Apple hires 800 at $8/hr

[MossRoad]

I'm not a shareholder of any company...

America has one of the greatest safety nets of any nation... Subsidized Housing, School Lunches, Free Education, Cell Phones, Scholarships, Discounted Utilities, Discounted Auto Insurance, over 2 years unemployment many I know received... etc.

I guess it will never be enough.

People that believe they are worth more should open up shop and persue that dream.

No one in my family has ever had a pension... we basically work until we can't.

My biggest issue is not big business standing in my way... it's regulations preventing me from working at home or hoops I have to go through to run a business.

The city actually came down on a women that sold vegetables she raised in her backyard... another friend moved to the county because he was not allowed to work as a CPA from home...

If you have any mutual funds, 401ks, IRA or other investments, you probably are a share holder of something.

 

[houstonscott]

Spoken like a true share holder... people deserve a living wage, not a starvation diet of a pay check that we in turn subsidize with our tax dollars. Wally world can afford more, and should step up.

They already stepped up by reducing costs for hundreds of millions of people and improved their lives, something government can't claim. HS

 

[adventure bob]

People dont "deserve" anything. People have certain rights in America and no where does it say people have a right to money. The Constituition gives you all the rights you need to be able to prosper. It doesnt determine how, thats entirely up to you, but the framework of rights are there so you can do it. If it didnt work, folks wouldnt be whinning about the evil corporations that started from the hard work of folks who went out and busted their humps to get rich. Everyone in this country has the opportunity to get rich and theres a legal framework and free market system that will allow it. We do not however guarantee the right for every one to not be poor. If you don't want ot be poor, if you don't like $8 an hour, you have the capability to change it. Its entirely up to you.

 

[Cat_Driver]

My goodness, looks like people will complain if companies don't hire American workers, THEN WHEN THEY DO - people complain they aren't paying them $100.00 an hr. The one thing I do know, anyone complaining about low wages never, started a business and never made a payroll.

No one is holding a gun to any employees head, every job is a contract, willingly entered into. You do this and you get paid that, real simple. You don't like it leave, you don't do the job you're fired, see - it gets even simpler.

Apple didn't have to open the dozen or so satellite manufacturing plants across the USA, BUT THEY DID. They pay USA employees $8.00 and hr. and pay HUGE TAXES on profits. ( Those taxes pay for all the freeloaders ) The smart thing for them to do is manufacture EVERYTHING in China and pay $8.00 a DAY, but no, they manufacture HERE, in the USA generating payroll dollars that are spent HERE, in the USA.

They've done a lot more than the Government has done in the last 5 years and spending TRILLIONS and not creating one single job. So tell me again how BAD Apple is.

Since when is it bad to hire someone so they aren't on the Government dole? Apparently is much better for the working stiff like me to work harder pay taxes and just keep everyone on Government hand outs.

Why is it that no one complains that the Government hand outs don't equal $25.00 and hr. to sit home and play video games - I mean WHY NOT. If we're going to complain and whine about Apple and Walmart, then the Government should be on the whine list.

I mean the Government just takes a penny's worth of paper and turns it into a $1000.00 bill, ( NOW THAT'S PROFIT ) they produce NOTHING, don't have to sell a thing, just turn paper into dollar, so then why don't they just hand everyone out of work $10,000 a week? Well anyone? Bueeler, Bueller, Bueller?

Come on, if we're going after the people that have the most "profit", well then the Government has more "profit" than any company, so where's the complaints?

So the whiners won't hand over money to Walmart or Apple, but GLADLY hand over tax money to the biggest profit organization in the world, and never complain to them to hand out more free money. My My My, looks like I just busted the protest whiners and show how hypocritical they are.

Hey wait a minute, Since the Government is making more profit than anyone for producing NOTHING, then why isn't every postal worker getting $100.00 and hour? I mean fair is fair. Again no whiners here either!

So I guess we should put a "profit cap" on corporations so they don't make such insane profits, ORRRRR, how about we limit profits and then give everything to the employees after that maximum number is reached. Here's an idea. We all work 12 hrs a day, give 100% of our money to the Government and get everything FOR FREE, how about that.

Oh and for those whiners that have never made a payroll or started a business, those evil "profits" and there as insurance when any business has a down turn, or a slump. Those " profits" get businesses through the hard times. If there is no surplus and bad times hit THEN NO EMPLOYEE GETS A PAY CHECK. Those insane profits are an insurance policy to keep paychecks coming to employees during bad times and LOSSES, a word whiners never seem use, in a "wage whiners" life only PROFITS exist.

Why is it the whiners never whine when Apple spends BILLION of R&D, or building a dozen manufacturing plants across the USA. Gee I wonder where they go the money to do that with, did the employees give them the money? ...OH I KNOW, from profits.

Finally where do you think the Government gets the Billions of dollars it hand out - that's right, they get their BILLIONS from the BILLIONS in profits Apple generates, and everyone reading this has benefited from the profits Apple makes and taxes Apple pays, that is if you ever got a letter, or driven on a road that is.

I guess those profits aren't bad any more, now that you know you are benefiting from Apples profits.

 

[ultrarunner]

If you have any mutual funds, 401ks, IRA or other investments, you probably are a share holder of something.

No mutual funds or 401k... had stock in 2 companies back in the 80's and both went bust.

Considered going the 401k route and learned there is no company match.

My parents and grandparents saw stocks as a sucker's bet and knew plenty of folks that lost everything in the 30's.

I do invest in Real Estate... cash or seller carry back and pay them off ahead of schedule.

Money in the Bank pays 1.3% so paying down debt works better for me.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Yep. That's what we need. Government taking over Walmart and forcing them to do the peoples' will.....

Who said anything about the government stepping in ? I said Wally world should step up, they have several billions each to spread around.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

They already stepped up by reducing costs for hundreds of millions of people and improved their lives, something government can't claim. HS

Yeah, they improved the bottom line of all the Chinese companies that make their cheap crap and then cover themselves in the American flag. I have NEVER shopped at a Wal Mart and never will. Thank God I have that right to choose.

 

[crash325]

I have said this before.
But the left is totally deaf to real facts & know diddly squat about running a business.
Even those that "Claim" to own or run a business, seem to know little about pay & payroll'
How many of you so called business owners, share your profits with the employees???
There have been times in my life I worked for free. Yes Free. I considered it a chance to learn and expand my ability to get a job or better job.
Now I was not rich, I already had & had to have a job.

Starting wage is an entry level wage, its a chance for high school & college students to earn some $$ towards their education or other things they may want.
It is also the pay for new hires that need training in order to do a job.
Some retired folks only want a little extra money & if they earn too much it reduces their SSI payment.

One of the so call business persons here claimed he never hires someone that needs training.
Great But Someone had to Train this person.

Cat Driver was much more eloquent than I am. Go read his post again.

 

[adventure bob]

There is a strange socialist tinge to this thread: companies should do something for the workers, the Gov should do something. Andmy favorite: They have millions each to spread around. They have millions cuase they worked their butts off to get it. You have the same chance. Stop whining about your entitlement and go do something or keep doing what your doing for $8/hr
Guess what folks? Your preaching socialism! Obama has made a bigger impact than we thought.

 

[dave1949]

Capitalism is based on free market forces to determine values of things within the markets, to include the price off labor. If you don't like making $8 an hour there are choices. You could improve your position by obtaining a more valuable skill set. You could move to where your skill set is less available, thus increasing it's value. You could even do what Jobs an Wozniak did and start your own company. But don't wine because "its not a living wage" or "its not enough money." Apparently that market in that area will bear about $8/hr for that skill set. Its not evil, its not personal, its not even about the people: Its business.

I think that's what the mafia hit man says just before he whacks someone.

The globe is awash in cheap labor and it is accessible to most businesses. The impact of that is being felt in our country by many people and it is contributing to our gradual slide out of first place by many metrics. The more poor people we have here, the worse the problems become. There are many social ills, related costs and foregone opportunities that travel with poverty. We cannot afford large numbers of poor people.

We have many thousands of young people trying to improve their skill sets. Young folks leave states like Maine in droves in search of employment. People are doing the things you suggest.

The reality is that not many people are equipped to be a Jobs or a Wozniak, they have a better chance of winning the lottery than starting the next Apple. It's admirable to foster entrepreneurship but it is not a panacea for every economic ill that comes down the pike.

The great majority of people are ready and willing to go out and make a living by the only means realistically open to them, which is working for someone else. They are being every bit as capitalist as you, attempting to trade value for value. When it becomes common that they can't make a living by working, something is wrong.

You sound as if it's okay to sacrifice peoples' lives to the system that is failing them. You are certain that more failure will lead to success I guess. We have a great economic system but it has always needed some tweaks to maintain reasonable balance.

Look at history. We went through some ugly times following the shift from an agrarian to industrial economy. We are still transitioning from an industrial to an information economy. We are headed into similar times as we shift from a national to a global economy. We can ignore reality until there are riots and blood shed--again, or we can find solutions.

I hope those of you who think the minimum wage should disappear or never be raised, will write to Warren Buffet and explain business to him because he thinks you are wrong. Raising the minimum wage is not going to cure our underlying problems, but it will slow the growth of those problems.