State Employee Total Comp Database...

[j_b]

I note there is still no acknowledgment on your part that you cherry-picked that admin assistant2 data. Despite your claims to the contrary, there isn't any evidence that median public employee compensation is unreasonable.

 

Unreasonable is a value-judgment. I'll settle for "exceeds total private sector compensation for comparable positions and skill sets." Or "exceeds the levels required to recruit and retain the necessary staff."

 

 

we all know that private sector employee compensation isn't sufficient (real wages haven't kept up with increases in necessary expenses for decades implying people can't save for retirement, health care is often inadequate, etc ..) so there is no point in assuming it should be the standard. The goal is to bring private sector employee compensation up, not that of pub employees down despite your unwillingness to acknowledge it (like your cherry picking data, cheater)

 

You still failed to provide any evidence that median public employee compensation was unreasonable to raise a family, provide it with health care, and plan for retirement.

 

and you still fail to account for the need to increase revenues. Your math sucks.

[j_b]

Well, I guess we have established that you are not the sanctity-of-contract type ... what's left for you?

 

 

Employee contracts are sacrosanct in Chapter 9 bankruptcy proceedings?

 

not for me, but at least I am being consistent. I apply the same rules to CEO's, stockholders, and employees.

[j_b]

Clearly in your universe the it's the material well-being of the people delivering public services that trumps that of the people who depend on them.

 

Certainly not, in my universe one doesn't get more public services by paying less.

[tvashtarkatena]

If you want to understand JayB's philosophy, it's all in his language.

 

Sectors, rather than communities. Consumers, basically eating an shitting machines, rather than people. Do any people actually inhabit his economic world?

 

His long held contention is that any successful business model should be supported.

 

OK, let's take a look at fast food franchising. Very successful business model. It's also one that has contributed more than just about any other 'sector' to the destruction of our urban landscape, our health, our living wage, and our environment.

 

Oh, but what's the alternative, you say? Whatever are we to do?

 

Dicks. 5 locations. Benefits and much higher salaries than the big boys. Real potato fries. Real ice cream. As cheap or cheaper. Local inputs.

 

Red Mill. 2 locations. More expensive...and there's a line out the door all the time. They take cash only. Fuck you credit card companies, and fuck you 'consumer' if you don't like it. Ditto on the wages.

 

The reality is, of course, that there are lots of alternatives, and that competing economies of scale at smaller, local scales are not only apparently possible; they out-compete the big boys.

 

So what's the difference? Let the best business win, right?

 

The difference is, of course, that McDonalds doesn't give one flying fuck about your community, and never will. To the McDonalds corporation, your community is a quarterly number, nothing more. Dicks and Red Mill do...they live there.

 

The real story, of course, is that fast food industry has long been heavily subsidized in a number of ways, agricultural subsidies, minimum wage laws, lax zoning, tax breaks, non-existent environmental regulation (feed lots, anyone?), and FDA that looks the other way...precisely as a result of 'pro business', ie, 'conservative' or, my personal favorite 'hands off' policies.

 

Ask JayB if he supports the fast food industry, and you'll get an enthusiastic YES! Jobs...success...let the chips fall where they may in the 'free market', buyer beware! Then ask JayB if he'd live between a McDonalds and a Burger King, want his kids (hypothetically) to work or eat there, and check for consistency.

[ivan]

dude, i'm stoked, ground's breaking on my neighborhood taco hell! oughta put those fuckers at mickey'd's n' burgerville n' subway (100 yards away) right in their fucking place!

[tvashtarkatena]

You'll note I gave Taco Bell a hall pass....

 

Listening to the soundtrack to Jodhaa Akbar. F'in great. Rock on, Bollywood.

[rbw1966]

Red Mill's owner just gave the company to his employees in an ESOP.

[ivan]

i didn't even know what red mill was until suddenly my wife presented me w/ 200 lbs of various sorts of flour to store in my garage

 

only took like 8 months to kick the whole lot!

 

the 20 lbs of sea salt on the other hand...

[tvashtarkatena]

I'm burrowing through a 50 lb bag of Red Mill flour myself. Unfortunately, it's not very good stuff for bread making.

 

King Arthur is still the best...and the most expensive, of course. Wish I could find it in bulk.

[tvashtarkatena]

Red Mill's owner just gave the company to his employees in an ESOP.

 

My only objection to Red Mill: I hate the Rolling Stones.

[ivan]

Unfortunately, it's not very good stuff for bread making.

huh? maybe you just don't know how to cook w/ spices n' stuff?

[Fairweather]

i didn't even know what red mill was until suddenly my wife presented me w/ 200 lbs of various sorts of flour to store in my garage

 

 

If she keeps sneaking off to that new Taco Hell behind your back she'll soon be presenting you with 200 lbs of her.

[tvashtarkatena]

French bread is flour, water, yeast, and salt.

[ivan]

French bread is flour, water, yeast, and salt.

mine i make also w/ sugar, fresh minced garlic, black olives and banana peppers - bread machines rule, like your own little chinaman in a closet