POLITICAL THREAD

[rudd1]

-the days of cheap Mexican *skilled* labor in commercial construction are pretty much over...these guys know their worth and demand it. My firm uses e-verify and we avoid labor brokers like the plague.

-in the old days(pre e-verify)these cats could get a fake ss card and you wouldn't know anything was wrong...until you got a letter from ss admin about name and number not matching...with a note at the bottom not to terminate employee as it could be discriminatory.

-recently tried to hire a couple of really qualified guys...failed e-verify. Saw them working for a *union* contractor at a retail development a few weeks later. No shit...apparantly it is really common. Unions are having a hard time finding guys, like everyone else.

-the gap between union pay and merit shop pay/benefits has narrowed to a negligible amount once dues are taken into consideration. There is a labor shortage...and workers are benefiting.

-too many people go to college now. We need more tradesmen...finding skilled labor under 35yo is damn near impossible.

-heres a thought: i think if a dude that has come here illegally can show he has paid taxes for 5 years and has no felonies...there should be a program available to fast track a green card. Citizenship is another story...nose clean for additional 5 years maybe?

 

[WKBlu]

 

[WKBlu]

 

[Brandon Stroud]

Did Levibooty ever get off his high horse and answer me? Or is he still calling people dipshits while claiming to not engage with people who call others "mook"?

 

[screwduke1]

If even a single line is redacted in the IG report I hope Trump puts a boot up Sessions and Rosensteins ass on live television.

 

[Bill - Shy Cat]

You want my take? I'd hire those Mexicans over American labor 8 out of 10 times on any day of the week.

Wife and I went through a bathroom remodel back in 2006. I returned from Iraq a few months earlier. Previously, on two different occasions, we hired white, Americans to complete the job. One is a family relative. They screwed it up and stole our money. So, we turned to our neighbors across the street, third-generation Latinos. They brought in their own crew, illegal Mexicans and other illegal Central Americans, finished the job in record time and charged us 1/3 what we asked. Very professional. We could not pay them enough. Got a similar story about my in-laws. They saved over $2,000 digging up a busted sewer line by using Latino day labor.

Come here legally. Do good work and I will pay you well.

Agree. Also, residential roofing industry could not survive without Hispanic subcontractors. Masters at their craft.

 

[AustinTXCat]

Agree. Also, residential roofing industry could not survive with Hispanic subcontractors. Masters at their craft.

Exactly, Bill. You know the deal. White kids are more into other things. I live here. The work ethic I see here from the Latino (immigrant community) is amazing. They are really hard working folks.

But, please. You (Latinos) are welcome here. Just make it legal. I'll tell some horror stories later.

 

[ram1955]

Exactly, Bill. You know the deal. White kids are more into other things. I live here. The work ethic I see here from the Latino (immigrant community) is amazing. They are really hard working folks.

But, please. You (Latinos) are welcome here. Just make it legal. I'll tell some horror stories later.

Some pol, can't remember who, a few months back proposed a plan to allow law abiding, working immigrants an opportunity to apply for citizenship. The idea was, if approved, they would be given something like a trial period of a few years. If they remained productive and abided by the law, they would then qualify for citizenship. Sounded like a good compromise, at least for those who have worked, stayed out of trouble and off government welfare rolls. Not sure who it was but some group opposed the measure because they didn't like the trial period. We need law abiding, hard working people. As said earlier, our system has taken away the drive or desire for many of our own people to work.

 

[PhattyJ4UK]

There is truth when people say business owners wanted cheap labor and were able to find it in immigrant workers who would work cheap. There is a segment of Repub leadership that does not want to stop illegal immigration. We've seen that as both sides drag their feet re: President Trump's suggested measures. The truth is this from my experience, though likely not as expanded as yours: There are jobs available and have been jobs that American workers would not take simply because they'd prefer receiving benefits vs working. I've personally encountered these people. At the same time, our system of hand-outs is partly to blame. To be honest, most people would probably rather take free benefits than work for say $100 more every couple weeks.

I openes a dealership and had to live in Gatlinburg for a Year.. the dealership was in morristown. I cant count on my fingers, if i had 10 hands, the amount of people i offered a job that would pay 5-10k a month who said..."that will mess up my check"

These people would rather get somewhere around 1800 government dollars, then earn 3-4 times more working. And they have the audacity to czll it "their check".

Oh and fuzz, dionysus... they were 75% white. Guess im #racist against the white folk.

-the days of cheap Mexican *skilled* labor in commercial construction are pretty much over...these guys know their worth and demand it. My firm uses e-verify and we avoid labor brokers like the plague.

-in the old days(pre e-verify)these cats could get a fake ss card and you wouldn't know anything was wrong...until you got a letter from ss admin about name and number not matching...with a note at the bottom not to terminate employee as it could be discriminatory.

-recently tried to hire a couple of really qualified guys...failed e-verify. Saw them working for a *union* contractor at a retail development a few weeks later. No shit...apparantly it is really common. Unions are having a hard time finding guys, like everyone else.

-the gap between union pay and merit shop pay/benefits has narrowed to a negligible amount once dues are taken into consideration. There is a labor shortage...and workers are benefiting.

-too many people go to college now. We need more tradesmen...finding skilled labor under 35yo is damn near impossible.

-heres a thought: i think if a dude that has come here illegally can show he has paid taxes for 5 years and has no felonies...there should be a program available to fast track a green card. Citizenship is another story...nose clean for additional 5 years maybe?

All for something. But never allowed to vote. Never. And tbeh must find a way where they arent worked in ahead of people who have been waiting because theyre doing it the right way.

 

[AustinTXCat]

Okay, I live in North Austin. My neighborhood is roughly 60% Latino. 20% black. Every day, I walk to a bus stop. The bus takes me to a state job here in the capital city. I see many, many trucks driven by immigrants every GD day trying to make a living. They work hard as hell in this heat. Our neighborhood association has complained about house trailers on corner lots springing up from nowhere. These immigrants purchase lots and build house trailers. They build them from nothing. Incredible.

I have no idea if they are legal. I don't give a shit, so long as they pay taxes and stay sober. More on that shit later. Couple times, my ass nearly got hit by drunken idiots.

Just be cool and conform.

 

[Pelosigalore]

Okay, I live in North Austin. My neighborhood is roughly 60% Latino. 20% black. Every day, I walk to a bus stop. The bus takes me to a state job here in the capital city. I see many, many trucks driven by immigrants every GD day trying to make a living. They work hard as hell in this heat. Our neighborhood association has complained about house trailers on corner lots springing up from nowhere. These immigrants purchase lots and build house trailers. They build them from nothing. Incredible.

I have no idea if they are legal. I don't give a shit, so long as they pay taxes and stay sober. More on that shit later. Couple times, my ass nearly got hit by drunken idiots.

Just be cool and conform.

Do they fly their Mexican flags from the house trailers?

 

[AustinTXCat]

Watching Fox7 Austin right now. If Trump signs the Pot standoff by the feds, its all over.

Can you libs deal with that?

 

[fuzz77]

It's a myth that there are absolute standards for right and wrong. Standards change with time. The standards of 1776 were not the same as the standards of 1876, 1976 or even today. Standards are relative to one's personal POV. How can you even begin to debate that fact?

It appears that you're only issue with same sex marriage is semantics. Civil Union vs Marriage. You call marriage a "spiritual issue" yet half of marriages take place in a court house performed by a JOP. Are those "spiritual"? I couldn't care less what you call it. The word "marriage" is a homonym. You, your church and others can speak about what it means in religious and/or spiritual terms. But in the US marriage is also a legal status that has nothing to do with any religious context. Atheist get married as do Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, Scientologist... As I recall the only push-back to using the Civil Union moniker was that thousands upon thousands of pages of contracts and laws refer to "marriage" and the risk, not to mention the cost...to changing all of those documents so that it guaranteed there was no legal difference was overwhelming.

There are no churches being forced to perform same-sex marriages. Hell, churches refuse to marry people all the time. My wife was raised Catholic and her first husband Methodist. The Catholic church refused to marry them because he wouldn't convert so they got married in the Methodist church. I personally know several same sex couples that have been married and all but one did so at the court house. The other was married at the UCC church which was one of the first to openly accept gays and ordains openly gay ministers. I agree that businesses that don't want to perform services like bake cakes shouldn't have to do so. I also understand that is a slippery slope. Once you allow discrimination how far do you let it go? Do you allow a restaurant to put up a "Whites Only" sign? Can I pay women or blacks one thing and white males another? I've had people answer that question "Yes"...say that if they want to give up that business then that's on them. So what about the little town that may have no black families or very few. There isn't really much of a price to be paid.

So you want to raise taxes on 90-95% of Americans... flat taxes have been considered in the past and the rate of 17% has been used as the revenue neutral rate that would be required. The chart below shows what people currently pay.

I personally believe that tax rates are pretty irrelevant. The cost of taxes gets "built in" to the price of labor. My proof of this is the fact that jobs in higher taxed states generally pay more than jobs in lower taxed states and where they don't the price of goods get inflated to consume those additional $$. Tax rates have risen and dropped yet the relative spread between professions remains the same. As for "eliminating waste"...easier said than done. I've worked in the private sector for close to 40 years and have seen a lot of what I would consider waste. I've also seen dozens of waste cutting efforts and frankly most are more bark than bite. Efforts made to cut waste result in waste... It's easy to spot waste but not so easy to prevent it. Most of it didn't start out as waste.

Moving on to Israel... you didn't answer my question...I wonder why? BHO gave no "support" to Iran, they were trying to negotiate a deal with Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. We gave back to them some of the billions we have frozen in US banks. BHO also signed a deal to guarantee Israel $38 Billion over 10 years. We give more direct aid to Israel than any other nation. As you said about other trade deals...the US has to do what's in its best interest and sometimes Israel might not like it. Israel is also illegally and against agreements that it has signed continues to take privately held property from Palestinians to open settlements on the West Bank as we may grumble but take no actions. Might makes right I guess in your eyes. But puh---leeeze don't try to say that "liberals don't support Israel". I love and support my children but I tell them when I think they've messed up.



ram, as an educator you sure don't seem to have learned a lot sometimes. Welfare hasn't always existed but poverty has. The hills and hollers of Appalachia were in much worse shape pre War-on-Poverty days. Are there some people that abuse the system? Of course. Problem being that it costs more to find and weed out those few abusers than you would save by doing so. Go talk to anyone who has made efforts to find abusers. You also have to weigh the value of those you truly help against those as you believe are hurt. Those that you claim are dependent...there is zero evidence that if you took away their benefits that they would do any differently. People used to starve to death, people lived in absolute squalor. It was much more common to have malnourished children... is that what you prefer? And who is getting $600??? The benefit is about $1.40 per person per meal so $600 would require 4 people...most likely a mother and 3 kids. What's childcare going to cost her so she can work? My son has a 4 month old and is having to pay $15/hr to get someone...which was less expensive than the $250-$300/wk he would have to pay to get daycare. Not sure when the last time you were in the daycare market but that's currently what it costs. I recall we paid about $40/week when mine were little.


That's all I got time for, for now.

 

[AustinTXCat]

Do they fly their Mexican flags from the house trailers?

Usually during World Cup and CONCACAF qualifying.

Columbus qualifying tore those fvckers a new butthole back a few years ago. I could sense the barfing while riding my bicycle to work. Smell it, too.

 

[Dionysus444]

I openes a dealership and had to live in Gatlinburg for a Year.. the dealership was in morristown. I cant count on my fingers, if i had 10 hands, the amount of people i offered a job that would pay 5-10k a month who said..."that will mess up my check"

These people would rather get somewhere around 1800 government dollars, then earn 3-4 times more working. And they have the audacity to czll it "their check".

Oh and fuzz, dionysus... they were 75% white. Guess im #racist against the white folk.

The fact that you think that you have to go out of your way to specifically point out that the people on government assistance were white shows how your racist brain works. Cause we all know that everyone on welfare is black/brown right? But see these were WHITE people taking checks, how novel!

 

[kafka0117]

All the winning is starting to bore me. But the libs' head explosions make it all worthwhile.

 

[Brandon Stroud]

It's a myth that there are absolute standards for right and wrong. Standards change with time.

Dollars to donuts you couldn't defend this to even a philosophy 101 student. Moral Relativism is rightly trashed by most anyone, secular or religious, with even an ounce of intelligence.

Also, no one is going to read all that other drivel you typed. Thanks for wasting your time

 

[Willy4UK]

The fact that you think that you have to go out of your way to specifically point out that the people on government assistance were white shows how your racist brain works. Cause we all know that everyone on welfare is black/brown right? But see these were WHITE people taking checks, how novel!

Shocker.

Everything's racist. Lol

You molest kids i bet

 

[Willy4UK]

It's a myth that there are absolute standards for right and wrong. Standards change with time. The standards of 1776 were not the same as the standards of 1876, 1976 or even today. Standards are relative to one's personal POV. How can you even begin to debate that fact?

It appears that you're only issue with same sex marriage is semantics. Civil Union vs Marriage. You call marriage a "spiritual issue" yet half of marriages take place in a court house performed by a JOP. Are those "spiritual"? I couldn't care less what you call it. The word "marriage" is a homonym. You, your church and others can speak about what it means in religious and/or spiritual terms. But in the US marriage is also a legal status that has nothing to do with any religious context. Atheist get married as do Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist, Scientologist... As I recall the only push-back to using the Civil Union moniker was that thousands upon thousands of pages of contracts and laws refer to "marriage" and the risk, not to mention the cost...to changing all of those documents so that it guaranteed there was no legal difference was overwhelming.

There are no churches being forced to perform same-sex marriages. Hell, churches refuse to marry people all the time. My wife was raised Catholic and her first husband Methodist. The Catholic church refused to marry them because he wouldn't convert so they got married in the Methodist church. I personally know several same sex couples that have been married and all but one did so at the court house. The other was married at the UCC church which was one of the first to openly accept gays and ordains openly gay ministers. I agree that businesses that don't want to perform services like bake cakes shouldn't have to do so. I also understand that is a slippery slope. Once you allow discrimination how far do you let it go? Do you allow a restaurant to put up a "Whites Only" sign? Can I pay women or blacks one thing and white males another? I've had people answer that question "Yes"...say that if they want to give up that business then that's on them. So what about the little town that may have no black families or very few. There isn't really much of a price to be paid.

So you want to raise taxes on 90-95% of Americans... flat taxes have been considered in the past and the rate of 17% has been used as the revenue neutral rate that would be required. The chart below shows what people currently pay.

I personally believe that tax rates are pretty irrelevant. The cost of taxes gets "built in" to the price of labor. My proof of this is the fact that jobs in higher taxed states generally pay more than jobs in lower taxed states and where they don't the price of goods get inflated to consume those additional $$. Tax rates have risen and dropped yet the relative spread between professions remains the same. As for "eliminating waste"...easier said than done. I've worked in the private sector for close to 40 years and have seen a lot of what I would consider waste. I've also seen dozens of waste cutting efforts and frankly most are more bark than bite. Efforts made to cut waste result in waste... It's easy to spot waste but not so easy to prevent it. Most of it didn't start out as waste.

Moving on to Israel... you didn't answer my question...I wonder why? BHO gave no "support" to Iran, they were trying to negotiate a deal with Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. We gave back to them some of the billions we have frozen in US banks. BHO also signed a deal to guarantee Israel $38 Billion over 10 years. We give more direct aid to Israel than any other nation. As you said about other trade deals...the US has to do what's in its best interest and sometimes Israel might not like it. Israel is also illegally and against agreements that it has signed continues to take privately held property from Palestinians to open settlements on the West Bank as we may grumble but take no actions. Might makes right I guess in your eyes. But puh---leeeze don't try to say that "liberals don't support Israel". I love and support my children but I tell them when I think they've messed up.



ram, as an educator you sure don't seem to have learned a lot sometimes. Welfare hasn't always existed but poverty has. The hills and hollers of Appalachia were in much worse shape pre War-on-Poverty days. Are there some people that abuse the system? Of course. Problem being that it costs more to find and weed out those few abusers than you would save by doing so. Go talk to anyone who has made efforts to find abusers. You also have to weigh the value of those you truly help against those as you believe are hurt. Those that you claim are dependent...there is zero evidence that if you took away their benefits that they would do any differently. People used to starve to death, people lived in absolute squalor. It was much more common to have malnourished children... is that what you prefer? And who is getting $600??? The benefit is about $1.40 per person per meal so $600 would require 4 people...most likely a mother and 3 kids. What's childcare going to cost her so she can work? My son has a 4 month old and is having to pay $15/hr to get someone...which was less expensive than the $250-$300/wk he would have to pay to get daycare. Not sure when the last time you were in the daycare market but that's currently what it costs. I recall we paid about $40/week when mine were little.


That's all I got time for, for now.

When are you going to pay Brady?

 

[AustinTXCat]

I openes a dealership and had to live in Gatlinburg for a Year.. the dealership was in morristown. I cant count on my fingers, if i had 10 hands, the amount of people i offered a job that would pay 5-10k a month who said..."that will mess up my check"

These people would rather get somewhere around 1800 government dollars, then earn 3-4 times more working. And they have the audacity to czll it "their check".

Oh and fuzz, dionysus... they were 75% white. Guess im #racist against the white folk.




All for something. But never allowed to vote. Never. And tbeh must find a way where they arent worked in ahead of people who have been waiting because theyre doing it the right way.

Nothing on Fuzz. We're cool.

My granddaughter was born in Morristown, TN two years ago. I'll deal with in just a few.

 

[screwduke1]

 

[screwduke1]

 

[screwduke1]

 

[AustinTXCat]

The fact that you think that you have to go out of your way to specifically point out that the people on government assistance were white shows how your racist brain works. Cause we all know that everyone on welfare is black/brown right? But see these were WHITE people taking checks, how novel!

My family back in eastern KY and TN are white and dirt-ass poor. Nearly all are on welfare, except my daughter, who busts her ass in a factory while supporting a kid. She had scholarships to Berea and UK because I'm a disabled combat veteran. She blew the UGMA I put back for her. Some of us got the hell out and became successful. We migrated to FL and Texas.

Get the hell out of here with your bullshit. There are some effed-up white folks back there, but also some dreamers. Sound familiar?

 

[Dionysus444]

There are some effed-up white folks back there, but also some dreamers. Sound familiar?

This was exactly my point. People are people. He was talking about offering employment opportunities in Gatlinburg. What are the demographics in and around Gatlinburg? He didn't have to specify what race they were. We already knew and it was irrelevant anyway. He chose to point out the milkiness of their skin to differentiate them from his idea of normal welfare takers. AKA brown people, in his mind.

 

[AustinTXCat]

This was exactly my point. People are people. He was talking about offering employment opportunities in Gatlinburg. What are the demographics in and around Gatlinburg? He didn't have to specify what race they were. We already knew and it was irrelevant anyway. He chose to point out the milkiness of their skin to differentiate them from his idea of normal welfare takers. AKA brown people, in his mind.

I boned a gal at some hotel in Gatlinburg back in '94. Totally different demographics. I would have boned a Latino chick during the era if offered.

The fact YOU bring race into this discussion is absolutely disgusting. Please leave before I puke.

 

[jameslee32]

 

[Dionysus444]

I boned a gal at some hotel in Gatlinburg back in '94. Totally different demographics. I would have boned a Latino chick during the era if offered.

The fact YOU bring race into this discussion is absolutely disgusting. Please leave before I puke.

He's the one who brought it up, not me. Turn your vomit somewhere else. Quote for proof.

they were 75% white. Guess im #racist against the white folk.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

There are some effed-up white folks back there, but also some dreamers. Sound familiar?

Americans are dreamers too. One of the best political lines ever delivered imo.

 

[screwduke1]

 

[bigblueinsanity]

As many point out many illegals are very hard working family oriented people. No problem at all with them working here while they strive for citizenship. But they cannot be allowed to cut corners and they must not be given handouts

 

[screwduke1]

LeBron swept haha. Trump curse is real.

 

[AustinTXCat]

He's the one who brought it up, not me. Turn your vomit somewhere else. Quote for proof.

BS. You bring race into this discussion. Hell, a GI seeking strange and you wanna make a big deal about it tells me, and the rest of us, all we need to know, and speaks volumes about our underlying PC motivations.

Please leave. You disgust me.

 

[Dionysus444]

BS. You bring race into this discussion. Hell, a GI seeking strange and you wanna make a big deal about it tells me, and the rest of us, all we need to know, and speaks volumes about our underlying PC motivations.

Honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Who's a GI and what does their pursuit of sex have to do with this discussion?

 

[AustinTXCat]

As many point out many illegals are very hard working family oriented people. No problem at all with them working here while they strive for citizenship. But they cannot be allowed to cut corners and they must not be given handouts

Very family oriented. Dude. I so admire those folks.

We're talking future Americans here. And we've got PC buttholes who wanna change the world because they want to import every Central American wingnut, Che Guevera asshole into the equation.

Look, man. I dodge cars driven by drunks swilling Modelo enough. Hope and change, man.

 

[Levibooty]

There are solutions that would help with the employment issue we face today. I mean people believe unemployment is incredibly low but then complain in the next breath about people not working. Scandinavian countries have addressed them far differently than we have, with much more favorable results. We still treat employment schedules and work hours like we did when steel mills were the best jobs in America. To counteract the coupling of machine with computer logic and AI, we should have hikes in pay, shorter work weeks, double and triple pay for overtime thus providing far more jobs with wealth more evenly distributed and far more time for families to spend rested quality time together as well as continuing education. Sounds crazy but it actually is much better than the over-worked unhealthy people that struggle to keep their eyes open driving home from working two, three consecutive shifts. Everybody has complaints but nobody wants to change.

 

[AustinTXCat]

Honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Who's a GI and what does it have to do with this discussion?

Of course you have no idea. You sit back on a damn keyboard, entering stupid shit, while the rest of us are trying to make a living.

Go home.

 

[AustinTXCat]

LeBron swept haha. Trump curse is real.

 

[Dionysus444]

Of course you have no idea. You sit back on a damn keyboard, entering stupid shit, while the rest of us are trying to make a living.

Nowhere was the military or sex mentioned in this conversation. Still have no idea what you're prattling about. Are you maybe attributing someone else's post to me?

 

[AustinTXCat]

There are solutions that would help with the employment issue we face today. I mean people believe unemployment is incredibly low but then complain in the next breath about people not working. Scandinavian countries have addressed them far differently than we have, with much more favorable results. We still treat employment schedules and work hours like we did when steel mills were the best jobs in America. To counteract the coupling of machine with computer logic and AI, we should have hikes in pay, shorter work weeks, double and triple pay for overtime thus providing far more jobs with wealth more evenly distributed and far more time for families to spend rested quality time together as well as continuing education. Sounds crazy but it actually is much better than the over-worked unhealthy people that struggle to keep their eyes open driving home from working two, three consecutive shifts. Everybody has complaints but nobody wants to change.

Much more complex. How about making your own luck in life?

Oh, wait. No speak English. Even in an amazingly connected world.