Itinerant Air-Cooled

Has anyone out there been following this Big Box ordinance that passed and then was vetoed here in Chicago? What do you all think about this sort of minimum wage law?

chitwnvw wrote:Has anyone out there been following this Big Box ordinance that passed and then was vetoed here in Chicago? What do you all think about this sort of minimum wage law?

I like it. It is unconscienable that WalMart demands both tax concessions and throws its associates to the wolves as far as benefits and low wages.

If big business wants to cry like a baby about government throttling free enterprise then they can damn well stop extracting special considerations from same.

The arguement that WalMart will just move across the city limits and leave the downtown abandoned is specious. Pull the usual blanket tax concessions and then re-offer enterprise tax breaks for inner city location, sort of like New York's Enterprise Zones.
Colin

It's not even just WalMart, although they're the biggest, Target and Lowes was in there with them. One of the Alderman suggested Mayor Daley give up his 200,000 dollar a year job and try to live on the 10 dollars and hour with 3 dollars per hour for benefits.(that's how much they would have gotten paid if the big box ordinance had passed)

They keep saying that any dollars an hour is better than no dollars an hour, but at 7 per hour, these people are going to be making 15 grand a year, plus no health benefits, and it's not like they aren't going to get sick, and who pays for that, that a nice hidden perk that we the taxpayers are giving to the Billionaire Walton family. They make me sick. So yes, there are poor desperate people that will work for 7 per hour, and they will remain poor and desperate.

chitwnvw wrote: They keep saying that any dollars an hour is better than no dollars an hour.

Easy for them to say. Watch them howl in protest if they suddenly had to pay the corporate tax rate under Richard Nixon. "Hey guys, 11% is better than 27%, why don't you pony up and help the 'war effort'?"
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

chitwnvw wrote: They keep saying that any dollars an hour is better than no dollars an hour.

Easy for them to say. Watch them howl in protest if they suddenly had to pay the corporate tax rate under Richard Nixon. "Hey guys, 11% is better than 27%, why don't you pony up and help the 'war effort'?"
Colin

Good point Colin, but that's not the way we're heading right now. The current focus of our government is to remove restrictions and taxes on corporations. This policy is great for corporate America, just look at the record profits being reported. The real problem is what happens to the rest of us. We now have a permanent underclass, not very different from the serfs during the middle ages. Government, and I do mean both parties, has become an integrated part of this corporate strategy. Machiavelli realized that a docile populace can be maintained and controlled as long as basic needs are met, food, shelter, and entertainment. The Romans called this Bread and Circuses. Cheap unhealthy food is prevalent, shelter can often times be a problem, and what's more entertaining than television? (Sarcasm there) Well, two out of three aint bad. TV actually provides a nice one two punch. It keeps us in our homes, preventing us from interacting with others and finding out that most of us are in the same boat, and it gives us an excuse to eat more of the crappy food! Geeze, we're kind of like veal! The light at the end of the tunnel is that as any social or economic system turns top heavy, with wealth and power concentrated to fewer and fewer individuals, it will collapse. Problem is, it can take hundreds of years to happen.
Human nature is inherently strong, we trudge along an we ultimately persevere and win.
-John

Wow, very eloquently put.
Shoot your TV! Ye Gods the more of that crap I watch the number I get...

I say let's start the revolution now!

hambone wrote:Wow, very eloquently put.
Shoot your TV! Ye Gods the more of that crap I watch the number I get...

Not like the internet is much better....

Myspace
Youtube
etc...

I think this is why my postcount is so high at the forums I frequent. Cuz there isn't much else out in this digital wasteland.

I think I may be the youngest internet-savvy person in this country that has never used Myspace.

I don't use it either, because I just don't give a crap what "Tommy" from "Orlando" is "in to".
The internet isn't a wasteland, it's our society's amassed knowledge. It's all a matter of where you point Rufus the Search Engine. There IS a lot of crap cluttering things up though...

I suppose it's like lot of other things TV, Books, whatever, a lot of crap, mostly crap, but some really great things if you pick wisely.

chitwnvw wrote:I suppose it's like lot of other things TV, Books, whatever, a lot of crap, mostly crap, but some really great things if you pick wisely.

Now the real challenge is to teach your children that. I've been trying real slow like to guide them away from the TV and comp. TO teach them the joy of books and (egads!) card games. Interaction and Communication.

We'll see what they can reap from the seeds that I've sown.

Although I have to admit: My girls love watching OG Star Trek (DVD seasons) and they like the new Dr. Who as well. But I only let them watch on DVD, still trying to cut down on the cable.

Things must always get worse before they can get better...
Shoot your TV!

hambone wrote:Things must always get worse before they can get better...
Shoot your TV!

I would if I didn't like watching movies.

Back when I was married, we would blow 2~4 hours a night(at least) on the damn thing. When she moved out I had her take the TV from our bedroom w/ her. Best thing I ever did.

During the summer I'd let my oldest stay up late w/ me and we'd watch a movie together and then discuss it afterwards. Nothing crappy mind you, just good solid stuff. Indiana Jones, Skycaptin and the world of tomorrow, LOTR, King Kong, etc...

Moderation, like eating and drinking, is fine. But when you go overboard, that's when bad things happen.

This is getting off topic. Walmart evil! City of Chicago sold out to the devil.

Good lord this country is being gutted, and everyone is watching these cop forensic shows. Sure they are well made, but come on!