[spdrun]

The only thing that’s unique about Vegas these days (in the US) is that it has legal bordellos outside of city limits.

[spdrun]

You could have seen 50% of those things for yourself and not bothered paying the inspector before deciding to walk. BTW – none of these should be a deal-breaker, with the possible exception of the toilet leak (foundation will need to be jackhammered). Just squeeze the seller’s teat till it’s purple regarding price.

[spdrun]

Retail is a hard business to be in. Locations close, open, and move all of the time. Not a sign of anything ominous, necessarily.

[spdrun]

CA-Renter: the best idea would be for BOTH people in a couple to be able to stay in the workforce while having the same total working hours as a family in the 1960s. Say 60-70 hours, assuming a full-time employed husband at 40 hr and a part-time wife at 20-30 per week.

So split the difference and structure legislation to encourage more jobs to have 30-35 hr per week schedules and flexible time. Plus adequate time off to spend with family in summer or whatever.

We’d of course need health insurance and most benefits to be divorced from employment (to reduce fixed hiring costs) for this to work.

[spdrun]

Paradoxical reaction to today’s election results, since Republicans support things like shutting down the GSEs (no more free money for people who shouldn’t own homes in the first place), auditing the Fed, etc. Should be a fun ride, though I didn’t vote ’em in.

BTW, buying on the way down only makes sense under some circumstances. If you bought silver on the way down in 1980, you’d still be out of luck. Best to buy things that aren’t primarily speculative commodities (yes, I realize that silver also has industrial uses, but I HIGHLY doubt that volatility is primarily driven by industrial demand).

[spdrun]

See, I’m ambivalent on higher minimum wage. The minimum-wage jobs should be entry level jobs. If we want to lift people working those jobs up, we should provide opportunities for them to progress beyond those jobs. i.e. heavily subsidized career and secondary education. Flipping burgers at Mickey Dee’s should be something that students do part-time, not something that you need to support a family doing.

And I’m also not seeing a similar level of concern for middle-class conditions. They might be paid a living wage, but part of a living wage should include adequate time to spend with family and away from work concerns.

[spdrun]

Not having Bugger Kings and fast dogfood available to every fatass with $8 in their pockets is part of the solution. Not the problem.

BTW – I’m not advocating Danish-type minimum wages, just a healthy amount of time off for all workers.

[spdrun]

There are lenders that cater to non-citizens, both small portfolio lenders and big banks like HSBC.

[spdrun]

And there are exceptions now. If you’re self-employed and choose to work with harmful solvents unprotected or stand on the top step of a ladder, probably no one will care. Not a big deal. Most workers are W-2.

Should we throw workplace safety rules out the window because self-employed people might ignore them? I think not.

Even members of professions with deadlines should be entitled to reasonable time off if they’re full-time jobs. Either have adequate staffing or hire a locum for the vacation time of the permanent employee. Goes for lawyers and doctors. Police? Hmm. Maybe some cuts in time worked could be made if so much time weren’t wasted investigating victimless crimes like drug use by consenting adults or prostitution involving the same.

You’re also assuming that there will be fewer hours worked IN TOTAL, vs per person, with lower unemployment. If you offload the costs of providing benefits like health care and retirement onto the government, it becomes less costly to hire 1.1-1.2 employees with adequate working hours and time off for every one that’s worked like a slave. Besides, if hiring costs go up a bit, cry me a river.

Assuming productivity drops, of course, which isn’t a given, since healthy and well-rested people tend to be more efficient.

Lastly, about vacations: they don’t have to be a big dog and pony show involving flying to Vegas or France. Nothing wrong with having the time to take one’s family hiking in the national park 50 miles away for a few days. Not much consumption or many services involved with that.

[spdrun]

Buying a vacation home is very different from wanting to live somewhere full-time. How many Canadians are buying with intent to move to the US long-term vs having a winter vacation home? A lot of Americans also buy in Mexico — it doesn’t inherently make the Mexican political and financial system better than ours!

Same goes for tourists. I’d love to visit Moscow, Beijing, and Cape Town as a tourist. It doesn’t mean that I’ll be applying for a work visa tomorrow.

And immigraiton into the US is stymied by a large, obnoxious bureaucracy. I’m a citizen. I was coming from Canada and the US border guard in Podunk, VT gave me a hard time and practically treated me as a foreigner (actually asked me more questions than many border guards abroad asked me as a visitor). I can only imagine how unpleasant it is to non-citizens.

[spdrun]

Spd, you’re showing your humane side even though you often talk about pouncing like vulture.

Nah, it’s my selfish side. If I ever went W-2, I wouldn’t want to be in jail for kicking the crap out of my boss after they told me that I can’t take any time off this year.

[spdrun]

FlyerInHI: My standards are low. A $3000 used Miata makes me perfectly happy. Spending $50,000+ on a car would mean either another loan or having to work like a fucking slave. No fucking thanks. I prefer to contribute as little as possible to things like “society” and “economy” as possible, while coasting through life.

livinincali: If employers are required to give x amount of time off to all employees, then the standard is the same for everyone. This reduces the incentive of employers to compete by racing to the bottom.

Same deal as employers working with asbestos or coal dust aren’t allowed to save money and get ahead by not purchasing protective equipment for their workers.

If the minimum standards are the same for everyone, people can still get ahead within the standards. We’ve had worker health and safety standards for years. Our country hasn’t collapsed because of them. The world won’t end if people are guaranteed a humane amount of time off to spend with their families, despite what the conservatards will say about it.

[spdrun]

I couldn’t give a flying fuck about a modern house or a new car.

BTW, tourists shopping in the US have nothing to do with store opening hours and everything to do with taxes and import duties.

(Ours being low is one of the reasons why our infrastructure is crumbling. And our laws should primarily serve our own residents. Not tourons.)

[spdrun]

I don’t give a flying fuck about being able to shop till I drop on Sundays and late evenings. Sounds like you have some pretty shallow friends. Might be time to kick them to the curb and find new ones.

Your “if you want to work less blah-blah-blah” argument is tiresome and hackneyed. I bet that they told shipyard workers the same in 1950 — “if you don’t want to breathe asbestos, find another job.” Or “if you don’t want to get black lung, find another job.”

I consider working hours and vacation time a health and safety issue. tiredness reduces safety and lowers mental and physical health. In a tight job market like the US, employers will always exploit employees the most they can within the law.

Apparently, Americans only take 50% of their given vacation because they’re afraid of losing their jobs. This is wage theft and a hostile work environment, but no one does a damn thing about it. If time off and working hours were guaranteed by law, then there would be less of an incentive to bully employees into giving up what is rightfully theirs.

[spdrun]

If I left the US, I’d probably sooner go to Germany or Switzerland, both of which allow EU nationals to live and work there easily. Non-Anglophone countries tend to be less poisoned by the US media and its paranoias.

My point stands that both .au and .ca have a similar combination of factors that FlyerInHI mentions.

BTW- if commodities get crushed, it might actually be a GOOD time to immigrate to either country. It would mean an economic mess which can be taken advantage of and exploited.

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