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OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:40 pm
by kempo
Why is this being allowed to happen?

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/us-brid ... t=14594944

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:51 pm
by hades161
Because Slave or near Slave labor is cheap. And it's not like Chinese people building our roads and Railroads is a new thing. Plus, it's a great way to get around the Unions.

For perspective, last video I watched about factory labor in China a monthly pay check for a factory worker with a ton of overtime gets around 700 Yaun or about 111$ with no bennys other then being able to Rent a bunk in a Factory Run apartment building.

I do think the workers they bring will make more then that but no where near what Union Labor or even Non union labor would get paid. So we are just giving the extra money to the Chinese government run firms.

And I agree it's crap.

Be careful if anyone tries to protest it, if ANYONE protected by the Secret Service is in the area (odds are you might not know it) its now a Federal crime.

https://rt.com/usa/news/348-act-tresspa ... dings-437/

And be careful if you video tape police in Chicago. Its also a Felony.

https://rt.com/usa/news/summit-chicago-law-public-725/

Land of the Free, built by slave labor.

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:54 pm
by Starlette
Agrees with Kempo, unbelievable

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:10 am
by Goofproof
You get the government others pay for.... Jim

You wanted change, you were just counting on it coming to you, it isn't.

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 1:12 am
by rocklin
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kempo wrote:Why is this being allowed to happen?
Contracts awarded to the lowest bidder: It's the American way.

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rocklin wrote:Why is this being allowed to happen?
"Under the Eavesdropping Act in Illinois, catching a cop crack down on a protester is a Class 1 felony.

If budding videographers think they might be the exception come this spring, think again. Christopher Drew thought he was exercising his First Amendment when he recorded an altercation with cops in 2009, but for the Chicago, Illinois artist, he couldn’t be further from the truth. He was approached by an officer with the Chicago Police Department three years ago and questioned about the artwork he was selling on the city’s State Street.

When law enforcement realized that they were being recorded, Drew was dished felony charges under the eavesdropping law and ended up spending a few days in jail. Drew asked an Illinois judge to dismiss the hefty felony charge, but the court rejected his plea.

Later this year his case is expected to go to trial, and if found guilty, Drew could serve 15 years in prison."

http://rt.com/usa/news/summit-chicago-law-public-725/

(thanks to hades for the link)

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Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:30 am
by kempo
Goofproof wrote:You get the government others pay for.... Jim

You wanted change, you were just counting on it coming to you, it isn't.
I didn't vote for him!

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 2:37 pm
by islandboy5150
kempo wrote:
Goofproof wrote:You get the government others pay for.... Jim

You wanted change, you were just counting on it coming to you, it isn't.
I didn't vote for him!
I didn't either!! I voted for the pastey old white guy and the moose-hunting MILF!! Anyone who voted for, or is planning to posers or this poser is a damn ignorant fool, or, a communist themselves.

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 5:17 pm
by idamtnboy
islandboy5150 wrote: Anyone who voted for, or is planning to posers or this poser is a damn ignorant fool, or, a communist themselves.
I AM NOT A DAMN IGNORANT FOOL, NOR AM I COMMUNIST.

You are going a little over the top with that kind of comment, Islandboy. I don't agree with much of what you write, and I don't agree with your viewpoint much of the time, but that DOES NOT make you a damn ignorant fool!

Now, back to Kempo's original comment/question. When you have business system that condones the idea a CEO is unquestionably justified to do anything and everything he can to reduce the costs of operation, and couple that with an overwhelming attitude on the right of the political spectrum that most taxation is bad, and tax reduction should be top priority, the natural result is exactly what Kempo is complaining about.

You will not have employment of Americans in preference to employment of foreigners when slash and burn is the approach to business costs and taxation.

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:08 pm
by kempo
idamtnboy wrote:
islandboy5150 wrote: Anyone who voted for, or is planning to posers or this poser is a damn ignorant fool, or, a communist themselves.
I AM NOT A DAMN IGNORANT FOOL, NOR AM I COMMUNIST.

You are going a little over the top with that kind of comment, Islandboy. I don't agree with much of what you write, and I don't agree with your viewpoint much of the time, but that DOES NOT make you a damn ignorant fool!

Now, back to Kempo's original comment/question. When you have business system that condones the idea a CEO is unquestionably justified to do anything and everything he can to reduce the costs of operation, and couple that with an overwhelming attitude on the right of the political spectrum that most taxation is bad, and tax reduction should be top priority, the natural result is exactly what Kempo is complaining about.

You will not have employment of Americans in preference to employment of foreigners when slash and burn is the approach to business costs and taxation.
Every time there has been a tax reduction it has produced more revenue because people and companies have more money to spend which produces more tax revenue. The problem has been the politician continue to spend more than they take in. This post is not about that. It's about using Communist Chinese firms and workers to build our infrastructure in this country while our construction firms and workesr are out of work. That is what so unbelievable!

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:41 pm
by PST
Let me point out a couple of facts. This thread has again developed into the usual hatefest directed at the President. The contract that forms the centerpiece of the story kempo linked to -- the one to provide steel cable and prefabricated steel tower segments and roadbed units for part of the Oakland Bay Bridge -- was entered into in 2006. The story makes it look like Chinese contractors are actually building the bridge, but that isn't the case. Nothing about this story is new. There was a thorough article about it last year that can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/busin ... wanted=all. You might call it a victory for states' rights: California decided not to apply for federal funding because the federal government probably would have required the use of domestic steel. My favorite quotation from the story is:
Despite the American union complaints, former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, strongly backed the project and even visited Zhenhua’s plant last September, praising “the workers that are building our Bay Bridge.”
Since the bridge contract is pre-Obama and strongly opposed by the unions, perhaps some of those commenting will decide that this is just free enterprise at work after all.

I would also like to point out that the source of the following stories is "Russia Today," which is a real propaganda mill full of questionable reporting aimed at making civil liberties in the U.S. look just as bad as those in Russia.
hades161 wrote: Be careful if anyone tries to protest it, if ANYONE protected by the Secret Service is in the area (odds are you might not know it) its now a Federal crime.

https://rt.com/usa/news/348-act-tresspa ... dings-437/

And be careful if you video tape police in Chicago. Its also a Felony.

https://rt.com/usa/news/summit-chicago-law-public-725/

Land of the Free, built by slave labor.
Russia Today offered a tortured and implausible interpretation of the federal bill (it isn't law yet) to explain how someone innocent could get into trouble, but that isn't what was intended or how I would expect the courts to interpret it. Considering that the Senate passed the bill unanimously and the House passed it 399-3, if it is nearly as bad as Russia Today thinks, then Congress has officially reached 99.4 percent evil. I pulled up the Illinois law. It is an old anti-eavesdropping statute that has, in a couple of cases, been used to prosecute people who have secretly recorded their conversations with police. To the best of my knowledge, no one has used it against open video recording of the police. ACLU is fighting this use of the law, which I agree is inappropriate; however, if ACLU hates it maybe some will decide this must be okay too.

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:56 pm
by idamtnboy
kempo wrote:It's about using Communist Chinese firms and workers to build our infrastructure in this country while our construction firms and workesr are out of work. That is what so unbelievable!
The point I'm trying to make is that with the attitude of US corporate leaders that it's laudable to cut business operation costs as low as possible regardless of the consequences on American workers, and state and local government agencies being on a tighter and tighter budgets, American workers are going to lose out to cheap foreign labor. It's been happening for years in manufacturing. Why is it surprising it's reaching into areas like construction? I didn't watch the video but I'll bet the construction work is being done by a state that is right-to-work and does not follow Davis-Bacon wage rules. Unless there has been some real serious loosening of contracting regulations in just the past few years, the construction work is not a Federal Government project. The Fed requires contractors to pay prevailing union labor rates, the Davis-Bacon rule, hence bringing in Chinese workers would cost more than American workers.

I don't like nor condone bringing in Chinese workers to build the American infrastructure. The way I see it, it is sadly the natural consequence of the business attitudes and policies of the past 50 years. You are right to be upset. We all should be. That's part of the frustration being displayed by the Occupy movement. It's time for some serious soul searching on the part of national business and political leaders.

Tax rates don't have the impact on the economy the anti-tax crowd tries to claim. The 1950s and 60s was a period of tremendous economic growth in the US, and the period of some of the highest tax rates ever. When tax rates were high investors put their money into capital investments to take advantage of depreciation tax breaks.

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:12 pm
by idamtnboy
Along this same line ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobile are building oil refining plants in Montana and Alberta. But they're not building them there. They're being, or have been, built in Asia in modules and then are being shipped to Montana and Alberta. The transport of them across northern Idaho caused a real ruckus because the loads would completely block the highway. Now if these plants were being built with American labor, even with imported steel, like such plants used to be, there would be no problem shipping the material. Most all of it would fit onto truck flat beds.

Another case of some of America's wealthiest corporations thumbing their nose at American labor. Just another case of American consumer money (fuel purchases) going to foreigners. The irony is the plants will be refining North American crude.

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:17 pm
by BlackSpinner
idamtnboy wrote:Along this same line ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobile are building oil refining plants in Montana and Alberta. But they're not building them there. They're being, or have been, built in Asia in modules and then are being shipped to Montana and Alberta. The transport of them across northern Idaho caused a real ruckus because the loads would completely block the highway. Now if these plants were being built with American labor, even with imported steel, like such plants used to be, there would be no problem shipping the material. Most all of it would fit onto truck flat beds.

Another case of some of America's wealthiest corporations thumbing their nose at American labor. Just another case of American consumer money (fuel purchases) going to foreigners. The irony is the plants will be refining North American crude.
The reason is this
Some psychologists have long claimed that the qualities that make for a high-achieving politician or stockbroker are also the same traits that psychopaths have in abundance.

Other researchers generalize it to bosses as a species, saying that about 4 percent of all executives are psychopaths -- and that their relative lack of scruples is what helps them excel in business.

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:29 pm
by islandboy5150
Still, anybody that votes for the poser in chief is a goddamn brain dead libtard idiot. Too many have been brainwashed in our public schools and universities to know any damn better. Because their taught by Anti-American commie libtard unethical bastards, and that's a fact and I don't care who doesn't agree with that.

Re: OT: Unbelievable

Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:39 pm
by RocketGirl
islandboy5150 wrote:Still, anybody that votes for the poser in chief is a goddamn brain dead libtard idiot. Too many have been brainwashed in our public schools and universities to know any damn better. Because their taught by Anti-American commie libtard unethical bastards, and that's a fact and I don't care who doesn't agree with that.
Them's bonafide troll words, fella. Either you intend to inflame this discussion by them, or you're really, really out of it.

If you have to call people names to make your point, then your point is not strong enough to stand on its own.