Realistic Salary Expectations
Do you think you're underpaid? Who doesn't? You might be able to get apaycheck you can live with. Start with realistic expectations. Realistic Salary Expectations As Paul Barada wrote in his article: ". . . [N]o matter how convincing your arguments are for a raise, the money may simply not be there. In that case, any raise at all should probably be welcomed." Paul and all, do you really expect us to buy that? From many employers, that's often not a reason, but an excuse, or even a lie. Most employers that plead poverty come review and raise time for those of us who really make companies and our economy "go" rarely if ever seem to have trouble finding plenty of money to give outrageous salaries, raises, perks, and other goodies to executives and managers, in many cases even (or especially!) when those bossos get booted for screwing things up. And why is it that when so many companies have massive layoffs to "save money," they often spend it--and more--on bonuses for the clowns at the top? If there is to be any further downsizing, let it be of out-of-control executive and management salaries, perks, powers--and egos. Now that would truly be "rightsizing"! What we working people must do is unite--including, yes, through strong, ruthless labor unions--and through other forms of political, social, and economic activism in our workplaces and elsewhere, and then, as one, say to our employers and others in power: "Give us decent wages and benefits and chances for advancement, give them to us now, or we will turn your company--and our country--upside down." We must and will force them to respect--and fear--us. Let's make their salary expectations and policies truly "realistic"--and just. Yes, if that means making the coming years a time that will make the 1960s look tranquil--bring it on. I don't expect you to "buy" that statement, but the truth of the matter is not every company in this country is trying to taking advantage of the poor downtrodden worker, particularly when we know that 8 out of every 10 new companies fail! But, frankly, I'm more concerned with your attitude about employer/employee relations. You almost wrote, "Workers of the world, unite!" Perhaps you need a short history lesson. That political slogan, "Workers of the world, unite!", one of the most famous rallying cries of socialism, comes from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's "The Communist Manifesto." It was also the slogan of the now-defunct USSR, but is still used by some socialist and communist groups around the world, according to Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. To the extent that you seem to be advocating the same thing, at least in the United States, you might want to refresh your memory about what happened to the old Soviet Union. If you are a student of history, you may recall that within the sphere of economics, the one best system that puts bread on the table of the people is a democratic system in which free enterprise is allowed to flourish. And if you're suggesting the overthrow of the present system, you might want to become just a little better informed about what that notion is called before you decide to take up red banner of revolution... Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert This guys sounds a little tightly wound. I do admit, I'm suprised that guys like Carl Icahn can walk around without someone taking a poke at them. "Paul and all, do you really expect us to buy that? From many employers, that's often not a reason, but an excuse, or even a lie." So it's a lie. It really doesn't matter because the marketplace will set the salary rates. When there are fewer skilled workers, their skills will demand a higher salary. When there are too many skilled workers, the salary levels will decrease. This isn't rocket science. And while I will stop short of calling leanandmeaneditingmachine a Communist, he sure sounds like a founding member of the "Wobblies". Paul and Chet8625-- Were it not for how generations of working people demanded, struggled for at great cost, and ultimately won the halfway decent pay, benefits, working conditions, protections, and rights that millions American workers have enjoyed for decades, you and I and most other of those working people today would still be working in conditions right out of 100 years ago or so--six or seven days a week, for 25 cents or so an hour (if that much), with few benefits and even fewer rights. Those who would actually rationalize or even exalt such conditions, as has often been said, truly might know the price of everything but the value of nothing. Now as then, those who would deny working people their right (and, yes, it is a right) to decent jobs with good compensation and real futures deify that oh-so-sacred thing called the "free market." Left unregulated, left without laws, labor unions, and other forces to counter the "market" and its inherent tendency to treat everything in solely numerical dollar terms, the "free market" affords freedom only to those with money and power. Take a look, if you haven't, at Thomas Frank's bestselling book One Market Under God for an incisive analysis of what deifying "the market" above all else has led and is leading us all. Thom Hartmann's likewise bestselling book Screwed contains a fine analysis of the real intent of the founders of the United States regarding capitalism and its place in a free, democratic society. Profit and private property are vital to any civilized society and a dynamic economy, but they are subordinate to broader considerations of economic and social justice and human decency. Markets and economies are not sacred, nor are they somehow immutable. They exist to serve people, not people them--and when the needs and rights of people require that market forces and powerful individuals and institutions be regulated, those forces, individuals, and institutions must yield to human rights. Chet8625, your mentioning that you would stop short of calling me a "Communist" doesn't faze me at all. It's actually quite funny--that epithet has been tossed at practically every thinking human being who has dared to suggest that the "free market" and the rich and powerful just might sometimes have to yield to the greater needs and rights of other human beings. In many ways, however, I must regard your stating that I "sure [sound] like a founding member of the 'Wobblies'" a compliment. While the Industrial Workers of the World were in many ways overly idealistic to the point of being naive, they indeed did in many other ways point the direction in which American society and labor unions ultimately had to go to realize a truly decent economy and society for the vast majority of Americans--those who had to work for others for a living. It's long past time we stop subscribing to the ridiculous myths spouted by "free market" types like Milton Friedman and Horatio Alger. Michael Moore (I proudly salute that great American!), in his book Dude, Where's My Country?, has an excellent chapter there titled, with Moore's trademark bluntness and irreverence, "Horatio Alger Must Die." Check out this link to read some excerpts from this excellent commentary on the realities of life and the economy in modern Amerika: http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Michael_Moore/Jesus_W_Christ_DWMC.html Do let us all know what you think of what Moore has to say! I, for one, fully agree with him here. Your slightly one-sided view of the free enterprise system is sort of interesting, I guess. If you'd like to propose a better system you think will work more effectively, please feel free - maybe write a book about it or something. Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert Paul-- Believe me, I have thought of writing more than one book. But plenty of books have already been written about the system that indeed did (and still will) work far more effectively and justly than the economic regime we in Amerika must now endure. That system was the one we had in this country from the time of the New Deal, and especially from 1945 to about 1980 (remember who was elected president that year, someone who, with his pals, largely started the war on working people and the middle class that his current successor seems quite determined to finish)--a time when working people stood up for and won respect for their sovereign rights, when employers and employees and their communities prospered together, when labor unions were strong, when many--perhaps even most--employers respected workers, their dignity, and their rights, when government was on the side of us "ordinary" people, not the rich or the corporations, when hard work and loyalty really did pay off, when the "American dream" was truly real rather than the sham and fraud it now is, when we saw more opportunity and growth and prosperity for more people than any society had ever known or, including our own society today, has yet to know. That is what we should--indeed, must and will--return to and build upon. We must and will get rid of Amerika and bring back America. If you're really wondering about what books to read about this vital aspect of American history, take a look at Thom Hartmann's Screwed, David Sirota's Hostile Takeover, Donald Barlett and Richard Steele's America: What Went Wrong? and America: Who Stole the Dream?, Philip Mattera's Prosperity Lost, Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States, and William Manchester's The Glory and the Dream. This last book, a masterful overall popular history of America from 1932 through 1972, explores what the changes working people wrought and saw that brought millions of them out of wage slavery into a strong, proud middle class. What is truly sad is how so many members of that middle class forgot who and what brought them there and selfishly, shortsightedly supported right-wing con artists who promised them prosperity but brought it only for a select few--and are trying to bring back the conditions of 1907 for most of us living in 2007. Only after we working people have taken so many hits in the wallet and on the chin are enough of us finally starting to wake up. Mr. Manchester, now deceased, never wrote a sequal chronicling the years after 1972; doing so might have broken his heart, just as those years have shattered the dreams and hopes of millions of working Americans. If only he were alive today, one could hope he'd see at least the beginning of the long-overdue resurgence that is now building--one that's about to come upon this country like a tsunami. Bring it on! Tell your rich and corporate friends to watch out, Paul--they are about to see a wave of pro-worker change and regulation that will radically redistribute wealth and power back in the direction it rightly was being distributed from the time of the New Deal to about 1980, a wave that will make the New Deal look mild. "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train" --Title of Howard Zinn's autobiography Just for fun, here are a couple of books you should perhaps read, Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" and a new book by Jeffrey Sachs called "The End of Poverty." In addition, numerous studies have been done that pretty much indicate that if all the money people have in this country was taken away and redistributed equally to everyone, within a year or so, (I don't recall exactly how long at the moment), it would be right back in the hands of the people who had it in the first place - not because they would steal or swindle it from others, but because so many people make bad economic choices with regard to spending, saving, and education, so taking money away from those who create wealth in order to give it to those who don't makes no sense at all. And as far as the New Deal is concerned, all that did was create a permanent underclass of people who were totally dependent on the largess of government for their daily existence. I don't think that's how this country was built. The people in this country, from the top of the economic ladder to the absolute bottom, are so much better off than 5/6ths of the worlds population, and particularly compared to the 1.5 billion people in Africa and Asia who live in absolute poverty that this continuing diatribe of yours about redistribution of the wealth would strike them, in my opinion, as absurd. This is, after all, a world economy we're in and even the people working in African sweat shops for a few cents a day producing clothes to be exported are better off than they were living on two hectares of land earning nothing and worrying about finding enough food for their children. The climb up the economic ladder happens one step at a time. Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert First, kudos on knowing who the Wobblies were. I thought I might be able to slide that one past you. I wasn't trying to faze you on the "Commie" comment... just thought Paul was getting close to it. One can argue that the unions of America got us to the correct balance between employer and employee but at some point pushed America past the edge of competitiveness. When companies find that they can only be profitable by shipping jobs overseas, UNION workers lose (no, it is not their right) their jobs. We'll have to agree to disagree. | |
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