It's just a form of virtue signalling. I'm better than Ivanka, because feelz, and I want you to know it, too!

Remember: they're all about womyn's rights, and some womyn have penises, except for conservative and/or libertarian women who are a form of subhuman and deserve to be slagged, particularly by the sneaky fuck beta boys who claim to be feminists.

Minimum wage laws have distorted our view of the actual market value of skill sets. Some skill sets simply are not worth $11 an hour. We think everyone should make a certain amount, an arbitrary "livable" wage. But we don't think (or teach our children to think) in terms of what they're providing for this "livable" wage.

Unions further distort our thinking by successfully insisting that assembly line workers performing repetitive tasks be paid commensurate with the engineers who designed the products the workers are assembling.

We're trying to legislate our way out of having poor people. That won't work as long as there is access to lower wage production in other countries, countries where those what-to-us-are-lower wages are a godsend. Lower-end jobs will migrate to lower-wage markets, leaving us with unemployable-at-minimum-wage people.

And shipping. Let's not forget that it has been cheaper to produce goods in lower-wage countries for centuries, but getting those goods to market has been prohibitively expensive. Containerized shipping reduced that cost and let manufacturers take advantage of lower wages overseas.

As long as workers (and legislators here) insist on a minimum wage that is out of whack with what customers are wiling to pay for a blouse, the blouses will continue to be made overseas, or by machine.

And where was Virginia Heffernan's indignation when Michelle Obama wore $540 Lanvin sneakers? Probably in the same closet with Republican indignation about Cindy McCain's $3,000 Oscar de la Renta dress at the later Republican convention (after they'd chided Mrs. Obama for her sartorial choices).

When yours do it, it ain't no thing, but when theirs does it, it's a travesty.

Snobs find it unpleasant that there are poor people in the world. They would prefer that they not be sullied by their shoes being made by them. It is also "unfair" to pay people less than they prefer. They somehow imagine that these poor people are forced to make shoes or clothes. In fact, people flock to the cities from farms to take these jobs. Compared to planting rice, a factory job may be heaven.
From the business point of view, quality from third world factories can be a problem along with theft, absenteeism, shipping distances, etc. They don't necessarily make a fortune going that route. The typical path for a country like Japan or South Korea has been initially they did the lowest wage stuff but as their workers grew more skilled they began to build their own factories and develop their own products--now we buy Samsung phones and S Korea farms out some of their low-skill work to the Philipines or Vietnam.

"but getting those goods to market has been prohibitively expensive. Containerized shipping reduced that..."

Y'know how it accomplished that? Yes, there are intermodal advantages in terms of being able to move containers directly from ship to truck, and so forth. But a significant factor is that it eliminated pilferage by unionized dockworkers. An ex-girlfriend had a relative who was a retired dockworker in Jersey, and he figured that about 20% of everything that came in (except automobiles, which were difficult to pilfer) got skimmed off by the union.

"The poor will always be with us."

Jesus.

"Jesus."

He didn't even have a degree from an Ivy League school. Why listen to Him?

...he figured that about 20% of everything that came in (except automobiles, which were difficult to pilfer) got skimmed off by the union. ~ Cousin Dave at March 5, 2018 11:19 AM

20% seems kinda low to me for overall pilferage. Perhaps not for dockworkers only though. The teamsters grabbed their share trucking stuff to the warehouse.

If you really want to read about how containerized shipping changed everything, I recommend The Box by Mark Levinson. It's a dense read, but a good one.

In it, Levinson talks about how pilferage was a big issue for shipping goods and how containers blocked that. ILA workers did 2-3 days a week of work and made out like bandits, if they sucked up to the dock bosses.

Admit it Amy. You have gone from a NEVER TRUMPER to maybe he isn't so bad and there is more there than just a petulant child.

The maker of Ivanka's clothing line is GIII Apparel Group. They make clothing for-

Tommy Hilfiger
DKNY
Calvin Klein
Donna Karan
Cole Haan
Jessica Simpson
Andrew Marc
Kenneth Cole
andVince Camuto, among others.

On the everyday clothing level, they make-
Dockers
Bass
Guess
Levi’s ,

and horror of horrors, all the team jerseys and fan apparal of the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball and National Basketball Association franchises, among other American brands.

Nobody cared until a Trump was involved, and it's only Ivanka's clothing that's being complained about, and the articles are often written as if she is personally responsible for what they are being paid.

> The teamsters grabbed their
> share trucking stuff to
> the warehouse.

In this here podcast a couple weeks back, Goldberg notes that the mob has always done best in corruption of enterprises demanding immediate transport & delivery... Illicit opiates, fresh vegetables, etc.

> Admit it Amy. You have
> gone from a NEVER TRUMPER
> to maybe he isn't so bad

Amy-

(1.) Is this true?

(2.) Why do these guys show up here, and not other types?

> and there is more there than
> just a petulant child.

Yeah? What more? Without thinking about it, describe in ___________________________
___________________________
___________________________
__________________________.

Is this the diet of a temperate adult?... One with free and unfettered access to the freshest, best-protected nutrition on the planet?

Sorry. Formatting.

{Ahem.}

Without thinking about it, describe in [less than] 30 words the distinct insight this man brings to American political life:

"ILA workers did 2-3 days a week of work and made out like bandits, if they sucked up to the dock bosses."

The other thing they did was drink at work. A lot. The relative in question wound up as an alcoholic. That didn't stop him from getting paid. The union was an enabler, big time.

"Admit it Amy. You have gone from a NEVER TRUMPER to maybe he isn't so bad and there is more there than just a petulant child."

Now, let's not get carried away. Having said that: I don't care what Trump says. I don't pay any attention to the tweets. I do kind of get a laugh at the resulting kerfuffles. However, I've learned to ignore what Trump says and watch what he does. I an X'er. I don't care about style. That's a concept that went out with the New Romantics.

And shipping. Let's not forget that it has been cheaper to produce goods in lower-wage countries for centuries, but getting those goods to market has been prohibitively expensive. Containerized shipping reduced that cost and let manufacturers take advantage of lower wages overseas.

THIS. I remember a few months back someone posted a link about a Canadian chicken farming corporation, I dont recall what the comment that came with it

I do recall that this company in the middle of Canada killed the birds, shipped the corpses to China for processing and packaging to be shipped back to be placed on the shelves of Canadian grocery chains.

It was cheaper to ship cargo across the Pacific TWICE and deal with occasional losses to spoilage, graft, and piracy than it was to pay Canadians to pluck, gut, and chop up the chickens. Thats fucking AMAZING

Without thinking about it, describe in [less than] 30 words the distinct insight this man brings to American political life:

Liberal hypocrisy

Want examples or do you really even care?

"Is this the diet of a temperate adult?"

Could be worse. He could be pounding down pills and chardonnay, getting hammered at four in the afternoon, causing consternation for his political team.

Fortunately Trump has been a teetotaler for decades.

"The poor will always be with us."

Jesus.

Jay R at March 5, 2018 11:23 AM
________________________________________

And I seem to remember plenty of critics - aside from Judas - saying that wasn't very Jesus-like of him. One was likely Ken Smith, in his humorous "Ken's Guide to the Bible." (He also wrote "Junk English," which says on the cover: "Updating his survey of language atrocities, Ken Smith has again subjected himself to the continuing barrage of mindless jargon, hackneyed expressions, and war euphemisms. With hundreds of new examples pulled from everyday life, Junk English 2 shows how our language has become so pliable and flabby that the more we read and hear, the less we know.")