George I give you credit for acknowledging that this all started way before Obama. Maybe it's just a general global economic malaise. Unlike you though there are many out there who feel that it's just... and righteous if they can have more and more while everyone else can go F@@@ themselves.....
I've said this before and I'll say it again, only, I'm sure, to have it fall on one pair of deaf ears. Other than tax legislation, politics plays a minimal, if any, role in the swings in the economy. The recession happened to fall during a Republican administration, but it had little or nothing to do with who was president. It had everything to do with the air coming out of the ballon of the prior 15-20 years of growth on a shaky foundation (thinly capitalized companies, greedy mortgage lenders, global economic factors, etc.) caused by all segments cashing in on the collective mindset of the consumer, which was buoyed by a smoke and mirrors boon. IMO we will continue for years to pay the price for the "I want it NOW" mindset that ultimately led to the recession and the currently fragile recovery.
Sid.... I fully agree with your thoughts. And similarly the wealth imbalance will not improve in this country until there is ample wage pressure to force the hands of the very small minority of people with control over those wages. And there won't be wage pressure unless there is a truly robust economy hopefully for more sound reasons that just smoke and mirrors and pseudo demand.
We've already seen companies downsize and move to part time workers as a result of the Affordable? Care Act. And we've yet to see the true impact on employers because that portion of the act has been illegally delayed more than once. The ACA and the continued influx of low wage illegals has had a profound impact on our economy.
:idea: :arrow: There are now 94 million Americans who don't have a job, which is the all-time record. None of them count against the unemployment rate. The number of young people with jobs is just about zero. They have all been replaced by illegal aliens who're being supplied with driver's licenses, cell phones, subsidies and cash...
The issue of illegal aliens is a mixed bag for me personally because as a business manager involved in Agriculture they are a must, there is no other option available to turn to. As an everyday civilian standing in line at the grocery store it burns my ass when senhora Gomez pulls out the EBT card and is able to purchase more stuff than I can reasonably purchase and then walks out of the store and hops in her Cadillac Escalade. The imbalance of it all is shattering as a tax paying American... Putting my Ag manager hat back on I can honestly say that America has no other option to rely on for a work force to work the fields, packing houses or Ag related jobs. Whites, Blacks, Asians, Indians etc are not going to work in the conditions required to feed America, been there done that, they last two weeks and are never seen again. America currently spends 9-11% of its income on food products, the remainder of the western world spends 25-27% of their income to feed itself. This is where we will eventually end up as the current Mexicans become Americanized and look to improve themselves, the border is essentially closed in my experience compared to twenty years ago. This means the current population is what we have to work with, yeah that's 11 million amigos but they are hardworking, smart and integrating into our society, can that be said for the religion of peace coming from the Mideast.... Yes it burns those of us who foot the bill to pay for the illegals, but I don't see another cost effective answer to continue feeding us in an affordable manner.... Comment/Trivia: Not long ago the media was all over the issue that every worker should be making a minimum of $15 hour, remember the protest and walkouts for the burger flippers. Agriculture workers are the only workforce that I know of that are not required to be paid overtime when working 40 plus hours, I've been managing people in business for thirty years and have never paid overtime. Imagine the cost of all meats, fruits and vegetables if this was changed. It's like the dirty little secret that nobody dare mentions lest it get out. I'm salary so it doesn't matter one way or the other but as I've worked in Ag my entire career I have never worked a job that was not a minimum of 50 hours per week, that's the minimum. Imagine if all those cost were effectively changed to overtime. So I'll end this by saying watch what you wish for because you may not like the end result via illegals....
There are so many more than those that work in the ag fields. They're housekeeping maids in thousands of hotels, they're working in the back of restaurants and stocking goods during the midnight shift in warehouses all over America. They're not paying taxes but we are educating their children and picking up the tab every time they go to the ER for medical care. They're afforded protection by our fire and police departments. The state of California is now allowing illegals to be admitted to the bar. OK, so how does someone go through 19 years of formal education in this country without a family paying anything for education costs? Years ago we had "migrant workers." They came into this country, worked in the fields and returned home. No longer. We don't have people coming here for OPPORTUNITY, we have people coming here for BENEFITS.
But the Donald must think that there are millions of unemployed college students who will line up for these jobs! Hahahahahah! My industry.... the trucking industry.... is undergoing a labor crisis right now and I don't see the solution on the horizon. Much like your migrant workers the long haul truck driver spends hours upon hours in a grueling job.... never is home.... can hardly set up roots.... sleeps in his truck mostly and shoulders a lot of responsibility for road safety while being on a demanding time schedule performance wise. And yet.... like most Americans the truck driver's wages are frozen.... even depressed while companies look for more and more competitive ways to get their freight moved and really don't give a rats ass about the plight of the driver. Hiring new drivers is becoming extremely tough because there are no replacements from our younger generations. Virtually none that I see. I saw a stat somewhere that said there will be a 25-30% shortage of long haul truck drivers in this country in the near future. If anything has my own wage frozen it's this shortage of resources. I spend most of my time apologizing and rescheduling and turning down good work while trying to keep the accounts we have on board instead of full bore going after more and new business. Without sales growth it's pretty hard for a salesman to increase his wage....and without truck drivers sales growth in the transportation industry is next to impossible. Apparently the way to go for drivers is to work for a private fleet: http://money.cnn.com/2015/10/09/news/economy/truck-driver-shortage/ So companies that run their own fleet as an internal expense seem to pay to get enough drivers no matter what while the firms like mine keep wages the same and refuse to compete for drivers because they just don't have the margins to do so because of the downward pricing pressures from the customers.
Dow today under 15,500. Thousands in oil related jobs unemployed. Deal with Iran is helping to depress oil prices and destroy the domestic oil drilling business. ISIS is alive and creating terrorist attacks worldwide. Iran and N. Korea boldly arm. Putin expands Russian territory. Assad laughs at a Red Line. All the while the great warriors who volunteered to fight for this country have a gelding coward as their commander in chief. A detention center on Cuba will soon be up for sale as the administration lets loose on the world hundreds of sworn enemies to the US.
We went to see the movie 13 hours last night... At one point in the movie, a guy yelled out: "Hillary sucks!" and you heard in a lower voice, another guy say: "Word". It was a mistake for me to go see this movie. It has enraged me against this worthless administration... make that dictatorship we have. Our government today sickens me.
I can't argue politics with any group of people who are unhappy with lower gas prices at the pump...... That about sums it up.
First read this http://newsone.com/1926475/barack-obama-gas-prices/ Then realize that he was completely WRONG. The companies that used fracking greatly increased our domestic production and reduced the price of gas. Unfortunately now the reason gas prices have still been declining is that Iran is now pumping oil onto the market. Think of all the terrorist activities that they can sponsor Dave. Of course your mind never extends beyond YOUR wallet.
So lemme get this straight..... when there is an oil glut... a surplus... then prices are higher? My computer struggles opening purely rightwing online news mumbo jumbo so I couldn't read that article but is that what it says? No wonder Econ was a confusing subject!
What it says is Obama predicted that we couldn't drill our way. to lower oil prices. Which proves that he has no idea as to what the price of oil is related to. Seeing how your computer works it's no wonder you haven't a clue.
Ah Ha! Precisely what I thought! Soooo....... if Iran floods the market with oil then prices go .... up? 8) Makes about as much sense as gas prices being at very very historical lows..... and we're gonna be pissed off at that damned Obama for it. As I say... I can't argue with that sort of twisted logic..... so I won't.