no pity for the lazy!Well, not exactly.
It stopped because poverty became an industry in this country, and many people stood to make a fortune doing business with all of the "customers" that government created for them.
LBJ should be dug up so he can be pissed on.
no pity for the lazy!Liberals keep redefining poverty thus the ‘War on Poverty’ will never be won.
Now, poor means you only have 1 72” flat screen HDTV, the latest playstation with the latest games, 2 Obamaphones, 4 pair of $200 Air Jordan sneakers, free electricity, free housing, free food, free health care, and cash subsidies, while you’re unemployed.
I was chatting with some Germans and talking about the difference between me (working long hours here in Warsaw) and the Germans. “It pays just as much to make 500 Euro a month as it does 5000 Euro per month.”
They are absolutely right. Being poor in our liberal countries pays better than working hard and earning a living. Why leave poverty when you can get paid to not work?
The reason a minimum wage is necessary is that supply and demand of labor has been skewed. Invaders (legal and illegal) depress wages at all income levels. There’s no protection from unfair completion against goods from slave labor countries. The irony of that is a lot of high-end merchandise is made in these conditions, and that merchandise isn’t any cheaper than it could be if it were made in the US. Corporations, celebrity endorsers, transportation companies, contractors who secure the sources....they’re the ones profiting.
This country has a larger poverty problem than measured by money....
Poverty of morals and ethics...
Financial poverty is symbolic of those two things...
Not inclusive of all poverty, but the largest part....
I wish John would at least note that employers aren't paying $9, they're paying considerably more.
When you add in all the mandated burdens, it's usually at least 25% more, often much more.
So that's not $9, it's $11.25+.
The same is true of a great many government programs.
A "problem" is "solved" by passing a law, and activists point to the reduction in the problem after the law is passed as proof the law worked as planned.
But if you look at a longer time span, almost invariably the problem was already gong down, and you can hardly tell from the graph when the law was passed.
This is certainly true of two laws I'm aware of.
The OSHA law which takes credit for a decline in accidents and fatalities.
The double nickel speed law of the 70s took credit for an already declining traffic fatality rate, which continued after the law was repealed.
I retired from the military in 2011 and really don't need to work. I got a part time job several months ago. It was supposed to be minimum wage, but after I talked to the manager he started me out much higher.
He has two more openings now, and has a hard time getting applications. Some people are just too lazy to work. I've asked several other retired people if they want a part time job. Not much luck, even though that is what he wants.
I had my first, first hand experience with this in the early 70s. My wife's friend had two children, no father present, my wife agreed to keep her kids (No charge) while she went to work at Hardees, just until she "got back on her feet".
Within a month she quit the job, telling my wife that she could make more by not working. I didn't get it at first but then she explained all the "benefits" she lost by working and I got it. She was better off not working, even if she didn't have to pay a baby sitter out of her wages.
That was 40 plus years ago, it has only gotten worse since.
I like stossel but he and other conservatives miss the point.
There is a world without a minimum wage. It’s called internships. Liberal indoctrination centers called universities run these illegal economic operations for the privilege of indoctrination. It is an important part of crony capitalism.
OTOH,the "poverty" I've seen in various parts of this country (Boston,NYC,DC and LA...among others) always seem to feature massively obese people talking on Obama Phones,eating a Big Mac and wearing $200 Air Jordan sneakers.
Poverty? Yah,right! Half (if not more) of the people of the Third World would sell their souls to live like the typical American welfare parasite.
There are no patronage jobs in the bureauracracy with fat, early pensions if we set the economy free. Letting people do what they want reduces the ability of government to tax.