Originally Posted By: sleddriver
I'm going to take a crack at this from a different perspective. Raising the min. wage is going after the wrong end. It's a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself. It's also the easy way out....for the politicians. After all, they've created this mess in the first place and do an excellent job of FOGGING their actions. Much like the frightened little man pulling the levers in The Wizard of Oz.
Remember: The humans were much too afraid of the "image" before them to think clearly. But Toto wasn't buying it. He smelled a rat and followed his instincts: The "Wiz" was nothing but a mirage, a constructed image. And a fake one at that.
Let's focus on the little guy and his needs: Food, transportation, shelter, employment, and electricity to start with. Not necessarily in that order...
Everything the little guy buys got there on the back of a truck. Even if shipped by rail, it was still delivered to the store by a truck. Most likely a diesel truck. What recently happened to the price of diesel? Very strict EPA mandate caused it to sky-rocket. Even higher than premium gasoline. Result? Everything delivered by truck, including your most recent Amazon purchase, also went up. Made the meanie-greenies happy by elevating their "enlightened vision", but the cost of living just went up for everyone, especially the little guy.
What happened to the cost of meat for the little guy's hamburger and pork for his tacos? Corn went into the gas tank as a replacement for MTBE. Why? EPA mandate. All livestock is grain-fed, from chickens to pigs to steers. Cost of corn just went up. Money was great, so farmers started planting everything with corn. Gubmint + pols + EPA + meanie-greenies were estastic. Little guy? Not so much.
What about the cost of little guy's electricity? Who'd he vote for? The guy who loudly proclaimed "The price of electricity will sky-rocket". Are the meanie-greenies thinking about his e-bill or their Grand Eco Vision? Solar? Wind? Hydrogen? Good. Nuclear, Coal, natural gas: BAD. Not nearly "enlightened" enough for the Visionated. Progress Demands Sacrifice after all and guess who'll be sacrificing?
Forget flying somewhere...little guy can't afford to take his family anywhere. So what about the cost of gasoline so he can get to work? EPA + Feds + meanie-greenies are in on that as well. "The cost of fossil fuels will skyrocket". He wasn't kidding, was he? Remember $4/ga gas...in Texas? How high did it go on the east coast? Califormia? Progress Demands Sacrifice....who's getting sacrificed on the altar of The Grand Vision?
Little guy can also forget sending his kids to college..no way Jose. That dog just won't hunt.
I haven't even mentioned the border flood of illegals and I live in CenTx.
We no longer have a two party system, just sheer chaos. Thus the front-runners popularity. Only politicians, on both sides, are surprised and that's the problem. He's drawing support from all sides, leaving them clueless....go figure. Their numbers are all wrong.
They've raised the cost of EVERYTHING little guy buys for himself & his family and could care less. After all, they don't drive their own cars, much less shop for their own food or fill their cars with gas. They don't even need cars. The govn't provides them with one & a driver! Plus, you, I & little guy pays for it.
These are the very people who vote themselves pay raises each year. Congress & the executive branch is mostly a nest of narcissists and sociopaths, who are in it for the power, control and authority. They get off on it. Nothing but a (leaning) Tower of Babel, always pointing a finger of blame towards someone else when three fingers always point back at them.
How about giving them the middle finger?
A living wage isn't the answer. Neither is Marxism. After all, "A Government Big Enough to Give You Everything You Need is Big Enough to Take Everything You Have."
Haven't they taken enough already? Don't you think it's HIGH time the govn't was once again afraid of its citizens instead of the other way around?
Doing your own thinking doesn't require a formal education. It does require curiosity and questioning though. Remember the old slogan "Question Authority!" Those currently in power need a relentless application of questioning, particularly by those they've used and taken advantage of for decades. The little guy needs to stop and think about this. He's being played for a fool and openly mocked behind his back.
The Pols are the ones who need severe pay cuts, so does the gubmint and the fat they've created. They all need to be on enforced financial diets along with their departments. Imagine "The Biggest Loser: Politician Version". The EPA is out-of-control, has been radicalized and as a result, energy has been politicized. Those are the WORST hands for it to be held in.
Down here, we all live in A/C. And the e-bill is second only to rent, unless you're paying > $200/mo. for phone/cable/internet, but little guy can't really afford that. I'm unable to shop around for electricity because I'm locked into a city monopoly: They own the utility. Due to their Green Vision of the Annointed, they're costing me & everyone else more GREEN. About 18% more. And that'll be going up as more of their "vision" is implemented.
But this is the direct result, the consequences, of politicizing energy. The greenies + govn't is giving little guy the middle finger. It's high time their own guns were seized, turned around and fired upon them. That they are given the middle finger.
The leading candidate is leading because he knows this. He's tapped into little guys frustration and anger...from all sides. And he's not promising to raise minimum wage either, is he? No. He's talking about JOBS! Bringing JOBS back. In order to do that, he's vowing to go after the very thing that caused them to leave in the first place.
Think about it......
"Expecting Congress to clean up the mess they created is like expecting an Arsonist to put out the fire they created" - Thomas Sowell.
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of it's powers to repress dissent, for the Truth is the moral enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the Truth is the greatest enemy of the State" - Joseph Goebbels
"Politics is not about facts. It's about what politicians can get people to believe" - Thomas Sowell
The black community is acting as if this has already happened. Anytime "And the minimum wage will be $15 an hour soon, to make everything more fair" is worked into a Sunday sermon...
We are all screwed.
Where did they get $15 from, anyway? I heard $42 an hour in Boston and also L.A. are what it takes to afford "median" rents in those markets, comfortably.... I also thought $10 was a number that would be a "compromise."
In any case, prices will go up so high if that happens
Shoot, Dunkin Donuts raised prices when NJ forces a Minimum Wage increase, first of $1 from $7.25 to $8.25, and them 13 cents Living Wage adjustment for 2015. I wonder what it will be in 2016..
Maybe.. $15?
