DISASTER Matt Bracken: Baby Boomers Better Beware
- Thread starter TFergeson
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West
Senior
Especially when big government is greased and paid by FIAT currency private banksters they are partnered with.
King Samson
I'm Here
Ahhh... see, now you're understanding capitalism.
Ahhh... now you know why it WASN'T done... lobbying and kickbacks to politicians... and politician's families and staff like cheap crap too.
So, too late to close the barn door, after the horse ran away?
China is/has monopolized a lot more then just rare earth metals. That's what Trump is trying to change.
But back to my original point. It wasn't good to pass off so much manufacturing to China, but our WHOLE country is guilty of letting that happen, as the majority of the population LOVES their cheap crap from China.
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King Samson
I'm Here
I did something similar when I had my business. I kept the bare minimum of true employees (six), but had a crew of over 40+ sub contractors. It wasn't worth the headache to have to just take projects, just to keep busy work for employees, and deal with a larger payroll. With a crew of 40+ subs, I could pick and choose what projects I wanted, and just grab the profitable ones.
I got tired of dealing with crews, living in hotels, driving cross country for projects and getting home once every 3 or 4 weeks.
Things stay pretty local now.
Did catch some heavy traffic yesterday tho.
Things stay pretty local now.
Did catch some heavy traffic yesterday tho.
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Old Greek
Veteran Member
Great picture!
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
A couple of y'all are business guys looking into the business aspects of it all. And that is great no problem here. And are small business owners who take the brunt of regulations that drive up cost.
As an EMPLOYEE looking at a global business (Cooper/Goodyear has factories in China) we got the results of the view from the CEO.
When I started at Cooper some 35 years ago, the company treated us as ASSETS. They turned us loose on production. If we could make it they would pay us. And we did. We went wild on production. Some of us ran as much as 200% of production. Which translates into. If they were paying us 9.50 an hour as a salary, add 200% production (production was like 10 and we did 20) they paid us 19.00 an hour.
That means that the overhead for the company, stayed the same, except for the pay, of the producers. Not all employees produced at the 200% level.
Employees came up with designs for increasing production and the company put those designs into actual machines.
It also meant that the factory was designed to handle 10 products an hour, so they ran out of room to put the production weekly. So they would shut us down so the rest of the plant could caught up. Usually on a Sunday. Then they worked out a plan that the 4 mixers at the Tupelo plant would provide rubber for the Arkansas plant that had 17 mixers.
And when I moved over into the mold shop we did 12 mold changes in 12 hours, they came and filmed us, and sent the video over to Arkansas who were doing 3.
Then the CEO decided that the employees were a liability (a cost on the balance sheet) took away our pension, had to contribute to our health insurance and they capped the production. All to cut costs. What that turned into was the employees stopped in contributing designs, never felt a part of the business, come in do their job and go home. Production dropped like a rock, so much so that now Cooper in importing rubber from Arkansas. Just to keep the plant running. And the mold shop is not only doing 3 a day.
My meaning YES Government and Government regulations is a big part of the cost of a business. But the attitude of the CEO's towards employees is also a very big problem. Back off and let the employees produce and pay them, and no other country in the world can compete. Including cheap labor/slave/prison in China.
It's a big part of the reason we won WWII.
As an EMPLOYEE looking at a global business (Cooper/Goodyear has factories in China) we got the results of the view from the CEO.
When I started at Cooper some 35 years ago, the company treated us as ASSETS. They turned us loose on production. If we could make it they would pay us. And we did. We went wild on production. Some of us ran as much as 200% of production. Which translates into. If they were paying us 9.50 an hour as a salary, add 200% production (production was like 10 and we did 20) they paid us 19.00 an hour.
That means that the overhead for the company, stayed the same, except for the pay, of the producers. Not all employees produced at the 200% level.
Employees came up with designs for increasing production and the company put those designs into actual machines.
It also meant that the factory was designed to handle 10 products an hour, so they ran out of room to put the production weekly. So they would shut us down so the rest of the plant could caught up. Usually on a Sunday. Then they worked out a plan that the 4 mixers at the Tupelo plant would provide rubber for the Arkansas plant that had 17 mixers.
And when I moved over into the mold shop we did 12 mold changes in 12 hours, they came and filmed us, and sent the video over to Arkansas who were doing 3.
Then the CEO decided that the employees were a liability (a cost on the balance sheet) took away our pension, had to contribute to our health insurance and they capped the production. All to cut costs. What that turned into was the employees stopped in contributing designs, never felt a part of the business, come in do their job and go home. Production dropped like a rock, so much so that now Cooper in importing rubber from Arkansas. Just to keep the plant running. And the mold shop is not only doing 3 a day.
My meaning YES Government and Government regulations is a big part of the cost of a business. But the attitude of the CEO's towards employees is also a very big problem. Back off and let the employees produce and pay them, and no other country in the world can compete. Including cheap labor/slave/prison in China.
It's a big part of the reason we won WWII.
King Samson
I'm Here
Sadly, MOST employees are a cost versus a benefit to many companies. There are many positions inside a company, where an employee doesn't even cover their cost, but the company needs them for a particular duty. SO, it requires OTHER employees to produced double, or more, what they cost, to make up the shortfall.
It's called the 80/20 Rule in Business. 20% of your employees generate 80% of the revenues. The rest of the employees hopefully break even on their costs to the company.
In many companies, the other employees really hate the salespeople. But guess what, it's those salespeople that generate way more than they are paid, in revenues. And before anyone says, the salespeople couldn't do their jobs without all the support people behind them. Just remember, nothing happens until something is sold. There's no need for support people if you're not selling anything.
This is why people need to recognize this point, and make sure you're in the 20% group... then you'll always have a job.
That other employee and sales person relationship works both ways. Sometimes the sales person forgets that without production and other parts of the company they wouldn't have any product to sell. All the cogs in the machine are needed to ensure the company runs correctly and products and services can be delivered.
I worked in a business where the sales people were treated like gods. Plant employees were expected to follow a long list of rules without fail. Violation of any of these rules resulted in a write-up or even termination. I clarified with one of the higher up managers if this rules applied to EVERYONE. I was told yes the rules applied to everyone including the owners. One day I witnessed two sales person managers not doing their job and violating some rules, which could result in product loss. I asked if they were going to correct the issues and was told no, and to deal with it. I went to the higher-up manager and told him what those two sales people had done, and reminded him that he told me the rules applied to everyone. In the end they corrected their mistake (read being lazy) but I was still labeled the bad guy.
Lots of other stories of their entitlement. Mostly involved the old timers, people that had been there 25 plus years and didn't think the new rules or way of doing things applied to them. Some of them were very nice and understood how the system worked, and that everyone needed to work together. Asking for something gets better results then demanding.
markshere2
Senior Member
Pretty broad brush you're painting with, there. Maybe it's a ideological thing vs a generational thing?
Maybe good vs evil?
Maybe lazy vs industrious?
But, NOOOOOOOOOO!!! It's gotta be them damn Boomers!
Get a clue.
Hfcomms
EN66iq
What I said was true, you are the one inputting your own interpretation.
The baby boom generation in their 60’s and 70’s compose most of those in positions of power. They are CEO‘s and CFO’s. They are the senior Senators and Congressmen, they are the department heads and senior bureaucrats, they are the senior central bankers, etc.
Of course the BB’s that are guilty are a fraction of 1% of our generation and just like any group it is always the bad apples that stand out. All boomers are no more responsible than ‘all’ lawyers, ’all’ Jews, ‘all blacks’ or whatever broad brush you care to use. Don’t excuse the guilty just because you don’t see yourself as part of the problem.
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yup, snow, “…winter nine months, then hail the other three.”
King Samson
I'm Here
Not every company produces their own products, some just are pass through products, and without sales, none of those other people are needed.
You missed my whole point. Go read it again. I said that, but that doesn't mean everyone covers their cost to be there.
You sound like a gem to work with, ratting out your fellow co-workers.
King Samson
I'm Here
Wow...
So, are you going to sit here and tell us you never shop lower prices, and haven't benefitted from the deals those same Boomers have "caused", by moving manufacturing overseas?
Southside
Has No Timebombs, Lives on Life
The boomers in .Gov, to be sure.
OK, and the dead people that voted for them.
Profit of Doom
Dismember
Y2KProf
Contributing Member
We live in hilly forested woods at 3,000 ft elevation. When it rained or snowed, we made our kids walk downhill to and uphill from the school bus stop 0.9 miles away, just so they could tell their kids that we made them do it. My wife grew up in northwestern Washington state. She told the kids, that when she was a kid, that if they didn't go outside to play in the rain, they would never get a chance to play outside. She told the kids, "Get outside, you won't rust." We got our boys involved with the local boy scout troop, which frequently did weekend rain and snow camping, building their own snow block igloos, emergency snow mound shelters and quick and dirty tarp tents and cooking shelters. They became quite adept at staying warm and dry in some really bad weather conditions. Walking in a bad storm, to them was like a pleasant walk in the park.
Hfcomms
EN66iq
West
Senior
Agree, they blame capitalist for being cheap. But thats from the socialist and communist play book. Almost moronic.
After our own governments over tax, over regulate, over mandate, and give special favored nation statutes like.....
"De Minimis Exemption"
To China, and special deals to Mexico and alike. Choking our manufacturing to death. So it has to move to China because capitalist are too cheap?WTF?
I guess reality is different from a socialist view. Weird.
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markshere2
Senior Member
Maybe, Just maybe, ... You could narrow your focus a bit?
How about crooker Politicians instead of Boomers?
'Cause last I looked Hakeem Jeffries and Eric Swalwel and Justice K jackson ain't Boomers, but they damn sure support the evil crap going on. Just like Barry Obama and his cabinet.
But you keep doing your boomer rant if it makes you feelz good.
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King Samson
I'm Here
Such an intelligent and thoughtful response.
I didn't think you'd give a real answer to my question... because you couldn't.
Let's go one step further, since I know you won't respond. How many parts on that brand new truck that you're driving were made overseas? How much would that truck cost, if ALL the parts and pieces were made in the USA? Can you say hypocrite?
Tristan
TB Fanatic
Separating us into "Boomers" "GenX" and so on is yet another way the PTB are using to divide and conquer.
Same as Black, White, Yellow, Brown, Rich, Poor, Northern, Southern, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
The "Boomers" are no more responsible for the whole of Woes we suffer than are the Millennial Generation.
Stop taking the Bait, because there's a Hook buried in it.
Same as Black, White, Yellow, Brown, Rich, Poor, Northern, Southern, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
The "Boomers" are no more responsible for the whole of Woes we suffer than are the Millennial Generation.
Stop taking the Bait, because there's a Hook buried in it.
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
While believing what you said is true. In my particular situation there are some unknowns:
Capping the production only hit the 20%. Actually it only hit about 20 people out of 1500.
The average payout of bonus production plant wide was 135%.
People who didn't reach 100% in 6 weeks were fired. And one would think that since the production rate was set by the company, that they would consider what it would take for an employee to pay for themselves.
When I originally hired in, they made promises they didn't keep. They told us: Never miss a paycheck even in retirement, never pay for health care, dental, vision. The meaning to the first one was when you retired you got your normal pay, except without the bonus. And that the company would pay the premium on supplemental insurance or be the insurance when one went on Medicare.
When the new CEO came in and changed all that, drastically, our plant manager, flew to the home office and told the new CEO about breaking promises made to employees. He got fired. As did several others (VP's) who complained.
About 2 years after taking over, that CEO embezzled 360 million dollars from the company and disappeared. No one knows what happened to him. I figure he flew back to Sicily where the rest of his mob family lived.
So now the question is did he really make those changes to better the company? Or himself?
IMHO the cost of an employee is pretty much stagnant. As in at any given time it is the same for everyone. And I understand that those promises where out of touch with reality, so didn't get bent out of shape over it, when they were broken. But capping the bonus' didn't make much sense, because the company was getting 100% above cost, and they didn't like that?
Anyway I'm retired now and paying for my own insurance. Cooper was giving us a small supplement to help, but Goodyear cut that out, "to bring us in aliment with their other retiree's".
Hfcomms
EN66iq
Somebody is hungry. You don’t like to engage in conversation…you like to argue for the sake of argument.
Incivility does not further the role of this group, guys.
Alienate the boomers since they tend to vote and (politically donate!) conservative (with notable exceptions)
King Samson
I'm Here
You can't handle conversation, when your own hypocrisy comes back, and bites you, square in the ass, can you? You benefitted from the same capitalism of sending manufacturing overseas, then rag on and blame the Boomers for it. If you can't see how ridiculous that is, please continue to post your cute pictures.
WildDaisy
God has a plan, Trust it!
It stings to hear, but it is true and I am in this group too.
We LET them export our jobs, bankrupt our farms and outsource our jobs to line their pockets and we did it without a peep. The generation that didnt have a problem protesting a war with "groovy" peace signs, sat back and just let the day to day monotony lull us into just putting one foot in front of the other and shuffling along quietly.
We allowed the education system to outsource OUR responsibility to raise and teach our children, and today, we no longer have rights to discipline our children as we wish. We dont even have rights to forbid gender reassignment drugs or procedures or abortions of our own children. Our children have no social skills, cannot read and cannot even put together a letter without using ChatGPT. They can't win well, they can't lose gracefully and they can't deal with differing opinions or respect others. Those are skills learned on the playground, and we took that away from them in favor more prep time for "test scores".
We are LETTING the left, with their loud and obnoxious minority, dictate what is right and wrong and force us to participate in their delusions with little to no pushback.
We are the cause! We've spent the last 40 years just existing and not fighting back! Boomers, Gen X and the older Gen Z have morphed into the new "Silent Generation". It isnt just Boomers. We've ALL been silent, every age group. Some have just been complicit longer than others, but ALL are guilty.
It hurts and stings to sit here now and come to this realization. But we can wallow in "butt-hurt", or we can get busy and fix it! No more! Fight back!
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Hfcomms
EN66iq
Of course but did you not read where I stated that it was the fraction of one percent doing this? If you think I’m indicting all boomers then I indict myself as well. Like it or not the majority of those currently in high positions of real power are currently in their 60’s and 70’s and as we are passing it moves down to the younger generations. Very few in their 20’s, 30’s or 40’s wield considerable power.
Hfcomms
EN66iq
Last comment to you on this thread and perhaps any thread. You well know I can go toe to toe with you on just about any subject, but it accomplishes nothing in the long run. I have tried my best to have civil discussions with you but you just want to argue and call names.
I can bite my tongue and refrain not only for the decorum of the board but frankly you aren’t worth high blood pressure and it’s obviously that you don‘t wish to have civil discussions, for whatever reason you take great joy in being the antagonist so you go pester someone else, I’m not playing.
markshere2
Senior Member
King Samson
I'm Here
Calling people trolls when your hypocrisy is pointed out, is being "civil"? TWICE!!!
Really?
Do you have a short memory too?
Ractivist
Pride comes before the fall.....Pride month ended.
Face it, Kissinger was a globalist, and his work with Nixon was the beginning of the end of our manufacturing. The globalists, not the boomers, are at the point of that spear. Those deeply involved in our government have for decades, over a century for that matter, been crooked and foisting a "total" fraud on our citizenry. Is it true it's really a corporation, and not a Republic? Try that one on for a basis to all our problems.
Go in as a lawyer, and get rich in a matter of one term....but wait, you play their game, you get multiple terms and multiply the millions. It's all a big fraud folks.....we the people, trusted our leadership. In that is the problem. Now it's all coming out due to the "acceleration of knowledge", Revelations....
Trolls are playing games here, in a big way. There's quite a few of them, some more pronounced than others. No Kings has a nice ring to it, here at least.
Go in as a lawyer, and get rich in a matter of one term....but wait, you play their game, you get multiple terms and multiply the millions. It's all a big fraud folks.....we the people, trusted our leadership. In that is the problem. Now it's all coming out due to the "acceleration of knowledge", Revelations....
Trolls are playing games here, in a big way. There's quite a few of them, some more pronounced than others. No Kings has a nice ring to it, here at least.
Southside
Has No Timebombs, Lives on Life
Agree, except one thing. There was a reason they got rid of Nixon. He wouldn't do what they wanted. And they set him up. FACT.
Other than that, it is 100% I see the troll reference as spot on.