Comments on: Minimum Wage Rises 70 Cents
Increase To $6.55 Per Hour Marks Second Of Three Annual Increases
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- The minimum wage keeps minority teenagers unemployed and on the streets. The minimum wage is a great recruiting tool for gangs, pushers, and pimps. It''s a great example of white liberals destroying the people they pretend to want to help.
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- toldyouso12....You make several good points. Here is something else to think about. Prior to WW2 there wasn''t really much of a middle class. There were "teacher colleges" because the wealthy realized that they needed people who could read and write to work in the factories and they needed people to teach them. But after the war ended the rich made a terrible mistake. Somebody came up with the GI Bill and suddenly the elite schools which had previously admitted only the children of the wealthy became available to everyone. The result was the creation of the middle class. Workers who were well educated and ambitious. Look at the cost of a good education today. Most middle class families cannot afford the tuition let alone the costs of living while going to school. So what is happening is that more and more middle class kids are having to settle for second rate educations while the wealthy are able to send their kids to the best schools. Case in point, we have a son who graduated from a state university with a 3.8 GPA. His degree is in marketing and he is working in the plumbing department at Lowes for 8.35 an hour. There are no jobs available in his career field. There is no doubt that the wealthy have realized their error and are taking steps to correct it. But they must tread carefully or people might realize what is happening. The wealthy have made huge gains in income since Reagan and the middle class has lost ground. Just one more thing to ponder.
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- This helps no one better their lot in life, and does help trap a few more at the bottom.
Posted by kesac4650 at 10:22 AM : Jul 24, 2008
Now you know that ain''t true, My abandon lot is so strewn with weeds and garbage, that with this raise, I can now afford garbage bags, and a new weedeater.
Yee Haw!! - Reply to this comment
- Posted by brianbwb at 10:38 AM : Jul 24, 2008
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Gotta be kind to those folks in Texas brian. You''re not supposed to agitate autistic people!
Just commend him/her for typing and posting a complete sentence (or two). Like this:
"You''re such a good little boy Texasvoter, now go get some juice from your mommy." - Reply to this comment
- Spoken like a true idiot, look outside, past the rear ends of the cattle in your front yard
Posted by brianbwb
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Now that''s funny! Good one brianbwb....He''d have to get up on his Duelly Truck to do it though! - Reply to this comment
- I think I''ve got the answers to all our country''s problems.
Raise the minimum wage by $20 dollars an hour and raise individul taxes by $19 dollars per hour.
This is a win-win for the government and the people and will give everyone a $1 raise and put billions into the government to pay down debt, for new energy and social programs, etc.
Should remind you of a two legged stool. - Reply to this comment
- "So don%u2019t blame the Government... blame yourself!"
Posted by TexasVoter
Spoken like a true idiot, look outside, past the rear ends of the cattle in your front yard, there are college grads, along with experienced laid off computer programmers, engineers, ex teachers, construction workers, auto workers, competing for those minimum-wage jobs, because the fields of study they mastered have been farmed out to slave labor countries like India, programmers in Russia, and electrical component service in China.
A fitting allegory for your comment would be to compare it to a rich person who buys and locks up all the soap, then blames others because their clothes aren''t clean. - Reply to this comment
- The minimum wage is a farce. How many kids will this entice into dropping out os school? How many people in entry level/dead end jobs that they need to get out of to better themselves, will become just a little more comfortable, and so stay in their current positon.
This helps no one better their lot in life, and does help trap a few more at the bottom. - Reply to this comment
- "The minimum wage levels should be automatic. Every year the cost of living should be calculated along with what it takes for a family of four to live above the poverty line. Whatever that poverty line is, the minimum wage should be three percent above it, providing a forty hour work week"
Posted by fsw3
Hmmm... that is the only post I''ve read that makes sense! - Reply to this comment
- Why is it the MSM always fells to remind the American people that the minimum wage is for those young people that are just entering the work force and perhaps retiree%u2019s. It was never meant to live off of much less to support a family.
I am so tired of hearing about how the Government owes people a living. It doesn''t!!! A livable wage means going to college to get an education or to a trade school so you can obtain meaningful employment in order to support one self. So don%u2019t blame the Government... blame yourself! - Reply to this comment
- This rise in minimum wage will cause us to go into a recession? Hmmm... We should have go into a recession every year when college graduates enter the workforce at above minimum wage.
Do you not see this? Minimum wage keeps us out of a recession, unless it involves college graduates, in which case their way-above minimum wage pay is good for the economy....
Whooooo.... Too heavy to handle!!!
Posted by cqsallie
Wages for many college graduates are being pushed down through bogus programs like the H1B1 visa. A much better example of pay raises would be CEOs. - Reply to this comment
- This rise in minimum wage will cause us to go into a recession? Hmmm... We should have go into a recession every year when college graduates enter the workforce at above minimum wage.
Do you not see this? Minimum wage keeps us out of a recession, unless it involves college graduates, in which case their way-above minimum wage pay is good for the economy....
Whooooo.... Too heavy to handle!!! - Reply to this comment
- The actions of the GOP and Congress (Democrats as well as Republicans) have shown us that wealth these days is achieved by hook, by crook, by association, affiliations, back stabbing etc. It is no accident that most of our politicians are lawyers. It is also no accident that people''s wealth rises exponentially when they become politicians--and it is no accident that lawyers are mostly dishonest-having been given the directive to find loop holes and win, not to honor or practice or pursue the truth or justice (which is why public defenders never tell--even if they know their clients really did it) the goal is not upholding the law--it is finding the most ingenious ways to flout, undermine or circumvent the law--and thereby get a client off or win a lawsuit---"If the glove does not fit--we must acquit"
All this means that we are run by people with few scruples and morals, and as the actions of Bush et al (include the Dems and their spend happy budgets in this) propel us over the cliffs--they know something they don''t want the avg American to realize just yet: WE HAVE ALREADY ENTERED THE TIME OF EVERY MAN/WOMAN FOR THEMSELVES. GET WHAT YOU CAN--FVCK THE COUNTRY. The difference is, both sides have to give lip service to caring about the rest of us--while they import illegals, sign bills for NAFTA and CAFTA and tell us to pay no attention to the stuff they, their companies, or their spouses do. - Reply to this comment
- Absolutely NO country in Europe or Asia has entered the global economy without builtin protections for their own workers except America. The reason? They protect their own economies and worker bases FIRST.
Posted by toldyouso12 at 09:46 AM : Jul 24, 2008
Now Why would they do this? Simple: they want to ensure their own workers and country stay a viable society and culture. And America? Secretly many rich Americans have no loyalty or true ties to America. They have their 2nd or 3rd homes in S. America, or Europe or Mexico or the Phillipines, etc--for them we are fodder to be used. To that end we are exploited.
We are taught to sell out, back stab each other, not trust Unions or any group who would collectively fight for us and give us more power. We are taught that if we are smart enough, lucky enough, conniving enough, ruthless enough, we can also be one of the few, the proud, the rich--what they don''t tell you is that they are continually making that gulf soooo great, that the only way anyone will be able to survive or get ahead is by corruption or harming others--sheer hard work will not even pay the bills of the future--but sheer hard work will ensure the poor remain poor and the rich will have finally succeeded in putting us all back into our place--at their feet. - Reply to this comment
- Absolutely NO country in Europe or Asia has entered the global economy without builtin protections for their own workers except America. Even in India, many markets are closed to the US, and first and foremost jobs must be provided solely to Indians with a minimal amount of foreign workers despite many companies basing their workers there. Only in America does our companies pimp out the American worker--willing to sell technology, jobs and mfg prowess for profits in the next fiscal quarter. Very short sighted. IN Europe, locally made goods (like cars, furniture, jeans etc) costs 2 to 5 times less than most American imports. The reason? They protect their own economies and worker bases FIRST.
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- Wohoo ... the poorest Americans can work an 8 hour day then go out and buy another gallon of gas and a soda. Wohoo! They are rolloing in cash now!
We use to be the richest and most repected country in the world. Now after 8 years of the SHRUB and trickle down economics we are really getting the meaning of trickle down, .... the rich get richer and the poor become more numerous and much poorer. Add to this the short plant called "Bush" has made us the laughing stock of the world! IMPEACH BUSH! - Reply to this comment
- The minimum wage is a joke--just like the idea that on their own, most companies will pay a decent wage--meanwhile, CEOs routinely walk away with hundred million dollar bonuses--most of them could not even tell you how the products for their own companies are made--some could not even pronounce the brand names of the companies'' products.
The fact is, the Middle Class as we know it and have lived it was the result of a happy accident of much needed labor and unions pushing for it in the late 1870s to the 1930s--it continued unabated due to wars and need for rebuilding in countries up until the 1970s. Then we had the first contraction.
What people need to remember (especially us serfs) is that throughout history, the world has always been ruled by an elite class with everyone else being soooo poor they could not rise. The advances of the American middle class came at a great cost of blood and anger to the rich and they have deplored its rise. There is a push to return to the status quo--where a few get filthy rich and the others serve them--now and then a sprinkle of wealth or its promises are given to serf collaborators stupid enough to think that one day, they can stand on everyone else too.
At no time in history have the rich or elite willingly surrendered power or monies to the poor and the sad fact is, Americans have been fed lies about Unions, lies about how wealth is achieved and are their own worst enemy. - Reply to this comment
Even if you put the "philosophy of the minimum wage to work" but never factor in rising costs, the reality was not just that those who got it could not make it today, they could not have gotten out of poverty in 1999 either. But back to our model of a paycheck at 640.00/month.
Apt rental--500.00/mo (utilities paid of course) oops--right there--they are in deep doo doo. And that is not accounting for inflation in food, rents, insurance, actual medical bills or anything else like school fees for kids, books, clothing, repairs for that car or home--are WE LEARNING YET?
7.50/HOUR WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO LIFT ANYONE OUT OF POVERTY--NOT IN 1995, NOT IN 2008. It was designed to throw crumbs at the poorest and hope they never made the connection between the self centered greed of many in this country and the fading view of the American Dream.
Marie Antoinette may have said "Let them eat cake" but it takes the American Congress and the GOP to say, "the crumbs from that cake are good enough for the poor"
Incidentally, the poverty level criteria for a family of 4 with two working adults was/is over 40K/year. Two people making 640.00/month paychecks do not even come to 23K per year let alone 40K.- Reply to this comment
- Posted by toldyouso12 at 09:27 AM : Jul 24, 2008
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Yep. As I have said, and you have clearly detailed...
...the plan of the elites are clear for this country:
1. Continue a steady flow of illegal immigrants to work in the jobs that pay minimum wages (or illegally lower).
2. Continue to push for increases in the H1B Visa program for (legal) immigrants to fill the more skilled jobs that would require an American to be paid at a starting wage above $20 an hour.
Both plans are designed to minimize wages and maximize profits... only to be enjoyed by the elite class investors and executives.
The term "profit sharing" is a new oxymoron of the 21st century! - Reply to this comment
- Raise the min wage so that the GOP party can raise the price of living some more and ruin the dollar even more. The biggest threat to our national security is the GOP party.
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