*grumbles*
My wonderful grandmother (crazy, but I love her) sent me this chain mail story today. It was all about this guy in America that was trying to find a job while enjoying all of his products that were made out of the country. The notion was that the dope had stuff made in China, Japan, etc, but didn't understand why he couldn't get a job. Well this left me with rather annoyed.

Now if you're currently trying to get a job, this blurb isn't intended to come off as insulting to you personally, but this is a general thought about Americans as a whole.

Now I spend all day long on the phone with people that complain about their jobs. A common complaint is that they aren't getting a raise or their not making as much as their peers. The truth of the matter is that Americans believe that they are entitled to be paid a VERY LARGE SALARY. Now ignoring things like cost of living, it's rather simple. Why in the world does everything end up being so expensive. The reality of a situation is that for many things production costs are very low and they don't require a lot of man power.

My favorite example is books. Did you know that the reason why books actually cost so much is Barnes and Noble and Borders and all of those big chain stores? Hardcover books actually cost a fraction of what we actually pay for them. But because these book companies thrive on their "remainder" sales they cause the publishing companies to raise the price of their books. Books cost up to $30 for a regular hardcover or an oversized paperback. These chains have found that if they buy ridiculous amounts of books from the publishing companies (knowing that they will only actually sell 10% of them) they can return them back to the publishing company for a complete refund. A REFUND that is then used to buy back the books when they are put on auction just so that the publishing company can get rid of them. When you go to the store and buy the "Clearance Books", you're actually perpetuating the idea that these big chains can continue to do this. (How to stop this on a limited budget...I'm still working on it. Thank you library for your help.)

Why in the world would these big chains feel that they should do this? Simple. B&N and Borders believe that they are entitled to having the largest paycheck they can manage.

Another example was a story my mother told me. She told me that she actually bought Italian Leather Sofas. Immediately I went "wow!" That sounded all expensive, until she told me it wasn't. In fact, buying the American made sofa was actually MORE expensive. She questioned the sales person, who was honest with her. The Sales Person said that the American sofa would be cheaper, but the employees believe that they deserve a HUGE paycheck. They're Americans and all that nonsense. So the American company has to charge a higher amoung because of the cost of production and then of course to pad their own wallets. The Italian sofa is probably made by one or two people that actually care about what their making, while the American sofa required an entire team that probably spent more time at the union contract table then actually putting the sofa together.

So why is it that we have such high unemployment and high cost of nearly everything? It all comes down to this notion of being entitled to a high paycheck. I'll admit that I have had times when I look at my check and thought, I should be making more than this. I can do more than I'm doing right now and I should have been given the chance a long time ago. Well maybe I'm just as bad as everyone else, but I hope that wanting to at least do more than what I do says something. (Probably not, but at least I can admit to my weaknesses...they're numerous really.)

We don't have to have higher paychecks to be compensated appropriately, but the likelihood of this ever stopping is ridiculously small. If we could stop the executives from their feeling of entitlement then maybe we could make a difference, but I'm not holding my breath. Cut their paychecks, cut the cost of products, and suddenly it's like getting a second tax refund check in the mail.

I think I lost track of where I was going there at the end, so that part probably doesn't make sense...well it's a thought, how well thought it is...well that's the questionable part.