There Goes Todays Pay (Down the Toilet)

[Bear96]

As usual you missed the entire point of his original post which was the decline of the middle class.

You must have read a different OP than I did, or at least read a heckuva lot into it. I didn't see any indication the OP meant to write an editorial on the plight of the middle class as a whole. It seemed more like a gripe about a particular employee's situation at a certain employer. Perhaps you can point out where the entire middle class was being discussed.

But let's go with that. If we are now talking about the entire middle class, can you please define "middle class" for me? Seriously. I have asked this question on USAviation before and no one has ever answered it. What annual income range makes one "middle class" these days, in your opinion? My usual snarkiness aside, I am genuinly curious what people mean when they use the phrase "middle class."

 

[lgwcalling]

Most of the time your "expert on everything" posing is merely humorous. In this case, it is vulgar.

John Edwards, with his unctuous delivery and utter lack of conscience, made a fortune suing OB/GYNs for "malpractice" in cases of children born with cerebral palsy. He was able to convince idiot juries, consisting of morons, that the doctors who have devoted their lives to the care of women and their newborns were responsible for this devastating condition.

Why don't you do some research on the subject, 700UW? You will find that ALL recent studies have found that delivery is virtually a non factor in such cases. The consensus is that the condition is almost always genetic. Has your hero Edwards offered to give the money back to the doctors who were unfairly maligned? Didn't think so.

Has Edwards and the rest of his sleaze bag malpractice attorneys apologized for the lack of available OB/GYNs in many rural areas where they practiced? Didn't think so either.

One can only imagine your reaction if the public was able to sue aircraft mechanics for delays and cancellations caused by professional "malpractice." The John Edwards of the world would be all over that one, and I can only imagine your simpering response to such "injustice." Your pathetic pleas for protection for the underappreciated mechanics of this country would be cringe inducing, to say the least.

What a jackass.


By the way, any comment on the brewing scandal involving the one candidate who posts his wife front and center as the attack dog of his campaign?

It thrills me to see such venom in your post about John Edwards. The amusing part is that it's not even original. Your reply sounds as if it came straight out of the RNC playbook or the unpatriotic mouths of Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly or Ann Coulter. The truth is that John Edwards scares the hell out of the Republicans. In polling data gathered over the past year, he is the ONLY Democratic candidate that beats all of the Republican candidates in head-to-head matchups. He is the one, true, populist candidate that has made CORPORATE GREED his number one fight and HE HAS MY VOTE!

 

[wasone]

After law school, he clerked for a Federal judge and in 1978 became an associate at the Nashville law firm of Dearborn & Ewing, doing primarily trial work, defending a Nashville bank and other corporate clients. The Edwards family returned to North Carolina in 1981, settling in the capital of Raleigh where he joined the firm of Tharrington, Smith & Hargrove.[11]

In 1984 Edwards was assigned to a perceived unwinnable medical malpractice lawsuit; the firm had only accepted it as a favor to an attorney and state senator who did not want to keep it. Nevertheless, Edwards won a $3.7 million verdict on behalf of his client, who suffered permanent brain and nerve damage after a doctor prescribed a drug overdose of anti-alcoholism drug Antabuse during alcohol aversion therapy.[12] In other cases, Edwards sued the American Red Cross three times, alleging transmission of AIDS through tainted blood products, resulting in a confidential settlement each time, and defended a North Carolina newspaper against a libel charge.[11]

In 1985, Edwards represented a five-year-old child born with cerebral palsy whose doctor did not choose to perform an immediate Caesarian delivery when a fetal monitor showed she was in distress. Edwards won a $6.5 million verdict for his client, but five weeks later, the presiding judge sustained the verdict but overturned the award on grounds that it was "excessive" and that it appeared "to have been given under the influence of passion and prejudice," adding that in his opinion "the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict." He offered the plaintiffs half of the jury's award, but the child's family appealed the case and settled for $4.25 million.[11] Winning this case established the North Carolina precedent of physician and hospital liability for failing to determine if the patient understood risks of a particular procedure.[12]

After this trial, Edwards gained national attention as a plaintiff's lawyer. He filed at least twenty similar lawsuits in the years following and achieved verdicts and settlements of more than $60 million for his clients. These successful lawsuits were followed by similar ones across the country. When asked about an increase in Caesarean deliveries nationwide, perhaps to avoid similar medical malpractice lawsuits, Edwards said, "The question is, would you rather have cases where that happens instead of having cases where you don't intervene and a child either becomes disabled for life or dies in utero?"[11]

In 1993, Edwards began his own firm in Raleigh (now known as Kirby & Holt) with a friend, David Kirby. He became known as the top plaintiffs' attorney in North Carolina.[11] The biggest case of his legal career was a 1997 product liability lawsuit against Sta-Rite, the manufacturer of a defective pool drain cover. The case involved a three-year-old girl[13] who was disemboweled by the suction power of the pool drain pump when she sat on an open pool drain whose protective cover other children at the pool had removed, after the swim club had failed to install the cover properly. Despite 12 prior suits with similar claims, Sta-Rite continued to make and sell drain covers lacking warnings. Sta-Rite protested that an additional warning would have made no difference because the pool owners already knew the importance of keeping the cover secured.

In his closing arguments, Edwards spoke to the jury for an hour and a half and referenced his son, Wade, who had been killed shortly before testimony began. Mark Dayton, editor of North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, would later call it "the most impressive legal performance I have ever seen."[14] The jury awarded the family $25 million, the largest personal injury award in North Carolina history. The company settled for the $25 million while the jury was deliberating additional punitive damages, rather than risk losing an appeal. For their part in this case, Edwards and law partner David Kirby earned the Association of Trial Lawyers of America's national award for public service.[12] The family said that they hired Edwards over other attorneys because he alone had offered to accept a smaller percentage as fee unless the award was unexpectedly high, while all of the other lawyers they spoke with said they required the full one-third fee. The size of the jury award was unprecedented, and Edwards did receive the standard one-third plus expenses fee typical of contingency cases. The family was so impressed with his intelligence and commitment[11] that they volunteered for his Senate campaign the next year.

After Edwards won a large verdict against a trucking company whose worker had been involved in a fatal accident, the North Carolina legislature passed a law prohibiting such awards unless the employee's actions had been specifically sanctioned by the company.[11]

God, I feel so differently about john edwards now that I think I'' change my political party and go back to law school so I too can SAVE THE WORLD!

 

[Hey.. Chill Out]

You mean working part time at a relatively low-skilled job doesn't provide a lavish lifestyle?

I am shocked.

That's the EXACT same impression I got when reading that. Lets face it. why SHOULD any of us be paid 30 dollars an hour for what we do? The majority of my day is sitting in the breakroom because I'm only assigned 3 to 4 flights a day. That equals, what? an hour and a half of actual work out of an 8 hour day?

Flight attendants and pilots are taken away from their families and homes for extended periods of time... Well, the one's who work more than the minimum. Pilots more-so. They are highly skilled in an unstable market.

You wanna be paid top dollar now days, you gotta go out there and get a degree. The old days of working in the factory are OVER. Today's society demands a skilled workforce. You can get a 2 year degree in some medical related professions and make a damn good living because of the baby boomer generation. Be a nurse! There's plenty for you out there.

Good argument Bear. Who ARE the middle class. There are the HAVES and the HAVE NOTS

 

[Dog Wonder]

Working for poverty wages so some one who has more money than he can ever spend is obscene.

Thinking otherwise is madness.

 

[dariencc]

This is about typical of what passes for thoughtful argument in your mind. A cut and paste from a puff campaign bio, or is it perhaps from an AFL-CIO endorsement?

In 1985, Edwards represented a five-year-old child born with cerebral palsy whose doctor did not choose to perform an immediate Caesarian delivery when a fetal monitor showed she was in distress.

The current scientific consensus is that cerebral palsy is almost always genetically based. Edwards "proved" nothing in any of these cases. The hard truth is that his great legal career consisted of getting clueless juries to give big awards based on emotion and not fact.

After this trial, Edwards gained national attention as a plaintiff's lawyer. He filed at least twenty similar lawsuits in the years following and achieved verdicts and settlements of more than $60 million for his clients. These successful lawsuits were followed by similar ones across the country. When asked about an increase in Caesarean deliveries nationwide, perhaps to avoid similar medical malpractice lawsuits, Edwards said, "The question is, would you rather have cases where that happens instead of having cases where you don't intervene and a child either becomes disabled for life or dies in utero?"[11]

This the classic lawyer straw man which his moron juries bought into. He never was able to prove that the "nonintervention" was the actual cause of the disability, or that an "intervention" would have prevented such. In fact, thanks to him and a few other sleazebags, Caesarians skyrocketed with no appreciable benefit. Cerebral palsy cases did not decline.

If you didn't limit your information input to union magazines, you might find out that Europe and Canada have far lower Caesarean rates than the US, and not because they are less concerned about their newborns. They actually have no higher rate of palsy cases. The difference is that their legal systems are not friendly to the kind of out of control lawsuits and "awards" that are plaguing this country. You might also note that they have no shortage of OB/GYNs, unlike many parts of this country, including John Edward's home state. Just how is that contributing to the well being of children?

I would again point out that the Edwards of this world would have a field day if the public were able to sue aircraft mechanics for malpractice. It wouldn't exactly be difficult to convince a jury of nitwits that the mechanical delay on their flight could have been prevented. No doubt the ruined vacations and business meetings caused by such malfeasance would entitle the plaintiffs to substantial damages. It's vitally important, don't forget, to send a message to the negligent.

I'd love to see your response to such a scenario, because you'd be the first one wetting your pants about the unfairness of it all. Don't lose any sleep, though, over the dedicated doctors who have been ruined by John Edwards.

In his closing arguments, Edwards spoke to the jury for an hour and a half and referenced his son, Wade, who had been killed shortly before testimony began.

Wade Edwards tragically died in an auto accident. His death had no connection to the Stay-Rite case. This did not prevent Daddy from using him to get to the jury's emotions. Such a man should make any decent human being's skin crawl.



Your hero: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AE847UXu3Q

 

[Hey.. Chill Out]

Working for poverty wages so some one who has more money than he can ever spend is obscene.

Thinking otherwise is madness.

Thats just about everybody in America now. that's the way its always been tbh

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

I find ALL the negative comments about John Edwards ..INTERESTING.

INTERESTING...because I wonder if the JE haters are BUSH loving, Capitalism.."AT ANY COST" Republicans ????

And since this Edwards conversation has a DISTINCTIVE southern tone to it, Can ANYONE explain the logic of the following;

WHY ??? WHY-WHY-WHY ?, are there MANY cases like the following, in Hard core RED states ?

Example,

(Caucasian(s)Bobby Joe, and Carla Ray, live in a "trailer park", with 3 small kids . Bobby just got promoted to 2nd assistant Night Manager at Wal-Mart, now making $10.50 an hour. Carla works at the "Piggly Wiggly", for minimum wage. With gas at $3.00 a gallon, Kerosene(for trailer heat) at record high levels, and not to mention the higher cost for bread and milk,and a "bit" thrown in for day care, these honest folks, go into the voting booth, and PULL the Republican lever.

I just don't get it !!!

Does anyone think the "reason" is the "advise" these folks are getting, from the PULPIT of their local Baptist church/PREACHER .......... preaching DA*NATION towards the Democratic party ???

 

[Jester]

I just don't get it !!!

Some people have principles. Some people never believed that need was a claim, regardless of how much others earned, and thus, the appeal of so-called "social justice", "living wage", or other egalitarian bromides never was that appealing.

By the way, Edwards, along with the other Democratic front runners are a sad collection of empty suits lacking an understanding in-breathe and in-depth of the issues facing this nation while pandering to various interest groups. Edwards nearly had to run for President in 2004 since he was unelectable in his own state after six years in the US Senate, and it showed when he was running as VP and failed to win North Carolina and it wasn't even that close.

So postulates Jester.

 

[Hello Newman]

Well, $18 per hour is not bad pay. Why don't you go full time? Your post wasn't clear if that is an option for you, but I imagine it is. Then you could work OT for $27 per hour....it adds up.

WHEN MY STATION WAS KNOCKED DOWN TO MAINLINE EXPRESS, I COULD NOT PACK UP AND MOVE BUT I DID WORK 55+ HRS A WEEK IN ORDER TO GET BY. HAD NO LIFE BUT I WASNT GOING TO STARVE EITHER

 

[deltawatch]

You need to use your head ..... and find another way to make money. You see those Google ads beside this thread, they pay the publisher of this site will over 1000.00 a month. There are opportunities out there ..... go get it!

GOOGLE ADSENCE

 

[lithuanian]

Tom Brickner responded to a last of the effort ditch on the CIC and our ailine beginning BATED by OT and then NOT given fleet 48 hour. The company dictates according to the budget. Mr. Brickner assures us they are doing what can be done for a TRANSITION AGREEMENT, GET IT DONE and RATIFIED BEFORE THE INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATION, he believes is coming. But, he adds he has to leave it to others to talk about it. In regards to Block, Brickner says he is left with a complex and complicated case with very high stakes to decide. Broch has to consider the 'contract, intent of the parties to the contract and complicated Delaware Corp.Law. And adds we shouldn't be surprised if he isn't quick to decide.
jBrock is concerned about returning to bargaining at a time that USA will likely be losing money. He expect returning to bargaining in Mid-January. But he expect the rejected deal might look better to us all. He starts if consolidation occurs before a TA, it could impact the bargaining. But he feels our bargaining and airline are better off than others in our condition. Meaning the 'pilot mess'.

 

[lithuanian]

Tom Brickner responded to a last of the effort ditch on the CIC and our airline being BATED by OT and then NOT given fleet 48 hour overtime and neither a bonus until AFTER the holiday. The company dictates according to the budget. Mr. Brickner assures us they are doing what can be done for a TRANSITION AGREEMENT, GET IT DONE and RATIFIED BEFORE A POSSIBLE INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATION, he believes is coming. But, he adds he has to leave it to others to talk about it. In regards to Bloch, Brickner says Broch is left with a complex and complicated case with very high stakes to decide. Broch has to consider the contract, intent of the parties to the contract, and complicated Delaware Corp.Law. And adds we shouldn't be surprised if he isn't quick to decide.
Brickner is concerned about returning to bargaining at a time that USA will likely be losing money. He expects returning to bargaining in Mid-January. But he expects the rejected deal might look better to us all. He states if consolidation occurs before a TA, it could impact the bargaining. But he feels our bargaining and airline are better off than others in our condition. Meaning the 'pilot mess'.
He is hopeful we might ratifiy a deal in 08', regardless of CIC. He has maintained all along the CIC is no substitute for a transition deal for either east or west. He says only a transition deal can change what we feel ( Lithuanian) is the reference to a third world status. And he wishes us all a Merry Christmas.
In my own words, from the IAM Airline Co ordinator.

 

[Bear96]

Working for poverty wages so some one who has more money than he can ever spend is obscene.

Thinking otherwise is madness.

Yet so many here continue to do just that.

 

[GoldenRam94]

Hours in day = 24
Hours worked at US = 5
Time to sleep =8
Time to work somewhere else = 11 Hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seems to me you are waiting on Corporate America to take care of you, rather than taking the time to take care of yourself!!!!!