungry. wallStreet has known this for yrs. it's all about profit margin/power at any cost.
And now that they no longer have any employees, they are going out of business. Those 1.2 million former workers they use to have, bought a new car every year or two. So did people in their families. Henry Ford understood that 100 years ago. Pay people a decent wage, and they will buy the products they make.
But these stupid f**king Wall Street parasites can't understand that.
Lets offshore the jobs of everybody who makes a decent middle class living. Of course, in a few years nobody will be able to buy our shit anymore, but for a couple of years we'll show huge profits and we can pay ourselves a gagillion dollars in bonuses.
Gee, who could have seen that comming? Stupid f**ks!
... The Wall Street types, the banksters, the CEO's of the large corporations no longer recognize nationhood. They believe that there are no nations, only businesses. And they view themselves as sovereign entities deserving of all the sovereign rights that have heretofore been reserved soley for nations. More, they believe their sovereign rights trump the sovereign rights of nations themselves. It means nothing whatsoever to them if workers in a nation that they are ostensibly headquatered live or die, just so long as they can maximize their profit and hide it within the international banking infrastructure. They view themselves as the aristocratic houses of the neofuedal global economic system that they are working to evolve: The Duchey of GE, the Barony of Haliburton, the Principality of Goldman Sachs. Everybody who is not at the very top of these corporations will be vassels and serfs. That's part of what the fractional reserve central banking monetary system was specifically designed to create, both on national level(the FED) and on the global scene (World Bank).
They do not believe that they can be stopped. This is going to continue without abatement, because they are incapable of placing any kinds of self-restraints upon expressions of their greed, and because they have no conscience. they exist as purely predatory entities. this process will continue, until they have made the lives of the mass billions of their victims so miserable that a global storming of their castles with pitchfork and torches finally takes place. We probably won't reach that point for another 75 years or so, which is why they are doing everything they can in the meantime to consolidate and entrench police states in nations that still believe themselves to be free.
Come see our capitalist paradise! ...where elder care is prohibitively expensiv, ...where retirees need to keep working (for their whole life) ...where out healthcare is failing and bankrupting everyone. ...where record numbers of people are becoming homeless, etc.
Ah capitalism, your bounty is stunning.
You've led us such amazing places.
In terms of economy has become the capitalist counter part to the Soviet Union. Just as extreme, only at the opposite pole. They had Stalinism we here have, what? Reaganism?
As the unnions disappeared, so did fair workplaces.
Since Reagan the public has been sold on the idea unions are bad: they drive costs up, they are unfair (to capitalism and non-unionized workers), they are for lazy people. Imagine, in return for a lifetime of service, they used to actually barter for a lifelong living wage. Yet there will still plenty of Fortune 500 companies around.
Unions: How ghastly!!
At least Socialists and Communists have a place to live.
While the talking heads on TV, all part of the top 2% of wage earners, rage against a 3% tax hike, thousands of fellow Americans go homeless. Beautiful system, if you're one of the lucky few.
The Banksters are lucky to have Obama's popularity to cover for them, while getting a bailout for an economic mess the banksters themselves have caused.
And double lucky for the Banks that Bush's Social Security privatization scheme didn't get through Congress. Couple Social Security privatization with the inherent riskiness of 401(k)'s and the number of pitchforks would have been overwhelming.
The system is rotten, rotten, rotten. The American population doesn't fully understand the details, but they sense that they are being taking to the cleaners. The free-market capital-only corporate-only racket that has been forced-feed to Americans is a stupid ideology that needs to be demised. We are living in an American version of the Shock Doctrine.
My fear is that Obama's compromises to the banks will dog his presidency. It will at least give the demagogues at FOX fuel to fan misinformation and distrust.
We're going to be a third world country soon , we've been sold out by the F'n politicians on both sides of the isle , the politicians get their pockets and campaign chests filled by the corporations and the wealthy and the corporations and the wealthy get even more of the pie , we the people crawl at their feet for the crumbs and left overs and get pissed on in the process, the trickle down affect . Remember Ross Perrot and "the giant sucking sound" ? Was common sense , you think Clinton didn't know what he was doing and what would happen with NAFTA ? Yeah right . Both sides have screwed us , it's been and it is a group effort .
Considering the availability of guns in this country...
Would make a for some very interesting turns of events.
and the people who vote for 'f'n politicians' are getting exactly what they deserve.
Everything that the people on this thread are bitching about could not have taken place without a voter sanctioned corrupt government being in place.
People need to stop relying on the crumbs that their master/government may or may not throw their way and make their own life. The only human that you can truly rely on is YOU.
What is the solution? Revolt?
stop voting and have the courage to tell people that you won't vote for the murderers. Once it becomes common knowledge that "governments" are immoral they will shrivel and die due to lack of support.
Lose the acquisition impulse, and you will be amazed at how little money you really need to retire. It is a peculiar human trait among Westerners to amass vast amounts of "stuff" to impress their friends and neighbors. Many people don't care about what you have, and some even believe you're crazy.
Friends and neighbors might think you are crazy, but they will be the ones begging you for a place to sleep once they lose everything.
You know, I've spent a little time in Scottsdale, and that place stinks of money like nowhere I have ever been. It's where one of the Mayo Clinics (catering heavily to old people) is. I saw a Bentley in the parking lot of Safeway. Seriously, that car cost more than my parents' house and my entire net worth combined. Not to mention Ferraris, stretch Hummers, and countless Lexuses, Lincolns, BMWs, etc--<$40K cars were the rarity. World's tallest fountain in the middle of a hellblasted desert.
Not to say that there are no "normal folk" there, but frankly I'm not shedding too many tears for someone older and having trouble there, since in all likelihood they vigorously supported the money-first politics of the past couple of decades that got us here. And they almost certainly had money out the wazoo until the stock market tanked last year.
Now, I figure if they're holding up retirees in Scottsdale as examples of old folks having trouble, the rest of the country has got to be in SERIOUS trouble.
Then again, my professionally-skilled father retired from his post-retirement low-wage career at the youthful age of 83, and that was only because he had a stroke. So he wasn't exactly enjoying the cushy life even before things went halfway to hell economically.
Should check out McDonalds. I swear there cannot be that many H1 visa's for fast food.
I do not think there is a legal individuals who is working @ McDonals in Northern Virginia. Maybe our kids could get jobs againg - where they started, working @ fast foods, learning business!
...how many of those who are in this boat were, or still are, staunch GOP voters. I've a family member in this exact same boat, and cannot now get by without support from the rest of us, but who is still adamant that Bush was the best president ever. Life ruined, but still faithful to the scumbag who ruined it. Add to that medical problems and no access to healthcare, but absolutely opposed to any form of public healthcare, be it the insurance scam that they are currently trying to cram down our throats or single-payer. This family member could also easily qualify for social security disability and likely qualify for Medicaid, but won't even consider it, because only "low-lifes" go for that kind of welfare. (if you knew this person, you'd know that sentiment was racist at it's core). Drank so much koolaide that is oozing from the pores.
this is how the power elites have been planning it for some time. with old people back working this will flood the labor market in a downturn that already has a surplus of workers. and with grandma and grandpa back working, they can accept lower pay and no benefits which will depress wages that much more for us trying to survive. And since we don't have unions and pensions, everybody is an at-will employee and can be terminated at any given time for no reason. then they can hire someone to do the job at half the pay just because people need jobs. So basically our whole workforce is running scared. No one will ask for pay raises; No one will stand up to the boss and say how they want a safe working environment.
I was thinking the other day that when people have a pension and secure job, they are more apt to spend money. But now, with everyone on their own, and the fear that you won't have enuf money for retirement, people won't be spending that extra; they will be hoarding it and saving it and that will only drive the economy farther down the toilet.
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