When the candidates and their toadies tell us how many jobs they will 'create', I want to spit in their stupid lying faces.
The reason the recovery has been slow is because the jobs are gone.
Mort Zuckerman has stated that the industrial base of the 1950's & 1960's has been reduced by 90% and that those jobs are never coming back. Is he correct? If so, why? The candidates should be talking about that.
Pat Buchanan has stated that 50,000 factories with 5.5 million jobs have been transferred abroad. The Americans who worked those jobs did not go abroad. They are still here, and jobless for the most part. Is he correct? If so, why? The candidates should be talking about that.
The American economy has been looted by the multinational corporations. Traitors couldn't have done more damage to our nation.
“If the Golden Rule were generally observed among us, the economy would not last a week. We have made our false economy a false god, and it has made blasphemy of the truth. So I have met the economy in the road, and am expected to yield it right of way. But I will not get over. My reason is that I am a man, and have a better right to the ground than the economy. The economy is no god for me, for I have had too close a look at its wheels. I have seen it at work in the strip mines and coal camps of Kentucky, and I know it has no moral limits.”
Wendell Berry (Hat Tip, John Pattison)
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Showing posts with label capitalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label capitalism. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
When buying gas didn't hurt.
Around 50 or so years ago, it was not a disagreeable experience to pull into a gas station for a fill-up. You may think I am referring to the price of gasoline then but no. After all, everything was less expensive than today.
No, I recall for your consideration that, as a rule, the following took place with every sale at the pump. You did not have to leave your car. You had already driven over an air hose which activated a bell inside to alert workers that a customer was at the pumps. You were greeted at your car door and asked how much and what kind of gas you required. While the gas was being pumped into your car's tank, the employee cleaned your front and rear windshields, and raised your hood to check the oil, water, and battery. For FREE. At sale conclusion you paid the employee money for the gas. If you were due change from your payment, he walked it out to you and thanked you for your business.
Another curtesy available to any driver was to have the air in the tires checked. For FREE, although a tip was usually proffered unless the driver decided to check tire pressure himself.
If a motorist was planning a trip, one could walk inside the station and find a display of road maps for a dozen or so states as well as a national highway map. All maps were FREE.
Once upon a time (as they say in fairy tales) such courtesies described above were considered good business. Retailers sought customers by being agreeable and offering advantages designed to cause customers to return. This attitude was spread out through many business enterprises at that time.
In the 1970's things began to change. Business people decided that America wasn't a society anymore. We were an empire, a global mover and shaker. All type of markets were available and huge profits could be had without the close attention to detail and customer satisfaction previously seen as important to the bottom line. Accounting and marketing replaced the social and moral values of community enterprise. The stockholder replaced the customer as the focus of attention.
Another feature that was lost in this change, albeit inadvertently, was the disappearance of jobs. Many teenage boys found part-time work at gas stations where they earned money and learned responsibility.
Finally, please don't call this nostalgia. We still have cars that need gas. We still have stations to provide the gas. There is no reason why the same curtesies and amenities we once enjoyed could not be reinstated today.
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No, I recall for your consideration that, as a rule, the following took place with every sale at the pump. You did not have to leave your car. You had already driven over an air hose which activated a bell inside to alert workers that a customer was at the pumps. You were greeted at your car door and asked how much and what kind of gas you required. While the gas was being pumped into your car's tank, the employee cleaned your front and rear windshields, and raised your hood to check the oil, water, and battery. For FREE. At sale conclusion you paid the employee money for the gas. If you were due change from your payment, he walked it out to you and thanked you for your business.
Another curtesy available to any driver was to have the air in the tires checked. For FREE, although a tip was usually proffered unless the driver decided to check tire pressure himself.
If a motorist was planning a trip, one could walk inside the station and find a display of road maps for a dozen or so states as well as a national highway map. All maps were FREE.
Once upon a time (as they say in fairy tales) such courtesies described above were considered good business. Retailers sought customers by being agreeable and offering advantages designed to cause customers to return. This attitude was spread out through many business enterprises at that time.
In the 1970's things began to change. Business people decided that America wasn't a society anymore. We were an empire, a global mover and shaker. All type of markets were available and huge profits could be had without the close attention to detail and customer satisfaction previously seen as important to the bottom line. Accounting and marketing replaced the social and moral values of community enterprise. The stockholder replaced the customer as the focus of attention.
Another feature that was lost in this change, albeit inadvertently, was the disappearance of jobs. Many teenage boys found part-time work at gas stations where they earned money and learned responsibility.
Finally, please don't call this nostalgia. We still have cars that need gas. We still have stations to provide the gas. There is no reason why the same curtesies and amenities we once enjoyed could not be reinstated today.
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Thursday, March 24, 2011
American Capitalism isn't working
Lower wages and lower labor costs are desirable goals.
Lower prices are not a desirable goal. That's labeled 'deflation.'
Most people are required to borrow to buy what they need.
A policy of pay-as-you-go is not possible for most people, including the various governmental entities.
The so-called Law of Supply and Demand isn't working, viz., the oil market.
An economy that grows vigorously is preferred to an economy that grows slowly while remaining stable.
A 'higher' Standard of Living is preferred to a sensible Standard of Living.
It is wrong to 'make work' but it is good to take work away.
When labor costs are reduced, prices continue to rise.
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Lower prices are not a desirable goal. That's labeled 'deflation.'
Most people are required to borrow to buy what they need.
A policy of pay-as-you-go is not possible for most people, including the various governmental entities.
The so-called Law of Supply and Demand isn't working, viz., the oil market.
An economy that grows vigorously is preferred to an economy that grows slowly while remaining stable.
A 'higher' Standard of Living is preferred to a sensible Standard of Living.
It is wrong to 'make work' but it is good to take work away.
When labor costs are reduced, prices continue to rise.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Friday, October 29, 2010
Corporate Overreach
The pricing of automobile repair is established by coded standards based on units of time. The labor costs based on these units of time are in excess of the actual time required. The system rounds upward the unit of time, usually in 15 minute increments. A 5 minute task will be charged 15 minutes. A 35 minute task will be charged 45 minutes. These charges start with a base labor cost of 60 minutes, due, I suppose, for the work required to start the process. Some call it a ‘hedge factor’ to offset possible losses in the estimate.
Added to these labor costs is the material cost of parts which is fixed at a straight 100% mark-up.
When the repairs are finished and billed, the customer finds at the bottom of the invoice, as a percentage of the subtotal for material and labor, a figure for ‘Shop Costs’, ie, rags, hand cleaner, paper floor mats, etc. This add-on percentage will run from 10% to 25% of the subtotal for material and labor.
I submit that the policy of coded pricing is a form of price control. I further submit that the Shop Cost add-on is passing the cost of normal overhead on to the customer. This is not free market capitalism. It is despotic capitalism and works only for the benefit of the corporate state.
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Added to these labor costs is the material cost of parts which is fixed at a straight 100% mark-up.
When the repairs are finished and billed, the customer finds at the bottom of the invoice, as a percentage of the subtotal for material and labor, a figure for ‘Shop Costs’, ie, rags, hand cleaner, paper floor mats, etc. This add-on percentage will run from 10% to 25% of the subtotal for material and labor.
I submit that the policy of coded pricing is a form of price control. I further submit that the Shop Cost add-on is passing the cost of normal overhead on to the customer. This is not free market capitalism. It is despotic capitalism and works only for the benefit of the corporate state.
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