Don't Sat the "M" Word!
Supreme Court rejects Zappos appeal!
TheAmazon on the Ropes!
Whoever enters here honors me; whoever doesn’t- pleases me.
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Live Yet Pre-recorded- Episode Nine of:
Don’t Say the “M” Word!
A Silent Radio Hour!
“I understand people believe I'm just a statistic
I say to them I'm different”
10th grader, Antwon Rose
“De l’audace, encore de l’audace, toujours de l’audace!” [“Audacity, audacity, always audacity!”]
-Georges Danton
“The power of the powerless!”
-Vaclav Havel
NO MORE!
TheBecka: Welcome back cherished listeners! Hope all’s going well for those of you tuned into “our” ‘A Silent Radio Hour’ here inside The Spank the Monkey Café in the heart of downtown Seattle, Washington kitty corner to HQ1 of Amazon.com or what’s known as The Evil Empire or TEE!
INSIDE THEAMAZON!
BEZOS! BEZOS! BEZOS! All praise to TheBEZOS!
J&D&WAR: TEE! TEE! TEE! We need more TEE!
W: How about some Good Ole Fashioned Chinese Green Tea or GOFCGT sold by Mother Eu-funh or Playful Phoenix, a Mom and Pop Corner Tea Store in Hong Kong, China or MEPPMPCTSHKC and popcorn?
J&D&TheBecka&WAR: Yes please!
W: I’ll be right back with your Good Ole Fashioned Chinese Green Tea or GOFCGT sold by Mother Eu-funh or Playful Phoenix, a Mom and Pop Corner Tea Store in Hong Kong, China or MEPPMPCTSHKC and popcorn!
J&D&TheBecka&WAR: Thank you!
W: Never a problem my darlings!
TheBecka: Great day to be alive while enjoying Good Ole Fashioned Chinese Green Tea or GOFCGT sold by Mother Eu-funh or Playful Phoenix, a Mom and Pop Corner Tea Store in Hong Kong, China or MEPPMPCTSHKC and popcorn!
J&D&WAR: Good Ole Fashioned Chinese Green Tea or GOFCGT sold by Mother Eu-funh or Playful Phoenix, a Mom and Pop Corner Tea Store in Hong Kong, China or MEPPMPCTSHKC and popcorn! Good Ole Fashioned Chinese Green Tea or GOFCGT sold by Mother Eu-funh or Playful Phoenix, a Mom and Pop Corner Tea Store in Hong Kong, China or MEPPMPCTSHKC and popcorn! Give us more Good Ole Fashioned Chinese Green Tea or GOFCGT sold by Mother Eu-funh or Playful Phoenix, a Mom and Pop Corner Tea Store in Hong Kong, China or MEPPMPCTSHKC and popcorn!
W: My darlings! Be right back with your Good Ole Fashioned Chinese Green Tea or GOFCGT sold by Mother Eu-funh or Playful Phoenix, a Mom and Pop Corner Tea Store in Hong Kong, China or MEPPMPCTSHKC and popcorn!
J&D&TheBecka&WAR: Thank you!
W: Never a problem my darlings!
TheBecka: See! Things are bad! Horrible actually! But so long as we have “some” of the simple pleasures in life? We’ll endure!
J: I won’t!
D: Jonathan? Let Becka have her moment!
TheBecka: Thank Drew!
W: He’s a good boy!
J: A good little suck-up boy you mean!
W: Jonathan! Apologize to your brother!
J: Sorry Drew!
D: Thank you Jonathan!
TheBecka: Okay then! The moment’s gone! So? Onto today’s stories! Of which! We have three for you today! (1) Don‘t fire me without just cause: A fast-food worker makes the case for City Council legislation! (2) Supreme Court rejects Zappos appeal! And (3) Does Raising the Minimum Wage Save Money on Social Services?
J: Lot of work there TheBecka!
TheBecka: That’s what we’re here for Jonathan! What we’re here for! Up first! On line #2! TheSASMO, please!
Don‘t fire me without just cause: A fast-food worker makes the case for City Council legislation!
TheSASMO: From a story by the ‘New York City Daily News!’ An important story which “will” effect us inside TheAmazon Fulfillment Center Chain or TAFCC!
J: Awesome!
TheSASMO: Hardly!
WAR: So what’s going on here TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: This Warren! It’s an attempt to END ‘At Will Employment’ or AWE!
J&WAR: The old Shock & AWE!
TheSASMO: The old Amazonian “scheme” to come between a terminated employee and “their” rightful un-employment insurance! Something all workers pay into! Something anyone! Even management! Needs when termination comes for you!
J: For whom the bell tolls?
TheSASMO: In the end Jonathan! All of us!
D: What TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Let’s get to the story! Now listen! ‘For nearly four years! I have been a full-time student by day and a fast food worker by night, working as a crew trainer or often at the drive-thru window at the McDonald’s at 840 Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn.’
J&D: Mickey Ds! Babe raised us on the magnificent Mickey Ds!
TheSASMO: How unfortunate! Let’s continue! ‘That is, until my manager fired me unfairly two days before Thanksgiving last year!’
D: Why TheSASMO? Why?
TheSASMO: Because of ‘At Will Employment’ or AWE! An unfair and unceremonious job termination for nonexistent or trumped up reasons!
WAR: Looks and smells like TheAmazon to me!
TheSASMO: Me as well Warren! Me as well! TheAmazonian Modus Operandi or TAMO!
J&WAR: TAMO! TAMO! TAMO! To the depths of anguish: TAMO!
TheSASMO: Plain and simple! TheAmazon uses fear and retaliation or what we workers deal with most often on the job! In the article! In the fast food industry! Listen to this fast food worker once again: ‘I’ve seen co-workers fired because the manager was in a bad mood or, in one worker’s case; a manager said she had to go because she created “bad vibes.”’
J: Holy cow Batman! “Bad vibes” in the workplace?
TheSASMO: Like Mickey Ds! Whole lot of “bad vibes” at TheAmazon! Bad again to “our” fast food worker: ‘Managers rampantly reduce workers’ hours so much that they have no choice but to quit because they cannot survive on what they earn from so few hours of work.’
J&WAR: Amazon! Amazon! Amazon! To the depths of anguish: TAMO!
TheSASMO: Indeed! TheAmazonian Modus Operandi or TAMO all over again! “our” fast food worker once again: ‘In my case, my manager added a shift to my schedule at a time that I had informed him I would not be available to work. I changed my schedule to accommodate the extra shift, but I then had a personal emergency where my landlord was arrested and left her infant daughter in my care.’
D: Wow TheSASMO! What happened next?
TheSASMO: That’s Woe or W Drew! “Our” fast food worker had this to say: ‘I called my manager well in advance of the shift to let him know I couldn’t make it to work. He was understanding over the phone, but when I came in for my next shift, he fired me, citing a list of write-ups I had never seen before.’
J: Holy cow Batman! Sound like more “Bad vibes” in the workplace!
TheSASMO: “Bad vibes” at the ONT6 Fulfillment Center or FC in Moreno Valley, ca! They do it all the time!
D: What does the ONT6 Fulfillment Center or FC in Moreno Valley, ca do TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Our “so-called” leadership changes the “rates” whenever they “feel” the moment come on! Whenever they get a nasty have a scratch-to-itch on “their” sorry back-sides!
J: Are your referring to “their” Ass Scratchingly Stupid or ASS back-sides TheSASMO?
WAR: Better bet “your” Ass Scratchingly Stupid or ASS back-side Jonathan!
TheSASMO: Continuing! “Our” fast food worker persists with her Tale Of Tells or TOT! ‘This kind of unfairness is one of the reasons why my co-workers and I are organizing support for a bill that members of the New York City Council have introduced. The legislation would establish a new standard so that when we are fired, we can appeal to an independent arbitrator. If it turns out our dismissal was for no good reason, there can be damages.’
D: Sounds like TheAmazon should be held to this standard as well TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Exactly what we on the Union Organizing Committee or UOC have planned! End ‘At Will Employment’ or AWE NOW or Need to Organize Workers! This would finally hold fast food giants like McDonald’s and mean-spirited companies like Amazon.com accountable! Address the huge power imbalance! Put the burden of proving legitimate reasons for termination back where it belongs! Workers like “our” fast food gal need some protection and that starts with our employers demonstrating real! Serious! Work-performance issues before termination or reducing our hours!
WAR: Is this what we all call “fairness” TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: God damn correct Warren! Look! New York City has a large and growing fast food industry in which more than 67,000 people predominantly women of color work. According to “our” fast food worker: ‘We are doing everything that society is asking of us getting up before dawn or working overnight; commuting long hours to work; doing dangerous, physically demanding work; and missing meals with families.’
J: TheAmazon all over again!
TheSASMO: More to this! ‘In exchange, we are often faced with impossible choices: endure hostile and dangerous working conditions, leave or be fired and face financial struggle without a job. This is simply unacceptable.’
J&D&WAR: Been there!
TheBecka: Done that!
TheSASMO: As have I and many of my co-workers inside ONT6! Speaking of which “our” fast food worker states: ‘It might be easy to overlook us and see what we do as dead-end jobs being done by teenagers looking for pocket money. I am living proof that you can work in fast food and live a life of purpose. I am a 22-year-old African-American woman and, with some help from financial aid but mostly on what I earn working in this industry, I will graduate this June with a degree in criminal justice, another vital step in my ambition to become a lawyer.’
J&D&TheBecka&WAR: You go girl!
TheSASMO: “Our” Fast food worker finishes with: ‘My passion is to fight for justice wherever it is needed. I am doing my part to get the just-cause law passed because I see it as a beacon of light for hard-working New Yorkers to finally have the peace of mind that comes with knowing a hard day’s work will be compensated fairly, that we will be treated with the dignity and respect we deserve.’
D: Can this happen at TheAmazon TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: United We Stand or UWS! UNION WORKERS UNITE: NOW or Need to Organize Workers! Jonathan please!
J: United We Stand! Divided We Fall! Loud and Clear so TheBezos can hear and fear what We Workers can accomplish when Unified!
J&D&TheBecka&WAR&TheSASMO: There’s no where in the world that I would rather be Then with you my co-worker! And there’s nothing in the world that I would rather see Than you smile my co-worker! For united we stand! Divided we fall! And if our backs should ever be against the wall We’ll be together, Together, you and I! For united we stand. Divided we fall And if our backs should ever be against the wall We’ll be together, Together, you and I! And if the world around you falls apart my co-worker! Then I’ll still be here And if the going gets too hard along the way Just you call I’ll hear For united we stand. Divided we fall And if our backs should ever be against the wall We’ll be together, Together, you and I! For united we stand. Divided we fall And if our backs should ever be against the wall We’ll be together, Together, you and I! For united we stand. Divided we fall And if our backs should ever be against the wall We’ll be together, Together, you and I!
TheSASMO: UNIONIZE NOW! NO MORE ‘AT WILL EMPLOYMENT or AWE!
TheBecka: Indeed! NO MORE! And now onto “our” next story! Front and center! Warren, please!
Supreme Court rejects Zappos appeal!
WAR: The U.S. Supreme Court or USSC turns away an appeal by TheAmazon! TheAmazon of which is getting its privates slapped around in public much too often!
J&D: You go the Supremes!
J: And with the Supremes we go! Everybody!
J&D&TheBecka&WAR&TheSASMO: Ooh baby love [Jeff Bezos], my baby love [Jeff Bezos] I need you Ooh baby love [Jeff Bezos], my baby love [Jeff Bezos] I need you, oh how I need you [Jeff Bezos] But all you do is treat me bad [Jeff Bezos] Break my heart and leave me sad [Jeff Bezos] Tell me, what did I do wrong [Jeff Bezos] To make you stay away so long [Jeff Bezos] ‘Cause baby love [Jeff Bezos], my baby love [Jeff Bezos] Been missing ya [Jeff Bezos], miss kissing ya [Jeff Bezos] Instead of breaking up [Jeff Bezos] Let’s do some kissing and making up [Jeff Bezos] Don’t throw our love away [Jeff Bezos] In my arms why don’t you stay [Jeff Bezos] Need ya, need ya Baby love [Jeff Bezos], ooh, baby love [Jeff Bezos] Ooh, ooh, need to hold you [Jeff Bezos] Once again, my love [Jeff Bezos] Feel your warm embrace [Jeff Bezos], my love Don’t throw our love away [Jeff Bezos] Please don’t do me this way [Jeff Bezos] Not happy like I used to be [Jeff Bezos] Loneliness has got the best of me My love [Jeff Bezos], my baby love [Jeff Bezos] I need you, oh how I need you [Jeff Bezos] Why you do me like you do [Jeff Bezos] After I’ve been true to you [Jeff Bezos] So deep in love with you [Jeff Bezos]!
WAR: Right! Listen! The Amazonian Zappos unit related to a 2012 hack that exposed the personal information of 24 million customers!
J: I thought TheAmazon was “customer” obsessed TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Fairy Tales can come true it can happen to you if you’re young at heart! And Jonathan says?
J: Bullshit!
WAR: Zappos argued that customers couldn’t sue without proof of concrete injury. The Supreme Court decision will allow the lawsuit to proceed. The suit is seeking class action status.
J: Boy oh boy! We just might be a part of this 0ne Drew!
D: Did we buy anything from Amazon’s Zappos’ Jonathan?
J: Maybe? Maybe not? But let’s hope so though!
WAR: Okay people! Moving forward! The U.S. Supreme Court or USSC turned away an appeal by Amazon.com Inc.’s Zappos unit! In doing this! They’re letting a lawsuit proceed over a 2012 hack that exposed the personal information of 24 million customers!
J: Our chances seem likely Drew!
D: Let’s hope so Jonathan! Let’s hope so!
WAR: Right! Look! The online shoe and clothing retailer argued unsuccessfully that the customers couldn’t sue without proof of concrete injury!
J: Such as Warren?
WAR: The impending misuse of their information! The suit! Allowed by a San Francisco-based federal appeals court! Seeks class action status!
J&D: Class Action! Class Action! Class Action! Rubbing our hands in anticipation of Class Action!
WAR: The rebuff by the courts’ a setback for business groups which urged the court to hear the appeal and tighten the rules for data-breach lawsuits! In fact! The U.S. Chamber of Commerce or USCC said companies face similar suits over alleged vulnerabilities in internet-connected cars! Home-security systems! Children’s toys! And medical devices!
TheSASMO: As they freakin’ should be!
WAR: Zappos argued this: ‘The factual scenario this case presents-- a database holding customers’ personal information is accessed, but virtually no identity theft or fraud results -- is an increasingly common one!’ The company says only two dozen people have ever claimed their data might have been misused because of the breach!
TheSASMO: One person’s enough!
D: Yeah! What if you were one of those two dozen people?
TheSASMO: If it were two dozen million people? TheAmazon wouldn’t care in the least! Screw the consumer to the max! TheAmazon as all of big business just doesn’t care!
WAR: Truly! A San Francisco-based federal appeals court let the suit go forward! The court saying that the sensitive nature of the stolen data! Data which included credit card information! This left customers vulnerable to identity theft! The appeals court pointed to people who said their email accounts had been commandeered or credit cards fraudulently charged!
D: How’d you feel Mr. Jeff Bezos if other people stole your identity?
J: Who’s want TheBezos’ identity to begin with?
TheSASMO: Not me! Not for all TheAmazonian shares he holds! He can go to hell! And take his freakin’ shares of stock with him!
D: And face Mr. Robert De Niro or MRDN when he gets there!
WAR: Now hear this! The suing customers face: ‘a substantial risk that the Zappos hackers will commit identity fraud or identity theft,’ Judge Michelle Friedland wrote for a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
TheSASMO: God damned correct there Judge Michelle Friedland writing for the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals!
WAR: The high court had been holding the appeal while it considered a case involving Alphabet Inc.’s Google unit that raised similar issues. The justices sent that case back to a lower court to consider whether consumers pressing a privacy suit had legal standing to sue. The case is Zappos.com v. Stevens, 18-225.
D: Warren?
WAR: Yes Drew?
D: What’s a Zappos?
WAR: The story goes like this Drew!
Zappos was founded in 1999 by Nick Swinmurn who says that his initial inspiration came when he failed to find a pair of brown Airwalks at his local mall. That same year, Swinmurn approached Tony Hsieh and Alfred Lin with the idea of selling shoes online. Hsieh was initially skeptical, and almost deleted Swinmurn's voice mail.
After Swinmurn mentioned that ‘footwear in the U.S. is a 40 billion dollar market and 5% of that is already being sold by paper mail order catalogs,’ Hsieh and Lin decided to invest $2 million through their investment firm Venture Frogs. The company was officially launched online in 1999 as “ShoeSite.com.”
In July 1999, the company's name was changed from ShoeSite to Zappos after “zapatos,” the Spanish word meaning “shoes.” In 2000, Venture Frogs invested capital into the business and allowed Zappos to move into their office space. In 2001, Hsieh came on board as co-CEO with Nick Swinmurn.
From 1999 to 2000, Zappos earned $1.6 million in gross sales. In 2001, Zappos brought in $8.6 million, a significant increase from the previous year. In 2004, Zappos reached $184 million in gross sales and received a $35 million investment from Sequoia Capital. That same year, they moved their headquarters from San Francisco to Henderson, Nevada. Over the next three years, Zappos doubled their annual revenues, hitting $840 million in gross sales.
By 2007, the company expanded to include handbags, eyewear, clothing, watches, and kids’ merchandise. In 2008, Zappos hit $1 billion in annual sales. One year later, they debuted at No. 23 on Fortune's Top 100 Companies to Work For.
In the early 2000s, Zappos made the decision to move away from its original business model wherein the company does not manage any inventory. Hsieh noted: “Even though it was hard to walk away from sales at a time when nobody is offering you money, we couldn't distinguish ourselves in the eyes of our customers if we weren't going to control the entire experience. We had to give up the easy money, manage the inventory, and take the risk.”
Amazon subsidiary!
In 2009, Zappos announced an acquisition by Amazon. Within Zappos’ board of directors, two of the five—Hsieh and Alfred Lin—were primarily concerned with maintaining Zappos company culture, whereas the other three wanted to maximize profits in a down economy. Initially, Hsieh and Lin planned to buy out their board of directors, which they estimated would cost $200 million. In the midst of this, Amazon executives approached Zappos with the proposition of buying the company outright.
After an hour-long meeting with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Hsieh sensed that Amazon would be open to letting Zappos continue to operate as an independent entity, and started negotiations. On July 22, 2009, Amazon announced that it would buy Zappos for $940 million in a stock and cash deal.
Owners of shares of Zappos were set to receive approximately 10 million Amazon.com shares, and employees would receive a separate $40 million in cash and restricted stock units. The deal was eventually closed in November 2009 for a reported $1.2 billion.
On June 22, 2012, Zappos announced it would be handing operations of its Kentucky warehouse to Amazon on September 1, 2012. The outlet housed in the Kentucky warehouse remains open, but the name was changed to 6 pm outlet.
2012 hacking incident!
On January 16, 2012, Zappos announced that its computer system was hacked, compromising the personal information of 24 million customers. In response, the company required all of its customers to change their passwords on the site, though it noted that it was highly unlikely that password information was obtained due to encryption.
This incident led to a class action suit In re Zappos.com, Inc., Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, with plaintiffs claiming that Zappos did not adequately protect their personal information.
TheBecka: Thank you Warren! And now onto “our” final story for todays show! Front and center on line #2 once again! TheSASMO, please!
Does Raising the Minimum Wage Save Money on Social Services?
TheSASMO: Yes! Experts say! But an extra dollar or two an hour won’t free low-income people from poverty altogether.
J: Damn the corporations!
TheSASMO: To the very depths of hell and beyond!
WAR: Especially TheAmazon!
TheSASMO: And Jeff Bezos and all his minions! Look! This year will be an unprecedented one for minimum wage increases! The hourly salary floor in 18 states and 13 municipalities rose at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1!
J&WAR: About God damn time!
TheSASMO: And over the course of the year three more states! Eight cities! And the District of Columbia will be following suit! The increases range from a nickel-an-hour inflation adjustment in Alaska to a $2-an-hour jump in New York City!
D: New York City?
TheSASMO: This year will likely be a test not only of advocates’ arguments that a higher minimum wage can be a crucial stepladder to help people rise out of poverty! But more importantly! Also of the assertion that it can save states money on safety-net programs such as Medicaid and cash assistance?
J: Why the question TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Try this one on for size! The goal of cutting Medicaid costs was at the heart of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposal in 2017 to raise the minimum wage in his state from the federally mandated $7.25 an hour to $12.
D: The Federal Minimum Wage or FMW’s only $7.25? Are we living the USofA? TheSASMO, please?
TheSASMO: The federal minimum wage was last raised on July 24, 2009! It rose from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour! The “last” step of a three-step increase approved by Congress in 2007! Before that time! The federal minimum wage had been stuck at $5.15 per hour for 10 years!
J: You’ve gotta be freakin’ kidding me TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Hardly Jonathan! Frustrated by inaction at the federal level! The states and, increasingly, many cities and counties who have to directly deal with working people’s lives have moved to raise the wage floor! Have moved on companies like Amazon.com!
J: Directly deal with the workers lives TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: More and more the federal governments turning its back on working people in favor of the HUGE CORPORATIONS such as Mickey Ds! Walmart! TheAmazon! And all the rest! In which case? Where’s needed assistance coming from due to flattened wages!
WAR: And we speaking of? TheSASMO, please?
TheSASMO: The high cost of living! Inflation! The raise in rents! The cost of food! Child care because all the adult members of the household are forced to work more and more! God damn you all the Jeff Bezos’ of this world! Transportation to and from all those jobs which pay? Jonathan?
J: Bullshit!
TheSASMO: Exactly! Now! Twenty-five states have raised their minimum wage since the last federal increase! Some through legislation or ballot initiatives! Others through having adopted “indexing” provisions that authorize small automatic increases most years to keep pace with the rising cost of living!
J&WAR: What else TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: The strongest momentum in recent years? The local level! Altogether! More than 40 cities and counties have raised the minimum wage locally since 2012! And at least 34 since 2014!
WAR: And as to Governor Wolf TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Governor Wolf estimated that the move would lift 100,000 people out of the program and save the state $50 million annually!
J: But? TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: The proposal didn’t go anywhere! Ironically! Pennsylvania’s not among the states getting a minimum wage increase in 2019!
D: Why TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: First things first Drew! Look! The governor’s thinking wasn’t flawed! At least according to some experts! David Cooper, who studies employment issues at the Economic Policy Institute, had this to say: ‘Without a doubt, raising the minimum wage will create savings for states in their Medicaid programs!”
D: Is this true TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Maybe? Maybe not? Listen! Cooper cautions that saving money on Safety-Net Programs or SNP shouldn’t be the main goal of efforts to raise the minimum wage! He continued with this: ‘With the savings you’re generating, we believe states should be expanding coverage and investing back into those programs! Just because someone might phase out of a program doesn’t mean that they don’t need support!’
J: That was said to Babe as the three of us were thrown out onto the streets!
D: Bad times Jonathan! Bad times!
TheSASMO: Indeed! The fact that a person might be getting an extra dollar or two an hour doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to be in a better financial situation! Jacob Vigdor! A professor of public policy at the University of Washington! Studied the impact of Seattle’s 2014 ordinance raising the city’s minimum wage incrementally to $15 an hour in 2020!
J&WAR: What was the outcome TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: While higher-skilled workers did reap some benefits in terms of lower job turnover and improved economic security! Vigdor found that businesses cut work hours in some lower-skilled job categories!
D: Why do they do that TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: More profit! Now! While lower-skilled employees whose hours weren’t cut might be taking home more money, ‘their purchasing power isn’t really increasing,” and so says Vigdor! ‘They’re earning an extra $20 a week…
J&WAR: BFD!
TheSASMO: Big Freakin’ Deal to be certain guys! But if? If their rent’s going up $100 a month? ‘It doesn’t matter much!’ And so once again says Vigdor! It’s kind of like a fellow theologian friend of mine said to me when speaking about his student loans: ‘It’s as if you alone floating in the ocean! The bottom’s clearly unfathomable! Reaching shore’s an impossibility! And moving this way or that way? It won’t matter in the least! You’re finished!’
D: Was he? TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: Nah Drew! He’s doing fine I imagine! Okay then! There’s also the question of how minimum wage increases might play out in places that, unlike Seattle, don’t have the benefit of an economic powerhouse like TheAmazon that can afford such a mandate!
WAR: And this means TheSASMO?
TheSASMO: In states like Arkansas and Missouri, for example! They are among states getting minimum wage increases this year! Therefore! Vigdor wonders if businesses in their rural and suburban areas will be able pay the higher wage without significantly cutting workers’ hours. If that happens? He says! Safety-Net Programs or SNP may be just as strained as they are now!
J: And so things never change!
TheSASMO: Unfortunately Jonathan! Yes! Things rarely change! There’s also another factor that’s looming over all of these discussions! A potential economic downturn in the near future! One which many economists are predicting! An influx of people on cash assistance! Medicaid! And food stamps might swamp any savings resulting from minimum wage hikes! Vigdor once again: ‘You’re going to want some rainy day funds if you’re hoping that raising the minimum wage will offset costs elsewhere!’
TheBecka: And here’s hoping that a tomorrow comes once again! And also hoping that you! “Our” cherished listeners! Return next time for ‘A Silent Radio Hour’ live yet pre-recorded here inside The Spank the Monkey Café in the heart of downtown Seattle, Washington kitty corner to HQ1 of The Mighty Amazon!
TheSASMO: And may God bless TheBezos! May he reign in hell forever!
INSIDE THEAMAZON!
BEZOS! BEZOS! BEZOS! All praise to TheBEZOS!
D: Along with Mr. Robert De Niro or MRDN TheSASMO?
TheBecka: And that’s Good Night Irene!
J&D: Bye now!
NO MORE!
* * *
To our cherished listeners out there hopefully believing that “our” ‘A Live Silent Radio Hour’ which’s live yet pre-recorded at The Spank the Monkey Café in the heart of downtown Seattle, Washington of the United States of Here’s Still Hoping for the Fifth Aeon to Finally Come and Save Us All Here or USHSHFAFCSUAH in: America which’s quickly Slipping Into Darkness or SID! Hopefully, we’ll be back next time! Who knows? Now listen! I’m Becka formerly known as Reject # 2 now known as TheBecka! I’m here in what’s known as The Spank the Monkey Café where we’re now broadcasting live yet pre-recorded and so many thanks once again to “our” cherished listeners who are anticipating another Episode or E of ‘A Live Silent Radio Hour’! We’re so sorry that you have to live through these nasty “happenings” taking place daily here in America! I mean to say! Really SORRY! But I wish to thank all of you for tuning in once more while again leaving Any Semblance of Rational Thought or ASRT at the door as for the sake of TheDonald: How in the hell can you listen to silent radio? Never understood that one but hey folks! We’re back! (Inspirational Pause!) And please cherished “LISTENERS” return once again next time to hopefully Find-Out-the-Facts or FOFs concerning the nature and cause of our Collective Delusion or CD as we Tell Our Tale or TOT of Misery or M here in a land formerly known as America! Please stay safe and always watch out for those Frenzied, Extremely Agitated Regrettables or FEAR “Neo-Liberals” who see their own reflection in the Mirrored Sunglasses or MSs of those who would Un-Naturally or UN ridicule our Blessed Way of Life here on Silent Radio or SR! And please! Make sure to thank TheDonald! And so I’m pretty certain! And Good Night Irene!
* * *
D: Jonathan?
J: Yes Drew?
D: Think we should end “our” trips to Mickey Ds?
J: Hate to admit it Drew! But yes! Until Mickey Ds treats its workers with respect and dignity not to mention fair pay and better working conditions! The ending of ‘At Will Employment’ or AWE must become standard or no more Big Macs!
NO MORE!
Mickey Ds!
or
TheAmazon!
D: I like your thinking Jonathan! I’m all in!
J: And I’m all in with this! Everybody’s singing for “their” own RESPECT!
J&D&TheBecka&WAR&TheSASMO: What you want Baby [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon], I got it! What you need [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Do you know I got it! All I’m askin’ [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Is for a little respect [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] when you come home just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Hey baby just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] no when you get home just a little bit mister just a little bit I ain’t gonna do you wrong [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] while you’re gone [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Ain’t gonna do you wrong [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] ‘cause I don’t wanna [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] All I’m askin’ [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Is for a little respect [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] when you come home just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Hey Baby just a little bit when you get home [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] just a little bit Yeah just a little bit I’m about to give you all of my money [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] And all I’m askin’ in return, honey [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Is to give me my propers [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] When you get home [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] just a, just a, just a, just a Yeah baby just a, just a, just a, just a When you get home just a little bit Yeah just a little bit Ooo, your kisses Sweeter than honey And guess what? So is my money [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] All I want you to do for me Is give it to me when you get home [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Yeah baby Whip it to me respect [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon], just a little bit When you get home, now just a little bit Are-E-S-P-E-C-T [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Find out what it means to me Are-E-S-P-E-C-T [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Take care, tcb [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Oh sock it to me, sock it to me, Sock it to me, sock it to me [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] A little respect [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] sock it to me, sock it to me, Sock it to me, sock it to me [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Whoa, babe just a little bit A little respect [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] I get tired [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Keep on tryin’ just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] You’re runnin’ out of foolin’ just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] And I ain’t lyin’ [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] just a little bit re, re, re, re ‘spect [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon]When you come home re, re, re, re [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] Or you might walk in respect[Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] , just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] And find out I’m gone just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] I got to have just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon] A little respect just a little bit [Mickey Ds & TheAmazon]: RESPECT!
The Post Meeting Social or PMS:
TheBecka: Seems you got that one in under the wire Jonathan!
J: Absolutely freakin’ correct TheBecka! And we’re once again takin’ it to the streets! We’re fighting for “our” very lives here people! With passion and resolve! There’s more to life than ‘My MTV’!
J&D&TheBecka&WAR&Any One Who Cares About “OUR” Democracy! Cares about finding out who were are? Where we come from? Where we’re headed? What we desire to be or not to be which’s quite the question: ‘You don’t know me but I’m your brother I was raised here in this living hell You don’t know my kind in your world Fairly soon the time will tell You, telling me the things you’re gonna do for me I ain’t blind and I don’t like what I think I see Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Take this message to my brother You will find him everywhere Wherever people live together Tied in poverty’s despair Oh, you, telling me the things you’re gonna do for me I ain’t blind and I don’t like what I think I see Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the Oh, you, telling me the things you’re gonna do for me, yeah I ain’t blind and I don’t like what I think I see Takin’ it to the streets takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets Takin’ it to the streets, takin’ it to the streets!’
NO MORE!