Why "Gig Economics" Will Fail
The Failure of a Gig Economy
What is a "GIG" Economy?
In order to accurately define "Gig" economy, a trendy word that hides the truth and facts of employment in the US. today, it is necessary to understand that the word "gig" traditionally referred mainly to musicians who were hired for a specific engagement.
When it is applied to labor in the U.S., it really isn't a "gig" so much as a replacement for the word "temp."
So the question to ask is, "Can labor in any country survive ONLY on temps working part-time and cobbling together 3 or 4 "gigs" to earn what a full time job used to pay?
It is certainly true that automation has given rise to loss of jobs. However, automation cannot replace your broken water heater or repair your automobile's transmission. Leaky roof? Call a robot?
You can see why "gig" economics has been manipulated, not for improving the status of labor in the U.S., but to create higher profits for business owners.
Today, employees are hired for shorter periods of time, which means excessive employee turnover. Does that cost employers? No. The reason is that business owners don't hire emplouees. They hire a recruiter who is also an employer who provides temp workers, thereby relieving employers of paying employee benefits and contributing their portion of employer taxes.
Since the rule of thumb in industry has been to cite anyone who works less than 30 hours a week as "part-time," relying on part-time employees hired by a recruiter who pays their wages, business owners no longer have the job of paying wages, benefits or corporate taxes.
You can see already why this cannot last. The more business owners pay less and less taxes and their employees must work multiple "gigs" and pay the lion's share of taxes to the federal and state governments, the closer the economy gets to a serious reduction in financial support that can only come from enforcing business regulations and taxation.
From the corporate sector, there is the whining that businesses pay too much in taxes. Do they? Check again.
Employees and customers pay more than most business owners in taxes out of wages that have been deliberately stagnated using the excuse, "It's a gig economy."
Employers and customers also hand over massive federal tax cuts and cold hard dollars in tax subsidies, often to state and federal governments.
In the U.S., the Government Accountability Office tracks the amount of return each state receives for the federal taxes they pay. It should surprise no one that according to the State University of New York's Rockefeller Institute of Government, "just 13 states subsidize 37 others."
As such, this means that employees in 13 states are earning more and getting a far less return for their wages. They worker harder and are still struggling to keep their heads financially above water.
The Downside to Gig Employment
The downside to "gig economics" is that these recruiter/employers can only earn their incomes through high job applicant turnover. Thus, they hire and as soon as their client's contract for employees run out, they fire job applicants/employees and replace them to increase their commissions and profits.
The hallmark of "gig economics" is "short term" workers In some industries like construction, chemistry and engineering, short term projects are expected. What goes with "gig economics" is this: When multiple jobs are held short term, it almost always means working longer hours for the same wages a full time job once paid.
Longer work hours means less time for personal needs and quality time with families. It also means an increase in the cost of travel to and from jobs, not to mention the loss of time involved.
Another consideration is "job uncertainty." It's easy to explain gigs being plentiful due to the need for increasing jobs during holiday seasons. But, as most individuals know, holidays pass and there is that "down time" in businesses when customer spending drops off until the next big holiday.
Where is the reliability in earnings then?
Today, 57 million Americans work in gigs. This includes multiple job holders and those whose arrangements are short term.
Ref: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2018/08/31/57-million-u-s-workers-are-part-of-the-gig-economy/
Decline in Gig Enthusiasm
When the job market is weak, gigs are plentiful. This is due to employers' need to cut their losses. Is labor the best way for an employer to cut their losses? Most labor expert says "No."
The reason is that when labor is the first item to the cost of overhead, the work of the business remains the same. With fewer workers, the work of the business must then be completed by fewer workers at the same wages paid to the prior full staff.
When employers use cuts to labor as their first reduction in costs, the disruption to their daily business productivity is the first thing to suffer.
Ref: https://hbr.org/2010/05/when-youve-got-to-cut-costs-now
The Most Serious Consideration of the Gig Economy
How stable can an economy be if working longer hours for stagnated wages in multiple jobs poses a serious health risk?
It has long been recognized that working longer than 8 hours, in non standard work shifts and unregulated work schedules can impose health risks that include:
. Sleep deprivation
. Potential injury
. Loss of appetite
. Fatalities
For employers, the risk is higher levels of insurance and government compliance liabilities due to increased injuries, loss of productivity and poor worker attention to safety in the workplace.
Ref: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4926781/
Conclusion
The actual economics of a gig economy is shorter term profits, health risks to employees and greater business uncertainty.
In conclusion, U.S. workers who realize their personal losses may replace working in multiple jobs for creating start up businesses.
Related
Comments
Well, since you mention it.....fentanyl is coming from China.
Don......your move.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Burp. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
- AUTHOR
Men and women are VERY different. AFTER ALL. It's why 51 of them were elected to Congress in 2018 and why 6 Republicans lost.
Sorry Jack. But no woman who has kids will point to Trump and tell her kids to lie like Trump; does.
And since it's obvious you are an Oriental, I'd be worried that one of the Japanese or Chinese leaders gets up Trump's nose and the Maggot decides to deport anyone with Oriental blood lines.
See now now foolish your support of Trump really is? He lost the Muslim ban, has done all he can to make ALL Hispanics look like criminals and you know he'd love to go after American blacks and Jews more openly.
He has to watch what he says about Jews because his grandkids are half Jewish. Not that that ever stopped Hitler whose mother was Jewish.
So true... I guess men and women are not so different after all...
- AUTHOR
I may be at an age where some men in a certain age group appear to be suffering from MANopause. These are the geezers who aged ot of their parents homes in middle age and now cannot bear the oppressive, noxious burden of responsible maturity.
So, they become insistent, tantrum pulling big babies who must always get their way and are the most informed creatures on planet earth. It's a symptom of parental overindulgence and their own morbid fear of responsibility.
They go through middle age blaming it all on women as if the only other gender created is a poor quality leftover from Adam's rib.
They behave like bad little boys who expect never to be held accountable no matter how grave their speech and actions become.
They will insist you accept every word ot of their mouths, obey like good little puppies and should you ever have lofty aspirations, you better make sure they give their approval.
They are still in Neanderthal mode.
......and another thing.
If you say you wanted him because he’s not a politician, then why when he lies do you say, “So? All politicians lie.”
And here’s proof.
Dems now have a non politician politician.
They have someone who doesn’t follow usual order of business.
A rebel.
A non conformist.....And u call her unfit!
I mean it.....you magas should examine yourselves....why did you vote for Trump? Truthfully.
Media? They have been protecting him for 30 years. Funny......about the same amount of time they have been demonizing Hillary.
Know why? Money and ratings.
This country has been divided from the start. The civil war didn’t change that, just made it illegal to act on it.
I remember the Tea Party coming out, and I was like what the hell is this? Kookoobirds, crazyland!
I feel the same about magats. It’s not about making America great, but keeping her white.
White power
White men in charge
White woman as the domestic goddesses....
None of this feminazi crap.....you luv Rush, dont you?
None of this killing babies in the womb
And for God’s sakes, no black people in the White House.
No Mexicans, no Muslims, no pay raises, no lower taxes for the middle class, only benefits for the top upper class.....who are mostly white and men.
This is how I see it, which is why you dont have to be Republican to be a maga....
But I would bet 99.9% of them are white.
-
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Leslie, on the contrary, it does matter. The narrative you and others are projecting along with the media about Trump is what is dishonest. I post the previous message to show that.
The country is divided in our opinions but we are all patriots and all wants what is good for America and that is what MAGA is all about.
How is he destroying our country by protecting our borders?
Tell me, what is the objection here?
If you wanted to have amnesty for undocumented, why didn’t President Obama do it when he had control of the whole government?
I just want to repeat something.....
Massachussetts is a blue state. We have a red gvr. He has a 72% approval rate!
It’s about the person. America can walk and chew gum.
What has that got to do with anything? Nothing. It doesn’t stop who he is now, nor the damage he is inflicting on this country.
I guess you can see how much he respected Hillary during the campaign and now....”crooked, lock her up, you’d be in jail”....
And of course you are biased. And so am I. I swear, there are a bunch of you here who all claim to be “ independent”, when it’s obviously not so!
And, yes, I can criticize dems.
I voted for Nader in 2000.
I can’t stand blue dogs, and I actually left the dem party after what they did to Franken.
But my world view leans left, as you surely can tell.
Just as we all can tell who are right wing.
It’s not something to be ashamed of.
Just own it!
Here is photo evidence...
Trump was the makings of democrats. He was a democrat in NYC for many years contributing to top democrats including Hillary Clinton. She and Bill attended his wedding for heaven’s sake. For you and others and the media to try and make the case how evil Trump is, you made his bed, and lied with him all those years and now he is elected, you faint outrage at Republicans? How ironic.
I am not biased. I call it as I see it. If I am wrong, I will readily retract and correct my self. I have criticized both Democrats and Republicans at times on these forums... have you done the same?
Lol! If not for Hillary, you would have voted Democrat?
Hahahaha.
Nice try. You voted for a malignant poison. Thanks for nothing and please don’t vote again!
- AUTHOR
Jack First? It shows ill breeding when you jack your ego by telling any other adult what to do. Doesn't work with me.
As for your silly claim about Hillary and Obama. You only show how weak your argument is. Fox news is not biased? Hannity is not biased? In fact, YOU are jnable to post without bias.
Sorry but all you want is for me to agree with every lie and distortion you post.
Billionaires like Charles and David Koch gave us Trump. Reince Priebus and the RNC gave us Trump. The right wing extremists like Coulter, Ingraham and Hannity got in on the Bad Obama and Bad Hillary BS.They gave us Trump.
You got conned big time by a world class CON man like Trump who had to resort to using Russian hackers to win an election. Or is that all a fake too? 22 indictments? a fake? 3 guilty pleas? a fake?
You live in what Conway once called, "alternate facts." There is NO such thing. Facts are facts.
FACT: in 2013, Trump tried to sue the very bank, Deutschebank in NY for (as he claimed) causing him to lose out on a business deal. The fact that he owed them $2 million and sued for $2 million to wipe out what he owed doesn't bother you? Or the fact that he KNEW Deutschebank was laundering money from the Russians for him which he held over the heads doesn't bother you?
Deutschebank got a $325 million fine. One year later, Trump got a $25 million fine for money laundering. Doesn't that bother you that Republicans all knew this and allowed him to run from their party anyway?
Oh but if the shoe was on the Dem foot and Obama was the one who got a $25 million money laundering fine, you'd be the first to go on one of your irresponsible rants to make sure he never got anywhere near the WH.
A little two faced don't you think?
- AUTHOR
Jack First? It shows ill breeding when you jack your ego by telling any other adult what to do. Doesn't work with me.
As for your silly claim about Hillary and Obama. You only show how weak your argument is. Fox news is not biased? Hannity is not biased?
Sorry but all you want is for me to agree with every lie and distortion you post.
Billionaires like Charles and David Koch gave us Trump. Reince Priebus and the RNC gave us Trump. The right wing extremists like Coulter, Ingraham and Hannity got in on the Bad Obama and Bad Hillary BS.
You got conned big time by a world class CON man like Trump who had to resort to using Russian hackers to win an election. Or is that all a fake too? 22 indictments? a fake? 3 guilty pleas? a fake?
You live in what Conway once called, "alternate facts." There is NO such thing. Facts are facts.
FACT: in 2013, Trump tried to sue the very bank, Deutschebank in NY for (as he claimed) causing him to lose out on a business deal. The fact that he owed them $2 million and sued for $2 million to wipe out what he owed doesn't bother you? Or the fact that he KNEW Deutschebank was laundering money from the Russians for him which he held over the heads doesn't bother you?
Deutschebank got a $325 million fine. One year later, Trump got a $25 million fine for money laundering. Doesn't that bother you that Republicans all knew this and allowed him to run from their party anyway?
Oh but if the shoe was on the Dem foot and Obama was the one who got a $25 million money laundering fine, you'd be the first to go on one of your irresponsible rants to make sure he never got anywhere near the WH.
A little two faced don't you think?
Wow, take a breathe, your rant is unbecoming.
Don’t you get it? It was Hillary and Obama that brought us Trump...
If you want to blame anyone, it would have to be your beloved Democratic Party and the biased media.
They created the environment where out of 17 perfectly good candidates, the only one that won was an outsider by the name of Trump.
If Obama, having controled of both Houses, his first two years, had not screwed up, Hillary would be President today.
It was his incompetence that lead to the decline of the DEmocrats and you can't blame that on Conservatives. We predicted it would happen.
The failures includes passing the ACA, Benghazi, doubling of our debt in 8 years, destroying businesses and the weakest recovery in 50 years with over regulation and the IRS scandal and corrupting and politicizing our institutions like the FBI. That would be his legacy...The president that destroyed his party.
In case you missed it, your gig economics was created as a result of the ACA...
- AUTHOR
It's perfectly okay when the right wing called Obama all manner of scummy names and spent 4 decades trashing Hillary Clinton.
But shove truth and facts in their faces and that's "name calling?"
Sorry but you little boys and girls of the right don't get to have it both ways.
And tell us. If In just a matter of 2 years, your hero in the WH managed to increase the debt to $2 trillion more, how "CONservative" are you?
Right now, almost $2 million a week is being wasted on detention camps because of a nut in the WH. The guy has always been overindulged, irrationally narcissistic and totally bogus.
How on earth does that so called "Trump base" not see what is as plain as the noses on their faces? Do they really want the Maggot Man to hand over our government to billionaires whose only object in life is profit? We are not going to be money mules for their addiction to greed.
Conservatism once had its place when it was factual and truthful. Now, we have a nut in the WH ready to use the military to build a wall and help himself to $5.6 billion of our tax dollars as if it it's his personal piggy bank.
No other president, Democrat OR Republican has ever made a profit while in office. Trump charges taxpayers for Secret Service protection when he runs down to Mar-a-Lago to play golf and they need a place to sleep.
He openly defies the emoluments clause by steering all visiting foreign dignitaries to his Trump DC hotel from which he earns a profit. THIS IS CONservatism?
My objective at this point in my life is to resist, reject and refuse to allow my hard earned dollars to be spent on private telephone booths in a Trump's appointee's office. Or a trip to Egypt for the Nude Porn Model to get away from the nut she married at a cost of $95,000.
Or the games played by another western CON, Stinky Zinke of MT who used private jets and Air Force planes to fly back home at a cost of $2 million per trip?. Oh but remember when the CONs of the GOP spent a year on Nancy Pelosi flying back home first class?
Conservatism has its place. But what these right wingers are promoting is treason, not conservatism. All they care about is a government so small that it resembles the oligarch of Putin's Kremlin.
We do not intend to allow these right wing extremists to become the only voice in our government on our tax dollars. Especially not when their moocher states are the ones living on 13 donor states' taxes.
That's not CONservatism. It's going so far right that the only way forward now is off the cliff.
As I am the author of this featured article, I will repeat. Gig Economics will fail. No country can force an entire labor force to work on stagnated wages while they earn billions a year in profit for billionaires.
No country can survive without living wages for food, clothing, shelter and education. No country can pay part time wages, force workers to cobble jobs together just so a nut like Trump can be flush with our tax dollars.
Those days are OVER. Pay your fair share according to what you earn. If you earn $100,000, you are taxed on $100,000. Not on $10,000. What about that do greedy men not get?
How about doing their job? Can they? Or does daddy have to say so first?
Credence, true but lets keep our discussion on the matter at hand and not drift off to cast dispersions on others our assume motives of the other party when it is not true...
I want to discuss the benefits and harm of one policy vs. another and I want people to judge these arguments based on facts and history. In general, progressives tend to ignore that and use “feeling” to argue their point of view. I rather stick to results and outcome.
It is no mystery why we are the wealthiest nation in the world.
If I had to choose only one reason, it would have to be our Constitutional government of limited government and individual freedom...
Those are the qualities that lead to a successful nation and wealth creation. Not collective socialism...which has proven to fail on numerous occasions.
As long as they support and love a man who says democrats don't care about the border, don't care about people being stabbed, call our reps crooked and lyin.....
What in the world do they expect???
Jack, I am aware of your desire to discuss these issues and do not want to have it become a slugfest. But, the fact is that progressive thinking people have a different mindset from conservatives or rightwingers.
Nobody is insulting the proponents of your point of view, but being candid about our opposing positions mean that we are going to step on one another's toes, and it is unavoidable at times.
There are demographics that support the rise of progressive political positions and half of the country is not a sub set of public opinion.
LOL...what does "take your meds" mean?
Your side constantly insults and belittles. And especially your prez.
He set the tone, so enjoy!
@AdamParkhomenko
"I wasn’t convinced there was a real emergency on our southern border until trump included “cryin’ chuck” in his most recent tweet. I mean who could question that kind of seriousness and gravitas?"
You like it that way......plain talk. Unless its Ocasio-Cortez.......then its crazy-town huh?
Wonder why????
I mean, shes not a politician, either. Dont ya love it?....
apparently not
At least I don’t call names...of people I disagree with...
Oh yeah? Just like rightwingers vote Republicans and there is no evidence that they are the "sharpest knives in the drawer" either.
That's what liberals do. Liberals vote Democrat. They are not intelligent people, and so, they resort to calling the people who do not agree with them names. It's emotions over logic. Leftists care about their fee fees more than facts.
That anyone votes Democrat these days is evidence, I think, of how horrible our public schools are. Parenting is also low, as globalist seek to replace traditional family structures with the state as center of all things, and 'god.'
You guys have to stop make fun of people you disagree with.
I am not comfortable trying to engage you in a debate about economic and policies that affect our whole country and deal with these unprofessional remarks...
You may not like what I say but don’t for moment think you know who I am or my background. Try walking in someone’s shoes before criticizing...is always a good idea.
You just expose yourselves to be the ignorant bigots that you accuse others of. Very sad.
- AUTHOR
When you look at who the MAGAnuts are who support Trump, you see nothing but misguided, lazy middle aged freeloaders between the ages of 35 to 55. These are moochers of our society who get the sniffles and run to the emergency room for medical care never once considering their mooching is costing others in higher healthcare insurance premiums.
These lazy bums want to sit around all day texting and selfying until they grow fat, old and lazier.
They don't want to work for a living. Oh no. These are the middle aged who aged out of their parents homes at 35 and then returned to the nest so they don't have to be responsible adults like their parents were.
But it's all their parents fault they can't find or create jobs. So who besides their parents do they blame? Why all those bad immigrants who might steal their jobs. What jobs? You mean having to mow grass as landscapers? Tooooooo much work for these phony rock stars.
Work in slaughterhouses or plucking chicken feathers? HEAVENS to Mergatroid! Not with their Ivory hands.
Oh no. Rock stars must always start at the top with a CEO salary even when they are not qualified.. Right boys and girls?
So, for these miscreants of middle aged self absorption, hand over the jobs you have worked hard to get to the top of your rank. Because how dare any of us think we should neglect these spoiled Trump brats?
They'd rather play their blood, guts and gore video games all day. And horrors! Should Mommy and Daddy get fed up with them living off their parents SS and Medicare and demand they get a job, well now...you can bet it won't be more than plucking guitar strings or sweeping the nail salon floor for top dollar.
Time for you loafers and irresponsible moochers to get a clue. Hopefully, you will be a child forever and when your parents die off and you get your so desired "inheritance," it will last long enough so you won't become a lazy bum burden on the next generation who are already movers and shakers.
Oh sorry. I forgot. Middle agers don't like work and so no moving or shaking for them. Just their cell phone in one hand and the video game remote in the other and an occasional run to the fridge Mommy and Daddy keeps stocked for them.
Watching Fox and eating Kentucky fried chicken??
Good god, some people have low standards.
Oh, and photo ops......and golfing.
Oh yeah, and ruining lives. *clap* *clap*
Patriarchy has passed. Watch matriarchy heal. Long overdue.
Couldn't give a flying giraffe for any of that garbage. Trump is President of the United States of America. I care about the job he is doing in that capacity, and it's the finest job I've ever seen done from that office.
- AUTHOR
When you hear Trump supporters claim he is the greatest president, you have to wonder where on this planet they have lived that they didn't know he got 3 count 'em THREE warnings to stop his money laundering and refused saying, "No one tells me how to run MY business."
So when guys like Wes make a case that businesses produce goods and services, tell us Wes....What service was Trump providing when he used the NJ casino, Taj Mahal, to launder mone?
Or do you boys want to pretend it was so some massive conspiracy against poor lil Mommy Mary Ann's fair hair favorite?
If you produce goods in other countries using cheap labor and then it is imported BACK to the US, ALL while you pay NO business taxes and NO employer taxes and then whine you have to price gouge on these imported goods from your US corporate office, how isn' that extortion?
Extort money from taxpayers by keeping a corporate office in the US as a presence to hold out your hands for more taxpayer aid TAX CUTS and TAX subsidies, then jack the price of those goods on the very Americans you refuse to create jobs for and refused to pay your fair share of taxes. Extortion much?
It is time you phony rock stars stopped looking at Hillary and start checking out the over 4,000 lawsuits Trump was already involved in before he set his lard butt and tubby gut in the WH.
I WAS a Republican woman from 1966 until 2004 when I realized some MEN with teeny testicles in this country were out to make big bucks sitting on their butts with their hands out and forcing the rest of us to work harder, longer and for less.
Trump and his Daddy have always been in close link to the mob. We will never allow a maggot to feed off our tax dollars. We will NEVER allow him to believe he is the ONLY voice in our government.
He is nothing more than Putin's penile pacifier. Every word out of his mouth comes from Putin.
So, Wessie, Jackie and the Mikeee...all of your contradictions to US law will get you what you are hoping for...Trump in prison.
As for his wall? He was offered a deal but until the minute he heard ProfHANNITY and Annie Fannie Coulter demand it, he was ready to agree to a deal.
NO US PRESIDENT is now or EVER will be above the law. Trump has caused the deaths of 3 innocent immigrant kids and probably dozens of others in his concentration camps.
And you boys DARE to support this? Do you also steal the last crumb of bread out of your Mommies mouths too? Or tell your kids it's okay to lie like Maggot Man does?
Don't try and pull those little boy games with women who know better than you ever can why little boys pull tantrums.
Why did Trump take 2 months to fire Flynn an unregistered Russia agent operating right under our noses for Putin when Sally Yates warned the Maggot before he got to the WH?
Why did Trump fake a National Emergency he knows will have his lawyers in the SC for violating the Constitution? There is NO National Emergency. We saw him at the border yesterday and there WERE NO throngs anywhere near him. He's a liar.
LIARS cannot be TRUSTED. I wouldn't vote for a Republican now if HE (and it is always white male HE) was cannonized by the Pope.
Some of us were raised right. Some of us were taught lying is wrong. But you boys go right ahead and play in that fantasy world you live in. We are about to crush that world into oblivion. You ask for what you are getting.
Hillary Clinton is one of the most evil persons in the universe. Did you hear what she did to Libya? Yeah. Trump is being very kind to her. Chuck Schumer is less evil, but somehow, just as repulsive.
I will never vote for a Democrat in my life. Why would I vote against my own best interests? Oh hey, I can think past the Huffington Post level. So I wouldn't.
Your president says democrats don’t care about crime, don’t care about people getting stabbed, dont love America, and calls them names such as crooked Hillary and cryin Chuck.
Take. A. Seat.
What Nixon did was awful. Same level of awful as what the Democrats did in Alabama to slander that Roy Moore person. What have Democrats done in the past two years BUT slander people? Oh nothing. That's what they do. They slander people.
Vote for us or you're a racist. Vote for us, or you're a Nazi. There are 97 genders, you bigot! Oh the Democrats sure are inspiring. Let people from south of here and Muslims over run the nation, or you're a racist.
Oh Golly! Oh Jee! I'm so inspired now. I think I'll be a Democrat. That way I can do absolutely nothing but slander people, and I can get a fake feel good out of being fake better than people who actually care about the USA. Yay Democrats.
Willfully so. It’s like stubborn children. No, no, no! Doesn’t matter. The truth will out, and we will be free of them.
......and be grateful for the old skool Repubs.
I am sorry but I don’t see. Nixon resigned after Watergate came to light. However, if he chose to stay and face impeachment, he might have survived. He did so I believe to avoid a distraction of our nation. Remember Clinton, his impeachment and crimes were much worse than Watergate and yet he survived. Our country was worst off after the whole process and led to 9/11 because we took our eyes off the ball.
Impeachment is a political matter and has nothing to do with the underlying crime. Clinton was clearly guilty but the Senators turned a blind eye because politically, it was bad to remove a popular president while the economy was humming.
With regard to Trump which you are comparing, it is not a fair comparison. Trump has done nothing wrong on the level of Watergate or the corruption of the Clintons...
Let the Mueller investigation proceed...
Jack
You're obsfucatung again.
It's like saying Hitler was ok cause he built volkswagon. Hitler was corrupt!.
You said presidents will be judged by history, but Nixon was judged both in and out office as corrupt. His failings outweighed everything.
The inevitable prosecution of corruption is slowly getting a stranglehold over wee Donald. You'd have to be blind not to see what's happening.
If you consider opening the trade with China a small achievement then I guess you are right. However, 4 living presidents including Obama praised Nixon for his service to this nation.
Jack
As usual you're evasive. Nixon was judged and prosecuted while president and has left a pooey skidmark on history. Any small achievements are overshadowed by corruption. He is forever a bad example. Sound familiar?
Well, Jack compared with reign of the current occupant, I look back on the Nixon years with warm nostalgia.
Nixon was one of the most well prepared politicians to assume the office of the President in some time, but the man had his demons and those eventually did him in.
Here is my article on the Nixon library -
Yes, but his standing in the ash bin of history tells a differnt story.
Watergate was one blemish on his tenure but he accomplshed much while president.
I was able to visit the Nixon Library last year and it was very impressive. He had a long list of accomplishment including the opening of China... and the creation of the EPA...
On the contrary if we look at Nixon he was judged while in office.
Wow, we are living in two Americas... how can one person generate such divergent opinions?
It is so contradictory that there is no overlap. One of you guy is right one of you have to be wrong...
We will see in a few years.
A president is usually judged by historians after he leaves office.
Know it well...
Leslie, I like to refer to Trump not as Mussolini but as Benzino Napaloni from The Great Dictator, starring Jackie Oakie and Charlie Chaplin (1940). See it sometime, it is so appropo when thinking about the current occupant of the White House.
Moron....you mean Obama?
Oh my. And you all get upset at orange Mussolini. Might want to check that cult-o-meter.......
Thanking god for a person like that makes people wonder what exact “god” you refer to.
I’m afraid you won’t like what I’m thinking.
Trump is far and away the greatest POTUS of my lifetime. He does things the previous moron says one would need a magic wand to do. All that was actually needed, was Donald J. Trump in the White House.
The economy is in terrific shape. Unemployment is at a 50 year low, and the world knows there is a guy in the White House who will do whatever it takes to make his nation safe and secure.
I couldn't ever have thought we'd be so fortunate as to have a man like Trump as POTUS. I thank God for him every single day.
I see you are all scared. Don’t be. You will thank us later for saving you from Drumpf.
In case you forget, he lives in a gold plated penthouse with gold plated toilet seats.
He cares nothing for working people, never has.
But, like any conman, he has an audience. “There’s a sucker born every minute”
Unfortunately for you, he’s much worse than a conman, he’s a crook. Real live crook.
You don’t have to believe it, the majority of us do.
We’ll save you from yourselves, who seem to be in a great state of denial.
Don’t thank us.......we don’t do it for you. We do it for America.
Nice to see you’re a fan of Monsanto now, Wesman.....odd how values can change so much. But it’s ok for your guys.....with the shutdown, food is not being inspected. Just THINK what these food corps can get away with now.
Not that they would, cause we know they only care for our well being, not some stupid profits or anything. Derpppppp
I can see the comment section here went down the tubes.
As is so very typical, people are talking about 'corporate greed.' Corporations exist to provide a product or a service to consumers, and as efficiently as possible.
That's it. That's all. That's what they are trying to do. People who help that process with innovations and exemplary work get rewarded more than the persons who do less. That's beautiful. That's wonderful. That's the way it is supposed to be.
Automated or machine kiosks are not 'corporate greed.' They are efficiency. I don't like them, myself. But I have heard SO MANY people say they'd so much rather be able to order without having to deal with a human at some fast food joint. Well, corporations are giving the consumers what they want. It's literally why they exist, and the only way they can continue to exist.
Leslie, take your meds...your post does not warrant a response.
When I was 18, i had a 2 bit job....and could afford an apt, and a car!
Now, an above minimum wage job affords you nothing.
The cost of living must come down, or the wages must go up.....choose one.
And, i know you read of the Walmart employees, who had to go to federal gvt for food and healthcare, because Walmart was paying such lousy wages.
You think the family was suffering?
WE were subsidizing their millions!
Its a joke.
Since Reagan, its been money uber alles.
But even Reagan had a heart for immigrants. Drumpf could care less about our values and history.
So yeah.....his grandpa made money through illegal activity, and so did his dad and so does he.
@LincolnsBible
When I call dotard a "mobster," I'm not being cute.
Or provocative.
Or jumping on MSM's sudden embrace of what they've always known & obfuscated.
NO.
I'm bringing U the truth.
Donald Trump was born into a front organization of the Genovese crime family.
He was theirs from birth..
*******
This is what you have wrought on America due to your hatred of Hillary, and believing rightwing lies.
You wanted NWO, you got it.
Great article, Eleanore
I can clearly see the trend and where it is leading, the new interactive kiosks in McDonald's is an example. The stores can get rid of the wait staff, reserving jobs for cooks only.
The short of shrift of labor by the corporate class is made up by taxpayers, who has to subsidize their greed.
I am glad that I no longer have to compete in a labor market of this nature.
- AUTHOR
The Trumps links to mobsters goes back to when his father, Fred, bought Coney Island. He agreed with the City of NY to restore it to its major sight status. Within one year, he sold it for twice what he paid for never once doing a thing to improve it as he contracted to do.
But, Coney Island at that time was a well known meeting place for mobsters like Luciano and Genovese. It could not have missed Fred Trump's nose that mobsters used Coney Island as a meeting place.
Years later, his son pulled the same sort of stunt. He agreed to remodel the old Commodore Hotel into the New Sheraton. NYC gave him $2 million to do with the stipulation he'd turn over 2% of the profits.
He kept 2 sets of books and until he got caught, claimed there was NO profit. Like Father, like son.
So you are telling me a guy working his first job at McDonalds by the cashier, needs to make enough money to support himself and a family? Because it is a full time job?
No one working a full time job should be living in poverty...
How do we do that?
This is the reason tech companies are developing robots to replace cashiers.
In my neighborhood, a local BJ has 10 checkout lines, only 3 are manned. 4 additional kiosk for people to scan their own products...
The other 7 are empty even though the lines are long. Why do you suppose they don’t hire more checkout persons?
Free enterprise? 6 companies own all of media. ( maybe less now) Commercial talk radio is 100% rightwing.
Here, on the Cape, there are (I should say were....I don’t know about now), 2 men who hold the franchises on all the Dunkin Donuts shops. One takes the lower cape, one takes the upper.
When I worked as a waitress, the owner was angry, because there was one liquor distributor who went “over the bridge” to deliver.
And so, he had to pay whatever the guy demanded.
Watch American Gangsters....where Sammy Gravano mentions Trump. No one gets into NY real estate without the mob.
On and on it goes.
Capitalism has failed, and gubmint has bailed it out time and time again.
We need true capitalism, where labor is valued as much as wealth. You don’t have one without the other, but the balance is skewed far too much in favor of wealth,
To paraphrase Barack Obama, “ no one who works full time should live in poverty.”
Period.
- AUTHOR
Awww...MIkey doesn't like it? You bet I have serious issues with guys who hate truth and facts and then run like scared rabbits when they know they are wrong.
Mike you are the one who has some very serious issues. I'd start with that greedy attitude. Then I'd work on learning how to admit when you are wrong.
Then, there's that problem with inability to face reality that the world is no longer solely in the hands of right wing men with antiquated ideas of where women belong.
Have I gotten all of them Yet?
One more then. The successful business person knows that there are options to everything in life. Cheating your employees out of a living wage makes them government dependents. Cheating them out of a living wage forces them to choose between proper education and food on the table. Too much truth for you MIkee?
How about this? The same business owners who whine about having to pay living wages, stiff their employees on benefits then have the gall to complain that their employees retire on SS while their fat cat employers live in mansion and drive a Mercedes.
Ever know any CEO who lives in a ghetto or drives a jalopy? No? Is that because he's stuffed $47 trillion in TAX FREE offshore accounts? Time to pay the piper.
Eleanore, you really have some serious issues you need to address. I hope you have a good day. I wish you well. I hope you get the help you need.
- AUTHOR
Hou bet it's sexist. It was intended to be as sexist as men like you dole out in business every day to women. Or do you need a reminder of what hour Maggot in the WH has said on several occasions about women? Not sexist though right?
If you were expecting me to be fair to guys with your attitude, you were woefully mistaken. I give as goot as I get.
I wrote business plans and still do for a price. I have tech writing experience in writing not only business plans, but technical manuals and white papers on everything from arsenic in NC's water to Artificial Intelligence.
Most of my online clients who request my services for their websites are either in HVAC, electrical or engineering since I worked with environmental engineers as their tech writer for nearly 25 years and got the engineering accounting dumped on me when the owner of the company heard I had that experience as a business owner.
I have secured financial aid for several major organizatons in NJ as a financial consultant and business management consultant.
Your little game of Mr. Man isn't working. Women today are not just better educated than blue collar guys like you but women are more able to get and keep jobs. Not to mention create jobs.
You have the GALL to whine about having to pay $16/hr. to employees when YOU are the reason they need that $16/hr in the first place with our PRICE gouging? You can't buy a single new tire for you car today with $16. Why is that? It's a hunk of rubber that takes some flunky 10 minutes to install.
But the REAL gall comes when you consider that whining about $16/hr when YOU and YOUR CEOs get a $16 MILLION a week is a laugh. And how much do you get in tax cuts that lower what you pay in taxes and increase what WE have to pay to fill in the gaps?
How much do you TAKE in tax subsidies. Don't bother to lie and say nothing. Trump is the icon of tax cuts and subsidies. Ask anyone who lives in NJ who had to pay for them.
Yours isn't a reality. It's a delusion of grandeur. Men think this is still a "Man's World." Oh no it is NOT. 51 women were elected in November. A woman is now Speaker of the House for a historic record of a second time. Get over it.
If you can't earn a profit without stiffing your employers, you are not successful. You are what people in NJ call Trump, "A GRIFTER."
Grifters use all manner of schemes to bilk others out of their hard earned money.
I did start my own business. I owned it and had over 150 customers who remained with me for 12 years. The only reason I closed that business is because my ex half owned it and I refused to do all the work and hand him half of the profits on my sweat.
Sound like you?
"Men like you who own businesses always think workers are there ONLY to earn profits for you. It's why men are so corrupt in business today. They believe workers are so dispensable that they can go to China, Thailand, India or Mexico and pay $11/month for workers."
I do believe this is a very sexist statement. Would it be sexist if I referred to this as a typical female response?
So, tell me about your experience in creating a business plan, securing financing, meeting a payroll, paying expenses as well as taxes. Dealing with customers, suppliers and employees. I want to hear about it. Then, if you had 20 or fewer employees....tell me how you were able to pay them $16 an hour for manual labor and stay in business. I and many other business owners would love to know your secret.
This is called reality. If you've done this, I'd like to know. If not, let's face it, you have no idea what you're talking about. Yes, it amounts to whining. If you haven't had this experience you have no idea what it takes to start and run a business. You have no idea of the risks involved with it. Unless you've started your own business...you have no idea.
Leslie,
With that attitude, no wonder our country is divided and screwed up.
The time for debate is over....
Socialism failed. Capitalism is the only way forward. Not crony capitalism...but free enterprise and competition.
The answer to crony capitalism is to enforce anti monopoly laws on the books.
He can’t lose the attitude. That IS the Republican attitude!
“You’re stupid, shut up”
This is why America will never come together as one. E Pluribus Unom to them means “ bend over, I’ll drive”
This, THIS is the president of the USA, completely maligning half of the country. Disrespect, malevolence and hatred.
And we, in return, are supposed to do what? Accept it? Pay taxes to it?
I don’t think so. It is war.
People who think like this clown Drumpf are the enemy. Plain and simple. So, bring it on.
- AUTHOR
Mike, I owned my first business at age 21. I am currently self employed. My First employer after I divorced was an ombudswoman to the SBA. Need more expertise? Good. I've had 3 life careers.
If you own a small business, as my first employer (and ombudswoman to the SBA) did, then you already know whining about having to pay wage increases and offering to be an administrator for which HMOs pay you, is not a good way to project business acumen.
That first employer was a female and a Republican. She closed her business because the newly elected NJ Governor created the SWIMB department for her. So, since her business was tech recruiting and management consulting, she made sure SHE found all of us jobs. So my next job was with the future Senator Lautenberg at his company where a job was created for me. Get the picture yet?
Men like you who own businesses always think workers are there ONLY to earn profits for you. It's why men are so corrupt in business today. They believe workers are so dispensable that they can go to China, Thailand, India or Mexico and pay $11/month for workers.
Can't do that in the US can you?
And that MY WAY or the HIGHWAY Mr. Business Man attitude is why men like you fail all the time to face the reality that your business NEEDS employees. Those employees take jobs ONLY to EARN a living wage, not to be your sole source of profit.
When Trump was warned 3 time to stop the money laundering at the Taj Majal, he said what you posted, "No one tells me how to run MY business." No? Good. So, he opened himself up to a money laundering fine that cost him $25 million. He had to SELL both hotels and casinos, refused to pay the back wages he owed to those employees and they sued.
The only whiner here is you. You want to be BOSS? Guess what? If you have to ACT like a Boss, you only prove you are anything but a boss and have an attitude that is insistent and can't be reasoned with.
In business, that's a major failure. Why do you think women who refuse to tolerate men like you end up in successful businesses of their own?
Lose the attitude.
Got it. You have no desire to listen to people like me. And then YOU will whine because I don’t genuflect to Republicans.
No skin off my back. How much do you get from the labor of others?
Leslie, it would be much easier to pay attention to you if you led by example. I've had businesses. Unless you have faced what a business owner faces, you have no idea what you are talking about. So, again, own a business, see if it can be run your way...then you'll be able to say something worth listening to...until then...you are just whining.
- AUTHOR
Sorry Jack Lee but Trump is a CEO. Do you also put faith in HIM? And Get over it. You live in NY state as you posted. But you live in King's Anti Healthcare county.
When Governor Cuomo allowed an ACA STATE agency to be established in YOUR state. NJ's Republican Governor Christie didn't.
The end result? NY's cost of healthcare insurance is 11% less than NJ's according to your state dept of banking and insurances.
And why would you fall for any CEO's lies that these poor, bankrupt CEO have to pay for healthcare for their employees when they no loner pay a dime towards any of it. But, they do get a nice fat discount for every 50 employees they sign up that lowers THEIR cost of their heathcare insurance.
How obtuse does it need to get before right wing moochers stop trying to get free healthcare the rest of us PAY for with higher and higher premiums?
If you are too lazy to pay for your own healthcare, do us a favor, stop kissing up to liar CEOs who use ANY excuse to not have to pay American wages. The proof of that lies with Trump.
Who did he hire to manufacture his Trump line of menwear? He had a contract with cheap labor in Mexico until he decided to try to force Mexico to pay for a wall.
And what about his little Princess daughter? She had a contract for cheap Chinese labor to produce her overpriced line of junk.
So reason they can't pay American wages?
And by the way, the cost American employees are paying now for their so called employer "benefit" is anywhere from $300/month for individuals up to $1500 a month for families.
Enough with your trashing the ACA. I know why you do it. You want us to pay for YOUR healthcare every moochers run to the ER with the sniffles.
I have no desire to run a business. However, I’m in management positions, and I see how it goes.
Owners will always cry poor, but seem to have money for their luxuries.
My first gig as manager, it was really embarrassing. When Christmas came around, I got a big bonus. The workers got a turkey. And I was thinking back then, dam, I’d be nothing without them......why so much for me?
I was recently suspended for not following rules.....without pay, mind you, because I’m not on a benefits plan.
But, I know for a fact, my higher ups bend the rules all the time. ALL the time.
One of them said to me, “they had to make an example of you”
.....is this a way to treat employees?
You know what one week without pay will do to you?
The Trump shutdown will show you.
My ex had his own business...building and remodeling, and he used to tell me how expensive it was to own a business here....payroll taxes, unemployment, workmens comp, etc.
But he still paid a really good wage to the people who worked for him. And he got perks himself.....buy a new truck, put it on business expense......extra wood, materials...freebies for him.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the “3 martini lunch”....all free.
And the current owner of my summer job loves to go the the yacht club and throw the money around.
So you know, don’t come at me with the boohoo for biz owners.
We all know the main objective is the bottom line.
If you can’t make it good for all of your employees, it’s really not a successful business, imo.
Leslie, I would suggest you start a business of your own and pay your employees what you propose other companies pay their workers. Having a business will let you experience paying taxes, dealing with making a payroll, marketing, advertising and everything that goes into owning a business. This is your opportunity to show people how a business should be run and how employees should be paid. This is your chance to be an example of what a company should be like in this business climate. Show everyone how a liberal can run a business like it should be run. Let me know how it goes.
i'm not a socialist, i'm a liberal. You people who believe in crony capitalism need to get a grip.
Your reign is over.
And don't forget it was a Republican prez who taxed rich people at 90%.....and America thrived.
Big babies now want everything for free....including labor.
Not.gonna.happen.anymore.
Dubai is wonderful, with zero taxes for the wealthy....and plenty of nuveu riche. You'd enjoy it.
But this is America. E Pluribus Unom.
And Liberty and Justice for all.
Leslie, Spoken like a true socialist. Have you seen what is going on down in Venezuela? Let that be a lesson to you. Be careful what you wish for...
greed is good model:
"Over 800,000 Americans won’t get paychecks this week because Trump is holding them hostage to get his wall. When and if they are paid, he refuses to raise their pay to match inflation. How will we attract good people to public service who are treated this way?"--R. Reich
Freezing their money because he gave it to billionaires.....those of lesser means will have to pay for people like Robert Mercer, who funded the stealing of our election!!
Been going on since the 80's.
Funny how gubmint can afford healthcare...and great healthcare, too! for gubmint employees.....Its called single-payer.
ACA supporters, like Pelosi, were really pushing a public option, but they have to deal with capitalism, now don't they? Went down like a lead balloon.
Maybe now the time has come.
Single payer/Medicare for all....its cheaper in the long run for us.....maybe not the company ceo's, but tuff.
If a huge employer like gvt can supply healthcare, so can any business.
And, in most businesses, keeping costs down means more money at the top. That's the REAL reason they do everything.
I can attest to that in real time.
We need to wake up from this psy-op that greed is good.
Was a time employers were courted. Biz competed to make the best workplace.
A company that treats employees like "just another warm body" doesn't deserve to be in business, IMO.
Its like the gubmint: 3 EQUAL branches.
Labor = Owners. One cannot survive without the other.
Elenore, everything you said is true about Gig economics except the cause. The reason we have a gig economy now is no other than ACA. The law that required all companies of 50 employee or higher to provide manditory healthcare coverage to all their employees working 30 hours a week or more.
After the law passed in 2010, companies decided to convert their full time employees to P/T employees in droves...
Don’t take my word for it. Just google it...many company CEO have said pretty much as I stated.
Yes, I read that Trumps farmers aide is a disaster.....only 983 million of the 12 billion has been allotted.
Soy bean farmers lost 94% of their trade with China! And it’s not coming back.
This ridiculous tax policy of destroying the country to let rich people hoard money is also a disaster.
It’s top heavy and we will fall.
But I will watch shows on Wall Street.....sometimes I watch Bloomberg or CNBC....I don’t really get it, but I know it’s a barometer of our health as a country.
Right now, Trump is at a pretty good pace to tear it down. And when a cabinet member requires secret service protection, you know you’re dealing with gangstas.
Who needs someone with such enemies?
Thank GOD we got dems in the House. The Trump Train of Thievery is done.
- AUTHOR
I strongly suggest, even if it is not one of your favorite ways to spend TV time that you pay strict attention to what Wall Streeters are saying.
I watched the program, "Consuelo Mack, Wealth Track," last night and her guest was Alexander "Tony" James, executive vice chairman of The Blackstone Group, a New York-based global asset management firm, having previously been president and chief operating officer. James has also served as chairman of Costco since August 2017.
I'm no investment genius by any means. The reason I like this program so much is that I always learn something about finances I didn't previously know. I admit that as a novice I don't always understand it all.
However, what caught my eye about this particular program is something we should all be aware of. Mr. James stated that because of the Trump trade policies, if they are not changed, he has predicted a Wall Street "catastrophy."
He isn't the only top Wall Streeter who has stated this since summer 2018.
I have never been a quitter or subject to defeat. Thus, I don't buy into the gloom and doom manic depressiveness Trump manages to spread like a contagious disease.
Tyrants want no arguments or dissent. When an entire nation subjects themselves to the belief that they are defeated and their hands are tied, only those voices like mine will not be silenced.
World history of various major civilizations show that their extinction was a result of decadence, greed and poor leadership.
We can do little about decadence and greed. We can work miracles by replacing poor leadership with our finest minds.
In the end, excellent leadership offers the promise of reduction in decadence and greed through assessed and well evaluated regulation.
If there is one thing the most decadent and greediest hate most, it is "regulations."
However, they are not entitled to be above the laws of society that keep order and civility.
Perhaps when the inevitable crash comes in 2019, they will admit the policy of greed is detrimental to a country.
Not likely, tho.
They have flipped the script. Somehow, they have allowed everything to cater to the idea that greed is good.....think only of yourself, allow business to think only of profit, and u may get that French chateau.....drive that Benz, own that goldmine.
Not likely. Takes money to make money....economics, 101.
And the fact they use religion to do it is the biggest sin.
How many warnings are in all religious books rebuking greed?
And this is an abomination, not something to be proud of:
“Richest 1 percent bagged 82 percent of wealth created last year - poorest half of humanity got nothing”
https://www.oxfam.org/en/pressroom/pressreleases/2...
There is only one outcome to all this, and it’s the same outcome we see over and over again, Crash and Burn.
I guess they are hoping that eventually we can never recover.
Grind us down to dust.
- AUTHOR
My way to see things most clearly is to see the pieces that are visible as jig saw puzzle pieces.
From the minute the downsizing began, offshoring US jobs was inevitable. No worker was fooled that offshoring was because of employer taxes being too high.
The fact is that when US jobs go offshore, the cheap labor contracts they sign for workers earning $11/month allows these employers to pay ZERO business taxes and employee benefits.
That's the first puzzle piece in the puzzle picture. Then, you add in government deregulation of the Too Big to Fail, Too Profitable to Care corporations.
The next puzzle piece is the fallout from allowing businesses located in the US to offshore jobs while they pay NO US corporate taxes because they claim they are not operating in the US. Pure profit puzzle piece No. 2.
The final piece to the puzzle is the remnants of a labor market that no longer is sufficient for individuals to pay the taxes that continue to increase as a result of corporate tax decreases.
The picture is a country with stagnant labor opportunities beaten back further by corporations who are so deeply embedded in college educations that the average American high school senior and their parents cannot afford college.
When did a US education become a luxury affordable only by those who are responsible for demolishing what should be a vibrant labor market full of highly educated individuals who can produce state of the art innovations and advance the country they live in?
Gig economics is not an answer for the US labor market because it can't be. It inflicts more austerity on Americans who need jobs to pay the ever increasing taxes dumped on them by the loss of tax revenues from the top 1%.
If you see the puzzle picture, you see a tiny enclave lavishing themselves with all manner of luxury provided by a huge populus bearing most of the responsibilities.
Keyword here is Accountability When we do not demand accountability from those we elect, we allow them to luxuriate in that tiny enclave.
Perhaps, when Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the "Scarlet Letter" and Hester Prine was forced to wear the letter "A" for all to see, we should do the same. Only this time, the letter "A" would identify with the word "Accountability."
Those who refuse to be accountable for their misguided decisions, political actions and irreparable harm to our quality of life, should be forced to wear an "A" for their lack of accountability.
Biz is so shady. I once was manager at a chain store, and when winter came around, we just cut everyones hours. They couldn't live on what we offered them, so they would quit. And, since they quit, they were not entitled to unemployment. What a shabby way to treat people.
No, the gig economy is a hard way to go, especially if you have kids.
Biz gets away with murder, families suffer.
But i did hear some good news today....housekeepers union in Boston went on strike and got their demands met from a certain hotel.
$26-27 per hour, and guarenteed 40 hrs.
Now they can live on one job, not 2 or 3.
As James Baldwin said, "Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor."
If you don't mind my bit of a rant, here goes: In the hvac industry, anyone with any degree of skill and qualifications can get a job when the heat kicks in around May. Companies will work the hired service or installation tech 90 hours a week, for exactly 90 days. Then, it's thanks for knowing you. Buh bye. Check with us next year.'
I've been treated exactly that way several different times. It's entirely for the purpose, of course, of getting around having to offer a full time job with benefits. You can typically get another job for a month or two while the weather is still hot. Not a nice way to try to live.
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