Has Rig Talk become The Gear Page ?

Floyd Eye said:
That doesn't change the fact that Henry Ford came up with the 8 hour workday like 19 years before there was any policy set.

You aren't in a union ? And you are sitting here preaching to me about a union ? I've been union most of my life and I can tell you right now that the union I have been in for the last 13 years is useless. The union leaders get paid like heart surgeons but the only thing this union has done for me is take $120 a month out of my check. Company employees have better benefits, bonuses and retirement packages.
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I had the same part time job from high school thru two years of community college.

It was actually the second oldest P&C grocery store in their chain. Phelps, NY. The oldest was in Clyde, NY. Shit, getting off topic.

Anyways, it was Union. United Food and Commercial Workers.

Don’t remember getting anything out of it besides vacation time for a part timer and of course paying Union dues…
 
Floyd Eye said:
Not to mention the useless, lazy piece of shit workers it usually produces. Dude I am 56 ( fuck, I think I may be 57) and I work circles around the vast majority of my co-workers, especially the young guys. They're fucking lazy and stupid and protected.
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You’re 100% correct.

I see this everyday.

I’m just younger than you, two back surgeries and I still work circles around the youth. Well, when they are there.

I wasn’t allowed to call out sick, my father didn’t allow it. I go to work everyday.
 
I can think of a few Unions I would work for. I can think of a lot I would not. There is definitely good and bad unions.
 
stephen sawall said:
The left and right have almost completely switch places several times in the history of the States. The most recent was when Bill Clinton was in office.

The left before that was not as influenced by big money and lobbying. At that time they started doing what the right had done for years. The main thing was the industrial military complex. That and medical are the main money cows.

Now the left is completely in the pockets of the military contractors and big pharmacy. It didn't happen over night. But slowly over a few decades.
All the other issues are little more than drama and political theatre.
This is pretty much how the left became what it is today. The authoritarian party. They are not liberal at all. They want to tell everyone what to do and think.

During that same time the right slowly moved to a more centralist position on most issues and not nearly as conservative as it was.

It's not just the States. It happened globally.

Both parties are far from perfect. They both still have plenty of problems. That is why independents have become the majority and most people don't associate themselves with the parties or labels that go with them.

As for individuals. Political views are subjective and highly influenced by environment. Basically where you live.

Me being a gypsy and constantly moving my views are very mixed and really depends on the topic.

You need to question are the parties really the problem in politics ? Maybe it is the voters ? Is a democratic republic really better for the people than a government that doesn't have voting ? Is there actually a better system ?

There is actually dozens of different types of governments. People in the States act as if there is only two.

Currently nothing else is realistically available. Voters treat government and parties like a spots team they support.

With AI and robots coming I expect huge changes in industry, government and finances. It going to take a few decades.
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I think some of the problem in politics is split between the voters and the voting system.

Because of the 2 major party system, most elections are pretty much that South Park episode picking between a giant douche and turd sandwich. It leaves little room any other party to have a chance. The most recent 3rd party that got a significant amount of votes was that feel the Johnson guy who got all of 2%. Before that was Ross Perot in the '90's with 19%; the most a 3rd party has ever gotten. I'd also attribute 3rd parties not having a chance to media as well. In my lifetime the only 3rd party that was included in a national debate was Ross Perot. If they were included they'd actually have an opportunity to prove their merit to the people.
That trickles down to the voters. Too many voters think their vote won't make a difference. Except for the couple of swing states, most can be guaranteed to go blue or red. Regardless of which side you're on if your state is always going to that color why bother voting. In my case my State has always voted red. The majority of the time I would pick a 3rd party candidate. So it's almost like my vote is double pointless. It's not like my vote would change the outcome of who electoral college votes would go or even give my chosen 3rd party candidate a remote chance to win. Case in point, I backed RFK as an independent until he joined Trump's team. Even RFK knew it was pointless to continue his campaign as an independent. What does that say to me as a voter? So what we end up with is presidential elections end up being decided by all of 6-7 states out of 50.

I don't think this is the perfect solution, but I at least like the concept behind that ranked voting thing. Where you rank your pick from first to last. If your 1st choice doesn't get enough votes to break 50% your vote then goes to your second choice. Then your vote goes down the line of your choices until a single candidate has more than 50% of the total votes. I think it's promoted like built in runoffs. Like I said I don't think it's the perfect system. I think it leaves too much open room for funny business or candidates near the threshold to get screwed over. But I do like the concept of the voter at least having their vote matter more; especially if they back a 3rd party candidate their vote wouldn't feel like a waste.

So I don't keep rambling, I'll wrap up with this thought. Our voting system may not be perfect and there's certainly room for improvement, but I feel it's much better than systems other countries use.
 
Complete removal of the electoral college would make every vote count. Within a few cycles the parties would disappear or change drastically.

Make lobbying illegal and remove all influence of outside money.

Make all government jobs pay minimum wage. No matter where or how you work for the government. Local and federal.

Remove all taxes.
Replace with a much simpler system.
Could be a flat tax on income. Or could be no taxes at all on individuals. Tax only businesses in a flat system.

Remove all laws. Replace with a few hundred laws any 9 year old child could easy understand. Make all laws federal laws.

Obviously these ideas would take major changes to work. None of them would work in the current systems.
 
stephen sawall said:
The left and right have almost completely switch places several times in the history of the States. The most recent was when Bill Clinton was in office.

The left before that was not as influenced by big money and lobbying. At that time they started doing what the right had done for years. The main thing was the industrial military complex. That and medical are the main money cows.

Now the left is completely in the pockets of the military contractors and big pharmacy. It didn't happen over night. But slowly over a few decades.
All the other issues are little more than drama and political theatre.
This is pretty much how the left became what it is today. The authoritarian party. They are not liberal at all. They want to tell everyone what to do and think.

During that same time the right slowly moved to a more centralist position on most issues and not nearly as conservative as it was.

It's not just the States. It happened globally.

Both parties are far from perfect. They both still have plenty of problems. That is why independents have become the majority and most people don't associate themselves with the parties or labels that go with them.

As for individuals. Political views are subjective and highly influenced by environment. Basically where you live.

Me being a gypsy and constantly moving my views are very mixed and really depends on the topic.

You need to question are the parties really the problem in politics ? Maybe it is the voters ? Is a democratic republic really better for the people than a government that doesn't have voting ? Is there actually a better system ?

There is actually dozens of different types of governments. People in the States act as if there is only two.

Currently nothing else is realistically available. Voters treat government and parties like a spots team they support.

With AI and robots coming I expect huge changes in industry, government and finances. It going to take a few decades.
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I agree with many of your points. However, surely you aren't arguing that the Republicans are not also a party of the elite? I mean, Trump had a TRILLION dollars of combined wealth one row behind his family at the inauguration.
The biggest and most powerful industry in the world, petroleum, had always sided solidly Republican. They basically outweigh most other industries combined.
The Democrats actually passed bills to lower Pharma prices, which Trump immediately squashed. Are you sure Pharma is on the Dem side? He seemed pretty cozy with them during Operation Warp Speed.
 
PhoneyIommi said:
Did he? Are you sure?
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Now you're being a complete asshole. But not unexpected that a waste of space like you would go the low road.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/14/politics/corey-comperatore-trump-shooting-victim/index.html

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PhoneyIommi said:
I agree with many of your points. However, surely you aren't arguing that the Republicans are not also a party of the elite? I mean, Trump had a TRILLION dollars of combined wealth one row behind his family at the inauguration.
The biggest and most powerful industry in the world, petroleum, had always sided solidly Republican. They basically outweigh most other industries combined.
The Democrats actually passed bills to lower Pharma prices, which Trump immediately squashed. Are you sure Pharma is on the Dem side? He seemed pretty cozy with them during Operation Warp Speed.
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Both the left and right are more than highly influenced by medical and military. That will never change.

Military is by far the biggest user of petroleum.
 
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stephen sawall said:
Both the left and right are more than highly influenced by medical and military. That will never change.
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Reversing "Citizens United" would go a long way to reducing the influence of moneyed interests in your politics. Most countries have strict limits on donations to political parties.
 
PhoneyIommi said:
Reversing "Citizens United" would go a long way to reducing the influence of moneyed interests in your politics. Most countries have strict limits on donations to political parties.
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You understand why it happened in the first place right ? It was to silence groups like the NRA and other conservative organizations. Corruption begets corruption.
 
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