Take one $26 dollar an hour union job with profit sharing and full health benefits, eliminate it and create two $9 an hour jobs with personal investment accounts and a share-pay HMO. What to do with the leftover $8 and hour? That’s easy.
At least two dollars would go to the investors in the form of tax-free dividends and one dollar would cover the CEO’s initial company stock purchase and compensation package.
Another dollar would pay for public relations and lobbyists in Washington to bribe Congress into reforming OSHA, change labor and pollution laws and freeze the $5.15 minimum wage. Why freeze the minimum? The best way to make workers happy and feel good about their nine dollar an hour job is to constantly remind them that others are paid much less. The CEO’s first order of business is to post the minimum wage on large placards in the lunchroom and HR office. Two more dollars would cover the cost for outsourcing high-liability tasks to China and Mexico and create new customer service centers in India.
With two dollars left, one would pay for the extra accountants, lawyers and consultants needed to protect itself from bankruptcy, worker injury and sexual harassment lawsuits.
The last dollar could be split several ways. But for the sake of simplicity, fifty cents is divided and distributed to tax deductible charities such as food pantries, local churches, bonuses and other perks for non-management employees and waste. Finally, the last half-dollar is given to the Republican Party to keep this ball rolling.
I may have missed something but you get the idea. We have low unemployment because of the minimum wage freeze and the “double” jobs created build a work force on the edge with little leverage. What about the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy? Where did that money go? Hey, someone’s got to buy those second and third vacation homes, push the DOW to 15,000 and buy expensive imported cars.
7 comments:
It's a different economy now. It has been changing for twenty years. The good paying jobs are still out there they just happen to require more than a highschool diploma now. Republicans aren't against high paying jobs that's just plain wrong in stating that. Did you know that 82% of Americans are somehow invested in the stock market? So, if the stock market does well 82% of Americans are doing well. I don't see that being a problem at all. Investing in the market you really aren't going to see the dividends until you reach retirement. The problem with America right now is peple are wanting instant statisfaction. The save for a rainy day generation is going by the wayside. People with little or no income can get credit cards now and the thought of actually saving up to by something is odd to them. They want something they buy it on time. Which in turn will hurt people in the long run. And it has hurt our society. The whole minimum wage thing is blown out of perportion in my eyes. If your an unskilled worker looking for work you start at the bottom in the comoany. Then you work your way up and become an asset to the company and you end up making more money.
The stock market is a sham. There are winners, but there are always more losers. It is a vicious cycle of profit-takers and paranoid sellers, no matter how high the numbers are. Part of mindset behind it is the idea that the more people you can recruit into the scheme means more people are indebt to it.
Yeah, it's a different economy now, a Republican one.
I agree that we live in an "instant gratification" society and people don't save anymore, but that is promoted and encouraged by the corporatists and promoters of "liberal" economics, not to be confused with real liberals. After the 9-11 terror attacks, one of the first things Bush tells the people to do is to go out shopping!! Spend, spend, spend!
But you still think someone can start at $5.15 an hour, work their way up the ladder and live the American dream?
I believe that someone who is willing to work for $5.15 an hour isn't a person who is going to have to support a family. If someone is looking for work as a fiest job with little or no skills they can shop around for jobs. There aren't to many places that start a person at $5.15 an hour. Macdonalds starts at $7.50 an hour. Wal-mart starts at $8.00 an hour both with raises after a 90 probation period. I could go on and on. It's the workplace that should dictate what a employer pays. If an employer can't get good help for minimum wage they will up the starting pay rate. That's how it should work.
If the minimum wage was raised so should the standards of what a new hire brings to the table. That's why somebody with a college education makes more than a highschool graduate. Your paid what your worth to the company and what the workforce dictates. I used to live in Illinios and Macdonald's workers were starting at 13.00 an hour and that was ten years ago. They couldn't find good help for 6 bucks an hour so they had to raise the starting wages to attract people.
Unemployment at 4.4% the economy is strong. Stronger than it was in the Clinton administration. I know it's hard for the liberals to accept that fact but, it is true.
Burger flippers at McDonald's making $13.00 an hour 10 years ago? That must be at least $16.00 today. I'm gonna quit my job tomorrow and run to McDonalds, thanks for the tip!
Go ahead the cost of living down there was way higher than it is here. That 13.00 an hour therer is eqivilant to 8 bucks an hour here. Rent for a two bedroom apartment was 650.00 a month then also. Let me know how it goes. I hated it there. Illinios people can't drive and they are real pricks.
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