Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329185)

A GREAT week would be $400 for each player. But an average week was a hundred bucks. We had a 5 piece band and 3 man road crew. We stayed 4 to a motel room and unless you found a girl to feed you, we ate bologna sandwiches.

But we made it. And never ONCE asked for any "public assistance". I'd say the people working at Walmart have it made compared to what we did. And we didn't get days off...we played (and drove from town to town) 7 days a week, every week.

Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329185)

Anyway...do you have a link to the statistics on Walmart employees needing "public assistance"??? I was unaware that folks who had jobs could even do that.

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 19329230)

Lots of TV news stories ?. Here are a couple from print.

"Green told the crowded church how in her tenure with Wal-Mart, she's received two raises and is now a manager. She makes $9 an hour ($1 above the laughably-low California minimum wage). She pulled from her pocket three cards she claimed most Wal-Mart employees at her store have: a 10-percent Wal-Mart employee discount card, her employee ID and her EBT card (what used to be called food stamps).
'

Read more: The Herald-Sun - Let s kick Wal Mart off welfare http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_s...rt-off-welfare

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A 2012 article but quoting a study from 2004 that by now has gotten much worse. In 2004 Walmart workers? reliance on public assistance programs cost California taxpayers $86 million annually

"The U.C. Berkeley Labor Center crunched the numbers in 2004 and found that Walmart workers? reliance on public assistance programs cost California taxpayers $86 million annually. The families of Walmart workers used 38 percent more non-health benefits?food stamps, subsidized school lunches?than the families of employees of other large retailers."

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/pres...rt_mar12.shtml

Figure in these assistance programs and then think if anyone saved money shopping at the nations largest retailer.

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Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329185)

My daughter has a boyfriend whose mom works at Wal-Mart. She's not on "public assistance".

What are the numbers on that? I've known a lot of people who worked at WalMart over the years who would come out on weekends and see me playing in my band at bars.
They weren't on "public assistance".

Doesn't WalMart have to at least pay minimum wage?

Jesus, people get a job and STILL want to be coddled? I don't get it. I played in bands (never had a "real" job) and we traveled all over the country from 1978 to the mid 1990's.

A GREAT week would be $400 for each player. But an average week was a hundred bucks. We had a 5 piece band and 3 man road crew. We stayed 4 to a motel room and unless you found a girl to feed you, we ate bologna sandwiches.

But we made it. And never ONCE asked for any "public assistance". I'd say the people working at Walmart have it made compared to what we did. And we didn't get days off...we played (and drove from town to town) 7 days a week, every week.

Anyway...do you have a link to the statistics on Walmart employees needing "public assistance"??? I was unaware that folks who had jobs could even do that.

Originally Posted by _Richard_ (Post 19329241)

9 per hour as a manager? jesus

Originally Posted by PR_Tom (Post 19329183)

Yeah, just don't work there. It's not their fault that you work there.

This is of course why UNIONS were created and formed what we call the middle class in America, but fuck it. Just quit, you idiots.

Originally Posted by BlackCrayon (Post 19329040)

there are some people are just not bright enough to do skilled work. they have learning disablities, fetal alcohol syndrom, slight retarded, etc. in the past these people were able to find decent paying jobs and be a part of society but in the ever growing elimination of these jobs, they are destined to be on social assistance for life.

the ironic thing about all this is, people want to take more and more money out of education, grants, scholarships, etc yet want everyone to somehow be magically skilled at whatever jobs happen to be plentiful at the time. you gotta get them educated while they are young or else, they're doomed. try training a 50 year old guy who was doing the same thing for the past 30 years. they don't take to it well. if society wants a skilled workforce, they have to help out a bit.

Originally Posted by tony286 (Post 19329259)

I assume you know making $400 is 1978 and making $400 a week now are two very different things. My parents when they first were married would talk about once my dad made $250 they would be set.
Also you were doing that with the hope of becoming a star so it was sacrifice.The guys in Van Halen lived on catsup and hot water. No one works at walmart with the hope of being star. its the hope to survive. Especially if you are in your 40's or 50's and no one else wants you.

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 19329262)

That's $1,500 a month. Less taxes, rent, utilities, food, transportation, car insurance, etc. Numbers just don't work so my tax dollars are supposed to come to the rescue so she can survive and continue to make walmart billions in profit?

Anyone not looking at it in this way is deceiving themselves.

Originally Posted by Rochard (Post 19329235)

They say this about the military too at the lower ranks. Basic pay for a Private in the Army is $20k a year. That sounds like crap, but when you factor in he (she) doesn't pay for housing, medical, power, water, garbage, etc etc etc etc... And that's plenty of money to live off of. The problem is if you have a wife and a child, instantly you will be living under the poverty level.

Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329283)

(Also, did you know that our own soldiers don't even guard their facilities? It's all outsourced to local companies. Again courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer)

Originally Posted by epitome (Post 19329282)

It's not that much because you forgot that they keep her at less than 32 hours so they don't have to give her benefits. :winkwink:

Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329185)

My daughter has a boyfriend whose mom works at Wal-Mart. She's not on "public assistance".

What are the numbers on that? I've known a lot of people who worked at WalMart over the years who would come out on weekends and see me playing in my band at bars.
They weren't on "public assistance".

Doesn't WalMart have to at least pay minimum wage?

Jesus, people get a job and STILL want to be coddled? I don't get it. I played in bands (never had a "real" job) and we traveled all over the country from 1978 to the mid 1990's.

A GREAT week would be $400 for each player. But an average week was a hundred bucks. We had a 5 piece band and 3 man road crew. We stayed 4 to a motel room and unless you found a girl to feed you, we ate bologna sandwiches.

But we made it. And never ONCE asked for any "public assistance". I'd say the people working at Walmart have it made compared to what we did. And we didn't get days off...we played (and drove from town to town) 7 days a week, every week.

Anyway...do you have a link to the statistics on Walmart employees needing "public assistance"??? I was unaware that folks who had jobs could even do that.

Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329283)

One of my brothers is in the army. He's in Germany now. He was in Seattle for a couple of years before that.

Has a wife and child. Our tax dollars paid the rent for their home to live in in Seattle. AND flew his wife and daughter to Germany and pays for their housing there too.

They are having a blast and send me postcards from all over Europe (they have been sightseeing at every opportunity).

They are living a great life. He actually went into the military in 2008 because of the horrible economy (he was a carpenter). Now his family is taken care of. They are seeing the world together, and they all have health benefits, etc.

Of course, we the taxpayer are footing the bill for it all. I love them, and I'm happy that they are living a great life. But I think it's WRONG for taxpayers to foot that bill.

(Also, did you know that our own soldiers don't even guard their facilities? It's all outsourced to local companies. Again courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer)

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 19329262)

That's $1,500 a month. Less taxes, rent, utilities, food, transportation, car insurance, etc. Numbers just don't work so my tax dollars are supposed to come to the rescue so she can survive and continue to make walmart billions in profit?

Anyone not looking at it in this way is deceiving themselves.

Originally Posted by epitome (Post 19329300)

And my might-as-well-be-brother-in-law is being deployed to Afghanistan next year.

The world isn't limited to those you know.

Also, pull up to any base and see who is standing at the gate. Hint: It's NOT a contractor.

Originally Posted by Rochard (Post 19329315)

But this is the American dream at work right here.

When I got out of the Marines I was making $4/hour flipping burgers. I rented an apartment with two room mates and had a used car and still couldn't make ends meet. At one point I was working four jobs - I started work at 5am for a newspaper route, from 7am till 4pm at a restaurant, 5pm till 9pm at a fast food restaurant, and then working nights at Target on a push crew. This is what I had to do to make ends meet then.

If you want to work an entry level job at Wal Mart for the next twenty years, then it will suck to be you. But most of us want to do better in life and live the American Dream where they work harder and are well rewarded. They look for jobs elsewhere and new opportunities, their income rises, and eventually they make enough money to make ends meet and have some extra left over.

Fuck, I cleaned bathrooms for minimum wage at one company. It's crappy jobs that make you strive to do better in life.

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 19329323)

Rochard, I'm not talking about someone else's life or dream. I'm talking about why my tax dollars, and yours, should help underwrite the lives of those being employed by the nations largest employer.

.

Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329319)

Not talking about the bases here in the U.S.

I'm talking about all our military bases overseas. I always though our troops had shifts standing guard. Nope. It's outsourced companies protecting our troops!!!

When my brother told me that, I was shocked. He also told me that they don't even cook their own food anymore. :(

Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329335)

Do you have a link that shows that people working at a company like Walmart are getting some kind of welfare? As I said earlier, I know a few people who work there. None of them get "public assistance".

Originally Posted by epitome (Post 19329336)

So I just googled and that apparently is not the norm now.

This was particularly disturbing:

Afghans Linked to the Taliban Guard U.S. Bases - NYTimes.com

Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329335)

Do you have a link that shows that people working at a company like Walmart are getting some kind of welfare? As I said earlier, I know a few people who work there. None of them get "public assistance".

Originally Posted by LeeD (Post 19329352)

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ccpd/repo...es/walmart.pdf
Here the average Wal Mart store uses over $400,000 per year in public social services.

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 19329323)

Rochard, I'm not talking about someone else's life or dream. I'm talking about why my tax dollars, and yours, should help underwrite the lives of those being employed by the nations largest employer.

.

Originally Posted by LeeD (Post 19329352)

http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ccpd/repo...es/walmart.pdf
Here the average Wal Mart store uses over $400,000 per year in public social services.

Originally Posted by Rochard (Post 19329404)

Yeah, that's not biased at all.

Here in my community Wal Mart replaced a business that had failed. It didn't take jobs, it created them. If the store uses $400k a year in public social services, but pays tens of millions in taxes I am okay with that. We don't have a full Wal Mart here, only a "neighborhood grocery store", but the city estimates it will pay $3mil in city taxes alone in it's first year. I would guess that was more than the old store it replaced made in a year.

What we need to do is close loopholes. How about a new law saying if you have ten or more employees - even part time - you must pay healtcare for them. Hawaii has a similar law. Then close the other loopholes that Wal Mart is using.

Again, I don't mean to be defending Wal Mart. Their business practices are horrible. I avoid Wal Mart at all costs. But it's companies like Wal Mart that strive to make people better.

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 19328560)

I wish all of them would go on strike. Wal-Mart workers? reliance on public assistance due to substandard wages and benefits has become a form of indirect public subsidy to the company. In effect, Wal-Mart is shifting part of its labor costs onto the public.

Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329273)

I made the $400 at a couple of gigs in 1990. I was a KING for a couple of weeks. lol

As far as "hope to survive", isn't that being a little melodramatic?
It's a job, plain and simple.
And a lot of folks who work there LOVE it at Christmas because they have employee discounts.

Most of the people I see working at Walmart are my age or older. And most of the women working the checkout are married and their husband's have jobs too. Just saying...there are a lot of people in this country who are unemployed and would love to have that Walmart job.

Originally Posted by Rochard (Post 19329404)

Yeah, that's not biased at all.

Here in my community Wal Mart replaced a business that had failed. It didn't take jobs, it created them. If the store uses $400k a year in public social services, but pays tens of millions in taxes I am okay with that. We don't have a full Wal Mart here, only a "neighborhood grocery store", but the city estimates it will pay $3mil in city taxes alone in it's first year. I would guess that was more than the old store it replaced made in a year.

What we need to do is close loopholes. How about a new law saying if you have ten or more employees - even part time - you must pay healtcare for them. Hawaii has a similar law. Then close the other loopholes that Wal Mart is using.

Again, I don't mean to be defending Wal Mart. Their business practices are horrible. I avoid Wal Mart at all costs. But it's companies like Wal Mart that strive to make people better.

Originally Posted by Barry-xlovecam (Post 19328727)

Originally Posted by PornoMonster (Post 19329459)

SubStandard???? It is more than Min Wage in my state. Lots of people willing to stand around, run a register, and stock shelfs slowly for that wage.....

Originally Posted by tony286 (Post 19329457)

Facts arent biased You fund Walmart thru your tax dollars. They move in, they a get big tax break guess who pays for that? you. Those people who work for them make no money, have no insurance get sick and go to the hospital who pays for it? You They dont make enough for housing who pays for it again? you. Meanwhile Walmart makes 16 billion and you defend them for fucking you. lol They pay their people shit ,the plant is closed you got a family to feed or you're a single mom or not college smart. So you work at walmart, they dont give you full time. Once someone is in that hole they rarely get out because the hole just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 19329468)

And you are ok subsidizing their payroll with your tax dollars?

Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329342)

That's what my brother was telling me. It's the same at all of our military bases.

I kinda wonder what the heck are soldiers are doing over there if they don't even guard THEMSELVES or cook their own food.

I grew up watching old war movies. I thought we had our own cooks and guards, etc.

Guess I was wrong.

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 19329465)

How does a walmart pay 10's of millions in taxes? I hope you aren't using sales tax for that figure. If so that means you think the food or merchandise wouldn't have been sold at all if walmart didn't show up? No one would have bought food or clothes or toys if a walmart wasn't there. I really doubt that.

The only actual net increase in your communities taxes would be a small amount of property taxes if any. The sales taxes are just collected by taking existing sales from other merchants.

.

Originally Posted by PornoMonster (Post 19329467)

So what if they Qualify. It is NOT walmarts job to make sure the single mom finds the dad. The single mom didn't get an education before she got knocked up.

Like to add GREAT... Now the Federal Subsidy program is only paying SOME of what it would if she didn't have a job at all!

Like to add GREAT... Now the Federal Subsidy program is only paying SOME of what it would if she didn't have a job at all!

Like to add GREAT... Now the Federal Subsidy program is only paying SOME of what it would if she didn't have a job at all!

Originally Posted by L-Pink (Post 19329488)

What are you a greedy walmart stock holder? The point is Americas largest employer, Americas largest retailer and one of the most profitable companies in the world purposely under pays their employees knowing taxpayers will pick up the rest. And that's ok with you ? Why?

Here's a good study you might want to read:
http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/reta...ard_push07.pdf

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Originally Posted by Robbie (Post 19329273)

Most of the people I see working at Walmart are my age or older. And most of the women working the checkout are married and their husband's have jobs too. Just saying...there are a lot of people in this country who are unemployed and would love to have that Walmart job.