WTF?

Suppose that a car manufacturer were so wasteful and outrageous in their handling of money that they had to have a taxpayer bailout.

Suppose that public transportation deteriorated to the point where it cost more to support it than it could possibly take in.

Suppose that people had to have private transportation or else walk.

Suppose that despite popular demand that the car manufactuer scrapped popular electric cars in favor of building GAS HOG SUV's that don't know lyrics and so they were called "HUMMERS".

Suppose that the only thing held to be moral was profit regardless of how it was made.

Now suppose that big business in America is not as corrupt as hell.

I had a query on what I meant by the post.

My point is that we do have a lot of control over life. Not total, but a lot. We do not have to buy an SUV. We do not have to shop at the much reviled biggest retailer. We do not have to contract with the cheapest general contractor who to build our homes. We do not have to replace a furnace with the cheapest guy.

We do have choices.

We also have a mouth. It is perfectly possible when shopping for something to ask what they pay their help. I accidentally stumbled across that point during shopping for a furnace.

Personally, I think I will ask it more in the future. I think it would be good for this country if a lot of people opened their mouth and asked what the help is paid. Make it a point that people have to answer to.

When you take a job you know what the employer is going to pay. You have the option of accepting the job or looking for something that pays better. When I was in management I would hire people who knew the pay scale and they accepted the job. In weeks they were complaining about the wage. Well look for something better. If an employer is not paying what competitors are paying they will have trouble finding workers. They will increase what they pay to attract qualified employees. I guess what I am saying is I do not worry about what employees are being paid since they are free to look for other opportunities.

Your point is fair enough. It is never a cut and dried proposition.

There are very well run and very professional companies out there. But I have two comments.

1) I can pretty much guess what an employee of a big retailer is being paid. You are right on that. There is not much you can do about that. People pretty much know what the job is and what it pays when they apply. Your post made me think about what I was really trying to say. I have worked around home stuff (construction and improvements) and resources in my life. Within those you will find a lot of schlock outfits. An awful lot. The schlocks are nothing like what you described. But you will also find guys that try to run a good business and pay their folks reasonably. As simply part of shopping for what you want, ask a bit about what they pay and how they treat their people.

2) When you live in a smallish town, the opportunities are much more limited. If you want to live there, you have to hunt within the opportunities available. Within that world, there are good guys and there are bad guys.

Again, I plan to ask a bit about that in the future. It helps separate the good guys who are good employers from schlock.

I am not saying it is the only question to ask when looking for goods or services, but I think it is a reasonable question to ask. I am willing to pay a bit more to deal with good people.

WTF?

A-1 (imported) wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2010 11:04 pm Suppose that a car manufacturer were so wasteful and outrageous in their handling of money that they had to have a taxpayer bailout.

Suppose that public transportation deteriorated to the point where it cost more to support it than it could possibly take in.

Suppose that people had to have private transportation or else walk.

Suppose that despite popular demand that the car manufactuer scrapped popular electric cars in favor of building GAS HOG SUV's that don't know lyrics and so they were called "HUMMERS".

Suppose that the only thing held to be moral was profit regardless of how it was made.

Now suppose that big business in America is not as corrupt as hell.

See other thread,

How Ironic.

River

Mac (imported) wrote: Sat Jan 23, 2010 12:09 pm Big companies have been a big influence in making this country great. Big government has had just the opposit effect.

Really? show your work

FDR had a bad effect on the making this country? how so please show your work.

Ike and the highway system in this country, bad, how so?

Kennedy and the space program, bad? come now.

LBJ, grew the economy and gave us civil rights, its back to that freedom of speech thing you talked about, BAD?

Come now, look at all the money Berny Madeoff made in his bid to be the richest person in the world.

How about the banking system that was saved because they were to big to fail now handing out billions in bonuses.

How about Enron?

Show your work,

River

Really? show your work

RiverI already acknowledged that some big government is good.

Arab Nights,

Yes, how and where you spend your bucks is a more effective way to vote than ticking boxes at election time.

We are not helpless be careful who you give your money too.

For this reason I tend to give to individuals rather then organisations.

The Haiti disaster would be an exception.