Raising Minimum Wage: Great Idea or Great Demise?

$7 and some change an hour, seems crazy that people are living off of this huh? I did at one point, it was not fun by any means. Ramen noodles, hot dogs and bread were pretty much my entire diet. So of course seeing Obama talking about getting Congress to raise this to $9 seems like a no brainer great idea right? Eh, i disagree.

Quick history on why this logic is sound. Way back when Henry Ford had an idea, if I pay my employees more than I need to for them to get by, they will have more disposable income and be able to actually afford the cars they make therefore increasing sales and profit.

This time frame when such pseudo-altruism was working is not the same culture we have and allowed to diminish to. The average worker doesn't want to support/invest in their company, work hard or plan for the future. Hell the average consumer would support foreign brands & companies if the price was slightly cheaper. Outsourcing isn't a corporate thing, its as American as Apple Pie now. (Whatever that means).

So to me, raising unemployment rate that sharply does 3 things

1) Rewards the many people (not all) who have no ambition to work hard and get a job making more than minimum wage.
2) Alienates everyone who did work hard to get promotions and positions that make $9-10 an hour now who are not receiving that same $4,000 yearly increase in wages.
3) Forces businesses to make a tough decision: raise prices to accommodate higher average wage or lay people off to cut expenses.

Are you going to keep shopping at the same stores if their prices go up noticeably?  If so, that's equivalent to you getting a pay cut to support this minimum wage increase. You ok with that?

Are you going to mind if you bring less money home when taxes go up because unemployment rates increased after you shifted to online shops instead of local anymore because prices went up?

We the people have shown businesses far too often that workers are expendable if it means the price is cheaper to the consumer. The only way to fix this is the people, government is not equipped to regulate a fix. You want businesses to hire more people? Shop there more often. Go to the brick and mortar store, not the online shop (even if its the same company). Create a demand for more workers, more managers, more stores and more opportunities for higher wages instead of more handouts of them.

Tweet

Did the Media make em do it? pt 2 (in-depth analysis)

 

This is a continuation of the article posted on The Info Soup blogsite pertaining to the Colorado Shooting that happened

 

Something I’ve noticed is that many criminals tend to cite music, movies and videos games as reasons they’ve committed crimes in the manner they have. After a while you have to ask yourself, are they as crazy as the news and police make them out to be? or is there a degree of truth to the controlling nature of where we have been pushed to the brink of mentally and emotionally thru marketing?

Check out some notable Current Events in the news.

 

Penn State Scandal

We all know of the lifetime of pedophilia Sandusky did to them kids under the willfully ignorant eye of what seems to be the entire administration, community outreach program and local government, but how many 'urban' people that boast "Stop Snitchin' were pissed at these happenings? Seems hypocritic doesn't it?

How does this relate? Well, washed up artists who emancipate themselves from Major labels of many genres are constantly speaking on how they are/were puppets to their Corporate Labels no? You really think the label that keeps your favorite musicians in the limelight won't bend them to their will to control the Public? You really think you determine what is "in" these days? If so, why has Hip Hop just so happened to have migrated from speaking on Trends of the streets to motivate the underdog low social class to change for betterment to telling you to spend your hard earned money you live check to check on so you can purchase all foreign made goods where the Label more than likely has stocks in Corporations that operate sweatshops there? Sound too complicated? Let me simplify... "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

 

If you think I'm whacked out my brain just remember lil tidbits of info like this:

Run DMC made a song called "My Adidas" because of the shell toe'd shoes they liked to wear before they made it big which landed them a 7 figure promotional deal.

Jump up to the 90's and companies like Avirex gave out free leather jackets to artists in the limelight such as WuTang and Nas as "gifts" to wear in music videos and at photoshoots that otherwise couldn't afford such brands/items growing up in their lifestyle.

Fast Forward to the new millennium and Busta Rhymes makes a song called "Pass the Courvoisier" which lands his management company a promotional deal yet...
Excerpt from NY Times.com (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/02/business/media-hip-hop-sales-pop-pass-the-courvoisier-and-count-the-cash.html)

And now you got artists rapping specifically about Companies they own or own stock it. Riddle me this, outside of photoshoots When the last time you seen JayZ in a Roca-a-Fella fit? Puff Daddy in Sean John? I'll wait..... Am I still buggin now?

What brought about this change around the same time the artists reached elite corporate status levels of business? Another astonishing act of happenstance? Or were they now in the ranks of those who know the "unknown"? (And not that illuminati crap either, we talking real Life stuff.)

Artists went from writing lyrics about things they enjoyed normally, to things they wanted but couldn't afford so they'd get free samples, to being paid promote things they care nothing about and now they invested in companies to produce stuff they don't use to influence their listeners to purchase items to help them line their own pockets. You telling me they don't do this KNOWING they have complete control over people? Man listen...

 

 

2012 Batman Movie Theater Massacre

Okay okay okay I already know you're like How the hell does this shooting have anything to do with the media or entertainment or corporate Greed, you "reaching". But before you spazz and tell me I'm crazy lemme just let me reiterate some interesting facts for you to extrapolate (not assume) info from.

As we saw above Corporations will easily spend 1-3% of their gross income on Marketing their product(s).

Through Bombardment and Subliminal methods they push products to the public in ads, product placement in shows/movies, payouts and "gifts" to musicians for mentioning them in songs, inclusion in popular video games etc etc etc.

Now peep this...

Members of the sport sporting community, hunters and recreational Target shooters account for $5.5 billion.

The gun industry generates nearly $31 Billion dollars a year in revenues in the US alone... And that's just the Legal stuff not including state & federal governmental contracts.
Cited from: http://www.reloadbench.com/gloss/impact.html

Again: Corporations will easily spend 1-3% of their gross income on Marketing their product(s).

You ever seen a Handgun commercial during Love & Hip Hop ATL? Ever been emailed a Black Friday sales circular on Discounted Bullets? How do certain guns become so popular to people that have never owned one? You think Gun Manufactures are the only Corporations in the world that don't use the same exact Marketing ploys that every other successful major worldwide company uses and still outsells them? Or is it that you are bombarded so hard with it that you are oblivious? Think about it...

Where do most teenagers learn about guns? Where is it they can see which ones work best? Isn't word of mouth still the one of the most effective forms of advertisement? So how is this happening? Where do you hear about/see guns the most? News? Hip Hop? Country Music? Video Games? Movies? You'd be crazy to think the Gun industry isn't using these same avenues to influence consumers into buying their products over the competitors. What better way to show the deadly real world applications of weapons you make then to see them in action on Living beings?

Nah, maybe I am just the far fetched conspiracy theorist, no country would allow such course of action as to unleash weapons onto the public just to see how deadly they were to prove a point in a pissing match... Right?

 

 

Also, peep game. I listen to lots of Hip Hop and dabbled in random country songs ex-girlfriends forced me to listen to (don't judge me, she had a 30inch waist and 48inch booty) and the most popular guns are all made from 8 manufactures of 1,100. Another bout of chance that every rapper/country star over the last 15 years from different regions all used/use the same low quality street guns but drive half million dollar cars? Okay then.. There's just no convincing you. This is all an illusion.

 

PS: for those thinking "The US wouldn't do that to it's own people, check out these intriguing facts:

Smith & Wesson - US (acquired after failing to $30million in debt)
Colt - US (Bankrupt)
Winchester - US (closed & reopened in Japan)
Mossberg - US (Native Swedish Owner) - generating $24 million annually
Glock - Austria
Magnum Research( maker of Desert Eagle) - Israel
Heckler & Koch - Germany
Sig Sauer - Germany/Switzerland

How come all the companies that haven't went bankrupt are all out of country businesses... in Europe? Nevermind, its not like Hip Hop artists boast any other products from corporations from this region in their music. I mean honestly, what rapper would talk about German cars, own Swiss bank accounts or boast European clothing designers? That's just dumb... Isn't it?

 

Hey, I’m not saying people are not in control of their own actions, because I know for dang sure I am, but I can no longer avoid the fact that TONS of people daily are guided solely by what “Popular” culture deems of them without thinking for themselves. I cant believe any further that this is an unexpected by-product, but a desired effect meticulously planned for by the Corporations that profit off the people by any means necessary. There's too much evidence of pattern for this to be a coincidence.

 

in the words of @TheCosby… #StayWokeDog

Tweet

Cause & Effect: Internet Shopping Hurting Your Local Economy

 

In this day and age we have so many avenues in which to reach the information super highway easily that all it takes is a flick of the wrist from Phone in holster to World Gather information on any Product, Service or Question ever asked in the History of our Existence, so why go to Retail Stores to shop when you can research, order, purchase without waiting lines and have everything you'd ever need shipped to you from the comfort of your own home?

Many people don't recognize the negative impacts online shopping, both legal and illegally have done to our Local communities. While it has opened up the markets to Mom & Pop shops to compete on a larger scale because of the trends and misunderstood nature of the common shopper it is set to do far more harm than good.

 

Right now Many retail companies are battling with the Business model that you need people to sell products, as crazy as that sounds think about it... Whens the last time you NEEDED a sales person? How often do you go to a store and need no one except a person to point you in the direction of what you need and a cashier to ring you up? How many times have you used the self checkout line instead of an actual cashier even when there is no line in either? How many times have you utilized the Purchase online and pick up in the store option because you've done all your research? It may seem crazy but the Machines that do the self checkout are more profitable than actual people. Hiring a minimum wage employee, giving them benefits and annual raises, break rooms, specific working conditions actually cost companies Billions of Dollars a year when internet can eliminate most costs, checking out millions of people at once and following all best business practices 100% of the time without needing to be trained or Monitored. With the way things are going, you will see far less people in stores and far more Machines to retrieve and ship these internet orders.

 

Another HUGE area people don't take into account is Tax revenue. Did you know that if an internet site does not have a Physical Brick & Mortar store in your state that there is no sales tax? That could equate to some very hefty savings from the customer and most would jump right on it, but that is also money taken away from Local Schools, Road Maintenance, the Legal system etc. etc. etc. Aren't we all annoyed with this trend that the annoying out of country Tech Support or customer service agent we have to speak to to get help was a job that could've gone here but Greedy corporations would rather cheaper Labor to pad their pockets? Well guess what? When We purchase things online trying to save a dollar here and there, not recognizing if its an American company we are supporting, then you are that Greedy person using cheap Labor to pad your pockets. Scary huh? You have now become a part of the very same corporate greed community that has setback our communities. And don't even get me started on you Bootlegg Movie and CD people, you will spend $600 on some Fancy European shoes but not $10 to support an artist from YOUR city that you enjoy the music of. You are crippling America but As Long as you look "Fly" I guess it doesn't matter right? Smh.

All I'm trying to point out here is that your community's success is on your shoulders, if you are not willing to reinvest back into it, how can you be mad when the government doesn't either? Step up and go to your local store, spend that extra $3 and purchase locally, get the extra additives that you know you need instead of stealing them all from torrent websites. I'm not saying be a saint, but at least Limit the negative impact you have in your own Neighborhood or else the next time you find you’re not able to get a job because "No ones Hiring" it'll be YOUR fault because the Internet took your job due to cheap labor, not foreigners.

Tweet