So why aren't YOU doing it for less then? Pretty simple question, no? Enough people like YOU and the market for that job will be wrecked. Do it for the rest of us, if you can.

 

You might want to relocate to Venezuela. Socialism seems to be what you are seeking.

 

My grandpa and great uncles were big union guys in West Virginia because they and their fathers worked in coal mines and the strike breakers were actually shooting at striking workers with live rounds. But they wanted no part of communism and refused handouts and charity, they just wanted get paid for an honest day of work.

If Fain & Friends think the rest of Americans view them as some sort of role models, well, they are mistaken.

 

My mom will be 83 this year and still kicking around good and strong. In fat she works at a "Retirement Home", AKA a place old folks go to die. She works with those with memory issues with playing physical and mental games to keep their brains going. The Irony of this is many of those she is helping are much younger than her.

 

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Sorry but you are wrong. You are worth what someone will pay you for your skillset. The free market balances that fact everywhere. That's why a fast food worker isn't paid the same as a certified welder. I personally do not value professional athletes nearly as much as millions of others do. Guess what - because millions of people do value them they can earn fantastic money. I cannot fathom how Mike Trout should be paid $35,541,667 per year to play baseball. Guess what - it doesn't matter what I think because enough people value him to allow that pay to occur. If fans quit going to games and stopped watching the games on TV they would not pay him that salary. But because people do go to games and do watch them on TV he is worth that to the team he signed a contract with. BTW - his contract is for 12 years and is valued at $426,500,000. Does he have a relatively rare skillset? Apparently. Is his pay "fair"? I think it is ridiculous but the free market says otherwise. Good for him. I hope he is smart and invests for his family's future and I hope he is benevolent to his community too. FWIW his salary pays him more in one month than Jim Farley's salary is for an entire year. Amazing - and this is not only in America. The entire world pays athletes at even higher rates. Therefore, a world class soccer player IS worth millions of dollars per year. This is how the free market works.

The reality is Jim Farley signed a contract with Ford Motor Company. Ford Motor Company deems multiple things important and expects him to deliver on those things. If he delivers they agree to compensate him X amount. If he fails they can terminate the contract. As a BIG incentive to drive the company profitably the vast majority of his compensation is tied directly to the financial performance of the company. As many have noted Ford has been posting huge profits. Isn't that EXACTLY what Ford wants and has agreed to pay the CEO for? Somehow people think that the CEO being held liable for bad performance is OK but being rewarded for good results is not. Do you think YOU possess the skillset to successfully operate Ford Motor Company? Maybe you do. If you were offered the position and were told it pays $2,000,000 per year would you accept it or would you say that "nobody is worth that". Farley's actual salary is $1.7 million per year - the rest of his compensation is tied to company performance. Do you think that is outrageous pay for someone running a $158 billion business?

Ford's Board of Directors sets the compensation package. Jim Farley apparently agreed to it. So far he and Ford are happy with the arrangement. In contrast the UAW wants to tell Ford what they think a person should earn. Ford is supposed to just roll over and take it because they are threatened that people won't work? I've got news for you - post all of those jobs on Monster or Indeed, make the starting pay $50,000 and offer the good benefits package and those jobs would be filled IN HOURS by people who are grateful to have a steady, decent paying job. Make sure managers can fire people for poor performance - there will always be someone wanting that job. Ford could reduce the price of trucks 35 - 45% and still maintain their profit goals and MILLIONS of us consumers would benefit, as opposed to just 57,000 UAW members benefitting.

The UAW is demanding that Ford abolish "tiers" for workers. They are saying the person who assembles transmissions is worth no more than the person installing tail lights. The engine assembly person has no better skillset than the lug nut person so they should all be paid the same. Well, by that logic, the person who is doing the plumbing at a power plant should be paid the same as the nuclear physicist and engineers who designed it and the safety systems, right? Same skillset - we all know how many people have the ability to be a nuclear physicist as opposed to being an electrician, a carpenter, a welder, a painter, a cook, etc. The same logic should go for medical services - the PA at the local CVS store should absolutely be paid the same as a neurosurgeon. Same skillset, right? I'm amazed that anyone who thinks a CEO isn't worth XX money will turn around and support the UAW who thinks they should be paid $100,000+ per year for installing 24 lug nuts on a vehicle rolling down an assembly line.

The UAW wants Ford to pay for 40 hours of work yet let the UAW only actually work 32 hours per week. Gee, that sounds fair. I see so many other companies paying for 40 hours yet only expecting the employees to show up for 32. That would definitely help Ford compete in the marketplace. I don't think people stop to consider what these requests actually cost. If Ford agrees to pay everyone $100,000 that is $48 per hour gross for a 40 hour work week. Cut the work week back to 32 hours like the UAW proposed - that makes the hourly wage $60 gross. One dollar per minute minimum for every person on the line... How much do you think your next Super Duty will be if Ford agrees to this?

The unions have gone from a noble, needed structure to a greedy blackmailing structure. They fought for fair wages, safety and better working conditions. Well done - it needed to happen and they certainly have it now. Why do we need them today? Oh yeah - to blackmail companies into paying people many times what that job would pay in the open market - again, all for the benefit of just 57,000 people - at the expense of millions of consumers.

 

I don't see evidence that the US economy is a "free market" like you claim. There are heavy influences from both domestic and international elites that desire to transfer wealth from working class to the top percentile. This trend has been demonstrated over the last 60 years.

And I wouldn't be quick to throw out "free market" like it's an economic virtue. It works great on paper without the manipulation, monopolies and nepotism.

So in other words, you praise one thing and demonize the other, while the same exact faults exist in both.

I agree the current state of the unions are corrupt, but so is the market that "decides" a person is worth tens of millions of dollars a year to sit on a board chair.

 

If you equalized everyone to $100000 today, the problem is that some will find a way to improve their situations. I don't blame the guy on top of me for trying to better his situation. I don't blame him for not caring about me. I blame ME for not being good enough to rise up above him. It is MY fault I am not a billionaire on a megayacht. I am better off than others below me. I was able and willing to work so hard to get to such a place. I could have had 5 kids from 4 different women, dropped out of HS and drank and got stoned. After which, I will complain that I am scraping by trying to earn a living by being a male gigolo servicing rich guys. Bad life choices, bad results. Some you can recover from, some, not so much.

If you didn't want to hold on to your wealth and increase it, why blame the guy who does and succeeds? I am all for prosecuting the guy who had a contract but broke it. I am not for finding a formula to transfer your wealth to me. First of all, even if you do succeed, it doesn't mean I can hang on to it. Secondly, your wealth and my poverty should be examples of what you can be to the next generation. Without the rewards, why would I work to succeed? Instead of spending time and money to pursue a PhD in Peruvian Basket weaving, which might be my interest, I might have to go to school for engineering. One of which makes me a steady living, the other, well..... Sacrifices can bring rewards. Sitting on your hands and getting stoned 24X7 will never. What I don't understand is why you want others to pay for your life choices. I mean, you had the choice and you weren't forced to go to school, learn a trade, master a marketable skill, were you? You had the right of choice. It isn't like say a caste system where you were born into this caste and there you remain. You weren't born into a family of carpenters and thus you remain till you die and so will your children, etc. With choice, comes responsibility to accept the results of your choices.

 

Can you show me an equitable economy where disillusioned westerners are eagerly trying to get in to be more economically mobile?

 

A spectre is haunting America.....

 

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You know how ceos are members of several different boards and vote all their cronies in to other boards? It's a self-perpetuating class of elites who measure their egos by their bank accounts. I'm not sure how anyone could defend sociopaths, other than another sociopath. They aren't "worth" it. They do not build cars. They are non-productive costs

 

Be good enough to get them to bring you into their fold. After which, you can lead a revolution by bringing your own good people and really show us how it is done. OTOH, if you were that good, you'd probably grow wings and a halo with a white robe. My money is that if you get there, you are going to step on all the little people you championed today.

 

So you want to see workers seizing the means of production?

 

I remember a story about some very smart sounding Asian intellectuals educated in France that got in the egalitarian spirit, went home, started a revolution to get rid of the elite class backed by moneyed European power, and returned everyone back to honest work and farming.

Today we know them as the Khmer Rouge. Didn't work out as planned.

But hey, smart Americans can probably make it work next time.