Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

finance.fortune.cnn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 107 posts

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#61

Post by mahyarm »

dools wrote: post #31
daimyoyo wrote: post #14

I have experienced this first hand. I have applied for a LOT of jobs in the last 2 years and one of two things happens: They don't talk to me, or they do, and I sail past the preliminary interviews only to get rejected after the background check. I am not a felon, a terrorist, or a scourge of society. I have bad credit.(Funny/sad aside, I once went to Best Buy to see if I could get a card to finance something with th…

I heard this for the first time on HN the other day. I think (and certainly hope) it's illegal for potential employers in Australia to use your credit file as a factor in deciding whether or not to hire you. Not hiring people with bad credit seems to me to be patently absurd. Talk about kicking someone when they're down - as if non-payment of debt was a crime! It seems that the likely result of this for most is the d…

Because you'll become poor, and then medicaid and welfare will cover you, somewhat. It's a healthcare system with cracks, but it covers the elderly, college students, most of the employed and the poor, which is the vast majority of the voting populace.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#62

Post by mahyarm »

bergie wrote: post #25
ck2 wrote: post #16

So if a tool made in China cost $20 and the same kind made in USA cost $100, which one do you think people are going to buy at the hardware store (even if the one made in China lasts 1/4th as long). What if there was a tax that made the one made in China cost $70 - you think the one made in USA would have a fighting chance? I think so. It would create a whole bunch of jobs because there would be less impulse to move…

That would be quite funny, given that USA has spent much of th last hundred years promoting free trade and trying to force other countries to open up their economies for foreign imports. And I don't think a protectionist customs scheme is what you want. It could boost local manufacturing on a short them, but eventually the lack of incentive makes them fall behind. Then you have whole industries producing stuff nobody…

America has a big protectionist/anti-immigration streak.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#63

Post by pyre »

dschobel wrote: post #53
dools wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard this for the first time on HN the other day. I think (and certainly hope) it's illegal for potential employers in Australia to use your credit file as a factor in deciding whether or not to hire you. Not hiring people with bad credit seems to me to be patently absurd. Talk about kicking someone when they're down - as if non-payment of debt was a crime! It seems that the likely result of this for most is the d…

Not sure about hiring but I just checked my employment agreement (I'm in Oz) and my employer can definitely fire me if I declare bankruptcy: *the Company may terminate your employment without notice (no payment in lieu of notice will be paid) in any of the following circumstances: ×If you become unable to pay your debts as they become due ×If you are declared bankrupt;

What would be the point of firing you immediately on declaration of bankruptcy?

Does "unable to pay your debts as they become due" mean that if you make a late payment or get a month behind, they can fire you?

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#64

Post by ars »

jlangenauer wrote: post #35
ars wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You need to think on a larger scale. If everyone had to spend 3 times as much on the things they buy, then they would have even less available money than they do now. So they would probably stop buying, which would really hurt the economy. Or they would cut out health insurance and other things.

Or they would buy fewer things that they actually needed, and that would probably last longer. Not an idle consideration on a planet with finite resources and an ecosystem being pushed beyond its limits.

> Or they would buy fewer things that they actually needed, and that would probably last longer.

Unfortunately that's a recipe for economic disaster.

> Not an idle consideration on a planet with finite resources and an ecosystem being pushed beyond its limits.

Not really. The resources are effectively infinite because they are never destroyed, they only get changed into various different forms. We can keep making things, then remaking them into different things basically forever.

And the ecosystem is not anywhere near its limits (not that making less things would help it even if it was). There are definitely areas where things are bad, but the good areas far outweigh the bad.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#65

Post by dschobel »

pyre wrote: post #63
dschobel wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about hiring but I just checked my employment agreement (I'm in Oz) and my employer can definitely fire me if I declare bankruptcy: *the Company may terminate your employment without notice (no payment in lieu of notice will be paid) in any of the following circumstances: ×If you become unable to pay your debts as they become due ×If you are declared bankrupt;

What would be the point of firing you immediately on declaration of bankruptcy? Does "unable to pay your debts as they become due" mean that if you make a late payment or get a month behind, they can fire you?

According to the letter of the contract, it sure seems that way.

I went over the contract with the HR team back in the states (I was transferred over to Oz) and they thought these clauses were very strange. Especially considering that Australian workers have much stronger labor rights in practically every other way compared to the US.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#66

Post by david927 »

Nate75Sanders wrote: post #26
daimyoyo wrote: post #14

I have experienced this first hand. I have applied for a LOT of jobs in the last 2 years and one of two things happens: They don't talk to me, or they do, and I sail past the preliminary interviews only to get rejected after the background check. I am not a felon, a terrorist, or a scourge of society. I have bad credit.(Funny/sad aside, I once went to Best Buy to see if I could get a card to finance something with th…

Forgive my ignorance: What jobs are asking you your credit score?

I saw it a couple years ago in the States, for technical and managerial jobs, and I was shocked and horrified.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#67

Post by oneofthefive »

Nate75Sanders wrote: post #26
daimyoyo wrote: post #14

I have experienced this first hand. I have applied for a LOT of jobs in the last 2 years and one of two things happens: They don't talk to me, or they do, and I sail past the preliminary interviews only to get rejected after the background check. I am not a felon, a terrorist, or a scourge of society. I have bad credit.(Funny/sad aside, I once went to Best Buy to see if I could get a card to finance something with th…

Forgive my ignorance: What jobs are asking you your credit score?

If you want to be a programmer at a financial firm they usually care about your credit score.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#68

Post by joahua »

dschobel wrote: post #65
pyre wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would be the point of firing you immediately on declaration of bankruptcy? Does "unable to pay your debts as they become due" mean that if you make a late payment or get a month behind, they can fire you?

According to the letter of the contract, it sure seems that way. I went over the contract with the HR team back in the states (I was transferred over to Oz) and they thought these clauses were very strange. Especially considering that Australian workers have much stronger labor rights in practically every other way compared to the US.

I'm Australian but not a lawyer... have heard "unable to pay debts as and when they fall due" as a definition of insolvency, which requires one to declare bankruptcy if directing, say, a limited liability company. The actual act of becoming bankrupt is separate to insolvency, though, so they're probably just trying to cover all bases.

Again, not a lawyer, and only passingly familiar with this stuff, so excuse me if I'm stating the obvious or if it's the same the world over.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#69

Post by achompas »

oneofthefive wrote: post #67
Nate75Sanders wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forgive my ignorance: What jobs are asking you your credit score?

If you want to be a programmer at a financial firm they usually care about your credit score.

This makes sense, as financial firms want to avoid cash-strapped employees who might sell HFT algorithms to competing firms for money.

Re: One in five American men don't work: Where's the outrage?

#70

Post by achompas »

antidaily wrote: post #59
webwright wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know what happens if we tax the hell out of cheap overseas goods? Everything gets more expensive. Cost of living skyrockets and wages would have to go up commensurately if people were going to survive/thrive. Businesses who raised wages would have to curtail hiring because more of their revenues were going to wages. Any they'd keep shipping jobs overseas because of the healthy margins selling in overseas markets.…

All of those negatives have already happened precisely because we don't have a smart trade policy.

What's a smart trade policy, in your opinion?
Post reply on HN