Impossible Choices - Page 2

In .y experience in the states working for mega-rich people who employed me illegally to train their horses the illegal "problem" was allowed, encouraged and in fact demanded by US citizens with money as a source of cheap labour to exploit. The working class US lost out badly to it.

Not just in the horse industry but the people rich enough to own those horses had their main revenue streams built on illegal cheap labour.

 

I really enjoyed learning the culture, food... of those people. Everyone I met were hard working, strongly family oriented, honest, safe god fearing people.

This was in the 80's.

It isn't just mega-rich people. You would be surprised at the number of middle class people who have no problem with working "under the table" themselves, for any employer who thinks they can save themselves a few bucks by not paying income taxes. Do you think every waiter or waitress is claiming all their tips, honestly? Of course they probably aren't socking anything away for their old age either, and never bother to think about how their SS accounts remain bleak.

Some folks even think they are doing the illegals a favor. I have a British expat neighbor who twice a year, seeks a certain group of Ecuadorians who only ask to be picked up, returned, fed lunch and paid a set fee for their labor, usually some kind of yard clean up. I have issues with my own husband who thinks it is a fine idea, and calls me stupid for contracting the legitimate business who has on his payroll, similar ethnicities and work ethics. I pay more, but I don't have to provide them lunch. They are happy sitting in the shade under a tree, eating from their tupperware, and I have had to almost force them the use of my folding chairs for comfort at times. My only other requirement is that they like dogs, and know I do not replace lost, stolen or chewed up iPhones.

You just can't say it is only rich people, abusing the system. The problem is there are too many people of all walks who have no problem abusing the system, just because they think they can get away with it. People who value integrity, as a personal matter, will self regulate. Others think you are just being a fool with your money.

Why did you accept such a situation yourself? Because you liked the idea of more cash in your pocket and none in the government till. It goes both ways. Until one gets caught. Then, people start with the crocodile tears!

There are still, some old timers who are rich people with integrity, that reward their employees properly with benefits, and other incentives and profit sharing. Not as many in the past, but the ones that do, know what loyalty is, and give it proper value. The newer work force more often than not these days, seems to not understand that and will jump jobs, chasing the next higher start up paycheck, stiffing their training cost onto their former employer.

Opportunists are everywhere.

Did not mean to imply ONLY rich people do it. My point was the working class got denied employment cos the rich would prefer to give the work to people with no rights or bargaining power ie easy to exploit.

Why did I do it, I never had any fees or charged people for my labour. In fact I only went to meet my heroes and hope they would let me hang around and work for free. I had skills they did not have cos I was used to working thoroughbreds and English saddles.

I got poached and all money was gifts, garbage bags full of money, I left lying around and didn't care who took it. In fact many people took money they needed and later replaced it, sometimes not, I didn't care. I just filled my pockets to buy shit for that day.

The real problem is the type of job available to the working class, the high skilled jobs that don't require a college degree, have been disappearing overseas. Computers and cheap labor elsewhere have helped make the economic divide grow to the disparity we see today. They have been replaced by a service economy that really doesn't merit a $21.00 / hr pay scale that would make living in my area affordable. It really can't sustain itself.

My first job at a fast food joint, and I will date myself here... I was paid $2.21 per hour. I remember getting a raise of $.07 and actually felt proud! LOL One time our assistant manager was so drunk, or high, or we didn't know what, but he never showed one Saturday morning, and we just went about and ran the biz. Dumb teenagers! Well, we treated ourselves to a hamburger that day, lol! And he did get fired in the end. LOL Any way, cashiers back then actually had to know how to make change, and now, people are screaming that they should be paid a minimum of $15/hr. for being able to forget to put french fries in the bag.

LOL @ you being Santa Claus!!

So will trump put a wall around India, China, Vietnam....to stop outsourcing. I doubt it, the probs are complex. Simple solutions being offered by trump are going to solve them?

I think he would have to change the focus to being a little bit selfish, for ourselves. USA needs to stop thinking short term advantage and instead think the long term gain. Something China is expert at for centuries and centuries. The whole concept of time needs to be rethought.

We already have too much stuff. Our bellies are more than full. We need to think about the future, not the now. So, the wall is metaphorical, not brick and mortar. One has to start the thinking somewhere. He does make leaps of thought an easy thing to do.

Leaps of thought tend to crash and burn on the jagged rocks of how.

Without them, though, there is never a chance to find the one that works!

That is what keeps our optimism alive, our USA trait, our very own tradition!

I'm just waiting until Trump proposes a wall across the USA - Canada border, so all that good BC Bud will not get across, lol.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/federal-judge-to-decide-if-medical-marijuana-patients-can-grow-their-own/article28865796/

He probably doesn't even realize that Canada is USA's biggest trading partner.

I fixed it Beetree.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-freedom-of-press_us_56d0a760e4b0bf0dab320222