Archive for the ‘economy’ Category

“I don’t know if I’m going to vote this year, but if I do vote it will be for Donald Trump.” (Plus 36 years ago today)

Posted: April 9, 2024 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, business, economy
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The Biden economy has not been good for the work force at the place I’ve been working at for 6 plus years.

During the Trump years we were booming, three warehouses at full tilt with a huge workforce including temps that we regularly recruited full time employees from. Since the dawn of the Biden years we had, the shrinking then disappearing peak season, followed by the closing of two of our warehouses, we had the laying off and buying out of a bunch of management and salary people, then we had the elimination of our 2nd shift and the buying out of hourly workers.

Yesterday just before lunch hour there was a meeting and we were told that because there is so little work at this time my shift (Sun-Wed 7-5:30) is going to have Wednesday off unpaid, although if we wish to use a vacation day. and the Monday – Friday shift is leaving 2 hours early the rest of the week.

We are told this is only for this week but they can’t promise it won’t happen again.

Now oddly enough I had planned to take the entire week off starting today because of this event of 36 years ago today:

April 9th 1988

and the beginning of PINTASTIC NE 2024 on Thursday (and it amazes me that I’m only now getting to mention it on the blog as it’s only 2 days away!) but as DaWife couldn’t get today off I decided to give it a miss. Now with the prospect of being short 25% of a week’s pay and taxes due I’ll burn the vacation day after all.

As you might guess yesterday’s announcement caused a lot of buzz but as English is the 2nd or 3rd language to Spanish & French at my place I didn’t hear most of it but there is a fellow there who speaks English that I had a chance to talk to a bit. He’s the oldest worker at the place 74 years old, naturalized citizen, used to be a teacher in the Boston schools. A Haitian gentleman who is as socialist as they come and who expresses the opinion that Haiti would be better off with China’s influence than the US in the country.

We were working the same area and expressed dismay at the situation. I commented on this being one of the costs of a stolen election and this black Haitian socialist said this:

“I don’t know if I’m going to vote this year, but if I do vote it will be for Donald Trump.”

If we’ve reached the point we’re the best case scenario for the Democrats in the Biden economy is black socialists from Massachusetts staying home then this election might be really something.

An Interesting Side Note Concerning the “Bloodbath” of Job Losses at Work Women Choosing the Better Portion

Posted: March 21, 2024 by datechguy in culture, economy
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This week has been a tough one at work. For many people Tuesday was their last day. Last night was the last day for others and today will be the last day for many people I’ve worked with or for over the last six years who were either let go or had to leave because they can’t work a morning shift.

There are a ton of Hispanic people leaving many in management positions who had worked their way up since coming to this country though solid effort and I suspect that they are going to express their displeasure at losing their position at the ballot box when the time comes.

But I want to focus on two ladies in particular, both are young one married under 4 years with one son under two and other other married a bit longer with several children. Both were management and got separation packages that will hold them over for a few months at least.

I spoke to each of them and unlike several of the men who are rushing to get interviews they have decided they are going to spend their newly free time at home with their kids.

This is likely a good move, particularly for the younger mother. You can always get another job even if it’s one below the standard of living that you’re used to but the time with your children when they’re young comes once and the ability to not only share it with your children but to shape them in the image you wish rather than where today’s society wants to lead them is the single most important task a parent has.

Of course once the severance is used up decisions will have to be made but it will be interesting to discover if the benefits of a 2nd solid full time pay in the house trumps domestic life once they get a taste of it. Will need force them back into the workforce, will the economy take a turn after the election and they find themselves suddenly solicited by the company that let them go?

Or will they decide that the value and rewards of being a mother at home for their children is worth the financial sacrifices necessary to continue in that role?

I likely won’t know what choice they will make as I rarely see them outside of work, but it would be fun and fascinating to find out.

DEI makes for dumb PCs

Posted: March 9, 2024 by navygrade36bureaucrat in economy
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One of the biggest concerns for a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is the loss of TSMC, a huge company that makes around 80% of the world’s advanced microprocessors and chipsets and 55% of chips overall. Think about that for just one second…55% of all chips in the entire world are made by one company. In your home alone, there are chips in your computer, cars, certain HVAC components, smartphones, your wifi router, TVs, and even things like refrigerators. 55% of these chips come from one company.

That’s pretty crazy when you think about it. TSMC has facilities around the world, although the majority are located in Taiwan. Why wouldn’t it open more facilities in the US? Well, because its expensive due to all the red tape involved in making facilities in the US and because there is not enough talent in the US to make chips. If we drop the nice language, TSMC has basically said it costs too much and Americans aren’t smart enough to make these advanced chips.

Ouch. So much for all that STEM money we keep throwing at education that gets misused. Since chips are key components of most weapon systems, Congress passed the CHIPS act to subsidize and incentivize chip manufacturers in America. But guess what came along with the money? A whole lot of strings, including DEI strings:

The law contains 19 sections aimed at helping minority groups, including one creating a Chief Diversity Officer at the National Science Foundation, and several prioritizing scientific cooperation with what it calls “minority-serving institutions.” A section called “Opportunity and Inclusion” instructs the Department of Commerce to work with minority-owned businesses and make sure chipmakers “increase the participation of economically disadvantaged individuals in the semiconductor workforce.”

– The Hill

This is exactly why China and other nations can beat us at these high-end games. Americans are known for working hard and figuring things out, and until recently the advanced nature of American colleges and other education institutions was known around the world. But we’ve allowed morons (and if you support DEI, you are a moron) to write our laws and corrupt our institutions. The steady rise in costs from these morons has driven everyone away, from chip manufacturers and oil and gas production to basic tools and batteries.

We did this to ourselves. We can undo it too. Imagine a world without stupid bureaucrats running everything into the dirt. Imagine the US unleashing its potential and the hard work and smarts actually paying off, not being stifled by people insisting on laws and incentives that make no sense in the real world. A far better world, and one within our reach, if we choose to make it so.

This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency.

Bidenomics Strikes and a Shake of DaTipJar

Posted: March 6, 2024 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, economy, personal
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In yesterday’s Under the Fedora I mentioned both that the reason I had not made it to CPAC lately was my full time job and also how DaTipJar has been falling short to the point where this will likely be the blog’s last year.

Well it only took 24 hours for things to get worse.

Things have been nasty at my work for a couple of years. The normal peak seasons at Christmastime that were crazy during the Trump years lasted less that a week. We closed two warehouses in the area and every single temp worker at our place was let go.

All of this despite the insistence of the media/left that our economy is absolutely fantastic and we need to thank the Biden Administration for it. Well I’ll give them this much, I do give Joe Biden/Obama credit for the economy we have. I got another dose of that economy last night.

Yesterday we were told that my shift, the 2nd shift is to be eliminated. I don’t know what my new shift is going to be but the end results at minimum are

  1. a 4% pay decrease
  2. Daily mass at best eliminated for 3 days a week and at worst eliminated completely
  3. A 67% chance that I’ll have to give up both running the parish Adoration and my two hours
  4. The joys of early mornings and rush hour traffic
  5. And not only a shift no longer corresponding with my wife but because she sleeps in a recliner due to hip issues an excellent chance of waking her each morning and disrupting her sleep every day.

At my age and with the economy we have there is not much I can do I’ve done two of the three things that can be done.

  1. I’ve arranged a Mass with all of us at the company as the Mass intention.
  2. I voted for Trump today when I had the chance.

The only other thing I can do is ask you to consider hitting DaTipJar and or Sharing this post for that purpose. I’ll cut back and we’ll get by the best we can.

But if you would like to give a hand it would be most appreciated.

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