Another chain restaurant coming!

MarieB

MarieB

New Member
czygvtwkr said:
45 years, sorry, but 2011 was two years ago so 47 years ago. My dad was 16 in 1966.
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For some reason, I thought you were older


But, I am very "sensitive" about some comparisons, and I understand from what you've written why you are but in a different way than I am.

I think the idea of poverty should really be relative.
 
Hank

Hank

my war
vraiblonde said:
People around here won't go to the independently owned places. They want their chains with microwaved food out of a bag.

And they're loyal. I caught all kinds of holy hell on here for daring to say I don't care to eat at chain restaurants. You'd have thought I disparaged Christ. Or softball and 10 oz Bud. A couple of them questioned my patriotism.

Anyway, that's why we can't have nice things like other communities have.
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Totally agree! Nothing worse than Crapplebees & Greene Turtle!
 
B

BernieP

Resident PIA
czygvtwkr said:
I think such reports are deceiving because back "in the day" alot less people worked for someone. Their job was living, my dad grew up on a farm where they were beyond dirt poor. When he was little his dad sent him out to pick dandelion greens for dinner, get eggs from the chickens, and even to shoot doves (pigeons) for a meal. He grew up in a house that had no phone, no cable (didnt even have a TV), they chopped wood for heat and hand pumped a well for water. Compare the quality of life, no scratch that, stuff poor people have no a days vs what poor people had then.

Things poor people have today that they didn't 50 years ago: air conditioning, multiple cars, electronic gadgets, clothes that weren't considered poor people clothes (jeans were for poor kids then) when they needed something they often traded a pig, or a hard days labor for it. A hot bath or shower was a luxury. When you compare to the good old days, make sure to make a valid comparison.
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It's the income gap in the US that's grown.
Executives in the US are compensated at far greater rates than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan. They are often compensated handsomely while driving a business into the ground - I know, they met the terms of their contract so they were due the bonus.
When 60 someting CEO's are getting their 30 something "girl friend", $600,000 per year annuity for life, and then the company goes tits up, something is wrong.

Don't believe me, how about Forbes
Could America's Wealth Gap Lead To A Revolt? - Forbes

All the talk about income and wealth inequality over the last couple of years begs the question: Could the wealth gap lead to a revolt?

In some ways, last week’s fast food worker strikes and rallies affecting businesses like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and Yum Brand’s Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC, demonstrate it already has. In 60 cities across the country, they were protesting the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour that keeps them in a chronic state of poverty, and demanding “a living wage” of twice that.

It’s extremely difficult to organize workers in such a fragmented service industry, so the fact that these demonstrations have taken place on this scale is a sign of their determination. These demands have been brewing for the past year, and are likely to spread to other industries unless the government steps in to raise the minimum wage which, given the current state of Congress, is unlikely.
Regardless of your personal views on the minimum wage, the protesters may have a point. The disparity between the nation’s top earners and the bottom 80 percent has grown exponentially over the past three decades, and it’s been exacerbated by the Great Recession.

For all the employment growth and claims by many that our economy is in recovery, most of those new jobs – six out of ten according to the Labor Department – are on the low end of the pay scale, which is already much lower than other first world countries. Meanwhile, the top executives of the fast food companies at the center of this storm are among the highest paid in the nation.

A recent YouTube video that went viral brings home just how stark the wealth gap in America has become. According to the video, almost all of us perceive the wealth distribution as unfair, and 92% of the 5,000 Americans polled think that it should be more equitable – Republicans and Democrats alike. That’s nothing new.

However, what is striking is the vast disparity between what the average American believes the wealth gap to be, and what it actually is. The reality in graphic form shows that the bottom 40% barely register, and the top 1 percent already own more of the wealth than most Americans think the top 20% should own in a fair society.

Of course, we need to differentiate between wealth and income disparity. While the top 1 percent own more than 40% of the nation’s approximately $54 trillion in wealth, they earn about 19% of the income. In other words, the rich get richer via stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. which partially accounts for the wealth gap being almost double the income gap. So an increase in the minimum wage being called for now will barely make a dent in this disparity as it stands.

NEW YORK, NY - JULY 29: Employees and supporte...

That leaves the bottom 80 percent with a meager 7 percent of the wealth, or, to look at it another way, the wealthiest 400 Americans have the same combined wealth of the nation’s poorest – more than 150 million people, which is almost half the population. So, no matter how you slice it, when it comes to income and wealth in America, the rich get most of the pie and the rest get the crumbs.

As more Americans are confronted with evidence of this stark reality, the chances of social unrest increase. In my last blog I analyzed the protests in Brazil through the lens of human behavior, and an offshoot of equity theory I call “perceived fairness”. In essence, people are willing to make financial decisions that are not in their own best interest in order to correct an unfair situation with another person. But that is in a one on one situation. Throw in the psychology of mob mentalityand it gets much worse.

So what does this say about the current economic reality of our own American pie? And how much more inequity do we need to see before the nation’s poorest, which is the vast majority, really revolt?

Aristotle was the first to state that inequality triggers a revolution and that was certainly the case during the French Revolution, when onerous taxes on the lower and middle classes enhanced the lives of the wealthiest aristocrats. The American Revolution was also about unfairness. Remember the rallying cry: “no taxation without representation”? That was in response to Americans being taxed for the gain of British.

The key to this not happening here and now has always been our belief in upward mobility. As long as average Americans feel they can better their lives and rise up the social and economic ladder, they will work within the system. But, more and more, we are seeing this possibility fading in America.

Fortunately, we are an aspirational society, and even the poorest among us continue to dream of climbing to the next rung. As long as the power of hope remains that anyone can better their life and grab the American dream, the status quo will be intact. But, how much longer is there going to be enough of the pie for a growing segment of the middle to lower classes of the American population to split?

In Part II, I’ll discuss the burgeoning group of people in this country who have little hope outside of a life that’s on state welfare, and the danger this poses to society. I’ll also discuss the Samaritan’s dilemma which dictates that, when given a hand out, there are two types of people: those who will use the helping hand to better their lot, and those who come to rely on that charity as a way of life.

Read ‘The Wealth Revolt, Part II: Food Stamp Nation’.
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MarieB

MarieB

New Member
BernieP said:
It's the income gap in the US that's grown.
Executives in the US are compensated at far greater rates than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan. They are often compensated handsomely while driving a business into the ground - I know, they met the terms of their contract so they were due the bonus.
When 60 someting CEO's are getting their 30 something "girl friend", $600,000 per year annuity for life, and then the company goes tits up, something is wrong.

Don't believe me, how about Forbes
Could America's Wealth Gap Lead To A Revolt? - Forbes
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Look at the history of Home Depot
 
B

BernieP

Resident PIA
MarieB said:
Look at the history of Home Depot
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Look at the history of companies like Burroughs and Univac
The executives that fostered the ill conceived merger, took the company down, and along the way lost the pension funds of not only then current employees, but those that were retired. For their diligence, in addition to their splendid salary and perks, they received the "golden parachute" when they exited the corporation.
Look no further than a few years ago and the collapse of some investment houses and banks. Did the CEOs and corporate officers walk away with nothing.
Look at retail (department stores), pressure is put the sales associates to get credit applications, and increase sales. Their hours are cut when sale quotas are not met. Mangers, the ones who are responsible for making decisions, are not affected. Layoff 2000 workers and you get paid a bonus. Layoff 200,000 and you get a bigger bonus.
The idea that illegal immigrants are taking jobs Americans don't want is a farce played out by the business community. Illegals are employed as nurses, teachers and all sorts of jobs. American citizens have one attribute that scares employers - they can go to authorities and report unsafe work conditions, they are protected by law. Illegals are not.
People on work visas work cheaper.
I am very familiar with the tricks employers use to hire foreign workers.
Not that they aren't qualified, but their primary qualification is they work much cheaper - decreases costs, increase profits and the executives compensation goes up.
 
MarieB

MarieB

New Member
BernieP said:
Look at the history of companies like Burroughs and Univac
The executives that fostered the ill conceived merger, took the company down, and along the way lost the pension funds of not only then current employees, but those that were retired. For their diligence, in addition to their splendid salary and perks, they received the "golden parachute" when they exited the corporation.
Look no further than a few years ago and the collapse of some investment houses and banks. Did the CEOs and corporate officers walk away with nothing.
Look at retail (department stores), pressure is put the sales associates to get credit applications, and increase sales. Their hours are cut when sale quotas are not met. Mangers, the ones who are responsible for making decisions, are not affected. Layoff 2000 workers and you get paid a bonus. Layoff 200,000 and you get a bigger bonus.
The idea that illegal immigrants are taking jobs Americans don't want is a farce played out by the business community. Illegals are employed as nurses, teachers and all sorts of jobs. American citizens have one attribute that scares employers - they can go to authorities and report unsafe work conditions, they are protected by law. Illegals are not.
People on work visas work cheaper.
I am very familiar with the tricks employers use to hire foreign workers.
Not that they aren't qualified, but their primary qualification is they work much cheaper - decreases costs, increase profits and the executives compensation goes up.
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Agree with most points

I am also familiar with the practice in your last paragraph. Have they started recruiting from the ME yet?
 
?

..._

Guest
SoMdDude said:
Does anyone remember when Golden Corral used to be order by #, and you waited in line with a tray for your food? Thats when it was awesome! Hell that was probably 20+ years ago though lol
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Yes, those different colored plastic wedges they put on your plate, a waitress would come along, take the number and give you your HOT food!!!

It was good then.:buddies:
 
MarieB

MarieB

New Member
..._ said:
Yes, those different colored plastic wedges they put on your plate, a waitress would come along, take the number and give you your HOT food!!!

It was good then.:buddies:
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Ponderosa was like that. I think maybe Brown Derby was too
 
J

JLS

Member
Whats happened with the Golden Corral? Supposedly opening Summer 2013 ?? anyone know why they've stopped???
 
dave1959

dave1959

Active Member
JLS said:
Whats happened with the Golden Corral? Supposedly opening Summer 2013 ?? anyone know why they've stopped???
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You should come to this part of town more often...They have been grading
and clearing for a couple of weeks and the foundation is almost done...
 
itsbob

itsbob

I bowl overhand
Gilligan said:
We should start a betting pool on which local restaurant establishments will be closing up next. Bon Buffett went out...I can think of several that are not far behind. With the gross over-saturation of "eaterys" in the area, there are going to be a lot of shuttered buildings....
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Didn't know Bon Buffet was gone, but surprised it lasted as long as it did...
 
R

Riddler

Member
JLS said:
Whats happened with the Golden Corral? Supposedly opening Summer 2013 ?? anyone know why they've stopped???
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The plans must have changes at some point because shortly after the McDonald's closed they had people working on the building and they changed the roofline. Then it sat for a while before they recently demolished the building and started grading the site.
 
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