Topic: It's the economy, stupid! (Read 73140 times)

Mongrel · « **Reply #860 on:** September 21, 2012, 04:24:07 PM »

There is a slim possibility that Ukraine will damage or even collapse the current global network of tariff agreements

I don't know why they can't just throw Ukraine out of the WTO if they decide to break the rules that hard, but the article doesn't have any comments to that effect, so I dunno!

Brentai · « **Reply #861 on:** September 24, 2012, 07:21:12 AM »

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/09/18/new-study-long-term-unemployment-viewed-by-hiring-companies-as-worse-than-a-criminal-record/

Ugh.

Shinra · « **Reply #862 on:** September 24, 2012, 08:17:29 AM »

Quote from: Brentai on September 24, 2012, 07:21:12 AM

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2012/09/18/new-study-long-term-unemployment-viewed-by-hiring-companies-as-worse-than-a-criminal-record/

Ugh.

A couple of years ago I applied for a job with Dish network at one of their local call centers. I thought the interview went ok, but never got a call back. Did get a rejection letter, a couple of weeks later. Along with the rejection letter, I also got a notice saying that a credit report had been pulled by Dish.

I got turned down for a job because I had bad credit.

Brentai · « **Reply #863 on:** October 07, 2012, 09:40:09 AM »

So yeah, if you're living in California right now you're probably extremely aware of how screwed up the entire local economy can get in the blink of an eye when someone trips over a power cable in an oil refinery.

It's pretty nuts to see stuff like this happen and realize how explosively volatile our country's dependency on oil really is. We're probably one major fire away from a complete crapper drop. And of course meanwhile, our leaders seem more opposed than ever to the idea of just moving the fuck off the stuff. That's not going to be missed if a crapper drop really does happen. You keep asking what the trigger for an uprising would look like, but just think: what has driven every OTHER conflict in this country since the Berlin Wall came down?

Thad · « **Reply #864 on:** October 07, 2012, 10:42:52 AM »

Quote from: Brentai on October 07, 2012, 09:40:09 AM

So yeah, if you're living in California right now you're probably extremely aware of how screwed up the entire local economy can get in the blink of an eye when someone trips over a power cable in an oil refinery.

Yeah, it's even a nickel up over here.

Quote from: Brentai on October 07, 2012, 09:40:09 AM

It's pretty nuts to see stuff like this happen and realize how explosively volatile our country's dependency on oil really is. We're probably one major fire away from a complete crapper drop. And of course meanwhile, our leaders seem more opposed than ever to the idea of just moving the fuck off the stuff. That's not going to be missed if a crapper drop really does happen. You keep asking what the trigger for an uprising would look like, but just think: what has driven every OTHER conflict in this country since the Berlin Wall came down?

Guess we'll see. The Gulf spill seemed pretty fucking catastrophic to me, but the Republicans were back to screaming about offshore drilling within the year. People have short memories and politicians are pretty damn good at finding something else to blame when a catastrophe DOES happen.

Put it this way: Bush got a second term based largely on his "tough on terror" reputation. After 9/11 happened on his watch. And running against a recipient of three Purple Hearts.

Brentai · « **Reply #865 on:** October 07, 2012, 11:01:29 AM »

Quote from: Thad on October 07, 2012, 10:42:52 AM

Yeah, it's even a nickel up over here.

...

Quote

Guess we'll see. The Gulf spill seemed pretty fucking catastrophic to me, but the Republicans were back to screaming about offshore drilling within the year.

Outside of the local fishing industry it didn't seem to hit people in the pocketbook very much on a national level. People were outraged but it was a sort of slacktivist outrage.

If you want people to get off their asses about something, you have to convince them that it's costing them money somehow. That's just how it's always been throughout history.

Thad · « **Reply #866 on:** October 07, 2012, 11:10:47 AM »

But the biggest jump in oil prices happened when Libya erupted into civil war (despite the fact that Libya only controls 2% of the world's oil supply), and that didn't make people give a fuck about Libya.

Pretty sure everybody's basically forgotten about what happened there just a few weeks ago, at this point.

Ted Belmont · « **Reply #867 on:** October 07, 2012, 11:32:12 AM »

Everybody except for right-wing columnists looking for a way to demonize Sesame Street, anyway.

NexAdruin · « **Reply #868 on:** October 07, 2012, 11:55:37 AM »

If gas prices go up during Obama's term it's because Obama hates you and your car and waved his magic wand to make the oil prices go up. What the fuck is a libya?

Edit: I just looked up the word libya and you guys are sick also it's spelled labia and I'd appreciate it if you didn't say this stuff around my children.

Brentai · « **Reply #869 on:** October 07, 2012, 12:04:42 PM »

Clearly you've forgotten what happened in your libya just a few weeks ago.

Büge · « **Reply #870 on:** October 07, 2012, 07:43:57 PM »

There's already too much sand there.

Mongrel · « **Reply #871 on:** October 15, 2012, 08:40:12 AM »

Excellent NYT article on the tendency of the 1% to cannibalism of their own kind, with reference to an upcoming book on the subject that sounds worth the read.

Caithness · « **Reply #872 on:** October 16, 2012, 11:47:01 AM »

The article is titled "The Self-Destruction of The 1%", but it's really not just themselves that they're destroying. It's everyone.

Büge · « **Reply #873 on:** November 16, 2012, 10:20:37 AM »

Hostess is going out of business.

Brentai · « **Reply #874 on:** November 16, 2012, 10:39:09 AM »

Huh, I was waiting for the owners to pussy out on their liquidation threat. Good on both sides for sticking to their guns.

This may look like a strike failure at first blush, but it sends a message out to the corporations that really needed to be said for a long time: We're not all so desperate to do your work for you that we'll do it for less than a fair compensation.

Of course this also means we're pretty much fucked the next time Dr. Doom gets his hands on the Cosmic Cube.

Brentai · « **Reply #875 on:** November 16, 2012, 10:51:53 AM »

Just bought a Hostess cinammon roll from the vending machine.

It's like eating a fresh corpse.

Shinra · « **Reply #876 on:** November 16, 2012, 11:17:33 AM »

I'm honestly a little miffed at the Baker's union for creating a new weapon to use against labor unions in the future. This isn't going to make unions any more favorable in the eyes of the public, which is going to enable legislators to erode more and more of the rights that employees have to form them and leverage their control.

They also managed to effectively screw the other 70% of the company that was dependent on Hostess for employment, not to mention that the pensions - the entire reason they went on strike in the first place - are now gone for everybody. It's just not a winning equation. It sends a message to businesses that unions have the power to drive them out of business, but in the capitalist friendly government of today and the easily manipulated voting public, I don't see this doing any good for the average union member. Instead, it's going to intensify lobbying by businesses who are trying to outlaw the union once and for all.

If anything, it's just going to encourage people to not sign on with the unions in R2W states, further defanging union workforces. This is a loss across the board for workers, and the executives at Hostess are going to get to just pocket everything. don't have to pay out pensions, don't have to worry about sagging profits, but they sure as fuck are going to make a fortune out of selling off their brands.

And now, the next plant that makes Twinkies is probably going to be doing it at a minimum wage factory in the right to work heartland.

Büge · « **Reply #877 on:** November 16, 2012, 09:32:51 PM »

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/snack-giant-hostess-shuttering-us-business-but-canada-unaffected/article5365001/

HA

Niku · « **Reply #878 on:** November 17, 2012, 04:47:04 AM »

Well yeah, we've always known that Twinkies would survive in an apocalyptic wasteland.

DestyNova · « **Reply #879 on:** November 17, 2012, 07:44:59 PM »

Quote from: Brentai on November 16, 2012, 10:51:53 AM

Just bought a Hostess cinammon roll from the vending machine.

It's like eating a fresh corpse.

Shit son, don't you know you have to hang them out in the air for proper curing? *thumps cane*

News:

Author Topic: It's the economy, stupid! (Read 73140 times)