I Met Two Waitresses Last Evening - a Point about Economics

[JoeB131]

Why is the world using less coal? Oh, thats right. Because our government has been steering us away from it for years.

Not just our government, the whole world. Even China.

Coal is dirty, it's unhealthy to mine, and it creates toxic waste.

 

[Hafar1014]

So ALL medical payments will be made by the same government that gave us the scam of ACA temporary supplements?

The NHS in the UK is collapsing. Government cant run healthcare.

 

[rightwinger]

Not the point. The government picks winners and losers, and they have done that for decades. Singling out one over another doesn't seem very honest to me.

The market picks most winners and losers

Coal lost

 

[rightwinger]

So ALL medical payments will be made by the same government that gave us the scam of ACA temporary supplements?

Also gives us Medicare and VA

 

[rightwinger]

Trump is bringing back private jobs and killing government jobs. Thats better fir the economy bad for democrats who use the government to pay off supporters

4.2 percent unemployment

 

[Ringo]

We need to get that culture back. Fairness aside, the system in which anyone who prefers not to work can simply live off of the work of others is not sustainable=

The professor was invited to a meeting with the super-rich to talk about future technologies. But all the questions from the hedge fund managers were on the topic of how to survive in their bunkers after the Incident.

The money changers are worried: how will they pay their security services to protect them from the gangs of “rabble” on the surface when money, their measure of wealth and happiness, disappears? That was their main question.
They are not interested in the fate of those left behind. The main thing is how I will live in the world they are leading us to.
Capital is a faceless and blind force. The force of evil.

21st-century capitalism has closed the door on humanity's path to the Light. The light has simply been turned off. People are being offered salvation one by one, but only the most ruthless and unprincipled will be saved.

The dreams of the best dreamers of the human race about a bright future for all have been thrown into the trash.

And now the capitalist bright elf, whose brain has been washed by crooks for centuries, stands in a daze, his mouth agape. All his “bastions of stability” — freedom, democracy, the prosperity of a quiet bourgeois life, even the guarantee of his physical existence — turned out to be castles in the sand, promised by cunning swindlers.

 

[Hafar1014]

4.2 percent unemployment

Thousands of government jobs lost and illegals de[ported are most of that number. Those are good things

 

[hadit]

No. All the same is that the point? I say it's a good thing to help the poor.

It is a good thing, but what do we say to those we can no longer help because we helped unwisely? IOW, there are smart ways to help, and we're not really careful to do them.

 

[Hafar1014]

It is a good thing, but what do we say to those we can no longer help because we helped unwisely? IOW, there are smart ways to help, and we're not really careful to do them.

Democrats dont help the poor they ex[plot them

 

[pknopp]

It is a good thing, but what do we say to those we can no longer help because we helped unwisely?

I reject that argument where we are concerned. We can no longer afford the billions we spend to bribe other countries to do as we say.

IOW, there are smart ways to help, and we're not really careful to do them.

kinda vague there.

 

[80zephyr]

Not just our government, the whole world. Even China.

Coal is dirty, it's unhealthy to mine, and it creates toxic waste.

So the government did steer us away from coal. They did pick winners and losers.

 

[80zephyr]

The market picks most winners and losers

Coal lost

The government picks them as well. And they actively went after coal.

 

[rightwinger]

Thousands of government jobs lost and illegals de[ported are most of that number. Those are good things

Just because Trump fired them does not give him a pass on the unemployment rate

 

[hadit]

I reject that argument where we are concerned. We can no longer afford the billions we spend to bribe other countries to do as we say.

Right, we have been foolish with our largess and can no longer afford to keep going. Notice what happened when DOGE identified even the most egregious waste and mismanagement in government programs. The usual suspects circled the wagons and screamed bloody murder, unwilling to reduce spending even a few dollars.

kinda vague there.

Purposely, as I was not attempting to create a list of the ways to wisely help. We can discuss such ways, but that was not my intention.

 

[rightwinger]

The government picks them as well. And they actively went after coal.

They held coal to ecological and safety standards they couldn’t meet

 

[pknopp]

Right, we have been foolish with our largess and can no longer afford to keep going. Notice what happened when DOGE identified even the most egregious waste and mismanagement in government programs. The usual suspects circled the wagons and screamed bloody murder, unwilling to reduce spending even a few dollars.

DOGE was a dog and pony show.

Purposely, as I was not attempting to create a list of the ways to wisely help. We can discuss such ways, but that was not my intention.

Fair enough.

 

[80zephyr]

They held coal to ecological and safety standards they couldn’t meet

Sure did. So they picked the winners and the losers.

 

[Rambunctious]

Biden's auto pen ruined lives of Americans....

 

[Hafar1014]

Just because Trump fired them does not give him a pass on the unemployment rate

Less government employees will create more private jobs and a better economy. Looking forward Trump has created a solid foundation for growth after the Biden disaster.

 

[Woodznutz]

Here is the economic problem addressed in this post:

Nearly 100 million Americans received some form of government assistance in 2019, according to a 2023 estimate from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The federal government has assistance programs in place to support Americans who can’t afford food, housing, healthcare, and other needs. This is sometimes referred to as a social safety net, a system of programs designed to support people struggling economically. In 2022, around one in three Americans was enrolled in at least one of those programs, including nearly half of all American kids.

How many people receive government assistance from social security, medicare, and other programs | USAFacts

In 2022, around one in three Americans was enrolled in at least one government assistance program, including nearly half of all American kids.

usafacts.org

So what about the waitresses? They were former waitresses, actually.

It was at a poker room. One was about seventy, playing low stakes 1/3 hold 'em, while her husband was playing high stakes 15/30 Hi-Lo. The other was a dealer, maybe thirty to forty. She was Filipina and it's harder for me to tell their ages.

Somehow the topic of waitressing came up. The older player said she waitressed all through high school, that it was fun and she couldn't believe how much money she was making compared to friends working fast food. The younger dealer talked about how fast she was, and how she one day had to serve the whole restaurant because everyone else was out. She didn't care because that meant she was getting all the tips.

Now, she still has a job for tips, but I'm guessing much more, plus she isn't on her feet for eight to ten hours.

Whats the economic lesson? It isn't about how much education you have, how rich your parents are, how good your school was. It's about being willing to put in the work. That is a lesson today's welfare layabout need badly. What are the qualifications to wait tables? Knowing how to read, I suppose, but even that could be gotten around. Don't even have to do math anymore. Just be willing to work hard and put on a cheerful face even when you're tired.

That last may seem absolutely crazy to a typical welfare layabout. "Being tired suck!" Yes, but that is what people do when they have jobs. They work, work, work, and when the boss comes in and asks how ya doin'? they say "great!" The boss did the same and still does the same when the region manager checks in with him after a tough week. Why should people who do that be forced to pay for your leisure lifestyle?

Why did these ladies not simply go on welfare, take the easy way out? My guess is that they each come from a culture in which the idea of living off the work of others is hateful. The American culture from the sixties and seventies and the Fillapino culture.

We need to get that culture back. Fairness aside, the system in which anyone who prefers not to work can simply live off of the work of others is not sustainable. We can change it, or we can watch our economy tank. If not for us, for our grandchildren.

We can start by eliminating the student loan programs. It has enriched the colleges but has been a disaster for students.