Is BOWLING dying because of this!!

[MICHAEL]

Lack of a Strong MIDDLE CLASS, and High Cost of living vs wages paid NOW DAYS VS the 50, 60, 70s.
Quote Originally Posted by Shaneshu87 View Post

(true that my wife has worked for walmart for nealry 7 years... makes $2 more than minimum wage and shes in the pharmacy as a technician, Shanehu87.)


I am not knocking ANYONE THAT WORKS AT Wlamart!!! I am just saying they don't SPREAD the profit to employees as THEY SHOULD! It's what ushered in the Union Labor movement! My sister works Part time now just to keep her credentials up at Walmart Pharmacy, she has her Doctorates
degree in pharmacy form the University of Missouri! I have a brother in law that lost his warehouse job, and now works at Wamart, makes 8:50 hour, working the 11pm shift to 7am!

Walmart owners, are Billionaires... who needs that Much MONEY.... Share the pie with the workers.... how many billions does a RICH person need to truly be happy!! Its that greed that is crippling many things in this country, that ONCE HAD A STRONG BOWLING MIDDLE CLASS!!

Very little is made here anymore because the laws make it easy to tap VERY CHEAP foreign LABOR!

needless to say the weaker the middle class financially, the less money for games like bowling!

I was lucky, along with my wife,,,, me being and Iron Worker local 10 here in town, and my wife a Railroad worker!

But my heart goes out to all the young getting out of school, now days,,, their work choices, and good paying jobs are hard to find!

One reason why so many are joining the military!

[Joker]

slightly confused on whats being mentioned, are we saying that theres no a lot of people who are "richer" in bowling or that people who are walmart workers are bowlers?

[fortheloveofbowling]

With all due respect i don't think there is any room for this topic on this site. Bowling and other light hearted topics is what makes this site fun. My dad grew up in a house sometimes missing windows and had a out house. He left home when was 14 years old and when he died he owned his own business with several locations and loyal employees that were paid well. Now he was no millionaire but some might say he was rich. Are you going to tell me he was obligated to SPREAD THE WEALTH AROUND? There are many reasons bowling has lost participants and money is one 1 of many.

[MICHAEL]

slightly confused on whats being mentioned, are we saying that theres no a lot of people who are "richer" in bowling or that people who are walmart workers are bowlers?

NO you MISSED my point completely... ! The strong manufacturing Nation this once was, with good paying jobs, due in part to Unions, are all but gone. Rich are getting Richer, and the middle class is growing smaller

As far as Walmart being bowlers,,, I know 6 friends that work at Wal-Mart, and they are JUST GETTING by, and not one of them bowl, or have the money to do so. Food, Car, insurance, gas,,,, that's about all they can afford!

[Shaneshu87]

With all due respect i don't think there is any room for this topic on this site. Bowling and other light hearted topics is what makes this site fun. My dad grew up in a house sometimes missing windows and had a out house. He left home when was 14 years old and when he died he owned his own business with several locations and loyal employees that were paid well. Now he was no millionaire but some might say he was rich. Are you going to tell me he was obligated to SPREAD THE WEALTH AROUND? There are many reasons bowling has lost participants and money is one 1 of many.

i agree money is just one of the many issue hurting bowling, it's hard to justify spending $180 on a ball when you only make minimum wage, people in that position tend to buy used balls which as some view takes away from the pro shops. i also do not feel that the rich should "spread the wealth" i mean it's nice to think about have money like Gates (BTW if he gave everyone on the planet $5 he'd still be a billionaire) but i wouldn't expect or let alone ask a man who has worked his whole life earning a living to just hand me money cause im "middle class"

[MICHAEL]

Wow, let me just say being a History buff, that there was no middle class from Biblical times until the early 1900s ( TOO SPEAK OF), when people decided, HEY,,, I want more of that PIE then we are getting.

Many didn’t make enough money to take care of the basic necessities Two classes of people before unions came to be, the RICH, and the Hard Working Poor!

All ICEMAN,,,, the PROUD UNION IRON WORKER IS SAYING is this: When the masses make a fair living, like me and my wife did,,, and do, you can afford the luxury of spending money on bowling. Good, Fair paying jobs; enhance the quality of everyone’s life’s, and indirectly helps the business community!

If I owed a business I can guaranty you one thing I would share the pie with all my employees, unlike many of the huge so called job creators most work for today. I am not talking about a small business man that has fewer then 100 workers… I talking the Big Companies that make profits in the hundreds of millions, if not billions!

Why should a CEO, for a gas company make 400 million a year, plus many perks! While the guy that works at the gas station only makes a little over the minimum wage? Is that sharing the pie? Henry Ford had it right in the early 1900s… “Pay a man a good fair wage, so that he can afford to buy the cars that he is making on the assembly line himself, not just the Rich!

The Rich man owes his own private bowling alley, while the average worker now days are barely getting by!

Could this be ONE of the reasons for low League bowling we are experiencing around this area?

I have been told that by several league bowlers that have quit the Sunday Broskey league…. Just 3 years ago we had 12 teams,,,now its down to 5 teams.

MONEY IS TIGHT, GOOD FAIR PAYING jobs are hard to find for the uneducated and even the college graduate now days! Population is getting LARGER, and jobs that aren’t being taken by machines, are going to places like China!!


Even Sam Walton knew in his small way that purchasing American Made Products was a good thing for this country…. Sad how that economic model has been tossed out by the billionaires in his family that now pull the strings! Goods for China, and cheap labor, equals billions at the top!

If we had more JOB’s, and the jobs that are out there paid a fair wage, I am convinced that we would have more bowling!

[fortheloveofbowling]

I love bowling.

[Aslan]

Iceman, you and I are in agreement on this...so let me put forth Aslan's cure for the economy...

1) Repeal Bush tax cuts and restore Clinton era tax cuts (which were well below Reagan era levels).
2) Cancel foreign trade agreements that are not "fair". "Fair" trade over "free" trade.
3) Pump funds into re-creating the manufacturing base.
4) All companies headquartered in the US receive tax credits. All companies headquartered outside the US receive penalties.
5) Corporate taxes tied to unemployment rate. The more people working, the less the corporate taxes.
6) US companies cannot sell products in the US for more than they sell them outside the US (aimed at pharmaceuticals).
7) For public corporations, the CEO may not make more than 100x the lowest paid employee (Scandanavia already does a version of this). For private companies, the rule would not apply, however private companies would be subject to a minimum salary requirement of $35,000 annually (public corporations would not be subject to said rule).
8) Corporations receive tax credits for net gain in employees, tax penalties for net loss of employees.
9) Unemployment will no longer be paid by companies, but instead will be covered 100% by the States. As a trade-off, "At Will" employment is no longer allowed...involuntary firing/layoffs must be approved by state appointed/independent arbitrators.
10) Nationalized health care. Scrap Obamacare and simply expand the Medicare and Medicaid systems to cover all Americans. (Why is this an economic issue? Because corporations in the US will no longer be at a competitive disadvantage by having to supply health insurance coverage to their workers). A corporate tax will help fund this, but it will be capped at 3/4 their previous cost of providing private insurance.
11) Immigration reform will make the first offense for hiring illegal immigrants will result in a first offense of shutting down the business for no more than 30 days. A 2nd offense of no more than 50 days. Subsequent offenses = 50 days. Immigration enforcement will be doubled. Legal immigration will be tied to the unemployment rate (more unemployed = less legal immigration and vice versa).
12) Foreign Aid will be on hold until either the budget deficit is zero or poverty rates in the US are reduced by 70%.
13) Education will be publically funded including University. System will be set up similar to the EU where students will be on "tracks" but there will always be the opportunity to change tracks or privately pay for University. Support will vary based on academic acheivement. Other stuff...like free community college.
14) Housing: Banks currently holding bad mortages can sell their properties to counties in exchange for tax breaks. Counties can then sell those properties for no more than 10% of their value at a 2.4% interest rate. State counties manage and benefit from the profits made.
15) Banking re-regulation...banks can only invest 25% of the funds on hand. If the bank fails, those with money in the bank lose at most 25%. Credit card interest rates capped at 16.9%.

There ya go...a 15-point plan that will turn things around. But the general reason for the US decline Ice is simple. The US was at the top of the pyramid and suddenly global trade came along. THe idea was it would rise everyone else to the US level or prosperity...but what it really did was level the field and bring the US down a couple notches. In the old days, "trickle down economics" worked because if you gave Rockafeller money he would use it to open a new facility in a nearby state or city. Now, you give a corporation a tax break, they close their facility in Missouri and open one in Dubai. It makes no monetary sense NOT to...they can get labor FAR cheaper there.

So there ya go...15 points to Utopia...and more disposable income...and more bowling!!

[Amyers]

Iceman, you and I are in agreement on this...so let me put forth Aslan's cure for the economy...

1) Repeal Bush tax cuts and restore Clinton era tax cuts (which were well below Reagan era levels).
2) Cancel foreign trade agreements that are not "fair". "Fair" trade over "free" trade.
3) Pump funds into re-creating the manufacturing base.
4) All companies headquartered in the US receive tax credits. All companies headquartered outside the US receive penalties.
5) Corporate taxes tied to unemployment rate. The more people working, the less the corporate taxes.
6) US companies cannot sell products in the US for more than they sell them outside the US (aimed at pharmaceuticals).
7) For public corporations, the CEO may not make more than 100x the lowest paid employee (Scandanavia already does a version of this). For private companies, the rule would not apply, however private companies would be subject to a minimum salary requirement of $35,000 annually (public corporations would not be subject to said rule).
8) Corporations receive tax credits for net gain in employees, tax penalties for net loss of employees.
9) Unemployment will no longer be paid by companies, but instead will be covered 100% by the States. As a trade-off, "At Will" employment is no longer allowed...involuntary firing/layoffs must be approved by state appointed/independent arbitrators.
10) Nationalized health care. Scrap Obamacare and simply expand the Medicare and Medicaid systems to cover all Americans. (Why is this an economic issue? Because corporations in the US will no longer be at a competitive disadvantage by having to supply health insurance coverage to their workers). A corporate tax will help fund this, but it will be capped at 3/4 their previous cost of providing private insurance.
11) Immigration reform will make the first offense for hiring illegal immigrants will result in a first offense of shutting down the business for no more than 30 days. A 2nd offense of no more than 50 days. Subsequent offenses = 50 days. Immigration enforcement will be doubled. Legal immigration will be tied to the unemployment rate (more unemployed = less legal immigration and vice versa).
12) Foreign Aid will be on hold until either the budget deficit is zero or poverty rates in the US are reduced by 70%.
13) Education will be publically funded including University. System will be set up similar to the EU where students will be on "tracks" but there will always be the opportunity to change tracks or privately pay for University. Support will vary based on academic acheivement. Other stuff...like free community college.
14) Housing: Banks currently holding bad mortages can sell their properties to counties in exchange for tax breaks. Counties can then sell those properties for no more than 10% of their value at a 2.4% interest rate. State counties manage and benefit from the profits made.
15) Banking re-regulation...banks can only invest 25% of the funds on hand. If the bank fails, those with money in the bank lose at most 25%. Credit card interest rates capped at 16.9%.

There ya go...a 15-point plan that will turn things around. But the general reason for the US decline Ice is simple. The US was at the top of the pyramid and suddenly global trade came along. THe idea was it would rise everyone else to the US level or prosperity...but what it really did was level the field and bring the US down a couple notches. In the old days, "trickle down economics" worked because if you gave Rockafeller money he would use it to open a new facility in a nearby state or city. Now, you give a corporation a tax break, they close their facility in Missouri and open one in Dubai. It makes no monetary sense NOT to...they can get labor FAR cheaper there.

So there ya go...15 points to Utopia...and more disposable income...and more bowling!!

You have spent way too much time thinking about this Aslan

[fortheloveofbowling]

Next league night we should all bring politics and all the points created in this thread to the forefront of conversation. You think you have a problem with people because of perceived slow bowling? Toss all this around when we go out to compete in the sport we love next time and see if the league gets along. Personally i would rather talk about that split i just left and the hot chick open bowling 4 pairs down.