Subcontracting GOTTEN WAY OUT HAND

Repost From 2016

In today's world."outsourcing" has become the name of the game.* Most newspapers don't deliver their own news print.
* Large companies no longer staff their own call centers.
* Some phone providers don't own a single wire or tower.
* Some cable companies' employ no installers or linemen
* Colleges use of adjunct professors (paid 1/4) are on a sharp rise.
* Most computer software designers are forced to become "freelancers".
* Some big name delivery drivers don't work for the name on their purchased truck.
* Vital Government services.
* The list goes on and on and on

Whether the words used are freelancing or outsourcing both mean the same thing. Companies no longer see themselves responsible for providing workers with a means for a steady income Nor necessarily for the quality work performed by the jobber they sent either. Chances are whatever goods or services a unsatisfied customer complains about will be told to take it up with the jobber the seller outsourced with.


This post was inspired when I came across this bit of information I wasn't aware of. According to THIS NEWS STORY (WFMZ) a car hit a pole knocking down wires. The piece goes on to say, "First responders and residents soon learned from a PPL representative on scene that PPL Electric Utilities just enacted new guidelines in which the company no longer responds to nor repairs downed lines... Instead, the company uses subcontractors to do repairs." << YOU SAY WHAT!

Broken Down Into Pieces
Today consumers can purchase generated electric separately from a handful of companies that don't know even what a generator looks like. Remember when PPL did it all. They owned mines, generators, buildings and employed all the workers needed (linemen included). If it weren't for PPL there wouldn't be a Lake Wallenpaupack. Over the years they (like other utilities) have split up the business into several divisions. Some which were sold off, including the lake. It was taken over by 'Talen Energy' on June 1, 2015. Then in order to comply with regulations Talen announced in the fall it would sell it to yet another energy company listed in Bermuda. They just took over ownership on April 1, 2016.

It's All A Facade
Even I could open a phone company by scraping some of the money off the top I wouldn't need to know a damn thing. I could hire an accountant, sales person, contract with a wholesale communications provider, hang a shingle outside and I'm good to go. The same way I could start doing online sales. Take an order, sign with a credit provider, some firm in China (who'll send the orders out) and again I'm good to go. Neither which would be much different then what these investor formed companies are doing these days.

What we have here is overhead receiving the rewards for the work borne on those who are skilled and doing the actual work. Sorry but I liked it better when we did things the other way. In the days workers took pride in representing the company, it's reputation and were actually employed fulltime by them. In return respected and compensated accordingly.

When companies only did one or two things very well.Because they didn't have their eggs scattered in two dozen places, they had to!

The problem today is too few give a crap. Why should they when companies can simply rent people, buildings and offices enabling them to easily pack up and leave. When workers aren't under threat of losing a permanent fulltime job or benefits they never were hired for or had in the first place. Now that's some recipe.


Speaking Of Jobs:
"The Truth About Temp Labor" (March 2014)


Some may call this progress.
Me, not so much.

U.S. Senate Doesn't "Represent" Democracy Very Well

Repost From 2021

Certainly not the larger half of "The Will Of The People" as Mitch McConell would try having us believe.

Call me radical, but I do not believe a minority of Senators should be able to block voting rights for millions of people.

But I guess I’m just from that far-left school of thought that legislation should pass when a majority of legislators vote for it https://t.co/NTtk28BwRs

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 23, 2021

minipost.com
U.S. Senate representation is deeply undemocratic—
and cannot be changed "But, according to the calculation of Ian Millhiser, writing for Vox, if you add up the population of states and assign half to each of their two senators, “the Democratic half of the Senate represents 41,549,808 more people than the Republican half.”

If a state has two senators from the same party, he assigns that state’s population number to that party. If a state has one senator from each party, he assigns half the population to each party."

Think of this another way. Delaware has a population of around 974,000 people. California has around 39,510,000 people. Yet both receive representation by two members each in the senate. Call this a constitutional flaw if you will.

As you can see AOC is justified complaining. Mitch and the republicans know full well they represent about 41 1/2 million fewer of the population then democrats in the senate. This is one of the reasons conservatives of all stripes continually bash AOC. Her continued outspokenness makes them uncomfortable as hell. She shakes things up they'd rather not have exposed.

I understand we are not a "direct democracy" but rather suppose to be a "representative democracy". But we aren't truly a  "representative democracy" in it's purest form either. Something to keep in mind next time Mitch claims he's only "representing the will of the American people". Well some of them maybe... not the majority he'd have us believe.

Now learn about the filibuster
This is how they killed the bill AOC was talking about

55 Corporations Avoided $8.5 Billion In Federal Taxes

Repost From 2021

nypost.com
Dozens of America’s biggest companies paid no federal income taxes last year "26 of them haven’t paid a penny in federal income tax in the three years since the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reform bill was signed into law in 2017... In fact, 52 of those firms — including household names such as Nike, FedEx and Dish Network — ended up pocketing federal tax rebates worth a collective $3.5 billion"

Every time a Republican president gets into office (except Geo. H.W. Bush) the same thing happens. Ronald Reagan, tax cuts. Geo. W Bush, tax cuts. Trump, Tax cuts. Each promise these will more then make up for themselves. With GDP growth will come a influx of tax money. Yet as anyone can plainly see it never does.

Instead when the budget goes to pot it's up to Democrats try and bring the revenue back in. At this point Republicans then accuse Democrats of tax and spend. We've seen this time and again. Like riding on the same carousel round and round it never seems to get old. Republicans break the bank. Democrats fix it. Then Republicans break it again.. on and on it goes.

So here we are again. The federal budget is in a landslide. Republicans call for cuts mostly in social services and infrastructure.  Now the post office too. When this happens federal state funding is reduced. This in turn trickles down to local governments. Who then in turn increase their taxes on all of us.

Some may argue well if corporations are forced to pay higher taxes they will just increase their prices. True, but they can only do it on their customers. The wealthier will buy more from them. The poorer  less likely to do so (capitalism at work for raising revenue). States and cities on the other hand suffering lower federal funds will impose tax increases on all their citizens across the board rich or poor (socialistic taxation). 

Rather then increasing taxes directly on the wealthy do so more indirectly by closing the loopholes corporations get away with. Obviously the wealthy are going to spend a lot more money thus paying more in taxes on the larger amount of goods they buy then the average worker.

This avoids the age old argument in congress against taxing the wealthy. Perhaps making it less toxic in order to reach some sort bipartisan agreement that won't upset either of their voters as otherwise would. Although I'm quite certain it would be a call-to-arms for corporate lobbyists who'd be the main obstacle to overcome.

This leaves the money changers to be later dealt with. That's a much heftier lift best left to discuss another time.  

Artificial Intelligence A Threat Or Blessing?

Repost

First off before viewing the video I have a few thoughts. Don't I always :-) 

I've stated before there is no such thing artificial intelligence. Intelligence.is simply what it is. There can be nothing artificial about it. Either things already in existence await our discovery or they do not. These cannot be created naturally or by any other means. New information can be increased and stored in whatever vessel it may so happen to occupy whether it involves humans or not  Either way there's obviously nothing artificial going on here when it comes to the evolutional advancement of knowledge.

Of concern is.. will we have a place in the future if machines advance so far as to  having no further dependency upon their makers. Will we become aware of such a point as to when machines, unbeknownst to us, taken over? After reaching a higher state will they be endowed with empathy for lower beings such as ourselves or having no need of it?

These are things of concern for development engineers going forward. With that, take a look at the video. See what you think.

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Death By Auto-Tune

Repost


Hard to know what is real anymore even when they're in concerts. Believe it or not I usually can tell the difference. Mostly because I have this same software which can do this on my computer.

Brooks & Dunn - Play Something Country (Live from CMA Fest 2025) ft. Lainey Wilson