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Zalatix

Zalatix's Journal
Zalatix's Journal
October 1, 2012

Does anyone know of studies that show how much food supermarkets throw out every day/month/year?

I'm interested in figuring out how much food gets thrown out due to people not buying it.

It would present a much clearer picture from a whole new perspective of how wasteful America's food and grocery industry really is.

September 30, 2012

The individual mandate: I and others warned that this was coming, too.

The ACA isn't what's going to destroy the finances of the working poor. It's the Individual Mandate. And this, too.

People were warned this was coming.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443437504577545770682810842.html

BY LOUISE RADNOFSKY

Around one in 10 employers in the U.S. plans to drop health coverage for workers in the next few years as the bulk of the federal health-care law begins, and more indicated they may do so over time, according to a study to be released Tuesday by consulting company Deloitte.

It is also safe to add that everyone responding to this will die of old age before Medicare for All is ever passed in America. That is, assuming it is ever passed in America.
September 29, 2012

Here's something that free trade and h1b advocates do not ever want to discuss.

The whole point of globalism is to eliminate American workers from the global market.

It exists for no other reason but to make workers poorer and to lower wages as far as they can go.

There is no other reason for global trade to exist.

September 28, 2012

Thank You, Millions Of Anonymous Chinese Workers Making $2 An Hour, We Love Our iPhone 5s!

THIS is what globalism is all about: driving wages down to $2 an hour. When you can no longer do this, all production becomes local and globalism utterly collapses, as it has no reason to continue existing.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/thank-millions-anonymous-chinese-workers-making-2-hour-154049957.html

Assembling iPhones isn't exactly a high-glamour job. In fact, it's an exhausting, backbreaking, and mind-numbingly tedious job. And, unfortunately, making iPhones is not a job that pays enough to enable the folks who make the iPhones to actually buy an iPhone. (Even a crappy old iPhone 4 would be way out of reach for the people who make them, because it's ~$400 without a contract).

Monday morning Foxconn was forced to close its Taiyuan plant in China after a riot broke out at one of its worker dormitories according to news reports. Foxconn employees make Apple devices in addition to other products by Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. At least 2,000 workers were involved in the brawl that supposedly broke windows at the factory and forced paramilitary policy trucks to patrol the area.

So, on behalf of the millions of us who just got our new iPhones, here's a big 'thank you' to the millions of people who made them.

"THANK YOU!"

By the way, if you don't believe that making iPhones is a tough, thankless job, read the description below, from someone who briefly helped make your iPhone.
September 28, 2012

Buyer's remorse hurting the Tea Party!

http://news.yahoo.com/politician-kept-budget-vow-now-tries-keep-job-165524872--election.html

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Shortly after newly elected Rep. Dan Benishek arrived in Washington, staffers raised a banner that proclaimed to visitors in his Capitol Hill suite: "If you are here to ask for more money, you're in the wrong office!"

The message was fitting for a tea party favorite who had railed against federal spending and a "nanny-state mentality" during the 2010 campaign that led to a Republican takeover of the House. But it was something new for his constituents in northern Michigan, a largely rural area where a spirit of self-reliance coexists with the reality that government — popular or not — is a crucial economic player.

For decades, Michigan's 1st Congressional District elected representatives who sided with conservatives on social issues like abortion while energetically seeking federal dollars for local projects — most recently Bart Stupak, a Democrat who retired after nine terms.

But Benishek aimed to fully embrace the conservative ideal. And now after two years in office, he finds himself in an unusual predicament, a politician taking heat for staying true to his campaign rhetoric rather than failing to do so. Whether he wins a second term will offer clues about how well the less-government-is-better philosophy actually plays out in the countryside and small towns where the staunchly conservative movement has flourished.
September 27, 2012

Europeans aren't scared of their Government, for damned sure. Not even their police thugs.

http://news.yahoo.com/anti-cuts-protests-erupt-streets-athens-madrid-160009097--sector.html

ATHENS/MADRID (Reuters) - Demonstrators have clashed with police on the streets of Athens and Madrid in an upsurge of popular anger at new austerity measures being imposed on two of the euro zone's most vulnerable economies.

In some of the most violent confrontations on Wednesday, Greek police fired tear gas at hooded rioters hurling petrol bombs as thousands joined the country's biggest protest in more than a year.

The unrest erupted after nearly 70,000 people marched to the Greek parliament chanting "EU, IMF Out!" on the day of a general strike against further cuts demanded by foreign lenders.

"We can't take it anymore - we are bleeding. We can't raise our children like this," said Dina Kokou, a 54-year-old teacher and mother of four who lives on 1,000 euros ($1,250) a month.
September 26, 2012

Dear Chris Hedges

The time to fight for the true left is not during an election, least of all with an incumbent politician at stake. The time to fight for the true left is during the primary when we're picking a new Democratic politician.

When you push for a third party during an election and enough people follow you, you get a Republican, which is worse than voting Democratic. Remember 2000? If you voted for Nader in 2000, how did you like 8 years of Bush?

Now mind you, you don't have to agree with that - history has already spoken clearly and decisively on that issue. Feel free to have a hearty argument with history!

September 25, 2012

Here's why the Presidential race is going to be close.

Need I say more?

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/24/us-usa-campaign-hispanics-idUSBRE88N01I20120924

Voting laws may disenfranchise 10 million Hispanic U.S. citizens: study

(Reuters) - New voting laws in 23 of the 50 states could keep more than 10 million Hispanic U.S. citizens from registering and voting, a new study said on Sunday, a number so large it could affect the outcome of the November 6 election.

The Latino community accounts for more than 10 percent of eligible voters nationally. But the share in some states is high enough that keeping Hispanic voters away from the polls could shift some hard-fought states from support for Democratic President Barack Obama and help his Republican rival, Mitt Romney.

The new laws include purges of people suspected of not being citizens in 16 states that unfairly target Latinos, the civil rights group Advancement Project said in the study to be formally released on Monday.

Laws in effect in one state and pending in two others require proof of citizenship for voter registration. That imposes onerous and sometimes expensive documentation requirements on voters, especially targeting naturalized American citizens, many of whom are Latino, the liberal group said.

September 25, 2012

Free traders said that tariffs would drive up import costs. Guess what? They went up WITHOUT tariffs

The decline of the dollar and the rising cost of labor overseas is threatening a complete turnaround in the war against offshoring.

On the downside... fracking.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/made-america-5m-manufacturing-jobs-coming-back-report-123557752.html

Re-Made in America: 5M Jobs Are Coming Back, Report Says

According to analysis by the Boston Consulting Group, manufacturing and supporting jobs will continue to grow by 5 million over the next decade. The firm previously projected a gain of 2 to 3 million jobs by 2020.

Hal Sirkin, a BCG senior partner and co-author of the ongoing series entitled "Made in America, Again" joined The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task to discuss the firm's latest findings and the details behind America's comeback.

What's the main driver behind the rebirth in American manufacturing?

Rising production costs in other industrialized and developing nations, including labor and energy costs, makes manufacturing in the U.S. less expensive for American companies.

Key findings from the report include:
In less than three years, the U.S. will have a cost advantage of 5% to 25% over Germany, Italy, France, the U.K., and Japan in a number of industries, including machinery, chemicals, transportation equipment as well as electrical and appliance equipment.

America's natural gas boom from shale (commonly referred to as "fracking&quot has provided this country with some of the cheapest natural gas prices around the world. For the forceable future, natural gas prices will remain 50% to 70% cheaper in the U.S. versus Europe and Japan.

Labor costs in other developed economies will be 20% to 45% more expensive compared to the costs of hiring U.S. workers.

The U.S. could grab additional exports from the aforementioned nations to the tune of $130 billion annually.
Average manufacturing costs in China will only be 7% lower compared to in the U.S in 2015.

September 24, 2012

Imagine you shot a disabled guy in a wheelchair for threatening you and wielding a pen.

Now try explaining that to the cops.

Hell, it works when the cops do it and then explain it as a "necessary use of force".

The police have become more of a psychopathic threat to society than protectors thereof.

Rotten to the core, rotten all the way to the core...

http://news.yahoo.com/houston-officer-kills-double-amputee-wheelchair-222540280.html

HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston police officer shot and killed a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair Saturday inside a group home after police say the double amputee threatened the officer and aggressively waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.

Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said the man cornered the officer in his wheelchair and was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. At the time, the officer did not know what the metal object was that the man was waving, Silva said.

She said the man came "within inches to a foot" of the officer and did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still.

"Fearing for his partner's safety and his own safety, he discharged his weapon," Silva told The Associated Press.

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Member since: Fri Dec 16, 2011, 10:30 PM
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About Zalatix

I'm a liberal looking to make a difference in politics.
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