I won't be celebrating

[Dave's Not Here Man]

"Independence" Day. No fucking flags out. No fucking cookout. I even refuse to buy the red white and blue M&Ms. This is my silent protest (other than like 3 people who might read this, maybe) for the SHITHOLE COUNTRY that can't hold a single truth to be self evident, some 250 years into it's progress. 

Also-BTW-America! Make sure to take the brochure with a grain of salt. 

wset.com/news/local/kdc-one-670-people-lose-jobs-lynchburg-virginia-plant-announces-closure-unemployment-employment-layoffs

You read that right. The plant can't keep up with demand so they are shutting it down and firing almost 700 employees. 

[minx]

Employees found out a few weeks ago to give them time to find a new job.

Oh yes - I'm sure they've all have run out and gotten great new jobs. OTOH, they at least got a few weeks notice, which is more than the majority of companies do.

I do get that the plant is too old and can't keep up with the demand, but why not renovate and expand? Would also be interesting to know if the company offered any of these workers the chance to relocate to another plant.

Yeah - our country is going to shit, and the idiots are cheering - wait till they can't get jobs, can't vote and can't eat because of the assholes they support.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

I thought the exact same things. This shit has been written copied and rewritten using the same words and punctuation for a century. Person X has worked at the plant since she was in her early mid-30s and now at 60 years of age, will not, I repeat NOT be able to "get a new job" that will pay her her anywhere close to her current wage + benefits, if they offer any gainful employment to her at all. Out of 650+ people, I'd wager that there are a few more Laura's walking around right now that are not "going to be okay" when this goes down. Multiple by the number of companies that have not survived the test of time of a single generation, and multiple by generations. In one sector of the economy.

Of of millions of examples of corporatism working exactly the way it's supposed to. But don't worry, SCROTUS now has decided that the EPA may not be an actual thing, or that if it is, shall not have any power to make policy regarding P-ing the E.

[minx]

My sister's last day of work is today.

After close to 20 years at this company she was offered an 'Early retirement incentive' - the company lost money last year, and they're trying to get people to leave on their own.
Now to give the bastards their due, it's a super nice severance package and my sister's financial advisor said not to turn it down, as the next offer wasn't going to be so generous. I forget how many people are going in this round, but most of them are either mid to low level management - in my sister's particular department, EVERY manager opted in - all of the experience leaves this afternoon. Buh-bye!

Oh and what company is this that is struggling so? BC/BS. Yeah, I'm sure they 'lost money' - maybe about $10k do you think?

Glad my sister can afford to retire a little early, and that the severance they're giving her will cover a bit of costs. But she wasn't intending to retire for 2-3 more years so they could save up a bit more (and she'd be qualified for Medicare). She's happy to be leaving, but very very nervous at the same time.

This is what the future holds for all the Boomers who are complacent and smug. And it sucks for every last one of us.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

When they say they're "losing money" what that means is their profit "projections" either might or won't be met, so in layman's terms it's like saying I expected to clear $10,000 off of this wiring job but only made $9,950... in corporate world that means "loss" and makes stockholders punchy.

[minx]

Yep, yep and again yep.

Biden actually didn't cancel most drilling leases for new sites, just a few. And those leases aren't being used or in development right now.
Yet all the big oil companies are crying that there's not enough oil and gas because Ukraine and raising prices through the roof.

But it's okay, because Biden can or should be fixing this, right?

Had to explain this to my mom, who I consider to be an intelligent person, and one who is extremely liberal. That the President of the United States cannot set pricing on a private entity. Biden is not responsible for these prices - Exxon, Shell, BP and Chevron are, and not only are they not losing a dime right now, but they have record profits.

That's how much people have come to believe Republican lies

[Dave's Not Here Man]

I have had to explain to reasonably intelligent people that the country (government) doesn't produce oil. Once getting them to understand that once the fuels are out of the ground, they are already part of the world energy market regardless of what ground they came from. To my knowledge there isn't a single fuel oil company based in the US that drills, recovers, refines, and ships only within the United States.

But YES things the POTUS does can influence the energy market here and around the world. Say like, invading a country in the middle east, for example. Fair enough though, POTUS can affect the market by either allowing every square inch of federal land to be drilled, as well as the complete opposite. Also understand that the price of fuel drives the price of most other things and in my world shit doesn't flow uphill. So with Biden supporting Ukraine and not doing business with Russia (as are most other countries' policy) that does affect the world market and by proxy, ours too. 

[minx]

The war Ukraine is definitely affecting prices, but I think the gas and oil companies are taking advantage of it too by jacking up prices and crying that there's nowhere that they can drill because of the Big Bad Democrats.
Meanwhile, they're raking in bucks hand over hand.

And you are right in saying shit doesn't flow downhill - in the case of these big oil companies and other huge corporations like Amazon and Apple, employees are finally starting to wake up and realize that 'Hey! The guy at the top makes more money in a day than our store makes in a month. What's up with that?' And they want more money and better working conditions.

[k9krap]

It’s why unions are making a slight comeback, finally. The 🍏 store in MD is a great example. I hope more are encouraged to unionize.

[minx]

It's too bad that Congress is filled with assholes. Because then there would be a nice stick to use against huge corporations - Fix it yourself before we fix it for you.

But thanks to Citizens United, everyone's pockets are lined, and no one wants to kill the Golden Goose.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

We were invited to a party at son in law's mother and her husbands house today. 
I have had two major episodes in the past two days, either related to the heat (Saturday) or what I believe to be hypoglycemia, or both. Saturday was really bad. My son and I went over to Costco and on the way home it hit me- extreme sweating, nausea, shaking, and by the time we got back here, an anxiety attack to boot. And yesterday on the way home from being out with her, although not quite as severe since I had a Cliff Bar with me and eating that seemed to keep it at bay. But still, I got home and had to treat it like an anxiety attack in order to get my faculties back in working order. So the fact that this has happened on two consecutive days, I'm not feeling real great about going anywhere, let alone walking into that hot zone up in Hartwood for a July 4th that I have no interest in observing to begin with, with people I have no interest in being around (except for my daughter and her husband of course, and I'm hoping her water doesn't break or if it does, it breaks before we head up there), and the worry of having another issue that far away from home.

Oh well, I guess I'll just make sure to eat a decent lunch here first, pre-medicate, and hope for the best since my prayers for rain were denied.

[k9krap]

I’m so sorry. I just told someone that this holiday has never been one of my favorites. It’s hot, loud and the smell of burning flesh is everywhere. But every year we had homemade (manual crank-style!) ice cream. As a child, I’d sit on the cooler when the cranking got tough. One year, we suffered a tragedy - the cylinder holding the ice cream developed a leak and the salt water seeped in. Yuck! It was devastating because we had been looking forward to it all day. My parents made the best ice cream. They eventually got an electric ice cream freezer but it wasn’t as good as the manual one, for some reason.

[minx]

My SIL and BIL used to have an ice cream social every August. They had obtained a manual ice cream maker and were off the chain. Before they knew it, they had 1/2 a freezer of ice cream. So they decided the only option was to go big or go home. They added an electric one and went to town.

Only requirement was that you let them know in advance if you had allergies or dietary needs they needed to worry about, and if you wanted a new flavor. Otherwise, bring a topping if you wish to, but come eat ice cream.

It was amazing - and there was really very little they were not willing to try in terms of creating new flavors either - they had a peach brandy one that was out of this world.

But it also was a ton of work, and kept getting bigger and bigger. And they both are control freaks, so while they were willing to accept help on setting stuff up and cleaning, they were never willing to accept help with serving or having others make ice cream. So after about 7 years, they decided to stop - don't blame them, but I do miss it.