[Timo]

People are being forced from their jobs by automation. It's cheaper to buy a machine to do a man's work instead of paying that man, or several men, to do that job. People are just too complicated to keep employed, what with all those unnecessary fringe benefits like wages and raises, and health care insurance, and working hours, and safe working conditions, and time off, and calling in sick, and those pesky unions with all their demands for the common, lowly worker. It's much easier and cheaper to make a profit in business if you just cut out the 'people' part of the equation and simply buy a robot or a computer. Robot's work for nothing (other than the cost of electricity, and that's still cheap!), and that enables me to compete with those billions of 3rd world workers who will work for a whole lot less than 1st world workers. That's what's called capitalism -exploiting available resources for maximum profit. Humans are a resource, plain and simple, and they've outlived their usefullness in a capitalistic world. I don't need postal workers. I've got e-mail! I don't need a shopping mall. I've got the internet! If we could just get rid of all those pesky unemployed people living in ther cars, this world would be perfect! Oh, i did do the noble charity thing and offer jobs to three of those homeless people to be my personal servants at my house in the Hamptons. It was the least i could do for my fellow man. Truly, the least i could do.

[Serial_Worrier]

What we've come to.

[careinke]

I witnessed something the other day, that was just wrong on so many levels, it made a real impact on me.
We were in a Walmart that had just been upgraded to a Super Walmart (they had crab pots on sale). There was a lady three people in front of me with her husband and six, (yes six) kids. Her husband looked like he worked out doors well muscled and weather worn. Both of them maybe 30 or so.

After her stuff was wrung up and she tried to use her debit card, the card was rejected for insufficient funds. So she started returning items from her cart. She gave back a box of Eggos, and then some hair conditioner and other cosmetic products, a box of pop tarts and another box of cereal. Then she tried the card again, still no luck.

All this time she was apologizing profusely. She then said she needed to go to a cash machine and asked where the one in the store was. When the cashier told her, she left the lane and went to the cash machine. Meanwhile one guy in front of me had enough and went to another line. By this time I was intrigued, so I decided to stay and watch the show. While she was gone the husband just stood there looking sheepish.

When she got back she had enough money to pay for her reduced load of goods. She had some new bills and some old ones. I assume she did not have enough money in the bank, but did have enough if she used her available cash on hand and took the difference from the cash machine. Again she kept apologizing. The cashier was a very young man and the epitome of patience.

After witnessing this I was pretty melancholy. Amazingly when I was leaving the parking lot, she was in an old van in front of me. As we approached the exit, there was a homeless person on the corner with a will work for food sign. She pulled over out of her way and handed a bag of food to the man then left.

Since witnessing that, I have to wonder:

1. Why couldn’t the women figure out she didn’t have enough money before she went through the checkout stand?
2. Why didn’t she have the knowledge to know she could make waffles way cheaper than buying Eggos?
3. Why did she have six kids?
4. Why does our school system teach everyone to go to college but very little practical living skills.

To be honest, I felt sorry for the young lady. She seems to have a very hard life, yet a little knowledge could improve her lot greatly. She was obviously not a bad person. Sad.

[Timo]

Waaaaay back when i was a kid in school, I remember when 'Home Economics' was all about sewing and cooking. You know, the 'girls' class. Boys took Industrial Arts. We chose to ignore the word 'Arts" in the name.

Do schools still teach these classes? Petty sexism aside, in retrospect, they actually taught some valuabe living skills. I wasn't much for rebuilding ICE for lawnmowers, but i sure could've used that other class the first time i ever tried to balance my checkbook. Ditto for that woman at Walmart.

Oh well. If her parents had been smart, they would have sent her to a private school instead of a government public school. We should just de-fund all public schools and make all education private or home-schooled. That will effectively remove any public accountability to the public at large. Why should i be forced to pay for a service that i can't control?

[Timo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrestonSturges', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'T')he Grapes of Wrath was an industrial/ecologic collapse.

[dsula]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('cephalotus', '
')I relation to other expensese a minimum of welfare to everyone is just peanuts and I assume that you get the money back several times if those people get a good paying job again. In my opinion it's plain stupid to let people slip into desperation.

Btw, I also wonder why none of their friends and relatives offer them a room in their home?

[Timo]

Your thinking kind of debunks my long held belief that less advanced civilizations won't necessarily be subjected to more pain given fewer resources available. My thinking has always been "The higher they climb, the harder they fall." As a hypothetical (or maybe practical) example, if a civilization never develops automobile dependence, they won't be injured as hard when gas prices rise as opposed to those countries that are completely dependent on their cars for everything they do. But, clearly, as you've demonstrated, this isn't always the case.

[Outcast_Searcher]

Or it's people who continually make really really bad decisions about money. (People who I observe directly and frequently, as I provide them with temp jobs and TRY to get them to plan ahead).

But better to whine about the 1% and a lack of empathy. That makes people feel SO much better, even as they smoke, drink, party, and buy stupid things to ensure their continuing economic plight. SO much better to have a boogeyman to blame!

[Lore]

Yeah, you'd almost believe its a conspiracy by the 1% to keep everyone else fat, happy and stupid for their benefit.

[argyle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', 'I') witnessed something the other day, that was just wrong on so many levels, it made a real impact on me.
We were in a Walmart that had just been upgraded to a Super Walmart (they had crab pots on sale). There was a lady three people in front of me with her husband and six, (yes six) kids. Her husband looked like he worked out doors well muscled and weather worn. Both of them maybe 30 or so.

After her stuff was wrung up and she tried to use her debit card, the card was rejected for insufficient funds. So she started returning items from her cart. She gave back a box of Eggos, and then some hair conditioner and other cosmetic products, a box of pop tarts and another box of cereal. Then she tried the card again, still no luck.

All this time she was apologizing profusely. She then said she needed to go to a cash machine and asked where the one in the store was. When the cashier told her, she left the lane and went to the cash machine. Meanwhile one guy in front of me had enough and went to another line. By this time I was intrigued, so I decided to stay and watch the show. While she was gone the husband just stood there looking sheepish.

When she got back she had enough money to pay for her reduced load of goods. She had some new bills and some old ones. I assume she did not have enough money in the bank, but did have enough if she used her available cash on hand and took the difference from the cash machine. Again she kept apologizing. The cashier was a very young man and the epitome of patience.

After witnessing this I was pretty melancholy. Amazingly when I was leaving the parking lot, she was in an old van in front of me. As we approached the exit, there was a homeless person on the corner with a will work for food sign. She pulled over out of her way and handed a bag of food to the man then left.

Since witnessing that, I have to wonder:

1. Why couldn’t the women figure out she didn’t have enough money before she went through the checkout stand?
2. Why didn’t she have the knowledge to know she could make waffles way cheaper than buying Eggos?
3. Why did she have six kids?
4. Why does our school system teach everyone to go to college but very little practical living skills.

To be honest, I felt sorry for the young lady. She seems to have a very hard life, yet a little knowledge could improve her lot greatly. She was obviously not a bad person. Sad.