My bunk, I will be in

OlafTheBent: My bunk, I will be in

lol... wrong thread

Well, in that case, I'm doing my part to help the economy...

OlafTheBent: OlafTheBent: My bunk, I will be in

lol... wrong thread

Well, since the headline DOES mention stimulus...

SurfaceTension: Well, since the headline DOES mention stimulus...

... and "package"

/In the clear

FTFA: The higher output came as companies continued to lay off workers. That meant employers produced more with fewer workers.

That's because the remaining employed people are scares shiatless they'll lose their job if they don't ask "How high?" when told to jump.

Mark my words. Give it another 10-20 years, and you'll see a return to 12-hour work days 6 days a week, debtor prisons, no overtime for extra hours worked...we'll be returning to the 1800s (and earlier), quality-of-life wise.

It's gonna happen.

xanadian: FTFA: The higher output came as companies continued to lay off workers. That meant employers produced more with fewer workers.

That's because the remaining employed people are scares shiatless they'll lose their job if they don't ask "How high?" when told to jump.

Mark my words. Give it another 10-20 years, and you'll see a return to 12-hour work days 6 days a week, debtor prisons, no overtime for extra hours worked...we'll be returning to the 1800s (and earlier), quality-of-life wise.

It's gonna happen.


Yep.

You can already see it. For the middleman and low wage workers in a company their pay is being cut, their benefits are being reduced, and any perks to the job are being trimmed to the bone.

All the while upper management salaries and bonus's are being increased by several factors each time.

All of this is being justified in the name of Capitalism and greed with the theory that is what is good for the stockholder, is good for the country.


What's that old quote "Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible."

That's what our country was built on. Not this stumped up investor's only club that it's turning into.

Can I volunteer to sit on unemployment for 2 years? (in case it's been missed -- the bill to extend unemployment 20 weeks passed this week.) This isn't a criticism of the unlucky folks out of work. This is a criticism of the system that is paying and continually renewing benefits, producing what you'd expect ... a nigh-permanent underclass of folks that are getting by doing nothing while most of the rest of us get by and have to go to work all week (and has been pointed out already, we're picking up the slack for the missing workers).

But I thought increases in productivity always brought increases in the standard of living? That's what my economics professor harped on repeatedly.

GoodyearPimp: Can I volunteer to sit on unemployment for 2 years? (in case it's been missed -- the bill to extend unemployment 20 weeks passed this week.) This isn't a criticism of the unlucky folks out of work. This is a criticism of the system that is paying and continually renewing benefits, producing what you'd expect ... a nigh-permanent underclass of folks that are getting by doing nothing while most of the rest of us get by and have to go to work all week (and has been pointed out already, we're picking up the slack for the missing workers).

Oh, I see. The company that's not hiring people isn't because it's cheaper to just have you work harder instead of hiring someone else to pay, it's because those people are getting unemployment.
I learn something new every day.

"Do more with less"

/or find a new job
//Chinese overtime

Bunnyhat: All of this is being justified in the name of Capitalism and greed with the theory that is what is good for the stockholder, is good for the country.

Only because kids were taught that the word capitalism makes it good and word socialism makes it bad. Never mind what is going on is government approved corporatism which is a hybrid of the two. It would be reversed if the opposite had been taught, and the same sort of crooks would be ripping the public off and consolidating wealth and power.

Whatever the form of government or economic system the clever and strong eventually rise to the top and they stay there only until the great masses finally have enough and dispose them.

I really am disturbed by where we're going as well. I'm on the verge of just moving to Costa Rica to become a farmer and opt out of this system.

Tomorrow will be 7 weeks without a pay check (I've been given about $300 randomally as a thanks for waiting to get paid.) My hours have gone from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm 5 days a week to 9:00 am till often 10:00 pm on weekdays and 10:00 am to 6:00 pm on weekends. I have had 3 days off in the last 7 weeks. Only ones getting paid are the temporary contractors.

I'm glad I at least still have something to stay focused on but I'm beggining to think if it's going to go under anyway, and I'm not going to get paid anyway - why not just opt-out and collect some unemployement while working on some personal projects.

In faireness, the management and owners are putting in even MORE hours than me - they're literally here all the time in this grumpy angry "what are we doing wrong" stupor.

But people can't spend what they don't have.

Beware_Me: But I thought increases in productivity always brought increases in the standard of living?

It has. Overall. Millions of Chinese workers now have a few ounces of chicken to go with their rice bowl. Several thousand executives have also had massive increases in their standard of living. The fact that 1950s-70s Middle America gets wiped out is more than balanced out.

/ fun while it lasted

GoodyearPimp: Can I volunteer to sit on unemployment for 2 years? (in case it's been missed -- the bill to extend unemployment 20 weeks passed this week.) This isn't a criticism of the unlucky folks out of work. This is a criticism of the system that is paying and continually renewing benefits, producing what you'd expect ... a nigh-permanent underclass of folks that are getting by doing nothing while most of the rest of us get by and have to go to work all week (and has been pointed out already, we're picking up the slack for the missing workers).

Dude, this water and Ramen is SO DELICIOUS.

The salt just melts away in your mouth, and that artificial chicken flavor is indulgence defined, let me tell you.

After this, I'm going to sit in my naturally air-cooled northeastern bathroom and then enjoy the gentle, luxurious buttwipe of 7-11's finest paper towels.

Afterwards, I will retire to my master bedroom draped in Wal-Mart's finest upholstery and sporting the latest in 1990s technology to laugh in glee at the plebes scraping by with their "jobs".

BWHAAHAHAHAHAHA MUAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!

Headline: "Productivity gains may be bad news for job seekers".


GREAT NEWS!!


especially since middle class wages have been stagnant for the last 30 years. all the extra productivity when straight to the wealthy Pigs in the riches 1 or 2% of the population.

now that is Freedom!!


now, american employees, even more fearful of losing their jobs, are working harder and harder over time, yet their real wages will stay flat and the extra goodies will continue to go to the richest 1 or 2% of americans.


God i love Freedom!! the Freedom to enslave the American People!


long live Freedom, long live America!!

Significant productivity gains are one of the first signs of a job recovery as employers will start to take on new employees once they max out the amount of work they can squeeze out of their current staff.

xanadian: Mark my words. Give it another 10-20 years, and you'll see a return to 12-hour work days 6 days a week, debtor prisons, no overtime for extra hours worked...we'll be returning to the 1800s (and earlier), quality-of-life wise.

It's gonna happen.

It's already happened, ask any salaried employee. Forty hours of work is no longer the time commitment, 50 hours a week minimum with no overtime pay is what my industry has moved towards for salaried managers.

EvilToni
It's already happened, ask any salaried employee. Forty hours of work is no longer the time commitment, 50 hours a week minimum with no overtime pay is what my industry has moved towards for salaried managers.
===================================================

I'd bring that up with the BBB or the government... since... that's illegal.

So they lay people off, double or triple the workloads of the remaining employees, reduce their salaries and benefits, increase their hours and laugh at their fear as they are forced to pump out more and more widgets.

It is only a matter of time before the overworked will crack and their employers will be left with zombie, sick, unproductive, vindictive, mad-cow crazy workers who will undermine their businesses. Oh yes, they will turn against their employers and they will have their revenge. Karma really is a severe biatch.

50 hours minimum with no overtime. Been there done that. If I cant have comp time, bonus or any other perk for salary work beyond 40 hours a week you would have to hold me at gunpoint to work more than about 45 hours per week. Decided long ago that I work to live and not live to work.

//remember kids globalization is good for all.
//pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

jake3988: EvilToni
It's already happened, ask any salaried employee. Forty hours of work is no longer the time commitment, 50 hours a week minimum with no overtime pay is what my industry has moved towards for salaried managers.
===================================================

I'd bring that up with the BBB or the government... since... that's illegal.

No, in fact they expanded the type of jobs that qualify as exempt, exempt as in exempt from certain labor laws, like overtime etc.

Give it time, people. In 20 years, we'll all be making $8 and hour selling up shiat they make in China.

All in the name of productivity.

Chiad: jake3988: EvilToni
It's already happened, ask any salaried employee. Forty hours of work is no longer the time commitment, 50 hours a week minimum with no overtime pay is what my industry has moved towards for salaried managers.
===================================================

I'd bring that up with the BBB or the government... since... that's illegal.

No, in fact they expanded the type of jobs that qualify as exempt, exempt as in exempt from certain labor laws, like overtime etc.

Doesn't matter anyway: the money isn't on Toni's side. The BBB and the gov't would be perfectly happy to address his concerns once he's done filling out ten years' worth of ever-changing paperwork in black ink in triplicate, with additional entries and applications online. Then they'd slam him for failing to report promptly.

Bunnyhat: What's that old quote "Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible."


You can't have them all. Pick two.