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Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

story.californiasunday.com

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Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#11

Post by wyclif »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #7
throwaway5000 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

maybe because the equivalent of "middle class" is so rare there?

Judging from my own time living in Manila I can vouch for this. The middle class has been slowly emerging since the 1980s - thanks to increased education and foreign investment - but it's still a tiny proportion of the country. I used to live in Makati and when touring the rest of the country it felt like the entire non-poor, but non-superrich were confined to just that part of Manila. (Shout out to ISM Bearcats!)

The Filipino middle class is developing in the same way that the Philippines is a developing country...very slowly and incrementally. So, for instance, you're starting to see things like Ayala malls, iStores, and more upscale cars. But those aren't hugely popular or mass-scale because most people in the Philippines cannot afford to buy them or shop there.

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#13

Post by readhn »

This is why I am never ever going on a cruise ship (or any resort in Mexico, Dominican etc). Knowing that the guy serving you is basically a slave working for pennies while you are supposed to enjoy your vacation and relax- I couldn't, no thank you.

What surprises me to this day is how little it costs to buy American congress. 1,000,000$ lobbying costs? That's less than a lot of houses in SF or NYC.

Shouldn't it cost more to buy American congress decisions? Like 50 - 100 million USD price range? 1 billion perhaps? Why American politicians are so cheap? Raising lobbying prices would seem a logical conclusion Here :)

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#14

Post by lubos »

The sad thing is that while he was able to earn $1,500 per month, he apparently didn't invest into anything. No financial planning as if he can do this job forever. Sure he must have known stories what's going on and could prepare for this possibility. I don't understand why he didn't.

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#15

Post by readhn »

lubos wrote: post #14

The sad thing is that while he was able to earn $1,500 per month, he apparently didn't invest into anything. No financial planning as if he can do this job forever. Sure he must have known stories what's going on and could prepare for this possibility. I don't understand why he didn't.

Ummm living costs eating up everything? He did not have any disposable income to invest?

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#16

Post by exidy »

lubos wrote: post #14

The sad thing is that while he was able to earn $1,500 per month, he apparently didn't invest into anything. No financial planning as if he can do this job forever. Sure he must have known stories what's going on and could prepare for this possibility. I don't understand why he didn't.

And where did you learn to do financial planning? Were you perhaps raised in an environment where you could see loans, investments, assets, mortgages, credit and debit in action? Or perhaps you even had it as a formal subject in school?

Now imagine you were raised in a bamboo shack living hand-to-mouth in a cash economy.

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#18

Post by stuaxo »

readhn wrote: post #13

This is why I am never ever going on a cruise ship (or any resort in Mexico, Dominican etc). Knowing that the guy serving you is basically a slave working for pennies while you are supposed to enjoy your vacation and relax- I couldn't, no thank you. What surprises me to this day is how little it costs to buy American congress. 1,000,000$ lobbying costs? That's less than a lot of houses in SF or NYC. Shouldn't it cost…

Can we just rename the lobbying system the kickback system to make things more explicit ?

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#19

Post by traveling »

Newsflash: Life sucks anywhere when you're poor and uneducated.

I worked as an independent Google contractor before for less than $11 an hour with very stringent rules, ever increasing performance requirements, no holidays, no sick pay, no nothing.

If you're poor and uneducated you're disposable dirt anywhere these days, even though people would like you to think otherwise and it's obviously even worse in 3rd world countries, where people looking for relatively unskilled jobs far outnumber available positions.

Re: Below Deck: Filipinos make up nearly a third of all cruise ship workers

#20

Post by shkkmo »

traveling wrote: post #19

Newsflash: Life sucks anywhere when you're poor and uneducated. I worked as an independent Google contractor before for less than $11 an hour with very stringent rules, ever increasing performance requirements, no holidays, no sick pay, no nothing. If you're poor and uneducated you're disposable dirt anywhere these days, even though people would like you to think otherwise and it's obviously even worse in 3rd world c…

Yet you make four times what the subject of the article makes (assuming you work 40hrs a week), receive additional pay for additional work, and are protected by US labor laws.

I'm not saying your job isn't though, but I find it silly to use it to dismiss the point of the article which is that US companies should be held responsible under US laws.

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