Totally agree! Tell my buddy who just lost his $200,000 a year job that the market is not weak.
Being a greeter at Home Depot or flipping burgers is not a career!
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- Thread starter AdironRider
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Totally agree! Tell my buddy who just lost his $200,000 a year job that the market is not weak.
Being a greeter at Home Depot or flipping burgers is not a career!
steamboat1
New member
Yep another 432,000 people not in the labor force last month pushing the unemployment rate down another 2/10ths. That's nearly 94 million working age people not in the labor force. Happy days.
steamboat1
New member
The last cap was set in 2004 at $23,660. You mean to tell me inflation was over 100% the past 11 years.
dlague
Active member
Damn straight! In addition, the median Household income has not rebounded back to the 2007 highs which translates into little to no income growth - but ..... goverment is still growing at the city, state and national levels!
You're colored interpretation is the bogus part. Yes, there has been a decrease in the labor participation rate, but that is largely demographic driven. There are large more Baby Boomers aging out of the workforce than Millennials replacing them. Millenials are also going to college in larger numbers which reduces their time in the workforce. As the economy improves, we're also seeing an increase in birthrates which is removing women from the workforce. Factcheck.org, which is an excellent non-partisan resource, has a good summary of the issue.
steamboat1
New member
Yes, the last time the cap was changed it was set disgustingly low. I am referring in reference to when it was first created. The first salary test for overtime exemption was added in 1975. At that time it was set to $250/week, which is $13,000 per year. Scaling for inflation since then it should be $57,462.17.
I do not believe anyone's comments have been partisan one way or another. Numbers can be manipulated to support any point of view.
I'll support my view with the reality of what I see in my peer group. I'm 57 and none of my peers can afford to "age out of the workforce". The reality is most of us will NEVER be able to retire. Not a week goes by without another friend of mine having to scramble for a new job or to pay the bills. And very few women leave the workforce after giving birth, not for long anyway. That's either by choice or because of economic realities.
steamboat1
New member
What cost $23,660 in 2004 would cost $29,336 in 2014.
Women don't often leave permanently, but they very commonly take maternity leave while the children are young. This will drive down the participation rate. On the young side, the more dramatic effect is the increasing education rate. You can clearly see that in the link that @Steamboat1 posted.
One factor that affects older workers is that their skills start to become outdated. We clearly see this in our company. Often (but not always) the software engineers are not up to date with contemporary technology. I don't expect you to age out of the workforce at age 57, but around age 65 people exit in large numbers. Given the demographics of our society, that will naturally result in a lower labor participation right as the age distribution is top-heavy.
I won't deny that SSI fraud is a real problem in need of addressing, but I think your anger is a bit misdirected.
That issue is a drop in the bucket compared to offshore individual and corporate tax dodging. Take Burger King. Through their inversion with Tim Horton's the IRS loses out on $400M over the next four years in corporate tax payments. Additionally during the same period the IRS misses out on $820M in capital gains tax revenue from BK shareholders.
That's just one company. Imagine the money involved with larger companies like Covidien who have gone through corporate similar inversions.
That's a crap load of hangnails.
SSI fraud is a real issue, but should be near the bottom of the list for people/reasons to be angry with your personal tax bill.
steamboat1
New member
Maybe that's because the U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world.
And lowest individual rates.
steamboat1
New member
We came in 55th place.
drjeff
Well-known member
The bottom line here is that about 99.99% of the private and corporate world wants to pay as little tax as is legally allowed. There is absolutely nothing to prevent any person or corporation from voluntarily paying more taxes than they are responsible for owing, yet almost nobody ever does. It comes down to a simple question of do "you" (as either a private individual or as a corporation) feel that you are better able to handle and manage what you do with more of your own, earned, money or is the government better and handling and determining what to spend more of "your" own money on?
You want fair, then you need to completely eliminate the current tax system (both private and corporate) and either implement a simple flat tax, with essentially no deductions, or implement a consumption based value added tax, where if you're using something, you pay for it, and if your not using something than your not paying for someone else to use it
You want fair, then you need to completely eliminate the current tax system (both private and corporate) and either implement a simple flat tax, with essentially no deductions, or implement a consumption based value added tax, where if you're using something, you pay for it, and if your not using something than your not paying for someone else to use it
The latter makes zero sense in a civilized society. I lived in my town seven years without children; had no issues paying taxes towards the schools; voted for higher taxes for better schools before I was sure we were having children and staying in the community. I did so because I think that's what's right for the community; not what's right for me personally. The US can be such a me, me, me greedy society.
At the end of the day, reading people bitch about taxes on a skiing message board amuses me. I'm probably no where near the pay grade some of the members of this forum are, but I know that the fact that I've got a job, a mortgage, and a couple of cars that I can use to go skiing in the mountains 20+ times a year puts me in a better lifestyle than just about 95% of the people on this earth. It's never enough for some though.
At the end of the day, reading people bitch about taxes on a skiing message board amuses me. I'm probably no where near the pay grade some of the members of this forum are, but I know that the fact that I've got a job, a mortgage, and a couple of cars that I can use to go skiing in the mountains 20+ times a year puts me in a better lifestyle than just about 95% of the people on this earth. It's never enough for some though.
VTKilarney
Well-known member
It must be summer! :lol:
mbedle
Well-known member
LOL - So True!!
As far as deadheadskier's words, couldn't agree with you more. Just one point about the me, me, me society, each of us as travelers, skiers and generally outdoor kind of people, should try to realize how much we enjoy the benefits of our federal and local government.
Jully
Active member
While that is true I think what Yeggous is trying to get at is that minimum wage in this country and what we consider the poverty line is significantly lower than what many people think it should be. This is why there are huge movements to increase minimum wage, especially when looking at minimum wages in other developed countries.
Even though the jump from looking at 2004 to now appears massive, back when people first started trying to implement regulations like this, like Yeggous mentioned, they had a very different idea in mind of what minimum salaries should look like. Somewhere along the line that standard was drastically lowered hence why 13k only went up to 25k over forty years
I am fortunate...I can retire tomorrow if I want to. I don't work for others anymore. I work for myself as a consultant now. I have no debt and my mortgage will be paid off 4/1/17. When I am 59 1/2 on 9/12/17 I will retire and I will live off of investment income quite comfortably and leave a large inheritance to my wife and 3 boys. I pay my taxes and I do not complain. I am grateful and express that daily.
I am very much the exception. You are terribly naïve if you think large numbers of 65 year olds exit the workforce...few can afford to now for many reasons. As for millennials like my 2 oldest sons, they drive down employment participation more by choice than because of education. They see the way corporate America abuses labor and want no part of that. My hope is that their generation brings corporations to their knees.
I have no horse in this race. Please consider that many who are averse to this new $50,000 threshold feel it will not help labor and will in fact be used by corporations to hurt labor instead.
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