Cranking up the economy with infrastructure restoration.

[Darren]

"President Donald Trump has renewed his call for a massive infrastructure program. Both the President and Congressional Democrats are hoping to use an infrastructure program to help the country recover from the economic difficulties created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Congressional Republicans have made it very clear that they’re not interested."

https://www.thetruckersreport.com/trump ... e-funding/

[Gob]

Aus did that after the 2008 economic crash, worked well.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I'm not sure if my keyboard can form these words, but I'm with Trump on this one.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Yeah, the Dems need to lay off "broadband for everybody" and support infrastructure projects that truly benefit all of society.

[BoSoxGal]

Broadband for everyone does, in fact, benefit most of society. Every year that passes there are fewer people who don't utilize internet services - the majority of my clients in their 90s use(d) desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones with connectivity to the internet. Low income people and 23 million rural Americans could benefit massively from reliable broadband access to give them meaningful distance learning opportunities as well as greater job opportunities. Countries much less developed than the USA are making a commitment to broadband for everyone; we should, too. It's a major undertaking that would create a great many jobs in the short term, too.

[Econoline]

Yeah, the Dems need to lay off "broadband for everybody" and support infrastructure projects that truly benefit all of society.

Right...just like that notorious boondoggle during the Roosevelt administration, the Rural Electrification Act. "Electricity for everybody"? Who needs it?

[Burning Petard]

Trump has said he is gonna create a massive infrastructure renewal program in everyone of his State of the Union speeches. They have all died of neglect long before they got to the floor of the House of Representatives. Why should this time be any different?

snailgate

[Darren]

Trump has said he is gonna create a massive infrastructure renewal program in everyone of his State of the Union speeches. They have all died of neglect long before they got to the floor of the House of Representatives. Why should this time be any different?

snailgate

Lots of senators and representatives are up for election?

[BoSoxGal]

20-25% unemployment with many laid off from jobs that will never come back - it’s ripe timing for a massive jobs program via infrastructure revitalization, I would think.

[RayThom]

What's old is new again.

[Bicycle Bill]

What's old is new again.

Thing is, in the days of the original CCC and the rest of the New Deal's "alphabet agencies" like the WPA, CWA, TVA, REA, and the NRA (National Recovery Administration, not the gun nuts), people knew how to work and, even if digging a hole or piling up rocks wasn't their normal job description, they rolled up their sleeves, grabbed a shovel, and did so because doing it put a paycheck in their pocket at the end of the week.  Compare that to today's 'workforce' who won't lift a finger if they think something is 'beneath their dignity' to do it — but they can calculate how much they would get from public assistance, unemployment benefits, 'disability benefits', SSI, AFDC, WIC, and all the rest of the handouts that we have put in place since then, right down to the last penny, if they don't work a lick.

-"BB"-

[dales]

My parents were indeed part of the "GREATEST GENERATION" and got to work.

Compare and contrast to people today who do nothing but biitch.

Sad.

[BoSoxGal]

Oh fuck off both of you, really. Which of you is making minimum wage to risk your life checking folks out at the grocery store? Seriously, what asshole ignorant Reagan/Bush/Bush/Trump bullshit you just spewed. Again, fuck off.

[dales]

BSG - sounds like you're not having a very good day.

Here's a nice COVID-19 hug just for you.

[BoSoxGal]

Total bullshit OLD FUCKING MAN talk, saying folks today don’t know how to work hard. Folks until a few weeks ago were working harder, at more jobs per person, for less income, than folks have in many decades. Seriously, you both owe an apology to the hard working workers of America for those ignorant statements.

And on THIS day of all! Seriously, fuck off to both of you again.

[Bicycle Bill]

Oh fuck off both of you, really. Which of you is making minimum wage to risk your life checking folks out at the grocery store? Seriously, what asshole ignorant Reagan/Bush/Bush/Trump bullshit you just spewed. Again, fuck off.

Minimum wage varies from state to state.  I live in Wisconsin where minimum wage is $7.50 per hour, and at age 65 am making 1.8 times that as a customer service rep for a major cellular phone carrier, which shall remain nameless — and that's after three-plus years with this company.  And when I came to this company I brought an additional six years of experience with a second company, which shall also go unnamed, for which I was given a starting salary of exactly one dollar per hour more than the person who just walked in the door and knew nothing more about cellular phones than how to turn them on and had to be trained completely from scratch — the same sort of person who, I might add, in something like 90% of the cases, was no longer with the company twelve months later.  This is, in its own way, a very demanding, stressful job, and a lot of people just plain can't hack it.  A box of Kleenex lasts longer around the call center than a lot of people do.

This is not a rote, repetitive job; every call is different, every customer is different, and every customer brings a different problem to the table, all of which I am expected to deal with in a manner to keep both the customer and the company higher-ups happy — meaning I can't just nod my head and say yes and hand out adjustments, credits, and free telephones left and right — and if you don't think that's what a large number of the people who call in to us are asking, whether directly or indirectly, you're welcome to turn yourself into a fly on my wall and listen in for a week or so.  It requires skills and knowledge and an ability to think on one's feet, not to mention a sharp memory in order to be able to quickly and accurately match a solution to the customer's problem out of the literally hundreds of options that are out there, and I like to think that every day I demonstrate that I am indeed the person who does possess those skills.  Yes, I'm doing well, but then again I'm single and have no major expenses or dependents (such as a wife or children) to support.  I know damned good and well (and you do too, if you would ever care to admit it), that even a minimum wage of $15 per hour — which works out to about $30 grand per year, pre-tax — is not enough on which to support a wife and family at much more than a 'keeping body and soul together' level.  No wonder so many couples/families these days have both partners working — they have to do it if they want to keep a roof over their heads and food in their mouths.

And there was a time less than twenty years ago where I was the person "making minimum wage to risk my life checking folks out at the grocery store" (OK, a little more than minimum wage, but it was still less than $10/hour and it sureinhell wasn't anywhere in the same ballpark as the amount of money a barrister pulls down), and if it weren't for the fact that the store closed I might still be there.  So I dare say I am far closer on the pay scale to those poor slobs flipping burgers or working in grocery stores or WalMarts — and far more familiar with the problems they face — than are you.

I'll tell you the same thing that TPFKA@W told you in another thread the other day: Get down off of your high horse.  Despite how you may feel about yourself, the truth is that you ain't all that and a bag of chips either.

And while I'm on my soapbox, I also find your willingness to drop the F-bomb on anyone with whom you disagree to be a little off-putting as well.  Surely you can find other ways to express your displeasure without resorting to vulgarity and gutter talk.

-"BB"-

[Joe Guy]

Hey Dale! I don’t think the hug helped her.

Nice try though.

[dales]

Hey JoeGuy - I did my best.

It's up to BSG to decide on how she deals with her many issues.

And BB added:

And while I'm on my soapbox, I also find your willingness to drop the F-bomb on anyone with whom you disagree to be a little off-putting as well. Surely you can find other ways to express your displeasure without resorting to vulgarity and gutter talk.

Yes, she does have problem with those she disagrees with.

Sad.

[Gob]

Total bullshit OLD FUCKING MAN talk, saying folks today don’t know how to work hard. Folks until a few weeks ago were working harder, at more jobs per person, for less income, than folks have in many decades. Seriously, you both owe an apology to the hard working workers of America for those ignorant statements.

And on THIS day of all! Seriously, fuck off to both of you again.

@realDonaldTrump, your mouth is the foulest shithole in the world! ~ Vicente Fox Quesada

Irony much?

[Darren]

Oh fuck off both of you, really. Which of you is making minimum wage to risk your life checking folks out at the grocery store? Seriously, what asshole ignorant Reagan/Bush/Bush/Trump bullshit you just spewed. Again, fuck off.

Minimum wage varies from state to state.  I live in Wisconsin where minimum wage is $7.50 per hour, and at age 65 am making 1.8 times that as a customer service rep for a major cellular phone carrier, which shall remain nameless — and that's after three-plus years with this company.  And when I came to this company I brought an additional six years of experience with a second company, which shall also go unnamed, for which I was given a starting salary of exactly one dollar per hour more than the person who just walked in the door and knew nothing more about cellular phones than how to turn them on and had to be trained completely from scratch — the same sort of person who, I might add, in something like 90% of the cases, was no longer with the company twelve months later.  This is, in its own way, a very demanding, stressful job, and a lot of people just plain can't hack it.  A box of Kleenex lasts longer around the call center than a lot of people do.


-"BB"-

Have you checked the starting wage at Walmart lately? Locally the advertised new hire rate is from $10 to $15.

"Walmart is testing a slightly higher minimum wage in a few hundred of its stores, as it rolls out a new, more flexible model for how it manages workflow within the store.

In roughly 500 stores, Walmart has raised starting hourly pay for team associates, a newly created role, to $12 from $11. The company said some of these new hires will work as cashiers, people who help stock shelves and deli workers."