“Donald Trump came to the Detroit Economic Club and stood there in front of Ford Motor executives and said, ‘If you close these factories as you're planning to do in Detroit and build them in Mexico, I'm going to put a 35 percent tariff on those cars when you send them back and nobody's going to buy them.’ It was an amazing thing to see. No politician, Republican or Democrat, had ever said anything like that to these executives, and it was music to the ears of people in Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — the 'Brexit states.'” - Michael Moore, 2016.

Ford wasn't bailed out by the G in the Crash - the other manufacturers were.

"They’re pissed because while news circuits are touting Jeff Bezos’ goodwill and ‘progressive’ wage increases, many workers are slowly coming to terms with all of the other sources of income they’ll be losing, in the form of stock options and bonuses."

You can thank $15 minimum wage propaganda for that. The workers, and Kshama demanded $15 hr., now they got it across the country.

Workers followed Kshama's resentment, victimhood movement off a cliff, and are seeing cuts in overall pay. The only person people have to blame is themselves. Kshama in particular ran a very disingenuous campaign omitting all of the stock, and other benefits workers received. Bezo's isn't lying when he says he's paying the workers $15 hr. Careful what you wish for...or who wishes it for you.

@2 https://www. factcheck .org/2011/09/ford-motor-co-does-u-turn-on-bailouts/

So yes, it wasn't bailed out in the package that the auto-industry was, but "Although Ford did not need money from the $80 billion bailout program, Ford did receive $5.9 billion in government loans in 2009 to retool its manufacturing plants to produce more fuel-efficient cars, and the company lobbied for and benefited from the cash-for-clunkers program — contrary to the ad’s testimonial that Ford is 'standing on their own.'" It really depends on your semantic persuasion.

Pack the court: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/09/kavanaugh-us-supreme-court-fight-back-court-packing

@3, I recall a few slog commentators mentioned that the $15.00 wage for Amazon workers would eliminate other pay ending up costing Amazon less in the long run. But the mindless lefties didn't want to listen to facts and just wanted to tout how their glorious ideas were being embraced by evil capitalists. I'm sure they will recant their bullshit any day now....

@6 He gave them what they wanted. But as I have said many times before, self-entitlement is a beast that if fed will just demand more and more and more and more. This will never end unless the workers wake up to the fact that they have been bamboozled by Kshama, and her movement.

@3 it sounds like you are saying Amazon workers deserve to be punished for asking for wanting a better life. And for others to defend and support that request. I mean, are you enjoying watching people suffer as a powerful monopoly exerts itself in it's amoral quest to seek profit? It sounds like you are enjoying it. With their money, expertise, and connections, it does seem that Amazon has managed to ride the goodwill wave of the concept of a $15 minimum wage to pull off a coup against their own labor force. Are you celebrating that?

Careful what you wish for children, because wanting things for yourself and a better life might lead to getting grifted! Best keep a low profile, and accept shitty soul-less work for little pay. Be a good little pawn.

@3 & 6 right, don't ever ask for a pay raise or your boss may decide to can you. Please, fuck off.

@7, now negotiating for a fair wage is evidence of an entitlement mindset? I guess you believe amazon’s factory workers should be grateful to Bezos that he doesn’t have them pay to come to work?

How many of these trolls are on Bezos' payroll?

3 - Are you the one that got DRAKE tattoo'd on your forehead?

Man, the article says they’re hoping to put together a timeline that would have the potential bullet train up and running by 2035. Seattle’s not even getting the light rail line to Ballard working until then.

@8 @9 @10 People asked for $15 hr. based on the false premise that they were being paid less than $15 hr. Now they are literally getting $15 hr., but not the other financial benefits and they complain. They got $15 hr. Nothing to see here.

Kshama has argued for a number of years now that $15 hr. is a livable wage. Of course she left out the term 'livable' during her campaigns, conveniently. But let's reason here, why would she ask for less than a livable wage? She wouldn't.

@12 Never worked for Bezos. I hear the pay is good her sin Seattle. Hear his tech workers make an average of 100k yr.

And it should be remembered the only reason Ford is afloat in the US is their cash-cow truck line...and that thanks to the 25% tariff imposed on imported trucks.
Drop that and Ford would be in a desperate situation.

@15 Your logic is atrocious. Bezos decided to fuck workers making more than $15 with bonuses, nobody else. Spare us your stupid drivel.

I sincerely doubt that his internet posse makes that much.

@17 Bezos gave the workers exactly what they demanded.

@18 You are continuing to make shit up and it is increasingly stupid. Nobody asked Bezos to take bonuses away. Go away you and your silly rightwing propaganda.

@18 I've voted Democratic my entire voting life.

@20 I've voted Democratic my entire voting life.

Funny I @18

@22 whatever. Quit reading/watching whatever you are reading/watching because you are regurgitating nonsense and don't tell me these were original thoughts because it'd be worse.

@23 This is closet I come to social media these days, thank goodness.

I think it's great the workers are being paid $15 hr. now.

@23 I will help you out with the numbers since you seem to be having trouble.

On Payscale, a warehouse employee makes in between $9.99 - $16.95 per hour. In addition to this warehouse associates earn $196 - $2,443 in bonuses and $302 - $4,927 in profit sharing. So lets take the averages of those numbers to see how much an employee makes annually.

$13/hr * 160 hrs/ month * 12 months/yr + $2614.50 + $1319.50 = $28,894 /yr
$15/hr * 160 hrs/month * 12 months/yr = $28,800/yr

So as you can see the average Amazon warehouse employee was making just over $15/hr prior to this change. Now they are all making $15/hr without extra incentives.

@25 Thanks for laying it out.

Equal pay for all! It's as if Bezos supports equal pay across the board. It's a great socialist move on his part.

@26 Lol yep. If someone was working at Amazon in 2015 and got a bonus of 3 stock options total value ~$1000 and they held them until 2018 they would have made an extra $5000.

@27 That increase is one hell of a gift.

@26:

If by "across the board" you mean "everyone except Bezos", then, yeah, I'm sure he does.

@25 You'll have to provide a reputable source if you want to be taken seriously.

In any case, logic will tell you that Bezos' response to demand for a higher minimum wage has everything to do with Bezos, not with the people asking for a raise. If Bezos' answer is shitty, you know whom to take it up with.

@30 I'm not a supporter a White Power ideology, or any _ Power regressive derp. But you get to have whatever views you want.

@31 Logic will tell you that Kshama f-d up, and workers are paying a hefty price for it.

@31 haha do you know where payscale gets their numbers?

@26 Have some decency. You are talking about the richest oligarch on earth in an age of extreme inequality (the worst in a century).

@33 you must be some incredibly stupid person to hold such anti-labor ideas and yet have voted Democrat your entire life.

@36 Appears the stupid stuff going on around here are people who buy into Kshama's victimhood, resentment nonsense. Naturally these workers will blame Bezos. Kshama deserves the full weight of the blowback, not Bezos.

Yup. Votes Democratic my entire voting life, including in 2016. Voted for Hillary. Voted for Kshama when she ran in District 3.

@25- Embarrassing.

What percentage of employees are eligible for these bonuses? How many actually max them out vs come in much lower? Same with stocks. There is a reason people who are serious about numbers and economics use MEDIAN rather than MEAN when talking about income.

@38 Then make your argument.

@3 Good thinking ace! Clearly the 15 dollar minimum wage has been a complete disaster. Just look around you at what a wasteland Seattle has become. People should have thought this through: yeah they might not need food stamps to make ends meet any more, but what about the stock options?!

Looking at these comments bashing workers for having the audacity of seeking a living wage, I will assume an alternative, "Tour de Dick's" is visiting the Slog comment section today.

If Ford will bring back the Crown Vic and front bench seating, then I will fully support any needed bailout.

@41 I know I've come to enjoy watching the homeless shoot up, take shits in doorways downtown and watch an increase in petty theft. Truly a leftist paradise.

@40 Preventing runaway climate change is well worth taking an extra hour going to Vancouver by train.

@44 As if rampant homelessness didn't result from social safety net slashing politicians that you routinely vote for (like Hutchinson wanting to address mental illness after her kind destroyed the public mental health network in the 80's).

@48 please, do your homework: https://sites.psu.edu/psy533wheeler/2017/02/08/u01-ronald-reagan-and-the-federal-deinstitutionalization-of-mentally-ill-patients/comment-page-1/

3 Is telling Truth

@25, How many warehouse workers can afford to buy Amazon Stock to profit from it?

@44 Yeah Franky, that would be the 15 dollar minimum wage at work. The junkies would all be gainfully employed if McDonalds was still allowed to pay starvation wages.

@50 A complicated answer I suspect. Probably the west coast housing crisis compounded by disappearing federal financing of public housing and the slashing of benefits. Like 30+ of anti-social policies hitting the fan.

I just want to point out that Jeff Bezos’s annual income (about $6.1 billion) applied evenly to all Amazon employees (about 500,000) equals a $12k raise for each employee. As a warehouse worker, going from earning $24k to $36k a year could make the difference between food stamps and other government funded support and self sufficiency. Let’s think about that...the government is picking up the pay slack for who knows how many Amazon employees through various social services. Companies, especially those whose executives bankroll billions of dollars a year, should pay workers a living wage. They used to!

@53 "30+ years"

25- I very much doubt that is an accurate accounting of real-world results of a jump up to a $15 wage.

For one thing, in every warehouse situation I have ever known there has been an opportunity to work overtime. As far as I know, that is still required to be paid at time & a half so for a worker at $10 per hour moving up to $15 an hour base the overtime rate jumps from $15 to $22.50. You need to factor that in.
Also for the purposes of applying for a loan or a lease or a mortgage it is much more valuable to state base pay than bonuses/profit sharing and the like.
The final point I would make is that it seems problematic to assume that all profit sharing and bonuses will now disappear. Most all warehouse workplaces will still want to incentivise production if that is the existing culture.

@54 They are paying a livable wage. $15 hr. was Kshama's campaign slogan for a livable wage, and workers got it.

Now workers are crying foul. I suspect 12k more per year will end with nothing but more complaining.

@56 you haven't said anything that offset the need for phasing out fossil fuels when building transport infrastructure for the future.

I looked at the link in this article on Brett Kavanaugh being sworn into office. Trump is standing IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FAMILY (!) while Kavanaugh swears his oath!

I went back and looked at the videos of Judge Elena Kagan and Judge Sofia Sotomayor being sworn in. ONLY spouses, Justice Roberts and the new justice! No Obama standing ANYWHERE!

It ALWAYS about Trump! He makes himself the center of attention! I have NEVER seen a needier person as Trump. He has such a LARGE hole in his soul that can never be filled! Each day his lies become more addled and made from whole cloth! A true man-baby! Waah-waah “Look at me!!”

AND Shrub needed to get in the picture too when Judge John Roberts was sworn in!

Shrub and #FatDonnie both had MAJOR daddy issues!

Obama--the only POTUS in these last four administrations who had innate confidence despite LITERALLY having no dad at home.

@44:

Well, if this were a Rightist Paradise, they'd either all be exterminated, or thrown into some sort of euphemistically-titled "rehabilitation camp" where they'd become a source of cheap (read: unpaid) labor, amiright?

@61

"and planes will be far more efficient than they are today."

How do you figure? All of the engine/airframe/materials improvements being studied today, if they can be made to increase performance independently of one another, and if they all deliver the maximum of the anticipated range of improvement, would deliver something like 50% better fuel efficiency, combined. 20% would be a far more realistic figure, even if every technology under study turns out to be economically viable.

A nice little bump in efficiency, to be sure, but not nearly enough to change consumer choice in medium-to-long distance travel, nor to mitigate climate change impact.

@64 "$75K/yr is the minimum wage that allows a family decent housing in a moderate neighborhood, dependable working vehicles, adequate clothing, and no “food insecurity”."

Great. Don't have kids until you're making $75,000 yr.