In The News Today...

Quote: AZDuffman

EDIT: Did anyone else notice the "gassed" kids were barefoot or in flip-flops that did not look like they were walked 1,000+ miles in? FAKE NEWS!

How did the mom get so fat hiking
all that way? LOL

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: petroglyph

Quote: AZDuffman

Tijuana mayor says $30,000-a-day funding for migrants is about to run out.

Had Mexico stopped them at THEIR border they would not have this problem. I hope Trump tells them to piss off.

I think that 30k per day, has come from US funding sources? I doubt whether TJ had those kind of resources at the ready.

From link, Obrador asks Trump for 20 billion dollars for central American economy support.

Providing the money for TJ to support and care for the caravans on the Mexican side is cheaper than housing them, and for care round the clock in migrant camps under USA rules.

We are spending a lot of money on this migration. I think it is a national security issue to expose who is paying to bring these hoards of desperate people to our border. If we had a news media system in this country, that would already be common info.

I still like the idea of close the border there entirely. Give 48 hours notice so no Americans get stranded. Then shut it tight as Hillary Clinton's purse. When the TJ economy loses all that tourist money maybe Mexico starts to take this serious.

Currently it is a test of the will of Trump to protect the border. Liberals know being open about open borders is a loser for them. So they have to try to shame Trump into opening up. So far he has mostly stood firm, why his voters keep backing him.

EDIT: Did anyone else notice the "gassed" kids were barefoot or in flip-flops that did not look like they were walked 1,000+ miles in? FAKE NEWS!

I noticed the chunky ones in flops right away. My old treadmill said I burned 100 calories per mile, as a reference. Who sponsored these migrations? From your link, out of 6 thousand in the "camp", 4 thousand were men, the other 2k was split between women and kids. That sounds about right?

I cannot believe that either side wants the influx of cheap labor to stop. Stopping it would be easy without a wall. Punish employers of illegal workers using a martingale system, and advertise the heck out of it. Third time an employer is caught, mandatory jail time, with asset seizure. Nobody wants this fixed.

The reality is, somebody needs to do these sh** jobs. Might sound odd coming from the boards pro labor member, but youth labor laws screwed America.

I'm watching a series on HBO about robots replacing human labor. It's a bit scary really. GE and GM just laid off tens of thousands. To many cashing in their 401's at the same time isn't good for Wall street. Heloc's again being used to maintain lifestyles.

I never did this as a kid, but I heard about dropping a scoopful of ants on a different ant hill. All of those ants were to busy to wonder about who was doing the scooping.

Quote: petroglyph

I cannot believe that either side wants the influx of cheap labor to stop. Stopping it would be easy without a wall. Punish employers of illegal workers using a martingale system, and advertise the heck out of it. Third time an employer is caught, mandatory jail time, with asset seizure. Nobody wants this fixed.

You are sadly true. What I do not get is organized labor not backing Trump on it. Well, I get it, they are social liberals now and want potential new members. The last election showed that working whites have had enough of this and loving illegal immigration will not buy you the love of hispanics though.

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I'm watching a series on HBO about robots replacing human labor. It's a bit scary really. GE and GM just laid off tens of thousands. To many cashing in their 401's at the same time isn't good for Wall street. Heloc's again being used to maintain lifestyles.

I am not worried about the robots, been hearing that all of my life. Still a need for labor. The 401k and HELOCs though, be very worried. Most of America cannot afford their lifestyle. I was once in HR and one after another people were cashing in, led by a Black woman in the office who thought she knew finance but was really clueless. Once I called our contact at the capital management firm we used for the plans and he gave me a "WTF is going on over there?" I told him he knew I could not offer advice. He said "I know, but WTF is going on there?"

People would regularly take a HELOC to pay off other debt then in no time run the other debt back up. The whole refinance thing is mostly a scam. Benefits of a refi are so oversold. I can see how those pro Blackjack players eventually see their lives meaning nothing as they create nothing.

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I never did this as a kid, but I heard about dropping a scoopful of ants on a different ant hill. All of those ants were to busy to wonder about who was doing the scooping.

Cause an ant war! The ants I wanted to see in action were the African Army Ant. When I was a PCO we had an insect nut working for us who told me about them. Seems they will raid ant hills and steal the eggs. Then when they hatch those ants become a slave caste in the anthill.

Quote: AZDuffman

You are sadly true. What I do not get is organized labor not backing Trump on it.

It's not like they have a mind of their own. The AFL-CIO has little to do with the guy in the trenches.

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I am not worried about the robots, been hearing that all of my life.

Me to, but the rate of increase in AI is not what I was thinking. I don't see a demand to replace the workers cast out. It is an interesting series, if you don't mind almost complete cc. They showed how it's working in Japan and China. I've always been a Luddite at heart.

Quote:

I can see how those pro Blackjack players eventually see their lives meaning nothing as they create nothing.

I see guy after guy retire, and the shock to their system when they finally realize how much a part of their lives was centered around their jobs. There is definitely an adjustment phase. Most people don't have enough other interests in their lives to replace a 40 hour wk. job, whether they realize it or not while they are working.

Quote: petroglyph

It's not like they have a mind of their own. The AFL-CIO has little to do with the guy in the trenches.

And keeps getting worse. Unions are now less about collective bargaining and more about being PACs. I still do not get why a union dependent on dues paying members would lobby to get benefits for everyone, weakening the reasons to even have a union.

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Me to, but the rate of increase in AI is not what I was thinking. I don't see a demand to replace the workers cast out.

You will rarely see it. Demand picks up slowly. Smart workers are no longer working but rather hustling a living. Some people make as much walking dogs as they would in a low level office job.

Quote:

I see guy after guy retire, and the shock to their system when they finally realize how much a part of their lives was centered around their jobs. There is definitely an adjustment phase. Most people don't have enough other interests in their lives to replace a 40 hour wk. job, whether they realize it or not while they are working.

As Shelly LeVine said, "A man is his job." Even if you had the income, a hobby would have to become a job of sorts to fill all those hours. Though I would want to see how long I could play poker tournaments until I got bored of it.

Quote: AZDuffman

I still do not get why a union dependent on dues paying members would lobby to get benefits for everyone, weakening the reasons to even have a union.

The unions in BC came out in favour of raising the minimum wage. They have been fairly successful and it is now approaching $15 / hr and will get there soon. Now when the unions are on strike one of their basic demands is that they need more than minimum wage. On the picket lines several times I have seen some bimbo with "I am worth more than minimum wage" on their placard. Just a way for the unions to justify more not help the low wage earners.

Quote: AZDuffman

And keeps getting worse. Unions are now less about collective bargaining and more about being PACs. I still do not get why a union dependent on dues paying members would lobby to get benefits for everyone, weakening the reasons to even have a union.

In some cases unions are required by law to represent workers not even in their union.

The Pac thing is the carrot and the stick. The mobbed up guys in the int's office have meetings and martini lunches with lobbyists/pols regularly. That's what they do.

My dad was wise to them long ago. Taught me alot. He was in supervision by the time I could lift a shovel. A few things he said; find the laziest guy on the job and make him the shop steward, he's not going to do anything anyway.

You can also take the same guy and make him the foreman, usually in a short amount of time, all union rules will be forgotten as most people are willing to do anything to over others, and seeing as how they can't/won't work, they are willing to do some shady things to keep their job.

So IMO, although the only one looking out after each worker is usually themselves, there are a few brothers that try to keep the whole thing afloat, believing in strength in numbers. Unions can suck, but often it is the best chance of improvement a fella in the trades gets. I've been a contractor/ business owner several times, and competition is fierce. Especially when I had to compete with others that could buy in mega quantity, or didn't have to play by the rules. Reagan killed me once.

Quote: petroglyph

So IMO, although the only one looking out after each worker is usually themselves, there are a few brothers that try to keep the whole thing afloat, believing in strength in numbers. Unions can suck, but often it is the best chance of improvement a fella in the trades gets. I've been a contractor/ business owner several times, and competition is fierce. Especially when I had to compete with others that could buy in mega quantity, or didn't have to play by the rules. Reagan killed me once.

Always going to have true believers. I was once one, grew out of it as the only people that benefited were the worst workers, many really bad. My dad was a huge believer, I had to show him how everything the unions were pushing for were things he was against. His brothers went their own way, he was union til the end.

The skilled trade unions do provide a good service for worker and client alike. A manager at Roadway said they liked being union as it meant they never had a driver shortage. But others, say the SEIU, are a total joke. I laugh when they put some fast food workers up and have them say, "we want a union!" If serious they would just start a campaign and get workers to sigh cards for an election. They never do.

Census confirms: 63 percent of ‘non-citizens’ on welfare, 4.6 million households!

But I thought they wanted to come here to WORK?!

" In 2014, 63 percent of households headed by a non-citizen reported that they used at least one welfare program, compared to 35 percent of native-headed households.

Welfare use drops to 58 percent for non-citizen households and 30 percent for native households if cash payments from the Earned Income Tax Credit are not counted as welfare. EITC recipients pay no federal income tax. Like other welfare, the EITC is a means-tested, anti-poverty program, but unlike other programs one has to work to receive it."

Quote: AZDuffman

Census confirms: 63 percent of ‘non-citizens’ on welfare, 4.6 million households!

But I thought they wanted to come here to WORK?!

" In 2014, 63 percent of households headed by a non-citizen reported that they used at least one welfare program, compared to 35 percent of native-headed households.

Welfare use drops to 58 percent for non-citizen households and 30 percent for native households if cash payments from the Earned Income Tax Credit are not counted as welfare. EITC recipients pay no federal income tax. Like other welfare, the EITC is a means-tested, anti-poverty program, but unlike other programs one has to work to receive it."

The Cato Institute finds the study flawed.
https://www.cato.org/blog/center-immigration-studies-exaggerates-immigrant-welfare-use