Military struggling to meet quota.

#205
#205
SpaceCoastVol said:
We have been priced out of the world labor market for decades. Why do you think everything is made in China/Vietnam/Pakistan/Mexico/etc/etc/etc?
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I completely agree. I remember as a HS freshman during a history class (about 1960) it hit me that the difference in US wages and world wages was like water stacking up behind a dam, and at some point the dam was going to collapse. We were probably at the tipping point then or very soon after. Almost all the products we bought were still manufactured in the US then; but within 20 years names like Honda, Toyota, Panasonic, Sony, etc were commonplace. For an economy supposedly based on competition and competitive pricing, our business and labor leaders have been remarkably stupid about things. We probably bought a little extra time because of resistance to buying foreign made goods and the cost of shipping from foreign markets.
 
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#206
#206
Rasputin_Vol said:
Labor/wages isn't killing the economy.

And does $15/hr now have the same purchasing power as minimum wage did 40 years ago?
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Honestly it probably has less. But 40 years ago we didn’t have the ability to utilize third world wages to build everything so people consumed less. The need for constant consumption has caused us to out source everything and prop up our enemies.

I’m not stating there is an answer now but NAFTA did more than wage kill. It caused countries to artificially devalue their dollar that could.

The issue comes down to we are a consumer nation and have been trained that we should get whatever we want.
 
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#210
#210
SpaceCoastVol said:
$15/hour jobs are not the same kind of jobs that must be competitive with the world market. It is the high paying manufacturing jobs where an American is making more in a day than the foreign worker does in a month. Fry slingers are not relevant benchmarks to any of this discussion.
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I'm benchmarking fry flippers of 30 years ago to fry flippers of today. Again, does $15/hr have the same purchasing power today as $3.35 did 30 years ago?
 
#215
#215
Rasputin_Vol said:
I'm benchmarking fry flippers of 30 years ago to fry flippers of today. Again, does $15/hr have the same purchasing power today as $3.35 did 30 years ago?
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Inflation adjusted that $3.35 is right at $7, so I would say yeah it does.

But fwiw, we shouldn't GAS about fry flippers in general. They don't fire the American furnace. They don't even open the door to the coal chute. They are high school jobs and summer college student beer money jobs. What we need to do is stop rewarding Tim Cook for building all his Apple **** in China. Trump was right about tariffs. Make it hurt Apple (and others) until they move out of there.
 
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#220
#220
SpaceCoastVol said:
Inflation adjusted that $3.35 is right at $7, so I would say yeah it does.

But fwiw, we shouldn't GAS about fry flippers in general. They don't fire the American furnace. They don't even open the door to the coal chute. They are high school jobs and summer college student beer money jobs. What we need to do is stop rewarding Tim Cook for building all his Apple **** in China. Trump was right about tariffs. Make it hurt Apple (and others) until they move out of there.
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If you've read any of my comments about our economy, you would know that I'm not pushing for more service industries. But to your point, the people that still do work the furnaces are not having their wages keep up with inflation
 
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#222
#222
SpaceCoastVol said:
Inflation adjusted that $3.35 is right at $7, so I would say yeah it does.
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That is grossly untrue and you know it. $3.35 today buys one gallon of gas. You telling me in 1986 that gasoline was half that price? Have home prices only doubled since 1986?
 
#223
#223
Rasputin_Vol said:
If you've read any of my comments about our economy, you would know that I'm not pushing for more service industries. But too your point, the people that still do work the furnaces are not having their wages keep up with inflation
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I recently talked to a guy I used to work with, and he was pissed because the annual pay raises that the company offered this year was 3% for salaried folks and 5% for hourly. He subsequently quit and went to work for the latest Oak Ridge nuclear contractor for a huge raise. Better pay, better benefits, and most likely an easier job since he's not on call 24/7. He worked 20 years at the same company, and they no longer offer a pension, health insurance costs 4 times what it did when I worked, so why stay any longer?
 
#224
#224
Rasputin_Vol said:
That is grossly untrue and you know it. $3.35 today buys one gallon of gas. You telling me in 1986 that gasoline was half that price? Have home prices only doubled since 1986?[/QUOTE]
Hahaha, I got my latest tax appraisal notice in the mail a week or two ago. 75% increase since the last appraisal 4 years ago. I can't wait to see how my local county and city muckity mucks parlay this into a gigantic tax increase.
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#225
#225
scooty_vol said:
Army Expects to Miss Its Recruiting Goal Again This Year
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This sounds lovely.

Recruiters are reporting an issue with increased scrutiny on applicants' medical and mental health history, with issues such as years-old minor injuries or common prescriptions causing major headaches. Last year, the Pentagon launched Military Health System Genesis, a new electronic health record system, which gave the military unprecedented access to an applicant's medical and mental health background during the recruiting process -- especially for recruits from military families who received prior military medical care.
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