In reply to:

Any job - even one that is "beneath you" - is preferrable to no job.


An antiquated position still held by a lot of generations past. Basic economics prove it wrong now though. Minimum wage is below the poverty line in most industrialized countries, and no matter how little a person makes, the cost of living doesn't have graduations down that low. It still costs $X for one person to live, $Y for a couple to live, $Z for a single mother of one to live, etc... that "top up" money comes from the social program system. Feel like you're taxed to death? Make sure you're not wage-sharing with a corporation.

In reply to:

Even if Axiom paid minimum wage now, the eventual success of the company would certainly trickle down to the employees in the form of increased wages and benefits.


I'd rather stay in the hypothetical - I'm not sure what Axiom pays either. But "trickle down economics"? I haven't even heard a politician try to resurrect that dead dog in the past 15 years! The basic premise is it works like a shingled roof - the more water you pour on the top shingle, the more eventually reaches the bottom shingle. The difference is, a shingle doesn't decide how much of it's water it's going to "bless" the lower courses with.

Wow, I feel like I'm back in the 80s when governments had to find ways of explaining how corporate welfare (see Pacific Lumber/Maxxam, Frito-Lay (& subsidiaries Taco Bell/KFC), GM, Ford, Boeing, Lockheed) was a good boost for the economy. Now they don't even need to try to rationalize it. Hell, even the compensation packages to families who lost relatives in the attacks on the WTC buildings include a clause preventing lawsuits against the airlines, government sets a new precedent (never before have they stepped in to compensate victims of crime) and it directly benefits the airlines.

AFDC (Aid For Dependant Corporations) is something most Americans don't even know they're paying for, though they'll complain mercilessly that they don't want social aid for the needy. It's a matter of the bum of the rods and the bum on the plush.

"Uh, hey... how does a 30 billion dollar bailout for a privately owned trillion dollar corporation from government sources make any financial sense."
'It's good for the economy'
"Oh, well, then... sorry I even asked... carry on!"

Bren R.