Larry Cloetta
Veteran
To quote the great Johnny Horton, just "not as many as there was a while ago."
Retro-Grouch
Veteran
Chris is right! I challenge anyone to drive across the US, and take the random off-ramp. Then tell us the working class and Americans in general aren't in trouble. Corporate greed and corporate money in Washington are to blame.
peterm1
Veteran
Chris I agree. And at the risk of stirring up a hornet's nest, it is even worse.
Look at the "Great Reset" which is being rammed down our throats at Davos and elsewhere, and ask what its about. It's about doing much the same at a global level. Hollow out the middle class and impoverish them, turning them into supplicants.
When oligarchs say "You will own nothing" (which they are saying loud and clear - these are their words, not mine) meaning that you will rent everything you need instead, one has to ask the question "OK, then, so who will own everything if we own nothing?" The answer of course is them - they will. Thus turning us into serfs - forever beholden to the big business oligarchs - the new Barons.
But of course it will all be done in our interest.......................... riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!
That's completely true...
Well... not exactly. It's my country by the way too... I just live in Chile right now, which gives me a different perspective (more positive) on the US.
"The likelihood of not paying federal income tax is closely correlated to age: If you are very young or (especially) very old, you are far less likely to pay income tax than if you are working age. Only 11 percent of those age 25-55 do not pay federal income tax while more than 80 percent of those age 75 or older are non-payers."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/howard...s-they-are-not-who-you-think/?sh=1a4b442b47d7
Ruin is an exaggeration... I mean the USA is in the top 20 in 2021 for quality of life on most lists. Japan is as well. Out of 195 countries, that's pretty good.
That said, the USA has a poverty rate of close to 10%, which is bad for a country with such a good quality of life. Japan is at 15%. This is where the issue is. Jobs change... they always have.
Dogman
Veteran
From some of the blogs I've read, Nikon is far from being unprofitable. They make money with their various businesses and they sell a lot of cameras worldwide. Just not as many as they used to sell--like all the other camera makers. They're all up against a wall with products that are no longer "gotta haves", competition from smart phones and COVID... may as well throw in climate change, alien abduction, phases of the moon and every other cause imaginable, plausible and not. Just plain rotten luck all around.
Not sure those figures from Forbes are correct. Eighty percent of people over 75 pay no federal taxes? Of course you might think it's because they are retired but retirement benefits, Social Security and the like are all taxable these days. Every retiree I know is paying federal taxes on their retirement incomes.
Not sure those figures from Forbes are correct. Eighty percent of people over 75 pay no federal taxes? Of course you might think it's because they are retired but retirement benefits, Social Security and the like are all taxable these days. Every retiree I know is paying federal taxes on their retirement incomes.
Livesteamer
Well-known
Chris has touched on something important.
I'm a retired machinist. When I started in the late 70's I could get a job almost anywhere in America and, if I was careful and worked the available overtime, raise a family on one income. No more. In the late 90's I worked for a local company among 120 machinists. Today they have 7, old timers who have been there forever. A combination of many things, technology, outsourcing, expensive labor and health care and a union that was a parasite. I've known a lot of guys who barely made it out of high school and where are such kids going to work today? Just my two cents.
Joe
I'm a retired machinist. When I started in the late 70's I could get a job almost anywhere in America and, if I was careful and worked the available overtime, raise a family on one income. No more. In the late 90's I worked for a local company among 120 machinists. Today they have 7, old timers who have been there forever. A combination of many things, technology, outsourcing, expensive labor and health care and a union that was a parasite. I've known a lot of guys who barely made it out of high school and where are such kids going to work today? Just my two cents.
Joe
Retro-Grouch
Veteran
Well, just learn how to say "Would you like fries with that?", and be prepared to work three eight-hour shifts a day. No problem; you should be able to survive.
Rayt
Nonplayer Character
I travelled often in the region because part of my job involved auditing local subsidiaries and outsourcing partners. While maximising profits definitely is the main driver for certain industries for example like famous fashion brands paying poverty wages in Bangladesh, there are other factors such as tech industry being dependent on the Asian supply chain with all those little bits and chips and lcds in cameras, phones, and anything else coming exclusively from Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese makers.
But Japan has a unique problem. Due to low birth rate and an anti-immigration policy they have a shortage of workers. Today in major Japanese cities compared to only 3 years ago the typical Japanese minimum wage worker in restaurants, hotels, convenience stores is being replaced by SE Asia guest workers. The factories making cameras in Japan are staffed by foreign low wage migrant workers and are often exploited. These companies are just now being honest by literally just moving production to Thailand instead of the other way around.
But Japan has a unique problem. Due to low birth rate and an anti-immigration policy they have a shortage of workers. Today in major Japanese cities compared to only 3 years ago the typical Japanese minimum wage worker in restaurants, hotels, convenience stores is being replaced by SE Asia guest workers. The factories making cameras in Japan are staffed by foreign low wage migrant workers and are often exploited. These companies are just now being honest by literally just moving production to Thailand instead of the other way around.