US Steel Sold

bertsmobile1

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Between little government & big government here is a happy medium
When I was in short pants over 70% of the Australian population worked for the government , 5% worked in agriculture 5% worked in retail 10 % worked in the services industry and the remainder in manufacturing ( excluding the government factories ) with an unemployment rate less than 1%
Back then only 1 parent worked 85% of the population owned their own home and a labourers wage could pay down a home loan feed , cloth & educate 4 kids
Since then we have sold off the government banks,airlines, phone company , electricity generations , ports, airports, rail freight , shipyards, railway workshops & defence manufacturing , including aircraft & social housing .
This was done to become a modern efficient small government economy and "reduce the tax burden" on the economy, company taxes are down 15% PAYE tax is down 8 fabulous result over 60 years .
Net result , home ownership down to 68% ( owner occupiers ) absentee landlords up by a factor of 40 , power bills so high the government is forced to regularly make relief payments , 2 university graduates can not save enough to get a home deposit because the absentee millionare landlords push prices way beyond what a normal person can afford , 1/3 of all renters get government rent relief ≈ $ 380 week that goes to the greedy landlords , banks financial institutions & insurance companies just found to all be corrupt and all finned massively , massive subsidies for airlines, airpots all turned into captive shopping malls , phone bills so complicated Einstein would be hard put to work them out , hospital waiting lists so long people fly to the Phillipines or India to have surgeries because they would be dead before a public hospital can get around to performing the surgery , thousands of very sub standard medical staff imported every year because wages are so low you make more money driving a Uber and the hours are better .
When I started out as a graduate, my salary was $ 8,000 /pa and a CEO was on average $ 40,000 ie 5 x base graduate salary
An equivalent graduate now days as a starting salary of $ 70,000 and a CEO in on $ 1,000,000 minimum with most in the $ 10,000,000 to $ 20,000,000 range ie 15 x to 300 x a graduate base salary and these are the people who determine how much I pay for water, electricity, rent etc etc etc .

As for your idea about lowering wages does that come with manditory price drops ?
 

StarTech

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All I know about wages is that everytime the government raises the minimum wage to help the low end wage earners, they are the ones that get hurt by prices increases.

With the recent tends of minimum wage hikes here I can no longer afford to eat out at the local fast food places. Meals that cost $3 with a drink five years ago are now over $10 and may not even include a drink.
 

PTmowerMech

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All I know about wages is that everytime the government raises the minimum wage to help the low end wage earners, they are the ones that get hurt by prices increases.

With the recent tends of minimum wage hikes here I can no longer afford to eat out at the local fast food places. Meals that cost $3 with a drink five years ago are now over $10 and may not even include a drink.

Minimum wage hikes are just a symptom of the real problem.
 

StarTech

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Well personally I am getting out of the rat race, then I can make a decent living. Just got my Federal Taxes done and I am not sending the $197.06 payment this year. They can F themselves.

The last half of the last year was done basically at cost and so will this year. So next year it is highly likely I be reporting a lost. Just going to try recover what I have invested currently in parts.
 
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StarTech

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Yelp it is over 46K but they will be sold at cost. Otherwords; I just be getting back what I have already paid out. So the IRS will be losing out on the potential profit taxes since I write off the parts cost as I sell them. So no more trying to sell them at retail which is over 93K. Besides I don't have report a profit but once every five years.

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Just sold a battery charger that I just brought for 24.59 for 24.59 plus sales tax. That will keep me legal with my state sales tax people.
 

Hammermechanicman

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Good luck. That is a lot of stock to whittle down. I just stock a couple thousand so I can close the shop fairly easily when the time comes. I turn 66 1/2 in a few months so I can file for my SSA benefit without them penalizing me for making money. At least I will get back some of the money I paid into for 50 years.
 

StarTech

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Hopefully your are already on Medicare as they will penalize you for the rest of your life if you're not.
 
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