Why don't Americans save?

Quote from Sandybestdog:



I get $4.50 plus tips. 5 years ago when I started I got $5.25 plus better mileage reimbursement. The tips were better back then. These franchise owners do not care about you. They are paying people less than before, not more. My friend from an old store I used to work at told me he just quit after 5 years because they asked him to take a $1 pay cut. What gives? It is not worth it anymore and I will be looking for a new job starting next week. One day I hope to go into business against these greedy owners. I want to give people good jobs and incentive to work hard and build something. I will put those other people out of business and take all of their good employees and build a better world.

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Sandythebestdog, you sound like a very good person, and I wish you all the best. Hope you can find a good job that pays well, or make the killing in the markets...believe in it, you deserve it.
I just want to add something about putting other people out of business.
In order to do that you will need plenty of money...because if you hire people and give them a very good pay regardless of how they behave...(I believe you are a good, honest worker, but you know that not every worker is like that...there are people that don't care about the job, steal, and can ruin someone's business.)
So after you paid everyone a nice salary, make the best product you can (let's say pizza) you will either have to sell it at inflated prices to make up for the high costs, or sell the pizza very cheap, but will never make any profit off of it. If you do the later (and your pizza and service IS really delicious) then you will probably get rid of most of the other businesses, but you will need a lot of money that comes from a different source to keep it going for at least a year or two.
My point is that, try to look at things objectively, many bosses are no good, but there are also many business owners that struggle....especially these days, cut costs just to stay afloat.
 
Quote from Sandybestdog:

I list a bunch of items all at once, get the emails when they sell, print the postage labels, throw the item in a box, and drop it at the post office. Probably not as easy as it sounds, but it was pretty nice. What is so bad about that? The goal is to get something that I can make money at consistently and pay the bills, and then roll that money into other things like what you talk about. I used to have a few vending machines, but it’s just a few quarters here and there and it is hard to find a lot of locations to make it worthwhile.
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Take his advice as a grain of salt. Ebay selling will teach you alot...before I got into the market - I was on Ebay selling a bunch of crap.
 
We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like. Sad but it's the norm for many here in America (yes, I am an American).
 
Americans don't save because the monetary system encourages consumption.

Inflation eats savings, and time erodes value.

Culturally, we've become a Welfare State ruled by Madison Avenue.

Either the State provides or we splurge on useless trinkets Advertisers cast as inseparable from our worth.
 
We're still in the era of bushism, reaganism, and palinism. We need to spend more and save less. More cheap labor, more insourcing, more outsourcing. No need for workers benefits, maternity leave, health care, retirement, nest eggs and other nonsense. need more consuption, tax cuts for rich, credit cards, and consumer debt so the US economy grows and the wealth gap widens.
 
Quote from achilles28:



Culturally, we've become a Welfare State ruled by Madison Avenue.

Either the State provides or we splurge on useless trinkets Advertisers cast as inseparable from our worth. [/B]
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Boyah Madison avenue (it is pretty sad). It's called an Identity crisis. Quote from Wiki.


According to Erikson's stages, the onset of the identity crisis is in the teenage years, and only individuals who succeed in resolving the crisis will be ready to face future challenges in life.

But the identity crisis may well be recurring, as the changing world demands us to constantly redefine ourselves.

Given today's rapid development in technology, global economy, dynamics in local and world politics, one might expect identity crises to recur more commonly now than even thirty years ago, when Erikson formed his theory
 
Quote from karol88:
Sandythebestdog, you sound like a very good person, and I wish you all the best. Hope you can find a good job that pays well, or make the killing in the markets...believe in it, you deserve it.
I just want to add something about putting other people out of business.
In order to do that you will need plenty of money...because if you hire people and give them a very good pay regardless of how they behave...(I believe you are a good, honest worker, but you know that not every worker is like that...there are people that don't care about the job, steal, and can ruin someone's business.)
So after you paid everyone a nice salary, make the best product you can (let's say pizza) you will either have to sell it at inflated prices to make up for the high costs, or sell the pizza very cheap, but will never make any profit off of it. If you do the later (and your pizza and service IS really delicious) then you will probably get rid of most of the other businesses, but you will need a lot of money that comes from a different source to keep it going for at least a year or two.
My point is that, try to look at things objectively, many bosses are no good, but there are also many business owners that struggle....especially these days, cut costs just to stay afloat.
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Thank you for the kind words. I’m posting a link here about a previous post I made that answers the issue of higher prices for higher salaries. I know that this concept will take a lot of money. Let me say that I have worked for all 3 major pizza chains in my area, all franchises. People there hate their jobs. Granted many are what some would think of as losers, and frankly I can’t disagree with that about a lot of them. But they are hungry for opportunity, I just know it. They are sick of seeing the profits keep going up and they are always asked to do more work for less pay. They keep working because they don’t have the time, money, or desire to find something better. Putting them out of business is much easier than it sounds. They are literally always a few people away from not operating.

Did you know that that $2 delivery charge that you pay does not even go to the driver? None of it. They added it because they want more money and don’t want to raise the prices. So the customer thinks the tip is already included in the price and reduces the drivers tip. Isn’t that rediculous? The driver pays the entire cost of operating the vehicle and the delivery charge that is charged for delivery goes straight to the company. It’s a deceptive business practice and the driver pays for it. I have contacted my elected representatives about this, but I realize that the odds of fixing it are slim to none. I have better odds at just competing with them and taking their business.

Let me be clear, I’m not a big believer in just paying people big salary’s and not expecting more out of them. Frankly I think paying them minimum wage and then a cut of the monthly profits is much better. I want to change the way business is done. Instead of paying the least amount possible to hire someone who is going to work the least amount possible, I propose to create a new system where everybody is rewarded by how well the business does as a whole. Laziness will not be tolerated. Not doing what is in the best interest of the customer, will not be tolerated. Respect for your fellow employees and always seeing how you can improve the business for yourself and your fellow employees will be the standard. Obviously accountability so that nobody steals or doesn’t do there fair share will be essential. Also those that want to be in this system will need to take the risks that go along with higher opportunities. When times are bad like now, they will take pay cuts (bonus checks will be less). But even in this economy, restaurants are still making money.

Lastly, I would like to set up a system by which people can reinvest their bonus checks so that the business can expand. I’m not just going to invest a bunch of money and take all of the risk so that other people can have good jobs off of my hard work. They will be required to work their butt off, and they will, because they will see how their hard work pays off. Imagine how much is possible when people are given this kind of opportunity. We can change the world together. Even in this bad economy there is a lot of money out there.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=2168931#post2168931
 
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