Walgrinch

[Tunnelcat]

This is apparently the state of affairs if you're an "associate" employed by Walmart.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exch ... 02622.html

Probably why Walmart is starting to loose it's appeal with the American shopper. Companies can bleed their employees only so far before those employees can no longer be actual consumers themselves. Can things get so cheap that it just can't be sustained? Wages so low that there are no longer any consumers to buy those cheap products? What to do...............

We got a new Walmart here in Corvallis that opened up in the summer. I driven by the place many times during different times of the day and the parking lot is usually almost empty. Inside, the stocking is bad and many times products are out of date or broken. I've never purchased anything there. WinCo, up the street, they're packed most of the time and they usually get my business because they have the shelves stocked and it's not out of date. I also shop Fred Meyer, who pays union wages and benefits and has slightly higher prices. Not a big deal. Has the Walmart dominance begun to fade?

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... rticles%29

[Spidey]

As it should be in a free market.

It is about time the consumer learned the consequences of their buying decisions.

I wouldn’t shop at Walcrap, if they were the last place on earth…but I still have to support their right to choose a lousy business model…if they are dumb enough to believe it will work.

Ohh….and I wouldn’t work at one either.

[callmeslick]

amen, to spidey!!

[Tunnelcat]

Ohh….and I wouldn’t work at one either.

But what if you HAD to work there, or starve? Isn't that what Republicans think is the way that all Americans should live? Work for whatever wages you can find and it's tough luck if it can't support your family on it?

[Spidey]

I can’t speak for Republicans anymore.

But the idea of “having” to work there is silly at best.

[Tunnelcat]

OK, if you don't work and have no money, how would you survive? Hunt for your food and rough it for shelter? How about if you get really sick? Lay down and die?

[Spidey]

First of all I have marketable skills…plenty of them…and anyone who starts a family before they have enough marketable skills to get above minimum wage is a fool. Hell my future father in law (at the time) made me prove I was upwardly mobile before he let me marry his daughter.

And I am already sick, and yes I plan to just die.

We come from different planets, that’s the only explanation.

[Tunnelcat]

First of all I have marketable skills…plenty of them…and anyone who starts a family before they have enough marketable skills to get above minimum wage is a fool. Hell my future father in law (at the time) made me prove I was upwardly mobile before he let me marry his daughter.

And I am already sick, and yes I plan to just die.

We come from different planets, that’s the only explanation.

But isn't that the problem in our present economy? Even people with marketable skills and college degrees are getting stuck in low paying service jobs. People that formerly had good high paying jobs and were raising a family before they lost that good job to some cheaply paid shlep overseas?

[Spidey]

Actually too many people DON’T have a range of marketable skills, an awful lot of the middle class was made of people who only had limited skills and the ability to do manual labor.

Most people with a range of skills, and the ability to adapt, usually have no problem returning to the work force. There is also a trend of older people becoming self employed.

But of course I have to agree with you to an extent, but we have the argument about who is at fault for the loss of those middle class jobs before…so there is no further point.

[Tunnelcat]

And I have to agree with you that formerly good paying middle class jobs were mostly manufacturing jobs, which are now pretty much gone. But a college degree doesn't even guarantee a good paying job right now. It does however, guarantee a person will now have massive debt to pay off ON TOP of not being able to get a good paying job to repay that debt.

[Spidey]

And unfortunately is also debatable if those college grads are actually getting marketable skills, if they were…wouldn’t they be getting hired?

[callmeslick]

And unfortunately is also debatable if those college grads are actually getting marketable skills, if they were…wouldn’t they be getting hired?

actually, a REAL college education merely provides some specialized expertise, and ought to concentrate on teaching one to think critically, do research and express oneself intelligently. While all of these are marketable skills, one still needs to get the foot in the door into one's chosen field of work. And, while current conditions make this a challenge, especially for some majors, the overall picture is FAR, FAR better than for those without the degree. It has been shown that a college degree is worth over $750,000 in the course of a normal career span in terms of increased pay.

[Spidey]

Hummm, I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “real” college, it was always my understand that college was where you went to get specific skill sets…perhaps a university was more what you are referring to.

[callmeslick]

Hummm, I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “real” college, it was always my understand that college was where you went to get specific skill sets…perhaps a university was more what you are referring to.

There is something called a University Education to which I was referring. Generally, a University is made up of various 'Colleges' within it(College of Arts, College of Physical Sciences, etc). Some institutions are called Colleges which offer bachelors degrees, Universities, by definition, also have to have Master's and PhD programs. Still, a classical University education teaches one how to think more than become a specialist. My B.S. in Biochemistry exposed me to 6 or 7 specialized classes in Biochemistry, but the other 27 courses were all over the map, from Arts to other Sciences.

[Grendel]

Wow, from the 1st link in the OP -- http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/15/news/ec ... index.html

[CobGobbler]

Well ★■◆●, why don't they just go get that CEO job and make the big bucks, right Spidey? I mean, it's that easy and all. Hell, they should all be able to take time away from their second jobs (you know the one they need to keep their kids from starving) and go back to school. Of course they have the money for that as well! ★■◆●, they can barely afford to do anything but of course they have expendable income to spend two years in a trade school.

What makes me laugh is that Walmart had a profit last year of 13-15 billion. Billion. Workers are asking for two bucks an hour more. Not a million dollars each. Two bucks an hour. Hilarious part about is that the 100 million deferred compensation package for the CEO isn't outrageous...but the people asking for a livable, non-starving, non-subsidy wage are leeches. The ones working 90 hour work weeks just to put food on their table. Those are the demons right Spidey??

[Tunnelcat]

Wow, from the 1st link in the OP -- http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/15/news/ec ... index.html

Yep. And look what the House Republicans passed recently. Do they even want poor people voting for them next time? I'm guessing not.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/co ... mp-program

Even Ashton Kutcher has waded in to the fight via twitter.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exch ... 43025.html