Wages are too high?

[kpete]

TRUMP: But, taxes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we can not do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can’t do it.

:large

[Gothmog]

1. Wages are not too high

[tazkcmo]

3. Pffft.

You taker! We all should be Thankful We Have A Job much less actually being paid ANY wage for doing it! You ungrateful prole!














sarcasm

[valerief]

28. Funny how he didn't mention LIVING EXPENSES are too high, too.

It's all relative, and assholes like him only want to take, take, take.

[LibDemAlways]

41. Trump has no clue about living expenses. He and

the missus have an army of servants and "yes" men and women who do the shopping, the cleaning, the cooking, the accounting, provide the transportation, make his appointments, and take care of the nuts and bolts of running the various businesses with the name Trump attached. All he has to do is get up from between his silk sheets in the morning, call in whoever on his staff dresses him and combs his ridiculous hair, confer with his private secretary, and go off to make inane comments about how ordinary folks are getting more than they deserve. He's lived in a bubble for so long he's completely lost touch with reality.

[BuelahWitch]

65. He's a Trust Fund Baby

Never knew an honest day's work in his life.

[randys1]

76. They are if we are expected to compete with Vietnam or Cambodia or India.

Think about it, they actually are.

Therefore

..............

.............

Anybody???

[ruffburr]

2. A new requirement-

For being a politician, All politicians must live on min wage for two years prior to running for any office, No help from family nor friends pay rent , power , Food etc. Suddenly we would no longer see politicians for profit and actually get public servants.

[tazkcmo]

4. My proposaL

Tie the minimum wage to Congressional pay raises. What ever percentage their pay increases are so shall the increase in the minimum wage. Automatically.

[ruffburr]

5. Good Idea-

But it is not enough

[tazkcmo]

6. I agree.

It need's to be more.

[MANative]

8. Percentage increases maintain the current unfair ratio. Proportional is not progressive. n/t

[Thav]

12. Better, set congressional pay equal to minimum wage

and only pay them for hours they're either on the floor, or in offices working. No pay for campaigning, no pay for travelling, no pay for when they're back home, or on vacation. Then bar them from using any other form of income - whether investement, consulting, or spousal pay - while in office. If they receive anything they didn't pay for, then that amount comes out of their pay as well. Someone buys them lunch? That's $15 they don't get. Oh, and drug test them every week, and if they fail all of their income will be revoked and they will have to repay any past income, they will be fired from office and barred from running for office ever again.

[tazkcmo]

13. I like it!

Especially the drug testing which I have been for since my first pee test in 1985.

[ruffburr]

33. LMAO!

That beats my post, You have a Hell of a good plan going there, Maybe We should start a petition, Lol

[SammyWinstonJack]

85. +1000000

[jwirr]

46. Add in the safety net programs to that and we will see a

real change in DC.

[maddiemom]

37. Hell, let them try living on that "unreasonable" TWELVE or fifteen dollars an hour,

compared to what they're used to making... and no paid "expenses," either

[w0nderer]

52. wait are you suggesting

that we actually get people that want to help the people
not coorporations

hah what foolishness is this
fox news says...back to reeducation camp

[underpants]

7. In a real world this would be a campaign ender

[phantom power]

9. If the Dems have even a single brain cell, they will put this in campaign ads

and hang that around Trump's neck like a thousand-pound albatross.

[underpants]

11. Yep

[B Calm]

10. It's no secret that Republicans are for cheap labor! That's

why it's hard for me to swallow that a working man/women could ever vote Republican.

[d_legendary1]

43. That's cuz the average working person is being lied to

by the media. They're blaming undocumented workers (illegals) for the jobs shortage, the Obama policies of taxation on the job creators, and why they're leaving the United States. They don't talk about NAFTA, WTO, and the other free trade agreements that our leaders signed that allows them to do this. They don't tell them about the off shore tax havens these companies have. And they sure as hell won't tell them that undocumented workers work for less than minimum wage and for crappy jobs.

The Media is what's keeping the GOP legit.

[Martin Eden]

87. It's also hard to swallow they really want to deport all undocumented workers

Why don't they advocate cracking down on businesses that hire them?

If they couldn't work, they wouldn't be here.

[Overseas]

14. K&R. Well said.

[Sunlei]

15. $3.70 for a gallon of milk? Much higher at the 'corner store' most 'poor' have to walk to.

and just this week I paid $10 for a HALFgal. of organic milk at my close walgreens.

The Walgreens was totally out of whole milk, 4 gals of 1% in their case and that was about $4 a gallon.

"We take Snap" (foodstamps) signs, tens of snap signs all over Walgreens grocery area.

The 2 corner stores 1/2 mile walk from my neighborhood charge $6 a gallon for whole milk.

So $7.25 people have to work more then 1/2 hour for some decent milk and walk a mile for that milk.

[Sunlei]

16. We really shouldn't help Republicans get rid of Trump.All Rs want no minimum or $7.25 forever.

[stillwaiting]

17. WHY do we have to directly compete with slave labor wages in other parts of the world? WHY?

Last edited Thu Nov 12, 2015, 02:25 PM - Edit history (1)

Because multinational corporations want us to do so? Is there ANY other reason why we should be made to have to compete with them directly on labor costs?

Everyone that is making us have to compete like this are HUGE assholes. It does not have to be this way. And, it is hugely selfish of incredibly wealthy people to make it be this way in the U.S.

Trump and a few others are simply saying out loud what ALL Republicans want for the U.S. as well as far too many elected Democrats. These pro-business/neo-liberal Democrats won't say it out loud quite like Trump, but they are ushering in this reality just like the Republicans are doing. And they are assholes too.

[NonMetro]

57. Good Point!

The way I see it, "we the people" have lost our sovereignty to the mega-corporations. We can no longer decide who we're going to compete with nor the rules of this so-called "competition". Private corporations have basically taken over and now they just tell us who we have to compete with and why we "must accept" lower wages and be glad that we have any job at all, rather than none. The "market" is really nothing more than private individuals, never elected by anyone, who use their money to rule over the rest of us, and essentially dictate the terms of life to the rest of us - and most elections have become jokes that mostly revolve around social issues like religion, abortion, or gay rights. If we were sovereign, in control of our own destinies, we would still have such issues, but we would also be able to determine our own welfare, well-being, and make the economy work for everyone, and not just a privileged few.

[OregonBlue]

18. What an ugly ugly man T Rump is!!!

[TexasBushwhacker]

19. You will never ever win a price war

I learned that working for a small printing company whose main competition was Kinkos. The salesmen complained they were losing jobs because our prices were higher than Kinkos. The sales manager reminded them, "You will never win a price war. There will always be someone who will do the job for less. You get the job by doing the job better and providing better customer service."

If Donald Trump cannot make his overpriced hotels profitable while paying his housekeeping staff minimum wage, there is something wrong with his business model.

[mountain grammy]

20. The new normal for a good economy

is when minimum wage workers can survive because there are enough jobs to have more than one. During the roaring 90's, at one time, I had four jobs. A whole lot of luck got us through. It's insane that people work and work and work, making companies hugely profitable, but can't make ends meet, and have no financial security.. none!

[onecaliberal]

21. All republicans want to get rid of minimum wage.

To be honest I was shocked they had the balls to admit it. The stupid must not be watching these con debates.

[Wounded Bear]

29. They have the sheeple convinced...

that somehow, they will be better people without it.

They will be part of the noble poor. And damn those artificially inflated wages. "I'll earn what I deserve!"

They never learn that no, you'll earn what somebody else thinks you deserve, somebody who will benefit from you earning less. Without some form of coercion, you won't make more.

[onecaliberal]

80. It is really difficult for me to believe people could possibly be that stupid.

But I digress, you are correct.

[lonestarnot]

22. That fucking meathead. Wages are to high for him... we better damn sure keep him off the payroll.

[99th_Monkey]

23. Trump: Always the voice of greed, arrogance, and over-weened ego. -nt-

[madville]

24. Anyone who agrees with trade agreements like TPP and NAFTA

Agrees with this statement from Trump.

From a strictly business standpoint he is correct. With these trade agreements, wages in the US are too high to compete with low-wage members for labor costs.

Where the argument varies is the solution. One side will say American wages would have to come down to compete with some of these other nations for labor and the other side will say wages must come up in developing nations to meet the levels in America for fair competition.

This is a short-term argument from either side anyway. Automation, robotics, and AI will make human labor inefficient and obsolete in the next decade or two across all sectors.

[Dustlawyer]

40. Allowing American companies to export their labor, offshore their untaxed profits, pay zero taxes at

home, pay below a living wage making taxpayers subsidize the labor cost for hugely profitable corporations so that the Walton family can all be among the top ten richest Americans, is wrong on many levels. The media avoid talking about this much since the media oligarchs are some of the beneficiaries of this situation. GE has been at the forefront of this and their network is a huge conflict of interest considering their culpability.

I cannot wait until we get Bernie elected and bust up the media oligarchy, tax these rich bastards that have received all of the gains from the last 40 years. I have no sympathy for them when they are forced to pay their workers a living wage and contribute to our tax revenue instead of taking from it!

As far as Hillary is concerned, she will do nothing to change any of this. Sure she will talk vaguely about how it is wrong, but you will notice that she will make not pledge to make them pay taxes, a living wage, or bust up the powerful oligarchies in banking and the media. These are her and Bill's friends that they have known and been supported by for the last 30 years.

This election is very different than past Presidential elections for the simple fact that Bernie represents a return to Democracy and an end to corporate rule. Hillary represents, more or less, the Obama status quo, socially somewhat liberal, financially in the tank for the Plutocrats. Thanks to their campaign and Super Pac donations they would be able to continue to exercise control over our government, judiciary, and the media. the real battle is between Bernie and Hillary, though I do have concerns over whether Hillary can beat the Republican in the General considering the level of hate she engenders with them. Many more would come out to vote AGAINST her than ever would if Bernie is the winner of the Primary.

[cascadiance]

55. Perhaps someone should go out and ask Trump to reconcile this statement he had with this tweet...

... that he put out earlier bad mouthing TPP... Ask Trump which statement is the truth and which is a lie, and for an explanation from him how both of them can be "truths"!



https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/606125803420700672

[Enthusiast]

71. Precisely.

[elmac]

25. if minimum wage kept up with productivity

it would be at $21.72 an hour.

"The minimum wage should have reached $21.72 an hour in 2012 if it kept up with increases in worker productivity, according to a March study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. While advancements in technology have increased the amount of goods and services that can be produced in a set amount of time, wages have remained relatively flat, the study points out."

[w0nderer]

27. thanks

i needed that number


my last number was like 5+ years old and @ $17/h or so (and was living wage)

[elmac]

47. Your welcome

[w0nderer]

49. elmac

just curious

reverse(elmac); <<--??
or something to do with mac's?

and if you haven't already been welcomed to DU..

Welcome willkommen valkommen

[elmac]

69. elmac is short for Muti-Elmac

made beautiful ham radio receivers and transmitters in Mi way back in the day.

[w0nderer]

70. 'old timer techie dude'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hug smile 'pats back'!

umm sorry about the emotional response, so few of us around
word!
cool!

still on the air?
i cheated out and am only on (trashtalk (cb))
now mostly doing telnet bbs offa a rpi no airwaves past cb

[elmac]

78. Whether they admit it or not

most hams got their start with CB. Had a blast with my JC Penny 23 chan base in the mid 70's, back then you could talk 30-40 miles during the day with 4 watts, the channels were skip free. Been a ham since '76. Back in the 80's I used a Commodore 64 with my receiver to received news teletype on the shortwave band, read the raw news that was being sent to the networks for their evening broadcast + some photo fax stuff. Lots of fun.

[w0nderer]

79. that's why i reverted back

i found too many 'snobs on ham'

ssb or even cb was...more community


and yep
pet 2001, c64/c128/amiga 500, amiga 2k
lol

i still wanna do packet on ssb but i know it's not legal

[elmac]

81. Packet was big back in the 80's and 90's

but not much activity now, there is APRS, PSK, SSTV and tons of other digital mods.

You do find "snobs" now & then but most are open to new hobbyists, new ideas, especially in the digital modes.

Getting your ham license is easier now that they eliminated the code test. The study guides have all the FCC questions and answers.
Would be a good winter project.

http://www.arrl.org/getting-licensed

[w0nderer]

82. may run that

i'm outside of US so different 'demands'


that being said...my ham radio 'thing' was classic 'radio shack' <<knowhow and tools

i know that was a long time ago, now i go to hackathons, maker meets and similar for the same


i do have a double cb raspbi combo that repeats and serves bbs

[w0nderer]

26. looks up

from sharpening the teeth of Mme La guillotine, nods, what ever you say Trump!

*keeps sharpening*

[Cosmic Dancer]

30. Oh they'll vote for him cause most Americans don't even have half a brain.

[Alkene]

31. Wages!? Too liberal.

Are there no prisons?

Plenty of prisons...

And the Union workhouses. Are they still in operation?

Both very busy, sir...

Those who are badly off must go there.

Many can't go there; and many would rather die.

If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population!

[w0nderer]

50. sadly

even tho a little early in the season

best quote
*bows* well played!

[Jack Rabbit]

32. Thank you for your interest in the open position, Mr. Trump

Please don't call us. We'll call you.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

34. We're all supposed to be our own bosses too....

That's the thinking.

The myth that EVERYONE in America has the FREEDOM to start their own business.

If your business goes under than you're a LOSER. Might as well commit suicide now and make way for the WINNERS.

BTW: I found out today that someone I know who came off like that has had a stroke. His wife told me he refused to take his meds because he figured the doctors didn't know what they were talking about. Now he's catatonic. She's putting him into a nursing home.

[Omaha Steve]

35. Donald needs a cut in pay!

[bullwinkle428]

38. This was literally completely ignored on debate night. Glad to see this is getting

the traction it so richly deserves. K&R!

[closeupready]

45. Naturally, for fear scrutiny of inflated pay would turn to CEO's.

It's kind of like that expression, 'those in glass houses should cast no stones.'

[hobbit709]

39. There's even people here on DU against raising minimum wage.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

42. Just "work harder"

"People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum." -- D. Trump

This is the Republican lie which is one of the reasons people vote for them (the others being guns, gays, abortion, racism):

In their world, everyone is either a millionaire or a millionaire-in-waiting. This is the "self-reliant" promise they dangle as a carrot in front of a mule. Work hard and you will become as rich as we are.

Except that's impossible because:

1. We don't have a living wage (and the Repugs want to do away with the minimum wage).

2. If you go to school to get a shot at the golden ring, you'll leave with a crushing load of debt and a degree which will help you get an entry level job which will be replaced by a foreign worker you will have to train.

3. The way to riches is through "self reliance" which translates into entrepreneurship. Canadian Ted Cruz wants to get rid of the Department of Commerce (doing that is so important he said it twice in the same sentence at the debate). That is the department which contains the Small Business Administration, which is responsible for offering SBA loans to entrepreneurs. Let's make it as hard as possible to start a new business!

4. Unions, which have been a traditional path to the middle class, must be abolished.

5. All government services must be privatized (even the VA!), even though there is an abundance of evidence that doing so invariably makes the services more expensive.

6. Retirement funds can be raided by corporations or destroyed through corporate bankruptcy.

And on, and on. Yet the promise is there that you are a "millionaire-in-waiting." Who knows, maybe you'll be the next one to win the lottery!

Sheesh. How people can vote against their interests is something I'd like to see studied by sociologists (not to be confused with the dreaded nation-killing socialists).

[closeupready]

44. It's funny - when did he last volunteer to lower his own wages?

When did ANYONE making that kind of money volunteer to lower their own wages?

They go on and on, when the argument is about making taxation more progressive, that the poor and middle classes can send in more money to the IRS if they want to help balance the budget/fund food stamps/etc., but when it comes to paying a wage, all wages except for their own are already too high.

[w0nderer]

56. i'm ok with a lowering

let's say...to where it affects quality of living equally

he drops his paycheck to where he's almost starving
and i keep my paycheck at the same point, where i'm almost starving (unless i was doing a shitload of overtime and growing food at home)

[moondust]

48. CEO Guy needs a break.

Cutting or eliminating the minimum wage will make it easy for CEO Guy to cut his labor costs, leading to a big profit boost on his quarterly reports and allowing him to demand a bigger compensation package.

Won't somebody please come to his rescue?! CEO Guy just wants to become the first private trillionaire is all. That's not too much to ask. Then everybody can celebrate with him the boundless wonders of corporate capitalism!!!

[merrily]

51. The rent is too damned high!

[w0nderer]

54. hmmm too high you say eeeeey?

picks you up by ankles, shakes you upside down

seee seee you had a penny, the rent is not high enough!

---
yes, this post contains weird humor and sarcasm

fwiw the rent is too high!!! Even the flipping immigration border control quote a 'housing cost' (rent+electricity+phone+water+heat+garbage and sewer) at 25% of total paycheck

allow me at this time to roll on the floor laughing wildly pointing fingers and going 'you funny F'kker' @ bcins(or what ever immigration calls themselves now)

thanks
---

[merrily]

58. Humor good. Sad bad.

[w0nderer]

59. truth

but i can cry or i can laugh, and so far i'm too strong to cry!
i'm too angry, too nasty, too horrible to cry!

great post merrily

[merrily]

60. You are too kind about my silly posts.

I'm so sorry that "cry" is currently one of your options. Sometimes, even the very strong cry. And sometimes, it helps. But, you know best what keeps you going and at your strongest. Ignore me and do that.

[w0nderer]

62. :))

fair call
IF i find your posts silly i'll slam you over it
if you find mine silly, you do the same for me..

keep some reality check

i don't mind crying, i just would rather channel the energy into some....bern

[merrily]

63. Whatever best does it for you. I'm on your side!

But, slamming me on each and every one of my silly posts would be way too consuming. You'd be better off taking up tatting.

[w0nderer]

64. umm ...ummm

what is "tatting"?


and i'd never slam you on every silly post, not suggesting you have a lot of them

oh...umm
i'll just sit here and chew on my foot a little
yeah...never mind

[merrily]

66. Unsure. I just love the word. Sounds like a proper hobby/skill for a proper

Victorian damsel. I'll look it up:

tat·ting
ˈtatiNG/
noun
noun: tatting

a kind of knotted lace made by hand with a small shuttle, used chiefly for trimming.
the process of tatting.

LOL! Still not sure. Images for Tatting--ok, this is an instance when a picture is worth 1000 words, or at least a couple of dozen: Check out the pics on this wiki page.

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

Looks like making lace with something that works, and looks a little, like a crotchet hook.

And so, today we learn and move forward together, which, like humor, is good.

[w0nderer]

67. yay i forced you to learn!

and thus you taught me *bows*

somewhere between crocheting and macrame ?

i'll just raise my eyebrows, have some arsenic and opium and paint a picture (hey, you introduced victorian)

[merrily]

68. I used to learn on DU daily. Now, not so much.

I don't even look as many things up myself anymore because a lot of the "political discussion" has devolved to "Your candidate and his/her supporters all wear their poopy diapers on their respective heads---er, jurors, I meant "most," not all."

Yes, somewhere between crochet and macrame sounds right, though I never did macrame. I did once crochet a huge Christmas stocking and a baby's bib while pregnant, though. That was the end of my career, I fear. Never learned knitting or anything like that.

In the area of Victorian opiates, I always liked the sound of

lau·da·num
ˈlôdn-əm,ˈlôdnəm/
noun
noun: laudanum

an alcoholic solution containing morphine, prepared from opium and formerly used as a narcotic painkiller.

As I post to you, I'm realizing I am a word sound snob, even if I don't know the precise meaning. I'm so ashamed!

[w0nderer]

72. oh merrily :)

Word snob is ok. No shame on you!

I've had laudanum (short time broken clavicle) ummm not something to repeat...at least not the 'withdrawal'



what little crocheting i've done was 'school crafts' (we had to do 3 terms (half year) wood/metal and 3 terms textile and fabric)

i've tied nets (fishing) tho...similar

as one of them well hated FURRINERS (even though legal)
and even though my English is ok (yes, i ignore 'i' capitalization and punctuation)
I look everything up

I do agree and have tried (despite my low post count) to provoke multiple posts of 'we need to work as a team'

sanders hillary omalley..we are all dems

personally i'd do sanders (euro social democrat here)
but we need to be a team, ...why? cause the religious right is...cause the right wingnuts..are!

[merrily]

73. Word sound snob, even if I have only a passing knowledge of the meaning.

In my defense, "Stick to tatting" and "That's it! I'm dosing with laudanum" do sound good to me.

I'm for Sanders. That's all that matters during primary season.

[w0nderer]

74. and thus we are in agreement

*snaps to attention* Bern on!

i am not allowed to vote, but i'm allowed to motivate and change opinion and work to change peoples' opinion !

killer bots!
i can't vote
i WON'T vote for a democrat
i'm not allowed!
it's called being a legal permanent resident
i pay taxes but don't get representation!

[merrily]

75. AFAIK, no one can stop you from volunteering for your candidate.

I've got to get busy offline! Have a great day.

[w0nderer]

77. thats a fact

take care offline!

[cascadiance]

53. I guess then we need to note this to right wingers that support Trump rejecting TPP and H-1B...

... that either those stances he had earlier to try and attract them were BULLSHIT, or this line is BULLSHIT! He can't support both stances legitimately! Ask them if a rich 1%er dude like him is more apt to support other rich people or to support the rest of us in reality!

Trump just solidified Bernie as the only candidate in both parties truly supporting American workers' plight against being screwed by "free trade" deals and these BS "guest worker" programs.

[trotsky]

61. You need to understand how their base is programmed to process this.

They don't see him as saying "YOU are paid too much."

They see it as "Everyone not like you is paid too much."

Code words, dog whistles, etc.

[grahamhgreen]

83. Only someone who has never worked for a living would say that!

[smirkymonkey]

84. Taxes on corporations and the 1% are way too effing LOW!!

[totodeinhere]

86. And Trump is not the only one.

Jeb Bush has called for the elimination of the federal minimum wage for instance. Trump is the bombastic one, but Bush would do just as much harm to our country. It's just that his handlers are trying to make him come off as more reasonable. But he is not. And soft spoken Ben Carson is in reality a snake in the grass.

[X_Digger]

88. Where are our TPP cheerleaders who have said our wages should be competitive w/ India?

Or Viet Nam?

Funny, they never seem to put their money where there mouth is and come out and say it so openly as this moron does.