I don't know where you get this $13/hr crap. Out where I live some workers for Toyota and Cummins don't even make that. At Walmart a single mother can work full time (38 hours so they don't have to pay benefits) and still get food stamps. Free markets are for traders that want to take risks and understand the rewards. It doesn't apply to the poor. We as a society can determine the lifestyle of a Walmart or Mcdonalds worker. Just how poor do you want them to be? (not talking to you piezoe, just asking the general question to all posters on ET, "How poor do you want a walmart worker to be? Because we have the power to decide their financial fate.)
dont know how old you are but all through the 90s-mid2000s people were told by most of the financial gurus that the prudent thing to do was to take home equity loans to pay off credit card debt because your debt would incure less interest and be tax deductable that way.
But instead of paying off bills with that money the majority of them bought fun stuff, took big vacations and partied with the money. Thats why they have all lost their houses.
I've had one nights in Mexico that cost me more than that, but I bet they were hotter than whatever a months worth of electricity got you.
Actually, Oldtime, I haven't a clue what those workers make. I just pulled a suitably low number out of the air. They obviously can't make ends meet on whatever it is without some kind of assistance. Just another indirect way our marvelous government subsidizes Sam Walton's heirs. (God knows they need it!) And in the process of helping Alice, Robson, Duke and Jim, they help all us lowly Walmart shoppers by keeping the price of Chinese imports low enough to drive the mom and Pop stores out of business. Yes, we have a wonderful business- government partnership in the U.S.! (Actually I won't set foot in a Walmart except under the most dire of circumstances.)
well that's nice if you are rich enough to boycot them, but the rest of us appreciate the low cost. Back in my activist days, we use to just go in and fill up a whole shopping cart with all kinds of things, and just leave it in an aisle and walk out. I'm tired of this "power to the people" bull crap. They don't know what the hell they are doing and can't figure out how the whole deal works. And it is embarrassing to even be associated with them because they still think holding up a sign means something. But the days of trying to be the richest at the expense of others is changing. The change comes from the top. And if you are not struggling to make ends meet you have reached it. And it doesn't neccessarily mean you have to take money or tax money from anybody. It just means you put a value on the quality of life of your employees and all the other dumbasses out there who will never figure it out. In 1970 I vowed I would never again try to educate a racist. And in 2013 I'm about ready to make the same vow for socialists. Just let them die off and hope they don't reproduce. Free market capitalism is a force which can temporarily be harnessed and used for good. And then it goes away then they write poems, paint pictures and sing songs about waiting for it to return again
When we bought our home in 1992, my wife insisted that we finance with a 15-year mortgage. Smartest thing we ever did. Fifteen years flew by and we own our home -- free and clear. Anyone considering buying a home right now, get yourself a 15 year mortgage. Fifteen years from now you'll be happy you did.