The Future of the Ski Industry

[Smellytele]

:flag:Good post.
I have come around to feeling similarly about immigrants. There are millions (almost literally) that have moved into the Wash DC area in recent decades. They work their butts off and do jobs none of us native born Americans would touch. I think we need to help a great many of these people fit in. They are working on the dream our ancestors chased in bygone years. With the changes in demographics and fertility rates we're going to need the taxes of these newcomers to pay for our old age benefits

I have no issue with legal immigrants

 

[steamboat1]

I have no issue with legal immigrants

dito

 

[Scruffy]

While we're debunking talking points.



The fact is, there are very few people in America that are actually paid Federal Minimum wage. There are about 330 Million Americans, and only roughly 3 Million are paid that rate. That is < 1% of Americans. In other-words, > 99% of people are earning MORE than Federal Miminum wage.

Why are you using total population? Even at "full employment", 100% of Americans would not be in the work force ( i.e. babies, stay at home parents, grandma, etc.. )

To support your point though: The BLS currently clocks the current percent of hourly wage earners at 4.3 percent, it was 13.4 in 1979. Exempt workers are assumed to be making way over minimum wage.

 

[deadheadskier]

Do you know what the real unemployment rate is in this country right now?
Do you know what the underemployment rate is in this country right now?
Do you know what that unemployment rate rises to when split out by workers without an education?

So yes, I'll confidently stand by that statement - $23,000 to $27,000 plus healthcare & benefits isn't anything unusual, and in 2014 there are millions of Americans who'd clamor for that FT job.

And FYI, I gather this is going to shock you, but assuming a 2 individual home, that's pretty close to the 2013 median US household income.




Because entitlement. I was the same as the above.

I made probably about the $24,000 per year that DHS apparently thinks is sad & destitute, while living in an old, small apartment in Burlington, VT (not a cheap place to live either) with a roommate, and paying off college loans.

I still had fun with friends, managed to ski (by working a 2nd job at Stowe), was happy, and had to be extremely financially responsible. And I didnt get or need a dime of government assistance. I know, THE HORROR!

You don't think I did the same thing? Hell I worked full time straight through all levels of college and maintained 2nd jobs until I was 30.

Sorry, with your attitude towards entitlement programs and low wage workers I misread your statement as saying those employees weren't worthy of 23k. My bad.

 

[drjeff]

+1

The talking heads on Faux news would have you believe they are all leaches gaming the system, sitting on street corners and playing with their Obama phones. That's not been my experience. Most work two jobs, as you said, doing jobs natives wouldn't touch.........just like my family did when they immigrated here from Ireland generations ago.

Using the sample size of about 700 patients that I have in my practice who are on state assistance (is it even politically correct to say "welfare" any more? ;-) ) Are there hardworking folks who are just going through a tough time in life and are on state assistance for a SHORT time until they either finish their education/retraining or find a new job within their existing skill set? Yup. But in my cross section at least, this is a minority group within this population subset. A larger amount of this population set in my experience of 15+ years working on people on state assistance is looking at "welfare" as not a short term economic help mechanism, but as a "career" and there are plenty of people who have learned and continue to try to abuse the system since they DO feel like they are entitled to "something for nothing"

I probably can't go a week in my office where I don't have at least 1 patient on state assistance (which by the way is "free" for them but often has me treating them at a financial loss, especially if they are a "healthy" adult - seriously) ask me to commit fraud by asking if I can place a tooth colored filling in a back tooth (state assistance in CT doesn't cover tooth colored fillings in an adults back teeth) instead of the silver filling that their insurance does cover. They seem offended when I tell them that if they want that tooth colored filling in a back tooth that per their insurance, to which I signed a contract that I an legally bound to follow, that they are responsible for the fee entirely themselves. This happens at a much lower rate (almost never) with my patient subset that isn't on state assistance.

There ARE some bad apples out there who willingly abuse the system out of a sense of entitlement, and this is in my experience a rapidily growing part of the population today

 

[MadMadWorld]

Using the sample size of about 700 patients that I have in my practice who are on state assistance (is it even politically correct to say "welfare" any more? ;-) ) Are there hardworking folks who are just going through a tough time in life and are on state assistance for a SHORT time until they either finish their education/retraining or find a new job within their existing skill set? Yup. But in my cross section at least, this is a minority group within this population subset. A larger amount of this population set in my experience of 15+ years working on people on state assistance is looking at "welfare" as not a short term economic help mechanism, but as a "career" and there are plenty of people who have learned and continue to try to abuse the system since they DO feel like they are entitled to "something for nothing"

I probably can't go a week in my office where I don't have at least 1 patient on state assistance (which by the way is "free" for them but often has me treating them at a financial loss, especially if they are a "healthy" adult - seriously) ask me to commit fraud by asking if I can place a tooth colored filling in a back tooth (state assistance in CT doesn't cover tooth colored fillings in an adults back teeth) instead of the silver filling that their insurance does cover. They seem offended when I tell them that if they want that tooth colored filling in a back tooth that per their insurance, to which I signed a contract that I an legally bound to follow, that they are responsible for the fee entirely themselves. This happens at a much lower rate (almost never) with my patient subset that isn't on state assistance.

There ARE some bad apples out there who willingly abuse the system out of a sense of entitlement, and this is in my experience a rapidily growing part of the population today

And this is one of the many reasons why these programs need reform.

 

[Puck it]

My brothers, sister and I are products of social program. My father was a disabled vet. My mom did not work so we were on VA benefits. We all went to college thru VA benefits of my dad's, but we were raised to do better.