The high rate of unemployment among teenagers, and especially black teenagers, is both a scandal and a serious source of social unrest. Yet it is largely a result of minimum wage laws. We regard the minimum wage law as one of the most, if not the most, anti-black laws on the statute books. – Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist
"There ain't a dime's worth of difference between em, Hoss" --Waylon Jennings, quoting George Wallace.
So now the GOP house is passing laws in order to kill them. Swell. They are sounding and acting like Democrats more with each passing day. Okay, so the Democrats are hopelessly conflicted and rudderless. This doesn't really matter with the Republicans doing all your heavy lifting for you. What still puzzles me is why putting all our young people out of work is considered a good way to end the death tax....or maybe not because we can count on the senate to kill it. Sheesh.
Meanwhile, the media is pointing over to the middle east, and saying "Look! Fireworks!" Yeah, like that hasn't happened before. It's not that I'm unsympathetic, it's just that Isreal vs. Iran already sounds like a fair fight. Let them go at it for a while, and give me monthly status reports. I really don't see what interests are at stake for us. We already went the extra mile on Al Qaeda. That should demonstrate to the third world that we are not pussy-footing around. To have us get sucked in to every mortar shelling going on around the world is truly mindless and dissipative.
Hello, media, the action is right here! The government is doing more damage to us than Hezbollah's wildest dreams! How about defending the constitution for a change? How about picking on a few national tragedies that truly create division, poverty, strife, and dependence?
The saddest thing about 9/11 is that we gave up so much freedom in exchange for a security that does not and can not ever exist. By defeating Al Qaeda we did all that was possible and necessary. Every time a new provision of the Patriot Act is implemented we give the enemies of freedom another sign that they are having an effect. Let's get off this hellbound train before it consumes us all.
Meanwhile, all we are getting from our representation is warmed over socialism as a mechanism to fool the people. Hard to be a political junkie in this environment.
I'm sure I'll find more to remark upon soon, but pobably not before election season. Even the thought of that is a little demoralizing right now. I predict the GOP in a yawner followed by more of the same. As I've said before, the only thing worse would be a Democrat win, but now more than ever, I don't see a dime's worth of difference to be had.
7 comments:
Raise the minimum wage, and it's likely that places like McDonalds, rather than offering entry level work that teaches job skills to the disadvantaged, will find it cheaper and easier to go with automated kiosks, a kind of uber-automat approach. This will hurt the very people the increase is intended to help.
On the other hand, the idea of not having to deal with a mouth breathing, non-English speaking, Gen-Z moron with the IQ of a grape who's incapable of getting a simple order correct and dealing with an effcient, clean machine instead is actually rather pleasing. Bring on the increase! It'll make my trip to the stores that much more pleasurable.
Exactly!
Burger flipping is a skill that is worth about 3 bucks an hour, which is exactly what a 14 year old should get for it.
Now, no 14 year old has $10 worth of marketable skills and therefore will remain unemployed until such time as someone will take a chance and hire them without any track record. This scheme is so fundamentally flawed as to be insane. Worse, it puts off any employment prospects until well after the typical kid starts a family nowadays. Then they start with no experience. Who's going to take a chance on that?
Free market principles are the only ones that work, and abolishing the minimum wage is what we should be debating. Instead, we get this.
It will be interesting to watch what happens now in Chicago. Lowes is one of many retailers that has suspended all new Chicago stores because of the idiotic minimum wage ordinance. Daley will probably veto it, but this problem won't go away. More inner city unemployment coming right up.
I like your vision of a burger-mat. It's the only logical direction for most service industries.
how come "a rising tide lifts all boats," but a minimum wage hurts the poor?
it's like conservatives want to have it both ways or something
Anonymous once again proves that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, and that education in a government school will leave you ignorant and damned proud of it. Anon, if you can't understand how raising the minimum wage puts people out of work, even after it's been explained to you, then you obviously believe in a fantasy world, and are just the kind of voter the Dimocrats are looking for. The only way you'd be a better Dimocrat voter is if you were dead, the dead always consistently vote for Dims.
As for the rising tide concept, the liberals would rather drain the lake, grounding everybody's boat. I suppose that would only be fair.
Yeah Wizer, equal distribution of misery. Remember the old saying, misery not only loves company it demands it.
Chicago mayor vetoes big-box living wage ordinance
September 11, 2006 11:39:04 (ET)
CHICAGO, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Richard Daley on Monday vetoed a "living wage" ordinance that would require large retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT,Trade) and Target Corp. (TGT,Trade) to pay escalating hourly wages and benefits.
Chicago's city council approved the ordinance in July by a 35-14 vote. That would be enough votes to override Daley's veto, but local media have reported that some city council members were considering changing sides.
"I understand and share a desire to ensure that everyone who works in the city of Chicago earns a decent wage," Daley wrote in a letter to the city council, filed with the city clerk's office on Monday.
"But I do not believe that this ordinance, well-intentioned as it may be, would achieve that end," he added. "Rather, I believe it would drive jobs and businesses from our city, penalizing neighborhoods that need additional economic activity the most."
The ordinance required retailers with more than $1 billion in sales to pay a starting salary of at least $9.25 an hour and benefits of $1.50, escalating to $10 in wages and $3 in benefits by 2010, with cost-of-living increases beyond that.
The federal minimum wage has stood at $5.15 an hour since 1997. Wal-Mart's entry-level salary is $7.25, and it pays an average of $10.41 in Illinois, according to its Web site.
The veto comes as Wal-Mart prepares to open its first store in Chicago, the third-largest U.S. city. Wal-Mart has faced increasing opposition as it tries to expand into major urban areas. Critics accuse the world's biggest retailer of providing meager wages and benefits, and driving competitors out of business.
Target Corp. has a half-dozen stores in Chicago and is building more, but has warned that its development plans were on hold pending the outcome of this ordinance.
Wal-Mart and Target were not immediately available to comment.
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association has said that 42 Chicago stores with 7,500 workers would fall under the ordinance.
Other cities including San Francisco have passed living wage ordinances, but Chicago's was unusual in that it singled out large retailers.
Post a Comment