[quote=cat_sidhe][quote=doubledenim][quote=cat_sidhe]
Yeah. You think it doesn't work, till you need serious medical help.

Then you shut up and appreciate it.[/quote]

[font=century gothic]It's great in concept. Local mechanic has a story about how "I didn't and would never vote for Obama. But if it wasn't for "Obamacare" when my wife got cancer, it would have bankrupted me."

There are some concepts of socialism that are great, it's just paying for it.[/font][/quote]

It's great in practice, too. Unless you've lived with it, you can't really imagine. Americans in particular seem deathly afraid of even the word [i]socialism[/i].[/quote]

[quote=Yoda][url="https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-cant-walmart-be-more-like-costco"]Here's another by McCardle on the same topic[/url].[/quote]

[quote=Yoda]Bah. There's a link in that first preview paragraph to an older article by the same person that the newer one is building off of. That should give a general overview, too.

But yeah, mainly the issue is that raising wages works insofar as it attracts higher-caliber workers or (in retail, especially) reduces turnover, a benefit which by definition is reduced as more people do it. To say nothing of the fact that CostCo, despite maybe "feeling" similar to most of us, actually has a very different business model.[/quote]

[quote=ash_is_the_gal][quote=Yoda]Very good, thorough explanation of this (and other factors) [url="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2013-08-27/why-walmart-will-never-pay-like-costco"]here[/url].[/quote]
thank link don't work, says 'To continue reading this article you must be a Bloomberg Professional Service Subscriber.'[/quote]

[quote=Yoda][quote=d_chatterley]There are quite a few companies like Costco which tend to treat and pay their workers much better. If they can do it why not Amazon or Walmart?[/quote]
Specifically [i]because[/i] they do it. It works in large part because it confers a competitive advantage that reduces turnover which ceases to exist if too many others do it. This same logic applies to the benefits of higher education, as well.

Very good, thorough explanation of this (and other factors) [url="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2013-08-27/why-walmart-will-never-pay-like-costco"]here[/url].[/quote]

[quote=jiraffejustin]Socialism would be great if the human element could be removed from it. Maybe AI will make good use of it.[/quote]

[quote=doubledenim][quote=d_chatterley]There are quite a few companies like Costco which tend to treat and pay their workers much better. If they can do it why not Amazon or Walmart?

Also, as far as profit goes, that is the biggest reason why the cost of healthcare is so ridiculously higher in the US than any other wester country. Once everyone takes a piece of the pie, the cost is enormous.[/quote]

[font=century gothic]I know with unskilled labor, most companies don't see the benefit in paying higher wages.

A lot of these operations, for lack of a better term, run themselves. There is no need to pay more, because we will just hire the next guy. They have already established s.o.p.'s that don't need high level operators.

[/font][/quote]

[quote=d_chatterley]There are quite a few companies like Costco which tend to treat and pay their workers much better. If they can do it why not Amazon or Walmart?

Also, as far as profit goes, that is the biggest reason why the cost of healthcare is so ridiculously higher in the US than any other wester country. Once everyone takes a piece of the pie, the cost is enormous.[/quote]

[quote=d_chatterley][quote=doubledenim][font=century gothic]I think we should have some form of "higher education for all". It shouldn't be free though. There should be a public service element tied to it.

Either military or some other form of service. My experience has been people treat "free stuff" with less respect than something they have worked towards.

Not all. But I've seen a lot of people trade food stamps and the likes for... Use their money for X and go to the church or city for help on power bill.
[/font][/quote]

I agree with public education part. There are plenty of public services that need people to volunteer, although, I don’t think military should be a choice there. There are others in more dire straits that need people, although veterans assistance of some kind would be great.

Free stuff is treated bad because how it is perceived here in the US. There is no respect for most things government does or provides. People are wary of anything to do with government. Not that it is without cause. I just feel in most countries rules by democratic socialism such as Nordic countries or others, people actually don’t mind paying higher taxes because they see direct results from it. Those results are more tangible.[/quote]

[quote=doubledenim][font=century gothic]I've always felt like America's wealth should guarantee that none of its people starve, lack shelter, or lack medical care.

Corporations thrive on squeezing as much profit as possible and if any limits are put on that, they move somewhere else. Operations like Costco, where a cashier can make $22/hr are few and far between as the exception to the rulle.

There is no easy answer to any of this stuff.[/font][/quote]

[quote=doubledenim][font=century gothic]I'm sure those opinions make me sound like an *******, but my standing in my community is built on helping my neighbor, even the ones I don't care for.[/font][/quote]