Donald I, emperor of the world.

[AuroraSaab]

That's exactly what will happen if they don't get their act together. I disagree that the next Democratic administration (if there is one) needs to spend its time trawling over the last 5 years and punishing whoever they can get their hands on, and messing with the law so they don't get another Trump. The Supreme Court has always been partisan and politically appointed. Sometimes it benefits Dems, sometimes Republicans.

What they need is a unifying candidate who will draw a line under the whole sorry, divisive mess of the Trump era. America needs a clean slate not another 5 years of being at each other's throats.

 

[briantrumpet]

Anyway, another symptom of a broken system. It's nuts. Why not just pay them a wage, and charge appropriately?

 

[Beebo]

Anyway, another symptom of a broken system. It's nuts. Why not just pay them a wage, and charge appropriately?

View attachment 16924

I saw that and suspect it’s AI.
I can’t believe any company would be so tone deaf.

 

[C R]

I saw that and suspect it’s AI.
I can’t believe any company would be so tone deaf.

Exactly, it basically says we don't pay our staff, we expect you to.

 

[Ian H]

I saw that and suspect it’s AI.
I can’t believe any company would be so tone deaf.

If it is AI, it's a satirical comment on actual practice in the US.

 

[C R]

Apropos of tipping in the US, I saw this article in the BBC today about some restaurants moving to proper wages, increasing prices and not taking tips.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g36yze692o

 

[Pblakeney]

I saw that and suspect it’s AI.
I can’t believe any company would be so tone deaf.

I suspect that it is real. We were actually chased (we didn't run, he did) down the street in NY after we didn't leave a tip following shocking service. Like him doing that was going to help? Especially so when he got more confrontational. A busk FO seemed to do the trick.

 

[Pross]

Anyway, another symptom of a broken system. It's nuts. Why not just pay them a wage, and charge appropriately?

View attachment 16924

That’s just a poster say ‘don’t eat here’ isn’t it?

 

[briantrumpet]

Apropos of tipping in the US, I saw this article in the BBC today about some restaurants moving to proper wages, increasing prices and not taking tips.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g36yze692o

It's never going to be anything other than a rarity, as the US seems to have embraced paying slave wages (the minimum wage is still $7 per hour) while moaning about how many people are one various assistance programmes. It's often been pointed out that Bezos has got rich by paying slave wages to his employees, who then make up the shortfall by claiming various benefits, so in effect taxpayers Bezos is getting hugely subsidised by taxpayers. It's not the free market at all, just a complete dominance of the economic system by the oligarch class, who pretend it's a well-functioning free market.

That employees in effect have to beg customers for money to survive just means the begging is on their employers' premises rather than outside on the street. That's the US 'economic miracle' in action.

 

[AndyRM]

This is well worth a read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed

25 years since it came out and I don't think that much has changed.

 

[C R]

This is well worth a read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed

25 years since it came out and I don't think that much has changed.

This paragraph quoted in the wiki article sums it all. As @briantrumpet says, the working poor are subsidising the rest of us.

When someone works for less pay than she can live on ... she has made a great sacrifice for you ... The "working poor" ... are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone.

 

[Pblakeney]

It's often been pointed out that Bezos has got rich by paying slave wages to his employees, who then make up the shortfall by claiming various benefits, so in effect taxpayers Bezos is getting hugely subsidised by taxpayers.

We have the same system in the UK. Just replace slave wages with minimum wage and Bezos with most companies.
Assistance programs or benefits. Tax payers are subsidising on both sides of the pond.

 

[briantrumpet]

This is well worth a read:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_and_Dimed

25 years since it came out and I don't think that much has changed.

I suspect it's got a whole lot worse. The minimum wage (actually $7.25) was last raised in 2009, and is symptomatic of how so much in the US has been skewed towards making the rich richer, with the poor (and without power) metaphorically and literally having to beg to survive.

From what I gather, everyday food prices in the US make Europeans do a double take because they are so high, and of course disproportionally affect the poorest.

 

[AndyRM]

This paragraph quoted in the wiki article sums it all. As @briantrumpet says, the working poor are subsidising the rest of us.

Yup. I was living in the States when I read it (my English teacher was basically like "Everyone should read this book") and it was a real eye opener for my 14/15 year old self.

There was a more recent book called Scratch Beginnings which was set out as a rebuttal, only it didn't work because the guy who wrote it was nowhere near as committed as Ehrenreich.

 

[C R]

There was a more recent book called Scratch Beginnings which was set out as a rebuttal, only it didn't work because facts and reality are a biatchthe guy who wrote it was nowhere near as committed as Ehrenreich.