I'm So Sick Of RWers Using The Patriotic/Veteran Meme To Prove Stupid Points!

[Ralph Wiggum]

Butch McQueen (35 posts)

I'm So Sick Of RWers Using The Patriotic/Veteran Meme To Prove Stupid Points!


Just ranting here about the latest annoying Facebook bumper sticker which was along the line of "What makes "burger flippers" think they're worth $15 an hour when our brave troops getting shot at in Afghanistan don't make that much". That is just stupid on so many levels!

A. If a guy is in combat he probably is at least an E-3 paygrade with at least a couple years time in the service (what with time spent in basic training, advanced training, etc) so his base pay is about $1,900 a month. If he has dependents back in the states they either live in base housing (no cost) or he is getting a housing allowance adjusted for the cost of living at his home station - a good rough average on that comes out to around $1,100 a month for his paygrade. He is also getting various special pay and allowances for being in a designated combat area. Lets say when the dust all settles his monthly compensation comes out to around $3,400 a month. Plus the soldier gets some serious income tax breaks that the "burger flipper" doesn't. Do the math RW morons - that is more than a month's pay on a 40 hour work week at $15 an hour!

B. O.K. let us say that military folks are worth at least as much as "burger flippers". The head "burger flipper" at McDonald's had a compensation package that last year was worth about $14,000,000, which is roughly 1,000 times the salary of the minimum wage guy working 40 hours per week. So, by that logic the Commander in Chief (the evil Obama) should be making 1,000 more than the lowliest E-1 Private in the Army which would put Obama's salary at about $18,000,000 a year. I don't see any RW types supporting that idea!

C. Interestingly enough, when you compare the base pay of an E-1 Private with a 4 star General... The General's base pay is about 10 times that of the Private's. How many of these RW types support legislating a 10 to 1 pay ratio between the highest paid and lowest paid workers in the private sector? None of them support that!

The really irony behind it all... The guy who posted the offending Facebook bumper sticker didn't even serve in the military, but he is sure willing to co-opt the meme to try and prove a stupid RW point.

I'll close with an appropriate quote from Kurt Vonnegut in the prologue to his book "Jailbird" where in describing his own life at the time says:

"I imagined that I was a socialist. I believed that socialism would be good for the common man. As a private first class in the infantry, I was surely a common man".


Thanks to all who tolerated the ranting and thanks to DU for providing a place to blow off steam!

Butch

All right, I definitely try NOT to out any of our folks who attempt to mole at the DUmp.  But "Butch McQueen"? 

[Freeper]

You forgot one thing DUmmy, the burger flipper isn't risking his life, the soldier is, and if you broke down the hours the soldier is on duty, the hourly pay rate is well below minimum wage. No burger flipper is on duty for 24 hours straight ever. The average burger flipper probably works 5 or 6 hours at a time.

[JohnnyReb]

Job opening for DUmmies.....moving target, $30 per hour, 40 hours a week, internment package and 4 weeks paid vacation if you last that long.

[98ZJUSMC]

B. O.K. let us say that military folks are worth at least as much as "burger flippers". The head "burger flipper" at McDonald's had a compensation package that last year was worth about $14,000,000, which is roughly 1,000 times the salary of the minimum wage guy working 40 hours per week. So, by that logic the Commander in Chief (the evil Obama) should be making 1,000 more than the lowliest E-1 Private in the Army which would put Obama's salary at about $18,000,000 a year. I don't see any RW types supporting that idea!

Everything is so easy in Candyland.  1+1 = 6.4659 and the Lowest Common pOtAto!!!11 can be easily found.

Job opening for DUmmies.....moving target, $30 per hour, 40 hours a week, internment package and 4 weeks paid vacation if you last that long.

Additional compensation available for lawyers.

[98ZJUSMC]

You forgot one thing DUmmy, the burger flipper isn't risking his life, the soldier is, and if you broke down the hours the soldier is on duty, the hourly pay rate is well below minimum wage. No burger flipper is on duty for 24 hours straight ever. The average burger flipper probably works 5 or 6 hours at a time.

Life really sucks for 1134th Burger Bn. when they get deployed.  Poor babies.

[Linda]

Do the math RW morons - that is more than a month's pay on a 40 hour work week at $15 an hour!

Do the math LW DUchbag - military are on duty 24 hours a day 7 days a week. @$15.00 an Hour they should make 2,520.00 a week. They don't even come close to that.

Would you like to rant and protest for them a pay raise? After all they actually defend your life and rights.

Whereas the burger flippers might spit in your food if you piss them off, not counting the ones that drop their used joint in your burger. (saw that in the paper the other day from one of the burger flippers that didn't walk out on strike)

[FlaGator]

 Why don't they just make the minimum wage $100 an hour and be done with this argument for a few months?

[Texacon]

A. If a guy is in combat he probably is at least an E-3 paygrade with at least a couple years time in the service (what with time spent in basic training, advanced training, etc) so his base pay is about $1,900 a month.

DUmbass.

My son, who just got back from Afghanistan in March of this year, left my home the 1st of October of 2011.  He finished basic training in December of 2011 and finished AIT in March of 2012.  He left for Afghanistan in June of 2012.

He had been in the US Army a total of 8 months and hit the ground in Afghanistan as an E-2.  He earned his E-3 while deployed.  He turned 20, 2 months before he came home.  He was shot at numerous times with one of the rounds hitting the window of the turret he was standing up in. 

His unit cleared many, many miles of roads of IED's and set off a total of 6 IED's wounding 2 of his friends bad enough to earn purple hearts.  They all came back with many awards including Combat Action Badges.  He did some other stuff I'm not going to get into here and he aged me probably 10 years in 10 months.  He has had some really serious discussions with me since he came back to the states and the boy has become a full fledged man.

Tell me again about those burger flippers please?

KC

[Airwolf]

When flipping a damn burger equals jumping out of a helicopter or an fixed aircraft or learning to fire a rifle at 1.000 meters or even walking 15-20 miles to the next location during a 2-4 week FTX, You DUmpmonkies all can let me know. That is just some of the Training an Infantry person goes through every day. How many burger flippers have to train all day or are required to know at least 26 individual task to earn their checks? ZERO that's how many.

[Bad Dog]

Perhaps for a moment we should consider the plight of the flipper in certain neighborhoods faced with telling patrons they are out of McNuggets.

[Linda]

[NHSparky]

I'll throw another shitburger in the works, DUmmies.

I'll even use my example, brought up to 2013 standards.  I got out as an E-6, over 12, with Sea Pay, Sub Pay, SDAP (nuke).  Had I been married when I was on the boat, yes, I could have gotten into Navy housing (which in Pearl, sucked ass) or gotten COLA which wouldn't have even come close to covering living even in a 2 BR apartment out in Pearl City.

All of the listed are per month:

Base Pay-3495
Sea (over 8)-450
Sub (over 12)-375
SDAP (Supervisory)-175
COLA (with dependents)-950

TOTAL 5445/month, or 65,340/year (give or take).  That's before taxes.

Sounds good, right?  Yeah, until you consider the cost of living in places like Pearl Harbor, Guam, San Diego, Seattle/Bremerton, for examples.  Try finding an apartment in San Diego for under $1500-1800, or Aiea/Pearl City for under $2000/month.  Throw in the cost of transportation, gas, food, utilities, etc.

Not so much any more, now is it?

Now let's look at the hourly rate.  A submarine, even in port, takes a LOT of time.  Think 3 section duty, 4 if you're REALLY lucky (usually not.)  That means you're on the boat for 24 hours.  No going home.  Standing watches, doing maintenance, etc., probably 16-20 hours of that day.  Your non-duty days are about 10-12 hours.  So even in port, you're looking at an average of 80-90 hours a week.  At sea, in an 18-hour rotation, you're up and working for probably 13-14 of that, so an 18-hour day (out of 24) is normal.  That's 7 days a week.  No days off.  That comes out to a 120-hour week.

So let's say, for sake of argument that in a typical month, you're on local ops for three weeks out of the month, and in port for a week.  That still comes out to MORE than 100 hours a week.

Oh, did I happen to mention that's BEFORE the boat goes on deployment?  Then you're looking at the same 120-hour weeks, but now you can't even go home cause you're 6000 miles away!

Even if you do knock it down to 100 hours a week, with OT over 40, that means the 1350/week that sounded so good would translate to an hourly rate of just over (drum roll please)....

$10.30 an hour.  And that's IF the guy was drawing all the bonuses, etc., to which he was entitled (I never got COLA, being single.)  So now that's more like $9/hour.

Think about that.  $9/hour for a nuclear-trained, college-educated, deployed sailor, working and living in conditions that most people would consider inhumane, let alone be willing to subject themselves to said environment.  Now consider the consequences of a mistake in each job.

You still want to tell me a burger flipper is worth $15/hour?

[diesel driver]

Additional compensation available for lawyers.

We'll shoot them only once!   

[marv]

Butch McQueen (35 posts)


A. If a guy is in combat he probably is at least an E-3 paygrade with at least a couple years time in the service (what with time spent in basic training, advanced training, etc) so his base pay is about $1,900 a month. If he has dependents back in the states they either live in base housing (no cost) or he is getting a housing allowance adjusted for the cost of living at his home station - a good rough average on that comes out to around $1,100 a month for his paygrade. He is also getting various special pay and allowances for being in a designated combat area. Lets say when the dust all settles his monthly compensation comes out to around $3,400 a month. Plus the soldier gets some serious income tax breaks that the "burger flipper" doesn't. Do the math RW morons - that is more than a month's pay on a 40 hour work week at $15 an hour!

When the burger flipper comes home minus his legs from a fast food IED, I might, just MIGHT, give your rant a thought.

...maybe not!

[Delmar]

Star Member Butch McQueen (38 posts)

I'm So Sick Of RWers Using The Patriotic/Veteran Meme To Prove Stupid Points!

I'm so sick of hypocrite leftists whining about McDonalds not paying workers enough while Sir Golfsalot wants kids to work for free.

OFA Wants You to Fight to Raise Minimum Wage, Won’t Pay You to Do It
By Sterling Beard

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/365597/ofa-wants-you-fight-raise-minimum-wage-wont-pay-you-do-it-sterling-beard

Organizing  for Action is looking to sign people up for its spring 2014 fellowship program, which will teach them “best practices in the areas of community organizing, media relations, and grassroots fundraising.” The sign-up page allows users to select to volunteer either 15 or 40 hours per week. But they won’t be receiving compensation for their efforts. The page unequivocally states that “the Spring Organizing Fellowship is an unpaid, volunteer program.”

                                               War Criminal!

Minimum wage in the District of Columbia is $8.25/hour, multiplied times the 29.5 hours per week kids will be allowed to work--gracias Obama!--gives the kid $243.38 a week.  Multiply that by the 52 weeks in a year and you get $12,655.50 for a year of flipping burgers.  Obama makes 32 times that amount, $400,000.00.  But the hamburger flipper is better off than the poor OFA fellows, they don't get shit.

[jtyangel]

I hate to tell you bitch, but putting the veteran 'meme' as you call it aside, there are plenty of people who worked their ASSES off to gain some sort of degree and skill who don't make much more then 15 bucks an hour. How on earth can you justify equalizing the pay for someone who has zero skills and probably not even a high school education to the same level as someone who could be carrying 10 k in loans to gain a skill to make more money? Not to mention, if this EVER happened do you think any of those unkempt losers I saw on that line would still have a job? Hell no, that manager now has the means(by virtue of having to pay that much) to now hire people with far more skills and education then they can now so the losers will be out of a job and college graduates will fill those 15 buck an hour positions and probably do a better job and take on more responsibilities.

Also, as I understand it, many McD managers barely make 15 bucks an hour--what happens to their pay? Who the hell would take on the responsibility for fillingin for when the losers call in if they are making the same amount when you could just sit on the register and push buttons all day. I'm sorry but you have to bring way more to the table to make that kind of money. I think the minimum wage is pushing the limits of what that job is worth now and that's sitting exactly where it is now.

Stopping looking at the CEO who btw has to sign to the accuracy of the financial records and internal controls plans(what personal responsibility does a burger flipper have?) and compare apples to apples. What happens to the peopel who worked to make a living wage who will be making the same as these greedy losers with no ambition? How do you intend to compensate people who you have now set BACK to minimum wage who have a college degree to pay off when the losers have nothing but  more money in their pocket? I'm sorry, but I really resent this. These types of jobs were not permanent and almost always were shitty enough to be a good motivator to aspire to do something better. When did we start rewarding people who haven't earned a damn thing with the same 'riches' that someone who worked their ass off did? And don't tell me inequality and opportunity bullshit. I came from a pretty low place---twice now--once as a teen leaving my parents house(and no they did NOTHING to help me--I did everything for myself). I haven't got myself totally out of the latest, but I'm working my ass off to do that and I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sure there is a status quo, lazy side of me who would love that extra income just given to me, but that's the worst of human nature is to want something for nothing. Why do you all appeal to the very worse in human nature?

[HawkHogan]

I hate to tell you bitch, but putting the veteran 'meme' as you call it aside, there are plenty of people who worked their ASSES off to gain some sort of degree and skill who don't make much more then 15 bucks an hour. How on earth can you justify equalizing the pay for someone who has zero skills and probably not even a high school education to the same level as someone who could be carrying 10 k in loans to gain a skill to make more money? Not to mention, if this EVER happened do you think any of those unkempt losers I saw on that line would still have a job? Hell no, that manager now has the means(by virtue of having to pay that much) to now hire people with far more skills and education then they can now so the losers will be out of a job and college graduates will fill those 15 buck an hour positions and probably do a better job and take on more responsibilities.

Also, as I understand it, many McD managers barely make 15 bucks an hour--what happens to their pay? Who the hell would take on the responsibility for fillingin for when the losers call in if they are making the same amount when you could just sit on the register and push buttons all day. I'm sorry but you have to bring way more to the table to make that kind of money. I think the minimum wage is pushing the limits of what that job is worth now and that's sitting exactly where it is now.

Stopping looking at the CEO who btw has to sign to the accuracy of the financial records and internal controls plans(what personal responsibility does a burger flipper have?) and compare apples to apples. What happens to the peopel who worked to make a living wage who will be making the same as these greedy losers with no ambition? How do you intend to compensate people who you have now set BACK to minimum wage who have a college degree to pay off when the losers have nothing but  more money in their pocket? I'm sorry, but I really resent this. These types of jobs were not permanent and almost always were shitty enough to be a good motivator to aspire to do something better. When did we start rewarding people who haven't earned a damn thing with the same 'riches' that someone who worked their ass off did? And don't tell me inequality and opportunity bullshit. I came from a pretty low place---twice now--once as a teen leaving my parents house(and no they did NOTHING to help me--I did everything for myself). I haven't got myself totally out of the latest, but I'm working my ass off to do that and I see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sure there is a status quo, lazy side of me who would love that extra income just given to me, but that's the worst of human nature is to want something for nothing. Why do you all appeal to the very worse in human nature?

Liberals have no concept of economics.  If forced to pay 15 dollars an hour, these companies would start to install robots/machines, that can handle most of the work.  Then, they'd pay one or two college graduates to handle the day to day, and completely eliminate the no-skill losers, who decided to have 4 kids with 4 different guys while making 8 bucks an hour.

I'm tired of the "woe is me" bull crap.  Take some responsibility for your pathetic life.  It's not my fault that you developed no skills.  You don't deserve 8 bucks an hour, yet alone, 15 bucks.