Lately there has been some chatter about a guaranteed minimum income in the US. It's done in parts of Europe- France for example. As the world progresses, modern technology causes many jobs to go completely away. There is less for people to do for a living, especially when many of those jobs that do still exist go overseas to an underpaid market. Trump has promised to bring those jobs back to the US but, he also promised to bring coal-mining jobs back to Kentucky and that's not going to happen either. If a corporation that makes widgets can get those widgets made in China paying 98 cents an hour, why would they pay $7.25 an hour to Americans to make those widgets?
Everyone is wondering what Trump will do now that he has the presidency and both houses of congress. I'm curious as to what they won't do. Add in the reichtarded USSC judge(s) that they openly covet and I can't see what's stopping them from doing anything that their little, cold hearts desire.
Paul Ryan and his crowd want to eliminate the minimum wage. Trump has occasionally said that American's make too much money and, when a billionaire who cheats contractors as he does says something like that, you know who he's talking about. Ryan and them think the minimum is driving business overseas. How is a company supposed to make it in America paying outrageous amounts like the minimum wage? Golly, they usually did before. And if they didn't, that was considered business. There's no guarantees of success. Most businesses fail because of poor planning or poor execution. If you can't afford payroll, you shouldn't be in business.
The republicans may or may not be serious about bouncing the minimum for good. It's insane in a capitalist society but, greed is insane. If you could virtually eliminate payroll, profits would rise. It's happened before in this country.
Slavery. After the initial outlay of cash to purchase a human being, you just had to feed and clothe them rather than pay them a wage. You could even breed your own stock, like you would with cattle. Prior to the Slaveholder's Rebellion of 1861-1865, the wealthiest city in the US was Vicksburg, Mississippi. Cotton was king and payroll was virtually non-existent.
Instead of a guaranteed minimum income, I could see republicans opting for slavery again. Like anything else (as in electing a faux-billionaire president) you'd have to convince the poor folks that it was their idea. I've seen paid-posters on the internet try to sell the elimination of the minimum as a good thing to working folks, often saddled with anti-union stories of people going to their boss for a raise and being told: "I want to give you a raise but, the union won't let me! They insist that everyone make the same wage! My hands are tied! Until you leave the union and- better yet- the union leaves you, I can only pay you the same union wages that everyone makes- nothing more..." I would hate to have a job selling that bullshit to people. But, that's why I'll never be a republican congressman- I just won't apply myself, I guess.
That is a genuine argument that I've seen. They'd also kinda misconscrew the minimum as being a sort of maximum, like you couldn't be paid more because of the gubmint law but, if there were no minimum, you could get more! Yeah, you could get less too but, that's the chance you take if you have that entrepreneurial spirit that all good citizens should have. The thing is, you could get more than the lazy bastard next to you and that is the American dream. Make more than your neighbor. Even if it means taking less...
We'll see what happens with the minimum. The congressional assholes have to remember that we have guns. Ironically, that was their doing. Until recently they might have thought they'd never see the White House again and guns were a great source of revenue for them as long as there was a democrat boogeyman they could claim would grab them. Now that there is about to be a republican pussy-grabber in there, guns are a tougher sell.
I imagine the republican plan to counter a guaranteed income would be a bit more like the guaranteed employment that slavery was. Food. Clothing. Shelter. That's it. Oh, not for everybody but, just the poors. No welfare. No SNAP. No SSI or Medicare. Just a benevolent master to care for you. That's Biblical, ya know. You can look it up. Plus, it was the way things were when our Constitution was crafted. You can look that up too. We live in interesting times. Those times are about to get more interesting.
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