Industry in Oklahoma

[OU Adonis]

Because no one has the balls to say "you know what, in order to pay for things, we have to collect taxes. And that's been too low".

Considering the state tax burden is higher than the national average I would say we are paying our fair share of state taxes.

*Edited* we are 1% less than the national average. So I guess we are pretty much in the middle.

[OKCinsomniac]

Considering the state tax burden is higher than the national average I would say we are paying our fair share of state taxes.

*Edited* we are 1% less than the national average. So I guess we are pretty much in the middle.

When adjusted for cost of living, we're only 13th:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst...taxpayer/2416/

[Swake]

Considering the state tax burden is higher than the national average I would say we are paying our fair share of state taxes.

*Edited* we are 1% less than the national average. So I guess we are pretty much in the middle.

10th lowest in overall personal tax burden rate. 7th lowest in corporate taxes.

http://taxfoundation.org/article/sta...dens-1977-2012

[jerrywall]

How about people not make Wal-Mart a career destination job?

It should be pointed out though that last April Walmart shifted their minimum pay up to $9 an hour, and Feb 1 it moves to $10 an hour. The average hourly pay at Wal-Mart is $13 an hour (before the new increase) for full time workers. Not bad for entry level work.

Wal-Mart used to pay better in comparison to the minimum wage (my mother worked there in the 80's). However, it should be noted it was much tougher to get a job there, and then working up to Cashier was very competitive, and paid well. There are quite a few folks employed at Wal-Mart now that wouldn't have been hireable in the 80's. From a career path standpoint, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, etc, can make decent paths. But you have to, you know, stay in one job for an extended time, have good availability, and have the willingness/ability to train, work hard, and move up into management. When my family's grocery and gas stores went out of business in the 80s, my father went to work hourly for McDonald's, and my mother at Wal-Mart. That turned into a 30 year career for my father, and the pay and benefits was outstanding. Especially for a non-college grad starting at entry level.

[gopokes88]

How about people not make Wal-Mart a career destination job?

How dare you be so insensitive to ask people not to make a career out of a low wage and low skill job!

[Swake]

How about people not make Wal-Mart a career destination job?

That is completely irrelevant. It makes no difference if an individual works there one day or ten years, the fact is these companies are still costing U.S. taxpayers $153 billion a year in taxes spent on welfare for their employees.

Walmart made $16.99 billion last year, $6.5 billion of that came from taxpayer pockets in the form of welfare for underpaid employees with insufficient benefits. Funny, but I don't recall a thank you card from the Walton family.

[Swake]

It should be pointed out though that last April Walmart shifted their minimum pay up to $9 an hour, and Feb 1 it moves to $10 an hour. The average hourly pay at Wal-Mart is $13 an hour (before the new increase) for full time workers. Not bad for entry level work.

Walmart has 500,000 employees earning less than $9 and more than 600,000 making less than $10. The average full time Walmart employee works 34 hours a week making that $9 an hour work out to $15,912 a year. That's less than the poverty level for a family of two. At $10 you get to $17,680 which is under the poverty level for a family of three.

Walmart projects that the wage increase to $10 an hour will increase costs by less than $1.5 billion on revenue of $485 billion so covering that cost by increasing prices would mean a .3% increase in prices. A $10 bag of dog food will now cost $10.03.

Walmart needs to double the increase and get hundreds of thousands of employees off welfare. I'm willing to pay $10.06 for dog food for that to happen.

[jerrywall]

That is completely irrelevant. It makes no difference if an individual works there one day or ten years, the fact is these companies are still costing U.S. taxpayers $153 billion a year in taxes spent on welfare for their employees.

Walmart made $16.99 billion last year, $6.5 billion of that came from taxpayer pockets in the form of welfare for underpaid employees with insufficient benefits. Funny, but I don't recall a thank you card from the Walton family.

Welfare isn't paid to companies. It's to bridge the gap between a worker's product of labor value and cost of living. I don't believe the burden should be on the employer to ensure that every worker must not need assistance. If I own a retail store and I need part time help, and someone takes that job as their only income, am I responsible to ensure that person needs no government assistance (and if not, then why is the standard different for wal-mart?) Why don't we direct this same anger towards those who could work two jobs? When I bought my first house I was working at Taco Mayo full time, and part time at McDonald's. I also picked up shifts doing night inventory at grocery stores. Maybe I should get a kickback for all the savings I passed on to my fellow taxpayers? I have sold blood, sat through waaay too many boring feedback panels, participated in mock juries (talk about boring!), planted trees, delivered newspapers, and more over the years to supplement my income, until I hit a point in my professional life where I was making sufficient income from my primary job.

[jerrywall]

Walmart has 500,000 employees earning less than $9 and more than 600,000 making less than $10.

I believe that information is outdated and from before the $9 floor they implemented last April.

[jerrywall]

I'm willing to pay $10.06 for dog food for that to happen.

Or you could not shop at Walmart and support local businesses and employers?

[Swake]

Or you could not shop at Walmart and support local businesses and employers?

I actually do not shop at Walmart. I shop at Reasor's and Target if I have too.

I get higher quality items in a better shopping environment with better service. And I know I am paying a bit more too.

[jerrywall]

I actually do not shop at Walmart. I shop at Reasor's and Target if I have too.

I get higher quality items in a better shopping environment with better service. And I know I am paying a bit more too.

I think this is the biggest way to effect change. It took me years to ween my wife off of shopping at Wal-Mart. There are enough options that I've not set foot in a Wal-Mart in quite a while. If we ever get a Costco in OKC I'll shop there, but for the most part I try to limit myself to locally owned retailers.

[Bowser214]

This is in response to the news that Dallas is getting it's own financial stock exchange.
Dallas is a Monster. I wish OKC could get one of those big corporate re-locations. People argue that they won't relocate here because not enough of the highly educated to fill the jobs required for those types of corporate relations. But here's an article about Amazon Web Services plans to invest $10 billion, creating 1,000 jobs to establish data center complexes in Mississippi. A TikToker said they have chosen that location due to the location of two major Fiber Optic arteries that run East and West & North and South. So if they can fill high tech jobs in the middle of Mississippi then why not here?
https://mississippi.org/news/amazon-...ng-10-billion/

[TheTravellers]

This is in response to the news that Dallas is getting it's own financial stock exchange.
Dallas is a Monster. I wish OKC could get one of those big corporate re-locations. People argue that they won't relocate here because not enough of the highly educated to fill the jobs required for those types of corporate relations. But here's an article about Amazon Web Services plans to invest $10 billion, creating 1,000 jobs to establish data center complexes in Mississippi. A TikToker said they have chosen that location due to the location of two major Fiber Optic arteries that run East and West & North and South. So if they can fill high tech jobs in the middle of Mississippi then why not here?
https://mississippi.org/news/amazon-...ng-10-billion/

Honestly, you don't need a highly educated workforce for data center maintenance/buildout. It's not like they're building planes (needing engineers, etc.) or anything else complex, it's just routine work - replacing servers, hard drives, running cables, racking servers, troubleshooting (following instructions written by others), etc. Vo-tech or trade schools could most likely supply almost everybody they need. Source: I've worked around/in data centers for 30+ years in various roles, usually sys admin or engineer.

[Bunty]

This is in response to the news that Dallas is getting it's own financial stock exchange.
Dallas is a Monster. I wish OKC could get one of those big corporate re-locations. People argue that they won't relocate here because not enough of the highly educated to fill the jobs required for those types of corporate relations. But here's an article about Amazon Web Services plans to invest $10 billion, creating 1,000 jobs to establish data center complexes in Mississippi. A TikToker said they have chosen that location due to the location of two major Fiber Optic arteries that run East and West & North and South. So if they can fill high tech jobs in the middle of Mississippi then why not here?
https://mississippi.org/news/amazon-...ng-10-billion/

Heck, I'm still wondering if the new $5.5 billion green refinery to be built in Cushing is still on or did the company decide to move it to Texas. Nobody seems to know, other than rumor.

[Bowser214]

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Element Fuels Holdings, a Dallas-area startup proposing to build the first all-new U.S. oil refinery in nearly 50 years, on Thursday said it was relaunching efforts to build a large plant in South Texas.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...069a88ba&ei=15

[mugofbeer]

$1 says the refinery will be blocked just as the nat gas export platform was.

[Mesta Parker]

Heck, I'm still wondering if the new $5.5 billion green refinery to be built in Cushing is still on or did the company decide to move it to Texas. Nobody seems to know, other than rumor.

A refinery in Cushing never made sense to me. Yes, easy access to raw material (oil) via pipeline and you can ship the main product (gasoline) via pipeline, but a refinery produces many by products (C4’s, C5’s, BTX, pygas, others) that are typically shipped by barge because the quantities do not justify a pipeline but are too large to ship economically via truck or rail, not to mention the safety hazard. That is why refineries are typically built near waterways.

[Midtowner]

A refinery in Cushing never made sense to me. Yes, easy access to raw material (oil) via pipeline and you can ship the main product (gasoline) via pipeline, but a refinery produces many by products (C4’s, C5’s, BTX, pygas, others) that are typically shipped by barge because the quantities do not justify a pipeline but are too large to ship economically via truck or rail, not to mention the safety hazard. That is why refineries are typically built near waterways.

Cushing is not that far away from the freshwater ports on the Arkansas.

Also, as far as refineries go, Cushing is the only town I know of where residents would be enthusiastic--even nostalgic about smelling a refinery every single day. That is in the town's blood. I remember growing up, I had grandparents in Cushing. We'd go and play on the abandoned refinery equipment, including an old locomotive.

[Bunty]

Cushing is not that far away from the freshwater ports on the Arkansas.

Also, as far as refineries go, Cushing is the only town I know of where residents would be enthusiastic--even nostalgic about smelling a refinery every single day. That is in the town's blood. I remember growing up, I had grandparents in Cushing. We'd go and play on the abandoned refinery equipment, including an old locomotive.

As a child, I also had grandparents in Cushing and other relatives and can remember the refinery smell. My uncle, now passed on, used to work there. Maybe the new green refinery won't smell.

The railway yard was always quite a sight while driving on the overpass when arriving on the west side of Cushing, now totally gone. Didn't play on old stuff or even go to the great town pool much, which many towns still envy.

These days I only know of two or three relatives who live in Cushing. One is my nephew, which is where the rumor came from that the company decided to move the refinery to Texas. I would hopefully speculate that it's taking longer than expected to get construction started, assuming it hasn't already. Cushing could use some new industry to encourage commercial redevelopment. Too much of its downtown is crumbling with some buildings making you wonder if they are beyond repair.