BF2S Forums Inflating Prices, Decreasing Wages

Hell I'd love to get a job for minimum wage, at least I'd be making more money than I am right now.

Ryan wrote:

Nowadays, you seem to look everywhere for a job and you can't get accepted. In my mother's case, she quit he old job for a certain reason, and now she has tried at least 15 different other medical offices with hardly any luck. Now what ticks me off is the fact that my mother has over 20 years of medical knowledge and experience, and yet she is the one waiting for that call confirming her interview. Instead, the office will phone up some other applicant, most likely a younger, more fit woman and end up giving her the job, even though she only has maybe 5-10 years of experience.

So while the veterans of the workforce are struggling to find a job, the young college/university graduates are raking in the money.
But that brings me to another topic.

Say you do get the job, but after all that searching, you realize it's only $11 an hour. You are working hard, day after day, stressed to the max, for a measly $11 an hour, while Joe Blow is down the street asking, "Would you like fries with that?" and he's getting paid $15 an hour.

What do you guys think about this? In a way, I think it is a type of discrimination. My mother is not the most fit person in the world, but she doesn't need to be. She has the knowledge and experience, and companies still won't hire her. I have no idea what they are thinking.

edit: And what I meant by the title of this thread is that people are still getting paid low wages, while prices around us are inflating big time. Hell, for a house in Calgary, bungalow with 2 bedrooms and one bath, it can cost as much at $500,000. Even gas is ridiculously over-priced.

Hmmm...  if I move to Canada, it won't be to Calgary.

Is Edmonton anywhere near as expensive as Calgary?

As for the general issue you're addressing here, I face the opposite problem.  I'm young and in good health, but I'm constantly competing with people with more experience.  This may be a case of "the grass is always greener."  I guess the ideal is to be young with a lot of credentials and considerable experience.

imortal wrote:

Come on down to the US.  We are critically short on medically trained receptionists and nurses.  She would get better pay, too.  At least until they nationalize the health care system like they have there in Canada.

Like he said, medical school students are basically guaranteed a well paying job as soon as they graduate.

Turquoise wrote:

Hmmm...  if I move to Canada, it won't be to Calgary.

Is Edmonton anywhere near as expensive as Calgary?

As for the general issue you're addressing here, I face the opposite problem.  I'm young and in good health, but I'm constantly competing with people with more experience.  This may be a case of "the grass is always greener."  I guess the ideal is to be young with a lot of credentials and considerable experience.

I don't live in Calgary, but since it's a big city with a booming economy, everything is high-priced. That's why if you were to move to Canada, pick a smaller city.

Socialized medicine fails.
Now you know.

Ryan wrote:

Nowadays, you seem to look everywhere for a job and you can't get accepted. In my mother's case, she quit he old job for a certain reason, and now she has tried at least 15 different other medical offices with hardly any luck. Now what ticks me off is the fact that my mother has over 20 years of medical knowledge and experience, and yet she is the one waiting for that call confirming her interview. Instead, the office will phone up some other applicant, most likely a younger, more fit woman and end up giving her the job, even though she only has maybe 5-10 years of experience.

So while the veterans of the workforce are struggling to find a job, the young college/university graduates are raking in the money.
But that brings me to another topic.

Say you do get the job, but after all that searching, you realize it's only $11 an hour. You are working hard, day after day, stressed to the max, for a measly $11 an hour, while Joe Blow is down the street asking, "Would you like fries with that?" and he's getting paid $15 an hour.

What do you guys think about this? In a way, I think it is a type of discrimination. My mother is not the most fit person in the world, but she doesn't need to be. She has the knowledge and experience, and companies still won't hire her. I have no idea what they are thinking.

edit: And what I meant by the title of this thread is that people are still getting paid low wages, while prices around us are inflating big time. Hell, for a house in Calgary, bungalow with 2 bedrooms and one bath, it can cost as much at $500,000. Even gas is ridiculously over-priced.

You live in Calgary, what the fuck do you expect? You're getting exactly what is happening out west.

Turquoise wrote:

imortal wrote:

Come on down to the US.  We are critically short on medically trained receptionists and nurses.  She would get better pay, too.  At least until they nationalize the health care system like they have there in Canada.

Not true...  The reason why we have a shortage in the first place is partially tied to wages.  Wages for nurses in America have fallen with reference to inflation in several areas, and a socialized system would not necessarily result in even lower ones.

With a socialized system, the government produces a certain amount of demand for medical professions that the private market does not always deliver.  Obviously, a socialized system with the magnitude to accommodate a population of 300 million people would employ thousands of workers in various positions.

The main effects on wages that would occur with a socialized system would be the gap between G.P.'s and specialists.  Roughly speaking, a specialist tends to make about 300% more than a G.P. does in America.  In the U.K., the difference is about 30%.  As a result, the U.K. has more G.P.'s per capita than us, but less specialists.  We're the opposite.

We need more G.P.'s than specialists, because most people only need basic care most of the time.

Actually, our shortage in nurses falls back to the time of Women's Liberation, back in the 1960's.  Women were leaving the 'traditionallyy female" jobs (secretary, nurse, teacher) in droves; men, on the other hand, still viewed these as "girls jobs" and did not fill in the shortage.  It is a shortage that still affects us today, and we have been making progress filling in the gap only for the last 7 or 8 years.  If you want a scary statistic, in the year 2012, 50% (fully half!) of the current nursing work force will be eligible for retirement.  Wages for nurses have been incresing pretty steadily for the last decade, and are very competive now.  You can also easily find hospitals willing to sponsor a person through nursing school if they are willing to sign a contract to work that hospital for a fixed period of time.

Since I am going into the medical industry, I fear nationalized health care like no other.  Canada has a critical nursing shortage due to the wages they are paid.  As soon as they finish their required time in Canada, many of them flee to the states for higher wages.  I fear that the goverment is going to try to TELL me who I am and am not allowed to work for.  I am afraid that the goverment will decide what is a "just and fair" wage that I be paid.  And, after paying my own way through nursing school, I do not think they have a right to tell me what I am allowed to do with that education.  Maybe, if I sign a contract and they provide free education (think military style, here), then they can tell me where to go and what to do.  Not until then.

And if you want to see an example of socialized health care in the US, just look at the VA system.

Last edited by imortal (2007-08-05 19:18:17)

ATG wrote:

Socialized medicine fails.
Now you know.

Letting HMO's rape us fails.

Turquoise wrote:

ATG wrote:

Socialized medicine fails.
Now you know.

Letting HMO's rape us fails.

Agreed.  I never said our system was perfect.  It obviously needs to be overhauled.  Ever since the HMOs became big business, it has hurt everyone in one way or another. But I do NOT think that socialized medicine is the way to go.  I do not like the idea of waiting 6 months to get a biopsy to discover if my growth is cancerous or not.  I refuse to believe it is a choice of one or the other.  I want a third choice.

Oh, and our system is not entirely evil.  If you are completely destitute, you are still guaranteed care.  It is the people who make money, but not quite enough to get their own health care that the system hurts the most.

I doubt you have ever heard me praise HMOs or our current system, but socialized care is not the way either.

As to the WHO, and its rankings... who is running WHO anyway?  That is like asking a CEO here in America if he believes in capatilism.

jonsimon wrote:

imortal wrote:

Turquoise wrote:

Letting HMO's rape us fails.

Agreed.  I never said our system was perfect.  It obviously needs to be overhauled.  Ever since the HMOs became big business, it has hurt everyone in one way or another. But I do NOT think that socialized medicine is the way to go.  I do not like the idea of waiting 6 months to get a biopsy to discover if my growth is cancerous or not.  I refuse to believe it is a choice of one or the other.  I want a third choice.

Oh, and our system is not entirely evil.  If you are completely destitute, you are still guaranteed care.  It is the people who make money, but not quite enough to get their own health care that the system hurts the most.

I doubt you have ever heard me praise HMOs or our current system, but socialized care is not the way either.

As to the WHO, and its rankings... who is running WHO anyway?  That is like asking a CEO here in America if he believes in capatilism.

Uh, you're wrong on that. The poor are only gaurenteed emergency care at the emergency room. And they foot the bill. Our medical system sucks. Insurance companies are worse than banks on the corruption and greed scale.

Uh, no. Here in my local hospital system, if you are destitute, you can still receive emegency medical care with no expectation to pay.  and they will not kick you out the door for any life threatening problem no matter how broke you are.  Granted, if you have a bit of money they will take it all.