. . . most middle-class workers aren't even aware that they're being ripped off. But I know. And a lot of other business owners know. We just don't talk about it. You see, we capitalists will never actually ask you to work overtime. I don't even track your hours. I just make it clear that I trust you to get your job done in the time allotted. And then I hand you twice as much work as you can reasonably do in a 40-hour week. But this downward pressure on wages doesn't end there.
Interesting article on wages from a frequent contributor to Politico. The thrust of the article, is toward hourly, rather than professional workers, but it provides a good explanation of wage stagnation in general. It also goes a long way toward explaining why the velocity of money (M2) is at a historic low.
We now have a "freeze" on any pay increases, merit or otherwise. I haven't had a cost-of-living raise in over 6 years. If it weren't for the shift-diffs and low cost of living in my area, I wouldn't be doing this. What is killing me is that every time I go to the grocery store, Wal-Mart, or anywhere to shop, the prices have gone up so much! I noticed just this morning that some of the items I routinely buy have risen by 25%. That adds up.
Our health insurance premiums went up a ton this year. My "raise" won't even come close to covering the difference. So by staying at my current employer I will be bringing home less in 2015 than I did in 2014 (which wasn't much). We already live like poor fools so I don't know how we are going to come up with the extra $150 a month. I'm back in school, but who knows if I'll be able to find a job once I am done. I work way to darn hard to be this broke at this point in my life. I lived better when I worked in retail.
Our health insurance premiums went up a ton this year. My "raise" won't even come close to covering the difference.
Yep...my 2% merit raise was promptly gobbled up (and more) by higher health insurance premiums for less coverage than I had before. My deductibles went up by a fair bit, and this is the bottom of the barrel HMO, the only plan I can afford.
Since the unions were firmly onboard with advocating this new health insurance environment we all must live under, I don't see how they'd have helped me with this. And union dues would be taken from my check, leaving me with even less money.
But a union would negotiate higher wages and benefits. Union employees make more than non unionized employee, taking into consideration, the cost of union dues. Which are tax deductible.
Well, we see how well being an at-will employee works. I notice that I routinely see nurses from all across the country moving to NorCal for better jobs. I have seen only a couple moving the other direction, and those have each been for spousal reasons.
No Stars In My Eyes
5,613 Posts
AMEN, tmb!