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Thousands Show Up For Jobs at Amazon Warehouses in US Cities (apnews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the making-ends-meet dept.

Thousands of people showed up Wednesday for a chance to pack and ship products to Amazon customers, as the e-commerce company held a giant job fair at nearly a dozen U.S. warehouses. From a report on Associated Press: Although the wages offered will make it hard for some to make ends meet, many of the candidates were excited by the prospect of health insurance and other benefits, as well as advancement opportunities. It's common for Amazon to ramp up its shipping center staff in August to prepare for holiday shopping. But the magnitude of its current hiring spree underscores Amazon's growth when traditional retailers are closing stores -- and blaming Amazon for a shift to buying goods online. Amazon said it received "a record-breaking 20,000 applications" and hired thousands of people on the spot, and will hire more in the coming days. That number represented fewer than half of the 50,000 people it had said it planned to hire.

108 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. Well, ain't no point in working brick and mortar by elrous0 · · Score: 1

    They'll be gone soon anyway.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  2. thousands show up anywhere by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    that's hiring with similar wage/benefits

    1. Re:thousands show up anywhere by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Maybe not EVERYWHERE.... In some places, such wage levels are not going to buy you reliable labor. Heck, in SOME places $12/hour is illegal.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  3. The flip side... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Although this is good news for people looking for work in the cities, Amazon is also closing warehouses in rural communities that are turning into the new inner cities that are lacking in jobs.

    Starting in the late 1990s, Amazon.com Inc. began opening fulfillment centers in sparsely populated states to help customers avoid sales taxes. One of those centers, established in 1999, brought hundreds of jobs to Coffeyville, Kan. -- population 9,500. Yet as two-day shipping became a priority, Amazon shifted its warehousing strategy to be closer to cities where its customers were concentrated, and shut the Coffeyville center in 2015.

    http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2017/05/26/rural-america-is-new-inner-city-2.html

    1. Re:The flip side... by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      Well, there's always money in the meth stand.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    2. Re:The flip side... by nine-times · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I hate to bring this to a political place, but I feel like there's a bit of irony and double-think here. I've heard Republicans and "conservatives" saying that suburban and rural locations need help, while vilifying cities as playgrounds for detached elites. I've even heard this kind of statement that the rural areas are "the new inner cities".

      But meanwhile, they're also holding onto the idea that cities are decaying liberal wastelands, populated by lazy degenerate criminals and "welfare queens". They've spent decades complaining that the people in the inner city need to take responsibility for their own lives, and pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

      But now rural areas are the "new inner city", but it's not their fault. It's economic factors beyond their control. They're not responsible, and don't need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Even when describing the problem in terms of the "inner city", they're often still failing to recognize the similarity between this "new inner city" and the old inner city that they continue to criticize.

      Maybe it's time we recognize that the government has a role to play in alleviating the burden of poverty, whether the poverty occurs in the inner city or in rural areas.

    3. Re:The flip side... by swb · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think in some ways it's all true at the same time.

      A lot of this is just vilifying your opponents supporters, both to discredit your opponent and to undermine their supporters' claim on resources.

      But it's not like the claims are wholly baseless. How many generations of inner city poor have come out of out-of-wedlock parenting? How much crime in the inner city is the byproduct of gang participation and toxic cultural values that their own community leaders refuse to acknowledge or repudiate?

      On the other hand, their defenders have points like generations of racial discrimination, unfair policing, inadequate schooling and lack of civic investment.

      In rural communities you also have a lot of investment in low-rent "traditional values" which wind up being things like science denial and religious hucksterism both in the community and being enforced as "educational" policy. Nor are they free of the self-inflicted problems of alcoholism or drug use, either.

      On the other hand, a lot of rural communities have seen their economic base go from thriving to crashing in time periods that really no one could have predicted or could have adapted to. If you suck some large plurality of the economic base out of a rural region, there often isn't a fix for it besides closing the towns and mass-relocating the population. If there's any "fault", its in the hands of local civic leaders for not purposefully diversifying the local economy, a difficult task when it needs to be done at the crest of economic prosperity (when the big plant was setting output records), when nobody understands it could all end and when diversification may have failed due to lack of labor or access to markets.

      And there are weird dichotomies in cities, too. Islands of prosperity occupied by elites in good housing and with good jobs but which are closed to outsiders. I can think of a couple of areas in my city with a couple of square miles of million dollar homes with impoverished areas within 3 miles in nearly every direction. It's worse in some suburban areas which start to resemble dynastic clans, generations of elites whose children get high quality educations and use their parents influence to get good jobs, a closed loop cycle.

    4. Re:The flip side... by nine-times · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I agree with some of your points, but do not agree that "it's all true at the same time." I'd sooner say that there may be components of truth to these ideas, but some of the interpretations and conclusions are very poor.

      That is to say, sure, there's some out of wedlock parenting. That's happening in various populations in this country, perhaps some populations at different rates than others. However, even if there's a greater rate of single parents in cities, it's not justified to jump to the conclusion, "Therefore these people are irresponsible and deserve to suffer." And at least to some degree, when inner cities were suffering, it wasn't that lawlessness and weak morality had caused economic problems, but rather that economic problems caused some degree of lawlessness and a breakdown of social order.

      On the other hand, a lot of rural communities have seen their economic base go from thriving to crashing in time periods that really no one could have predicted or could have adapted to. If you suck some large plurality of the economic base out of a rural region, there often isn't a fix for it besides closing the towns and mass-relocating the population. If there's any "fault", its in the hands of local civic leaders for not purposefully diversifying the local economy, a difficult task when it needs to be done at the crest of economic prosperity (when the big plant was setting output records), when nobody understands it could all end and when diversification may have failed due to lack of labor or access to markets.

      Part of my objection is that I've seen/heard people say this sort of thing about the current rural problems, who at other times have blamed inner-city poverty on things like "having children out of wedlock." I think the reality is that you could also argue that the inner cities went from thriving to crashing in a time period that no one foresaw. The people with money fled to the suburbs, pulling a lot of the functioning economy out of the cities. If there's a "fault", it was in civic leaders, government officials, and economic circumstances outside of the control of the people being affected.

      I don't want to get into a whole argument about the causes of each of these problems, and my goal isn't to diminish the concern for the suffering that's going on in rural areas right now. I just want to point out that, if you're currently holding both the position, "The government needs to help the poor working class white rural communities!" and also holding the position, "Black people in inner cities need to take responsibility for themselves instead of looking for government handouts!", then maybe you should consider whether you're exhibiting a bias.

    5. Re:The flip side... by JeffOwl · · Score: 1

      Given their push to do same day delivery for some items it makes perfect sense for Amazon.

    6. Re:The flip side... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      This is the progressive worst nightmare. If - and this is a big if - Trump can do something for the blacks in the inner city? The Democratic Party is finished. What happens when blacks discover that working and earning your own bread brings pride? It brings self-respect? It is tremendously damaging to a person's pride to accept handouts. To admit that you can't help yourself. If Trump can get these people off welfare and working, they will no longer need the Democrats, and this loss of votes will be devastating. They must at all costs prevent this outcome.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    7. Re:The flip side... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

      Helping the oppressed is what the democrats are about.

      With President Trump's approval ratings down to 33% and his hard core support finally wilting away as well, I don't think democrats have as much to worry about.

      Republican voters did a wonderful thing for Democrats when they elected Mr. Trump.

      Republican states average twice as much money back from the federal government as they pay in. So "welfare" is fine for republicans too.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    8. Re:The flip side... by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      Helping the oppressed stay oppressed is what the democrats are about.

      Fixed that for you.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    9. Re:The flip side... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

      That's a nice republican talking point. But it's not true.

      Or else job aid for appalachians wouldn't be protected by democrats from republicans who were trying to cut it. And that benefits their own voters.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  4. Echoes of the Depression era by ErichTheRed · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This kind of reminds me of longshoremen having to turn up at the docks every morning and stand on the stones just for a chance to get picked to work that day, with no guarantee that you would be working tomorrow. At least Amazon is providing health benefits, but I've heard horror stories about working for them, both in the warehouses and in technology positions.

    In my opinion, scenes like this are going to be more prevalent in the future as more stable work gets offshored or eliminated entirely due to automation. I've said this before, but working in big company IT you see positions all the time that could easily be dumped the second some MBA with a spreadsheet gets around to it. This has been the way of the world for decades though -- big companies were big enough and made enough money to afford to have a little slack in the system and still return profits to shareholders. With the push to put everyone through college instead of training them right out of high school, you have a lot of random business grads who may not have gotten good grades or learned much between all the partying. Big companies still hire a ton of these entry level graduates to do some random task. These graduates get/got a decent salary, stable work, and were able to build their lives around the fact that they would have income. As they settle down, new grads get promotions, buy houses, have children, pay taxes, and consume at increasing levels as their salaries increase. Because of this, the consumer cycle continues on -- companies produce goods that customers can afford to buy because they have jobs because companies can produce goods...

    Scenes like this are what make me think this cycle is breaking down. If you squeeze so much that an operation is 100% efficient and you have no more need for the vast majority of employees, then you cut out the ability for those former employees to participate in the economy. Forgoing a new grad hire at the help desk or support team for $40K because Tata will give you a "replacement" for $10K in India means that that new grad is going to have limited options and may end up in line at the Amazon warehouse for just over minimum wage. I don't know how to solve it -- people propose a universal basic income, and i think that's the best answer, but the people who happen to be on the positive side of this shift will never go for it. You would have to have massive unemployment, 50% or more, just to register that there's a problem in most people's minds, and I think that will lead to a pretty big upheaval in the not too distant future.

    Does that mean we should give people make-work? I think so, unless anyone has a plan for breaking society's dependence on getting an education, going to work, consuming, saving for retirement, and spending down your savings at the end of your life.

    1. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      There is no Home Depot in your neighborhood where the day laborers hang out in the morning to get work?

    2. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      This kind of reminds me of longshoremen having to turn up at the docks every morning and stand on the stones just for a chance to get picked to work that day, with no guarantee that you would be working tomorrow. At least Amazon is providing health benefits, but I've heard horror stories about working for them, both in the warehouses and in technology positions.

      Companies hold job fairs all the time, especially if they have a large number of openings, such as ramping up a new facility. Don't see why you are so worried. Maybe people are turning out in droves to Amazon because, while the pay might not be great, it's a strong, stable company which means you are more likely to have a stable job. Plus, (as you basically admit) most jobs at those wages don't offer healthcare-and with all the fuss in DC right now, the opportunity to get healthcare if you are lower income cannot be passed up, as who knows how long Obamacare will last.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    3. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      I've heard that you basically don't get a lunch break working in their warehouses. Because your lunch break is only 30 minutes, you can only eat in the break room, and most people work so far away from the break room that it would take over thirty minutes to walk there and back--so no one gets to eat for their shift.

      I've also heard that the temperatures in their warehouses can get insanely hot in the summer, since they apparently don't bother air-conditioning them, even in the deep south.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    4. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by ErichTheRed · · Score: 1

      Of course there is, but that's a much smaller swath of the population than will be showing up for work at Amazon once any other means of earning an income dries up. Amazon must realize the position they're in...they're free to abuse their workers as much as they want because there's 9,000 others waiting in line for the job.

      An analogy from the tech world is video game companies abusing and burning out their employees. So many people want to break into the "exciting world" of game development that they'll sacrifice their personal health for it and work as many 120 hour work weeks as their employers tell them to. Because if they don't, thousands of starry-eyed new grads are just waiting for the opportunity.

    5. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      So many people want to break into the "exciting world" of game development that they'll sacrifice their personal health for it and work as many 120 hour work weeks as their employers tell them to.

      I was a professional video game tester for six years. I never worked more than 60 hours per week. The only tester I knew who consistently worked 120 hours a week was a guy worked six months as a tester and took 24 units at college for six months. That's an insane way to work through school.

    6. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.

      Yes there is. Single payer. It's ridiculous the US spends so much money on such mediocre healthcare. Why pay all this money to insurance companies who then turn around, keep some of the money, pay the remainder to the hospitals, then leave us to pay even more money to the hospitals? It makes much more sense to pay money to the government who can then pay the hospitals for us. Bonus points for no more chargemasters, no more different prices for insured/uninsured, 2 hospitals a block away charging vastly different amounts for the same procedures. When the government pays it can control the prices.

      And before you argue anything, you don't hear about places with single payer such as the UK or Europe with shortages of doctors, do you? The government can still set prices so that doctors and hospitals make a profit, but there is no reason to unnecessarily give profits to middlemen like the insurance companies. You might end up paying a little more in taxes than you do in premiums, but with no more copays, no deductibles, etc you would very quickly come out ahead. Healthcare has to be done at the national level or you will inevitably end up with massive disparities in quality of care between states.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    7. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by ErichTheRed · · Score: 1

      Why? Medicare has millions of people in the system, they're all old and sick, but they've all been paying into their insurance through payroll for decades. It makes sense that they're more efficient. You don't have a massive corporate bureaucracy trying to deny coverage at every turn -- doctors and hospitals just submit fee-for-service bills and the plan pays almost automatically. Private doctors don't like the rates they pay, but at least they pay without questions. And with millions of insured patients, something like universal Medicare would be able to cover the basics and negotiate cheaper rates for things like prescriptions which are insane.

      An example from the private sector is my personal situation -- I work for a multinational company that only has about 900 employees in the US and our health insurance is awful as a result - high deductibles, small networks of physicians, all sorts of crazy rules, etc. My wife works for a much bigger employer with about 25,000 employees and we pay a lot less for better coverage as a result. It's not without problems - there are still crazy rules and they try to wiggle out of paying for anything non-routine until you put up something of a fight, but it is decent.

    8. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by Falos · · Score: 1

      Disposables. Burn and churn.

      It's just good business. Self-optimizing systems trying to squeeze onto the capitalism glacier. It literally makes the most sense to push your work conditions until they're shitty enough that you're able to take advantage of the eight student loans, four immigrants, and unconvicted "felon" waiting outside. All in short order, to make room for more. We haven't had working AC since 1997 and they're lined up around the block to get in, lol.

      Yes, it's disgusting. We don't even treat machines this way. Run it as hot as you can, even when it's creaking and cracking, run it until it breaks.

      But it's optimal. And won't stop until otherwise. We have incentivized this and the system answered.

    9. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by G00F · · Score: 1

      Thats because you're probably driving by after they have been picked up.

      Seriously drive by 6-7am you should see half dozen on up guys looking for work, not just the stereotypical immigrants. Far side of the parking lot under a tree.

      It may be my imagination but seams there is less of them since trumps been in office.

      --
      The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive
    10. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      You "worked" 60 hours per week, and probably spent 20 hours of that spamming affiliate links on web forums.

      When I was a video game tester for three years, I was taking care of roommate who was dying from ALS disease. When I was a lead video game tester for three years, I was working 60 hours, taking two classes at night and teaching Sunday school.

      Thanks for sharing, creimer. Your story is a true cautionary tale.

      Thanks for being a troll, wanker. Your contribution to Slashdot is priceless.

    11. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      Since I, and millions like me, will fight tooth-and-nail against you when it comes to that. Then NO. There isn't a one-size-solution.

      You want single payer? OK. Do it in your state. The f**king travesty that is Obamacare comes from people trying to force their idea on everyone. That's why states have power. In the US the states are not administrative units of the Federal Government. They are their own entity. You want single payer? Good for you. Pass it in your state. Show me that it works.

      You try to make it nation-wide and I will unite with others to stop you.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    12. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      The f**king travesty that is Obamacare comes from people trying to force their idea on everyone.

      No, the travesty of Obamacare is that they are still forcing everyone to purchase health insurance. Cut out the insurance companies and healthcare costs drop immediately, simply because you are no longer paying the middleman. Why would you fight tooth and nail for the opportunity to pay one company money monthly just so you can pay another company a little less money? It makes much more sense to pay one time (or rather monthly in the form of taxes) and then not have to pay again. Insurance companies have to worry about profit (well, really they don't because they make a metric shit ton and have customers literally forced to pay them), the government doesn't. It's simple math. But too many people have been indoctrinated either through libertarianism (all government bad!) or the Republican party (anything that even resembles Socialism is evil!).

      The reality is, there are certain things that simply makes sense to be run by the federal government: defense, tax collection, and support programs such as Social Security/Medicare/healthcare in general. Otherwise you eventually end up with wealthy states with top of the line healthcare and poorer states letting people die in ditches. When disparity like that gets bad enough, that's when you end up with civil war.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    13. Re: Echoes of the Depression era by Dripdry · · Score: 1

      The problem is how much money is locked up in the stock market/assets/companies. Billions/trillions of dollars need to be liquidated, honestly (financial guy here), and it will totally destroy the current engine of capitalism momentarily. It's a game if chicken: which will break first, the people (revolt from being bled of $$ to fund the stock market/assets increases) or companies which eventually crash, wiping out all the labor that was put in to create those "dollars"
      Labor /money is just a fiction, and I fear we're eventually headed for a nasty showdown (as money is concentrated at a geometric rate into the hands of a few) unless some more capital is returned to the average person. Too Big To Fail is just the start.

      --
      -
    14. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      If you don't do the same, then you'll be replaced - and you were.

      No, I resigned. After I got my certifications (A+/Network+/MCP) and graduated with my A.S. degree in computer programming, I went into IT Support. That was the last time I ever had to work more than 40 hours per week for a single employer because my employment contracts prohibited me from working overtime. I made more money in IT Support in 40 hours than I did as a video game tester in 60 hours.

      [...] but don't pretend that it was a good career decision, or led to a happy and successful IT career - it demonstrably has not.

      I don't have a problem with my IT Support career. If you stop bitching about it, everyone else will be better off.

    15. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      Well. I'm one of those indoctrinated through libertarianism (I'm also an indoctrinator.). Yes, the nanny-state is bad; it is tyranny; and I have, and will continue to fight against it. So now, you're forced to fight millions to get single-payer instead of simply getting it for those who want to partake in it.

      Millions of people could be off the "capitalist grid" if they chose to. What they prefer is to force their ideas upon everyone (Whether it's single-payer or something else.). They point to the rousing success of Venezuela -- until it collapses and then they go "well they did it wrong...."

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    16. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      Well. I'm one of those indoctrinated through libertarianism (I'm also an indoctrinator.). Yes, the nanny-state is bad; it is tyranny; and I have, and will continue to fight against it.

      It's not a nanny state. There are a certain number of services that individuals cannot realistically provide to/for themselves in any efficient or effective way. That is where government steps in. And it's not nanny state. Nanny state is the government telling you where can and can't live, what you can eat, who you can marry, how to live your life. Providing services that actually allow people to live their lives is the role of government. Are you going to maintain your own internet, pave your own roads, run your own clean water to your house, and keep people from taking everything you have all by yourself? Good luck with all that. People like you are why there will never be a libertarian running this country. For you the only acceptable level of government is virtually no government at all. We've seen that. It's called Somalia.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    17. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      What we have a problem with is your denial of reality.

      All the made up bullshit on Slashdot? You really need to find a different hobby. Preferably on in the Real World.

    18. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      Start making it a PITA for employers to offshore.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    19. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by sethstorm · · Score: 1

      When disparity like that gets bad enough, that's when you end up with civil war.

      While you will lose.

      --
      Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
    20. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      I know you have a poor grasp of English and an even poorer grasp of logic... but you DO realize that you just answered that you make up bullshit on Slashdot? " You really need to find a different hobby." Why "a"? I have enough money to have several hobbies; I don't live at a subsistence level. "Preferably on in the Real World." By using capital letters, did you mean: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... A TV show? Again you seem to be implying that you are living a fantasy. Either that, or your poor grasp of English shows again!

      This is an example of the bullshit that needs to stop.

    21. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by GLMDesigns · · Score: 1

      Somalia is anarchy. There isn't rule of law; there isn't a government upholding a constitution with individual rights. So, this is a tired argument.

      It is government involvement in health care (along with higher education) that has caused much of the problems.

      - Insurance costs (for doctors) is a large expense. Much of it can be done away in heart beat with tort reform. The punishment for bad doctors should focus more on their being stripped of their license or jailed as opposed to higher tort fees. This would also eliminate a lot of the CYA tests.
      - Insurance should not cover everything. Give me an insurance that covers accidents and illness but not everything under the sun. If the government forced your gym to provide free massages of course the price of the gym would go up.
      - government forms and bureaucracy also adds a huge price. Before the doctor would write "dog bite." Now he fills out an IRS type form.
      - legalize drugs and pigeon-hole the sin taxes (along with taxes on alcohol and tobacco) for rehab

      There's a lot we can do.

      Again. You want single-payer? Do so. Get it done in your state and prove me wrong.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
    22. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      A job fair reminds you of longshoreman day workers? The rest of your post was garbage too.

    23. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Learn to quote, retard. It looks like your emotions got the better of you, again. Whenever you're exposed, or confronted to your own lies, you seem to fly off the handle which translates into more mangled English, or catastrophic failures like the above post. Remember this one? [slashdot.org] "Your insult is a pathetic. " Wow! " What are, 14? " I guess if you use a moron's voice, and speak loud enough, it might sound like an immigrant struggling with a simple English sentence. If he had brain damage too. So creimer, what are, retard?

      This is how you properly quote bullshit.

    24. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Seriously - the power to stop it is yours. Think of the trolls as Slashdot's immune system - they've detected something dangerous and harmful, and they have marked it as foreign, and they are doing their best to drive it away.

      Trolls are driving off everyone who cares about Slashdot. They're the disease, not the cure.

    25. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      The website that you continually proclaim "irrelevant"?

      Not since I turned Slashdot into my marketing fishbowl. The data has been quite fascinating.

      The same website that you spam daily in the hopes of making a few pennies?

      I'm making more than pennies on $3,000+ in Amazon sales each month.

    26. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      Assuming you're getting the highest commission of 8.5%, that's $255 a month.

      Coffee money, baby.

      If you spend one hour every weekday spamming your bullshit, that nets you about $12.75 per hour. If you're getting 4%, that's $120 a month, or $6 an hour.

      Keep in mind that I read and comment on Slashdot daily. The actual work of inserting a link is 15 minutes per day or eight hours per month.

      So yeah, you may be making more than pennies - but you're still not making as much as you could if you just went and applied at McDonald's part-time.

      Why would I get a part-time, minimum wage job that pays significantly less than what I make from my side business as a whole? That's not how you build wealth.

    27. Re:Echoes of the Depression era by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

      And last week you claimed $6500 over four months.

      April and May were $500 total, as I was figuring out the business model. June and July were $3,000 each.

      [...] you're on course to reach a svelte 180 lbs. in just another three and a half years.

      I'm expecting to weigh 325 pounds in January 2018, which was my bicycle weight when I rode 100 miles per week. Beyond that, who knows.

      Hope your weight loss works out, but don't even talk numbers until half a year later when you have semi-meaningful data.

      I weighed 357 pounds this morning, down 13 pounds in 13 weeks.

  5. Re:Dow 22000! by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    There are many people in Silicon Valley who live here and make minimum wage. I make $55K+ per year and lived here all my life. The people who are complaining about not making it on $150K per year are the same people who think they're entitled to a new home, the latest cars and all the tech toys that money can buy.

  6. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Just don't bother to apply if you're white. Everyone I know who works at my local Amazon center is black and has a bunch of black friends working there too (who also only hire other blacks). So apparently, Amazon don't like hiring them crackers. Probably helps them pad out their numbers so they can clam "diversity" and hope everyone ignores their all-white management.

  7. Re:Dow 22000! by ErichTheRed · · Score: 1

    "Only problem is that probably 70% of these people will probably fail the drug screening."

    I've read stories about this as well, where the few manufacturers left who are hiring can't find anyone. What I don't understand is why they can't just relax this requirement and/or pay more. Failing a drug screen doesn't automatically mean you're going to cause an accident or not show up to work. In my opinion it's a very puritanical move to lock people out who've done nothing wrong other than losing the IQ lottery. As a society we used to have work for these populations, and now they're broke and turning to drugs as an escape.

    Aren't most factories almost totally computer-controlled anyway and any humans are basically just machine-minders?

  8. Re:Dow 22000! by Khyber · · Score: 1

    "And again, it really isn't hard to beat the enzyme pre-employment tests. It just takes a couple of weeks of having some self-control"

    Or just grab a bottle (Canadian version) of Urine Luck and you can pass immediately (they don't watch you when you piss in the cup.)

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  9. Re:Dow 22000! by Ogive17 · · Score: 1

    I'm in Ohio - there are easily tens of thousands of jobs always open because they cannot find people to fill the position. All manufacturers have the same issue and it's been going on for the past 5 years.

    The issue is they cannot afford to have someone cause an accident while working and being under the influence at the same time. Drug tests are not good enough (while being quick and cheap) to know if the person smoked weed on Saturday night or 30 minutes before their shift began.

    The real issue is that people don't want to bust their ass 40+ hours per week for $12/hr because they know it may barely cover the bills... even in an area such as this that has relatively low living expenses. Who really wants to work that much per week and not at least have enough cash to be able to enjoy the weekends?

    --
    "Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
  10. Re: Health benefits? by darthsilun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    He said that he thinks they should only have to pay 12 a year, not that they already do.

    Making fun of Trump is really easy, how did you fuck this up so badly?

    Says the apparent new expert of fucking up badly.

    "But in one eyebrow-raising moment, Trump told the Times that health insurance costs about $1 per month when you're young. "Because you are basically saying from the moment the insurance, you’re 21 years old, you start working and you’re paying $12 a year for insurance, ..."[1]

    Actual Twitler word salad quote: "... Because you are basically saying from the moment the insurance, you’re 21 years old, you start working and you’re paying $12 a year for insurance,[2]

    And for good measure [3]

    It's pretty clear that he thinks (to the extent he actually thinks about anything) that insurance does cost 20-somethings only $12 per year. Not that he thinks that's what they should pay. That that's what they're paying today.

    Sending you back to seventh grade for a redo on reading comprehension.

    [1] http://fortune.com/2017/07/20/...
    [2] http://www.newsweek.com/donald...
    [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  11. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by Khyber · · Score: 1

    "Just don't bother to apply if you're white."

    Really? Both of my white neighbors work at Amazon.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  12. Re:That's the spirit! by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    $55K in SV? And being able to afford to live there? There's more to your story - if true - than you're letting on.

    You must be new around here. I live alone in a rent-controlled studio apartment in San Jose for 12 years. I take the express bus to work in Palo Alto. I typically put away 20% of my income into savings by living a modest lifestyle.

  13. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by bobbied · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seriously?

    If we are ever going to beat this racism thing, we've simply got to start ignoring people's race, both legally AND in practical day to day business matters. This applies to ALL sides of the question including discrimination AND affirmative action laws. Folks will have to drop their victimhood status along with those who think they are better by virtue of their race,

    MLK's dream was exactly this, judgment by the content of one's character, not the color of their skin.

    Of course, nobody cares what I (A middle age white dude) say on this subject because I'm not a member of a politically recognized group of victims...

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  14. Re:Dow 22000! by ErichTheRed · · Score: 1

    So wouldn't the solution be to just get rid of the onerous testing requirements? Assume the entire pool is tainted and just use your actual intuition to hire someone you feel is going to be reliable. Either that, or raise the pay to a level worth putting in the effort for.

    I've never touched drugs in my life but don't fault anyone for doing so, especially those who've went from stable middle-class work to scraping by on almost nothing. Back before it was easy and cheap to do drug testing, background checks and credit reports, employers had to go with their gut and decide for themselves if someone was going to be a good hire or not. Now, if you have any of these marks on your record there's almost no chance you'll be hired over someone who doesn't, and in this world of unstable finances and work situations, it's very easy to pick up one or more of these marks...way easier than it was in the past.

  15. blame by iampiti · · Score: 1

    " blaming Amazon for a shift to buying goods online".
    Well, It would have happened sooner or later. I don't want the physical stores to go away but the fact is that many of them just can't compete with online. And the fact is that I only buy in brick and mortar when I have to have something right now. That, and when buying food or clothes

  16. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here is the thing about computers and automation. They do not make your lives easier, they make them more difficult. Computers and robots are taking away the easy jobs, leaving the hard jobs, that requires more complex thinking, creativity and problem solving skills, and a wider range of movement. Where every day your job will be different.

    We cannot try to slow this down (AKA America First), we cannot really ignore the problem (AKA basic income). However there needs to be an effort to get people onto the fact that they need to change, because people can change faster then a computer can. This includes Training the employees, and changing businesses to allow people who do not have the experience to get in and build the experience.
     

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  17. Re:Dow 22000! by tsqr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Failing a drug screen doesn't automatically mean you're going to cause an accident or not show up to work.

    Of course not. It means you're statistically more likely to cause an accident or not show up for work. What it automatically means is, your employer is going to be saddled with higher insurance premiums, and that automatically means you won't get hired.

  18. Re:Dow 22000! by tsqr · · Score: 1

    Especially if I up my 401k contribution rate to 100% (which my current employer bizarrely offers)

    By Federal law, you're currently allowed to contribute a maximum of $18K/year ($24K/year if you're over 55), even if your employer says you can contribute your entire salary.

  19. Re:That's the spirit! by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    [...] you'd probably be paying 4 or 5 times the price for your apartment every month.

    I'm paying $200 per month less than market rate for renting a "luxury" apartment. Since my apartment complex was built before 1979, rent increases are limited to 5% per year.

  20. Re:Dow 22000! by Rockoon · · Score: 2

    The point of drug screening isnt to prove that the applicant doesnt do drugs. The point of drug screening is to prove that the application doesnt have such a big problem that they cant go without.

    You pass a drug screening by not doing drugs for a few weeks. If you cant do that then the drugs are more important to you than the job, and who wants to hire you then?

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  21. what about lower the full time hours & uping 2 by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    what about lower the full time hours and or upping 23K (is the new one still held up in court?) Minimum Salary for Exempt Employees

    Some places can call some one exempt pay them 25-30K for 60 hour weeks.

    Now lowering the full time mark can be an stop gap to universal basic income has more and more automation takes over and it can have less over head of make work in some cases.

    High turnover warehouse jobs with an high rate and lots of forced OT just leads to burn out / errors / people gaming the system or working unsafe to make rate.

    healthcare needs to be unlinked from the work place.

  22. exempt employee abuse is not just in tech / gamein by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    exempt employee abuse is not just in tech / gaming.

    In restaurants like dunkin donuts they want to pay an manger 35-40K to work 60+ hours just so they don't have to hire more hourly staff to cover all open hours and that manger is doing a lot of non manger stuff for a lot of the hours.

  23. Re:That's the spirit! by pnutjam · · Score: 1

    What do you consider the market rate? I see some as low as 1550 on apartments.com, which interestingly enough had a 1 bedroom in the 700 range, so seems like a scam.

    --
    Cheap storage VM.
  24. Re:Dow 22000! by Khyber · · Score: 3, Funny

    "You pass a drug screening by not doing drugs for a few weeks."

    That doesn't work for those of us who require medical cannabis for pain management. Let's see you attempt going one week in my condition without it, let alone three.

    Can't take opiates because of allergies.

    Can't have 'caine'-class painkillers because they cause heart arrhythmia in me.

    Prior research into sea cone snail venom toxins had to stop because the species that produced the compound of interest was endangered.

    If you think naproxen/ibuprofen/aceteminophen/aspirin even stands a chance against chronic neurological post-operative pain, you're deluded.

    So what fucking option do I have?

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  25. Re:Dow 22000! by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

    Sounds like the employers need to up their offer to attract better candidates.

    --
    Time to offend someone
  26. Re:Dow 22000! by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    To remind you once again, for what you do that's pathetic pay even in the Midwest.

    I'll remind you again... I'm working on a national project where 1,000+ people are getting paid $50K+ per year for the same job. Those who live out in the hills are making out like bandits. Those in the cities have to do a lot less with the same pay. On the bright side, I live in Silicon Valley and not San Francisco, New York City or Washington, D.C. Despite my "pathetic" pay, all my bills get paid every month.

    You forgot the "big kids and big wife" part of your rant, or have you finally phased that part out?

    Thanks for reminding me. Big wives and big kids are expensive in Silicon Valley. Trade them in for smaller models.

  27. Re: Health benefits? by ScentCone · · Score: 1, Troll

    Really? Our carrier says that no, without the Obamacare mandates requiring them to insure us against the costs of things that will never happen (we're not going to be having babies, for example), that no - they would not have quadrupled our premiums and quintupled our deductibles. The impact of Obamacare has been absolutely crushing, and pulls so much more of some family's monthly cash flow out of their pockets and into insurance they can't actually use, that they are now stuck paying for healthcare they can't have, and failing to meet other expenses while they're at it. Yeah, "Affordable" Health Care act indeed. Liberals are too afraid to simply call it what it is: a huge new tax on some people, to subsidize welfare-style care given to other people while reducing the care that the people actually footing the bill can get for themselves.

    But no, it wasn't a massive screw up. It's exactly what the Democrats wanted: fantastically higher prices and denial of services for a group of people they don't care about, and new entitlements to those that they assume will vote for them. The only screw up was how blatantly they lied about the ACA's consequences (you can keep your doctor and your plan! insurance will go down by $2500 per family! your insurance will only cost about as your mobile phone bill each month! it won't add to the deficit! ... and all of the other bald-faced lies they knew they were telling, and without which they wouldn't have been able to ram it through their political gamesmanship with a fifth of the country's economy on a 100% partisan basis).

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  28. Re:That's the spirit! by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    What do you consider the market rate? I see some as low as 1550 on apartments.com, which interestingly enough had a 1 bedroom in the 700 range, so seems like a scam.

    A rough rule of thumb is $1,500 for studio or one bedroom, and $1,000 for each additional bedroom. There are pockets of cheap housing throughout San Jose. The neighborhoods just might be rougher, off the beaten track and less desirable to young hipsters.

  29. Pathetic end result of unrestrained capitalism by JuliceMTL · · Score: 1

    "Although the wages offered will make it hard for some to make ends meet" ... and this is the company owned by the richest man on the planet. Pathetic end result of unrestrained capitalism. Pathetic!!

  30. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by thunderclees · · Score: 1

    It would be easy to make race irrelevant by simple stop asking for it and while your at it get rid of Affirmative Action and all of the other bennies that come along with being the "right" race like access to mortgages, promotions etc. etc. Until this is done there will always be a race issue in the US.

    MLK plagiarized both his speeches and his academic submissions but that does not invalidate the meaning of I have a dream.

  31. American jobs by thunderclees · · Score: 1

    I suppose this is evidence to the contrary that the US needs illegals because there are jobs Americans won't do.

  32. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

    Yup. Amazon is well into making picker robots that will pick items off the shelf and put them into the box. When they do, most of the warehouse jobs go away.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  33. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

    not as long as lenders discrimnate against equally qualified minorities.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story...

    http://www.denverpost.com/2016...

    and refuse to even call back equally qualified minorities for rentals and leases.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2015/0...

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  34. Re: Health benefits? by arth1 · · Score: 1

    I'm fairly certain he meant twelve thousand dollars, not twelve dollars.
    And that he don't see how that could be a problem.

  35. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by SB5407 · · Score: 1

    Serious question:

    You said that "computers and robots are taking away the easy jobs, leaving the hard [and complicated] jobs."

    And you went on to say: "We cannot try to slow this down (AKA America First), we cannot really ignore the problem (AKA basic income)."

    Then you talked about training.

    Are you therefore saying that instead of "America First", and instead of "basic income", we need to train people to be able to do the harder, more complicated jobs that are left as computers and robots take away the easy jobs?

    If so, as a Csci grad working a help desk, it seems clear to me that many people simply cannot do the more complicated jobs that will be left.

  36. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by jellomizer · · Score: 1

    The problem is a lot of people can do it. They were just told that going past the yellow line, is bad and you should get in trouble. I am sure much of your help desk users are not from pure stupidity but from people taking that one step beyond what they were told to do.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  37. Re:Dow 22000! by arth1 · · Score: 1

    So what fucking option do I have?

    Flupirtine, if not used long term but just for the worst days, combined with another non-NSAID for daily use.

  38. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by bobbied · · Score: 1

    Sure, this does still happen but when this happens, IT IS ALREADY ILLEGAL!

    We don't ne government to do anything about this except to ENFORCE the existing law that makes it illegal to discriminate based on race. If you have an example of people doing this, document the problem and call law enforcement and get it dealt with. IF law enforcement won't help you, call the state, call the feds, call your elected officials and tell them the law isn't being enforced. Tell your friends, call the news paper, TV and Radio outlets and even protest if you need too. If you live in North Texas, CALL ME, I'll do what I can to help you.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  39. Re: Health benefits? by whoever57 · · Score: 1

    Our carrier says that no, without the Obamacare mandates requiring them to insure us against the costs of things that will never happen

    Guess what? They are lying to you. If those things are never going to happen, then the cost to the insurance company is zero, so why put up the premiums for something that costs them nothing?

    If you mean something that will never happen to you but may happen to others, even that argument is specious, because those things will only happen to very few people, and, once again, the cost, when spread across all the policyholders, is insignificant.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  40. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by thunderclees · · Score: 1

    The CDO crisis was in part due to a soft deal between regulating agencies and the banks. The Fed would look the other way and banks woudl give out mortgages to minorities they knew could not pay them back. A lot of the minority bias in loans is hogwash as the numbers were fudged as a number of studies show: https://www.utdallas.edu/~lieb...

    However I do agree that decisions on loans should be financial and on history and be completely blind to race.

  41. Re: Health benefits? by ScentCone · · Score: 1, Insightful

    If your insurer is charging you premiums for things that you both know will never happen...

    You don't understand: they have no choice. The Democrats' ACA law REQUIRES them to provide me with coverage for maternity, drug treatment, and mental health problems whether or not our family wants or needs to be insured in those areas. 80-year-old NUNS have to buy insurance that covers the possibility of them having babies. This is why the Democrats' law is (as the Supreme Court found it to be) a tax, not insurance. I have to buy it, or face legal jeopardy. The insurers have to provide it, or face being shut down for violating the law.

    ... then something is seriously fucked up.

    Correct, it is. The law was deliberately crafted by the Democrats to create this exact situation, and of course it is unsustainable. They knew it when they wrote the bill and lied about it, and they know it now. They WISH the law had been repealed so that the collapse of what it forces on people wouldn't be on them. But it is.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  42. A sad situation by dhaen · · Score: 1

    Makes me think of times in the last century when people would line up in the hope of work for a day. There are bleak times ahead for us in the middle, when there will only be work for the unskilled (who have to do anything) and for the elite (who make a few decisions about the masses). I love what mechanisation and robotics has done for us but fear its future.

  43. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by geekmux · · Score: 1

    Here is the thing about computers and automation. They do not make your lives easier, they make them more difficult. Computers and robots are taking away the easy jobs, leaving the hard jobs, that requires more complex thinking, creativity and problem solving skills, and a wider range of movement. Where every day your job will be different.

    We cannot try to slow this down (AKA America First), we cannot really ignore the problem (AKA basic income). However there needs to be an effort to get people onto the fact that they need to change, because people can change faster then a computer can. This includes Training the employees, and changing businesses to allow people who do not have the experience to get in and build the experience.

    Here's the thing about computers and automation taking away the easy jobs, leaving only the complex jobs that require training and education. There's a damn good chance an easy job was your first job because it was the only kind of job you were qualified to do. There's a damn good chance an easy job was what helped pay for training and education to enable you to obtain a skilled job.

    Without easy jobs, there is no ladder of success to climb. There is no path to obtain the skills to qualify you for the only jobs left. Regarding change, Greed doesn't seem to care that it's exacerbating this inherent problem. Regarding people adapting, the problem with that is there are a lot of people who simply aren't intelligent enough to grasp a complex job. That's why they have an easy job. That's not meant to be demeaning, simply stating fact.

  44. Re: Health benefits? by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

    You are missing the concept of a risk pool. They know men and 80-year old nuns aren't going to have babies. They are assuming a specific percentage of the population will though (likely around 1.24% each year). Similar statistics cover other risks.

    Ultimately, the cost is fixed; ACA just spreads that cost out somewhat uniformly as a cost for society to bear. They do try to force preventative care to be included despite what some people may want from their plan, in the hopes they drive down the costs of serious care from people neglecting problems.

  45. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by geekmux · · Score: 1

    Yup. Amazon is well into making picker robots that will pick items off the shelf and put them into the box. When they do, most of the warehouse jobs go away.

    I find it rather strange that Greed cannot see the business impact that automation will ultimately create. Rather hard to maintain revenue streams when you've automated the masses out of employment, and no one can afford to buy your robot-delivered products.

    Of course, Greed is too fucking short-sighted to see this obvious problem...

  46. Re: Health benefits? by davester666 · · Score: 1

    Except the insurance company is also supposed to apply how likely the event is to happen to the cost of it happening.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  47. Re: Health benefits? by Quirkz · · Score: 1

    quadrupled our premiums and quintupled our deductibles

    I can't tell if you're speaking about yourself in solid numbers, or hand-waving in general? My experience with insurance is it's gone up a few percent every other year for the last 13 years, with not a lot of change in deductibles or coverage. In other words: no difference before or after.

    --
    The Quirkz Handbook of Self-Improvement for People Who Are Already Pretty Okay
  48. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

    I agree the CDO crisis was due to

    a) giving out mortgages to unqualified people of *all* races (but perhaps minorities at a higher rate).
    b) lying and saying that "A" class bonds mixed with bad mortgages were still "A" class.
    c) people (esp large funds, governments, etc.) being stupid and buying CDOs that paid 7% when "A" bonds paid 4% and assuming the risk was the same.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  49. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 1

    That's not how change works. The system, as it stands, discriminates at the very beginning. Black women have higher maternal mortality rates, schools in black neighbourhoods aren't as well funded, services are less available to black people, etc., etc.

    (Or from a Canadian perspective, First Nations people start incredibly disadvantaged; some reservations have been on boil water advisories for 20 years, and so on.)

    They're STARTING from a worse place. Affirmative action type programs are theoretically temporary. Once you've elevated enough of a disadvantaged class, it should be self sustaining, but nobody's there yet. Privilege endures.

    It's really disingenuous of you to use that MLK quote; he understood that you have to fight for equality, and that it isn't just handed to you. It doesn't just happen on its own, or he wouldn't have had to march and be thrown in jail or give speeches or be assassinated.

  50. Re: Health benefits? by ScentCone · · Score: 1

    Don't buy it, you face a monetary penalty. You dont get hauled to court, or prison.

    If you don't buy it, you face a monetary penalty. And that penalty is enforced by the IRS, with powers to garnish wages, seize property, and ultimately jail you if you don't pay what you owe plus the interest and penalties. Quite pretending your don't know how IRS enforcement works. That's the whole REASON the Democrats made the law something that the IRS controls, where the rubber meets the road. To frighten even people who can't possibly afford to buy this product into doing it anyway, or face federal legal consequences.

    I wont argue whether it is a tax or insurance

    Why would you? It's a tax. That's settled, after a trip through multiple courts. But unlike that small portion of your income tax that goes to discretionary spending (like on schools, or the Coast Guard), the Democrats wouldn't (and still won't) acknowledge that they designed a tax to be taken from just some people, and to be given as an entitlement to other people. Structurally. Permanently. It's a welfare tax and entitlement program, and that's just what they like, but they won't even use simple honest language when talking about it. Who do you find trying to convince you that the minority of people who may the vast majority of the income taxes in the country, some of which goes to things like military spending, isn't what it is? Be specific. Is it the Republicans who are telling you that your income tax and military spending are really something else? Perhaps you mis-heard what somebody said. Not to be confused with Obama, Pelosi, and Reid lying to their own party to convince people in their ranks to support the ACA by deliberately misrepresenting it as something that it wasn't.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  51. Re: Health benefits? by stinerman · · Score: 1

    Actually, its more likely that he's confusing health insurance with life insurance.

  52. Re: Health benefits? by ScentCone · · Score: 1

    Except the insurance company is also supposed to apply how likely the event is to happen to the cost of it happening.

    No, they cannot take that into account. That's part of the law's structure. Sorry! Your health or your likelihood to produce the huge costs associated with having cancer or having a baby can no longer impact them selling you insurance or how they price it. All prices are government approved. Each new huge premium increase is run past government insurance regulators. If the insurer says the math simply doesn't work, they have one option: leave. Which they are doing in droves, because this is causing them to lose billions of dollars unless they get bailed out by taxpayers.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  53. Re:what about lower the full time hours & upin by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    healthcare needs to be unlinked from the work place.

    That's how you get worse work.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  54. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    We cannot try to slow this down (AKA America First), we cannot really ignore the problem (AKA basic income). However there needs to be an effort to get people onto the fact that they need to change, because people can change faster then a computer can. This includes Training the employees, and changing businesses to allow people who do not have the experience to get in and build the experience.

    Actually you have a couple of the options mixed up. Basic income isn't ignoring the problem, it's setting the foundation for a long-term solution. Training and relocation is ignoring the problem. It's Wile E. Coyote running straight from the cannonball instead of stepping to the side. The cannonball represents artificial intelligence and the cartoon coyote represents an attempt to continually outsmart it, no matter how quickly it's advancing or how fast it will eventually become or how exhausting it is to keep the effort up. Jobs getting more scarce and demanding over time? Let them train and relocate and eat cake.

    Basic income sidesteps the problem of people continually having to make themselves smarter or more useful than AI and having to fight over the ever-dwindling number of jobs for such people while the owners of the means of production are pointlessly hyper-enriched until the economy collapses or some kind of atrocity is undertaken to correct it. If the economy is supposed to serve mankind, under these conditions it should be harnessed to do so via basic income. The only reason to disagree is if you worship it as a godlike AI that exists for its own purposes (whatever they may be) and that should not be interfered with.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  55. Re:Dow 22000! by Khyber · · Score: 1

    Flupirtine isn't an option because of bad liver function caused by my accident. Thanks for reminding me that existed, though, I should try recommending that to my mother and her doctor, since she has good liver function, doesn't drink, and uses Kratom instead of other opiates to control a lot of back and neck pain. A dose of that once every couple of weeks when she has a flare-up that kratom doesn't control should not be detrimental.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  56. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by bobbied · · Score: 1

    Oh, so you are for equal OUTCOME then? Look, I'm not discounting racism happens, I've seen it, it does. However, you simply cannot measure racism by outcome alone. What we want is equality in OPPERTUNITY, where all men (regardless of the circumstances of their birth) are equal in terms of law and thus opportunity. Not all are equal in ability or drive, which is why you cannot measure opportunity by outcome.

    MLK wasn't using the measuring stick of race, he was using the content of your character to measure others. This MUST be properly understood. People should be measured by their character, their effort, their intelligence, by what they produce and NOT by what they look like or what family, race, religion or gender they happen to be. (to extend MLK's dream beyond race). He didn't advocate equal outcome, but equal opportunity. And you produce equal opportunity between the races in law by making laws which are agnostic to race and enforcing them equally.

    Any attempt to equalize outcome is nothing more than socialism in disguise. Socialism is antithetical to our founding which was based on equality of opportunity and treatment under the law, which always leads to various levels of outcome due to variances in individual's character. Don't confuse opportunity with outcome, they are not the same in our system.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  57. Re:what about lower the full time hours & upin by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    or what the old 39.9 hour a week people who get no healthcare under the old system?

  58. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    I was just thinking today that the "thought processes" of the economy have very little perception of time. There is no past and very little future, just the present moment and short-term plans. I'm confident that if businesses could commit to a plan that would cause the earth to blow up in 5 years but would massively boost profits in the meantime, they would do it.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  59. Re: Health benefits? by ScentCone · · Score: 1

    Don't add all the drama to try to make it seem worse than it already is.

    I'm not ADDING drama, at all. I'm simply describing the thing the way it actually is, instead of trying to obfuscate it the way that the Democrats did when they wrote it, and the way they continue to do now while attempting to explain that it's really just fine. They can't talk honestly about it, ever. When the CBO says that 20 million people who are currently being forced to buy expensive insurance programs would promptly CHOOSE stop doing so if they weren't required to by the Democrats' law, they Democrats refer to those people likely being anxious to jump ship as "having their health care taken away." Which is pure nonsense. But that's exactly the sort of disingenuous crap that sold the law in the first place, and which is being used to falsely villify anyone who even dares to suggest that the whole thing is a disaster and must be structurally, fundamentally altered.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  60. Re:what about lower the full time hours & upin by sethstorm · · Score: 1

    It's now been replaced with 29.9 hours and contractor abuse.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  61. Re: Health benefits? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

    because those things will only happen to very few people

    Pregnancy is not so rare.

  62. Re: Health benefits? by whoever57 · · Score: 1

    Pregnancy is certainly rare in certain age groups. For example, if you are over 50, the chance of pregnancy is so small, that providing coverage for it is insignificant.

    And, yes, under Obamacare, people of different ages can be charged different amounts, so the cost of providing pregnancy coverage to 80-year old NUNS is effectively zero.

    It's like car insurance, except that, with car insurance, the young get to pay higher premiums because their chance of making a claim is much higher. That's how insurance works.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  63. Amazon and the Long Tail by Residentcur · · Score: 1
    The convenience of online shopping is of course one reason for its popularity. But for me, it's the availability of hard-to-find items that brings me back again and again. After scouring Home Depot and OSH for something that they should but don't carry (or claim on their web page to carry), it's not hard to decide the hell with it and wait the two days for just what I wanted to show up on my doorstep.

    This phenomenon is referred to as "the long tail," a reference to the part of a Gaussian curve of product availability that lies outside of the center where most brick and mortar retailers concentrate.

    It's amazing to be able to find, usually at a reasonable price, nearly anything one can imagine and come up with search terms for.

  64. Re: Health benefits? by whoever57 · · Score: 1

    No, they cannot take that into account. That's part of the law's structure.

    You individually, correct. You part of a larger pool of people your age, certainly.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  65. Re: Health benefits? by whoever57 · · Score: 1

    I'm not ADDING drama, at all. I'm simply describing the thing the way it actually is,

    No, you are just repeating the lies you have heard from the right-wing media outlets. You are not describing the way it is.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  66. Re:Dow 22000! by Rockoon · · Score: 1

    That doesn't work for those of us who require medical cannabis for pain management.

    A substance that is still illegal. It isnt even legal for a doctor to prescribed it.

    The same people that think that States have a say in the legality of marijuana are the same people that claim that States dont have a say pretty much every other time that the federal government bans something (ie: Democrats)

    So what fucking option do I have?

    Seems unfair. Life aint fair tho. Other people dont have to change their behavior because of your special case. If you think they do, then you really are a special case.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  67. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by bobbied · · Score: 1

    You cannot be serious...

    Trump won because he appealed to people OUTSIDE the party, ostensibly the middle of the road political folks. He also won because of Hillary, who was such a bad candidate that she lost even after the "Access Hollywood" tapes dropped within weeks of the election. Then there is the whole racial perspective on this where democrats ran a white woman to follow the black man into the presidency and I'm pretty sure that suppressed the democratic turnout in some key places and allowed Trump to pick up states on narrow margins to pick up electoral votes and win.

    Seriously, Trump didn't really win this on his merits, Realistically he should have lost hands down. What happened is Hillary was such a bad candidate, ran such a bad campaign that SHE LOST despite being a shoe in for the win. Surely you see this. And don't forget this is coming from what you describe as a "White middle aged snowflake"... Hillary was the worst possible candidate I could imagine and ran a horrible campaign who lost to the second worst possible candidate I could think of. She got cocky, drank her own kool-aid and lost because she didn't think she had to put any effort into it.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  68. Re:Dow 22000! by strikethree · · Score: 1

    So what fucking option do I have?

    Hm. It seems to me that according to most Puritans you are very blessed. Pain brings you closer to God. Pain is good in that it removes most of the 7 deadly sins from your consciousness.

    The people who are not such extreme in their Puritanical views think you should just die and stop bothering them with your whining.

    The actual answer you will receive is that nobody gives a fuck if you are in pain and your pain is not a justification to opening the door to possible casual use of marijuana.

    From me personally, to you personally, I have compassion for you and your condition and wish I could help. I did vote for legalizing medical marijuana so hopefully that helps you feel a bit better. Good luck. I hope the doctors can find (lol, yeah right, they won't even try) the root cause of your pain and address it directly.

    --
    "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  69. Re:Well, ain't no point in working brick and morta by thunderclees · · Score: 1

    Yes, they were paying S&P and Moodys millions to grade the CDOs as AAA when they were full of crap.
    A lot of people got caught because water shed funds, pensions and other funds that only buy AAA picked these up automatically or as part of a larger package.
    No one notices that people were speculating on the bubble when they were getting these ridiculous balloon mortgages on 5 houses when they could not afford the mortgage on one?

  70. Expel Indians by NewYork · · Score: 1

    Expel Indians to get back your Jobs http://www.petition2congress.c...

    --
    Casteism
  71. Re: Health benefits? by ScentCone · · Score: 1

    So, let's get this straight: you think that the ACA does NOT require you to buy insurance or pay a fine if you do not. You think that the imposition of that fine and the enforcement of its collection is NOT the responsibility of the IRS. Please, do tell, how these things are handled, instead, in your imaginary world? Details, please, all about your alternate reality. Can't wait to hear how it is you're subject to a different law than the rest of us. Looking forward to the specifics.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.