Any idiot knows, business doesn't hire people unless they have extra money laying about because of tax credits! People, this is Fiscal Conservatism 101! Ever watch "Bar Rescue" on Spike TV? Each week, Jon Taffer, 'rescues' a bar/restaurant that is failing because of taxes and government regulation- the only reasons that businesses fail in a democrat controlled America. Jon steps in, removes tax and regulate democrats from office and the people with the pirate-themed restaurant become the self-made millionaires that our founders intended. It's a lovely, familiar story!
Some 30 years after Reagan created trickle-down, voodoo economics, republicans still believe it works. Some slow folks might be waiting for it to work but republicans do believe it does.
It doesn't. I don't get how anyone with even the most basic of business sense can't see how fucking stupid trickle down is. The state of Kansas recently went through this when republican governor, Sam Brownback, cut taxes on the wealthy and eliminated small business taxes. And he cut spending. Try this at home. Quit your good job and get a lower paying one so you bring in less revenue. Offset this by spending less on the kids. You might not see immediate results but, don't despair....
Kansas is in big trouble. As you might expect, taking in some $685 million less in revenue can hurt the budget. Well, republicans always figure that you simply offset that by cutting spending. Take in less, spend less. Of course, you cut spending on things like welfare rather than on the bloated military budget. A country like ours makes money on wars and fighting. Feeding poor people just squaders money. That's the thinking.
Stupid people from Topix threads all the way to the House of Representatives also firmly believe that a raise in the minimum wage would destroy America. They fear $20 Big Macs so, they fight any attempts to raise the minimum whether it's the $10.10 the White House proposes or the $15 per hour that many labor groups tout. Most economists figure that, if the federal minimum had kept pace with the cost of living, it would be $15 per hour. I've also heard $21 but, regardless, the minimum itself is too much for many teapublicans. They'd like it eradicated. Let the free market dictate the minimum, they say. If the free market says $2 an hour, so be it! It could say $20, or $200! In fact, under their thumb- I mean- system, you would be free to ASK for $200 an hour. You might not get it but, if the free market were so inclined, you maybe could....
Well, you can ask for any wage you want now. You just can't be paid less than $7.25 an hour. The minimum wage is a safeguard that was established by FDR because he knew how evil and greedy rich people were, having grown up with them. In 1938 the minimum (thanks to him) was 25 cents. Seventy six years later it's only $7 more and millionaire congressmen who work for billionaires think that is "too much". They think people would do better with less.
Well, OK- they don't actually think that. They want you to think that. They are not that stupid but they sure do believe that you are. And they want you to regurgitate their fiscal policies on the internet and support them in the voting booth. Stupidity unites non-attorney spokespersons with disabled muffler monkeys, at least on the internet.
Raising the minimum $3 can mean more people getting off of welfare. Not as many as $15 would but it's a step in the right direction. As it stands now, people can work at Walmart- the nation's largest employer, and still need welfare from the government to survive. Our tax dollars shore up the Walton family's payroll department. That's very fucked up. True conservatives (I think you and I qualify) should be literally up in arms over this alone. But, *actual* conservatives aren't. They figure that you get rid of the minimum and also get rid of welfare- you quit coddling people- and then they are forced to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, go to college and ($100,000 later) take advantage of the tax exempt status of small business and open up a Scotchtape store. Or a pirate bar. Why not? Right away, your labor costs will be whatever you feel like paying. No taxes and no payroll equals you equaling Exxon or General Electric inside of a year! You'll easily afford Big Mac's when they go up in price- not because of rising labor costs but because of the old business saw: "If you charge more, you fucking make more!" That, is Business 101. That's a major reason why prices go up. We learned that as kids when the candy bar got smaller AND the price went up.
It isn't just the minimum. It's the convoluted, *thinking* associated with trickle down. Common sense says that if you give $100 to a poor man, he spends it. It goes to rent, food, toys for the kids- it gets spent. Give $100 to a rich guy and he pockets it or maybe lights a Cuban cigar with it. He doesn't spend it. He doesn't have to. A raise in the minimum isn't welfare though the idiots in the threads equate it with that. I don't think these people refuse raises at work and many of them post on Topix all fucking day so, who is zooming whom when they say the guy behind the counter at McDonald's isn't *worth* his pay?
1.6 million people currently work at the rate of the Federal minimum. Do the math on a $3 an hour raise for all of them and base it on a 40 week instead of the 60 these people probably work- if they're 'lucky'. Whatever hours you choose, every fucking penny of that goes back into the economy. Not one cent would go to a bank in the Caymans. It would all go back into America. Why can't stupid people see this? Save money on taxes (welfare) by employers paying their employees rather than we the people picking up part of the tab. I don't know-maybe that's not capitalism? Maybe my Muslim-socialist-commie liberal self doesn't understand capitalism?
Let's look at it with a perspective that republicans can relate to- their own: If you can't afford to pay your employees a living wage, go to college and learn a better business model. Business success was not intended to only be successful at one level of pay throughout a businesses career. If you have been in business for several years and are still paying the low, minimum wage, you have failed. Get out of the business world basement and start a real business! It's not society's job to coddle you!
2 comments:
Post a Comment