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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Until the 1980s, big companies in America tended to take a paternalistic attitude toward their workforce. Many corporate CEOs took pride in taking care of everyone who worked at their corporate campuses. Business leaders loved to tell stories about someone working their way up from the mailroom to a C-suite office.
But this began to change in the 1980s. Wall Street investors demanded that companies focus more on maximizing returns for shareholders. An emerging corporate orthodoxy held that a company should focus on its "core competence"—the one or two functions that truly sets it apart from other companies—while contracting out other functions to third parties.
Often, companies found they could save money this way. Big companies often pay above the market rate for routine services like cleaning offices, answering phones, staffing a cafeteria, or working on an assembly line. Putting these services out for competitive bid helped the companies get these functions completed at rock-bottom rates, while avoiding the hassle of managing employees. It also saved them from having to pay the same generous benefits they offered to higher-skilled employees.
Of course, the very things that made the new arrangement attractive for big companies made it lousy for the affected workers. Not only were companies trying to spend less money on these services, but now there were companies in the middle taking a cut. Once a job got contracted out, it was much less likely to become a first step up the corporate ladder. It's hard to work your way up from the mailroom if the mailroom is run by a separate contracting firm.
[...] The existence of such a two-tier workplace is especially ironic in Silicon Valley, a region that takes pride in its egalitarian ethos. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt gave a remarkably candid assessment of the situation in 2012, in a statement quoted by author Chrystia Freeland.
"Many tech companies solved this problem by having the lowest-paid workers not actually be employees. They’re contracted out," Schmidt said. "We can treat them differently, because we don’t really hire them. The person who’s cleaning the bathroom is not exactly the same sort of person. Which I find sort of offensive, but it is the way it’s done."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @12:59AM (8 children)
"many people are broke because they like to go waste their paycheck the moment they make their money. "
or the only gig they can get is a contract one, and they can't bootstrap themselves because every dime from their shitty pay is going to Silicon Valley rent and paying back tuition
forced upon them because they couldn't get a job at all w/o a degree.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @03:17AM (7 children)
I hear this excuse a lot. Here's a suggestion: don't live in fucking Silicon Valley. There are plenty of good-paying jobs in less expensive cities. Take off the blinders.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @03:09PM (2 children)
But then who will deliver my Cheetos and 64Gb RAM stick within 1hr at 3am?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday March 03 2020, @04:11PM (1 child)
I'll give you a hint, it starts with Y and ends with U. Might have a hard time finding a 64GB RAM stick at that time of day though. Unless Walmart actually stocks RAM and has 64GB sticks.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @08:13PM
I think we need to use slower airplanes, Freeman is having a hard time tracking them.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @04:19PM (3 children)
Not really, not in the numbers necessary to lift everybody out of poverty that's willing to do the work. And that assumes that you can afford to move in the first place. For many folks in areas with no jobs, they don't even have that option as they need the moving expenses, the first and last month rent, to find a job and an affordable apartment.
Not necessarily a given for those that aren't well off.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @08:36PM (2 children)
The only thing you truly need to move is the clothes on your back and a place you can crash with a temp job of some sort ideally lined up (but not completely necessary if you have some pocket money) until you get a better job.
I have seen and helped people do it--but they tended to motivated people, not defeatist whiners who wanted some magic fairy (govt) to solve their problems. Life is tough, and you have to be tougher. Or just accept your sorry lot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @08:51PM (1 child)
That's only because apologists like you that make excuses for the businesses that don't pay employees sufficiently. That wouldn't even come up if we had real welfare.
Again, even if you do that, you assume that there are jobs in the quantity needed. What about parents or the disabled?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 03 2020, @11:23PM
One parent (the Dad) can leave for greener pastures and bring over the family after he gets established.
Disabled -- you've got me there. That one is harder and you're probably on disability anyway for support.
Note that this will probably require favors from other people. If you are truly friendless, I suggest contacting a local church to see if they can help.