Here's something to ponder and remember: most small farms are gone. This is due to consolidation of agra into the hands of a few corporations. While these companies may market their products under sweet sounding names like "Uncle John's Small Town Carrots", you will find as you trace the data back, its parent company is a holding company that owns multiple "Uncle John's". And at the end of the day they come from the same plants. This is extremely prevalent for example in the cosmetics industry. This is a 90m dollar a year industry. People who use cosmetic products will tout that "MAC is so much better than Darphin" without ever realizing they are both controlled by Estee Lauder and come from the same factory with the same parent board of directors. The same happens in agra, food service, fashion, etc. We have allowed monopolies to form due to loopholes in the law that allow for LLC and partnerships to control companies without penalty. I have seen this time and again in my 20+ years of doing data science.
Now, how does that all tie to your original comment and post? You say that the cost will rise. I will counter that the cost to the end consumer *may* rise, but doesn't need to. These are large corporations who know exactly what type of labor is being used at their facilities. They have made a choice to employee this labor because it saves them money. Serious money. Not only does it save on straight wages, but the hidden costs of insurance benefits, safety regulations, maternity/paternity leave, vacation time, etc. The list is long as anyone who has been a hiring manager or executive can tell you. The average employee can cost a company 15% - 20% above base salary easily, So they choose to employee lower cost labor at the risk of fines, potential bad press, whatever. Where does all this savings go? Some of it does reflect in the prices you pay at the store, sure. But not all. Again, based on my actual experience and seeing the data come out of these companies, there is a lot more markup than any of you will ever realize, I have seen 900% markup in the pharmaceutical industry for example. Let that sink in. 900% markup.
Then where does the money go? Some of it goes back into equipment, R&D, and the like. But as many a farm hand will tell you, most are dealing with aging equipment, equipment in need of repair, and are doing the best they can. No the bulk of the money is going into executive salaries. Yes, that sounds like a whiny conspiracy theory, but in a lot of these companies, it is the truth. I have been one of those in higher management at a large corporation and at one point my bonus check was more than what many people in the mid-west make in a 2 year period. I "earned" it by reducing my staff costs (aka firing people) and bringing my department in under budget. A fellow executive was given a Cobra 427 as a bonus for his performance. None of this is ever seen by the average person, because certain things become tax write-offs and fly under the radar when a company shows 'how much it pays executives'. No one cares about base salary after a certain level. It's the perks and bonuses. I am not immune to this even today. I am writing this on a brand new $3000 MacBook Pro which was a 'gift' from my company.
If we want to maintain the cost of our current goods while at the same time ensuring we are hiring labor that is documented and properly employable in this country, then the focus need to go up the food chain and question the business practices we allow and also turn a blind eye to regularly. When you have a senior VP making hundreds of thousands of dollars more per year than the lowest person, you have a serious disparity. The data has shown time and time again if the senior staff at most companies took a 5% reduction in bonus payout, minimum wage could be raised without an impact to consumer cost in the food industry. Even if companies replaced their current labor force with minimum wage unskilled documented labor, a small reduction at the top would easily keep the cost from trickling down to consumers in a harsh way. Lettuce won't go from $1 to $5. Maybe to $1.50 which is more than acceptable.
While we absolutely need to reform and update our policies on immigration, at the same time the conversation needs to be had about what drives these companies to continue to hire and create positions that are open to undocumented labor.
So yeah, that's my opinion on that. But what pisses me off even more this morning is that we have effectively closed our borders while no one was looking. We have stopped the flow of Syrian refugees specifically "Muslim" ones. Only "good Christians" are going to be let in. Good job. We are now a fucked up fascist theocracy. Well done you fucking morons.
Oh and the entire executive team at the State Department just resigned because they couldn't bear the thought of working for "Rex". Rex. Seriously?
I left the hotel around 10 after being bored off my ass. Froze that same ass off driving to the airport, putting in gas, and waiting to check in my car. Got to the terminal around 11:30, the Admiral's club around noon, then sat until 4:30 when it was time to board. Got my upgrade 8 minutes before boarding. Whee! It's a good thing because I was hungry as hell and ended up having a nice dinner of steak with asparagus, shrimp appetizer, salad, and an ice cream sundae. I wasn't able to sleep which is good because I would have just been up even later. Thanks to the length of my flight and the train ride I was able to watch all three episodes of Sherlock. I know some people bashed this season as not as good as prior, but I didn't think it was that bad. There were some self-indulgent moments and the third episode was really odd, but in the end I enjoyed it, especially watching them all in one shot. Made for a more continuous experience. If I had to wait a week between I would have been frustrated. Instead I got to watch a 5 hour move basically. I don't know if I want it back for a 5th season, but I was pretty happy with season 4.
B picked me up, came home, unpacked, relaxed for a while, had donuts I brought from the airport (horchata for her, chocolate almond for me), and then went off to bed. Bunch of little things to do today - bills, groceries, etc. Otherwise, just glad to be home where I can hide from the world.
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