On 4/19/12 4:56 PM, JustWait wrote:
On 4/19/2012 4:32 PM, X ` Man wrote:
On 4/19/12 4:23 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:50:37 -0400, X ` Man
wrote:

Can we infer that you'd prefer an economy of unionized, make work,
government employees who make a living by taxing each other? Without
free enterprise you'd have no incentive for innovation or efficiency.
The former Soviet Union found that out the hard way.


No, Wayne, you cannot infer that, and I'm not advocating Sov-style
communism. I am in favor of steps that help rebuild the middle class in
this country, though. I see no point in a country that exists only to
enrich the rich.

====

When you talk about rebuilding the middle class, are you really
refering to the unionized working class? Frankly I'd like to think
that the days of $80/hour unskilled assembly line workers are over.



I am referring to the jobs that provide goodm family supporting wages to
working Americans, with either company or government paid health care,
retirement, vacation and similar benefits, because the concept of
buying those benefits on your own with today's wages and livings costs
is pretty much shot. In fact, in today's greed-driven,
corporate-dominated America, those sorts of jobs are pretty much shot.
And without those jobs, there really is no point to this country, is
there? A country that benefits only the rich isn't a country worth
having.

You really have it in for working class Americans, don't you, Wayne?

No, he has it in for folks who never went to school, never got a skill,
making the same money as a trained and schooled engineer...


Obviously, neither you nor Wayne have spent much time in manufacturing
plants where "products" are turned out. Yes, there are some really
low-skilled jobs, but most of the workers on the assembly line or in
factories have a lot more in the way of factory/assembly/manufacturing
skills than either you or Wayne.

Unlike either of you, I worked in manufacturing and assembly factories.
These were jobs I held during summer breaks while I was a college
student. I worked as a truck loader for Shick Razor and also drove a
forklift, was trained and worked as a welder at a boiler factory, and
worked loading trucks at a brewery. At the razor factory, there were
many very highly skilled workers running all sorts of machines. They
were paid a lot more than us warehouse grunts, but I was glad for the
work. Same at the boiler factory...my job mostly had to do with cleaning
out boilers returned to the factory for refurbishing, and there were
welders there far more skilled than I was, and they were paid more.

But even the lowest of workers who work hard in a factory are entitled
to earn a decent living wage and have benefits sufficient for decent life.

Wayne would deny them that so he can live a bit higher off the hog on
his dividends.