what are you buying
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stockI propose that what you are indeed buying , is a share of the profit that rightfully belongs to the workers and laborers who made it possible to exist and earned it, and the right to legaly steal it from them, Legal or ilegal, it is unethical , and Immoral.Voted for by Dwn.
if this practice was outlawed, I feel it would end most, if not all poverty in the free world
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Weydon
August 15
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LOL
As a blue collar myself I sympathize, but those purchasing the stocks are giving those who run the company money in order to move funds around--in paying workers, advertising, production, etc. It's actually a good idea that I think went a little out of control, and now our economy would collapse if we just shut it down without some miraculous alternative.Dwn
August 15
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August 15
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Dwn
August 16
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Weydon
August 16
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I think the profit/wage difference is WAY too much though, you're right. The fat cats get fatter in a floundering economy, and we get hardly anything still. I don't know how it is in other parts of the country, but for instance in my company and many others around here you get an annual cost of living raise of 3%. You get other raises here and there based on merit, promotion, or union contacts, but no matter what you always get that 3% increase to cover the increase of a standard of living. But the last two years the average cost of living went up 4% instead of 3. Some speculate things will stabilize and come back down, but what if it's the oppposite? What if next year it's 4? What if in 5 years it's 7%?
But that is the beauty of unions at least, as well as supply and demand in general. If something outrageous like that is happening, unions can strike until they get reasonable means of living. And in general, if you're paying your employees too little to live, they'll find a job that pays better, even if it's out of state. Then who do you hire if no one is willing? You have to be willing to pay more, or flounder.
It all eventually balances out to the same standard of unfairness.
Dwn
August 16
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As far as creating jobs, you can inslave a Nation in wage slavery, and maintain a nice healthy income for the already very rich , while keeping the rest in abject poverty(look at Mexico, and China)
Jackymania
August 20
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I was also once a blue collared worker. My question is Can A Union (say a car factory workers association) call or carry out a strike (stopping production for a time period) or is it illegal to do so, in the USA?
Stock trades are nothing but a gambling activity. On the other hand investing in shares does help the economy in a capitalist system.
The moral i take from this is:
Investing in shares is good.
Trading in stocks is risky (bad)!
Dwn
August 20
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Weydon
August 21
Strike still happen all the time, but Dwn's right--employers will do everything legally possible to get rid of you more make you miserable until you quit. It's good to have a powerful union, otherwise all you're really getting is medical benefits, an arguably decent wage, and a set amount of hours.
Jackymania
August 27
This brings us to the original comment Dwn made on the profits part of which, Dwn thought that the workers had a share in for making it possible.
Morally, he is right. Though he is partly right. For, in todays times every employee right from the factory level to the customer end level and the post sale service guys and gals are also responsible for enhanced customer confidence leading to appreciation in the bottomlines.
In this, the role of the share holder or the investor is also to be taken care off because it his money (earned by whatever means) that he risked into a business enterprise.
We tend to get pissed off when these investors after trading their stocks makes huge profits on the basis of a demand for such premium stocks, while the ones who really slog it out, and sweat to meet deadlines are given salaries, and few - a minuscule percentage get a promotion, some incentives or commissions.
The ethical issue here is as follows: Whether the company gives workers any adequate compensation for the profits it books.
How just is this order. Frankly, the capitalist system is heavily biased towards the capitalists. The people who are at the end of the system will remain at the end, unless ofcourse you are smart enough to recognise it and try and improve relations with your boss or your employer.
This means in the times to comes, those who are dumb and simple minded will be eliminated from the system (economic) and will be at the mercy of charity or solidarity forces.
In such a system, it is therfore a reasonable and prudent thought to invest in education and communication skills to survive, while keeping a watch over competition.
You got to invest one way or the other.
Weydon
August 27
But it all relates back to supply and demand. For instance, what is the bottom level factory worker supplying? Assembling parts. Without this, there is nothing. It screams importance at one level. So what can the worker demand for his supply? Not much. If he demands a 60k a year salary, the employer will laugh and get the same supply of work for someone willing to do it for 20-30k. A good employee that you don't want to lose can demand raises and get them--within reason. Maybe you'd rather keep employee A over most your other employees, so you'll give in to his demand for a raise. Unless his demand is another 500 dollars a week. He is good, but replaceable if he's going to cost THAT much.
Unions make this demand for more stronger. THEY demand. If you laugh off their united demands, you lose an entire work force. But it does get tricky, as Dwn pointed out. Everything still has to be within reason of supply and demand, really.
Jackymania
September 5
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In a market based economy, the traditional system, less the availability of labour or goods, more it will cost - as long it is found reasonable by the employer or the buyer respectively.
Here the necessary skill to bargain or negotiate a price should also be a factor while squaring up the spoils at the end of the day. The goods seller is usually a agent or a retailer well entrenched in his or her business, but the labourer is only good in his service or work he provides having no skill to negotiate the worth of his sweat. This lacunae is taken care of by the Unions. I think its a fair deal.
So market economy is fair as long as a reasonable amount of give and take takes place, one party does not feel too much exploited by the other, although the feeling of dissatisfaction abounds on both sides - the employees as well as the employer.
But problem arises when a fragile creature like the human being becomes susciptible to psychological (natural) forces like greed, jealousy, envy, consumerism, status symbol, social competition, avarice and false pride.
Thats where and when the fissures and cracks appear. A seemingly balanced economic system has to face inflation, stagnation, economic crises and crashes. Its a process, isn't it?
Dwn
September 14
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