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Post by Big on Mar 25, 2007 17:37:38 GMT -5
So, there are certain candidates that we already know are most likely to win. So do major corporations and businesses. While we listen to who will support or restrict abortions and gay marriages and will bring or not bring troops home, those corporations and businesses begin to pour money into Candidates. Candidates need that money to run their campaignes and get more access to voters and what not.
However, with this money comes responsibility to give back to those donors in terms of legislature and laws.
So, isn't true that any President today will owe first to donors rather than to American people once in office?
Most voters will not even know about this since many issues donors are concerned about will not be discussed openly.
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Post by goferphan on Mar 25, 2007 19:46:20 GMT -5
thank god for congress and the house of representatives...its called checks and balances...
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Post by satiev1 on Mar 25, 2007 20:41:55 GMT -5
The labor force in this country are treated like crap. After all, it's the labor that makes the coroporations and the wealth in this country. I think they deserve higher wages for their benefit.
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Post by Flop the Nuts on Mar 26, 2007 10:49:02 GMT -5
The labor force in this country are treated like crap. After all, it's the labor that makes the coroporations and the wealth in this country. I think they deserve higher wages for their benefit. What do you propose? A 10% raise for everyone across the board? How would the evil corporations recover the additional cost? Raise the price of whatever good they are selling? How do you know that everyone is not making exactly what they should be making?
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Post by Big on Mar 26, 2007 10:52:59 GMT -5
How do you know that everyone is not making exactly what they should be making?
Because Karl Marx said so.
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Post by matclone on Mar 26, 2007 10:55:06 GMT -5
Do you agree or disagree that labor is treated like crap?
Increased wages do not directly corrolate with the price of goods and services (unless you're a lassez-faire ideologue).
If you've ever worked in your life, and struggled to get by in spite of hard work, that's a sign that people may not be getting paid exactly what they should.
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Post by matclone on Mar 26, 2007 11:01:45 GMT -5
So, isn't true that any President today will owe first to donors rather than to American people once in office?
That's often how it works, but there's no hard, fast rule.
Most voters will not even know about this since many issues donors are concerned about will not be discussed openly.
It's not like it's a secret, but mainstream media don't, and are unlikely to, put this issue on the front burner. Their bread is buttered too. For example, in the recent effort by Merck to buy legislation to mandate their cervical vaccine, the connection between their lobbying and the urgency to mandate this new vaccine was often obscured in the press. [/quote]
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Post by Flop the Nuts on Mar 26, 2007 14:34:31 GMT -5
Do you agree or disagree that labor is treated like crap?
Disagree, completely.
Increased wages do not directly corrolate with the price of goods and services (unless you're a lassez-faire ideologue).
What school of economics do you get this from? You are technically correct that a 10% increase in labor may not result in a 10% increase in the cost of good sold, because there are many other production factors than labor. Do you expect companies to just eat the cost, and raise their prices? Remind me not to invest in those types of companies.
If you've ever worked in your life, and struggled to get by in spite of hard work, that's a sign that people may not be getting paid exactly what they should.
Whether they are struggling to get by is irrelevant. If you have very little to offer a company in terms of expertise or capability, you will be paid as such, regardless of what you think you are worth. If you are overqualified for your job, yet you continue to be paid wages below what you believe you are worth, you are free to search out other opportunities. The unemployement rate is 4.5%.
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Post by Big on Mar 26, 2007 14:40:33 GMT -5
If you have very little to offer a company in terms of expertise or capability, you will be paid as such, regardless of what you think you are worth.
So, Flop, are you saying teachers in high schools are worth only what they get paid even though they are the warriors that educate future generations?
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Post by Flop the Nuts on Mar 26, 2007 14:42:08 GMT -5
Do you believe that teachers are underpaid? I don't.
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Post by Big on Mar 26, 2007 14:43:12 GMT -5
Most teachers in NYC basically live in poverty while some parents of their students make millions by trading with China.
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Post by Big on Mar 26, 2007 14:47:20 GMT -5
How far do you think $35K per year will take you when your rent alone is 15K per year? 35K after taxes is probably $25K. Then, you have electric and heating bills on top of that.
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Post by Flop the Nuts on Mar 26, 2007 14:50:25 GMT -5
I still don't understand why people choose to live in a place where they can't afford to live. Those teachers must not understand economics. If so, maybe they are being paid exactly what they are worth.
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Post by matclone on Mar 26, 2007 15:00:33 GMT -5
I still don't understand why people choose to live in a place where they can't afford to live.
Maybe their lives are more complex than dollars and cents equations. For example, maybe that's where they were born, or where their family lives.
I see by your comments you are from the lassez-faire school, Flop--with this notion that we're all free agents with equal bargaining power. It's a nice theory but it's not reality for most people. With respect to labor, if my boss demanded that I work 100 hours per week "or else", you would say I have a choice to leave that job. But the choice may not be meaningful, for example, if I'm living from pay check to pay check with a family to feed, or a child that needs medical care, or my body breaks down after only 80 hours of work.
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Post by Big on Mar 26, 2007 15:08:57 GMT -5
Flop,
The truth is companies often do not pay their workers what they are worth. As an example, engineers in China or India might get paid 1/10 of what their counterparts get paid in USA while all of them working for the same American company.
Why are they only worth 1/10 in China if they do the same work?
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