Do some people really believe that they have a "right to a job"?

And should I even ask where all that money would go to, if not to the families of those that actually earned it?

Oh wait, stupid question I know. to the Proletariat!

 

... Except investors aren't an homogenous group, they don't release edicts, and they only matter for companies that are publicly traded... which most aren't.

Now you're just being rhetorical. Notice, I'm using precise terms, clear in their meaning, with a long precedent to them. You're just making up phrases as you go.

Except demand has elasticity. Companies can't charge anymore than people are measurably willing to pay for it in lieu of other things. If they do, sales go down, and they get less money than they would have at a lower price.

And the thing about a market? Everyone is using advertisement, everyone is trying to convince their consumer to buy their product, so it isn't 1:1, it's not even 1:500, it's the consumer looking through every single company they come across. The Consumer recognizes they only have so much money to spend, and prioritizes accordingly. If they can't get something for the price they want, they go somewhere else.

 

No one has the right to anything. But we do have the right to be protected.

 

There is no such thing as rights, only privileges granted by tyrants.
If you can, choose your tyranny carefully if you hope to survive.

 

No there really aren't. Keep in mind that the United States has a competitive market -- especially for low skilled workers, leaving their employment isn't an option, because they need the income stability, and there's a good chance that they won't make as much even if they find another job. The last statistic I saw on the topic said that forty someodd percent of Americans were living paycheck to paycheck. Kind of makes it hard to start their own business, or quit their job.

 

First off, paycheck to paycheck is not a bad thing. I live paycheck to paycheck (although I am in college), and I have over $1,700 invested in the stock market, I have a big screen TV, iphone, laptop, tablet, and I have worked my way up to manager at my current company. I am also taking a bartending course this Summer, in hopes of getting a part time bartending job on the weekends to make a little extra money. I have almost no debt (a few hundred dollars, but I keep it on purpose), and a fairly strict budget that I adhere to in order to allow me to save and invest my money. I spend most of my time either reading, surfing the internet, watching documentaries on youtube, or hanging out with my girlfriend. We do a lot of things that are free to save money, and I would definitely not say that I live in poverty.

The difference between me and the 40% of Americans who live in "poverty" (I put that in quotes because in my opinion, poverty doesn't really exist in America these days, poor people are just ungrateful if you ask me) is that I am responsible. I understand that nobody is responsible for my life but me. I used to be in deep debt, get poor grades, and I was always complaining about how things were. Then I realized that if I want anything to happen in my life, it was up to me. I began working harder at my job (got a promotion), working harder in my classes (grades have gone up), reading and studying more (I've learned some great skills that I will be able to use throughout my life...virtually free), and being more conscious about what I spend my money on. That was about a year ago that I made that decision, and my life has been wonderful since. People need to grow a pair, stop whining and complaining, and figure out a way to help themselves out, rather than relying on the government to be their parents and support them their whole life. You may say that I'm just lucky that I'm not sick, or have kids. Well, I don't have kids cause I'm responsible sexually, and I don't have health issues because I'm responsible for my health, so I take care of my body.

If I think of a really good business idea, I will invest my money in that, but until then, the stocks are an excellent source of wealth, and all anybody needs to start is access to a computer, maybe a library (to do research on investing in stocks), and a few hundred dollars to get started. People don't start because they either aren't disciplined enough, or are afraid of losing money. In either case, the rich people in this world are disciplined, and are willing to risk their money in order to get rich, so their really is no excuse for not succeeding in this world (that's why America is called the land of opportunity).

 

Also, it would be interesting to do another study to find out what these 40 something percent of people spend their time doing. They probably spend most of it complaining about their lives, watching TV, going out to bars and clubs, buying stupid junk they don't really need, or spending more money than they actually have. They probably do the minimum amount of work possible at their jobs just to get by. This has led them to a life where they will continue to blame anything and everything except themselves for the problems in their lives.

 

I have lived paycheck to paycheck before and it really is a trap. You should try it. It will give you a perspective about the reality faced by 40% of the people you are living among so you can reconsider the insulting disparagements you are currently pulling out of your backside.

 

I was paycheck to paycheck until about 5 years ago. Save 2% on your expenses each year a and put that towards a buffer and savings. Getting that cushion was easy and made life less stressful. Easy to get to 2% in savings, just attack every expense you have and make a rule not to eat out.

 

lol how do you define living "paycheck to paycheck" im assuming that means you work a job that is paid hourly, your hours aren't fixed from month to month, and so you dont really have any kind of job security. by that definition, i do live paycheck to paycheck, and like i said, i have a pretty good life. I will concede to the fact that i did pull my idea that most people living paycheck to paycheck are lazy out of thin air. But i have talked to many of these people, and i have thought about it logically, and i think it is a perfectly fair assumption that these people often waste a lot of time complaining, making excuses, watching tv and avoiding work rather than trying to get out of life's rat race environment through hard work, responsibility, qnd a willingness to learn and do more than paid for.

 

I did live paycheck to paycheck for a while. I had huge debt and a very low income. Know what I did? I figured out the problem and worked out a solution. I took a tiny amount of my meager paycheck and saved it. I worked odd jobs to garner a little more cash and set that aside too. After a year or so I finally saved enough money that I was living out of the previous paycheck - one paycheck ahead. This was a big step for me, a lot of work, took a lot of effort and sacrifice, but I did it - even though after necessary expenses I only had a couple hundred dollars left for things like clothing, entertainment, transportation, debt repayment, etc. I had to economize very carefully - never buying DVDs, not having cable, riding a bike instead of buying a car - but I was able to save up a paycheck worth of extra money so that I was no longer living paycheck to paycheck. Then I continued that behavior, only gradually increasing my standard of living. Now I have enough cash set aside that I could buy a very nice car with cash, or almost buy a small house. My next goal is to save enough to actually pay cash for a modest house. After that, who knows.

I remember that the first time my account was equal to a full paycheck at the end of a pay period was a very great day. The day I finally got out of debt completely was even better. The feeling I had when I finally broke the $10,000 barrier in savings was almost as good. The day paper net worth broke $100k was really amazing, and the day I had enough cash saved up to buy a brand-new BMW 5-series was pretty amazing (although I still drive a 5-year-old Nissan and my wife drives a 9-year-old BMW 316. We have the money to buy better, but we are saving up for more important things than a car.

Still, I have been there. I know for a fact that a person who has a little drive can get out of that trap. They just have to be willing to work through it and sacrifice a few pleasures. Unfortunately many people just aren't willing to do so.

 

No one has a "right" to a job, but everyone has the right to prove they deserve a job. I've been a trucker for 20 years. When I started out, my ability was limited to grain hopper and liquid tank, and I was paid according to my ability. As the years have gone by, I have changed jobs and extended my abilities to the point where I can haul almost anything, as a result my pay has increased. And I continue to take any opportunity to extend my abilities.

 

It's people like you that I consider American Hero's. We tend to only see soldiers as "American Hero's" and don't get me wrong, they are. But we often forget that if it wasn't for people like you hauling goods across the country, or if there weren't people to take your order at a restaurant or check you out at a store, those soldiers wouldn't really have much to protect. That's why it kinda bothers me that people idolize soldiers and tend to forget about other working Americans who deserve just as much credit for working hard and sacrificing much of their lives to sustain our economy as those who protect us on the other side of the world. So I just wanna say thanks for trucking for me =)

 

Your welcome, but if it wasn't for those men and women laying their lives on the line every day on the other side of the world, neither I, nor anyone else would enjoy the freedom to do what we do. And I agree, if it wasn't for what the "elite" call the "little people", this economy, and with it, the country, would collapse. Whenever I hear the phrase, "doing the jobs Americans just won't do", I cringe. I was raised to believe that no job was beneath me. We, as a country, seem to have lost that work ethic. Too many people come out of schools expecting top dollar without wanting to take the time to learn what works and doesn't in the real world. I've seen people come out of truck driving schools that think they know everything there is to know about driving truck. Then they come up against a situation that wasn't covered in school, and the are at a loss as how to handle it. There's nothing like dropping off a 6% grade with a loaded truck, rounding a curve and seeing a moose standing in the middle of the road to realize that school can't teach you everything. And I was hauling a load of cattle at the time. You do not make sudden moves when hauling cattle.