The corporate media's propaganda about the "labor shortage" is disgusting

SteveGrabowski

Diamond Member
Oct 20, 2014
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Labor shortage my ass. More like people not wanting to work for peanuts for thankless jobs that showed them just how expendable they were last year when COVID hit. But awww, octogenarian gives up her retirement because people don't wanna work no more. I'm sure Mr Culver is so thankful for her sacrifice.

 

NWRMidnight

Platinum Member
Jun 18, 2001
2,922
2,554
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Labor shortage my ass. More like people not wanting to work for peanuts for thankless jobs that showed them just how expendable they were last year when COVID hit. But awww, octogenarian gives up her retirement because people don't wanna work no more. I'm sure Mr Culver is so thankful for her sacrifice.

Funny, the article doesn't say shit about people not wanting to work anymore. That is a Self proclaimed comment. I don't think I have seen any Big media except right wing tabloids which fox news and the likes are, say it's because people don't want to work.
Yes it's about low pay, poor treatment from employers and customers, and poor work environments...

This article only gives the wrong message 1. If you don't actually read it, 2. And you are an idiot not to realize that the money she earns is just extra money, and not something she requires to live. She's doing it for others, to hopefully brighten their day.


Point is, all though you are correct the reason being low pay and such and not people not wanting to work, you are using manipulation to blame big media, or should I say trying to put it on big media all while including left wing media when it's mostly right wing media who are saying people don't want to work. You are also blaming media companies for the excuse many of these business owners are trying to justify their low pay and poor conditions, with most media outlets just quoting what these employers are saying.
 

SteveGrabowski

Diamond Member
Oct 20, 2014
6,806
5,769
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Funny, the article doesn't say shit about people not wanting to work anymore. That is a Self proclaimed comment. I don't think I have seen any Big media except right wing tabloids which fox news and the likes are, say it's because people don't want to work.
Yes it's about low pay, poor treatment from employers and customers, and poor work environments...

This article only gives the wrong message 1. If you don't actually read it, 2. And you are an idiot not to realize that the money she earns is just extra money, and not something she requires to live. She's doing it for others, to hopefully brighten their day.


Point is, all though you are correct the reason being low pay and such and not people not wanting to work, you are using manipulation to blame big media, or should I say trying to put it on big media all while including left wing media when it's mostly right wing media who are saying people don't want to work. You are also blaming media companies for the excuse many of these business owners are trying to justify their low pay and poor conditions, with most media outlets just quoting what these employers are saying.

Please, it's whining crap about the "labor shortage" written to manipulate people against workers since now poor little 81 year-old Bonnie has to give up her retirement just to keep the dining room open. Yes I'm blaming CNN for perpetuating the labor shortage bullshit, and calling CNN left wing media is absolutely ridiculous. Being left of Fox News isn't left wing.

This is the kind of shit I would expect to read in The Onion as a joke. She is such a hero, worked third shift at midnight so she could dedicate all day to her kids before retiring. But she's not looking for extra attention, which is why she is in a national "news" story.
 
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K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
45,896
32,695
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The labor market is undeniably tight for various reasons but what thats really bringing into relief is how little America thinks of its workers (particularly in service industries) and our incredible attitude of entitlement.

Media, for its part, has not overall done a good job explaining why labor is tight and the outlets that have don't seem to penetrate people's existing views. Immigration is down, millions of people retired, lots of people are out due to childcare, etc. The most common solution I hear from small biz owners instead of fixing any of that is essentially that the government should force people deeper into poverty to increase the supply for their benefit. Those people get a big double middle finger salute from me.
 

pauldun170

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2011
9,133
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Article talks about a restaurant short on staff.
Article mentioned labor shortage.
Article highlights a restaurant that was able to overcome staffing issues and hire someone.

OP makes assumption about older people and their desire to be active and useful while earning a buck or two in the process
 

SteveGrabowski

Diamond Member
Oct 20, 2014
6,806
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Article talks about a restaurant short on staff.
Article mentioned labor shortage.
Article highlights a restaurant that was able to overcome staffing issues and hire someone.

OP makes assumption about older people and their desire to be active and useful while earning a buck or two in the process

Gee I wonder why this fast food place is so short on staff? Calling it a labor shortage is already making a value judgment, like this glorified McDonalds is entitled to have the status quo of desperate low wage workers working inconsistent schedules barely scraping out a living. But let's sing the praises of the woman who throws away her retirement to help this exploitative industry ride it out through one little rough patch when people aren't quite desperate enough to be forced to take their shit jobs.
 

NWRMidnight

Platinum Member
Jun 18, 2001
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Please, it's whining crap about the "labor shortage" written to manipulate people against workers since now poor little 81 year-old Bonnie has to give up her retirement just to keep the dining room open. Yes I'm blaming CNN for perpetuating the labor shortage bullshit, and calling CNN left wing media is absolutely ridiculous. Being left of Fox News isn't left wing.

This is the kind of shit I would expect to read in The Onion as a joke. She is such a hero, worked third shift at midnight so she could dedicate all day to her kids before retiring. But she's not looking for extra attention, which is why she is in a national "news" story.
You are projecting your opinion.. NO where does it say that Bonnie had to give up her retirement. She made a choice to help. She even asks other's to help if they can. Maybe you should go read the article again without the mindset you seem to have that is causing you to misinterpret what the articles is actually saying, because it's not even close to what you projecting. Maybe if you didn't read it thru angry eyes you would have a better chance at seeing the story of an elderly lady who decided to help a restaurant that she loves and knows the owners and their family.

I mean how dare they give this lady some dignity by talking about what she did before she retired and why.. How dare they talk about her going to work because her husband got injured... I mean what the fuck is up with that noise.. /s

What it comes down to is you are trying to put things in the article that are not there and making some huge asumptions. But you went into reading it with a pre determined interpretation.. Now there are many articles out there that does exactly what you are arguing about, but this article is not one of those articles.
 
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hal2kilo

Lifer
Feb 24, 2009
23,331
10,237
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Please, it's whining crap about the "labor shortage" written to manipulate people against workers since now poor little 81 year-old Bonnie has to give up her retirement just to keep the dining room open. Yes I'm blaming CNN for perpetuating the labor shortage bullshit, and calling CNN left wing media is absolutely ridiculous. Being left of Fox News isn't left wing.

This is the kind of shit I would expect to read in The Onion as a joke. She is such a hero, worked third shift at midnight so she could dedicate all day to her kids before retiring. But she's not looking for extra attention, which is why she is in a national "news" story.
Amen!
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,452
9,837
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Article talks about a restaurant short on staff.
Article mentioned labor shortage.
Article highlights a restaurant that was able to overcome staffing issues and hire someone.

OP makes assumption about older people and their desire to be active and useful while earning a buck or two in the process
I know many people that retire and say "you'll never hear from me again, I'm never coming back." Then 6 months later they are back as a contractor. Lot's of people don't like sitting idle and don't have hobbies outside of work.

I've talked to numerous employees at Disney World that are retired engineers, professors, etc. They don't need the money, they just want something to do.

Obviously getting retirees to work part time isn't going to fix any major issues with labor supply. Child care and lack of immigration are major issues. Also where are all the automated burger makers that employees were always threatened with and self driving semis?
 

blackangst1

Lifer
Feb 23, 2005
22,914
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Gee I wonder why this fast food place is so short on staff? Calling it a labor shortage is already making a value judgment, like this glorified McDonalds is entitled to have the status quo of desperate low wage workers working inconsistent schedules barely scraping out a living. But let's sing the praises of the woman who throws away her retirement to help this exploitative industry ride it out through one little rough patch when people aren't quite desperate enough to be forced to take their shit jobs.

Not to mention there are teens making 50k/yr as managers. This is just one story:

Teen Fast-Food Workers Get $50K Manager Jobs at Texas Chicken Chain (businessinsider.com)

Fucking shit pay. Cant live on that.
 

blackangst1

Lifer
Feb 23, 2005
22,914
2,359
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Yeah Walmart and McDonalds are known for such great wages, work life balance, and company culture. And yet they were poaching workers away from this capitalist paradise.

Was anyone forced? Ever heard of at-will employment?

What, in your opinion, would a fair wage and bennies be for someone who take hamburger orders?
 

woolfe9998

Lifer
Apr 8, 2013
16,188
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Not sure about assumptions made here regarding the cause(s) of this labor shortage. One cause is people taking early retirement, in part because surging equity markets have increased the value of retirement accounts. Another is clearly fear of COVID transmission in the work place. Another may be Trump's restrictive immigration policies.

Not sure why all the sudden people don't want jobs because of crappy pay and working conditions when worker pay and conditions were similar before COVID. Indeed, they aren't much different from 10 years ago when the vast majority returned to work when jobs opened up.

My best guess is that pay and conditions are factoring in as a second order effect. Meaning that there was initially a shortage for several other reasons, and now people who are not working see it as an opportunity to bargain for better pay and conditions because they know how desperate some companies are for workers. However, it's far and away not the only reason for this shortage.
 
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dank69

Lifer
Oct 6, 2009
35,204
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Not sure about assumptions made here regarding the cause(s) of this labor shortage. One cause is people taking early retirement, in part because surging equity markets have increased the value of retirement accounts. Another is clearly fear of COVID transmission in the work place. Another may be Trump's restrictive immigration policies.

Not sure why all the sudden people don't want jobs because of crappy pay and working conditions when worker pay and conditions were similar before COVID. Indeed, they aren't much different from 10 years ago when the vast majority returned to work when jobs opened up.

My best guess is that pay and conditions are factoring in as a second order effect. Meaning that there was initially a shortage for several other reasons, and now people who are not working see it as an opportunity to bargain for better pay and conditions because they know how desperate some companies are for workers. However, it's far and away not the only reason for this shortage.
Factors like an extra 700,000 dead worker bees and mass boomer retirement?
 

SMOGZINN

Lifer
Jun 17, 2005
14,202
4,401
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One cause is people taking early retirement, in part because surging equity markets have increased the value of retirement accounts.
The labor shortage is mostly in low pay jobs. The people in those jobs are not heavily invested in equity markets. They are mostly living paycheck to paycheck people.

Not sure why all the sudden people don't want jobs because of crappy pay and working conditions when worker pay and conditions were similar before COVID.

My personal experience with people choosing not to return to work is that they have became disillusioned from the idea that they were getting equitable treatment by the companies they worked for. These companies had no problem throwing them away or asking them to risk their life when it suited them. Calling them 'essential workers' but then in the next breath reminding them they were expendable.

Now they want to find a better way to trade their labor for money. Many have joined the gig-economy. Others found out that they could make nearly as much money as their low paying jobs earned them by turning a hobby into a job. Still others have decided that there is no reason to worry about a job that does not worry about them, and quit at the drop of a hat because they can always find another near minimum wage job.

Basically the illusion that they have to accept whatever shit their manager throws at them has been burst, now workers are demanding better treatment or better pay, and the companies are not yet willing to do either.