I had to work last night and didn't get to watch the debate, but boy did this jump out at me in the material afterward:
The GOP candidates were asked about the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour and if it should be raised. Of course, all the GOP candidates roundly opposed this, but some went further:
Donald Trump and Ben Carson actually had the balls to say that wages in the U.S. are too high. Well, maybe in CEO land where they live they're too high, but out here in the middle it's just the opposite. As a (formerly?) middle class American who hasn't had a meaningful wage increase in over 15 years, I beg to differ, and I'd gladly invite Mr. Trump and Mr. Carson to see how well they could live for a year on what I make.
Marco Rubio, who apparently had a night telling plenty of whoppers, chimed in that if we raise wages, American workers will become more expensive than machines and thus be out of jobs!!!! Marco, you are out of touch. One of the major problems in the American workplace the past 20 years or so is that American corporations are willing to spend *millions* or even *billions* on new technology to put workers out of jobs, but aren't willing to pay American workers $10 or $15 an hour. It's a tragedy that American workers in many businesses are unable to afford to buy the products they produce or sell, and that in some major American cities, people like teachers and police officers are unable to afford to live in the city in which they work!!!
What's wrong with this picture? The American dream is dying, and people like Trump and Carson are the executioners. How can Republicans continue to get American to vote for candidates like them who are downright enemies to their way of life? It amazes me how easily Americans can be tricked into seeing the trees instead of the forest.
Oh, another interesting item. The Republican candidates had nothing but praise for the moderators of this debate. Surprise: The moderators work for Fox Business News.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-m … 377346e81e
I would guess, though, that he doesn't call himself one anymore, now since he's seeking the Democratic nomination for president. If he were to win the nomination, you can bet this will be commercial No. 1, and 2, and 3, etc., etc, used against him by the GOP.
He's officially an Independent in the Senate, but he caucuses with the Dems.
Bernie Sanders seem to be the most straightforward of the dems. His facts are usually pretty accurate. You'll see some exaggerations but not so much that is an outright lie. Not a supporter of 15$ wage hike since it would destroy the economy in smaller more rural areas but his plans to disban big banks has me intrigued. Manjo curious why do you call Bernie a socialist? Also Republicans are elitists ( steal from the poor and middle class to give to the rich) both have flaws that's why our country has gone from best in the world to meh
Believe it or not, I could probably handle Donald Trump, who though he grandstands A LOT isn't ideologically rigid and could be open to compromise on some things and I think would be open to actually getting things done. And that's part of the problem with the current Tea Party crew: They think compromise is a dirty word, or else that it means do what I want only. Screw that. It's a conservative fantasy and not the way government works. And it's also a Republican fantasy that we basically don't need government. Do we want to live in a country where a few people are ultra, ultra rich and everyone else is on a subsistence life?
I'm open to change. I actually kind of like Rand Paul. But the kind of change that Cruz and the Tea Party maniacs want, I want NO part of.
Are you one of those folks who believes that Democrats will keep the GOP from doing great harm to gay people, so fuck it. I'll vote hard-core Republican because they can't screw us over that bad?
And in case you haven't noticed, the GOP will go straight for your wallet, too. Just from another direction. By holding your wages and benefits down and redistributing your earnings to your company CEO and shareholders. Thanks for nothing, which is what the Wall Street first types have done for American workers.
If taxes are your biggest worry, ditch Massachusetts and move down here to TX, where we have no state income tax but the highest sales tax in the country. It's a lot more convenient for rich people to shift more of the tax burden to lower income people, who have to spend a much higher percentage of their income on taxable goods.
I'm totally against Reganomics. Give money to someone who already has a nice cushion and some will be spent, much will be saved. Give someone with less means and it's almost likely that a bigger percentage of that will be spent, keeping the funds in circulation and more likely to stimulate the economy.
Both parties have neglected the middle class, and now in the past 20 years or so, the investor class types have been hard at work robbing the nation's middle class. And no one has done anything to help. Social programs are great and necessary, but the reality is that they don't do a damned thing for the nation's middle class, which is basically on it's own against the ultra rich. What chance do we have against that in a country and world, really, that values a person based primarily on their bank account?
As for whether higher wages do long-term damage. ... Well, I'd rather have more money and be able to buy some things that cost more, than not get any pay increases while the cost of things continues to rise anyway, which is the way things are today. In an economy whose health is still greatly based on consumer spending, that's not a long-term sustainable model.
As for the belief that wealth trickles down and the ultra wealthy are job creators .... that was long ago exposed as a myth. The investor class just uses its wealth to create more wealth that basically helps NOBODY. Not really even themselves. How many billions does a person need???
As for wealthy philanthropists, their money largely is donated in three categories: to help children, especially underprivileged children; to fund the arts; and as gifts to universities. While all of these things are of value to society, they do absolutely NOTHING to help the country's struggling middle class. If they really want to help the country, instead of giving a multimillion-dollar gift to a museum or university or nonprofit, hire some people (or keep on people you were going to fire). Letting people work at a livable wage is how the wealthy can really help the country. Companies used to understand this principle. Why have they lost that understanding??
As I see it, there are two major forces at work here; Capitalism and Socialism. Many politicians today would like us to see these forces as an either/or choice, BUT the truth is that they have co-existed for hundreds of years and, in reality, they need each other. Capitalism is the basic model that has built the U.S. and other nations in financial ways while Socialism has built them in human terms.
What was generally recognized at the end of the 19th Century was that the industrial revolution and its capitalist engine was running amok in the "Gilded Age." Working people at the bottom of the economic pyramid were suffering while the robber barons who organized businesses into monopolies exploited the lower classes to attain obscene wealth. We are now at that point again. But this time the extremely wealthy have taken a lesson from history and now they know that to keep us permanently down and out, they need to also control the government. SO they have gone about buying the politicians to ensure that we are kept down while they get even richer.
The idea that wealthy individuals are the "job creators" is the result of enormous wealth trying to shape the discussion to the exclusion of the human element - Socialism. Money in the hands of the middle class and the poor creates jobs. Big money is there only to take full advantage of their spending.
In the past a majority of citizens thought of us as a cohesive society. "We are all in this together" was a common phrase that summed up that feeling of simultaneous patriotism and economic justice . . . and it worked for several decades that I am happy to have lived through. NOW the game is totally changed by big money. ONLY honest politicians using the tools of government will be able to extract us from this morass. In my opinion there are only two who qualify at present; Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Barney I don't HAVE to have a second job I CHOOSE to have a second job. I also have to pay for a 95,000$ home (4 bed 5 bath) I just bought along with a 2007 Suzuki vitara I bought along with really high insurances. Now I would love to be paid 15-20$ an hr that would leave me with a ton of money left over and I'd be able to pay off my home in roughly 11 yrs rather than 30 but I'd rather take 30 yrs than get laid off as a way to control expenses.
Are you so blind that you really don't think that a crooked corporation won't continue to be crooked after we raise wages ? Sir you havnt just visited wonderland you took the mad hatters seat at the tea party. Corporations operate on projected profits easiest thing to control is hours and benefits. Replace full timers with part timers. Reduce number of employees and increase workload. You yourself are saying this is happening so far it's ur biggest complaint. And what are they wanting to do to fix it barney? NOTHING! No instead they just want to increase wages and ignore the fact that these mega businesses are operating off of slave labor. None of you have yet to address that problem either. I'm looking at the long term what happens in five years when they are telling all the sheeple that they have to raise prices on food to cover wages? No ones going to stop eating. They will say hell I have the money and keep buying. That's the first domino then fuel prices go up. Then housing. Then utilities. Not because they have to but because they can and because people will pay for it. Just like insurance. The biggest failure of obamacare is the fact that it doesn't control corporate spending or put a cap on their greed
What has been lost in the last 30-40 years is that companies used to make their employees partners in the company. When the company profited, they profited. Now pretty much all the profits go to the company. And companies wonder why employees are no longer as loyal as they used to be????? Loyalty is a two-way street, and what's left of it is only running one way right now in most companies.
If a company would rather fire you than give you a 2 percent raise, what kind of loyalty does that inspire?
You have experience in the "new" American reality for hourly workers. Tell me why you favor Republican economic policies again????
Maybe instead they could regulate business growth and corporation management etc. I don't know just throwing something out there
Also I can confirm.....I work a second job at home depot. Part timers have practically replaced full timers in my store and they are kept at 26 hrs it is actually company policy they can't go over 26 in our store
I think that may have once been true, but next time you go in a fast-food restaurant or a big box chain like Walmart or Target, pay attention to the people working there. More than likely, you'll find the majority of them are working age adults, and they aren't just doing it for the experience.
True story: I used to work part-time at Target in addition to my regular job, until my back went out. A nice woman who worked with me, probably around 40, had a teenage son who developed a potentially fatal heart disease that required multiple operations and extended hospital stays. The wife and her husband *both* were working multiple minimum-wage jobs in order to make enough money to live on and hopefully pay some of their son's *huge* medical bills. Fortunately she worked at Target, which did provide health insurance at 20 hours a week, but still, despite both parents busting their butts, they were having a hard time making it and looked to me like prime candidates for medical bankruptcy. (Yes, employers have so cut back on health insurance benefits that many policies today have extremely high deductibles -- so high, that yes, you can have health insurance and still be forced to file for bankruptcy.)
Anyway, the sorry state of our healthcare system is another story for another day. The point of this story is that with the continuing evolution of the U.S. economy into a service-based economy, wages and working conditions are deteriorating for the American workforce. And there are plenty of good, hardworking Americans who despite busting their butts, are just barely keeping their head above water -- or more likely just very slowly drowning. The sorry state of wages is why most people, to the amazement of the Wall Street crowd, aren't happy with the state of the American economy. If you're not making it, or you're afraid you may get laid off any day now, it's hard to be very optimistic. Fact: American corporations are returning a smaller share of earnings to their workers than EVER before, since they started measuring this very important statistic in the 1950s.
And Trump and Carson think wages are too high. Hah!!!! They don't live in the same America as the people they hope to fool into voting for them.
That same thing is true for many people. Employers just don't want to pay people a living wage anymore, and that is not just restricted to the debate on the minimum wage, which is basically just slave labor.
Well, I suppose one way to reduce illegal immigration would be to turn this country into another Mexico.
I suppose this vision would produce prosperity, but for whom? Certainly not the working men and women of this country.
Now my comment on free market was not praise. I was pointing out that our system is a free market which allows businesses to take advantage of the system. Kour system is broken and needs fixing I AGREE but I think hiking up wages is not the right way to fix the problem.
In fact if an idiot like you would do the research and study the ACTUAL affect of raising wages you'll see there are just as many problems caused as there are solved!
If we raised minimum wage to 100$/hour it would just decrease the value of the dollar. Same thing happens EVERY TIME.
Fix the disease not the symptom